I was speaking to an audience of 170 people. Ten minutes into my presentation, a cell phone rings very loudly in the middle of the room. A man with an oversized jacket hanging on the back of his chair frantically searches every pocket of his coat trying to find the noisy culprit. It rings four times before he succeeds. I make a humorous comment to defuse any stress about it. All seemed well.

But then, he answers it!

Right in the middle of a penetrating story I’m delivering, with a message that was holding the rapt attention of my audience I’m suddenly competing with a telephone conversation in the crowd. I keep on speaking, staying calm and hoping it quickly ends. But it continues.

Heads in the room turn toward this man. He has become the center of attention.

I get a bit flustered by this unwanted competition for ears. I even feel irritation welling up within as the talking goes on. I almost stopped speaking as if to say, “Okay, I’ll let you talk and when you’re finished, I’ll start again.”

But I didn’t.

What seemed to me like eternity was actually a few short seconds, I knew.

I looked at the man again and a feeling of compassion flooded over me. He was clueless, I decided. He believed no one heard him. He was trying to whisper. And he looked like a nice man, innocent in a way.
I didn’t want to create an even bigger stir by bringing more attention to it, so I went the love route.

I forgave him. I loved him. I let fear of it go and mentally anointed the room with, “Everything is going to be just fine.”

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” surfaced in my mind and kept me cool and calm.

His conversation ended.

Everyone’s gaze quickly came back to the front of the room, and on I spoke with success.

The man put his phone away, sat straight up in his chair and paid keen attention the rest of the time. And I thought nothing more of the episode.

At the end of the lecture when the greeting line was mostly finished, he came up to thank me profusely for “a powerful message,” in his words, that gave him great hope and helped him find his cheer again. He was sincerely grateful, overflowing with positive feedback. He wanted me to know how much he truly appreciated the talk and how it was going to impact his life favorably. He was honest, sincere, and full of love and kindness.

I looked into his eyes and saw a beautiful, caring, thoughtful man. He had meant absolutely no harm toward me when answering his phone according to his sense of duty, even though public etiquette would have dictated otherwise. And it would have been evil for me to hold any ill-will toward him for the short disruption he caused. I felt so good about having quickly forgiven him back during the talk and letting it all go. I had a clean conscience, and it was so easy to love him right back again while he thanked me.

And a lesson on the benefits of forgiveness was learned once again.

Forgiveness is for us, not for the other person. When we hold grudges, complaints and resentments, we only injure our own sense of well being and deprive ourselves from seeing the good in others. It is a very unhappy and miserable way to live. But when we instantly forgive and love more, we go through life with a clean mind, a joyous outlook and a positive experience. We more readily see the good in others, don’t let mistakes and errors get to us, and move right on past them.

Love is always the best choice to make. The cell phone interruption will be forgotten. But the love exchanged between the two of us will remain forever.

Love more, forgive more and let the blessings roll.