FORGIVE YOUR ENEMIES...

I read this statement on one of those

church billboards:

FORGIVE YOUR ENEMIES IT DRIVES THEM CRAZY

That very same afternoon I was watching

one of those true crime shows that I love

and realized, that sometimes this statement is true.

This certain show was about a serial killer

and the court case was the true court room.

Each of the family members of the women

this monster had killed had a chance to stand

before him and share what they felt.

All were very angry as they lashed out at him

with their words.

He sat there stone-faced, showing no emotion

making eye contact with each family member as

they shared what they had lost because of him.

Many wished him to Hell, a painful death,

still he sat there with no emotion.

The last to approach the microphone was an elderly

white haired gentleman who had lost his

beautiful daughter to the hands of this killer.

He calmly looked his daughters killer in the eye and said,

"I want you to know that I have forgiven you.

It has taken me a long time to get to this place

and it wasn't easy but I realized that if I hold anger

towards you and I don't forgive you then I, too,

remain a prisoner and you win.

So as you prepare to die and live the rest of your life

in the confines of a prison, I want you to know

that I forgive you."

The camera pans to the monster as he sits there,

unable to make eye contact and tears streaming down his face.

Only in that act of forgiveness was this man able to

show remorse for what he had done.

I know to forgive your enemies is not an easy task,

I struggle with it myself,

yet, there must be something to it...