Learn the Power of Forgiveness

I held my first Scrapbooking for Beginners Class today and I was the teacher. It went really well. Hard to believe that at one time in my life I wanted to throw up and pass out at the thought of standing up in front of people. My how things change.

This elderly lady was one of the 7 people that came into the class today. She has never scrapbooked before but really wants to put together a scrapbook of her granddaughter. When the class was over, she stayed behind to ask some questions. Because she was new at this and had a deadline to get this done she was anxious to get started right away. While we were talking, she was very emotional. At first I didn't understand why talking about her granddaughter had made her seem so sad. We were going through the pictures of her granddaughters childhood trying to pick the ones that she wanted in the scrapbook and filter out the huge pile. While we were going through the pictures, she was telling me about each moment. You could tell that this woman totally admired and adored her granddaughter. In conversation she told me that her granddaughter had undergone a few heart surgeries during her life. Her granddaughter is only 24.

When this woman mentioned that her granddaughter was getting married in April she stressed how important it was for her to get this scrapbook done in time for her wedding. Without any experience, I could tell that she didn't see that happening. Gently I put my hand on her shoulder and told her that she needed to come in during the week and I would help her with whatever she needed. She was so grateful and thanked me many times. As she was getting ready to leave, she apologized for being so emotional. She then told me that she is very sad that her daughter and her granddaughter are estranged. In fact, she knows that her daughter will not be at the wedding and it breaks her heart. This woman expressed how much she believes in forgiveness and how life is too short to carry anger for so long.

My heart broke. All I could think of is how fortunate I am to not only have a wonderful relationship with my mom but to also have had a long time being so close to my grandmother before she passed away. I could feel that this woman wants her daughter and her granddaughter to make amends before anything were to happen to any one of them. Her granddaughter having heart problems has her even more scared of less time for forgiveness to come about.

My hopes to help this woman create a scrapbook of her granddaughter is only a minor thing I can do to help her. What I want to do is wrap my arms around her and tell her everything will be ok. One thing I cannot stand is to see someone emotionally hurting. She feels so trapped in the middle between two people she loves with no way of bringing them together. Tonight I will pray for her and for her daughter and granddaughter. If the relationship has no chance of changing, maybe at least the grandmother can be freed of her sadness. We all need to take to heart the relationships we have and know that we will not live forever. Do we really want to leave this earth angry, feeling guilt, emptiness, sadness, and being stubborn when we had so much time and many opportunities to change things?