I learned the wonderful lesson of forgiveness from my mother because she left us when I was eleven; I was the oldest of five.  I loved her every time she came to visit us and grew very bitter every time she would leave.  It was then that I made up my mind that when I had children, I would have my revenge.  I resolved that she would never be allowed to see her grandchildren.

And then one day, I married Gloria and we had our first child, a son.  Although my mother only lived a mile away, I knew she would never see her grandson. However, shortly after my son's birth, something happened that changed my decision forever.  About six months after his birth, a truck driver introduced me to the love of God and to His forgiveness.  I then realized immediately how wrong I was.  I went to my mother and it was then that she taught me about forgiveness, because I had to ask her to forgive me for the resentment I had carried for all those years.  After that I called her weekly to tell her she was the best mother a kid could ever have had. I took her to Europe, I bought her a home and I did the eulogy at her funeral and told everyone there she was the most wonderful mother a kid could ever have.

But you might say, "She left you."  Yes, she made a mistake, but she never meant to do it.  You see sin makes us do a lot of things that we never mean to do.  So today I can truly say that one of my greatest accomplishments was I made my mother happy.