It is not ok to hurt people. Regardless of how young, how old, how wise or how ignorant we are when we hurt someone – it is never ok. Part of the process of healing from the trauma of how someone may have hurt us is sitting in the pain we have certainly caused someone else. We must see it…hear it…taste it…smell it…feel it…experience the whole of it before we can even begin to let go of what has been done to us.

To forgive ourselves for hurting others and for being the victim of someone else’s misplaced hurt, we must acknowledge both. Most important, we must acknowledge that others are not ok with what we have done to them and that we are not ok with what others have done to us. We are all strong but none of us is invincible. We all bleed, and the fact that we all bleed the same color blood should make us even more compassionate toward one another. Apologizing to the person we have hurt and to God and seeking forgiveness from both is crucial to helping us recover from the devastation we have experienced. Even more, apologizing to and forgiving ourselves for being less than perfect is the only way we will be able to move forward with our lives.

Some people believe in karma – that the bad things that happen to us are the direct result of the bad things we have put into the world through our thoughtlessness. However, I believe in God and that He freed us from the endless cycle of karma by sacrificing the life of His precious and perfect Son once for all. Karma, therefore, is God’s own hand…nail pierced to set us free.

Let the healing begin. Amen.