He said that even though a contract to not add graffiti to any part of the temple is signed by construction workers sometimes the workers will still leave graffiti. Any graffiti has to be removed before beginning the next building phase.

Once, someone spray-painted profane words on a section of the Lubbock Temple’s foundation. During his inspection, the building coordinator spotted the graffiti as it was about to be covered by the next stage of construction. He stopped work immediately and required the graffiti to be completely removed before proceeding further.

Workers had to sandblast the words off of the concrete. It was time-consuming and delayed forward progress. After all trace of the profanity was removed, construction continued.

Learning to Repent

That story about the foundations of the temple being squeaky clean, without spot or blemish, really impacted me.  I knew I had some spots and blemishes—whether self-imposed or splashed on my foundation by others—that needed to be sandblasted away.

But how?

As a child, I learned to repent by recognizing I’d done something wrong, asking forgiveness, and not doing it again.  In some cases, I’d stopped doing whatever it was, but I hadn’t really taken it to the Lord and asked for His forgiveness and cleansing love. As I started approaching Him, I felt invisible weights lifting off my heart.

Taking Full Advantage of the Redeeming Power of Repentance

Richard G. Scott described how to repent.

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

Are you taking full advantage of the redeeming power of repentance in your life so that you can have greater peace and joy? Feelings of turmoil and despondency often signal a need for repentance. Also the lack of the spiritual direction you seek in your life could result from broken laws. If needed, full repentance will put your life together. It will solve all of the complex spiritual pains that come from transgression. But in this life it cannot remedy some of the physical consequences that can occur from serious sin. Be wise and consistently live well within the boundaries of righteousness defined by the Lord.

There are several vital steps to repentance. Each is essential for complete forgiveness. President Joseph F. Smith identified some of these steps this way: “True repentance is not only sorrow for sins, and humble penitence and contrition before God, but it involves the necessity of turning away from them, a discontinuance of all evil practices … a thorough reformation of life, a vital change from evil to good … to make restitution, so far as … possible, for all the wrongs we have done. … This is true repentance, and the exercise of the will and all the powers of [the] body and mind is demanded, to complete this glorious work of repentance.”

To the vital steps of recognition, sorrow, abandonment, confession, and restitution where possible, it is also essential to add the requirement to diligently keep all of the commandments of God.  …

Formulas have been crafted to help remember some of the essential actions required for full repentance. While these can be helpful, generally they ignore the most fundamental aspect of repentance—that it is centered in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement, that it has efficacy because He willingly paid the full price through His redeeming sacrifice, motivated by a perfect love of His Father and of each of us. …

I testify that Jesus Christ paid the price and will satisfy the demands of justice for all who are obedient to His teachings. Thus, full forgiveness is granted, and the distressing effects of sin need no longer persist in one’s life. Indeed, they cannot persist if one truly understands the meaning of Christ’s Atonement.

To repent means to turn from sin and turn to Christ. He can remove the graffiti on our soul!  And while we may feel like we’re sandblasting ourselves during the process, to stand clean and spotless before God, graffiti-free, is an incomparable gift the Savior gives to us.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Brynlee Ashton on Conversion

Answering the Missionary Questions

I’m so excited to be here today and I’m glad all of you are here as well. I want to start by saying I opened my mission call about five months ago. Five months is a long time! And within those five months, many people have asked me the same questions and said the same comments. I will now answer them so you don’t have to take time out of the day to ask me!

• Where are you going?
  • England Leeds Mission
• When are you going?
  • I’m leaving the 28th to be there on the 29th
• Which MTC are you attending?
  • The England MTC
• Are you excited?
  • Yes
• Are you nervous?
  • Yes
• Are you [insert any emotion]
  • I have probably felt that emotion sometime within these 5 months
• Are you ready?
  • I have never felt more ready and not ready in my whole life
• What are you excited for?
  • Just about everything
• What are you nervous about
  • Bad companions and blood pudding
• I know someone who has served, is serving, or will serve in England 
  • Wow, that’s really cool
• I’m excited for you (or anything of the sort)
  • Thanks

Conversion is Our Goal

When I asked the bishop what my topic would be, I was a little scared he would say something like “Christ’s Atonement” and I’d have to teach the entire gospel in 15 minutes, but then he told me it was “Conversion is Our Goal.” I don’t know if this is special treatment, but I felt like this a really easy topic, especially for someone who is going out to help people convert to the gospel. Then I got to work and realized that there is a lot more to conversion than I had previously realized.

