Sabbath Devotional: It is People

One of my favorite holiday traditions is sending and receiving Christmas cards. Even though I don’t write a personal message to every person or family who receives a card from us, I do handwrite their addresses. As I do this task, I think of the individual people, some of whom I haven’t seen for many years, and the relationship we have.

We have moved frequently over the years which means we have said a lot of goodbyes to close friends. Sometimes, it may have been easier to choose not to become so attached in the first place. But I have never regretted friendship, or the joy, comfort, and belonging it brings — be it ever so brief. My life has been enriched through other people.

I believe relationships are worth the effort. I like to plan get-togethers or mini-reunions with various groups of friends or family. I don’t mind if it seems like I am the only one planning these. I want to see my people, so I make the effort to maintain relationships when possible. There is something magnificent and meaningful about living a life filled with loved ones. I believe it is worth the time and effort to stay connected.

Although I have moved often as an adult, I grew up in one place. My parents moved into their home when I was four years old and stayed there for 39 years. All the houses in the neighborhood were built within a couple years of each other, and most of the families that first bought homes there stayed there. Building relationships in this situation is very different than making an effort to stay connected with someone you once knew. A close-knit neighborhood, like the one of my childhood, requires tolerance, acceptance, patience, and forgiveness.

Sometimes it is easier to move. Or to distance yourself from others. But even when difficult, I am confident that relationships are worth the effort.

My son recently returned from his mission in New Zealand. One of the best lessons he learned is summed up in a Whakataukī (Māori proverb): “He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.” It means, “What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.”

People.

The foundation of my testimony is that I know that God loves me. Because I know He loves me, I know He loves everyone else just as much, even the ones who seem difficult to me.

Every person matters. They matter to our Heavenly Parents. They matter to Jesus Christ. And they should matter to me.

A significant part of peacemaking, building bridges, and maintaining long-term relationships is the principle of forgiveness. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive.”

As we mourn today the passing of our friend, President Jeffrey R. Holland, I want to quote extensively from his 2018 address, “The Ministry of Reconciliation.”

“Brothers and sisters, Jesus has asked that we ‘live together in love’ with ‘no disputations among you.’ ‘He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me,’ He warned the Nephites. Indeed, to a great degree, our relationship to Christ will be determined — or at least affected — by our relationship to each other.”

“Surely each of us could cite an endless array of old scars and sorrows and painful memories that this very moment still corrode the peace in someone’s heart or family or neighborhood. Whether we have caused that pain or been the recipient of the pain, those wounds need to be healed so that life can be as rewarding as God intended it to be.”

“‘Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven,’ Christ taught in New Testament times. And in our day: ‘I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.’ It is, however, important for some of you living in real anguish to note what He did not say. He did not say, ‘You are not allowed to feel true pain or real sorrow from the shattering experiences you have had at the hand of another.’ Nor did He say, ‘In order to forgive fully, you have to reenter a toxic relationship or return to an abusive, destructive circumstance.’ But notwithstanding even the most terrible offenses that might come to us, we can rise above our pain only when we put our feet onto the path of true healing. That path is the forgiving one walked by Jesus of Nazareth, who calls out to each of us, ‘Come, follow me.’

“In such an invitation to be His disciple and to try to do as He did, Jesus is asking us to be instruments of His grace — to be ‘ambassadors for Christ’ in ‘the ministry of reconciliation,’ as Paul described it to the Corinthians. The Healer of every wound, He who rights every wrong, asks us to labor with Him in the daunting task of peacemaking in a world that won’t find it any other way.”

“My beloved brothers and sisters, I testify that forgiving and forsaking offenses, old or new, is central to the grandeur of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testify that ultimately such spiritual repair can come only from our divine Redeemer, He who rushes to our aid ‘with healing in his wings.’ We thank Him, and our Heavenly Father who sent Him, that renewal and rebirth, a future free from old sorrows and past mistakes, are not only possible, but they have already been purchased, paid for, at an excruciating cost symbolized by the blood of the Lamb who shed it.

“With the apostolic authority granted me by the Savior of the world, I testify of the tranquility to the soul that reconciliation with God and each other will bring if we are meek and courageous enough to pursue it. ‘Cease to contend one with another,’ the Savior pled. If you know of an old injury, repair it. Care for one another in love.

“My beloved friends, in our shared ministry of reconciliation, I ask us to be peacemakers — to love peace, to seek peace, to create peace, to cherish peace. I make that appeal in the name of the Prince of Peace, who knows everything about being ‘wounded in the house of [His] friends’ but who still found the strength to forgive and forget — and to heal — and be happy. For that I pray, for you and for me, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”

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Megan Rawlins Woods is the nonpartisan root senior director at Mormon Women for Ethical Government.