To forgive is to love
I recently watched a vlog featuring sisters Toni and Alex Gonzaga in which they talked about a person's ability to forgive. In the vlog, Toni said that a person who forgives will never look like "tanga" or stupid because of the freedom from hatred and bitterness that it gives to that person. Although I am not really a fan of Toni, but I admired her sentiment about the power of forgiveness.
Truly, forgiving is challenging, especially if the person you need to forgive is someone you love so much and is not expected to hurt you in one way or another. This is where the grace of God comes in because He will strengthen and allow us to let go and move on from the hurt that we are experiencing. In short, forgiving is an act of love. When we love someone, we know that nothing can ever break you apart, and for those who have forgiven someone many times, this is where the notion of "katangahan" or stupidity comes in.
But Toni is right in saying that when a person forgives, he or she allows the hurt to escape from his/ her inner self and becomes free from pain and suffering. I have compiled a few quotes on forgiveness which are really valuable:
"There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love." - Bryant H. McGill
"If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive." - Mother Teresa
"Forgiveness is a powerful expression of the love within our soul." - Anthony Dougl as
"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"I believe forgiveness is the best form of love in any relationship. It takes a strong person to say they're sorry and an even stronger person to forgive." - Yolanda Hadid
"Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation." - Roberto Assagioli
"Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against natural instinct to pay back evil with evil." - Pope John Paul II
“Forgiveness is a sign that the person who has wronged you means more to you than the wrong they have dealt.” – Ben Greenhalgh
"To err is human; to forgive, divine." - Alexander Pope “When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.” – Alan Paton
"Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying 'You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It's saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future'." Jodi Picoult
"We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness." Frederick William Roberson
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi
"When you forgive, you heal. When you let go, you grow." - Anonymous
"How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself.” - Publilius Syr us
Let us all be reminded that he who forgives is blessed and that he who forgives is also worthy to be forgiven because, after all, nobody lives a perfect life in this world.