The Lord is forgiving, but sometimes life is not forgiving.

If you love me as you claim to, then you love her as well. She's part of me. Do you understand? She's part of my flesh and my life. When you say things against her, you say them against me. When you cut her, you cut me. Do you understand?

All the way back, she had imagined him gloating and taunting, rubbing her face in her own broken pride. Instead, he knelt before her and washed her dirty, blistered feet. Throat burning, she looked down at his dark head and struggled with the feelings rising in her. She waited for them to die away, but they wouldn't.

"Love cleanses, beloved. It doesn't beat you down. It doesn't cast blame." He kissed her again, wishing he had the right words to say what he felt. Words would never be enough to show her what he meant. "My love isn't a weapon. It's a lifeline. Reach out and take hold, and don't let go.

Lord, forgive me. You said go to her, and I let pride stand in my way. You said she needed me, and I didn't believe. You said love her, and I thought it would be easy. Help me. Open my heart and mind so that I will love her as you have loved me.

I loved her, Lord. I loved her enough to die for her, and she did this to me. Maybe she's beyond redemption. How do you forgive someone who doesn't even care enough to want to be forgiven?

We try to do a little better than the previous generation and find out in the end we've made the same mistakes without intending. Instead of striving to love as God first loved us, we let past hurts and grievances rule. Ignorance is no excuse.

Passion lasts but a moment, compassion a lifetime.

Oh, that he should care so little about people whom God loved so much.

Hittite law emphasized restitution rather than revenge. Humankind lost a certain useful practicality when it chose the other Semitic response—never to forgive and never to forget.

What terrible things we do to those we love!

Forgive us, Lord," Nunepi whispered. "Forgive you?" Leto's voice was full of sweet reason. "Of course I forgive you. That is your God's function. Your crime is forgiven. However, your stupidity requires a response.