This week is Mothers day week.
Time to ponder on the great lessons
learned as a Mom.
As the Matriarch of my family and the Leader of many women in my ward,
there are many occasions which come up when we have to put on our
forgiving face.
We all get offended, we say things we don't mean, sometimes we do mean them and are sorry we said them. Sometimes we are misunderstood, or our words were misinterpreted.
Whatever the reason, we are all guilty.
********
We are to forgive everyone!!
PERIOD!!!!
Last week while exercising I was watching a BYU devotional, and it spoke to me
on so many levels.
I want to remember this and treasure this always:
This was given by Elder Holland
********************
"This applies both in your own life and also in the lives of others. There is
something in us, at least in too many of us, that particularly fails to forgive
and forget earlier mistakes in life—either mistakes we ourselves have made or
the mistakes of others. That is not good. It is not Christian. It stands in
terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. To
be tied to earlier mistakes—our own or other people’s—is the worst kind of
wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist.
I can’t tell you the number of people I have
counseled who, when they are deeply hurt or even just deeply stressed, reach
farther and farther into the past to find yet a bigger brick to throw through
the window “pain” of their relationship. When something is over and done with,
when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has
moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened
since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound
that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal.
Let people repent. Let people grow.
Believe that people can change and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is that hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all,
it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past,
leave it buried. Don’t keep going back with your little sand pail and beach
shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone, saying,
“Hey! Do you remember this?” Splat!
Well, guess what? That is probably going to
result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the
reply, “Yeah, I remember it. Do you remember this?” Splat.
And soon enough everyone comes out of that
exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what God, our Father in
Heaven, pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing.
Such
dwelling on past lives, including past mistakes, is just not right! It is not
the gospel of Jesus Christ."
"We are not perfect. The people around us are not perfect. People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way. Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way. Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive."
-President Uchdorph
********************
Magic words indeed!!!!!!
2 comments:
Perfect post to start the Mother's day week. It hasn't been until the last year that I was able to even reconcile with my mom enough to communicate. And it took her leaving for Sweden to do it. I think the blessings of her serving a mission is what softened my heart and allowed forgiveness where I once refused it.
I love this post. I remember having a hard time forgiving a certain person. As soon as I prayed for help, the forgiveness was there. I'll never forget how freeing that felt. I couldn't grow until I'd gotten over the hurt.
Another lesson I learned recently, was being able to forgive myself. Not only are we commanded to forgive others, but we need to forgive ourselves too for past wrongs. If the Lord can forgive us, then we must as well.
Post a Comment