Forgiveness Is A Gift And A Skill

Forgiveness. It’s the gift we often want from others but generally have great difficulty giving it ourselves. You can substitute ‘relationship’ for ‘marriage’ in the quote above; the truth remains the same.

Forgiveness is the cornerstone of any healthy relationship. It’s absolutely essential for relationship growth and development that we’re willing to forgive our partner, sibling, parent, whomever. We need to be slow to jump to conclusions and quick to offer understanding to the ones we love.

Certainly there are exceptions – situations where harmful behaviors are repeated without remorse or any attempt to change. But what I’m talking about here is your normal, healthy, everyday relationship. We need to be willing to forgive our partner’s impatience, our sister’s miscommunication, or our friend’s oversight.

The reality is that none of us are perfect, and we’re all in need of forgiveness from time to time – when we slip up, when we forget, when we respond unkindly. What makes our relationships healthy is when both participants are good at the art of forgiving. And it’s never too late to start building this skill.