Forgiveness, part 2

Sometimes, a column requires a sequel. That’s the case with last week’s one on forgiveness. I had a Part Two – it made my jaw drop.

Readers may recall I had struggled to forgive a friend recently. I finally found the strength to do so after seeing an image of a barbell being lifted off my shoulders. The barbell was the weight of my anger dissolving thanks to forgiving them.

I was overjoyed to hug my friend. I did indeed tell them, “All is well.” We even laughed together.

The next day, I was nervous and excited. My husband John and I have been working to open an Airbnb. Our first guests arrived last week while John was in Nashville, Tenn. I had checked and re-checked everything. The space looked perfect. The guests arrived a little early and I gave them a wave and a “Welcome!”

As I left to drive to Agape Therapeutic Horseback Riding Center in Cicero for my volunteer shift a couple hours later, I received a phone call. It was our guest. He told me they were battling dozens of flies in the apartment due to the lack of a trap underneath the bathroom sink. The sewer gas apparently was bringing them in.

EW!! I freaked out.

After apologizing profusely, I tried to reach our contractor friends. No answer. I was going to be late for my rider at Agape, so I called John and asked him to please keep trying to reach them.

Thankfully, he did, and our friend Gabe set up a temporary fix after I came back home from volunteering. Whew. He promised to fix things permanently the next day. I left a note for our guests with a Dairy Queen gift card as an apology for the inconvenience. But the fun wasn’t over yet.

At 10:30 the next morning, I received another message from my guest via my Airbnb app. At 1:30 a.m., an Uber driver was pounding on the apartment door saying he had a drunk passenger who claimed to live there. Thankfully my guests didn’t answer, but they opened a window and heard the driver call the police. FOUR police cars pulled up, and the officers took care of the situation. My guest wanted me to know they didn’t interact with anyone.

You can’t make this stuff up.

I sat in my car holding my phone after getting this message, vowing not to cry. I took a deep breath and wrote them back, admitting they were our first guests and how upset I was they had these bad experiences. I decided to be honest.

We so wanted everything to be perfect for you. This is heartbreaking. I wanted you to have such a great experience. We worked so hard. I know both incidents have been out of our control, but it is still so discouraging.

I hung my head and sighed after sending the message. Imagine my shock when I received the following reply.

We are happy! Don’t worry about a thing. Things happen. We were just worried you would think it was us. My family loves the place. We will be back. We will leave a nice review! Thank you!

Now, I was fighting tears of joy. These wonderful people showed us grace. They forgave us. They were kind. They did indeed leave a good review, and the nicest note in our guest book once they left.

Suddenly, the parable of the Unforgiving Debtor filled my mind. Jesus told a story about a king who forgave a servant’s debt. Sadly, the servant didn’t do the same to someone who owed him money. He paid a terrible price for his actions.

I couldn’t help but realize that, thankfully, the exact opposite had just occurred in my life. I forgave our friend. Our guests forgave us.

Readers, if you’re struggling to forgive someone, please take time to think over the situation. If you’re a believer, pray. Do all you can to remove the weight from your shoulders. I think you’ll be blown away by what happens once you forgive and what happens in your future.

I’m so glad I didn’t choose the path of unforgiveness. The story with our guests wouldn’t have had such a happy ending. My gratitude is truly overflowing.

Amy Shankland is an empty-nester, writer, and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John and two dogs. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.