Some kids at work and I recently did some painting together. Their joy was so contagious. I noticed something in the middle of our project, something I believe made their experience even more enjoyable than my own—their ability to forget.

When I told them we were painting that day, I watched each of their little faces light up. I told them they had to take turns, and when each child was taking their turn, they had to promise to sit and wait patiently for their turn. The thing is, their little three and four year old brains just couldn’t remember that promise from moment to moment. All they knew was that moment, the one they were in. Because of this, I couldn’t help but laugh every time they broke their promises that day. I had to take a deep breath and remind them every 30 seconds they had to stay seated.

Something happened to me that week that really hurt my feelings, and I called up someone I knew would make me feel better about it—Ms. Angel. She said something to me that day I didn’t expect nor will I ever forget. She said “Just F it!” and then in the same breath, told me to go get into the Scriptures.

Ms. Angel is truly a different breed, and coming from someone who I had never heard utter a single swear word the entire time I’ve known her, this made me laugh.

Ms. Angel was on to something that day. “F-ing it” really is the key. Forget it. Forget people whose opinions don’t matter; forget people who don’t give a crap about you! They don’t matter; it doesn’t matter.

I had every right, every reason to feel what I was feeling that day, but Ms. Angel truly helped me to let it go; she made sure I didn’t stay there nor dwell on the pain.

We must learn to feel our emotions then move through them and let them go, just letting them pass right through us like my instructions passed through the kids that day. It’s not that the kids were running away from my instructions; they followed them the moment I gave them, then they simply passed through them with the passing moment.

Likewise, we must stop running from our pain, but instead, allow ourselves to endure it for a time so we can heal. We must realize we can’t linger there though. We must surrender it to God, move on, and return to a clean slate, return to our innocence. When we remember to forget, we begin to see through the lens of a child, experience true joy, and remember who we truly are.