None of us gets it right all of the time. We forget. We make mistakes. We show partiality. We lack understanding and insight. We laugh at the wrong time or at the wrong thing. We say the wrong words or remain silent when we could have said the right ones. It’s true for me and it’s true for you. Why, then, is it sometimes so hard to forgive a friend? Why is it so easy to carry that grudge and in the stillness of the night to rehearse what my friend said or did to irritate or insult me? Here’s the proverb that has caught my attention – “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends” – Proverbs 17: 9. Or as Winnie-the-Pooh said, “If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
