{"id":358,"date":"2015-05-13T10:44:17","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T10:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayinspiration\/?p=358"},"modified":"2015-05-14T01:54:17","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T01:54:17","slug":"the-three-faces-of-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html","title":{"rendered":"The Three Faces of Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"forgiveness\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.\u201d – Bernard Meltzer<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I learned many years ago that forgiveness, and letting go of the anger, frees your soul to be able to look ahead and dream of the things yet to come.<\/p>\n

Simply put, forgiveness doesn\u2019t excuse; forgiveness sets you free.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also learned there are three distinct faces of forgiveness. Each one is wrapped in grace and offers the opportunity for healing, reconciliation and peace.<\/p>\n

The face of giving forgiveness<\/h4>\n

Who do you need to forgive right now? Who do you need to call, write or email and say, \u201cI forgive you\u201d? Is it your parent, sibling or a friend? Do you need to forgive your partner or spouse? <\/p>\n

When you show the face of giving forgiveness, you\u2019re not letting the other person off the hook; you are giving yourself the freedom to move on in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.\u201d – Mahatma Gandhi<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The face of receiving forgiveness<\/h4>\n

What do you need to be forgiven for? Have you made a mistake, did something wrong or said something inappropriate? Who needs to forgive you?<\/p>\n

When you show the face of receiving forgiveness, the shame you once felt begins to slip away. You begin to feel worthy again and you no longer have the need to hide your imperfections. Receiving forgiveness doesn\u2019t bring the end of love; it brings the return of love. <\/p>\n

\u201cForgiveness is the final form of love.\u201d – Reinhold Niebuhr<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The face of God\u2019s forgiveness<\/h4>\n

God\u2019s forgiveness is unconditional. God will not punish or reject you. By refusing to ask God for forgiveness, you are only punishing yourself because His mercy is absolute.<\/p>\n

When you open your eyes and see the face of God\u2019s forgiveness, you are allow yourself to let go of what has been keeping you from living in God\u2019s grace and love.<\/p>\n

\u201cForgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” – Mark Twain<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

About Alex Blackwell<\/a><\/h5>\n

Alex Blackwell is a father, husband and writer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.\u201d – Bernard Meltzer I learned many years ago that forgiveness, and letting go of the anger, frees your soul to be able to look ahead and dream of the things yet to come. Simply put, forgiveness doesn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Three Faces of Forgiveness - Everyday Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Three Faces of Forgiveness - Everyday Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhen you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.\u201d – Bernard Meltzer I learned many years ago that forgiveness, and letting go of the anger, frees your soul to be able to look ahead and dream of the things yet to come. Simply put, forgiveness doesn\u2019t…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Everyday Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-13T10:44:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-14T01:54:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2013\/08\/forgiveness.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Blackwell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Three Faces of Forgiveness - Everyday Inspiration","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Three Faces of Forgiveness - Everyday Inspiration","og_description":"\u201cWhen you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.\u201d – Bernard Meltzer I learned many years ago that forgiveness, and letting go of the anger, frees your soul to be able to look ahead and dream of the things yet to come. Simply put, forgiveness doesn\u2019t…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html","og_site_name":"Everyday Inspiration","article_published_time":"2015-05-13T10:44:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-05-14T01:54:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2013\/08\/forgiveness.jpg"}],"author":"Alex Blackwell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html","name":"The Three Faces of Forgiveness - Everyday Inspiration","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2013\/08\/forgiveness.jpg","datePublished":"2015-05-13T10:44:17+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-14T01:54:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/71d89f4271da87423b5582b35093074f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2013\/08\/forgiveness.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2013\/08\/forgiveness.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2015\/05\/the-three-faces-of-forgiveness.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Three Faces of Forgiveness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/","name":"Everyday Inspiration","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Alex Blackwell","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/71d89f4271da87423b5582b35093074f","name":"Alex Blackwell","description":"Alex Blackwell is the author of Letting Go: 25 True Stories of Peace, Hope and Surrender and the founding editor of The BridgeMaker - a blog about letting go, faith and inspiration. Be sure to download Alex's free eBook How to Love Consciously and connect with him on Facebook.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/author\/cblackwell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1713,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}