Wed 2 Dec 2009
A Miraculous Gift
Posted by Dr. Eric DeRusha under Guest Column
No Comments
While Black Friday shopping recently, I couldn’t help but notice all the people with lists, searching feverishly for gifts to give at Christmas. Then I remembered that famous advertising slogan, “(Some gifts are) Priceless! For everything else, there’s MasterCard.” No matter how high your credit limit, there are some gifts you simply cannot buy. It is these priceless gifts that have the greatest value in our lives.
Forgiveness is such a gift. Unlike most other gifts, it costs the giver nothing, yet, it has priceless value for both the giver and the receiver. It is “a gift that cannot be bought, that satisfies a debt that cannot be paid.” A story from Matthew 18 in the New Testament of the Bible illustrates this well. A King, whose servant owed him an amount of money so large that it could not be repaid, forgave his debt. In essence, the King gave to the servant “a gift that could not be bought, to satisfy a debt he could not pay.”
When someone has hurt us, we often feel the person “owes us.” The problem is that nothing the person does or gives will cancel our emotional pain. It becomes a debt the person cannot pay. A modern-day incident illustrates this well. Rev. Julie Nicholson, an Episcopal Priest, resigned her role as spiritual leader of her parish after a terrorist bomb killed her young daughter. She said she could no longer lead people in words of forgiveness because she could not forgive her daughter’s killer. She concluded, ”At its purest, setting both victim and antagonist free, it (forgiveness) is truly a miraculous gift.”
My daughter and I view this miraculous gift as a pathway to peace. Peace for both the victim and the villain. We are developing a blog with that focus, www.RealForgiveness.com. Peace in the world was lost, one relationship at a time, beginning with Cain killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4). It will return to our world in the same manner, one relationship at a time. Please join us in our quest to restore our world to the peace we once enjoyed. Each time you forgive someone, or accept forgiveness, you move our world one relationship closer to realization of another miraculous gift, the gift of peace.
May these Holydays Be Peaceful for You, Those You Love, and The Other Ones Too.
Shalom, Shalom. Perfect Peace to you.
Dr. W. Steven Boom
Life Transitions Publications
Thank you, Dr. Steve, for submitting this article. Dr. Steven Boom is a current patient at Paint Creek Chiropractic Center.
About Dr. Boom: He is a Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists. He specializes in the integration of individual therapy with family systems theory. He also provides psychological testing, therapy for marriage and relationship issues, family issues, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, or any other psychological problems experienced in childhood and adulthood. Dr. Boom conducts workshops on couple communication, effective parenting, parenting “tough” adolescents, and other areas of human development.
Dr. Boom also offers workshops and seminars tailored to meet specific organizational needs. He has been providing counseling services for more than 20 years. His offices are located in Imlay City, MI.