Forgiveness is an Action verb.

I continue to read every book I have that might give me some new ideas about how to forgive and why and all of that. I may end up being an expert on what it is. But that does not get the job done in my mind. The problems are still out there looming around and the collateral damage is growing.

Last night one of my best friends called and is furious about the way my sister treated me and she is not one to sit quietly and not inform our world.

Today I went out to lunch, at my request, with a minister friend of my sister and of mine. I told him the ugly story and asked for his advice. He asked all the pastoral questions of relinquishing it to God, believe and it will work out, have I prayed about it? When he saw that I was not interested in pat answers from a professional healer, he got down to business. Everything he said then required an action. Would I consider confronting her? Did I want him to confront her? Had I considered getting a mediator? (I thought that this sounded like a labor dispute; this is a family dispute.) I finally asked the waitress to bring the check because the conversation was not leading me down the path of forgiveness. I told him that I had considered everything that I could think of to consider except something that might lead to an actual solution. He said he knew that but he had to say the usual truisms. Theology is a genetic truism for Betty and for me, pk's that we are. We just don't know how to live it sometimes!

But maybe, he is right after all. Maybe I need to do less reading and less thinking about this and do a few more actions.