Give Completely

The word forgive is composed of the root give and the prefix for-. In this case, for- means completely, excessively, to exhaustion, to pieces. To forgive means to give completely, give excessively, give to exhaustion, or give to pieces. Forgiveness is no trivial thing. Jesus Christ suffered an infinite amount to overcome the demands of justice. He suffered the pains of every living creature that had ever been or would ever be born to allow forgiveness to happen. When someone wrongs us, there is no way to restore that balance on our own. They have forever altered our path through this life. They have killed the future we might have had. There is nothing that they could do for us, nothing they could give that would make up the difference. That is why we must give. We must give excessively. We must give completely. We must give until we're exhausted. We must give until we've shaken to pieces all of the hurt and betrayal and resentment and regret. That is what it means to forgive. But we don't have to do it alone. The Savior will be with us. He will help us to give to the one who wounded us our love and compassion and mercy, yes, but also He will help us to give up our anger and our fear and our hate and our pain. Forgiveness isn't just about giving the one who wronged us a break, or some slack, or a second chance. It is about those things too, but we are to give all of it - the mercy and the vengeance, the compassion and the anger, the healing and the wounding, the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the sorrow. We cannot possibly forgive while we are holding onto the pain. We have to give it all to the Savior and hold nothing back for ourselves. And once we have given completely, excessively, to exhaustion and to pieces until we have nothing left and we are completely empty, that is when we have room enough and to spare for the Savior to fill us with His light and love and healing, cleansing ennobling grace. If we are struggling to feel grace or love or compassion or mercy or forgiveness for a person who has wronged us, we need to examine if we have first given up to the Lord all of our pain and anger and resentment and bitterness. Once we give it all to the Lord, we will be able to see more clearly the thoughts and intentions of the one who wounded us, and we will also be able to witness firsthand how the power of the Atonement can transform even the most evil occurrences into experiences that will work together for our good. Our Savior gave His pure, perfect, infinite life for us. He gave everything. He gave completely and  excessively and exhausted utterly the demands of justice and shook to pieces the chains of death and hell. All He asks of us is to follow Him, to give everything we have and are, all of our pain and our pleasure, our hate and our love, our vengeance and our mercy. That is what it means to forgive.