Songs Teach Us What We Already Know

I was having a conversation about forgiveness with a friend recently.

Forgiveness is a fundamental principle of life, of living life peacefully and fully.

It is not easy to forgive, but it is essential to push past the lulls in life when we are challenged to grow and mature.

While it may seem easy to forgive those who ask for forgiveness, or a situation where you feel good about forgiving, what about the thought of forgiving the unforgivable?

What about those who are not asking for forgiveness, but would desire to kill you?

How difficult it is indeed to forgive such as these.

I misquoted the lyrics of a song that I happened to be playing in my mind prior to starting this conversation with my friend around the idea of forgiveness.

I repeated the second part correctly, about love, but the first part I guessed incorrectly:

'I got a feeling, we're holding the hands of time'.

The actual lyrics are as follows:

I got a feeling we're holding back the tide 

I got a feeling we may never show 

All the love we hide 

Lyrics by: Talk Show

I found the message subtle yet profound.

How many times have we hid love inside?

Isn't this all of us?

We are afraid to open up our hearts to others, even those closest to us.

We hold back the tide, afraid of letting love spill out...afraid of what may come out.

What are we truly afraid of?

To realize our commonality?

To realize that love is the basis of us all?

Yet many avoid love, either feeling it, expressing it or experiencing it.

Looking at my mistake in quoting the original lyrics, aren't we also holding the hands of time?

I have had friends and relatives pass into eternity without me fully expressing my heart to them.

I know and believe they can hear me even now, but it is a very different experience (and challenge) opening up in front of someone in person.

If Today you have something you should have shared with someone; a kindness, loving word, forgiving them or asking them for forgiveness, please do not delay.

Time quickly slips away, while the love we have inside grows beyond ourselves and our concepts of eternity.