Forgiveness

I usually try to write about the business here on the RuffleBlog, but this week I was inspired by an Oprah episode that had been sitting on my DVR awaiting a lazy day. The episode was a tragic story of a man whose wife and son had been murdered by someone hired by his other son to kill the entire family. Needless to say, the father survived and was sharing his story on the show. The biggest thing that I took away from this tragedy is that the father, with a loving and faithful heart, was forgiving of his son. This really made me stop to think about any hurt or anger that I may hold inside and how really it is only a poison to me and no one else.

I am super fortunate that I truly have no major pain to speak of where I carry the burden on a daily basis, but even on a business level, I will use this lesson to apply to my own life. A very good example of this for me is my previous boss. He really hurt me, spoke poorly about me behind my back, stole from me, and ultimately disappointed me. I was both hurt and angry for months following that experience and it took a lot for me to find the forgiveness I needed to move forward with this business. Now, I look at that experience as my inspiration to start my own business running it completely differently, putting my ethics in front of my financial success. I have learned in life that by doing the right thing, and treating others the right way, you ultimately come out ahead. He may have seemed to have achieved that "success", but the thing was that no one really trusted him, they were all just there for financial gain. I owe him for the many lessons that will last me a lifetime.

So, back to the lesson for the week...the show was a nice reminder that anger is just poison, and forgiveness is truly a gift to the person holding the hurt, not the person that inflicted it. If that father can find forgiveness in his heart for the murder of his family, then it makes little arguments with my husband or frustrations with a business associate seem so insignificant.

I hope this story inspires you to find forgiveness for that family member or friend that may have hurt you recently. Just remember that everything in life comes full circle, and it is much better to live with forgiveness and allow the universe and God to run the way of the world.