A blessing for those who forgive others in the family business

Forgiveness is a difficult but necessary element of being in business with family members. There is no doubt that living and working in close proximity will produce miscommunication, misunderstanding, and conflict. You will hurt, and be hurt by, those you love. Developing the capacity to forgive another family member for the wrongs committed against you will challenge you beyond any management, ownership, or operational business issue you face. Those who find a way to forgive are blessed indeed.

Tim Keller, a well-known pastor and prolific writer, died in May. The last book he wrote, Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?, offers a view of how forgiveness is seen in society today, and gives compelling arguments and reminders of why we, as Christians, are called to forgive others. The blessing below is for those in the family business who pursue the difficult work of forgiving those who have hurt them.

There was a time before your relationship ruptured
A time when you felt a sense of cohesion
When your work together in the family business
Promised a future to which you both looked forward.

The breach appeared to happen all at once
But in reality was a long time coming
The other person’s choice that caused you pain
Hurt deeply in ways foreign to your soul.

As time went on, you heard a whisper deep within
Reminding you that you had once been forgiven 
You had been a receiver of such a gift, not a giver
Thus you could not fully count the cost of forgiveness.

As you walked the halls of the prison
Created by your anger, supported by your pride
You finally decided to cast away your desire for revenge
You decided to forgive.

Now, as you pay the price of the other person’s debts, 
May you be blessed and fortified by God’s love of you.

As you demonstrate your forgiveness of the other person,
May you be blessed with courage to continue loving them.

And, when you attempt to reconcile,
May you both be blessed with a vision of God’s sacrifice — Jesus
Given so that we can be reconciled to Him.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Prior blessings: For a long-term key employee, for the next generation’s new business venture, for a family member recovering from addiction, for a sibling partnership, for the end of a family business partnership, for grandparents in the family business, for those experiencing family estrangement, for your estate planning efforts, for a family business gathering, upon the passing of a family business member, for rest, for the next generation’s return, for the senior generation letting go, and for the new year.