Releasing the power of forgiveness is an action – and a decision that is made every day. But creating a desire to forgive has to come before any other step. How do you do it?

I think the answer to that question is as unique as each individual and each circumstance. But I also think that a good place to start is with prayer. I was reminded of this when I received an email from someone I admire greatly who shared a letter from the pastor of her church. It relates specifically to the horrific violence that occurred in Newtown, CT last month, but the closing part of the message  is something that I think is an excellent prayer for all of us as we look for the desire to let go of the negative and release the power of forgiveness.

The entire message, from Fr. Bob, was in the weekly bulletin from The Church of the Nativity. It is excerpted below with my bolded emphasis on the part that most touched my heart:

Many of us are still reeling from the most recent violent

cause of deaths and grief experienced by the residents of

Newtown, Connecticut and beyond. After speaking with a

local child psychologist, I composed the following prayer

that was prayed in all of our religious education classes the

week of December 17th; “Dear God, Very rarely terrible

things happen to some children and adults that can scare

us and make us sad. But every day our parents, teachers,

family members and friends do their best to keep us safe

and sound at home, school, or wherever we go, because

they love us. Today we prayerfully ask You, God, to be

present with all of us, Your children, as we say and do good

things for the well being of one another. We ask this in the

name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ, whose birthday we will

celebrate again in just a few days. Amen.”

I also requested that our 900 students would either write

an encouraging letter or draw an uplifting picture to be sent

to the over 700 students at Sandy Hook Elementary School

in Newtown. Imagine that! A school with the name of a

local recreational park near us. As our park has been

broken apart in so many places by the recent storm, so too,

have many lives in Newtown because of a violent storm of a

different kind.

As this year draws to a close and a new one

approaches, let each one of us try our best to avoid causing

“storms” of any kind in our own lives or the lives entrusted

to us. Let us try to replace conflict with compassion,

disrespect with respect for persons and property, and

rejection of any kind with acceptance of people for who they

are and where they are coming from in the complexities of

life. Why? Because all of us are on this journey of life

TOGETHER as the People of God, and we can all benefit

from a little help from one another.

 

Unforgiveness is a storm we feed in our own hearts.