So the Christmas season has passed. It was a wonderful holiday for myself and my family. One of the new things we did this year was read How the Grinch Stole Christmas every night to our daughter. It wasn't really a planned thing it just sort of happened. When we asked her what she wanted to read she said the Grinch. And we found that it helped her get to sleep better, possibly because it's not really a short book. So, every night my husband sat down in the floor with our big girl and read about the dog max, cups of cold water, and hearts that grow. But one night he made a statement. I'm not sure he intended for it to be some deep and meaningful thing, but it stuck in my heart. He got to the end of the story where the Grinch gets to carve the roast beast and he said, "That was really nice of the whos to let him do that after he tries to steal Christmas." I think he was just trying to show our daughter that it's important to be nice even when other people aren't nice to you. But what I heard was so much bigger.
See the whos down in Whoville still had Christmas, even when there were no presents and no feast and someone had severely wronged them for no reason. They get up, see that everything is gone, and they sing anyway, then they invite their offender to not just be a part of the celebration, but to be in a place of honor. All of these thoughts lead me to one question.
How could the whos have so much peace when things seemed so bad?
The conclusion that I came to was this. They had forgiveness.
True deep down peace comes from a place of forgiveness. Two specific forgivenesses I have decided. The first is that we, as Christians, are forgiven creatures. We don't have to fear making mistakes, wrong choices, or even the days that are so messed up we want to crawl back in bed and hide. We are forgiven. We can rest in that peace here on this Earth that is so broken and wanting. Now, please don't hear me say that forgiveness is a free ticket to do whatever you want. It's not. Instead it's a freedom to live the way God has called us to live to the best of our abilities, but when we mess up or the world pushed back we don't have to stress about it.
So the first is God's forgiveness of us, but that produces the second: our forgiveness of other people. When we can forgive people, whether they are sorry or not, we can have true peace. When we don't have to worry about being angry at people we can live in peace. I was once told that forgiveness isn't for the offender, but rather the offended. Forgiving someone allows you to move on with your own life. Then, someday if that person changes their behavior or asks for forgiveness, you can allow them back into the celebration. You can have the peace to tell the Grinch that he can come to the feast, and he himself can carve the roast beast. And, what's more is that you won't have missed out on any of the wonderful gift of life that God gives you by being angry.
My prayer is that through this year I can remember the true lesson of the Grinch that I have learned this holiday season. Forgiveness brings true peace. My life doesn't have to be perfect to have peace. I can even learn to forgive myself, which some days is the hardest person for me to forgive. I want to spend this year like the Whos down in Whoville. I want to sing even when things don't look anything like I thought they would.
Happy New Year friends. Love, joy, peace, and forgiveness to you as we step into this new year.
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