What is Forgiveness?

by Ariel Douglas (2 November 2017)

Tearing out your own heart

Ripping, tearing, shredding it apart

Screaming and crying

Failing and trying

Hurting and falling

Desperate, calling

Clawing and digging into your depths

Reliving, rehashing all of your deaths

Shouting, ranting, and blaming

Growling, raging, and shaming

Arrows shot from every side

Broken people meeting, collide

Chaos taking over our minds

Building, breaking, coming up blind

We fester and stew and boil and steam

We wail and we flail and fight tears that stream

We crawl and we brawl and we will not give up the fight

We shake and we shiver and give into the night

There's a light up ahead like never before

We wince and we squint into the open door

Forgiveness walks in with love on His face

Gently taking it as we thrash for our place

Thrashing and fighting for our right to our anger

Lovingly, despite the beating, His hand does linger

And the longer He stands, watching, waiting

The more we forget our biting and hating

As we take his sweet, scarred hand

Peace begins to overtake the land

And the fear and the heartache that once ruled

And the fire we spat is instantly cooled

As Forgiveness holds us tight

We can look at our abusers without fright

Without hatred and scorn and a need for revenge

Without seething and starving to avenge

As Forgiveness touches us we begin to see

That we are just as able as He

To take the Forgiveness given to us

And extend it forward regardless of trust

To pass it on and pass it out

And to love and be faithful without a doubt

To be wise in our friendships and our trusting

To be so filled with love we're practically busting