I also realized that I’m probably not the prime example of conversion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a terrible person — but at the same time, I’m not expecting to be the next prophet (my gender to the side). From the time I got the topic to now, I’ve been reading the Book of Mormon with this topic in mind and I realize almost every chapter has a guide or a step to becoming more converted.

When I first heard about conversion, I was 11 or 12 in Brother Capua’s class. He was teaching us the story of the man who didn’t understand why he wasn’t feeling the Spirit and Christ told him that he needed to be born again. Brother Capua told us that being born again is being converted fully to the gospel, and then proceeded to tell us his conversion story.

At that moment, conversion didn’t scare me. I was going to church, although sometimes forced. I was baptized. My dad was paying my tithing. I read a chapter of scripture about once every three months. I felt like I was in. I didn’t feel the need to convert more than I already had.

Then I got older and started to understand more fully the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the need for change and improvement, not only in the Church but in life as well. Reading the Book of Mormon these past couple of weeks, I realized it gives you a recipe to becoming converted. The Book of Mormon teaches you how to convert and why.

The Book of Mormon is like a guidebook. If you have a question that needs to be answered and you read with that question in mind, the Book of Mormon will help you find the answers. While I was asking about conversion, I realized that Christ gives us principles to become more converted.

Alma 32:13 basically tells us exactly what those principles are. 

And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.

Alma says all you need to do to be saved, or converted, is follow these four simple principles:

1. Humble yourself
2. Seek repentance
3. Obtain mercy from repentance
4. Endure to the end

Sounds a lot easier than it is. I know from personal—and secondary—experiences that those four actions can be some of the hardest things we’ll do in this lifetime. That’s why it’s so important to follow them: because doing good, difficult things leads us to become our best selves.

Humility

So let’s break these four principles down. The first step is humility. The Gospel Topic on humility defines humility as the ability to… 

…recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies.

Once again, it seems like such an easy concept, and yet it’s difficult. The natural man makes being dependent upon the Lord seem unwanted, unneeded, and unattainable. 

However, King Benjamin, a prophet of God, lets us know that when we humble ourselves, we will “be filled with the love of God…” Talk about an amazing promise.

Have you ever had days where you just feel worthless, unwanted, hated by others or even yourself? King Benjamin gave us the solution—to forget our stresses and realize that we are awesome because we are created by a remarkable being. To have better days is to realize all our gifts, talents, and abilities are from God. 

King Benjamin also promises a few more things, including that we will “grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.” I find it interesting that he says you will grow in knowledge of God or of things that are just and true.

And I think it’s because King Benjamin understands that we are given knowledge piece by piece. We don’t get perfect knowledge when we ask, but rather we get imperfect knowledge to give us the urge to grow towards perfect knowledge. You won’t understand everything about God and everything that is just and true by being humble once — you understand it by becoming humble over and over and over again.

Jesus Christ’s Atonement

The last thing that King Benjamin promises is that you will “always retain a remission of your sins,” which leads perfectly into the second principle towards conversion—to seek repentance. When you’re humble, you “understand that [you] have constant need for [God’s] support.” After realizing that, you begin to want His help and He gives you the perfect source of support—Christ’s Atonement.

Now, like I said in the beginning, I don’t have time to change my talk into a talk about the Atonement, so I hope it’s okay if I summarize it. God sent His firstborn Son to sacrifice Himself for our sins. Jesus lived through every one one of our lives, individually, and felt every single one of our pains and afflictions in a couple of miraculous hours. Because of that, He can plead our case and take our sins upon Him, if we let Him, by repenting. Once that happens, God has no memory of them.

I find King Benjamin’s diction interesting in this verse. The word retain is defined as “continue to have; keep possession of.” And remission is defined as “the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.” The phrase “retain a remission of your sins” can be translated to “continue to have the cancellation of your sins.”

