Before you say anything, no, I’m not crazy. I took a life management course this year, and the curriculum taught me about this strange word. It’s an Eskimo word, a very special one too. It’s their word for forgiveness, and it has an interesting story. When Missionaries came to the Eskimos (Or the Inuit, as they call themselves) they had no word for forgiveness. It was a foreign concept to them. If someone hurt you, you hurt them back. Someone stole from you, you stole back. Eye for an eye in the most literal terms.

But these missionaries showed them a new way, God’s way. God told them to “Recompense to no man evil for evil.” (Romans 12:17a) So these missionaries, with the help of some Eskimos, took upon themselves the task of creating a word to mean forgiveness. They came up with this beautiful word, issumagijuajungnainermik. It means, to not be able to think about it anymore.

The sad truth is Christians today have a hard time with this. We will say we forgive someone but when it comes down to it, we didn’t actually forgive them because we still hold grudges. We verbally forgive them, but in our hearts we are still consumed with ill will towards that person. Every time you see that person, you get angry. This small seed of a unforgiving spirit can ruin many relationships. Families are driven apart because someone forgot to turn off the coffee pot 10 years ago. Friends are separated because one person forgot to wish the other happy birthday. Small things that are not taken care of as big things can eventually end up as life threatening things.

We need to remember this word, this beautiful word, and absolutely forget about the wrongs people have done to us. Forget about that garage door. Forget about that neglected birthday. Forget about being dragged to a foreign country where you don’t know anyone. And remember God’s forgiveness for you, for He has forgiven far greater then we will ever have to. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Psalms 103:12

-by Davey Green, MK to Taiwan