The Need for Forgiveness
Once upon a time there was a school teacher who decided to teach a lesson of forgiveness to her young students. She asked them to bring some tomatoes in bags the following day, and when they brought them in their bags, she told them not to remove them from the bags and carry them wherever they go. They did as asked by their teacher, unaware of what was going on. After a couple days they came to the teacher complaining that they are unable to carry the tomatoes in their bags because they are stinking very badly.
She smiled and explained to them that if they are unable to breathe due to the rotten tomatoes we carry, how could our relationships breathe if we choose to carry our grudges forever? “So you should learn to forgive people for their mistakes,” the teacher advised. Once we forgive, we release that stinky baggage.
Unfortunately it's not always easy to forgive because we are in the right, and it's not our fault. And we think that if we forgive, we are letting others off the hook. When we forgive, we are letting go of that stinky tomato. For good.