It is told that after the Civil War Robert E. Lee visited a woman in Kentucky who took him to the remains of a once magnificent tree that stood on her property. She complained to him that the tree had been destroyed by artillery fire from the Union army. She stood there waiting for Lee to condemn the North or at least sympathize with her. Instead, he said, “Cut it down, my dear madam, and forget it.”

When we are greatly wronged, we tend to want to hold on to the pain, and we might expect others to join us in our state of mourning. How much healthier it is to choose to forgive and put the incident in the past.

Is there any tree in your life that you need to cut down and forget?

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”—Col.3:13