Sunday, September 22, 2013

Pahoran, Nephi, and Chris Williams, Oh My! Forgive Frankly...


The general ideas in this post are taken from the 2011 BYU Women's Conference talk given by Russell and Lolly Osguthorpe.

I was always amazed when I read my scriptures when I came upon the story of Pahoran and Moroni. Pahoran was in the city of Zarahemla and the king men (who were bad) were in control of Zarahemla. Moroni writes a letter asking Pahoran for reinforcements to help deal with the kingmen that he is dealing with. Here Pahoran is accused by a frustrated Moroni and called his loyalty into question. Pahoran responds that he is grateful, despite being accused falsely by Moroni, that he wrote and that his words bring him a lot of joy. Instant forgiveness extended to Moroni.



Laman and Lemuel, the two brother's of Nephi, were corrected by Nephi about their disobedience. This brought them to a stage of anger where they bound Nephi with cords and left him to die and be eaten by wild beasts. Anger is usually the key emotion that brings about bad behavior, vengeful behavior, and unforgiveness. And if you understand anger you will know that it is a secondary emotion made up of fear and sadness. Okay so moving along....The Lord taught us that not only should we not want to kill someone but that we should not be found angry with another or the Lord's anger will be directed toward them. Laman and Lemuel were sorrowful after a daughter of Ishamael and her mother did plead with Laman and Lemuel to become humble. It worked! They went to Nephi and begged of him his forgiveness. One minute they want to kill Nephi and then the next they were begging his forgiveness. This was a great miracle. However, maybe even a greater miracle was Nephi's response.

Now some of the great qualities of Nephi were....he forgave them immediately. Did he become defensive? No! Did he throw it in their faces what they had done? No! Did he tell his friends and family of the things they did wrong and to ignore them? No! Did he hold it against them? No! Did he continue to bring it up time and again in the future? No! He "frankly forgave" them. He was left in the desert to be devoured by wild beasts. And yet, "he frankly forgave" them. Are you with me? How many times have you been bound and hung out to be eaten by gnarly wild beasts? Could you have forgiven them? At first, I though frankly, was a word that meant barely or coldly, etc. But the Osguthorpe's explained it differently. He forgave them instantly, without conditions, no questions asked. The word "frank" originally meant free. Unconditional; without restraint; without anxiety. He forgave them freely!

And now finally, Chris Williams... his story can be found below in this video. I know I've posted this before but it is moving and powerful.



But the bottom line is there are some commonalities in all of these cases of forgiveness. They all forgave "frankly." Meaning, without condition, thinking first of the offender before themselves. Nephi thought first of Laman and Lemuel, not about his being set out to die. Pahoran thought first of Moroni and his people, not that he had just been falsely accused and his loyalty questioned. And Chris Williams? He thought first of the young man who had taken 3 of his family members from him.
In each case, not one of these examples, put conditions on the forgiveness. Not one of them, threw it in the others face. Not one of them didn't seek to love the others home.

Please remember the post on forgiving others just means repenting of not loving them in the first place. I'm grateful for such examples in my life. I have failed at forgiving like these great examples many times and grateful for them to help show me the way.

Friday, September 13, 2013

The Peacegiver...meaning of life?



To quote from the book "The Peacegiver" by James Ferrell..."'Ricky, I'm going to suggest something to you that you probably have never thought of and will want to resist, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's the truth. Here it is: Being mistreated is the most important condition of mortality, for eternity itself depends on how we view those who mistreat us."

Have you been mistreated or feel you have? How do you view the person who has wronged you?

Do you war with them? Do you gossip about them? Do you yell at them? Do you ignore them? Do you plot evil sinister plans of destruction in your head about them (lol)? Do you bury your head in the sand and pretend they don't exist? OR.....

Do you love them more? Do you reach out to them? Do you pray for them? Do you serve them? Do you do acts of kindness towards them? Do you build them with your words to other people? Do you pray for a softened heart towards them?

I can attest that up till recently, I was stuck in the warring zone. I would think mean or angry thoughts about the people I felt were mistreating me and my kiddos. I would speak unkind things about them to those who asked about what was going on. Oh and I had my fair share of plotting toilet papering their house, ding dong ditching them, and other vengeful acts. In all seriousness, I was not thinking with charity, the pure love of Christ.

Then it happened....a change of heart. I realized that these people are some of the people I care most deeply for and while I can't control what they do or how they think of me or whether they feel/felt mistreated, I can pray for them, build them, say kind things, serve them, love them more, and have them in my heart. It's a process that's for sure but I'm glad to see the miracle of my heart changing.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Being Perfect and Charity, the pure love of Christ...


We are commanded to be perfect. In the scriptures we read, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven:Matt. 5:48 

Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul (see 1 Nephi 11:23).

Charity is “the pure love of Christ,” or “everlasting love” (Moroni 7:47; 8:17). The prophet Mormon taught: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (Moroni 7:45; see also 1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

In tying this all together, having the pure love of Christ, means forgiving, it means loving the person even more. It means stretching out our arms and embracing other's weaknesses and loving them because of their weaknesses, not despite them. It doesn't point the finger, it doesn't hold on to hurts, it doesn't shame and blame. It looks our friends and family in the eye and tells them they are divine in nature and have infinite worth. It does not call each other names, ignore others, and gossip about others. It builds, it brings towards Christ, it is sometimes not easy.

Doing the right thing is more important that doing the easy thing. Even if you have to stand up to your friends or family in the embracing of charity. Not all will agree with your choices but being able to have the integrity at the end of the day and look your loved ones in the eye and say you have done all you can do to love them, that is the pure love of Christ.

I have not done this, and I will continue to work on myself and improve and extend the arm of friendship, love, and forgiveness.