1 Omaylow FORGIVENESS

1 Omaylow

FORGIVENESS

   A stranger from the gathered crowd called out, asking, “Master Dwarf, what is forgiveness?”

  The prophet Omaylow answered, “The weeping man’s reply from God.  It is the wiping away of all those things that once separated him from the divine.”

   The stranger replied, “Is even such a thing possible?”

   The stout man’s stern eyes softened with, “The root of all forgiveness comes from God; alone.”

   The man looked shaken, with guilt written on his face as if only he and the dwarf were speaking in private, “ But - But what of the deed—“

   Omaylow’s gruff voice was almost a whisper, “All deeds may be forgiven.  It takes great strength not to forgive, but to surrender that pain over to God, for only he knows the heart of the fallen.”

   The young man was held back from the edge of tears, whispering back, “But - the guilt and shame of the –“

   The dwarf smiled a hearty glow back at him, “Of the deed?  God forgives; and what of the wrongdoer?  God takes away the wrongdoer’s guilt as the one injured finds healing in the letting go.  But, with man, things take time; yet, even then with God all things are in his time, for we are but a frail breath spent in a long day.”

   Shaking his head the young man disagreed, “I do not believe such a thing is possible, because—“

   The dwarven prophet looked at the man’s wringing hands, “Because - the weight of your guilt presses too much sorrow upon you.”

  Almost sounding angry the man came back with, “You do not know what my hands have done, what I allowed the flesh of my body to do.  All the gods, and religious traditions and happy thoughts could never undo nor withhold the wrath deserved, from falling upon me.  For I -”

   Omaylow finished his words and exposed his secret before all, “That you killed a man just three days ago in Sinjar?  That your purse for such payment was spent on wine and seven whores in Lindol?  That even three tossed coins into a temple passed by, in coming to Mithar was still not enough to aid in ignoring your crime, nor to buy such forgetfulness?   That is why God grants his mercy and Grace is not man in the face of a broken heart confession.  Only when you stop running, will you see his embrace.