Two women—let’s call them April and May—had been best friends since the time they were growing up in the same neighborhood. April was more spiritual, and May was more fun-loving.
May got tricked by a guy who used alcohol and romance to get her to share some sensitive personal information about April. He then posted the information on social media. When April told May about the humiliation, May confessed what she had done.
April was outraged for a moment, but then she shifted gears, because they were sisters in God; and April also understood May’s weaknesses in the areas that the pseudo boyfriend had taken advantage of. The two women came to a shared understanding of what the wrongdoing involved, the breach of justice that had occurred.
May rose to the occasion by entering a 12-step program; and she also did a lot of reading on personal growth. During the most intense months of this process, April was a model of constancy, showing fairness and then patience and then kindness. And then the time came when she said and did some things that let May know that April was renewing their bond of trust.
April understood that God is a loving and merciful Parent who wants us to share that love and mercy with others. And throughout the rehabilitation of their friendship, April related to May like a wise and affectionate parent would with a normal child who had made a very understandable mistake.
April also knew God as a friend, and so she could walk the path of the height and depth of truest friendship with May.
A year passed. It was a time when the friendship between the two women was strong and smooth.
But then late one afternoon, when April was dealing with major frustration and she was hungry and tired, she suddenly burst out and spoke hurtfully to May and reminded her about the betrayal two years earlier. April realized that she had not sustained her forgiveness of May. April mourned what she had said and allowed herself to experience the sadness deeply. She apologized deeply, while May assured her that there was no break in their relationship. In this way and in other ways, April continued to experience her friend’s attitude of mercy.
April turned to God, confident of his love and mercy and friendship, and she abundantly experienced the forgiveness of the infinite upholder.
Then April took a lesson from May and begin a similar path of thoroughness to strengthen her character. From the start, April wholeheartedly believed in the eventual success of her personal growth program, and she followed her path of progress with much joy. Her motto as she went through her program was “Believe and rejoice.”
Through these experiences of giving and receiving mercy, both friends came to feel that they could better understand the teaching which they had learned as children: Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Photo Credit: Fennec – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=348968
