Life is hard. And awkward. Sometimes, when life gives you an awkward situation, you want to ignore it. You want to run away. When someone is hurtful, you may just want to hold grudges. That's the easy way out, right?
Wrong.
That is not The Lord's way. He wants us to forgive.
I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. -D&C 64:10
"But that's so hard, it's so much easier to just ignore them!"
Life is hard. But you're tough, and you can do hard things! When someone is mean to you, acts selfish, treats you poorly, maybe even holds a grudge against you, do what the Savior would do. He lived His whole entire life dealing with imperfect people treating Him like utter garbage. What did He do? He loved them. Simple as that. He served them, He loved them, He prayed for them, He cared for them. It's so simple, yet it's hardly ever seen. Love can be so easily given, but it's more often taken rather than given.
When you hold a grudge or act bitter towards someone or something, it may seem easy at first, but in the long run, that's what hurts you the most. You hold onto the anger and sadness and it the guilt just beasts you away. When you forgive and forget, the relief is almost instantaneous.
Story time.
My oldest brother dated a girl all throughout high school. They planned to get married when he returned from his mission. We all fell in love with her family and became good friends. Everything was going well until the last couple months of his mission. Little did we know that she had found someone else and planned to marry him. She didn't tell my brother until he got home from his mission. That was rough, especially on me. I had lost the only girl that I had ever felt a close older sister bond with. I was bitter. I resented her. I couldn't stand to see their wedding pictures when she married the boy that stole her from my brother. I was so upset. It's been a few months since their wedding, and today I went to a friend's mission farewell. Well, lo and behold, guess who was sitting behind me? Yep. The girl who betrayed me. I couldn't believe it. Her father-in-law was the stake president and lived in the ward I was attending. My heart started racing and I was careful as to not turn around. Then I felt hypocritical. I had just listened to my good friend give a great talk about the Savior and the healing power of the Atonement and here I was resenting this girl for following her heart. What the heck am I doing?! I needed some humility, that's for sure. So I resolved to go talk to her after sacrament meeting was over. I would go up to her and give her a hug and tell her hello. That's it. Simple as that. Or maybe not as simple as I thought. The meeting went way over time, with the last speaker, her father-in-law, ending 20 minutes later than usual and singing all 4 verses of Come, Come Ye Saints, I felt like I would sit there forever. But, alas, the closing prayer ended with an Amen and I stood up to venture over to the girl who seemed to be my enemy. I could feel the tears rushing to my eyes before she even noticed me. She was turned around talking to someone so I awkwardly tapped her arm. Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled her up into a hug. I stared tearing up big time as she realized what was happening. I willed the tears to stay put so I wouldn't ruin my makeup (I had more places to go, more people to see!) and I started talking to her and her husband. I honestly don't even know what the heck I said, all I know is that she probably thought something was wrong with me. We talked for a little bit and I made sure she knew I was okay and I rushed off to make sure my makeup wasn't horrendous. With my eyes still red, I made my way to my missionary-to-be friend, mingled for a little bit, and left for another farewell. All I know for sure is that now I feel relieved. I feel free. I don't resent her. I've learned to let go what I can't change. I was only hurting myself by avoiding her. Even my own brother, the boy whose heart she broke, had forgiven her and moved on. I can even friend her on Facebook again!
I know that the Savior is so incredibly happy that I was able to move past my fears and doubts and fully forgiven another child of God. I don't know all of the circumstances that led up to that point, but it's definitely not my place to hold a grudge against her, or anyone for that matter.
I feel happy knowing that I have shown forgiveness even when I thought forgiveness wasn't deserved. Heavenly Father wants peace between His children, and I want to work hard to keep that peace between me and as many people as I can.
Emmalee
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