The Personal Atonement

I wrote the following poem one day as I pondered on the Great Atonement made on our behalf by our Savior, even Jesus Christ. I hope that we can all reflect on our personal relationship with our Savior, and that we can come to a realization of the great opportunity we can have, if we but lean on Him.

So We Can Be Made Clean

I oftentimes wonder what Christ has done for me.

I stop and think of who I am and it’s easy to see;

For in speech I am not mighty, and I’m really not too strong,

And though I sing with all my heart, not pretty is my song.

But Christ has suffered just for me to get me thru my day;

For when I share His glorious word, He tells me what to say.

His friendship, it is perfect, and it is on Him I lean;

For Christ has suffered pain and guilt, so I can be made clean.

I oftentimes wonder what Christ has done for me.

I stop and think of the things I’ve done and it’s easy to see;

For sins I have committed, ones that make me feel real shame.

And at times I’ve treated this precious life as some sort of game.

But Christ has suffered just for me to allow me to return

Back to His precious fold and thru it all I learn

His sacrifice was perfect, and thru it I can lean,

On He who suffered pain and guilt so I can be made clean.

I oftentimes am lonely like I have nowhere to turn

But there is one important thing that I have come to learn

We should never feel alone on Earth, for Christ is on our side

To Him we may pour out our hearts, in Him we may confide

For Christ has suffered for us all, that we might not do the same

And all he asks us in return is to remember His holy name.

His friendship, it is perfect, and it is on Him I lean

For Christ has suffered pain and guilt so we can be made clean

It’s hard to understand what Christ has done for me

And hard to comprehend how He loves me constantly

He took upon Him my own sins in the Garden Gethsemane

And was beaten, mocked, and spat upon all the way to Calvary

His flesh was pierced by rusted nails as he was placed upon the cross

The Spirit was removed from Him, a most terrible a loss

In love He did it for you and me, and on Him I gladly lean

For Christ has suffered pain and death so we can be made clean.

Now oftentimes I ponder on the blessings in my life

I think about my trials and all the pain and all the strife

With all the ups and downs, all the dips along the way

All of it is worth it, ‘cause He rose on that third day.

For Christ had suffered all for us, yet rose in life once more

Ensuring that one day we could reap the blessings sowed

He lives, it’s true! He lives today! And so we may ever lean

On He who suffered, died, and lived so we can be made clean.

"Oh Sweet, the Joy this Sentence Gives"

Two years ago, during a Stake Conference in my home stake, we were blessed by the visit of Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In the spirit the Easter Sunday that it was, he shared a powerful testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ; the truth of His divinity, and the power of His Atonement. I was blessed to be up on the same stand as him, as I took part in the choir. As the meeting was coming to a close, we as a choir stood to sing the closing number, the great LDS hymn, I Know That My Redeemer Lives. As the music began, the director mouthed the following words:

"Bear your testimony with your singing."

I took special note of the words I was singing, and the spirit testified so strongly to me of their truth that I had to stop singing, as tears streamed down my face. The words of the hymn struck me with a concentrated power. In the spirit of the upcoming Easter holiday, I would like to make special note here of certain lyrics--just a few--from this most beautiful hymn that struck me that day, and which have influenced my actions ever since.


He lives to bless me with his love.
He lives to plead for me above...

Have we stopped to consider how great a blessing we have to have a God that will love us no matter what? Have we taken a moment or two from our busy days to think of His suffering, to ponder His sacrifice, to be grateful for His love? I know that I often fall short of the covenant that I renew on a weekly basis to always remember Him, to keep His commandments, and to take upon me His name. What is most remarkable, however, is that no matter what I do (or don't do), His love is constant. I could forget about Him for a day, a week, for years, even, and He will be ever mindful of me. Why is that? What have I done to deserve such a blessing? Nothing. I have done nothing.

He has done everything. 

It was that sacrifice in the Garden, His endurance on the road to Calvary and on the cross there, even His triumphant return from the world of spirits in a perfected body which have allowed me the opportunity to overcome my sins and my ignorance, my laziness and my neglect. And so it is with all of us. All He really asks is that we do the little things: study our scriptures, go to church, attend the temple, pray. 

As I have pondered the concept and manner in which we have been asked to pray, in particular--directed to our Heavenly in the name of a Living Christ--I have come to the conclusion that there is something special going on there; a connection between us and Christ that we can easily miss out on if we don't take prayer seriously. I think of His famous intercessory prayer, recorded by John the Beloved. He said, "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world...I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me...Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:6,9,11). In that holy moment He prayed for His disciples. Are we not also His disciples? When I feel burdened with particularly heavy burdens, such as sin or trials, I cannot help but feel that even as I cry in prayer to my Heavenly Father in His Holy Son's name, that that very Son--Our Savior and Our Brother--is kneeling right beside me, with His arm around me, guiding my words, and giving me comfort. Surely He lives to plead for us all above.

