Forgiveness

I found an old copy of a "missionary" Book of Mormon laying around and claimed it for my next adventure.  As I mentioned in the previous post I was trying to decide what it was that I was going to focus my studies on.  Should I study the character of Christ, maybe promises the Lord made, prayer, then I thought "oh, maybe adversity - how to get thru it.  Yeah, that sounds interesting maybe that."  Then I started thinking about the character of Christ again and thought maybe that should be my focus.  Well, what do you do when you can't make a decision?  Or better yet, what do you do when you want to find out what the will of your father in heaven has for you?  You pray.  You ask.  So, I decided to take my question to my father.  What did He think my focus should be.

I will tell you a little about how I receive answers.  It's different for everyone and it doesn't even always happen in the same way for myself.  It's also very hard to discern the difference between my thoughts and His thoughts.  Did my brain just make that up or is that the answer sorta thing.  I presented each option and thought about the value of each and what I was likely to find on my journey, and feeling no real pull moved onto other things in my prayer.  While I was praying about something else a thought came to my mind.  Forgiveness.  Then I started thinking about something I've talked a lot about and thought a lot about.  That powerful sentence the Savior of the world says while hanging on the cross; "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."  Then I thought of the movie I just saw, Unbroken.  I thought of the power of forgiveness in Loui's life.

You would think I would have been excited for such an answer, but it was completely unexpected.  It wasn't something I thought I needed to spend more time on.  It also is a sister subject to pride.  They really go hand in hand.  It's hard to forgive someone when you are full of pride.  It is also hard to strip yourself of pride when you can't forgive someone because it is coaxing your pride out into the open.  I felt like I already knew that we were going to have to get really good at forgiving people to make it thru the last days.  I also wondered if I was going to find anything that spoke specifically to forgiveness in the BOM.  I thought Heavenly Father would tell me to study the character attributes of the Savior so that I could work on having those attributes myself.  I had already sought out my new colored pencil - orange - and was ready to go.

Here's what I know so far.  I started with the title page with my orange pencil in hand ready to find out what I needed to know about forgiveness.  I found something to highlight in the title page and when I did with my orange pencil I realized that I was using the wrong color.  I needed purple to represent the heart and bravery.  It takes a willing heart and bravery to forgive someone (to overlook their weaknesses) - as well as a stripping of pride.  I've read up to 3 Nephi and what I've started off marking is the point at which forgiveness enters the scene.  The opportunity for a breakdown in a relationship if forgiveness isn't applied.  Then what it is that you do to overcome the tendency to want pride to take over.  Laman and Lemuel wanted to kill their father yet he was naming places and rivers after them.  He was crying to the Lord on their behalf.  The same with Nephi - he cried unto the Lord for his brothers.

So, really I'm studying all the things I went to the Lord with.  To forgive is one of the character traits of the Savior.  Some of our most trying times in adversity will need forgiveness (sometimes that may even include forgiving our Father in Heaven when we don't understand His purposes) and prayer is an essential part of forgiveness.  Lastly there are promises attached to forgiveness.  There is additional adversity we can avoid thru forgiveness - think back to my little dwarfs and elves.  Think also of Loui and what forgiveness did for him.  I also think of my dear friend ( I think of him as a dear friend even though I don't know him, but he's helped me so much) Eli Savage and his ability to forgive.

I'm not sure what piece of the puzzle I'm missing, but I do know that forgiveness is the biggest challenge we have facing us in the last days (we are in chaos over racism and the police-just to name 1) which are quickly rolling toward us.  Let the journey begin :0)