To Forgive & Forget?

Recently, I was asked to teach a lesson and without hesitation I said - it was fine..... Later, when I saw the topic - I couldn't believe it!! Teaching a lesson on forgiveness could not have come at a time when I obviously needed it ;-) So this week, my blog comes from the words of George Albert Smith and serve not only as a reminder but are timely and necessary...

LESSON ONE: "By forgiving others, we free ourselves from the burden of hatred and prepare ourselves for eternal life."

LESSON TWO: "At times we find little difficulties arising among us, and we forget the patience our Father in Heaven exercises towards us, and we magnify in our hearts some trivial thing that our brother or sister may have done or said concerning us. We do not always live that law which the Lord desires us to observe in regard to these matters. We forget the commandment He gave to the Apostles in the words of the prayer, wherein they were told to pray that they might be forgiven their debts even as they forgive their debtors [see Mather 6:12]. I feel that we have to learn a great deal in this regard."

 

LESSON THREE (this story is amazing... and something I need to do!!) 

In 1897, while still a young man, George Albert Smith enlisted in the Utah National Guard. At the encouragement of some of his companions, he ran for an elected office in the Guard, but during the weeks leading up to the election, a rival guardsman began spreading false rumors accusing George Albert Smith of unethical practices. As a result, Sergeant Smith lost an election that he felt he should have won. What made the situation more difficult was that the man who spread the false rumors had once been a friend.

Though he tried to brush it off, the offense filled George Albert Smith’s heart with bitterness. He went to church the following Sunday, but he did not feel right about taking the sacrament He prayed for help and realized that he needed to repent of the resentment he was feeling. He decided to seek out his friend and be reconciled with him.

George Albert Smith went directly to the man’s office and said in a soft voice, “My brother, I want you to forgive me for hating you the way I have for the last few weeks.” Immediately his friend’s heart softened. “Brother Smith, you have no need forforgiveness," he said. “It is I who need forgiveness from you.” They shook hands, and thereafter they remained good friends.

 

LESSON FOUR: "We have no hard feelings toward any of our fellowmen; we have no occasion to. If they misunderstand us, misquote us, and persecute us, we should remember they are in the hands of the Lord. … So when we partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, … let us purge from our hearts all feeling of unkindness toward one another and toward our brothers and sisters who are not of our faith".

LESSON FIVE: "May we have the Spirit of the Master dwelling within us, that we may forgive all men as He has commanded, forgive, not only with our lips but in the very depths of our hearts, every trespass that may have been committed against us. If we do this through life, the blessings of the Lord will abide in our hearts and our homes."

 

I know - I have a loooooooong way to go ;-)

 

Yours in Friendship,

 

Mxo