Wait a Second...

Rather than write this blog entry at some quaint little coffee place, I thought I would change it up. Often times, and maybe you're like me, I find myself desiring the feeling of a quasi-comfy fake leather chair in a heavily air conditioned environment with music containing far too much saxophone playing faintly in the background... and boy did I find it! Can you guess where I am? That's right! I'm in a waiting room.

Look at these folks... just miserable.

What is it about waiting rooms? They contain racks and racks of magazines, but not one article seems interesting or engaging. Music and sometimes television shows are playing, but not once have felt genuinely entertained. And the lighting. Holy crap! The lighting!!! In general, every person in that waiting room desires one thing... to GET OUT!

Sitting here with my laptop, as a radio station (which somehow believes voices are pointless for R&B tunes from the 90's when you have a saxophone) fills the silence, my mind goes back to the subject that we've been discussing at Wallace's Pub for the last few weeks... forgiveness. We argued over the horrible nature of olives and how bitterness (the absence of forgiveness) has the ability to taint everything. We then looked at how remembering, not forgetting, may be our path to forgiveness. Now comes the hard part.

As I'm sure you all know, there is a big difference between forgiving and FORGIVING. Now if we were actually talking face to face, you would have noticed that my eyes got wider and my speech got slower and more emphatic when I said, "FORGIVING," the second time, thus clueing you into my belief that many of us have a misunderstanding of forgiveness. (I just used all caps, bold font, and long explanation instead.)

"FORGIVING"

Real, hardcore, balls-to-the-walls forgiveness is the process of no longer allowing the inciting incident to negatively affect you and determine how you live. It is getting to that place where you can actually wish your offender well, rather than a plague of locusts. It is total freedom. (Feel free to add to this definition in the comments below.)

But this kind of forgiveness, my friendly pub-goers, takes time. So sink a little deeper into that faux-leather chair and develop a taste for that sexy sax, because you're going to have to wait. It takes time to allow God's love and truth to overwhelm the pain we feel right now. It takes time to believe that maybe our offender actually didn't know what he or she was doing... not completely. It takes time to understand that letting go is more victorious and takes more strength than revenge. And sooooooo... we wait.

Yes... we will get frustrated.

Yes... we will become impatient.

No... there isn't a quicker fix.

And no... they may not change.

But we will. Our hearts will soften. Our lives will be ours again. This is the hope and beauty of "FORGIVING"

If you don't believe me... just wait. 

p.s. You know what might make waiting rooms better...

... just a thought.