Spoken forgiveness, no matter how heartfelt, works best when we do not demand the response we want. I mean that when we… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
If you cannot free people from their wrongs and see them as the needy people they are, you enslave yourself to your… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When we forgive someone, we do not forget the hurtful act, as if forgetting came along with the forgiveness package, the way… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The moments of grace usually give us more than one good thing we can do, and we do well if we manage… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Happy people are not their own enemies, do not carry on an endless war with their souls. We may be fiercely at… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Gandhi was right: if we all live by 'an eye for an eye' the whole world will be blind. The only way… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Once we have forgiven, however, we get a new freedom to forget. This time forgetting is a sign of health; it is… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I am personally thankful that we live together in a large moral house even if we do not drink at the same… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When you give up vengeance, make sure you are not giving up on justice. The line between the two is faint, unsteady,… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Can you stop your memory on a dime, put it in reverse, and spin it in another direction the way you can… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Don't do it quickly, but don't wait too long... If we wait too long to forgive, our rage settles in and claims… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
You and I were created for joy, and if we miss it we miss the reason for our existence. If our joy… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Nothing is more private than a woman's body; it is her physical, emotional, and moral citadel. She cannot be free at all if she… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The God who has the whole world in his hands has grace for the whole world in his heart. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Nobody sees reality whole; we all need others to show us the parts of it that they see better than we do. Nobody sees… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a mistaken understanding… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Spoken forgiveness, no matter how heartfelt, works best when we do not demand the response we want. I mean that when we tell people… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
We feel properly embarrassed when we are caught doing something that makes us look inept, knuckleheaded, or inappropriate. Maybe the difference is this: we… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Gratitude is the best feeling I would ever have, the ultimate joy of living. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
![“If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil]…” quote by Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/73a/lewis-b-smedes-4850_alive_if-we-say-that-monsters-people-who-do-te_940482.jpg)
