Yet again, it gives me great pleasure in presenting another wonderful written piece from our Filipino pastor friend ‘Brother Louie.’

“Last week, I encountered the phrase “It’s not the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new world” in a passage in Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol. If you haven’t read it, I would recommend reading the story to you because although it is dark and pessimistic, there is also some hope to be found in the final chapter.

Imagine, for a moment, that you could hold on to this thought, this feeling, as you meditate on the following thought. “It’s not the end of the world, but the beginning of a new world.”

Believe it or not, each new day provides us with the opportunity to begin yet another chapter in our lives. Each day is a gift. Each day is the chance to create something more for ourselves by virtue of the choices we make. Sometimes these choices are easy, sometimes they are hard. But how are we to know which choice is the right one?

As Charles Dickens says, “Think oft-times, till you remember all the good that it is to have a penny dropped in your heart.”

As the saying goes, ” chimneys don’t come up to the window, they come down to the door.” One of my wishes for you is that you will remember always the greatest gift you can receive from your life; unconditional forgiveness from yourself.

We know the famous words from Corinthians that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. Have you ever felt or heard that before? If not, I urge you to examine your heart, and if you have not, to resolve to start this practice of forgiveness, regardless of where you are in your evolution and growth.

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Here is the deal: Life gives us exactly what we let it give us. We don’t need to be psychic or spiritual to know that. All we need to do is choose to make the choice to forgive.

That, of course, is the beginning of the end of all our problems.

You may not want to forgive someone. That is your choice.

However, by the simple fact that you can either choose to forgive, or not, the Universe has vested a lot of energy in this idea, that of non-forgiveness. This is true because if you choose not to forgive, there is no point in being here, because you will not be forgiven.

The very fact that you are reading this, means that you probably are at least beginning to understand that the concept of forgiveness is not easy to accomplish, but the consequences are, for the lack of a better expression.

Forgiveness, what many may not realize, is not so much the granting of pardon, as it is the maintaining of a healthy relationship with the person(s) involved.

In theinvolved persons (or their family members) there is a non-judgmental energy present that lovingly guides the involved persons to reflect on their participation in this situation and decide what is going to be done next.

Only if the involved people choose, do you then set forth to forgive. It is not critical, nor even vital, to the overall concluded outcome of this event that all involved persons choose to forgive.

If one person is not able to be agreeable to the choice of another to forgive, then that person has not developed the wisdom, love and compassion necessary to assist that person to move from where they are to where they need to be.

This takes a lot of energy and time; to beushing toward or pushing people to their breaking point to force them to do something they do not want to do. This does not serve the higher good.

If, however, the involved people are agreeable to the choice, this energy then softens one heart enough to allow a gentle change of heart and mind to take place.

Because the involved people choose to forgive, this in turn softens the heart of the person(s) involved to allow change to occur.

Remember, we do not eliminate our karma, we just meet it, again and again. Being able to meet and attribute the activity to forgiveness rests on the subtle level of non-resistance, where the spiritual double act of attempting to stop the action, or ease the process through forgiveness, meets the spiritual double act of letting the activity occur for the pleasure of empowering the involved persons.

The reason forgiveness is so lofty and difficult is because it demands a state of total surrender of the other person; therefore, it is not allowed, and the ego is againcontinue to define the problem, andomsayment about it.

True forgiveness is simply accepting the situation as it is, not wishing it differently. This is the ideal, and the state of enlightenment is one that allows total surrender and unconditional love, total detachment, no longer allowing the mind to get caught up in notions of “should’ or “ought “.”

Brother Louie

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