Forgiveness and Chronic Illness

I can't leave the topic of forgiveness without saying a few words about forgiveness and chronic illness.

It is easy for me to feel I did something that caused me to become ill or, since  my illness is progressive, something that's making it worse. Perhaps if I hadn't been so stressed as a 20-year-old, the disease would've taken longer to appear. Perhaps if I'd stayed on that special diet, I wouldn't be using a wheelchair today. You get the idea.

Cindy Hively, a teacher of mine, recently wrote "No matter what some people may say, your illness is not your fault!" Reading those words, I felt a knot inside me loosen.

As a person who faces health issues...
I forgive myself. I have done my best.
I forgive my body. It has carried me through this life, responding as well as it can to the changes within it.
I forgive healthy people who walk without thinking about it, who complain that they ate too much, who type on keyboards without realizing the miracle.
I even forgive the disease. Some DNA quirk responded to an environmental trigger and here we are.

No harm was meant.

Forgiving with wild abandon means that I embrace us all tenderly and love us immensely.