FORGIVENESS

A friend recently posted a story I found very touching. 

"Two friends who were walking through the desert and at some point of the journey had an argument.  One friend slapped the other one in the face.  The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything wrote in the sand:   “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”  They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.  The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.  After he recovered from the near drowning he wrote on a stone: “Today my best friend saved my life.”  The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on stone, why?”  The other friend replied “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away.  But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

I wish to engrave on my heart the many moments of friendship, caring and kindness that I encounter today.  The times when hurt or pain surface, throughout this day, I choose to envision as bits of sand that may irritate and frustrate me, knowing that eventually they will be forgiven, blown away, and forgotten.   I am grateful for the paradigm shift this story offers.