Sunday, January 29, 2006

Nouwen on Healing Our Memories

"Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When we forgive a person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our children for their lack of attention, our friends for their unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice, we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of events we had no control over.

Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let these events destroy us; it enables them to become events that deepen the wisdom of our hearts. Forgiveness indeed heals memories."





Very very true.

4 comments:

  1. Since you last put about Nouwen on your Blog I signed up for the mailing list, and I just wanted to thankyou. It has helped me such a lot, especially this one. Thanks Randall

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  2. That was spoken by a courageous woman.

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  3. Thanks Nikita;



    He does have a way of stating truth, in small packets.



    Praying for ya.

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  4. Forgiveness really is the key....seems to give us the freedom to allow the hurt of memories to shape us in a positive way...or to allow us to become softer somehow, more pliable in our souls. Nouwen says it so well.

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