This seems to be an impossible task! I have developed a bad habit of replaying hurtful events over and over. This habit keeps pain, regret, and anger locked in a special part of the heart and mind. This can lead to hatred. I’ve seen the effects of this bad habit on people who have been effected by sensitive historical and current events that have resulted in genocide, war, racism, classism, and more. Keeping records of wrongs creates a barrier around the heart that love cannot penetrate, preventing the healing process to begin. Forgiving and forgetting wrongs does’t mean we should remain ignorant and vulnerable to harmful situations. It means we have liberated our minds to heal and learn from our experiences, with the ability to move forward with a healthy mind. Forgiveness also releases the burden of guilt from the abuser. Forgive all wrongs. Forget the pain. Live in peace. Keep no record of wrongs!
Enjoy this extraordinary poem by Cindy Dike. Cindy is apart of the Christ-a-Poet Team.
What use it is;
When darkness grips the arms of day
When faith waxes stronger yet hope’s grown old and grey
Of what use it is
If tongues speaking and prophecies becomes partners and mate
Still the heart blazes hate
In an effort to make mind reason
I bring to you the story of Stephen
In that hour of solitude
Their eyes glaring in rage;
He watched them approach
Yet his heart beat no reproach
Thoughts scampering in their drunken minds
Stones in hand, they ran blind
Tearing themselves away
To unwind their jealousy and rage
So they threw at him; the stones that came tumbling
And heaven began rumbling
Through the ripping pains, he spat no judgments.
Looking past their wrongs,
Mercy was what the lyrics of his last cries rung
“Lord, take no charge of their sins”
We choose to run after thrones
Carving our names on stones
Yet we wonder how we lost our humanity
Our centred-selves lost in the throes of anguish
You see, we are hurt
Not only have we lost our sights
But a tooth for a tooth makes our mouths bleeds.
So of what use is the smiles
When the heart is like a bad coconut
Whose shell covers its stinking rot?
It’s no wonder the thread of hurt weaves an unstable emotion
I shiver at the anger that blindfolds our vision
But not only have we lost our sights
A tooth for a tooth now makes our mouth bleeds
You are hurt, yes!
So your mind once in chains
Break its bond to rage
Hands on the trigger, missiles on tour
An arsenal wrapped in actions and words
To one end, shattering another’s world.
Under the sun evil we have seen
But it wouldn’t have been so;
If only we understood that love covers a multitude of sins
Give your body to be burnt, it profits nothing
When you keep those records of wrongs within
It’s no fairy tale that love never fails
It heals all sears because all things it bears
Leaving no room for tears parading not itself
But lays down its life for a friend
So, it was not glory that hung Christ on the tree
It was love, the basis why we are free
Love is what makes heaven saturated in harmony
Filling its atmosphere with a sweet symphony
Love is not blind
Seeing all but does not mind
Thinks of not rocking the coat
But the desires enlarging our masters coast
Seeing through the eyes of faith
Overlooks weakness but exalts strengths
Enjoy this video on the reconciliation of the people of Rwanda.
Doodles Invigorate 
There was a time many years ago when my heart was truly crushed because someone I deeply loved broke my trust in a big way. I had never experienced such a betrayal and did not deal with it well. A year later, I thought life was back to “normal” and things were going well, until I heard a sermon one Sunday on the topic of BITTERNESS. I realized the preacher was describing me. That lesson helped me truly forgive, forget, and move forward. I was finally able to move out from under the dark cloud that I didn’t even realize was hanging over my head, and life became brighter and much more fulfilling.
Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled”
That is a powerful testimony and the scripture is the cherry on top. That is truly medicine for bitter hearts so they can be transformed into merry hearts!
I have also experience the same. I realized when the sting of hurt from painful memories has died, true forgiveness reigns.
Thank you for sharing!
What a beautiful reply, thanks.
Hi Shannon…
I’ve often said, even to people with extremely good reasons for hatred (including some friends of mine who are currently homeless refugees from Syria, I don’t know where… and others who are still in Syria, suffering the same homelessness and displacement (largely the result of the USA’s funding, training and arming of ISIS… and the USA’s airstrikes which were supposedly aimed at ISIS but which somehow managed to destroy all the civilian infrastructure of the state, killing more civilians than terrorists… but that’s another story!) that even though it is a very hard thing to do, in the end we must all learn to forgive… and that, in the end, eventually they must even learn to forgive these most vicious and cruelest of enemies.
