“I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” (D&C 64:10). If life is nothing more than a series of tests, I don't think we always appreciate the complexity and complications that can arise when all of God's children are being tested all at the same time and in the same location, more or less. But it's not like we are taking a math test or a history test all together, and once we've all finished, we all move at the same time to the next subject. Imagine the chaos that might ensue if in the same auditorium some people were writing an essay, some were engaged in speech and debate, some were running a footrace, some were doing a practical chemistry lab and a hundred other things. Obviously, in an ideal world, if we are trying to paint then we wouldn't want someone very nearby trying to shoot baskets and running the risk of their errant basketball splatting into our unfinished canvas. The truth is, everyone engaged in their own tests that have the chance of spilling over into ours is just part of the testing process. We have to cut both ourselves and others some slack since none of us find ourselves very often in the perfect testing conditions. If we put our pencils down, so to speak, and take up the role of the Master to start evaluating and assigning grades on the tests of others, or to put it another way, if we start judging others and withholding forgiveness based on our own self-centered and arbitrary rubric, then not only are we attempting to usurp authority from the Master Teacher by doling out final scores for people who have not even finished their tests but also are taking tests for which we don't have the answer key or even a proper understanding of the parameters of the test, but, even worse than that, by arrogating unto ourselves the credentials of a teacher we are essentially asserting that we are students no longer and have finished the tests that have been prepared for us and we are ready to accept the final results of our education. If we are honest with ourselves for even half a second, we would be more than ready to admit that we are nowhere near being finished with our education and would be terrified to accept our score as final. That is why the Lord requires us to forgive all of His children, including ourselves. He wants us to stay in school until we have finished all of our tests. Refusing to forgive is the same as abandoning our role as student and seizing for ourselves the authority of the teacher, something we are not ready or qualified for. Let us all keep our eyes on our own paper and forgive others when they are being disruptive. We don't know what tests they are going through, just like they don't know what tests we are going through. As long as we stay in school until the Lord hands us our diploma, it will all make sense in the end.
