Forgiveness

“I’ll never forgive him. I told him I would never forgive him.”

The elderly woman told a nurse of how her brother had approached her bed, accusing her of taking more than her share of family heirlooms following their mother’s death.

He spoke of various items, ending with “the berry spoon.” He said, “I want the berry spoon.” Forty years since the mother’s death, his feelings, once hidden now erupted.

Hurt and angered by his accusation, she vowed never to forgive him. “It’s my spoon. Mother gave it to me,” she defended herself. “He’s wrong and I won’t forgive him.”

In the bed lay a woman given two months to live and she would face eternity and never see her brother again in this life. Her mind and spirit were in anguish, and her only remaining family ties were broken over a berry spoon.

“How many berry spoons are there in your life? How many things, as insignificant as a spoon, in light of eternity, separate you from others? How does a lack of forgiveness keep you separated?”

How many berry spoons are there in your life?

- A Big Message