When I was taking Christian Science Primary class instruction, the teacher gave us the assignment to forgive absolutely everyone in our lives who needed forgiveness. This seemed a daunting task to me, so I procrastinated. When I got home from class that day, I did a lot of reading and studying but decided to wait until later that evening to begin this work of forgiving.
That afternoon I went for a jog, and when I returned from running a few miles, I discovered that some painful blisters had developed on my feet. I had to be careful how I walked to avoid causing too much pain, and I continued walking awkwardly for most of the evening.
It wasn’t until about 10 o’clock that night that I eventually began my assignment to forgive everyone. I started by listing all the people I could think of that I had any complaints about, and wrote down a short paragraph on each one and how I thought they had wronged me. Then I went through the list and forgave each one of them, all the while making a conscious effort to recognize their God-given qualities, such as their innocence, commitment, and inherently loving nature.