He lives to calm my trouble heart.
He lives all blessings to impart...

It was the Prophet Joseph whose complaints and questions to the Lord in the midst of incredible persecution led the Living Lord to say the following: "If the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:7-8). It was that same Lord, who, during His ministry, said the following to His disciples: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek, and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30). The Christ lives to allow us an intimate friend in our most trying moments. Such moments, as He pointed out to Joseph, are for our good, but that doesn't make them easy. If we can go to Him in the midst of such trials, He will give rest to our souls.

Indeed, those same sufferings and trials, included in His Atonement, allow us not only the capacity to grow in this life, but the potential to become perfect in the life to come. Bruce C. Hafen said:

Here we will see that the Lord's grace, unlocked by the Atonement, can perfect our imperfections....While much of the perfection process involves a cleansing from the contamination of sin and bitterness, there is an additional, affirmative dimension through which we acquire a Christlike nature, becoming perfect even as the Father and Son are perfect. The Savior's victory can compensate not only for our sins but also for our inadequacies; not only for our deliberate mistakes but also for our sins committed in ignorance, our errors of judgment, and our unavoidable imperfections. Our ultimate aspiration is more than being forgiven of sin--we seek to become holy, endowed affirmatively with Christlike attributes, at one with him, like him. Divine grace is the only source that can finally fulfill that aspiration.

Such a blessing is the greatest blessing that He and Our Father can impart, and the one which They labor incessantly to grant us.

He lives all glory to his name.
He lives, my Savior still the same.
Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives.
I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES."

There is nothing that I am more grateful for in this life than the knowledge that I have that our Savior lives. It is this knowledge that we have which should drive us to desire to be disciples after His same demeanor--faithful, hopeful, loving. "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence" (D&C 4:5-6). It is this knowledge which make writer Samuel Medley's words so powerful to me, and especially on that Easter Sunday with Elder Ballard. Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives. I know that my Redeemer lives!"

To believe that Christ lives is to believe that He physically manifests Himself in order to ensure the correct direction of His kingdom here on Earth. This He does today. He did it in times of old. He did it even as He called the Prophet Joseph Smith, who said of it all, "And now after the many testimonies which have been given, this is the testimony, last of all, that we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God" (D&C 76:22-24).

I second the Prophet's testimony here. He lives.

And oh, how sweet that is.

Trials and Miracles

"The beautiful thing about the concept of miracles is that even if we don't get exactly what we wanted or exactly what we expected, if we have the faith and the Christ-like mindset of 'Thy will be done,' we won't come away empty-handed. We'll walk away with the satisfaction and peace that we now know the will of God for us."


Naaman and Elisha
The Book of Second Kings in the Old Testament recounts the story of Naaman, an army commander, who was given a challenging trial, indeed. He contracted the highly contagious and deadly disease of leprosy. One of his wife's servants was a Jew. She knew of the prophets. She knew that Elisha was in Samaria, not too far from where they were. She suggested he make the trip to see the prophet to be healed. He accepted.

Arriving at the dwelling of the prophet, his situation was explained, and a command was given:

Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be healed. 

If you know anything about the River Jordan, you know that it is not at all clean. In fact, it is quite muddy and dirty. And so Naaman's reaction to this counsel is quite understandable. He didn't like it. He wanted the prophet to come out and heal him and get it over with. And since that didn't happen, he was ready to turn back home and live with his trial. But his wise servants said the following:

If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 
(2 Kings 5:13-14)

I love the imagery given, that his flesh was like that of a little child's. In truth his flesh was not the only thing that became as a little child's. His heart became so also. Even though he thought the suggestion was silly and overly simple, he followed it and was healed.


My Experience with "Silly" Counsel
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a really skinny guy. Almost painfully so. I always have been. When I was little I was always bothered by a sort of bulge of my ribcage on my left side, which was caused by slight scoliosis. When I got to the MTC, I read the story of Naaman and I thought, Might there be a way that I can get rid of this annoying bulge? Maybe a Naaman-type experience? And so I prayed. The impression I got was too random to have come from my own imagination; I felt that I needed to do two things:

1) I needed to run a mile every day in the allotted gym time and 2) I needed to stop drinking soda. Obviously those two things have very little if anything to do with bone structure, and yet I accepted it as a commandment. If the [Spirit] had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou have done it?...

