The Meaning Of Forgiveness

Once two friends named Sham and Ram lived in a small village. They worked as the carpenters in order to earn a liveing. Once they decided to walk to the forest to collect the teak wood for making furniture. They both were childhood friends and shared similar thoughts. On the way to the forest, they were discussing a social topic and had an argument, and they both decided to talk no more. Sham was upset and wrote in the soil; “Today for the first time my friend had argued with me”. Another friend noticed the words but decided to ignore it. Both the friend continued walking into the forest, and reached a place were there are denser trees of teak. They both took out their axe and started chopping the tree branches. Suddenly a snake crawling on Sham’s arm, Ram noticed it, and without thinking, he picked the snake and threw it far as possible. Sham took a small stone and wrote on a tree; “Today my friend saved my life”, and turned to Ram. Ram was confused and asked Sham; “After I argued with you, you wrote in the soil and now, you wrote on a tree, why?” Sham smiled and replied; “When you argued with me, it had hurt me. Remember if someone hurts us, we should write it in soil, so that when it rains, or the wind blows, it can be erased easily and forgiven. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it on a tree where no wind or rain can even erase it”.

This small story tells us an essential message given by Lord Jesus. He gave a message to his disciples that they must forgive without
bounds and always remember the help of others. Sometimes in our life, we miss out our ethics and instead, we think of vengeance or retribution. Forgiveness doesn't change the past, but it does enlarge the future.