It was not easy, and my Syrian friends were extremely skeptical about this at first, but their skepticism melted just a little, when I explained that I was well aware that it may take them many years to do so; and after I had explained that it is NOT for the benefit of those who have wronged us, but for our own sake that we need to learn to forgive, no matter how hard it is, nor how often we must repeat the exercise! Because hatred ties one to the hated object/person/event…
Forgiveness is truly the only way to actually free yourself finally and completely from such pains and troubles… to free oneself from the object of one’s hatred. I might add that I’m still working on my own fair share too! And I must also say that I found the manner in which the South African ‘Truth Commissions’ dealt with their historic abusers after the end of the apartheid regime truly inspirational. These black South Africans were teaching their abusers (and me!) a profound lesson in what it is to be truly ‘civilized’ (in the commonly used sense; not just in the original sense that just means ‘living in cities’!)
I don’t think anyone can repeat this message too much, or too often, or in too many places! So thank you for posting this and doing your bit to spread the word. With luck people may start to realize the value of this incredibly important, though far too often overlooked or forgotten, truth…
Perhaps I should mention that I’m not a Christian but an atheist, but this is one of the things I do agree with Christianity on… (that and the general spirit of the ‘Golden Rule’… though this is much older than Christianity…) I just find it such a pity that so few Christians actually appear to understand it… even after 2,000 years (I’m thinking here most particularly about the Christian Zionists…) but that’s another topic, for another day…
Once again congratulations and thank you for this post.
Dave (Theseustoo Astyages)
Dave, Thank you so much for sharing your insight!
It is a great tragedy when people miss the opportunity of freedom through forgiving. But those who are fortunate enough to experience the beauty that comes from forgiving are able to help prevent history from repeating it’s self. I am aware there will never be peace on earth but if some us can obtain peace if would greatly impact that individual and potentially others.
Sadly, I am ignorant to the topics you have discussed because I avoid current events like a plague. LOL! Partly because it’s depressing and I develop bitterness toward humans. I am working on forgiving inhumane acts and the people who commit them. We are all a work in progress!
I agree, regardless of what a person believes, we all need to work on this. I do love Jesus but I try to talk about topics that go beyond religion.
I can’t blame you, or anyone for being ignorant of such topics, Shannon, though to be honest that is in fact a very large part of the problem. Yes such things ARE depressing… and worse, very anger-generating… but anger is the source of the energy needed to solve such problems, and the struggle against such terrible foreign policies and social policies can be invigorating, rather than depressing, once one discovers the ‘joie du battaille’ (my own twist on the old French phrase ‘joie de vivre’) but I do understand that not everyone is up to such a battle…
However, as an anthropologist (albeit an ‘amateur’ one… I have the training and education; just not being paid to do it!) my academic interests almost oblige me to pay them perhaps more attention than most people. But if you believe in democracy… I mean REALLY believe in democracy, you cannot afford to be ignorant of current affairs, depressing as they often are…
I’m sorry… I don’t mean to ‘bend your ear’ too much… but it is very important; the future of the whole human race actually could depend on it… I would urge you to do some research and get involved, at least in sharing what you find with your friends and neighbors… because if not we are ALL going to have to do a helluva lot of forgiving in the not-very-distant future…
What you say about forgiveness and the necessity for it is very excellent advice, but again, to be very honest, I would rather avoid the cause for that necessity! And that means being involved enough, and trying to get as many others involved too, in the struggle to prevent such things from happening again… It is, of course, entirely up to you whether you feel strong enough to join the battle, (of ‘words’ rather than ‘swords’…) but I do hope you will at least consider the possibility.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best of luck! And Peace! Above all, peace!
Dave
🙂
PS: I also try to talk about topics that go beyond religion; however, religion too, is very much part of the problem as most, if not all, the major religious denominations have been infiltrated by agents of the NWO… This is, in fact, one of the major methods the New World Order uses to control the masses… all over the western world. That and deliberately encouraging public ignorance… or did you imagine the dumbing down of schools, in your country and mine, as well as many others, is merely ‘accidental’…?
Oh well… again I apologize for ‘bending your ear’… but I will not even direct your researches, but leave you to make up your own mind about whether or not you research these topics, and also about what you find there… though I’d be happy to discuss whatever you find; you know where my blog is; don’t be a stranger!
‘Bye for now…
🙂
Yes, you have made some very valid points. I do agree with you. Religion does play a major part in a lot of world issues. Ironically, I dislike organized religion/ and most churches. Most world issues go hand in hand. Doodles Invigorate is my way of spreading awareness or at least planting seeds of things to think about. I admire your great passion and hope you will continue to use it to help others!