For the two months I spent in the MTC I ran a mile every day. I absolutely hate running long distances, so this was a challenge, especially being in higher altitude than I was accustomed to. I stopped drinking soda during meals, and instead drank juice and water. At the end of my time in the MTC, I suddenly noticed that the bulge that had bothered me my entire life was gone. I realized that during that time I hadn't checked to see if the bulge remained; it was as if a stupor of thought made me forget to check so that the experience would have more power. I don't know if something about running helped with my posture, and I certainly don't know what not drinking soda had to do with anything, but I know that what happened to me was not an invention of my own making. It was a miracle wrought from a humble prayer of a naive new missionary.


Trials and Miracles
Many of us tend to have this perception of miracles as only being these elaborate supernatural occurrences, these awe-inspiring feats of extraordinary divine intervention: Moses parting the Red Sea, Christ raising Lazarus from the dead, Peter and John healing the lame man at the steps of the temple. Certainly these events were not natural as we would define it. But they were (and are) to God. In our personal lives, it is our faith which allows us to see those little miracles, like the one I had. That I know longer had a little bulge of my ribs may not seem to you very significant, but to me it was huge. That bulge represented all of the anxieties and self-consciousness that I had always had over my weak physical stature, and so to see it gone was a sign to me that the Lord was aware of those anxieties, and was willing to help me overcome them. So it is with these little personal miracles-- these tender mercies. They are personal manifestations of our Heavenly Father's ultimate love and perfect awareness of our situations.

A lot of times, however--as it was with Naaman--we fail to remember two important things in regards to this concept of personal miracles. 1) "By small and simple means are great things brought to pass." Ours is a God of simplicity. If He sees fit to perform a miracle in our lives, He will do it. He will more than likely ask something of us, but it will never be something complicated or impossible. Wash seven times in a dirty river. Run a mile every day. Stop drinking soda. Do we realize just how simple these things that the Lord asks us to do are? Give up just 10% of what you earn. Refrain from certain substances. (Note: Just because they're simple, obviously doesn't make them easy, per se, but certainly doable.) 2) He loves us. Consider this scripture from the apostle Paul:

My [child], despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son [or daughter] whom he receiveth....Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 
(Hebrews 12:5-6,11)

It is a perfect understanding of what it takes to grow into a perfected being that motivates our loving Heavenly Father to give us trials. Some lose family members. Others have to overcome terrible and painful diseases. Still others struggle through intense financial struggles. But just as the same God told the prophet Joseph Smith as he questioned his own trials and those of the early Saints,

If the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for they good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
(D&C 122:7-8)

(Watch this Mormon Message for more on how trials help us grow)

The miracles which are associated with our humble pleas to overcome these intense struggles become the foundation of our eternal relationship with our Heavenly Father. He knows us perfectly. We barely know Him. But when we pass through our own personal Gethsemane's, and feel the love that comes from the manifestations of our fervent prayers to Him, we come to know Him. We start to develop a deep, personal relationship with He who created us. The beautiful thing about the concept of miracles is that even if we don't get exactly what we wanted or exactly what we expected, if we have the faith and the Christ-like mindset of "Thy will be done," we won't come away empty-handed. We'll walk away with the satisfaction and peace that we now know the will of God for us. And of course, a perfect knowledge that He loves us. 

In closing let me share the words of the prophet Moroni, which he gave in prophetic, visionary "response" to the criticisms of modern-day miracles:

"The reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust. Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."
(Mormon 9:20-21)

Shame Is Never the Answer

We have been asked by our Heavenly Father to keep the commandments in order to build a Christlike character on the road to perfection and exaltation. We don't always do that. In order to overcome the debilitating effects of this disobedience, a Savior was provided who took upon Himself the consequences of these sins,  and has set His own qualification for forgiveness ("Follow thou me..."). This process known as repentance is simple, but it is rarely easy. The nature of sin is such that when it occurs it unleashes within us certain feelings. The most frequent is guilt. The most deadly is shame.
The great Apostle Paul said the following in correspondence to the early church in the city of Corinth:

Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
(2 Corinthians 7:9-10)

In this we see clearly that there are different types of guilt, and they have varying potential outcomes. We will discuss three: Godly Sorrow, "Self-induced" Guilt, and Shame. We will define each one, then discuss them together in further depth. In studying these types of guilt, we can get a sense of certain reactions we can have to sin, whether it be our own or those around us: 1) there is only one type of guilt that can truly lead us to repent, and 2) taking the guilt process into our own hands (or hearts) can be detrimental to our progress, or that of those around us.

Godly Sorrow
Just as Paul describes, this guilt comes directly from our Heavenly Father through the Spirit. It is that uncomfortable feeling that we get when we know that we've done something wrong, and feel a desire to change. It is the only sure-fire way to lead us to repent. We should keep in mind that though we may feel such a desire, the Lord respects our agency, and will never force us to repent.

