Have you learned the wonder and power of forgiveness? Is there someone who you just loved whole-heartedly, like a true best friend, and then something difficult happened that seemed more important than the relationship which ruined the friendship?
Is there someone who you have not forgiven? Is there someone who you did forgive and then found the peace that forgiving offers? Well… it happened to me, yep you guessed it, a best friend. A friendship which started in early elementary school, through Junior High and developed into a friendship like, well, what can I say, we just loved each other! We never said that though, WAY too mushy, but we did talk about things like “side by side” and “I got your back”. We would drive together to high school and never leave each other’s side unless we were in different classes.
His name is Chris – talk about being inseparable and trusting each other! Chris was instrumental in me meeting my high school heart throb. I came up with an elaborate plan that Chris was to execute to bring my high school dream girl into my life. One great thing about a best friend – they almost always say yes to their friend’s crazy schemes! Well, Chris pulled off the plan by getting to know my dream date’s friend and then planning a double date. It worked…
That dream girl is the one I now call my Princess…
Anyway, back to Chris and I. We were truly great friends and then something happened… What happened is not important, what did not happen was forgiveness. THAT COST US 25 YEARS!
Then at a party thrown by (wait for it!), none other than the girl Chris befriended all those years ago so that I could fall in love with my now Princess. We both knew that the other would be at the party. I had no idea what Chris had on his mind and I’m not sure what I was feeling either. Something like excitement, trying to bring up hurt feelings, not being successful, the feeling of the old friendship and feeling that wasn’t the right way to feel because of the non-forgiveness – I didn’t know what to feel!
So anyway, I show up at the party with my Princess and we settle in, saying hi to friends etc. Then Chris walks in… his head swivels around until he spots me – he almost runs to me, gently pushing people out of the way. He gets over to me, opens his arms, hugs me and almost picks me up! Only the swelling of my heart kept his embrace from crushing my ribs.
Well… our friendship is even stronger now, we have even more to talk about – so many life experiences to catch up on, as well as enjoying old memories but not letting that be the entire fabric of our friendship. Enjoying the more mature us! For some reason, if we spend more than a few hours together, we do become a little childish… (it’s fun!).
So, who is more blessed? Chris? Me? Or the spirit of forgiveness?