Daily Encouragement For May 15:

True Forgiveness

I have duly forgotten the name of an old lady who was a customer on my paper route when I was a
twelve-year-old boy. Yet it seems like just yesterday that she taught me a lesson in forgiveness that I can only hope to pass on to someone else someday.

On a mindless Saturday afternoon, a friend and I were throwing rocks onto the roof of the old lady's house from a secluded spot in her backyard. The object of our play was to observe how the rocks changed to missiles as they rolled to the roof's edge and shot out into the yard like comets falling from the sky.

I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and sent it for a ride. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped from my hand and headed straight for a small window on the old lady's back porch. At the sound of glass breaking, we took off from the old lady's yard faster than any of our missiles flew off her roof.

I was too scared about getting caught that first night to be concerned about the old lady with the broken porch window. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn't been discovered, I started to feel guilty for her misfortune. The reason was that she still greeted me with a smile each day when I gave her the paper, all I could do when she smiled at me was think of what I had done.

I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had saved up $15.00 for the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the $15.00 would cover the cost for repairing it.

I waited until it was dark, snuck up to the old lady's house, and put the envelope through the letter slot in her door. My soul felt redeemed and I couldn't wait for the freedom of, once again, looking straight into the old lady's eyes.

The next day, I handed the old lady her paper and was finally able to return the warm smile that I was receiving from her. She thanked me for the paper and said, "Here, I have something for you." It was a bag of cookies. I thanked her and began to eat the cookies as I continued my route.

After several cookies, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag. When I opened the envelope, I was stunned. Inside was the $15.00 and a short note that said, "I'm proud of you."

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” - Mark 11:24-26.