Forgiveness, justice, grace, love. These are the fundamental values of all faiths. They are hard to define within the same sphere as they have no definite boundaries but overflow into each other equally so that they form almost the one colour and yet, they are unique in their function … interdependent yes … but unique none the less. So why is faith so harsh sometimes? Why are there so many divisions in faith? Even within the one faith … even within a subgroup of a particular faith? Why have forgiveness, justice, grace and love become such impossible values? Why are their meanings so very broad that they are weakened so that they are left with no substance … leaving it all to the interpretation of the individual? Could it be because we have bled these words dry of any meaningful activity? They have become words of feeling and no action. They have become words of beauty and been robbed of sacrifice. They have been painted so that they look pretty and stripped of their very deep challenge. to be worn as badges which can be obtained from cereal packets or greeting cards. Forgiveness, justice, grace and love are costly because they are action words, not just feeling words … and action costs. The price to pay can be anything from your attitude, your judgement of others to everything you own and have strived to achieve. Other’s shoes are hard to wear, but unless we start there, we will never again be able to find and enliven the true value of these words.