Forgiving

I went to youth group last night and the message was intruiging to me. It was about forgiveness and living every second of your life. I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to spending unnecessary time being angry at someone for something I should have let go of long ago. My leader, Lori, explains that forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is only for yourself. Not necessarily something you even have to say to whoever hurt you, but just breathing out forgiveness. Saying to yourself that you let go of it, that you let go of the anger you have. You shouldn't forget whatever happened, because forgetting every wrong ever done to you would be ignorant, but not forgiving someone, and keeping it inside is only hurting yourself. It really makes sense, because if you think about it, whatever is really bothering you that someone else did... do you really think they're sitting and thinking about it as much as you are? Of course, forgiving someone isn't necessarily going to make the hurt go away, but it helps to let go of whatever happened. It seems so simple, once I heard all of that, but it's helping me already. I don't want to spend any extra time thinking about whatever has hurt me in the past, because it has made me the strong person I am today.
Done rambling, gotta go to my Research paper conference then get ready for some adventures at the Magic House in STL! :]