However, Alma makes a promise that comes with different language. He says that if we SEEK for repentance, then we will achieve it. King Benjamin’s “always will receive remission” and Alma’s “you have to seek remission” seem to contradict themselves. However, if you look at the context they aren’t so different. 

King Benjamin, in the verse before the one we’ve talked about, is talking about humility. So combining the Gospel Topic’s definition of humility, King Benjamin is saying that if you understand that you need constant help from the Savior and put that into action, then you will retain a remission of your sins — because once you realize you need help, you tend to go get help if you have humbled yourself.

Repentance

In the case of conversion, the help you need is to gain mercy from God. Principle number three to conversion is to obtain mercy. Obtaining mercy is easy once you repent with full purpose of heart. However, repenting can be very difficult. 

I use to think that repentance was a punishment — that if I fell into temptation and had to repent, I was in big trouble. Sometimes I still think that. Sometimes I feel that even to pray to God, I have to be perfect.

But that puts me in a tricky situation, doesn’t it? How am I supposed to repent if I’m too scared to talk to God? How do I become more perfected if I don’t repent? How do I heal my wounds if I don’t humble myself and realize that God doesn’t need me to be perfect to talk to Him? To repent?

If that were the case, none of us would get anywhere. God sent His Son not to make us feel afraid to go to Him, but to feel confident enough in our Savior to go to God and admit our imperfections.

That right there is the basis of why we’re here. It’s the path of our conversion. We need to humble ourselves enough to go to God on our knees, spill out our hearts, repent, and receive mercy from our perfect Father.

Enjoy to the End

You’ve probably realized that I still have one more principle to talk about. Alma told us that there are four principles to conversion, and I’ve only mentioned three of them. The four principle is endure to the end.

I’d like to change it, though. When my brother Liam came home from his mission, he taught our family something that has resonated with me since. When you say “endure” to the end, it makes this life, this plan, seem like it’s going to be us scratching tooth and nail to get to the finish line. Some days it may feel like that.

Liam taught us to say “enjoy” to the end. Despite the hard days, trials, pains, and temptations, life can be pretty awesome. We have these bodies that continue to amaze me day after day. God created this earth with flowers, trees, and mountains. He gave us delicious food, beautiful animals, and stars to gaze at. He gave us incredible brains, fantastic oceans, and most importantly—He gave us a choice.

Why Would You Choose Conversion?

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

God created us and this world so that we have agency, the power to choose. Just because a cute, awesome girl up here on the pulpit told you these principles to conversion doesn’t mean you have to follow them. So why would you?

In 3 Nephi 7 after Jesus came and worked many miracles among the Lamanites, verse 21 says

And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ, in whom they believed.

The few who decided to choose conversion and come to the Lord were blessed with the Spirit of God. 

Being Blessed With the Spirit of God

I’m just gonna list a few things the Holy Ghost does for us. 

• 3 Nephi 16:6 claims the Holy Ghost witnesses of the Father and His Son
• Alma 21:16 claims the Holy Ghost will lead you or enlighten your path
• Alma 17:10 claims the Lord can visit you through the Holy Ghost
• Alma 12:7 claims the Holy Ghost gives you the ability to prophesy
• Moroni 7:16 claims the Holy Ghost helps you know good from evil
• Mormon 2:26 claims the Holy Ghost strengthens you physically
• Galatians 5:22-26, Alma 13:28, Philippians 4:7, and Moroni 8:26 claim the Holy Ghost brings perfect love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, hope, and so much more good.

And those don’t even scratch the surface. I mean, based on those, who doesn’t want the Holy Ghost with them at all times? Everyone says that Casper is the friendly ghost, but, honestly, he doesn’t even come close to the Spirit of God. 

I know that I already said joy comes with the Spirit, but joy also comes with conversion. Helaman 6:3 proclaims that the people of the Church were full of joy with the Lamanites’ conversion. Joy comes from your conversion and when people you know and love convert.

