This morning after I dropped my son off at school I was driving through the snow-covered countryside, waiting for the sun to begin brightening the day. A thought occurred to me that I want to pass along: Maybe forgiveness is as simple as releasing the negative mental image we hold of another person.
It's the difference between rejecting the person ("he is so rude!") and naming the behavior ("boy, that was a rude comment"). When forgiveness arises, we realize that the image we were holding about that person isn't the full truth--there may be another, truer way we can see the person. We can say a quick prayer and ask to see the person as God sees him or her. That makes all the difference and things shift--because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. :)
Asking for this mental freedom also gives our thoughts the breathing room to show us when we're actually projecting our own stuff onto the other person--maybe it's our own image we're seeing, pointing out places in us that are ripe for inner work in self-love and acceptance.
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