“Fair is what comes to the state fairgrounds once a year,” a friend’s divorce attorney said. Many things in life don’t seem fair. And forgiveness is one of them.

If you forgive the person who owes you $30,000, money won’t magically appear to replace what’s lost. They spent your money, and you go without. That’s not fair.

If someone maligns your reputation, steals your business, your innocence, or your spouse, forgiving won’t restore these losses. That’s not fair. They did wrong, and you pay the price.

Some consequences can’t be retracted even if the perpetrator wants to undo what happened. So how do we satisfy our sense of justice and forgive when the wrong cost us so much?Continue Reading