"Self-induced Guilt"
I would describe this type of guilt as "the guilt of perfectionism." It is a self-induced feeling that we have messed up, and most often leads us to sulk and feel that we are not good enough. This feeling may, however, lead us to ponder our overall desires, which allows the Spirit to enter, and replaces the self-induced guilt with Godly sorrow, which will help us repent. It most often, however, leads us to the third type of guilt, which does just the opposite.

Shame
The dictionary describes shame like this: "a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior." Think of the last time you felt humiliated. Did it make you want to be better, or did it make you want to sink in a hole and never come out? In the scripture above, Paul describes the dichotomy of Godly Sorrow and shame. His words are powerful: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance...but the sorrow of the world worketh death." We know that there are two types of death: spiritual and physical. Most of the time, shame leads us to a state of spiritual death.

We believe the adversary's common lies of "You're just not good enough," "You can never change," or "You might as well not even try." This drives us down into further despair, and we can easily fall into more sin, and greater humiliation. The most terrible thing about shame, however, is that such a feeling can lead us to physical death as well. One of the greatest tragedies of this mortal existence, and one that I think pains our Heavenly Father more than just about anything, is that many of His sons and daughters take their lives because of this feeling. The nature of shame is this: it will never ever ever lead us to repentance. It will never ever ever lead someone to repentance if you or I try and shame them for their sins.

Simply put: Shame is never the answer.

So we see, Godly sorrow cannot and will not ever hurt us. It is the only "gentle" form of guilt in that it is so perfect that the only result is positive change (if we so choose to follow it). It doesn't mean that it will be comfortable. To the contrary, it is almost always uncomfortable, but never damaging. The self-induced guilt and that which we receive from the words of others has an incredible potential to damage us--many times one doesn't come back from the guilt they put on themselves, or that which they feel from others' words or actions. However, a good friend or family member may call on us to repent, and it may cause us to change. Many of us have felt the need to change because of the words of one of our local Church leaders, or a General Authority. In such a case, we experience a feeling of Godly sorrow, because the words of those men and women are inspired, and delivered with consideration to the sensitivity of the sinner. As Paul points out, the only sure way for us to change is through Godly sorrow. The positively, sure way to be negatively influenced is through shame.

Knowing this, we can be more aware of how we should react to our loved ones when they fall short, and we desire them to change. We should realize this: if there is even a sliver of a possibility that there will be a negative reaction, it would be best to just keep our mouths shut. Just because we may be in a position to call someone to repentance definitely does not mean it is our place. In fact, if the person in question is not a loved one, and you are not in a position of leadership which has as its duties calls to repentance (like a Bishop or a full-time missionary), there's a pretty good chance that you shouldn't bring it up at all. Why?

Because of the potential for shame to be the guilt that comes. Shame is never the answer.

To close I would like to present a specific area in which many members have felt the need to speak out or act out, and it has had a very negative result.

There has been a disturbing trend in parts of the world. There has been a rash of suicides by members of the Church, mostly youth-age individuals, who identify as homosexuals, or who have just felt same-sex attraction. Only one thing can possibly be the root of these tragic choices, and it is shame--the feeling that because of the attractions they have, they can never repent, and so life is no longer worth living. I would say that a good number of these has been caused by a self-induced guilt, coupled with the sad acceptance of Satan's flat out lies, and/or failed attempts to control their attractions; the ultimate feeling is then a deep shame, which causes them to make that choice to take their lives. But certainly, the remaining cases have been caused by insensitive words or careless actions. Though there be no direct exhortation to change one's ways, frivolous and derogatory comments have given the impression that there is a general consensus of the "unforgivability" of the sin. Of course this could be true of any sin, but it is incredibly common with that of homosexuality. "That's so gay" is such a common expression, and always directed at negative things, and it's just one example of the type of comments or actions that are so common. What we fail to realize is that feelings of same-sex attraction are more common among members of the Church than we would expect, and our insensitive and careless "general exhortations" are doing damage. I am in no way condoning homosexual activities. I am condemning hatred of any kind to anyone. Animosity toward identifiers of homosexuality among members needs to end. It's not our place to shame others into repentance; in reality, it is not possible to shame into repentance. Our place is to love with Christ-like love, and that's it.

Christ himself will take care of the rest.

Our reaction to our own sin is also something we must always consider. I hope that we can always realize that there is virtually nothing that we can do that we can't repent. What's even more sure than that, is that there is literally nothing we can do that will make our Heavenly Father and His Son cease to love us. Don't believe Satan's lies. Believe that God loves you, and don't let shame overpower you. Shame is never the answer.

