We don’t forgive to absolve the other person and make us feel good and ‘godly'.
It has to be done to maintain constancy in Truth and therefore keep us with our Maker.
Forgiveness is an internal silent act, it is not a recognition of a sin or offence against us or another and then deciding to let it go or overlook it.
The reason I bless my brother killing the cow or torturing the dog is because if I do not we both remain in the ego hell of anger, hurt and retribution.
I cannot be free without my brother. He is part of me and the part I need to remind myself what it is I am seeking - freedom.
When I look upon the torture of an animal or am subject to the insensitivity of a closed heart, I know they are my teacher. They are teaching me to return myself to Christ and feel the Love that I am always endowed with yet am tempted to forgo in favour of upset, hurt, sadness and rage.
An inheritance which must be passed on to be received by both me and you.
Therefore, do not be afraid to look upon the pain of the earth and smile, not with a distant smugness and sense of special security from a belief in another way, but with genuine love and heartfelt thanks that the gift of Christ endows us with the strength to not turn away from those parts of us (our brothers) in need of seeing His love in action.
Love in action is presence. We do not need to run from the atrocities occurring but instead use our Christ presence to stay present to it and Him at the same time.
It also ensures that we will always take the appropriate action, whatever that may be but not in anger and retaliation, yet with preservation and protection at the heart of our choice for all involved.
Do not make an enemy of love in the name of injustice, use your ability to see it and privately take your concerns to Him allowing His timing and our trust to determine the right outcome for all concerned.
As we progress in our commitment to constancy in Truth we also obtain deeper patience and less reactionary ways. We may appear a bit slower to respond to those on the outside yet we have begun to work in His time, which doesn't always makes its answers and actions apparent immediately, as is so often dictated by this place.
Hold fast to your desire to know of Christ's ways and from your earnest endeavours and sincere attempts you will be witness to His ways and understanding.
This will spread like water on the cloth of your life, seeping into all those bitter sights you have looked upon and left you despairing and feeling helpless.
Let the love of Christ be felt in you first and your sight will be healed to include the answer to all the suffering you see.
Acutely we initially feel it, but are we not left comfortless if we do not accept that pain is His intent for us or anyone.
Look not for the answer yourself, instead stay close to Him in your search for meaning to suffering, and your part to play in ending it will happen.
For you do have a part to contribute to this place and it will always rely on you accepting His love for you first and foremost.
Is the hardest part. Remembering we were made in love and actually remain there.
Christ wants us to walk this place in full memory of His love for us. That means that you will feel the workings of it in yourself first, with no need to save anybody else.
Once it is the channel that you not only return to but move in, then the mountains we see before us will be shifted.
For His is the way, the Truth, the Life. Amen.
