Splinters and peace

When Elder Kevin R. Duncan was younger, he was helping to repair a fence and got a sliver of wood stuck in his finger.

He pulled on it and thought he got most of it out.

Years and years went by, and a painful bump formed on his finger.

He put some softening ointment on it with a bandage every day, and eventually a small portion of the sliver popped right out!

Elder Duncan made the cool connection that I’ve seen in my life:

When we refuse to forgive other people, we are holding on to so much needless pain, just like this sliver that stayed in his finger, giving him pain for years.

The Lord taught some of the saints, some of whom were having a particularly contentious time, in D&C 64:9:

“Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.”

It can be SO difficult to forgive someone else.

And sometimes it can feel like forgiving them means that you are saying that it’s okay that they did what they did, or that you feel like they don’t need a consequence.

And I think that’s the real root of why God asks us to forgive everyone.

Because He knows exactly what the needed consequence is.

He knows when someone needs the full punishment with justice. He knows when someone needs His full mercy. He knows everything.

And we THINK we know everything about someone else’s situation– especially if we are close to them.

But we don’t.

And so we are asked to forgive. To take out the splinter from our finger.

We don’t know what the splinter deserves. Maybe it meant to get stuck in your finger and cause you a lot of harm. Maybe it was just having a bad day. Maybe it feels terrible remorse now and never wants to cause that pain again. Maybe it just needs a small sanding so that it won’t stick out like that again.

Only God knows.

And so we? We deserve the peace that comes from taking the splinter out, no matter how big.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black