“Forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember.” Beverly Flanigan

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry…” Jonah 4.1 ESV

Most of Jonah’s troubles stemmed from his bitter hatred of the Ninevites who had terribly oppressed his own people. The prophet knew that God would forgive them if they repented and was sorely disappointed when they did. Jonah wanted fire and vengeance from heaven. Personal injury can work bitterness in our soul if we do not practice forgiveness. I say practice forgiveness because depending on the severity of injuries we’ve incurred; we sometimes must forgive a person a number of times for the same offense. The first time is always the hardest. Most of us have tendencies to revisit the injustices against us, if only in our thoughts. We shouldn’t be concerned that we keep bringing the offense up to ourselves, any more than a bruise keeps bringing up the fall off our bike last week. We should be concerned that we don’t keep bringing the offense back up to the offender and that we remind ourselves that though the tower bell of injury is still ringing, we have let go of the rope of the offense. 2/18/2009 Conversations Within ts