Learning to Forgive
I recently had an experience with someone who said a lot of things they didn't actually mean.
I was struggling with the fact he would speak to me with such sincerity but not follow through with what he said.
This kept bothering me until I read a verse in the Book of Mormon talking about what Jesus Christ would experience at the end of his life.
“He suffereth himself to be mocked and scourged and cast out and disowned by his people.”
Disowned by his people.
I was immediately hit with this thought:
His best friends, the people who walked with him, taught with him, suffered with him,
Left him.
Right before He was about to encounter the hardest experience of His life.
And guess what?
He didn't hold a grudge.
He didn't lash out in anger.
He loved them.
He prayed for them.
He died and lived again.
For them.
It is astounding He forgave the Romans who crucified Him and the Jews who were cruel to Him.
But is it not just as astounding how readily He forgave His disciples, the ones who said they would never leave?
I think we all experience this.
And I think we all do it.
President Hinckley called it, “the tragedy of high aim and low achievement.”
How often have we told someone we were going to do something and fail to do it?
How often have we been so sure about a belief and not lived up to it?
How many of us meant what we said in the moment only to fall short when the moment passes?
Especially when it comes to the promises we make to God.
Every Sunday we promise we will remember Jesus Christ always.
That we will sacrifice all we are for building His Kingdom.
Yet we fall short of this all the time.
We all say things we don’t mean.
We all have people we love who do the same.
We see no trace of anger or frustration in the Savior towards the disciples or the people who hated him.
So what room do we have to hold those types of feelings towards anyone?
Because of the grace and example of Jesus Christ, I let go of any hurt feelings about the boy.
And I love him.
I honestly wish him every good thing.
I hope you can forgive and love everyone; even and especially the ones you never thought would hurt you in the first place.