the hardest blessing

If we cannot lay aside the wound then let us say it will not always bind us.

Let us say the damage will not eternally determine our path.

Let us say the line of our life will not forever follow the tearing, the rending we have borne.

Let us say that forgiveness can take some practice, can take some patience, can take a long and struggling time.

Let us say that to offer the hardest blessing we will need the deepest grace, that to forgive the sharpest pain we will need the fiercest love, that to release the ancient ache we will need new strength for every day.

Let us say the wound will not be our final home; that through it runs a road, a way we would not have chosen but on which we will finally see forgiveness, so long practiced, coming toward us shining with the joy so well deserved.