Happy New Year - On With Forgiveness...?

Here we are in the first days of the new year.  So many resolutions, high hopes and best intentions to leave last year in last year.  Using my own life as a case study, I have often found those things that I prefer to leave in the past, neatly tucked away in a backpack/trunk called un-forgiveness that I carry.

It is more difficult than simply making a resolution to leave my back pack behind.  Instead I allow this pack to assume the position of unnecessary (yet familiar) weight upon my back.  I have been hurt and said I was over it and moving on!  Only to find that I had simply tucked the hurt away in my handy dandy backpack with many more of my PAST hurts.

The new year is not only about leaving things behind but can also serve as a catalyst in making positive changes such as meditating, finding balance, exercising, resting, smiling, etc...  The New Year truly is a Blessing and I am always appreciative to have lived to see another year.

With all of the excitement and resolution making, I sometimes loose sight of the fact that there are things I truly need to forgive and leave behind.  So often I have been able to talk about leaving something behind but not actually doing it.  In more recent years I have found that holding on to things has created a sort-of prison for me.  When I see, hear or am reminded by someone (or an event) that caused me hurt - I go right back to that same place of hurt and sometimes react as if I was re-living the event.

Forgiveness is not you releasing the individual, it is you releasing, well - you!  The sooner I have truly forgiven (not necessarily forgotten) the better I have felt and opened my life to receiving the blessings that happen everyday.  With the life lessons forgiveness brings, I have come to realize that it is not only ok but often necessary to build healthy boundaries around ourselves and those we interact with.   This is not a boundary of 'Keep the World Away', but instead an honest & beautifully designed reflection of who I am and what I am able to handle/cope with.

Once we are honest with ourselves and in turn others (with kindness), we are empowered to set appropriate expectations and hopefully reduce the drama that surrounds us daily.  The first steps are to accept responsibility for our missteps, forgive ourselves (Ps 65:3 NIV), alter our choices accordingly, leave it/them in the past and enjoy the Blessings the new Year brings.


Isiah 43:18-19 (NIV) "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing!..."


Happy New Year & Blessings,
-d

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                                              New Years brunch at my brother & sisters house