Forgiveness is slow. Have you tried to forgive someone who devastated you with no real regrets? How can we whip up forgiveness like the gods, my fellow mortals, when such things take time? How can we expect forgiveness from others when we apologize with no real regret?
In the months following my own devastation by someone I loved, on the heels of a stealthy betrayal, I played with forgiveness. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do when someone apologizes? And I heard many apologies. But the subtext had a cancelling effect: I’m sorry, but I’m not going to stop.
Months, even years, after my ex and I had separated then divorced, we often soaked in the hot tub after a day of installing gardens together—which we did as co-owners of a landscape business that disbanded around the pandemic…. {Read remainder of article on Patheos HERE.}