The Lesson of the Magnets – August 05, 2012

Of all the difficult things we do in life, one of the very hardest is to truly forgive someone who has mistreated us. Even when we know forgiving would make us happier, many of us cling to old hurts, unable to let go.

Perhaps we close our hearts in this way because we think we can protect ourselves from ever being hurt again. But really, there’s no way to control the actions of others, and wrongs can and will come our way; it’s part of life. So keeping injuries alive, waiting for apologies, and increasing our resentment does nothing to prevent hurt. All it does is keep those past offenses in the present, a growing collection of open wounds. What we think will save us destroys us.

There may be a lesson for us in the way magnets interact with each other. Many of us played with magnets as children, and we can remember the invisible repelling power we felt when we tried to hold two like poles together. It took great effort to fight that force, but many of us were determined to make those magnets bend to our will.

So we are sometimes in our relationships—we know grudges give us nothing but grief, yet we seem determined to hold on to them and refuse to back down. And, like magnets, we feel the urge to distance ourselves from others if they don’t see things our way.

But if we can find a way to let go, the magnets will very often swing around and right themselves. In letting go, we free ourselves from contention and conflict, begin to see common ground, and find it in our hearts to forgive. As we do, we discover that forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves, a gift that replaces friction with harmony and bitterness with a lasting peace.

Program #4325

Musical Selection:
1. How Firm a Foundation
    Attributed to J. Ellis; arr. Mack Wilberg; Oxford University Press
2. The Pasture, from Frostiana
    Randall Thompson; EC Schirmer
3. A Girl’s Garden, from Frostiana
    Randall Thompson; EC Schirmer
4. This is My Father’s World (Organ solo)
    English folk melody; arr. Dale Wood; Sacred Music Press
5. Spoken Word
6. I’m Runnin’ On
    African-American Spiritual; arr. Mack Wilberg; Oxford University Press
7. Organ Interlude
8. Benediction
    Mack Wilberg; Oxford University Press