Forgiveness

I think forgiveness can be a very difficult thing to do at times.  Why is it so hard to let go of past grievances and not hold grudges?  My husband says I have a pretty good filing cabinet with everything well categorized.  I will admit, I do have a talent for that and though my memory for short term things often doesn't work the best, the filing cabinet drawer is well greased and comes open very easily that is labeled "grudges and grievances".

In church I teach the 6 year old children, and a recent lesson was on forgiveness.   I was reminded that it is the feelings of anger and hurt we harbor that are so harmful to us.  When we have these feelings of anger, we are shutting out the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives and it is hard to do what Heavenly Father wants us to do.  In other words, we are actually stopping ourselves from progressing and becoming closer to our Heavenly Father.  In his talk,   The Healing Power of Forgiveness, President James E. Faust said,  
"...We need to recognize and acknowledge angry feelings. It will take humility to do this, but if we will get on our knees and ask Heavenly Father for a feeling of forgiveness, He will help us. The Lord requires us “to forgive all men”  for our own good because “hatred retards spiritual growth.”    Only as we rid ourselves of hatred and bitterness can the Lord put comfort into our hearts..."

I was also reminded that we are required to forgive "all men" whether they ask for our forgiveness or not. Forgiving others brings us great peace and the ability to progress.

President Hinckley gave a wonderful talk on Forgiveness, found here.  I quote a little bit from it:

“To err is human, to forgive divine.” (Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 2:1711.) There is no peace in reflecting on the pain of old wounds. There is peace only in repentance and forgiveness. This is the sweet peace of the Christ, who said, “blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matt. 5:9.)

 President Uchtdorf also gave a talk called, "Point of No Return", where he says the following:

How Does Extending Forgiveness Help Us to Receive God’s Forgiveness?

Jesus taught us eternal truth when He taught us to pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. … For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not … neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (3 Nephi 13:11, 14–15).

Therefore, extending forgiveness is a precondition to receiving forgiveness.

For our own good, we need the moral courage to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. Never is the soul nobler and more courageous than when we forgive. This includes forgiving ourselves.