June 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering – Forgiveness
The June 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable ties together Elder Timothy J. Dyches’s April 2021 General Conference talk “Light Cleaveth unto Light” and this June’s Come, Follow Me lesson on “I am required to forgive everyone.”
These ministering printables are a great way to help families incorporate the “Come, Follow Me” lessons into their own study. They are also perfect for Young Women’s, Relief Society, Sunday School, or Family Home Evening. I hope that these ministering printables will be a simple way to reach out to those we minister to.
Download June 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable (4×6) (Four to a Sheet PDF)
June gets me thinking of sunshine, so I had to use Elder Dyches’s quote. Then I fell in love with these flower pens. They change color in the sunlight! It made me think about how we change in the light of the “Son.”
This is what they look like when they are inside and out of the sun.
But when you take them outside, they turn a bright pink.
June 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable
Forgiveness – I am Required to Forgive Everyone
One of the hardest things to teach my children has been forgiveness. It feels like a double-standard to them. I expect them to behave and there are consequences for misbehavior. But when somebody else does something wrong, I tell them they need to let it go and forgive.
I often run into conversations that look something like this.
Me: I expect you to be kind to others.
My Kid: But he wasn’t being kind to me.
Me: You cannot control how others behave. It is not your responsibility to change their behavior. You are responsible for how YOU act.
My Kid: But if I am not supposed to try to changes others, why are you trying to change me?!
Me: Because I am the parent and that is my responsibility.
My Kid: So it is okay for you to do it, but not me. And it is okay for him to do it, but not me.
Me: It is not okay for him to do it, but it is not your responsibility. And you are my responsibility. Ugh! Why am I stuck raising moral philosophers!?!
I Will Forgive Whom I Will Forgive
It is a lot like the conversation God has in Doctrine and Covenants 64:1-11. I can totally sympathize. The balance between justice and mercy, and who is responsible for who, is something we all struggle with – not just kids.
The Lord explains that although we have all sinned, He has forgiven us because He really wants us to succeed. He isn’t hoping we will fail because we deserve it, but He is hoping we prevail because He loves us. If we repent and ask for forgiveness, He will forgive us. It doesn’t matter if our sins caused His suffering, He is there offering us mercy.
Forgive All Men
But if we are to be forgiven, He expects us to forgive others.
“My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened. Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:8-11)
Dodging Coals
We often hold on to hate or anger because we feel like it punishes the sinner in some way, but it just hurts us. I tell my kids it is like a burning coal. If someone threw a burning hot coal at you, would you catch it or dodge out of the way? You would dodge it, right? If you caught it, who would it hurt? Would it hurt the person who threw it or would it hurt you? If you held on to that coal for a long time, would it do more or less damage?
Like the burning coal, when someone does something to hurt us, there is less damage if we let it sail right by us. The less we hold on to the coal, the better. We can say in our hearts, “let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.” This advice means even more coming from the Lord who not only forgives but suffered for our sins so that He can forgive.
Face Towards the Sunshine
In the recent April 2021 General Conference, Elder Timothy J. Dyches refers to a line by Walt Whitman.
“[Heavenly Father’s] light in you is enhanced with your acts of kindness, patience, forgiveness, and charity and shows itself in your happy countenance. On the other hand, we walk in shadows when we are too quick to anger or too slow to forgive. ‘As you keep your face towards the sunshine, the shadows cannot help but fall behind you.'”
I love the image of facing the sun (or the Son) and letting the darkness fall behind you.
I teach my kids to forgive and let it go because I know it will make them happier. Our Heavenly Father teaches us the same thing for the same reason. The Lord forgives us because He loves us, and He asks us to forgive others because He loves us.
I love this SO much. This is my first time visiting your site. I’ll be back over and over and over again.
Thanks!