(Verse 1) Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you.
And I thought how reflexive life is. What we do to others can come back to us. And with regards to forgiveness, the measure of mercy we extend toward others, the Lord reveals back to us in perfect mirror form.
An example just occurred yesterday between my children. My sweet teenage daughter felt frustrated with her younger sibling. Why? Because he was mirroring faces she hadn't made to him that day exactly, but they were the exact faces she used to make to him a year ago.
"But mom, I don't make those faces at him anymore!" she cried.
"I know, honey, but guess what? This seems to be a good example of 'what you do comes back to you.'" I said, smiling wanly. Then I went off to talk to my youngest.
The Lord taught this principle during His sojourn on the earth. The Old Testament also states it. And today I was reading it in the Doctrine and Covenants. Yesterday, I was looking at a perfect modern example of it from my kids. I've seen it in other experiences, both unfortunate ones and positive ones. It is a principle that functions in this life, a truism.
But that truism generally takes time to become apparent as a truth. That is why, I guess, so many people think they can "do-to-others" whatever the heck they want, not thinking that some day it will come back to snarl at them. "But man, I don't do that to others any more," they might say. Or better yet, "How dare you!" when someone else clips them off on the highway.
This life seems to be one big compassion test. And the scriptures are full of both compassionate counsel and stern warnings as to mortality and the wise use of it. D&C 82:1 is a perfect example of one of the compassionate phrases in the scriptures..."Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you (emphasis added)." He doesn't need to forgive us. But He does, if we forgive others.
Of course, not all bad things come as consequence of something "bad" we did. There are freak incidences of crime (for example, I had a dear friend whose husband was beaten and left for dead on a remote highway without him ever having done this to someone else.) Mortality, after all, would not be a test in faith if everything were functioning as a perfect equal sign.
But there are some things we can avoid or even select to receive through choice. And apparently, forgiveness is one of them. The Lord appears to waits first to see if we will manifest towards others what one day we might very much hope for - even plead for - ourselves: forgiveness.
Scriptures contain such potent insights.
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