Sacrament Meeting Talk

When I got to church this morning I took out my little notetablet I have been using and looked through the talks from last week. I then remembered that I wanted to write something about them. The speakers were Amber and Michael Reed. I had Michael in my third grade class a while ago. Amber is the granddaughter of a family in our ward. Dick and Lynn went on a mission and Amber and Michael have moved into their home while they are gone.
Amber spoke on their previous ward and a calling they had there to visit the patients at Primary Children's. They learned to love the people there and were sorry to leave that ward but they love it here in Emery County. (Amber works as a PT assistant at ProRehab.) She gave a very good talk.
Michael spoke on forgiveness and he did a wonderful job. He mentioned the talk of Bro. Bednar where he spoke about the two men having water disputes and how it led to one of the men killing the other. We should never let someone escalate into such a terrible crime. He also spoke about getting bitten by a snake and that there are two ways to respond: Run after the snake to kill it, or get the poision out of our systems. Only one way will result in us living. We need to work to get the poision out of our own systems. He reminded us that others cannot make us hurt,upset, or offended but that we choose to be so. We can also choose NOT to be offended, hurt, or upset. When we feel hurt, offended, or upset in reality we are hoping that others will feel the same way. We want others to take our pains away. But when we have chosen those pains, we must make them go away ourselves.
As he was speaking these words I felt the spirit testify that what he was saying was true. We make our choices and we have to live by them. If we want the feelings gone, we have to work on that ourselves.
I know others have been offended by what I have said or done, but I have never intended to hurt or offend anyone. I really just want peace and love in my family. I know that sometimes others don't think I am going about it in the right way, and that is perhaps true, but I just want everyone to understand each other and appreciate, or understand, others positions and feelings, without taking offense.
That is my desire, a family that will try to understand each other and be tolerant of others.