Is Forgiveness Possible? DUCK DYNASTY Stars Say Yes
By Movieguide® Contributor
DUCK DYNASTY stars Sadie Robertson Huff and her mom Korie Robertson recently got together to talk about parenting and forgiveness — it turns out holding grudges doesn’t actually benefit anyone.
“You’re really big about not holding grudges,” Huff told Robertson on the Aug. 21 episode of her “WHOA That’s Good” podcast, “and actually that’s been something that Christian and I have…it’s been funny in our relationship because he like did not understand that about me. He’s like someone will do something to me, and it will be bad, and then I’ll be like upset about it, and then if they say they’re sorry, and I forgive them, I forget.”
“When I think back to it, you were so big,” Huff told Robertson. “Like, ‘Do not hold a grudge.’ Like, ‘Do not hold a grudge. That is just harder for you than it is for anyone.’ Like, ‘Just forgive people.’”
Robertson affirmed this, saying that the person who suffers the most from a grudge is the one who holds one.
“It really does only hurt you and I do think also…part of it is…if you continue to think about the bad things then that’s you know, your day is going to be worse if you just keep bringing those things up,” she explained, “but if you train your brain to like, think about the good things, think about the fun parts or the special parts so the good memories with somebody then it’s…like what you think about is what kind of grows and becomes whatever in your life.”
In 2022, Huff preached about forgiveness at a women’s prison. Movieguide® reported:
“Under the blood of Jesus, I believe that you are a woman after the Lord’s heart. I believe that you are a daughter of the king. I believe that God sees you as pure as snow,” she told the inmates. “So ladies today, no matter the consequences you are facing, I believe that you’re forgiven today and the shame will turn to praise.”
“Your mistake might have changed your life, but it doesn’t have to define your life,” she added. “It doesn’t matter what your past looks like but you can literally be forgiven today, be forgiven by the grace of God because of what Jesus has done for you. The spirit of the Lord, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead can be alive in you today and you can be a hero of faith.”
In 2019, Korie’s brother and sister-in-law, Al and Lisa Robertson, wrote a book called “Desperate Forgiveness.” In it, they detail a few tips to make forgiveness easier:
“Don’t wait. The more time goes by, the harder it is to forgive someone.
Continually seek forgiveness as a way of life. They call that “aiming small and missing small.” In other words, if you’re able to forgive on a consistent basis for the little offenses, then you’re less likely to succumb to bigger offenses.
And, “Forgive yourself.”
In the podcast, Korie added that it’s important that parents shouldn’t be too hard on themselves.
She recalled a time when Sadie and her three siblings were teenagers. They had friends over and left food out all night. When Korie got up the next morning and saw the mess, she “lost it.”
She had blamed herself because she thought she failed to teach them well. Her husband reminded her that she didn’t do anything wrong and had raised them right.
“I felt in that moment of like, I didn’t teach you well enough. I didn’t do it right,” she told Huff. “I didn’t train y’all to clean up after yourself, to value things, and so I was taking all of that in and making it be about something that I did wrong as a mom, and dad was like, ‘Yes, you did. You taught them. They’re old enough. They should you know, they should be doing this.’”
“Sometimes as moms, we take that blame on ourselves for everything and so remember that being like pivotal and a learning moment for me too being like no, you don’t need to take that blame. They did it. They mess up. They should have cleaned up after themselves,” she said.
In a conversation with author Jennie Allen, Robertson mentioned another thing she remembers to take pressure off of herself as a parent.
She said, “There’s a Mother Teresa quote that says, ‘God hasn’t called me to be successful, he has called me to be faithful.’ It just takes the pressure off of me. I don’t have to do it right all the time. I just have to be there every day. I have to get up and be faithful and be in the moment. So that’s what I’ve tried to do.”
