Why a “For-Give” is the Best Give

12/23/2020

Dear WHY Team member,
Thinking of you during this very special time of year.

Audio: 🗣

We’re living in the sunset of another year; yes, We Are Living!
For many, the holidays this year have been very different than “the norm”; it’s the “different” times like these that make you appreciate a bit more the “holiday with the family.”
I hope that you, like me, despite what this year may have brought, feel amused to see small toilet paper ornaments or hear the parody of the 12 days of Christmas singing about the 12 days of quarantine.
Because even though I wish your year was only filled with joy and laughter, as Sheryl Sandberg shares,” Life is not perfect, when Option A is not available, we all live some form of Option B.” However, even in Option B, we have so much in which to be thankful and plenty from which to give, but remember, the most important Give is to For-Give.

Consider this:
What if among the presents you’re wrapping for your loved ones, you wrap a small empty box that contains a sheet of paper with the word Forgiveness written on it in large capital letters and mail it to someone who….could benefit from it.
Have you considered gifting Forgiveness?
While there will be the exchange of presents, food and good cheer - a truly powerful gift is to release others from what you perceive to be wrongs against you. As we learned in physics, with every action comes a reaction; sometimes the actions of others, especially those closest to us, can hurt us deeply. Are you strong enough to give them …Forgiveness?

Consider making this “different” year’s gifting “different” and give to the ones who have hurt you, and give to them abundantly.

2020, was supposed to be the Year of vision: 2020 vision. Use clarity to see through the pain and how it shaped you, how it maybe made you walk a different path than the one you had pre-planned. And mostly, use clarity to see yourself STANDING, and because you are standing, offer forgiveness to the ones who put you down. Look towards the gifts you’ll receive, not just those under the Christmas tree, but rest assured, the pleasant gifts you will receive from your new you.

Every Christmas season I watch the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life and am reminded once again how easy it is to devalue ourselves. In the movie, George cannot pay a debt and gets to the point of feeling worthless. As most of you know, only when he sees how the world would have been without him does he realize that he is far more valuable than his unpaid debts. In fact, in the end, he couldn't pay his debt - love paid his debt and love awakened him to his true worth. George got to see the loving overflow of generosity from others and even if the movie doesn’t explicitly show it, I bet you he gifts himself Forgiveness. It's a story of the redeeming power of love and always brings me to tears.

It is first up to us to recognize that what we have already received is beyond what anyone could say they deserve. We need only see the abundance in our life to know this. But if we choose to keep our balance sheets listing all the hurts others have done to us - it is we who will suffer needlessly, not to mention everyone around us. It is often much easier to open our wallets and give than to open our hearts and give. This season consider all the more the gifts you have received and the ones you are giving from your heart.

This season, give the greatest gift of all - give the gift of Forgiveness!
And nothing will empower you more to do this than to receive it for yourself. When George found himself on that bridge, he only saw where he had failed, he wished he had never been born. Fortunately for him, he got a chance to see what that would have meant; and because he continued to live, it gave others Option B, the opportunity to show love and create a new path for George and his family.

Your life, despite your faults and shortcomings, is far more valuable than you can ever imagine. You are a gift to the world. When you truly know this, you will want others to know this about themselves as well.
So if Option A was taken from you, embrace Option B and give forgiveness -
only through forgiveness for ourselves, and then for others, can we truly live
A Wonderful Life - one that gives, one that serves, one that fulfills the WHY of our lives.

May forgiveness fill your heart and provide you, and the ones you love, a Very Joyous Holiday Season and a Very Happy New Year!

Best wishes to you and yours,

Steve Luckenbach

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