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In high school, forgiveness is a rather rare concept. People are ruthless, stubborn, and too immature to even remotely understand its meaning. Frankly, Webster dictionary can only explain the meaning of forgiveness to be, “the act of forgiving”. This is because forgiveness is something that cannot be explained, but shown. What I’ve come to understand is that one cannot truly understand the power of forgiveness, nor can they show it until experiencing it themselves. Beginning high school I witnessed one of my best friends since elementary school become slowly nudged out of my so called, “new friend group”. The sad part was, I allowed it to happen. I thought it was part of life and that being in high school meant that my friends had to change. However, all I ended up doing was losing one of the most important people in my life. Skipping to about a year later, we saw each other again. I was terrified of how things would end, embarrassed by my poor actions, and confused as to what I would say when we spoke. However, when talking to her I felt a sense of tenderness. I felt love and grace as if the past feelings of anger and distress had melted away. Months after us talking again led to more and more time spent together. Things felt natural again, yet it was still hard for my mind to wrap around the idea that our relationship had become restored. How was she able to so willingly accept me back into her life? Daniel 9:9 states, "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him." This was forgiveness in its purest form. Jesus has seen our deepest, darkest sin, but will continue to come to us with tenderness, love, and grace, melting away the past feelings of distress and anger. He is the ultimate example of forgiveness and is the only explanation to why I was able to restore my relationship with my friend. Forgiveness cannot be defined, but only shown through the love of Jesus for each of us and how we reflect it onto others. We have the capability of showing forgiveness just as Jesus did and truly transform the current society of ruthless, stubborn, and immature people who seem to not grasp the idea. High school is a time of drama. Relationships change and people change. However, you have the power to surprise people by acting as Jesus would and allowing them to experience the beauty of forgiveness.

Jessica's Thoughts On: Forgiveness 

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