H,
It is not enough to know that we are imperfect. We must carry that bit
of wisdom into everyday life. We must think on it as we assess our interactions
with others. We must think of our own wrongdoing as a call to understanding the
human condition and the frailty of the others we despise. Or want to.
It is easy to love those in the same boat as we are. If we all have flaws
in common, we can form a band and talk through the issue. The real problem, at
least overtly, is the flaws we cannot stand. That other kind of misbehavior
that our petty morality rules as more egregious than the one from which we
suffer. We are always looking at that other wrong and then that other. The command
to forgiveness is a call to look at these imperfect mirrors by which we look at
each other and declare a holy truce.
We have a history of that. We stand on unstable tables and make great claims
about the way others act. The high point of God is when we let this burden of
judgment go. When we accept what it is to be painfully human and understand
that beyond that lies the eternal cure for all things.
It is not easy. People have forgiven such horrible things. People have
failed to forgive even more horrible things. No one can put that burden on you
but God. And you must believe Him to do it. He showed you by letting evil be
done to him. He made it clear that nothing can and should be unforgivable.