Life cannot be static. Anything alive either grows or decays. But do relations among human beings also go through the same experience? Yes it certainly does.
Even our relation to God can have its ups and downs though God always remains same in his loving merciful attitude towards us even when we do offend him and go away from his loving relationship and drift into strained relationship, he keeps the door open and invites me to come back to his loving embrace. That is indeed God. But human beings tend to persist in their strained relationships among themselves and find it difficult to come out of them. They would always harp back upon it: he (she) did this to me or that and how on earth can I ever forget it though I may forgive the person who did it to me.
Healing of emotions is always difficult but not impossible. It is only God who can heal me of hurt feelings but on my part I should be ready to be healed. This of course means I am ready to forgive the concerned person. It is true that even when we have indeed forgiven, whenever we subsequently see the concerned person, anger and resentment may rise in us.
In those situations it is better to silently utter a prayer of blessing from God for that person. After all it may be that person has changed and is no more what we think him or her to be. Time is a great healer.
Everything changes. So why should I not change along with change but keep harping back upon the past which is gone? It will not come back. Why should I relive the pain making it hurt me unnecessarily? Let it go and look forward to a brighter future. It is this letting go that we somehow find hard.
Peter advises: “So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander. Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation” (I Peter 2.1-2). You notice that at times God treats us as babies and cares for us tenderly giving us the spiritual milk of consolations filled with peace and joy but there are also times when God expects us to grow up and be ready to face the difficulties. So it is that God may demand of me to forgive someone whom I may consider my bitter enemy. By his power we can. Are you ready? Do you want to be healed?