Learning how to be more Christ Like
I have began the LDS Pathway Program to gain my long desired BS IN COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY and I am extremely excited! The class that I am taking now that has had the most impact on me thus far is FEDREL 121 (Book Of Mormon 1 Nephi - Alma 29).
The first big assignment in the class is the "Becoming Project" which basically is to help us learn how to be more Christ like. President Ezra Taft Benson (13th Prophet of the Church) said, “The Book of Mormon is the keystone in our witness of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the cornerstone of everything we do. It bears witness of His reality with power and clarity... In the Book of Mormon we will find the fullness of those doctrines required for our salvation. And they are taught plainly and simply so that even children can learn the ways of salvation and exaltation.” (A Witness and a Warning [1988], 18-19)
The Book of Mormon records that when Christ visited the Americas he told the people, “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.” (3 Nephi 27:27) The semester-long Becoming Project is to help me in the effort to follow this directive.
As this assignment was made I pondered, prayed, and fasted to know what attribute I needed to work on the most. There started to be all kind of promptings in the form of discussions at church, the scriptures I was reading, and things mentioned around the house. It was then brought to my mind an individual that I felt wronged my family and I a number of years ago, this is when I realized I needed to work on my ability to forgive.
In Mosiah 26:31 we read "And ye shall also forgive on another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses when he says the he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation." This scripture in particular struck my heart and made me realize that I needed to learn how to forgive, thus being the reason for choosing Forgiveness as the attribute to work on.
These promptings and scripture have created a deep desire in me to seek forgiveness from the individual that I once thought need to seek that from me. As time has passed and I look back I have come to the realization that I am the one that has committed the greater sin by the way I have treated he and his family. I committed to starting that process by meeting with my bishop and meeting with this individual face to face and ask for his forgiveness.
The meeting with my Bishop was simply amazing as I discussed this an decided what exactly I should do, he shared with me these exerts from Alma 36: 17-21 which talks about how Alma felt after he remembered the atonement that Christ had made for his sins and the joy when he realized he was forgiven.
Next was the hard part as I had to ask this individual to forgive me and I was not sure how he would respond. He was grateful that I cared enough to take the time for this step and we have began to start mending our relationship.
What a great feeling it is to be on the path of forgiveness and as I continue on with this project at this point I don't care what my grade is I have learned something about myself and most importantly something more about the gift Christ has given all of us, the atonement.
I want to hear from you, what have been your experiences with forgiveness?
-David Ankeney