The Healing Power of Forgiveness

One of my goals for this week that I added to the "master list" is to find some down time to study up on the gospel. If I'm choosing to be a part of it and choosing to instill the gospel as one of my values into my daughter, I'd better be consistently trying to learn and grow in it.

Anya's down for a nap right now, so I decided to go to the lds.org website, search for a topic I want to study about, and see what comes up. Since the topic of forgiveness is on my mind, I decided to look up that. I found President James E. Faust's article called, "The Healing Power of Forgiveness." I'd really like to share some things that stand out to me.

In it, he begins by talking about the horrible Amish shooting a few years ago. Something that really impressed me was how these Amish people who had lost their daughters in such a violent way completely forgave the family of the man who had killed the girls. They attended the mans funeral services, and in turn, invited his family to the funeral services of their daughters. When money was donated to them by others who had heard about this act of violence, they shared the money with the man's family. This impressed me so much that I wish to be like them.

Let's be realistic here. I'm no where near that good. So for now, I'm going to work on forgiving and letting things go over time instead of holding on to past resentments. Forgiveness doesn't have to come right away, but it's an amazing thing when it does come over time.

He also quoted another individual who brilliantly defined what forgiveness is, “Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves.”

I fully live by the saying that "holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Forgiveness, in my opinion, is not excusing another person's actions. Everyone needs to stand accountable for their actions. Forgiveness is purely for oneself. If I forgive someone for doing something horrible, that doesn't mean I think what they did is okay. As I forgive, I essentially disallow a person to have power over me and how I live my life.

Now, I'm going to be bold in saying that it's stupid, unhealthy, and very un-Christian to to knowingly and willingly hold a grudge. With that in mind, know that sometimes I'm stupid, unhealthy, and act very un-Christian sometimes too. I'm not placing myself on any kind of pedestal.

I do hope we can all learn how to forgive others fully, willingly, and easily. I strongly believe that if we all work harder at forgiving others, we will all be much happier as individuals, families, and as a society as a whole.