How to Shift Our Priorities

Oliver Cowdery

In April of 1829, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation on behalf of Oliver Cowdery. Oliver had recently arrived at Joseph's front door following a prompting of the Spirit to seek the supposed prophet, and soon became his transcriber of the first translation of the Book of Mormon. In this revelation, the Lord shed light on Oliver's potential role in the ushering forth of the Restoration of the pure Gospel of Christ. As part of this revelation, the Lord said, "Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich. Verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of me so it shall be unto you; and if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation" (D&C 6:7-8). The main thing we can get from these powerful verses in this: we all have great potential to be "the means of doing much good in this generation," but there is a main stipulation, and it's one that the Lord pointed out to Oliver: it has to be our desire, and it has to be our main priority. So if we are to reach our own potential and do such good in this generation that desperately needs good to be done, we need to take a second to ask ourselves a simple question:

Where are my priorities right now?

If we are not satisfied with our answer to that question (which happens to me quite a bit), there has to be a way to change it easily, right? It shouldn't be that hard.

I have learned from experience that it's not that easy.

A priority stems from our innermost desires. Desire influences our actions, and our continued actions constitute evidence of where our priorities really lie. Our priorities are also a glimpse at our ultimate destiny--not in the mystical sort of sense, but in the sense that we can get insight into what the end of our road will look like. A quick review of what things are most filling our time will give us a glimpse into what will fill our time in the future if those same priorities were to persist. This is where the answer to that personal question can get difficult; it hurts when we realize that our current priorities are taking us down a path that we know will not lead us to Christ. At the same time, the adversary attempts to deceive us into thinking that we can change those mistaken priorities easily. He often tries to make us think that we can change them when our circumstances get better or when a certain event happens to us that will then make it easier to be a disciple.

When this trial ends, I can be happy... When I get married, it'll be easier to stop looking at pornography... When I get a new job, I'll start paying my tithing; right now it's too hard...

Like I said, I have learned from sad experience that this mindset is fundamentally flawed. Our desires don't change on the flip of a switch, and so neither do our conditioned actions and habits. If we want our priorities to change, we have to think about what we truly want, and then make the conscious and prayerfully consecrated decision to act in full faith according to those desires.

One of my favorite talks of all-time is one called "Desire," given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in April of 2011 (Read it here). In the talk he clearly articulates what it takes for the desire of sin to be relinquished. The words of the Lord to Oliver of "if you desire" take on new meaning:

"When people are described as 'having lost their desire for sin,'" Elder Oaks says, "it is they, and they only, who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to 'give away all [their] sins' in order to know God. Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity....As important as it is to lose every desire for sin, eternal life requires more....It is our actions and our desire that cause us to become something."

It is our own conscious decision to change which will ultimately allow us to shift our priorities. It comes first from a conscious and humble decision to let our desires for the things of God overpower our desires for the carnal, temporal things of the world. This can only be done in open and humble correspondence with our Heavenly Father, leaning on the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Our own personal decision to act on this change is the next and most important step. Even if we make a decision to change, no change happens unless we act on it. Like the Lord told Oliver:

Even as you desire of me so it shall be unto you; and if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation.

It's on us.


One point that I would like to make in closing is something that I have pondered on a lot lately, and that is how we can be happy amidst terrible tragedies and deep disappointments in our lives. It is only natural to be sad or to be depressed by these occurrences, which seem to plague us. The main question, again is: how can we be happy in the midst of these struggles.  The answer in theory is easy, and I'll elaborate. In practice it's not so easy.

We must make being happy no matter what a priority in our lives. 

An example from Church history will provide greater insight. The early Saints' arrival to the state of Missouri set off a series of some of the most terrible tragedies and deepest disappointments that any of us could ever imagine. Mobs, expulsion into freezing conditions, slaughter. It was easy for many members to lose faith and lose hope as the hatred against them began to build. But on November 12, 1838, more than five years after they had arrived in Missouri and the terror began, there was an incredible miracle. Parley P. Pratt recounted:

"To our great astonishment all the firmament seemed enveloped in splendid fireworks, as if every star in the broad expanse had been hurled from its course, and sent lawless through the wilds of ether. Thousands of bright meteors were shooting through space in every direction, with long trains of light following in their course. This lasted for several hours, and was only closed by the dawn of the rising sun. Every heart was filled with joy at this majestic display of signs and wonders, showing the near approach of the coming of the Son of God."

Wait a second. Did this event change their circumstances? Were they suddenly allowed to go back to their homes? Did the freezing temperatures change to a nice 70 degrees? Were the dead raised and families restored? Obviously not.

And yet it was this event which inspired WW Phelps to write:

Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation

No longer as strangers on earth need we roam

Good tidings are sounding for us and each nation

And shortly the hour of salvation doth come.

In faith we'll rely on the arm of Jehovah

To guide thru these last days of trouble and gloom,

And after the scourges and harvest are over,

We'll rise with the just when the Savior doth come.

