Me? You may have expected the person you most need to forgive is the parent who misshaped you during your formative years or the school bully who gave you an inferiority complex. Yes, they and all who offend you need to be forgiven, but you also need it as a lack of self-forgiveness significantly impairs your ability to live a fulfilling life. Please note the use of “have been” in the title. You...

Not a Chance You often hear, “I cannot forgive them until they say they are sorry.” Those who refuse to forgive until the offender expresses remorse, offers an apology, and makes amends do not understand the purpose or consequences of forgiveness and unforgiveness. The forgiver is forgiveness’s first beneficiary. The act of forgiveness releases the wounded from the emotional burden inevitably...

Sweet Land of Liberty?In a country proclaiming freedom of speech as one of its preeminent values, we seek to silence voices instead of listening to them.College students protest to cancel speakers with positions they are opposed to. News programs are now echo chambers for one side’s political views. When a panelist with an opposing viewpoint is included, the resulting “discussion” is...

How Did We Get Here? When I tune into a conservative news outlet, I am bombarded by commentators spewing the most outrageous conservative positions and conspiracy theories. They rail against the ignorance, hypocrisy, and ill intentions of the left while extolling the virtues of the right. If I escape the echo chamber and turn the dial to the left, I find the same content directed toward the...

Words will never hurt me. Do they teach children this lesson anymore or has it gone the way of cursive? Today’s message is for all of us – those in need of a refresher and snowflakes. Admittedly, it is easier to more widely broadcast words today than when I learned this phrase 50+ years ago and when penned in the mid-1800s. You are no longer limited by your ability to run around the schoolyard...