The delivery of your on-line shopping order arrives, and instead of lemons for that cheese-cake, you get lemon washing-up liquid. Laughable, yes, but about the times when you have been let down personally? Someone says “Yes, I’ll be there,” and they don’t turn up.”Yes, I’ll do this,” but they don’t. And they may not even apologise afterwards.

The Lord’s prayer reads” Forgive us our sins,” but goes on to say “as we forgive those who sin against us”. That’s not easy for me, as I react strongly. So it means that my sin of unforgiveness becomes bigger than the original sin of them letting me down.

It’s hard, but if I can’t do it with a minor incident with God’s help, how can I possibly forgive someone who damages me or my work on a large scale?

Does anyone find this difficult? I do. But I am learning to let go a bit earlier each time.

The fact is that when I say and mean it “I forgive you”, without justifying my grievance or turning it over and over in my mind, then I not only free myself from a small wound that could fester, but I also free the perpetrator from their guilt, whether minor or major.

Forgiveness IS possible, with God’s help. God’s Son, Jesus, actually took on his own body the whole guilt of the human race when he was cruelly killed. With him, and through his deed, we can fly free again.

Elspeth Jackman, Christchurch New Greens, St Albans

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here