I recently heard a story on the Untame Yourself Podcast that made me think more about forgiveness. She read the story of Officer Van de Broek, an officer on trial at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the apartheid. I copied this story from the Geoff's Shorts Website:
In a court stands Officer Van de Broek (aka Vanderbrook, Van Der Broek) who tortured and killed both the husband and the son of a nameless South African woman during apartheid. We are in a sitting of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; the officer has just admitted his crimes, including shooting the widow’s son, burning his body and holding a party nearby.
The judge asks the grieving woman “How should justice be done to this man who has so brutally destroyed your family?”. She asks to be taken to the site where she witnessed her husband’s murder so she can gather the dust for a burial. She tells the officer that she wants for him to visit her twice a month so she could be a mother to him and share her love. Finally, she asks to hug him so he can know that God has forgiven him through Jesus. Those assembled break into a rendition of Amazing Grace so rousing that officer Van de Broek faints.
There are parts of my life that I recently discovered that I have been carrying resentment for. Life hasn't been perfect and I have been wronged, but by resenting someone else I realize that I am only hurting myself. If this woman can forgive the murderer of her family, perhaps I can forgive as well.