Contemplating Splats
My friend America suggested reading this talk by Elder Holland. Having done so, I found this wonderful little gem:
When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound which the Son of God Himself died trying to heal. Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change, and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is it hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don't keep going back with your little sand pail and beach shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone saying, "Hey! Do you remember this?" Splat! Well, guess what? That is probably going to result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the reply, "Yeah, I remember it. Do you remember this?" Splat. And everyone comes out of that exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what our Father in Heaven pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing.
I wonder how often we do this. I also wonder how many of us mistake letting bygones be bygones for forgetting something happened completely and letting the person who made the mistake get away with it. I think there is a fine line between forgiving & forgetting and tolerating & condoning. When I forgive someone, I do not tell them that what they did was acceptable. I tell them that I am not going to continually hold that wrong behaviour against them. And if there are consequences for the misdeed, forgiveness is not forgoing the consequences.
So let's put away the "sand pails and beach shovels" and move on with our lives. Fix what needs to be fixed, and then move on!
When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound which the Son of God Himself died trying to heal. Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change, and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is it hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don't keep going back with your little sand pail and beach shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone saying, "Hey! Do you remember this?" Splat! Well, guess what? That is probably going to result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the reply, "Yeah, I remember it. Do you remember this?" Splat. And everyone comes out of that exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what our Father in Heaven pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing.
I wonder how often we do this. I also wonder how many of us mistake letting bygones be bygones for forgetting something happened completely and letting the person who made the mistake get away with it. I think there is a fine line between forgiving & forgetting and tolerating & condoning. When I forgive someone, I do not tell them that what they did was acceptable. I tell them that I am not going to continually hold that wrong behaviour against them. And if there are consequences for the misdeed, forgiveness is not forgoing the consequences.
So let's put away the "sand pails and beach shovels" and move on with our lives. Fix what needs to be fixed, and then move on!
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