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

A personal creed

The one thing I have remembered from High School (along with the many things that I want to forget) is studying To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in particular the character Atticus Finch and the description of his daughter Scout who said he was “the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” I have never forgotten that because I decided the day I read that passage - that that was something I would try and live for the rest of my life......

I thought about Atticus today because although a fictional character in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird - his character was someone of integrity, someone who lived what he believed and was a great example to his children and community. I have never forgotten that and almost twenty five years later, I met another man like this, his name - George Albert Smith. Smith lived from 1870 to 1951 and while researching his life in preparation for teaching a group of women I learnt that he was someone, like Atticus that was "the same in his house as he was on the public streets" and someone who lived what he believed.

When he was 34, George Albert Smith made a list of resolutions that he called his "personal creed" - 11 ideals that he committed to live by. He must have achieved that and more because the inscription on his graveside reads " He understood and disseminated the teachings of Christ and was uncommonly successful in putting them into practice. He was kind, patient, wise, tolerant, and understanding. He went about doing good. He loved Utah and America, but was not provincial. He had faith, without reservation, in the need for and in the power of love. For his Church and his family he unbounded affection and served them passionately, yet his love was not limited; it included all men, regardless of race, faith, or station. To them and of them he frequently said: "We are all our Father's children".

Here are five of those resolutions which I am going to strive to live in 2012. Actually, looking at them, I think it is going to take me the rest of my life to get these right :-). I thank George Albert Smith for being such a wonderful example of how to live these....

I will:

Not seek to force people to live up to my ideals but rather love ten into doing the thing that is right.

Not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do him good and make him my friend. There is a story that on learning that someone had stolen from his buggy the buggy robe, instead of being angry, Smith responded "I wish we knew who it was, so that we could give him the blacnket also, for he much have been cold; and some food also, for he much have been hungry." I know - was he for real? The answer - yes!

Be a friend to the friendless and find joy in ministering to the needs of the poor.

Not be an enemy to any living soul. I have to admit this is going to be hard.

Overcome the tendency to selfishness and jealously and rejoice in the sucessess of all the children of my Heavenly Father.

Well, I'll let you know how I go.

Happy New Year.

Yours in friendship,

Mxo