Forgiving the Unforgivable

Forgiveness is only really meaningful when we forgive what is unforgivable.

--Nora Gallagher


How does one find the strength to forgive when the damage can never be undone?

"You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything... We don't have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive them for doing it. Forgiving heals us personally. To tolerate everything only hurts us all in the long run."


Does forgiveness empower those who wronged you?

“When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.”

Why forgive the people who caused us painful memories?

“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.”

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
--Mahatma Gandhi

I forgive you.


*Quotes above are from Lewis B. Smedes unless otherwise noted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_B._Smedes

**Pictures by me