Cleansing With Forgiveness

“My life is a mess, and no matter what I do, it keeps getting worst,” Belinda complains to Yolanda as they walk for exercise around the park in their community.

“Spoke to your mother recently?” Yolanda asked.

“That Witch should burn in hell for what she did to me as a child,” she let out.

Eying her with raised brows, Yolanda went on, “How about Orville? Seen him lately?”

“Yes, and he is dying of cancer. I hope he dies soon.”

“What about Lisa? I hear she is doing great,” Yolanda asked stopping to tie her sneaker lace.

“That wrench cheated me and helped Orville to divorce me. I hope her business fail and she loses everything,” Belinda said, halting a few feet ahead waiting for Yolanda.

“Heard anything from Keshia?” Yolanda went on, walking towards her friend.

“From I helped that she-devil and she bought her house, I haven’t seen or heard from her,” Belinda said, as Yolanda catches up to her.

“When was the last time you spoke to Ken?”

“That ungrateful slime. I heard all of his clients are suing him. I pray they win, and he finds himself in hell where he belongs.”

Silence grabbed Belinda as Yolanda paused. Glaring at her, Yolanda released, “You just answered your question.”

“What question?”

“The one about the chaos your life is in.”

“I don’t understand,” Belinda said slowing, her pace.

Yolanda imitated her movement, then explained, “Your heart, mind, and soul are so filled with hatred it’s blocking the love, understanding, forgiveness, and all of the things you need to improve your life from flowing to you.”

Belinda halted eases back her upper body unconsciously, “Say what?”

Yolanda stopped, looked into her friend’s eyes, and said, “You refuse to forgive your mother and all of the others that hurt you.”

“For all the hell they put me through, I must just let it go?” she exclaimed in rage.

“It’s called forgiveness. Forgiveness helps us to move on.”

“I can’t just forgive them,” she defends.

Pulling her to a park bench nearby, gently pushing her down on the seat, Yolanda sat beside her and asked, “what did you learn from your experience with your mother?”

“To be a better mother to my kids than she was to me,” she threw out quickly.

“What did you learn from your ex-husband?”

“Not to allow any man to take me for granted ever again.”

“And Lisa?”

“Never to lend money to friends without a written agreement.”

“Keshia?”

“Not everyone remembers kindness.”

“What about the lessons you learned from Kenneth?”

“Life pays us back for good and the bad things we do,” she said in deep thought.

“You have learned so much from their actions, choices, and decisions. Take their cruelty towards you as valuable lessons. Learn from it. Use some of the past kindness they give to forgive them, and then move on. The pain will slowly subside, and happiness will come in. With happiness, you will be able to clean up the debris their cruelty causes and live the life you want,” Yolanda counsels.

Staring at her friend as the truth and reality confront her, Belinda blinks to push the tears back. Then remarked, “They were good before they turned bad.”

“All of us were. Just don’t let the hatred and cruelty they share stay inside of you. Forgiveness can be a cleanser. Use it to clean up and free yourself from the negative vibes and energy they left behind.”

The tears came down without effort, and Belinda hugged Yolanda, saying, “why did you wait so long to heal me?”

Laughing, Yolanda eased from her embrace, took her hands, stared into her teary eyes, and soothes, “because honey, the right words, at the right time is nourishment for the body, mind, and soul. Plus, the right time beats everything. And it is now!”

Use forgiveness as a cleanser to clean up the hatred and cruelty humanity shares. Don’t let it stay inside of you because it will harm you.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoy it.