It's funny how we are reminded of the things we need to work on in the most poignant ways. I am in no way perfect or even close to it. I consider myself a reasonable and tolerant person, not often given to fits of rage or hysterical crying fits. In fact it is not often that I am angry with someone beyond the point of repair.
I found myself almost exactly a year ago absolutely enraged at someone who had broken a confidence. I was struggling with a relationship in my life and was seeking guidance from two friends. It was an extremely delicate situation but I knew that these two friends would keep my confidence. Or at least that's what I thought. I came to find out that one of these individuals not only had reported our conversation to more than one person, but that it came mere hours after I had specifically asked for secrecy. It may not seem like a big deal and if it had been about something silly then I would have been more forgiving. However, the information that was passed was such that it could end up ruining more than one persons life. I was absolutely devastated. I made several attempts to speak with the individual who had broken my trust, but my requests for a chat were ignored. I finally decided that it didn't matter. I was definitely not going to trust this person anymore with anything.
As the time has progressed I have not avoided this person in any way or sought to do them harm. We have a lot of the same mutual friends so I know what is going on in their life and I'm sure it is reciprocal. We have often been in the same locations, I have just chosen not to speak with this person. I am a little shocked that I still feel some animosity for this person, because it is not in my character. I'm sure that there have been clues and promptings that should have led me to realize that this was not healthy, but if there has been, I have ignored them.
Last night at Family Home Evening a friend gave a lesson about forgiveness. There is absolutely no way that I could do it justice so I won't even try to summarize it other than to say that a great deal of it came from the book "The Peacegiver," and to say that it may have taken me a while but, I get the message and consider me officially rebuked.
2 comments:
Great work!!!
Congratulations!!!
I love how life teaches us these lessons. That is why we need each other so much, because one day we will say it the way someone needs to hear it. Thanks for your friendship. I have enjoyed it so much and look forward to being around you each chance i get.
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