Joseph Cooper Bott is getting baptized by his dad tomorrow. He is our third child to take this important step. Wow!
As the feelings of excitement enter my heart, I can't help but feel the awe at the Lord's love and mercy towards the children of men. Baptism is the gate by which we enter into that leads to the straight and narrow path that leads back to our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is by going down into the water and coming up a new person, through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great way to go through this life, as a new person in Jesus Christ. As we put off the old person, and place our trust in Jesus, we become holy. Just beautiful!
So many of our extended family relationships are in the dumps, and I feel the emptiness that they won't be sharing in this occasion with us. But, we move onward. I choose not to focus on my sorrow on our special day with our Joseph.
We love you Joseph. And we look forward to your future with excitement and love. The Lord loves you and may the gift of His Son's atonement bring you down into the depths of gratitude and humility all throughout your life, is my prayer.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
'She's just doing the best she can.'
'She's just doing the best she can.'
Have you ever been hurt by someone, and the only way you could forgive that person is to tell yourself a line similar to this one?
Have you ever been hurt by someone, and others know about the offense, and they come to tell you that line?
That line really bothers me.
I have tried to use that line as a way to forgive someone who has hurt me.
I want to tell you my experience with it. First, how can I know if someone else is truly doing the best they can? I can't. Second, when I have offended someone else, I don't think to myself, 'I was just doing the best I could.' That doesn't excuse what I did to that other person, nor will it give good feelings to the person who I hurt. Third, just because I try to believe that that other person is doing the best they can, doesn't translate into good feelings being restored between us regarding the offense. I can pretend it does. But, I am only lying to myself. Good feelings will be able to be restored by 'confessing and forsaking' the offense.
This seems so simple. And yet, why do years go by that good feelings go unrestored? Another rhetorical question again, I know. And one that I also know the answers to again.
May we all learn to say, 'I'm sorry I hurt you. Please forgive me. I want to be friends.'
And then sincerely work to be respectful of others' feelings and wishes.
Forgiveness, for me, doesn't come by using this line. Forgiveness comes by feeling the love of God and my Savior, Jesus Christ. It comes by knowing how much they love me and that other person. It is a gift given to me, by Him. Jesus Christ has suffered so much for us in His Infinite Atonement. And that gift and knowledge instills in me a forgiving heart.
Have you ever been hurt by someone, and the only way you could forgive that person is to tell yourself a line similar to this one?
Have you ever been hurt by someone, and others know about the offense, and they come to tell you that line?
That line really bothers me.
I have tried to use that line as a way to forgive someone who has hurt me.
I want to tell you my experience with it. First, how can I know if someone else is truly doing the best they can? I can't. Second, when I have offended someone else, I don't think to myself, 'I was just doing the best I could.' That doesn't excuse what I did to that other person, nor will it give good feelings to the person who I hurt. Third, just because I try to believe that that other person is doing the best they can, doesn't translate into good feelings being restored between us regarding the offense. I can pretend it does. But, I am only lying to myself. Good feelings will be able to be restored by 'confessing and forsaking' the offense.
This seems so simple. And yet, why do years go by that good feelings go unrestored? Another rhetorical question again, I know. And one that I also know the answers to again.
May we all learn to say, 'I'm sorry I hurt you. Please forgive me. I want to be friends.'
And then sincerely work to be respectful of others' feelings and wishes.
Forgiveness, for me, doesn't come by using this line. Forgiveness comes by feeling the love of God and my Savior, Jesus Christ. It comes by knowing how much they love me and that other person. It is a gift given to me, by Him. Jesus Christ has suffered so much for us in His Infinite Atonement. And that gift and knowledge instills in me a forgiving heart.
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