Life is Full of Forgiveness Opportunities

A few thoughts I have had this Easter week.

When Christ was born the angel brought "tidings of great joy".  The good news was that Christ had finally come to redeem his people.  His atonement would make it possible for us to return to our Heavenly father.  Many references to joy in the scriptures actually refers to the atonement.  So not only is Christmas time a time for joy, but Easter makes that joy a reality. 

On another note.  John's sister Reina called him last week in tears and said that her son Weston broke three ribs on her rocking chair. Now the only way that could have happened was that the chair wasn't being treated the way an heirloom rocking chair should be treated.  He was a little cranky because she asked him if he could fix it and the only way to fix it would be to cut off the top, make new ribs, put it back together and refinish it. Hours of work. (And she denied her boys did anything wrong.) 

John called Hal Taylor, the designer of the rocking chair and asked for advice on how to fix the chair.  He sent some updates on the plans with this postscript: "Remember, life is full of forgiveness opportunities." 

I asked myself last week "how do I forgive someone, if the person I need to forgive doesn't know they need forgiving?"  Thomas asked me "how often do I have to forgive the same person for the same thing?"  Our opportunities to forgive abound. Christ said we should forgive seventy times seven.  It will probably take me at least that many times before I get it right.