Years ago, I shared some thoughts that came from the song “I’m
trying to be like Jesus.”
Here this past week the chorus of that song has been running through my
mind:
“Love one another as
Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.”
One of my struggles is with patience and forgiveness. A few months ago in a book I have been studying
by Elder Holland, he shared this thought on forgiveness:
“… and bear one another’s burdens.
The way you can bear mine is to forgive the sin with which I hurt
you. You should shoulder the fact that I
somehow used you and yet you forgive me for that. At first blush, we say, ‘what sense does that
make? You have committed some sin
against me, but you want me to take that off your shoulder and, at least temporarily,
place it on me? You want me to
bear your burdens!’ The Lord says,
‘Yes, in some strange way that is what I want you to do, because that is what I
do. So, forgive his offense. Take from him the things under your control
that would keep him from the kingdom, and I will work out with him the rest of
it which is under his control and mine.”
Ouch, that is going to be a hard pill to swallow so to say, but as
the song goes, “Love one another as Jesus loves you…”
I am learning that trying to be like Jesus is a work in
progress. How grateful I am for His
loving patience and meeting us where we are.
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