When you forgive, it’s for YOU, I told the girls at Balcony Girls this week.

Not only is it a gift you give to the person who has wronged you, it’s also a gift to yourself.

How fitting, just in time for Valentine’s Day when we’re suppose to show love to one another, many times through the giving of gifts.


Forgiveness is …
Forgiveness is an act that shows grace (or favor) to another person.

The girls ate Mini Weenies and Barney Butter KISS cookies as we talked at the table. I usually join the girls at the table. It’s quite fun!


Vicious cycle …
I told the girls that when you don’t forgive, it’s like a vicious cycle – bitterness, revenge, bitterness, revenge. And I explained how revenge and anger can physically and emotionally destroy a person!

Forgiveness releases the bad feelings toward the person who hurt you.


Think about this …
• After you forgive, does the hurt or angry feeling immediately go away?
• Does forgiving require us to sometimes keep forgiving over and over?
• Can you make someone forgive you?

Their answers varied, depending on each girl’s circumstance and what she’d experienced!


Cause for forgiveness …
This question got a lot of heat! What things can girls do to each other, which cause you to have to forgive?
• Gossip
• Betray
• Manipulate
• Exclude

Then we started dipping pretzels and adding Valentine sprinkles. Oh, and eating them!


Your turn to ask …
What about when you ask for forgiveness from a friend, I asked the girls.
• Make sure your apology is sincere (we role played sarcasm!)
• Explain why you did what you did
• If you were wrong, then admit that you were wrong
• And never have a friend do it for you!

Sometimes I have to rein the girls in – they tend to get excited and jump to new topics. This particular lesson I really wanted to drive the point home.


2 gifts …
I explained to the girls that another beautiful gift that you can receive, when you ask for forgiveness, is when your friend apologizes too!

After all, aren’t two gifts better than one?

Read about Balcony Girls ONE YEAR AGO, here. You can also read many more BG lessons, which are listed on my sidebar.

Read about My Children’s Valentines Gift – a post on a visit to an Assisted Living center, here.

Thank you, Darcy, for my newly designed Reluctant Entertainer button! Feel free to copy and paste the code on my sidebar directly onto your site, and share the 4RE LOVE with others! If you already have my RE button, you might want to grab this one instead.