大象传媒

Good morning. Back in 1985.. a professor of Educational Psychology decided to look into what it was that helps people stay happy and emotionally well-balanced. His name was Robert D Enright.听 He decided to carry out a survey of the academic literature on forgiveness and found there was.. none at all!
听Professor Enright started to research forgiveness.. and what he found was fascinating. He found that the ability to forgive can reduce anxiety and depression and increase self-esteem. When researchers stick electrodes onto volunteers and ask them to think about somebody who鈥檚 wronged them in the past.. heart rates and stress levels rise. People who hang onto grudges and a desire for vengeance appear to have a greater vulnerability to heart-attacks and a weakened immune system.
听On the other hand.. people who鈥檙e able to put past grudges and vengeance behind them show a lower level of stress and greater calm.
听One of the central themes of the Bible is forgiveness. Jesus tells the story of a man who鈥檚 let off a huge debt but then shows no mercy to somebody who owes him a much smaller debt. We鈥檙e encouraged to forgive others.. in the same way God forgives us. And forgiveness isn鈥檛 about working up warm fuzzy feelings about another person: it鈥檚 sometimes a hard choice we make.. an act of the will which may take time.

Heavenly Father, I pray you鈥檒l keep me alert to this theme of forgiveness in the day ahead. Give me the humility to ask for forgiveness where I鈥檝e done wrong. And the generosity to forgive others who鈥檝e wronged me.听 Amen.
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