Aging with Grace

Forgive yourself for the decisions you have made, the ones you still call mistakes when you truck them in at night.

Sarah Kay

I’ve been thinking about forgiveness. Actually, I’ve been thinking about forgiving ourselves. In my late 30’s and early 40’s, I took myriads of classes and read stacks of books relating to spiritual awareness. A  lot of what I learned came down to self- forgiveness. Easier said than done, or so it appeared in my own life.

The burden we carry of actions or words begins when we are young and continues to grow heavier as we add to it through the years. We hear talk of people having baggage and this is a form of baggage that can become very heavy, as years go by. Some people have the ability to forgive themselves and move on or, in some cases, not even recognize that they have caused harm. I’ve never been very good at that until, later in life, being forced to see the damage it causes. The problem is, as we become older, the weight of what we carry becomes overwhelming. We have to be able to set it aside or allow it to crush us.

We are told, if we ask, we receive God’s forgiveness. We should follow that with forgiving ourselves. We can’t re-write the past. We have nothing to gain by hanging on to it. All my sorrow won’t change what was. My only option is to let it go and work to do better in the time that remains.