Forgiveness

I am a man of deep faith. It is not something I share at work because there are boundaries and a clear separation between church and state in my chosen profession. With that being said, I carry my faith in my heart on a daily basis. It is my hope that others do this as well.

A couple of weeks ago as I sat in church, I plunged in to a deep reflection about forgiveness. Without going in to all of the details of the sermon or my reflective thought process, I share with you that forgiveness is sometimes wrongfully viewed as a weakness because it might be construed that you are accepting what someone else has said or done to you and that you are condoning their behavior. This line of thinking is very dangerous because it makes you beholden to someone else's transgressions against you. Instead, forgiving someone for what they have done to you is empowering and allows you to find peace in the face of some truly awful and hurtful things. 

There comes a time in everyone's professional life where they are exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This exhaustion tends to lead a person to question if they have anything more to give. In more colloquial language, this feeling is called burnout, and for some who have neglected their own well being for far too long, the only thing remaining of themselves is a giant ash heap.

The silver lining in this message is that there is a cure for this and it starts with FORGIVENESS. In order to rise like a phoenix from this ash heap, one must be willing to not only forgive themselves for the things they have done, but also to truly forgive others for the things they have done to you. This is extremely hard to do because you might feel that others do not deserve forgiveness because the things that they have done or said to you are so hurtful. It is at this point that you must realize that we are all fallible and regardless of our mistakes, we must forgive others for their misgivings.

As a leader, I think it is imperative that I practice what I preach and that I model what I expect of others. With that being said, I am going to learn to forgive others.

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” ~ Mark 11:25