Dear Precious Reader,

Forgiveness is rarely easy, yet it is the path to true freedom in Christ. These words were written as a quiet encouragement for every heart that longs to walk in the same mercy the Savior showed us on the cross. May the Lord strengthen you to choose forgiveness daily and experience the liberty that only He can give.

With prayerful hope,
A sister in Christ

Brief Note on Form:
This is a villanelle — a 19-line French poetic form built on two repeating refrains and a strict ABA rhyme scheme. The refrains (“To walk in the choice of forgiveness, this is how to be free” and “The soul that releases the debt finds its true liberty”) circle like steady footsteps on a pilgrim’s path. Their repetition mirrors the daily, disciplined choice of forgiveness itself, making the poem both musical and meditative.

Colossians 3:13 (KJV)
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Ephesians 4:32 (KJV)
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Matthew 6:14 (KJV)
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Luke 23:34 (KJV)
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and

To walk in the choice of forgiveness, this is how to be free,
Clothed in the mercy that flowed from the wounds of the Tree,
The soul that releases the debt finds its true liberty.

For Christ on the cross breathed pardon for you and for me,
“Father, forgive them”—His blood writes the new decree;
To walk in the choice of forgiveness, this is how to be free.

Our tallies of wrong like old shackles refuse to agree,
Yet grace calls us higher: “As I have forgiven thee,”
The soul that releases the debt finds its true liberty.

When pride swells and memory sharpens its blade cunningly,
Look up to the Savior whose scars are the only just plea—
To walk in the choice of forgiveness, this is how to be free.

No strength of our own breaks the chains of iniquity;
His Spirit empowers the heart that was captive to see
The soul that releases the debt finds its true liberty.

So pilgrim, take courage—His yoke is gentle and free;
In union with Jesus, the bondslave of wrath is set free.
To walk in the choice of forgiveness, this is how to be free—
The soul that releases the debt finds its true liberty.