Twice yesterday we nearly had 'a moment' in my little primary class. Armed with games and coloring pages and stories of Jesus and the helping spirit of the Holy Ghost, the tiny bumps smoothed out before causing any trouble. We learned that forgiving and loving others can help us throw away angry, sad, hurt feelings. Since none of us admitted we enjoyed the pain of bad feelings, we were all excited to learn we don't have to keep them. The Lord cautioned us to control our tempers and anger (Matt. 5:22).
"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Matthew 18:22
One little girl was so excited by the idea, she shouted it to her mother. Unfortunately, we were heading back into closing exercises, a reverent children's meeting. No problem...most in the Primary understand the earnest behavior of this child and smiled. We've all seen how deeply affected she is with little perceived hurts, crying or shouting at the drop of a hat. Hopefully, she will remember and continue to build on the idea of throwing away bad feelings by forgiving and loving others. It is all in keeping with the fact that we are here to learn to be like Jesus.
"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy." Psalm 145:8
"He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding." Proverbs 14:29
"A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife." Proverbs 15:18
Another great experience was with a winsome, little thing. With her surprising biblical example of a meek, mild, charming child, one little girl taught me. "And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little achild, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." 3 Nephi 11:38 In the past, I understood what this meant but had never met a child that optimized the principle to this extent.
