I've committed to report on a Conference talk each friday. This week I didn't study much. Nor did I sleep at night. Nor did I do much of anything except coughing, vomiting, and so forth. Last Sunday, one of my little Primary girls came to church visible and audibly ill....again....and her mother is a NURSE, who should know better. 'Only a cold' often morphs into pneumonia or flu with me....In the past, I've escaped her germs. Not so this time. Because I had a medically fragile child and raised a house of several children and always strove to keep them out of public when ill, I don't get this sharing germs thing. If you are sniffing and snorting and sneezing and worse, STAY HOME. So...today, I'll talk about forgiveness.
"To forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed....The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us." lds.org
"We must remember...even if others fail to be kind and considerate, we ought to be slow to condemn and very quick to forgive. We need not be tolerant of sin, but we must become tolerant and forgiving of the sinner." Theodore Burton, Apr. 1983
“Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-10
Although thoughtlessly spreading germs isn't the same as committing a grievous sin, it is still injurious and might cause ME to sin: anger and resentment come to mind. Forgiving and loving and trying to find understanding, I can be the better person. I can love the little girl, who infected my through no fault of her own. I can forgive the parents, they were merely thoughtless and not malicious. Anyway, it's good practice for the future, when I will surely be required to forgive real sins in another.
