Forgiveness and Struggles

     One time when I was younger, my mom presented me with a question of sorts. She asked me,"You have two sisters who grew up with a deadbeat father and careless mother. After the sisters are all grown up, one blames her parents for everything, but the other insists that her parents didn't know any better and that they loved them. In one word, what is the difference between the sisters?"
     The answer may seem obvious to you, but my younger self didn't really quite understand. I threw out about 15 different words, but none of them were the answer. 
     My mom shook her head with a slight smile, "Forgiveness." She said, "You can go your whole life and never forgive your parents for their mistakes, or you can choose to hold on to the pain they caused you." 

     This was often something my mother taught me, she wanted me to understand that if she made any mistakes, she was sorry. She didn't want me(and still doesn't want me) to look back at the way I was/am raised and see her and my dad as the "bad guys". To be honest, all of things I've ever blamed my parents for were stupid things that have since made a lot of sense. It's funny how children think they know what's best for them.
       Anyway, I've gotten way off track. I started writing this post with the intention of getting to here. Don't let the things that you have been through become who you are. You cannot go your entire life blaming other people or God for what others have done to you. You need to get out of your little universe and realize that the world doesn't revolve around your struggles and problems. Forgiveness is key when you let go of your struggles of the past, or even the struggles of now. Struggles make us who we are, but struggles are not who we are. We are not our struggles. We are not our struggles. There is going to be pain, that's life. If you have a good and forgiving attitude, then the struggle won't be nearly as bad and won't last nearly as long. 
     Which sister are you? The blamer or the blameless? 
     

Just a side note: No, I didn't forget about my character on Monday, the internet was really slow, and nothing was working, so I'll publish it next week!