The Forgiveness Scroll

The Forgiveness Scroll

For years now, I have been teaching that the reason most people never get around to forgiving someone who has hurt them, is because they feel that if they forgive that person they are “making them right.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The truth is that forgiveness is NOT about the other person – it IS all about freeing YOU – so that you can move on and grow to another level of happiness and achievement.

The Forgiveness Scroll that follows was written by someone you might know and admire --- Abraham Lincoln.

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 “I Will Greet This Day With A Forgiving Spirit.”  For too long every ounce of forgiveness I own was locked away, hidden from view, waiting for me to bestow its precious presence on some worthy person.

Alas, I found most people to be singularly unworthy of my valuable forgiveness and since they never asked for any I kept it all to myself.

Now the forgiveness that I hoarded has sprouted within my heart like a crippled seed yielding bitter fruit.  No more!  At this moment my life has taken on new hope and assurance.  I now understand that forgiveness has value only when it is given away.

By the simple act of granting forgiveness I release the demons of the past, about which I can do nothing anyway and I created for myself a new heart – a new beginning – and I am no longer consumed by unproductive thoughts.

I give up my bitterness.  I am content in my soul and effective again with my fellow man.  I will greet each day with a forgiving spirit and I know the difference between right and wrong.

I know what is best for the future of my family and neither misguided opinion nor unjust criticism will alter my course.  Those who are critical of my goals and dreams simply do not understand the purpose to which I have been called.

For many years my greatest enemy has been myself.  Every mistake, every miscalculation, every stumble I made has been replayed again and again and again in my mind.

I realized today it is impossible to fight an enemy living in my head.  By forgiving myself I erase the doubts, fears and frustrations that have kept my past in the present.

From this day forward my history will cease to control my destiny.  I have forgiven myself – my life has just begun.

“I Will Greet This Day With A Forgiving Spirit”

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