Forgiveness (noun): pardon; end of blame.

The title of this post is the definition of forgiveness from dictionary.com. Some synonyms that stuck out to me were mercy, grace, and charity.
There are people in our lives we want to forgive. There are people who our hearts are hardened towards and we really don't want to forgive. We're carrying around these things that should be forgiven on our backs. It adds to our emotional baggage. It weighs us down in our daily lives, affecting our relationships.
As I'm thinking about forgiveness recently, we don't only have to give it to those who ask for it. We're called, as Christians, to forgive all those who sin against us as God forgives our sin against Him. There are an incredible amount of cross references in the bible about forgiveness. The word "forgive" is in the bible 54 times according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. That does not include variants of the word, like forgiven (43), forgiveness (20), forgave (8), or forgiving (5). It's important. It's vital.
Sometimes, we have someone in our lives that continually hurts us. We tell ourselves that we just can't forgive them ANYMORE!!! How many times can we open our hearts and let that person back in, only to hurt us again??? In the Book of Matthew, Peter asks Jesus about forgiveness. "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV) Seventy-seven times. 77! That's a lot. In some translations, it says seventy times seven! That's 490. That's a hard pill to swallow. And the full essence of Jesus' answer, according to many commentaries, is that it's unlimited. Unlimited. Wow. It's hard to fathom. We're supposed to forgive, and that's the bottom line.
Jesus then tells a parable, exemplifying that basically how we're forgiven is contingent on how we forgive others. “For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15, AMP) We're supposed to forgive as much as we want to be forgiven by Him. 

On that note, we also need to forgive others HOW He forgives us: "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:12 (NIV) If you say that you'll forgive but never forget, then you're not fully forgiving. You're still holding that grudge. It's still in your heart. 
But how??? "Forgiveness is not some fluffy feeling.  It’s a decision to release the guilty person from future punishment and to stop focusing on the debt of the debtor." -Stacie Ruth Stoelting.  We have to choose to forgive. To not hold these things over people's heads.
I'm not trying to preach to anyone who is reading this, I'm having a problem with letting things go with a particular person in my life. It doesn't help that this person continues to add insult to injury, "trespassing" over and over again. These things have piled up into an incredible mound of hurt that I carry, and continue to hold over them. Mean and hurtful things spew from my mouth when talking about this person. Could I say it to their face? Oh, no. I hold my tongue and smile in their presence, not showing the resentment that has build a wall between us. I'm slowly realizing that the only way to tear down that wall is to forgive, brick by brick. How I wish I could just take a bulldozer to that wall!!! I just pray for the grace of that bulldozer.