Then all that was promised the Saints will be given,

And they will be crown'd with the angels of heaven

And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden,

And Christ and his people will ever be one.

(Now Let Us Rejoice, LDS Hymn #3)

(This story recounted in Meridian Magazine. Read here)

These faithful Saints made the conscious decision, based on what they felt was a divine manifestation, to "rejoice" of the blessings to come, instead of sulking midst the trials that were happening to them. This decision, based on the desire that they had to have not temporal peace, but eternal peace and joy in the celestial kingdom, led them to act. This pattern of desire-based action by thousands of Saints show forth their true priority in that time: build the kingdom of God. This is a proven formula to being happy in the midst of terrible trial, and one that we should ponder right away. Sulking is an attitude that Satan loves. He loves when we dwell that those things we can't control. He loves when we feel like we can't change those we can. But happiness and joy only come from God. "If we desire," that happiness is ours, no matter what our circumstances may be. 

So where are we at in our desires? Our actions? Our priorities? If they're not where we'd like them, it's up to us to change them. It takes a simple reflection and time on our knees. It takes effort. But that effort will be worth it. If we can let the desire to please God and build His kingdom on earth drive our actions, without a doubt we will "be the means of doing much good in this generation."

Humility of Christ in the Atonement

In a garden outside of Jerusalem came the culminating moment of Jesus' mortal life. The moment where He went from being just Our perfect example to being Our perfect Savior; the moment when the power-hungry members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leadership counsel, had decided that this man, Jesus, had gone too far. The plotting had ended, the betrayal had occurred, and their devilish plan had begun to unfold. It was near an olive tree garden called Gethsemane that they found Him, completely exhausted...

It was there that Jesus had taken upon Himself all--our pains, our struggles, our sins. The pain would have killed any other man, but not He who was the only One who could endure it. He was taken, He was spat upon; He was brought before the High Priest and before Pilate; He endured the terrible scourging, and was forced to carry His own cross after hearing the condemning chant of His brethren, who He loved: "Crucify Him." He was nailed to that cross and forced to suffer that most diabolical form of execution imaginable. In this we see the true Humility of Christ: His submission in the garden, His perspective on the road to Golgotha, and His empathy and love upon rising gloriously on the third day.

Submission in Gethsemane

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate 
of heaven and let us in.
("There Is A Green Hill Far Away", LDS Hymn 194, verse 3)

Remember back to a time when you were in the depths of despair--when the only thing left to do was to get down on your knees and cry to your Heavenly Father to ask for relief. Remember what you felt next. Our Savior fell on His face in the greatest despair anyone could feel, as the burden of all sin and all pain and all despair came upon Him. Luke records, "He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed saying, Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me." How many of us in that moment of despair have cried through spiritual fatigue-caused tears that we could have our burden removed? Have we not all asked for it? But how many of us have then said, as Jesus did, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done?" The submission and acceptance that the Christ showed came as a result of perfect humility and a perfect understanding that God knew what was best, and would bless Him if He was willing to go through what was necessary to go through in order to fulfill His will. Once the Savior had said this, we read, "And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:41-44). That was what was necessary for Jesus to endure. For us, nothing can compare, except that same Christlike recognition that ultimate submission to the will of the Father will bring us the ultimate blessings of now and eternity. Next time you feel you are in the depths of despair, try to change your attitude from "remove this cup from me," to "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." What an example, also, we see in the fact that the Lord will always give us the strength to overcome. Angels will give us strength, just like the angel that came to Jesus in the lowest point in human history. I testify of the power of humbling ourselves to the point of becoming willing to go through whatever is necessary in order to become our best selves.

Perspective on the Road to Golgotha

And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.
(1 Nephi 19:9, The Book of Mormon)

I have often pondered the type of restraint that was required to endure the type of physical suffering the the Jews and the Roman soldiers inflicted upon the Savior on that day. I have never been spat upon. Nobody has ever beaten me or whipped me or degraded me verbally like they did to Him. The people that I have come to love have not turned on me for unjust, selfish reasons, and subsequently called for my execution. How would I react in a situation like Jesus'? I sure as heck would not be able to keep my mouth shut as they did so! For the purposes of my preparation for this piece, in pondering how Our Beloved Savior showed His trait of humility, I came to the deep realization that an important part of humility is perspective. The Jews taunted Him, but He said nothing and did nothing, because what He was doing was far greater and far more important than a witty comeback or a firey rebuke. He was in the process of dying for the sins of the world. He did not need to react. It was that type of perspective that allowed that restraint. It was that perspective that allowed Him to bestow His own forgiveness upon the soldiers who were ignorant of His true identity. It was that perspective that allowed Him to think of His mother while rusty nails were all that supported Him on that hunk of wood. That type of perspective can't come to us unless we have a perfected understanding of what should really matter in our lives. That understanding can only be perfected through humble inquiry to that very Being that went through it Himself. We would do well to remember this moment when persecution comes upon us in any way, shape, or form: sometimes we just need to keep our mouths shut, because it just doesn't matter.

