I frequently reference the Seinfeld episode in which George fails to think of a witty response when a coworker insults him during a meeting. Later in the the show, he is seen in his car when a light bulb apparently goes off in his head, and he turns the car around to go back and deliver the comeback.
Perhaps I like this episode so much because George's reaction is very familiarto me. When a person (in my mind) wrongs me, I get angry. And it's justified since they haven't apologized, right? I begin imagining the next time I will see this person, the types of things they will say to me, and my own snide replies to whatever they say.
So when Nancy Wilson wrote in her recent post about forgiveness, "We cannot think up snappy comebacks if we have forgiven them," it struck a nerve. She offers some good advice on dealing with bitterness and forgiving others when they aren't asking for it:
The best way I can think of to test whether or not you are able to forgive someone is to imagine how you would react if they came to your door and apologized. If you know for a fact that you would readily extend forgiveness to them, then I don’t think you have an unforgiving spirit. But if you know that you would not be disposed to forgive them readily, then you have some work to do.
Read the rest of "Finding Forgiveness"
here.
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