A couple of years ago my wife and I read The Gifts of Imperfection* together.  The book resonated with me.  Since then other bits by the author, Brene Brown, have tended to get my attention.  Here’s a video clip from Brown talking about forgiveness.

Why the church should be more like a midwife than an epidural.  Source: Jesus Wept – The Work Of The People

What I found striking was her quote from the dean at her church concerning how hard forgiveness is:

“…there has to be a death for forgiveness to happen…in all of these faith communities where forgiveness is easy and love is easy…there is not enough blood on the floor to make sense of that.”

But then there is the other reason forgiveness is hard.  I often have very little ownership of how much of the “blood on the floor” was my doing.

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*Brene Brown. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.  Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden Publishing, 2010.  ISBN 978-1-59285-989-4