“Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven”

I love this definition of forgiveness from www.lds.org: "To forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The scriptures refer to forgiveness in two ways. The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us."

We are here on the Earth to prepare to return back to Our God. He sent us here, so that we could experience mortal life and gain wisdom through trials. He made it possible for us to return by sending us His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins and shortcomings and to die for us so that we may live. 

Our Heavenly Father wants us to look to The Savior to know how to live correctly in life! When He came to the Earth He 
gave the perfect example, a sinless life, and was strictly 
obedient to the Will of The Father. As children of God we
 should look to Christ and live our lives likewise. Jesus Christ taught us by EXAMPLE and as a result we have the Christlike Attributes to look up to. Neat. It's not so hard to learn how we need to be, thanks to our Perfect Master for showing us the Way. One of those Christlike Attributes was His ability to be perfectly forgiving. 

"For God ^asent not his Son into the world to ^bcondemn the world; but that the world through him might be ^csaved. John 3:17"

I love that attribute of the Savior. He is so merciful! Not only does He offer forgiveness for sin, but forgives when betrayed and rejected. I love this scripture in The Book of Mormon that explains just the tiniest fraction of His suffering caused by His people: 

  "He is ^adespised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 Surely he has ^aborne our ^bgriefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 But he was ^awounded for our ^btransgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are ^chealed." -Mosiah 14:3-5

Although He was beaten and nailed to a cross, while he suffered there He prayed to the Father, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

How incredible is that. How can we be so quick to blame when the One who descended beneath it ALL forgave so easily?

 I have come to know that one who holds on to the burden caused by sin or by anger from someone else's wrongdoing, stops their progression spiritually and could potentially destroy their life. Just like how we yearn to be forgiven of our sins and weaknesses so that we can reach peace and happiness in this life and Eternal Life in the next, so must we forgive others. Just how we want to be judged righteously, so must we judge our fellowmen righteously. Just how like the Savior gives Mercy to us all, we must as well show mercy to others. 

A little example that I learned in high-school: A monkey and a peanut. I was sitting in a class called Seminary, where we studied the scriptures and learned the principles of the Gospel. My teacher gave this analogy, and explained how people in Africa trapped monkeys. The Monkeys would hide in the trees and made it near impossible to catch them, so the "hunters" came up with this successful strategy. They would get a box with a peanut inside, and cut a hole just big enough for the monkey to fit his or her hand inside. (If you didn't know, monkeys are very persistent.)
 So, the hunters would leave the box on the ground next to the trees, and leave! While they were gone, a monkey would come by and stick his or her hand in the hole and grab the peanut. But, to their great dismay, once they had their hand in a fist they couldn't pull their hand back out of the box...without letting go of the peanut first.
If the monkey's persistence and pride chose to hold onto that peanut, the hunters would come back and capture the monkey, thus ending it's life. All for one tiny peanut.

Was it really worth it?

So, the moral of the story. When we are stuck in the box of resentment, the only way to free ourselves from the heavy burden on our hands and, even potential death, is to LET IT GO. 

When it comes to forgiving others, how can we start to relax our fists and let the peanut go?

All it takes to start to forgive is to TRUST in the Lord and exercise faith in Him. With God, ALL things are possible.We are all here on missions as children of God, and the Savior is here to be our guide. 

Sometimes we may think things like, "Why did this happen? It's not fair! Why does this have to be so hard? Why isn't it getting better? 


One of my most favorite talks from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to my mind.


"You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought
 about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am 
convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? …

“… When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions” 

When you are dealing with a load of heartache and sorrow, please, REMEMBER HIM. He understands us. He suffered it all so that we don't have to do it alone. Have faith that He will help us to overcome our trials, just like how HE overcame the World. I know this is possible. I have a testimony of forgiveness, and that through our faith we can be forgiven, as well as forgive others. 

After all, "I, the Lord, will ^aforgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to ^bforgive all men." Doctrine and Covenants 64:10