Forgiveness: A Sign of Strength

"I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." (D&C 64:10)

We often are wronged in one way or another to various extremes.  Because we are imperfect scoundrels, we are not only the wronged, but we also do wrong.  We offend.  We harm.  We break.  When we occupy the guilty party, apologizing is our responsibility.  However, as we are taught in the scripture above, forgiving is the duty of the wronged.  Both are needed, but which is harder or more noble?

Well, I don't think either are more noble than the other, but they both have very different requirements.  Apologizing requires strength of sorts.  Really, it requires more humility than anything.  You have to recognize that what you've done is, indeed, wrong; something that is hardly easy for anyone.  And then you must find the humility to approach the person you've wronged and admit to them that you regret what you've done to them.

The strength, however, belongs to the wronged, I believe.  The wronged party needs to already have strength in their heart to listen to the apology and then on top of that you have to find strength to actually forgive them.  The savior told his apostles that there essentially is no limit to how many times we are expected to forgive.  Forgiving someone really is hard.  We harbor resentment and grudges because sometimes we WANT to be hurt.  We look for reasons to be offended.  The problem is, that's like taking a bite of a poison apple that just grows into a tree inside you.  That pent-up enmity grows and grows and something that may have happened a long time ago can still cause you to stay awake at night when you could realize what happened then has no consequence on who you are now.

Really, we should find a way to move on.  Some things aren't actually offensive enough to merit such a grudge.  But, if we find forgiveness a hard task, consider serving the guilty party.  Help them see that they were wrong.  If they've apologized, offer to help.  In your service, you will find the power and strength to forgive.

I'm not perfect.  I'm not politically correct.  I get in the way a lot.  I'd be in a very bad position with a lot of people if they couldn't forgive.  To those that I've had quarrels or disagreements with, I sincerely apologize, and thank you for your demonstration of superior strength.

Hit the weights; show off your strength.