I tend to think of forgiveness as an event. Like: “I forgive you. Now it’s done.” My box has been expanded, pushed around by the PA Amish community’s response to the recent murders of 5 school-aged girls.
Jenny Schroedel wonders how an entire community can forgive so quickly. Is it because they understand forgiveness in a different way? Possibly. She notes in a recent column that Amish people view forgiveness as a lifestyle, not simply as an act. Living forgiveness makes an act of forgiving far more possible, even in the face of the horrific. Seventy-seven times forgiveness. I can’t see any other way to do it.
October 20, 2006 at 8:20 pm |
It’s amazing what people committed to living in obedience to God can teach us. We may not agree with all of their applications of Scripture to their outward life, but I certainly think that the Amish can teach us volumes about the inward life. I know I need to enroll in their school!