A SECOND CHANCE

Desmond Tutu, 85-year-old retired South African Anglican bishop, human rights activist and opponent to apartheid, once wrote, “Forgiving is not forgetting; it’s actually remembering — remembering and not using your right to hit back. It’s a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don’t want to repeat what happened.”

We often hear it said the other way, ‘forgiving is forgetting’ and we all know that we rarely forget those occasions and people who have wronged us. The mature person is able to remember and still choose not to retaliate, hate or ‘hit back.’ This is certainly the only way for a new beginning. This mature remembering is especially excellent advice for married couples as well as other relationships. Second chances start much sooner by remembering… and remembering that the offended is soon to be the offender.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus