On Persistence for Well-Being
To grow in any virtue is similar to building muscle in the gym through persistent hard work. We surely do not want to overdo anything, including the pursuit of fitness. Yet, we must avoid underdoing it, too, if we are to continue to grow. It is the same with forgiveness. We need to be persistently developing our forgiveness muscles as we become forgivingly fit. This opportunity is now laid out before you. What will you choose? Will you choose a life of diversion, comfort, and pleasure, or the more exciting life of risking love, challenging yourself to forgive, and helping others in their forgiveness fitness?
Enright, Robert D. (2012-07-05). The Forgiving Life (APA Lifetools) (Kindle Locations 5359-5360). American Psychological Association. Kindle Edition.
This is a very serious message because we can all drift away from practicing certain forms of goodness. I think forgiveness is one of these. No one I know except for this website consistently challenges me to keep this kind of goodness in front of me. If I don’t hear it or see it practiced I can so easily just forget about it and no one benefits from that.
I write this on December 23 and want to wish the staff at the International Forgiveness Institute a very Merry Christmas. Your site is outstanding. I very much enjoy the blogs, the Forgiveness News, and the Ask Dr. Forgiveness entries.
I know it is a cliche but anything worthwhile takes patience and effort. I guess the hard part with forgiveness is that we rarely have the support or the group dynamics that help us stay on track. This is why your site is so valuable because it is a constant reminder that we have to keep at it. We have to keep going with forgiveness.
To be persistent requires the humility to know that we as humans too often fail in our attempts to be persistent. Knowing that, then we further realize that we have to work hard at persistence so it does not flicker out as we move on to the next shiny and superficial thing in our lives.
I am reading this on Christmas Eve, 2013 and I am reflecting on the endurance and perseverance the Holy Family had to exhibit in the travel to Bethlehem, and by donkey no less. They are a role model of such forgiveness and perseverance for us all.
I hope I develop such persistence this year. It is a gift to others from me. Merry Christmas, International Forgiveness Institute!
I have to admit that I can get bored with persistence. I need to break up the routine, but as you say this might lead any one of us into drifting away from the practice of forgiveness. It is tough to do.