For­gi­ve­ness – a won­der­ful word with such a lot of me­a­ning. It is about love, for­get­ting, bles­sing, and even ac­cep­tan­ce. But it is al­so a chal­len­ging word: dif­fi­cult to ask, to give, and to be­lie­ve.

I col­lec­ted child­ren’s thoughts about for­gi­ve­ness for a dis­cus­si­on eve­ning. The smal­lest child­ren spoke about qu­ar­rels and how to set­t­le them. School-aged child­ren al­so men­ti­o­ned sins and their for­gi­ve­ness.

“If you have done so­met­hing

bad that is sin,

you can apo­lo­gi­ze and ask to be for­gi­ven.”

Sin – anot­her word with a lot of me­a­ning. Hat­red, bit­ter­ness, fal­ling, stra­ying, and even gi­ving up faith. A con­cept that is sel­dom dis­cus­sed in our time and is con­si­de­red ob­so­le­te by many. Yet an ine­vi­tab­le part of hu­man life. We can­not avoid sin, but we can bat­t­le against it. Ask for for­gi­ve­ness and be­lie­ve. God lo­ves the sin­ner.

“Sins are for­gi­ven in the eve­ning,

it feels good.”

The child lays down his head on the pil­low. We sing one ver­se of the eve­ning song. We talk about the events of the day. I tell the child that he is dear and im­por­tant to me, his fat­her. I bless him and tuck him in. He en­jo­ys the warmth of his bed. And smi­les hap­pi­ly. For­gi­ve­ness brings pe­a­ce.

“If you hurt so­me­o­ne,

you must apo­lo­gi­ze and ask to be for­gi­ven.”

I hap­pen to be pre­sent in a si­tu­a­ti­on where two adults di­sag­ree and hard words are used. Cruel words are spo­ken to a per­son who lis­tens in si­len­ce. Af­ter the scol­ding, when the si­lent one le­a­ves, the ot­her says: “I will ne­ver apo­lo­gi­ze to that per­son.”

This hard and un­for­gi­ving at­ti­tu­de ma­kes me pau­se. How can a per­son be so cold to­ward so­me­o­ne el­se? I can­not help pon­de­ring about this. I find a judg­men­tal at­ti­tu­de in my­self, too, and re­a­li­ze that it is of­ten dif­fi­cult for me to apo­lo­gi­ze. There is hard­ness even in me.

For­gi­ve­ness is a great gift. It is ext­re­me­ly va­lu­ab­le in all hu­man re­la­ti­ons. And the gos­pel of for­gi­ve­ness is even more. It is the door to he­a­ven.

“We hug. We for­gi­ve.”

Juho Leh­to­la

Trans­la­ti­on: S-L.L.

Blog post pub­lis­hed in on­li­ne Päi­vä­mies on 12 Dec. 2015