“But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15 ESV)

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 ESV)

Google defines forgiveness as, “The action or process of forgiving or being forgiven.” It also defines forgive as, “To stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake.”

Have you ever heard the phrase to err is human, to forgive is divine? Aren’t we all just human? Don’t we all make mistakes? Usually we learn from our mistakes. I do know some people who will never learn from their mistakes. My neighbor for one. 

But this isn’t about him. It’s about me. I had to learn how to forgive someone very close to me. I wasn’t sure how to since he was already gone home to heaven. That someone was my dad. 

I loved my dad but he wasn’t an easy person to live with. He was never wrong, at least that’s what he believed. I, being the only girl, should have been the apple of my daddy’s eye. I wasn’t. I was too much like my mom and her side of the family. He didn’t care for mom’s family. But after years of never hearing that he loved me and mostly getting only criticism from him, I tried to avoid him as much as possible before he died. 

But God started talking louder to me. He was trying hard to get my attention. He did. He said to forgive my dad. I didn’t know how to do that since he was already gone. God said, “Just do it. It doesn’t matter if he is no longer there. It’s more for you than him anyway. You’ll feel better if you just forgive him.”

So I did. I let go of all the hurt and anger I had towards my dad. I feel better. When I finally go home I will hug him and tell him I love him. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late, tell people you love them now.

Have a great day everyone.

Kathy Keller
Writer and Prayer warrior with Answers2PrayerMinistries
If you would like to receive daily inspirational messages from Kathy Keller, click here  and put “devotional” in the subject bar.