That’s why missionary work is so fulfilling. You get to see others come closer to God and gain greater joy and happiness, and that rocks—especially if you were a part of their conversion. Remember, you don’t have to be a full-time missionary to be a missionary. 

The Holy Ghost and joy are pretty great reasons to convert, but the best reason of all is eternal life. God promises to us over and over that if we turn away the natural man and convert to His gospel with full purpose of heart, then we will be able to get the chance to go back home and live with Him again. Oh, how glorious that day will be when we get to see Heavenly Father again and live happily in His presence. 

I’m also excited for that day because I’ll be able to see my family again. My beautifully imperfect family that has supported me through my whole life. I hope it’s okay that I take a few minutes to thank them. Thank you, Malac and Layla, for teaching me one of the greatest lessons: patience. You guys haven’t always been the easiest to get along with, but despite that, I hope you guys know how much I love you and how much I’ll miss you. Malac, keep going with your basketball — you have so much talent. Layla, keep making good friends day by day. 

David, thank you for helping me understand more fully the plan of salvation. I’m so excited to meet you.

Liam and Hadley, thank you for being the best older siblings I could ask for. Thank you for always being such good examples for me. Liam, stop being so smart and making me look bad. (I’m just kidding!) Thank you for always being there for me even if I permanently scarred your arms from my nails. Hadley, thank you for being the best older sister. I’m so happy Liam chose you for his eternal companion.

Mom and Dad, thank you for being my constant support in everything I do. I must’ve done something really good in the premortal life to have gotten you as parents. Thank you for putting up with my bad days and celebrating with me on my good days. Mom, thank you for being one of my best friends and a perfect example of a mother. Dad, I’ve been told that you only get through this life laughing or crying. But you’ve proven them wrong. You have made me laugh so hard that I cry with every single one of your dumb dad jokes and weird dance moves. Thank you for never giving up on me.

I love you guys so much.

I’m so excited to be able to go out and teach the people of England Leeds the lessons and promises of conversion and family. I’m excited to feel the joy of watching the people I’ve been teaching come to Jesus and change their lives for the better by following the four simple, but hard, principles with full purpose of heart and mind. 

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Scrubbing Away a Scent

People’s scents don’t often transfer to me at church and linger, but as I drove home from church on Sunday, I realized some had. My husband Anthony is ultra-sensitive to smells. He’d gotten home before me and as I walked into the house and entered the room he was in (he was sitting on the other side of the room), Anthony asked, “What is that smell?”

“Church,” I responded. From the look on his face, I knew we couldn’t exist in the same room. So I went immediately to the bathroom to wash off my cheeks and neck and change into a comfy dress.

I returned and said, “Better?”

He replied that the smell was fainter, but still too strong.

I went back to the bathroom. I took off my glasses before scrubbing my whole face and neck.

When I returned, he looked so apologetic and said it was still so strong. I made him smell me to figure out what spot I’d missed. I washed my earrings. I washed my glasses. We couldn’t spot the smell’s origin. Then, we found it coating my hair!

I jumped into the shower, thinking that would solve everything. I washed myself and threw my comfy dress back on and went back into the living room. We still kept getting snatches of it on the air. How was that possible? Apparently, it had transferred onto my comfy dress.

Back to the bedroom I went and found something else to wear. I couldn’t believe how pungent the shoulder of my dress was. My hair and neck must have just been drenched to have transferred that much fragrance onto a secondary article of clothing.

Even though I had thoroughly washed my hair, when my hair blew across my face, I got a whiff of the fragrance. I couldn’t believe how the smell totally clung to me, though I did my best to rid myself of it!

Despite the random residual scent, finally, Anthony could be in the same room as me. Balance restored.

Sin Clings to Us Just Like the Scent Clung to Me

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

My friend Rachel asked me to speak at her baptism later that day so the baptismal covenant had been on my mind. While in the shower scrubbing the scent off of me, I realized I’d just lived a great metaphor for repentance.

When I do wrong, I scrub what I think is affected and then think I’m OK.

But if I ask the Lord if I’m truly clean enough to be in His presence, it may take a couple of scrubbings before spiritual balance is restored. To be changed and clean before the Lord is the purpose of repentance so that I can stand spotlessly and confidently in the heavenly presence of the Lord.

