By Ann Farabee

Oh, if I had a dollar for every student who has come up to me during my teaching career and said, “He hurt me,” or just as often, “She hurt me.” hurt ! »

Frankly, this is a difficult question, mainly because you can rarely take back what creates hurt feelings. It is difficult to try to undo an inappropriate comment or action once it has been posted. Fortunately, this is where forgiveness comes in.

As a teacher, I never allowed myself to say “Sorry!” » be sufficient excuses. I expected my students to hang around and say, “I’m so sorry I _________.” I was wrong. Will you forgive me? This field had to be filled in with the name of the offense committed by the offender.

This required a response from the offended person, who was often not ready to forgive, but realized they had little choice but to say, “I forgive you.” Once they uttered these words of offering or accepting forgiveness, the sweet spirit of friendship usually prevailed again and they played together during recess, which is an ultimate display of forgiveness in the school world.

Isn’t there something eternal about expressing or hearing words of forgiveness?

The Holy Spirit moves our hearts when forgiveness comes because we are like Jesus.

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has always heard my cries for forgiveness. It’s as if his words of forgiveness are implanted in my mind and they always bring peace.

When an offender admits they are wrong, admits their regrets, and asks to be forgiven, they are in the middle of a process that Jesus taught us: asking for forgiveness and offering forgiveness.

In my class, most of the time, the offender and the offended would walk away together after receiving my words of encouragement and my attempts to help them resolve their disagreements. However, to be transparent, I remember one time when the two attackers took a few steps away and immediately started pushing and shoving me again. I guess my strategy didn’t win every battle.

Sometimes two students would approach a fight in a different way. They raised their fists and danced as if they were going to punch each other, but that was clearly not what they wanted. These fights were easy to end, getting away was enough and everyone seemed satisfied.

Sometimes I see myself as having some of the same reactions during a battle. I charge into battle, ready to fight, fists raised, knowing that if a fight ensued, I would use my fists to cover my face and hide.

Just as in other circumstances in life, the Bible provides a message to help us know what to do when we face a battle, whether physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional.

These words from 2 Samuel 5:16 can change our lives.

Ready?

And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.

Yeah. This is the answer to our problems.

Just in case you’re not familiar with these words, here’s what they mean:

God hears, knows and delivers.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are recorded in Genesis 45 and continue throughout God’s Word, where they still grow and flourish in our hearts and lives today.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you for Christ’s sake. —Ephesians 4:32

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