As an English instructor I try to discourage the use of clichés. However, last week my class proved that sometimes they are the teacher and I am the student.
Excited about this week’s sermon, I was curious to hear what my class of diverse, troubled teenagers had to say about forgiveness. Jerome asked if he could share his journal entry with the class—and you.
When he was six years old, Jerome’s mother lost her battle with cancer. At the funeral, family members hugged him, kissed him, told him he “was going to be ok—his father would take care of him.” During the viewing, his father lifted him, clutched him, and let him see his mother one last time. When his father set him down they were both crying. What Jerome didn’t know was that he would lose both his parents on that day. Jerome’s uncle brought him a picture of his mother and his father walked away—right out of Jerome’s life.
Now 16, Jerome explained that during his transition he resented people, especially any man that tried to be a father figure. He didn’t talk about his experiences. Instead he acted on his anger. In middle school he realized that his actions were hurting others and he did not want to scar other people the way he had been. Alone one day, Jerome spoke out loud: “Father, wherever you are, whatever your reason for leaving me that day—I forgive you. I am sorry, too.” Jerome now seeks out those whom he has hurt.
Even with my fancy degree framed and hanging on the wall, once again, they are often the teacher and I the student. In Matthew 18: 3-4 Jesus states, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Heavenly Father: Help us to discern that some things are not our fault, yet forgiveness is still a means to set us free. Amen
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