Forgiveness

March 14

I am thankful for forgiveness, forgiveness of wrongs we commit to other people and those wrongs committed to us by others, and the ultimate forgiveness, that by God for our sins and wrongdoings. Forgiveness of wrongs committed to us by others is absolutely necessary so that we do not hold grudges - grudges can hurt us more than the wrong committed by the other person. If God can forgive us of our sins, shouldn't we ourselves be responsible for forgiving others. The forgiveness of God is sometimes much stronger than the forgivenss we give to ourselves for our own sins. With God, the slate is wiped clean; with us, we remember, and sometimes fret and regret each transgression for ages. How comforting is God's way!

In trying to come up with a photo symbolic  of forgiveness, I naturally thought of the cross, but wanted to do something less obvious. The thought came to me that forgiveness is like toilet paper - it cleans up our messes (please forgive me for the vivid imagery). So this photo shows mostly empty toilet paper rolls, representing the past sins that have been wiped out, and one roll still containing some paper for the wiping away of future sins. Sure, past sins still happened (we should learn from them), but they have been "cleaned up" so there is no trace of them left behind. I like that imagery.

I learned in my Sunday school class this past weekend (thank you Anne Wolfe) that there are people who continue to purposely sin because they know they will be forgiven. We discussed how this is an abuse of the system and may not be looked upon by God very positively. We discussed how we know that we are all sinners and with faith those sins will be forgiven, but there needs to at least be an effort on our part not to continue sinning. So it is because of the gnostics that I chose to make the roll containing paper to not have an unlimited supply of paper.

forgiveness

it is easier by far

to ask another to forgive

than when wronged by others

for your pardon to give.

© rt tulley