And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.

Liars are first on the list? “Loves and makes a lie” ranks with adulterers and whoremongers?

Section 76 reiterated what the Lord taught in section 63.

Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

As I’ve studied the Doctrine and Covenants recently, I’ve noticed patterns in phrases about lying and falsehoods and hypocrites, and pondered on why “lying” would rank so high on the lists of pernicious sins.

I’ve been taught my whole life to not lie. Acquiring a temple recommend requires a declaration of honesty. I avoid white lies. I rectify lies that “slip out” by retracting what I said or clarifying what I meant to say. What you see is pretty much what you get with me. I have no hidden agenda.

Still, these verses rang loudly as I read them so I knew they could teach me something beyond the surface meaning I gave them.

Liars Don’t Do

As I pondered lying and its impact, several verses came to mind. I began to understand “lying” in a broader sense.

…“they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

The Pharisees and the Sadducees

This verse is basically saying, “You say you believe, but you either don’t really believe or don’t do or become what you say you believe.” Belief requires action—a doing, becoming, remembering, relinquishing. If I say I believe and don’t do, I lie.

Well, that applied to me more than I was comfortable with. As I pondered lying and lips and hearts, I needed to examine how I keep my covenants. I’ve made a covenant

…to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 

Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

I fall short in keeping this covenant when my heart and lips are out of sync.

Liars Lose Light

Another verse that enlightened my understanding was this verse from Doctrine and Covenants 93:

And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers. But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth.

Disobedience and incorrect traditions reduce truth and light. Doctrine and Covenants 93 equates light, truth, intelligence, and knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they are to come.

And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;

 

And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning….

 

He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.

 

Light and truth forsake that evil one.

 

And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.

God is a god of truth and light.

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

As I studied this section, I really saw that false traditions, limiting beliefs, and disobedience betray our true natures as intelligences organized by our Heavenly Father. We’re infused with His light and our actions receive or reject His light until we’re either full of darkness or “that light [that] groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”

Beliefs and traditions become a lie when they justify inaction and perpetuate false identities of ourselves, others, and the Lord. These kinds of lies lead to defensive posturing, victimhood, or aggressive pride. Thus, they negate the power available to God’s children—the power of faith and priesthood, the power to ask and receive, the power to seek and to find, and, ultimately, the power of Jesus Christ’s grace to return exalted into the Father’s presence.

So I learned that along with telling lies and fibs, liars lose light through disobedience and false beliefs because they reject their divine light and the real truth. They relinquish agency by diminishing divine power. They’ll stand in the presence of God in that altered form with their garments stained.

Zeezrom

Zeezrom was a liar.

Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good…

 

And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these will I give thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being.

 

Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

 

Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.

 

And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou saidst unto me—Behold these six onties, which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadst it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have thy reward.

Alma also addresses Zeezrom’s lies.

Now Alma, seeing that the words of Amulek had silenced Zeezrom, for he beheld that Amulek had caught him in his lyingand deceiving to destroy him, and seeing that he began to tremble under a consciousness of his guilt, he opened his mouth and began to speak unto him, and to establish the words of Amulek, and to explain things beyond, or to unfold the scriptures beyond that which Amulek had done.

 

Now Zeezrom, seeing that thou hast been taken in thy lying and craftiness, for thou hast not lied unto men only but thou hast lied unto God; for behold, he knows all thy thoughts, and thou seest that thy thoughts are made known unto us by his Spirit;

We next find Zeezrom cast out of his town and burning with a fever under the weight of his sins. He felt the pains of those who had been killed because of his lies and he suffered.  He sent for Alma and Amulek to come to him. They did and Zeezrom asked them to heal him. He’d peeled back his lies, false beliefs and traditions, and recognized his sins.

And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?

 

And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught.

 

To read more of Delisa’s articles, click here.

And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed.

 

And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words.

 

And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ.

 

And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom.

 

And Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people.

Zeezrom’s story shows that a liar can shake off lies and be redeemed. As it’s true for Zeezrom, it’s true for everyone. As I forsake my false beliefs, sins, and darkness, I reclaim and receive more light, until one day I am full of light and in me, there is no darkness at all.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

What first brought you to Christ? Are your reasons the same now as they were then?

