Borrowed lovingly from Julie D.

This quote really addressed some issues that I have been dealing with lately, so I thought I'd blog it and share.

If someone has wronged you, you are not required to think they're wonderful for doing it. You can despise what they did to you, and tell them so. You can tell them it was lousy and that you feel lousy and that you forgive them in spite of all that. The Lord asked us to forgive, but He never asked us to feel like forgiving. You must decide to forgive, just like you decide to love. None of this has to come naturally, and if you are expecting to develop the natural inclination to forgive, you're going to wait a long time.

As Christians, we don't forgive someone because it makes us feel like a nice person or because its sweet, but because its hard. The very difficulty we have in summoning true forgiveness out of our hearts makes us resemble Jesus.

Mother Angelica