Empathy on the Road to Emmaus

Abide with me; 'tis eventide,
and lone will be the night
if I cannot commune with thee
nor find in thee my light
O Savior, stay this night with me:
Behold, 'tis eventide.
("Abide with Me; 'Tis Eventide" LDS Hymn 165, verse 3)

It was Sunday, the third day since the leaders of the Jews had thought themselves victorious. "They" had killed He who had been the oppressor of their fight to hold to tradition. Not too far outside Jerusalem, two disciples walked to a village called Emmaus, talking of the events of the days prior--how the man they had thought would be their Savior and King was dead, but that His body was nowhere to be found on this day. They were down, depressed, and confused. The voice of a fellow traveler came to them, teaching them of the words of the prophets and the prophesies of the Messiah. Uplifted and enlightened, the disciples reached the fork in the road, the road going on to Jerusalem, and Emmaus before them. "And they drew night unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further," Luke writes. The humble and perfect empathy of this fellow traveler, who was the Resurrected Christ, shows through. These uplifted yet still tender and ignorant disciples said, "Abide with us." Essentially their petition was, "Please don't go; stay with us, for we still need thy help." And He did stay (Read the full account, in Luke 24:13-35). He stayed because through His mortal life and His suffering to death, the Savior had gained a perfect understanding of what these men and all men and women who were living or who would live on earth were feeling. He knows how He can comfort us accordingly. The question then comes: do we ourselves strive to be empathetic? Do we strive to live our lives trying to be considerate of the feelings and desires of those around us? If we are to become Christlike, we must humble ourselves. C.S. Lewis said, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." Christ in His beautiful and perfect humility had lived His life and died thinking not at all of Himself, but of all of us. Can we not strive in our pursuit of perfection to do the same? I think we would do well to ponder how we can be more empathetic of others' needs as we go about our daily lives.

Through the course of His life, we see examples of the specific ways in which He exemplified His perfect humility, and how then we can develop a Christlike humility. He accepted the circumstances of His life and overcame them. He trusted in His Heavenly Father to do that. He sacrificed in life and in death. He had perfect compassion and love for His brothers and sisters. He was perfectly submissive to the will of the Father. He had gained a perfect, eternal perspective of His own role and mission, and could act according to it. He had perfect understanding and empathy of those around Him. Most of all, and through a combination of these specific components, He performed the Atonement, vicariously suffering for the suffering that we would have to go through to pay for our mistakes and sins. That is why He pleads with us, "Repent, lest...your sufferings be sore--how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent" (D&C 19:15-16). It is because of the love He has for us that He says, "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit and you shall have peace in me. I am Jesus Christ; I came by the will of the Father, and I do his will" (D&C 19:23-24). Our Savior knows who He is, and He knows perfectly who we are. He knows that if we have the same type of humility that He has (for He still has it), we cannot falter in our pursuit of becoming perfect, just like He did. If we can accept, overcome, sacrifice, show compassion, submit, realize, and empathize just like He did--and does--(leaning on Him for strength) there will be nothing that will get us down. There will be nothing that will lead us astray. There will be nothing that will keep us from entering the Eternal Fold of the Good Shepherd in the eternal realms of the Celestial Kingdom. It is not easy. But it is possible. How do I know that? Because Jesus did it, and He offers His help so that we can do the same.

The Natural Man (and Woman)

The great prophet-king Benjamin, in one of the greater sermons of the Book of Mormon, spoke of our condition in this mortal sphere. He gave this insight into our "natural state":

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becoming a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

We all have come to earth with certain capacities. As descendants of Adam and Eve, one of those capacities is to sin, or in other words, to do bad things or to not do good things, causing a disconnect between us and God. This condition has certain consequences. Paul spoke of one. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). That natural, mortal condition is to do nothing, or do "evil." Doing nothing and/or doing "evil" is what is contrary to the nature of God, because it prevents us from progressing. One Brother Robert Millet wrote an article in the June 1992 Ensign magazine speaking of the natural man. He wrote, "So what characterizes the natural man? Simply stated, the natural man is the man who remains in his fallen condition; he has not experienced a rebirth." So how can we shed the natural man? King Benjamin gave the answer, and we'll break it down this way. Our journey to shedding that shell of the natural man is threefold: learn, change, and act.


