Maybe an alcoholic father was sexually abusive in the midnight hours. Little victims of such horror may still be consumed by resentment and anger many decades later. Psychologists and ministers now agree that there is only one cure for the cancer of bitterness. Note that Jesus said nothing about who was right and who was wrong. Forgiveness, like love, must be unmerited and unconditional.
Forgiveness begins the healing process.
My dad would reach across the darkness and grope for my little hand, finally engulfing it in his. He said later that the instant he had my hand firmly in his grip, my arm would become limp and my breathing deep and regular. I would immediately fall back to sleep. Then, so very quickly, I found myself in my dad's place. You see, a dad occupies a place in a child's heart that no on else can satisfy.