Charity and Forgiveness

The lesson in RS and Priesthood today was about forgiving (JS#34). There were examples from Joseph Smith's life of times when people harmed him and the church and he easily forgave them. There is a line in Moroni 7 about charity that I have often wondered about : "...pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love" (meaning the pure love of Christ or charity). Why would charity be such a difficult thing to be blessed with that I would need to pray for it so earnestly and intently?

As we studied forgiveness I realized this application. When I have felt hurt or wronged, sometimes I have a hard time forgiving the person and letting it go. It is especially hard when they aren't repentant or if they don't know that they have hurt me. It starts to become painfully obvious that the anger or hurt that I am carrying inside is damaging me and I need to forgive. But, I'm angry and I feel justified in that anger. That makes it very difficult to pray to forgive the person. Sometimes all I can do is back up a step and pray to want to pray to forgive them. Finding the humility to say those prayers takes all I can muster, all the energy of my heart....But as I pray what I am truly asking for is charity. To feel as the Savior does toward that person, to see them as He does. When I have been blessed with the gift of charity I can easily give them the benefit of the doubt. I can feel like they were doing the best they could at the time. I can know that the Lord loves me and He loves the other person, and a feeling of forgiveness can come.