1. Learn

King Benjamin first highlights two ways in which we begin to experience that spiritual rebirth that Brother Millet spoke of. 1) He (or she) "yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and 2) "putteth off the natural man" through embracing the Atonement of Jesus Christ. President Ezra Taft Benson once said something extremely profound about our relationship to Christ and His Atonement. He said, "Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ." The question that many non-believers ask is this: "Why do we need Christ?" The Lord himself answered that question:

"For the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin. And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me" (D&C 84:49-50). It is one thing to do nothing to shed the natural man and be stuck in a rut of not progressing because of seemingly petty sins. It is another to be "under the bondage of sin." Unfortunately, the nature of sin is such that it is often addictive. Some of those acts, such as drugs, alcohol, and pornography are physically and mentally addictive, to the point where our natural bodies yearn for more, even when our hearts are ready to give it all up. That is the beautiful thing about the Atonement. On a chilly spring evening in a garden in Jerusalem called Gethsemane, Jesus the Christ not only suffered for all the consequences of our sins, but in so doing was able to allow himself to remove and carry our burdens of sin so that we can change. As we learn of Christ and the extent to which His beautiful Atonement applies to our situation, we can have a greater capacity and a greater desire to begin to strip off that outer shell of the natural man and woman.

2. Change

The next step in this process comes naturally with our increasing knowledge and understanding of how the Atonement applies to us. It is through repentance. Something that we misunderstand about this process, however is this: repentance is less about correcting wrongs just because we're evil and need to be clean (though that is a major reason to flock to repentance), and more about changing ourselves by correcting those same wrongs. President Benson said, "The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change the environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." Repentance truly can change us. It's not just like a dirty shirt that gets washed, but can easily get dirty again. If we are changed by the atonement through full faith and repentance of our sin, it's like washing a shirt that then will never get dirty again. As we learn of Christ and the implications of the atonement, and make the determination to change as a result, those traits attributed to the natural man--selfishness, hate, pride--begin to be changed for the pure ones.

In an article on the children's learning website, Wonderopolis, the topic of a process in reptiles called ecdysis is discussed. This is the technical name for the shedding of skin. Specifically speaking of the process snakes, the writer says the following: "Snakes shed their skin to allow for further growth and to remove parasites that may have attached to their old skin. As a snake grows, its skin becomes stretched. Unlike human skin, a snake’s skin doesn’t grow as the animal grows. Eventually, a snake’s skin reaches a point where further growth is not possible." When we repent, we are going through our own spiritual ecdysis process. We are allowing for growth--spiritual growth--that could not be had otherwise.

3. Act

The following attributes, as we read in King Benjamin's address, should come rather naturally with our change. They are submissiveness, meekness, humility, patience, and charity. Submissiveness is the act of being ready to submit or yield to the authority of another; unresistingly or humbly obedient. Meekness is the condition of being righteous and long-suffering. Humility is a modest view of one's own importance in relation to God. Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Charity is the pure love of Christ. What's the common factor between these attributes? We need to act in order to fully develop them. So many of us fail to complete the process of spiritual ecdysis and shedding the natural man or woman because we think that once we have a conviction of the Atonement and have repented we are like that invincible washed shirt. But the process requires further action. That action is making sure that we develop the attributes outlined by King Benjamin.

A tell-tale sign of whether or further action is working is how we feel. As we continue to act, we will feel a greater measure of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit will be far more evident in our lives. As Paul described, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23). Our "natural man" reactions of hate, indifference, pessimism, complaining, rudeness, and impatience will begin to be as the skin of a snake; we'll slide right out of that shell and realize that we have been changed. What we need to realize, however, is that this is not a one-time event. It requires constant attention, and consistent acting.

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity, wrote, "This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round that some of us are someday going to come to life." This life is a test. We have natural challenges associated from our fallen, mortal state. I have been saying that "we" are the ones shedding the skin of the natural man. In truth, it would be more accurate to say that the Lord removes that skin if we let him. That falls in line with Lewis' quote. Our Heavenly Father and Our Savior, Jesus Christ, can only act as the sculptor if we stay still and let them do their work. It does require us to recognize those moments when we step off the workman's table. If we have a habit that is keeping us from progressing, we should remember these three steps--learn, change, act--if we want that weakness to become a strength:

1) LEARN by studying the ways to overcome,
2) CHANGE our heart and our attitude, and
3) ACT to develop attributes necessary to strengthen our characters.

I have written previously on goal-setting (see here). If you take a look there, you'll find some suggestions on how to properly set goals. It may be useful to think about as we look to start on that path to overcoming those preventative habits. Once we start on the path, trusting in faith that our Heavenly Father can teach that we may learn, mold that we may change, and gently nudge that we may act, we will be well on our way to discovering who we can truly become.