Even the introduction calms me down. 

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool." Isaiah 1. 

The invitation implies that both parties are reasonable. Which if I am honest is not always the starting place I launch from. I could blame it on years of using logic to convince a preschooler to stay in bed, or a teenager to get out of one. Neither of which brought measurable results. 

It is also soothing that the verse floats over past mistakes like a magic wand. Which didn't work for me when trying to get blood stains out of white laundry. But it reassures me that I am, indeed, forgivable. 

"For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31

The other day, a mother told me that she apologized to her son for a painful interaction from many years before. She felt like it was a way to heal an old wound. But he did not remember it. 

I wonder what it will be like when I meet my Maker and that blessed amnesia arrives. Probably it will feel as buoyant as when I loosen my grip on those worthless grudges taking up space in my brain. 

"As we forgive those who trespass against us."