Forgiveness is Freedom

There is an old proverb that says: If you love someone set them free.If they come back to you it was meant to be.

For years I thought this quote was about letting go in our relationships. Not holding on too tight, giving them freedom to leave without being possessive or controlling.
OK, sounds wise and seems simple enough. I imagined them flying off to explore all the adventures life has to offer and eventually coming back home to me. Or not.
It sounds so magical and romantic and mysterious.
The only thing is it left me in a passive position. Waiting around like some kind of tree branch for the leaves to fall off..
Liberty is about Circumstances
Freedom is a State of Mind
It's funny how something loses its value for you once you think you know what it means.
In considering this quote from the light of Easter and the spring equinox, I see it newly.
These traditions are about coming out of the darkness and into the light. It's about new beginnings, resurrection, it's about forgiving the past and embracing the new.
I think it's about forgiveness
I think it's about letting go of resentments. About setting the soul free to find its right place in your relationships. I think that to 'set them free' is to give up forever your right to withhold your love and acceptance.
I think it's about allowing them to be exactly how they are and trusting them to find their own truth and their own balance. And if in that truth you share a brief moment or an eternity.....Either way, you are free and that was meant to be.