When We Know More, We Might Forgive More

Description

Often, even the most challenging behaviors of others – behaviors that clearly hurt people – change as we come to know more. When we know more, we might forgive more. This morning I invite you into a simple, searching reflection on growth, knowledge, and forgiveness, rooted in a line that has stayed with me: “Love dictates what grows, because love is the goal and purpose of everything. We cannot adopt anything as our goal and purpose but what we love.” If love is the soil of our lives, then what grows in us rises from what we hold closest. I share a powerful insight from a social worker who says, “Any behavior becomes understandable when you know enough about their lives,” and I wonder what would change if we lived as though that were true. We all bump into each other. We hurt and are hurt. Some wounds feel irrational, even self-destructive. Yet if we paused and breathed, if we simply admitted, “If I knew more, I’d be able to forgive more,” perhaps a new space would open in the heart. Swedenborg teaches that our ruling love shapes our thoughts and actions from the inside out, forming the very ground in which our spiritual life takes root. When we allow humility to till that ground, heaven quietly plants compassion there. So today we “be still and know,” trusting that God works in unseen places, softening hard soil, nurturing seeds of mercy, and leading us, step by step, toward a forgiveness that brings peace and brings us home.