Remembered No More

A few weeks ago I had to have a suspicious mole removed, and I had never been to the dermatologist before, so I didn't know who to see.

My good friend from high school lives in my neighborhood, and her husband is a dermatologist. I would trust him, and it seems like that would be the logical choice. BUT - my sister had warned me that with our family history of skin cancer, the doc would want to do a full body check on me, and so naturally I could NEVER go see someone I actually know! Only a complete stranger can do a full body check!

I've been studying forgiveness for a lesson I'm teaching in Relief Society this week, and this experience made me think of how reluctant most people are to go confess their sins to their bishop. If we could go to someone else's bishop, someone who isn't our neighbor and we haven't known for ten years, maybe then it would be a little easier...baring our whole soul, you know?

I work with a guy who's the bishop in his ward. Once I asked him if it was a great burden for him to know all the bad choices everyone in his ward had made. He surprised me by saying he doesn't remember most of them. He described it as a gift, part of the mantel of bishop, but when people are done meeting with him as part of the repentance process, he sees them at church, and he might remember that they were in his office, but he can't remember what for - like a cloud in his mind.

That is a gift of grace that everyone should know about - it removes the burden from both parties of remembering what was confessed, and all that is left is a clean, whole, vibrant soul that can move on free of the chains of sin and shame.


P.S. The mole turned out to be harmless :)