“Be kind to one another; tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

None of us our perfect, nor will we ever be. I know in my own life, I’ve done things that have hurt or disappointed people and sometimes with intention and sometimes not. But I am thankful when those that I may have hurt have given me a second chance to repair the tear in the relationship fabric from that hurt. Looking back at those patches that have been stitched up remind me not only that the event happened, but that there was an opportunity to be repaired and remain complete. I am grateful for those reminders that although I’m not perfect that I was given an opportunity to mend a broken place.

Not only am I thankful for the opportunity that other people have extended to me to repair any damage, but I am extremely thankful that the messy, complicated, and intricately designed fabric of my life is pieced and woven together by an extension of love and forgiveness from God. The fabric of my life has been altered and changed with rips, creases, and stains, but tailored to fit me by grace and forgiveness. And it is with that same grace and forgiveness that I need to learn to extend to others always and with the same kindness that has been extended to me. It’s easier said then done because when someone hurts us or breaks our heart we feel that we deserve to be angry and to not forgive them. We feel we have every right to hold the incident tightly to our chest as a justifier to our actions to not love back. However, the best thing that we can do for ourselves is to forgive that person providing an opportunity to mend our pain and move on. It releases that person’s hold of hurt on us and gives them the opportunity to move forward as well. None of us are deserving of forgiveness, but Jesus freely gives us love, grace, forgiveness and an opportunity to mend, and in the same way we should extend this opportunity to each other.