Hello again Shannon… I’m sorry I bent your ear so much… I’d much rather sing and ply my guitar than talk so much…
It’s organized religion that I’m really against…
And so was Jesus… He called the Levites and Pharisees ‘snakes and scorpions’ for having used their knowledge of the scriptures and the law to elevate themselves above the common people and specifically for having placed themselves between ‘god and man’…
This is how religion (in the sense of an ‘orthodoxy’) is used to enslave humanity…
How you personally feel about the universe and your place in it is not something I meant to attack. Imho, it was Jesus’ intention to return the religion of his day to what it had been in the earliest of times, when a person’s religion was really nobody’s business but his/her own… and when the principle of law was unified into the simple statement, “And it harm NONE, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law…” (‘And’ in this usage simply means, “As long as…”)
Of course, this is very similar to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount… “Do unto others…” etc… which is, I might add, far from an original remark, even in those times… Confucius said virtually the same thing centuries earlier. It’s not a bad principle to live by, regardless of one’s beliefs about the nature of things…
These days, of course, money is the god of the modern world and those who have the most have all the power; today’s ‘Levites and Pharisees’ (the 1%-ers; the ‘elite’) have used money to achieve a ‘god-like’ ascendancy over the rest humanity, which they now find inconvenient and unnecessary; a threat.
So along comes ‘Agenda 21’ with its requirement for population reduction.
Population control, without actually killing off a large percentage of the population, is BEST aided by education; most specifically by educating WOMEN… But what do we see even in our more ‘enlightened’ western countries? The dumbing down of our children and the corruption and ultimate destruction of our educational system outside of what is needed for the elite…
I would urge you to pay much more attention to what’s happening in the world, that’s all… especially I’d suggest that you learn about how money is created… what money is and what it means… and then who has the most of it… I promise you it will be an interesting journey, but you will learn much that will shock you… yet it will prepare you, as much as anyone can be prepared, for whatever is to come…
A good place to start might be to look at a history of the federal reserve. There is an excellent video on this on YT called, “The Creature from Jeykyll Island”
I know from your blog that you are a very positive person, and certainly your blog is a positive contribution… but how much more positive will that contribution be when you are better informed?
Again I find myself needing to apologize for my verbosity; if I am passionate about this issue it is because I realize just how urgent it is… Only “We the People” can stop World War III from happening… by stopping the ongoing war in Syria… and indeed, by the USA stopping fighting ANY MORE wars for Israel… and winding down the Military Industrial Complex… and ending the totally fraudulent Federal Reserve Banking system…
Only “We the People” can do these things… but so many are still unaware of what’s really going on…
I’m not optimistic; I’m just desperately trying to make as many people as I can aware of the real state the world is in before our whole species is wiped out in a nuclear conflagration…
I hope you will go on to plant many seeds with ‘Doodles Invigorate’… It’s what I try to do with my blog too…
Have a wonderful, creative and informative day… ‘Bye for now…
Asty
No need to apologize for your passion! We do share the same passion. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I know it will benefit many. I may not know the gory details of all you have mentioned but I am aware of what’s going on. You have encouraged me to dig deeper. Which has been on my heart to do.
Yes, these issues are urgent. I believe everyone has a part to play in the advancement of society. If we all do our part we could possibly start to see positive change and fix many of the issues you have discussed. I believe my part is to teach and educate. I’ve just begun this journey.
You have given me a lot to research so I’m very glad you have bent my ear! I have a lot of reading to do. I desire to be more knowledgeable in history, philosophers, religions, current events, the list goes on and on. I will be in touch!
G’donya Shannon! Any time you have a question about history, philosophy or what the NWO is up to, don’t hesitate to ask me; I may not always have ‘the answer’ for you, but I can most probably at least help you clarify your thinking on some things… I’m glad you did not resent my ‘bending your ear’… You are a very receptive person; such people learn HEAPS and make fantastic teachers!
See you again soon!
Btw, love the latest ‘doodle’…
😀
Thanks Dave! I definitely will keep in contact. I enjoyed reading your comments. I wrote down a quote that was inspired by you: Share your wealth…knowledge. I will be making a doodle for that soon!
PS: I also find the people of Rwanda equally inspirational… 🙂
Hi Shannon!
It’s been a while since I have visited your blog….sorry!!
I like the new look…! I can’t put my finger on it but there is a change, what is it?? I like your new pic…I won’t comment on your word because it’s always relevant, encouraging and challenging…..😉
God bless you for being faithful with the gift He has given you!!
Rolain
Hey Rolain! No worries, It’s hard keeping up with reading posts! I have been enjoying your thoughts and wisdom. Thank you so much. I have revamped the website. It was time for a new look. It was good hearing from you!
Oh how lovely! I absolutely LOVE this poem, it’s powerful and I got goose bumps…