The more time that we spend getting to know Christ and emulating His behavior, the more we learn about the depths of His love for us. The more we stand in awe of what He has done for us. The more we want to share that joy with others around us. Understanding His love and recognizing the depths of our own are the elements that motivate us toward becoming better disciples of Christ.

For me, the most important part of coming to know Christ is coming to know and understand the true power of His Atonement. What a wonderfully marvelous blessing.

I think of Christ with His disciples shortly after feeding the five thousand. Many began to follow Him because of that miracle. They looked for Him to feed and take care of Him. But, when Jesus tried to invite them into His presence more fully, many turned away.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

Hearing Christ proclaim this and express His divinity was beyond their capacity to understand. They walked away.

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (John 6:66-69)

Those who stayed understood more fully what Christ’s role in their lives was to be. They understood that no one else could do for them what Jesus Christ could do. Others have performed miracles, other have taught great truths, others have show great kindness and mercy — yet no other could atone for our sins and open the doors to resurrection and eternal life for us.

Jesus Christ has offered each of us the most exquisite bread, but it is still up to us whether we accept it or turn away. Discipleship is the result of accepting Christ’s Atonement, not as a one-time occurrence or a blanket effect for every human fallacy that one could commit, but as a treasured gift that we will reach for again and again.

Each time we express sorrow for our sins and inadequacies, each time we exercise repentance, each time we turn to Christ with our broken hearts and wounded souls, we come away filled to an extent we never thought possible.

When you understand and experience that type of connection, where else would you go other than the path the Savior invites you to walk with Him? How much excitement would you feel? Who would you want to share that with? Pondering and answering these questions are the heart of discipleship. We follow because we love Him and we understand His love for us.

I think a very clear example of the power of the Atonement is given in the Book of Mormon. This account by Alma the Younger is one of the most powerful testimonies of the power the Atonement I have ever come across. It’s long, but definitely worth the read.

And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.
And I would not that ye think that I know of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the carnal mind but of God.
Now, behold, I say unto you, if I had not been born of God I should not have known these things; but God has, by the mouth of his holy angel, made these things known unto me, not of any worthiness of myself;
For I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to destroy the church of God; but behold, God sent his holy angel to stop us by the way.
And behold, he spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did tremble beneath our feet; and we all fell to the earth, for the fear of the Lord came upon us.
But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.
And he said unto me: If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.
And it came to pass that I fell to the earth; and it was for the space of three days and three nights that I could not open my mouth, neither had I the use of my limbs.
And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did not hear them; for when I heard the words—If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.
But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy. (Alma 36:3-21)

While many of us will never go through this type of instant and dramatic change, we are familiar with the emotions associated with this account. We have come to know Christ. When we know Him and our hearts have been filled with joy through the Atonement, we will choose no other path than His. The desire to share, serve, and follow comes not from a sense of duty, but of conversion to the love, joy, peace and gratitude of the gift of the gospel; its pearl of great price.

Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. (Alma 36:24)

That’s why we choose discipleship.

Alison P

“The cone of shame” via Disney’s “Up“

To make matters worse, he continues to chew on it. This has resulted in an upset stomach, so on top of everything else, he isn’t eating much. He had to be taken to the vet for fluids and we’ve put an Elizabethan collar, or E-collar, on him so he stops chewing on his injury.

However, regardless of what the manufacturer advertises, the collar still makes it difficult for him to drink water from his bowl. And I have tried a couple of bowl/stand configurations to make it easier for him.

President Monson told a wonderful story one General Conference about lighting a field on fire near a campground. He described how he and his young friends quickly saw their well-intentioned fire circle grow to a fully sized brush fire headed toward some local homes. He described how his friend continued to attack the fire while he ran for help. Adults ran and worked together to put out the brush fire.

What do these stories have in common? Don’t turn one mistake into two mistakes. We all mess up. We all sin or forget something or sometimes react without thinking. We have all been triggered by panic or anger or stupidity. We’ve all been there. However, don’t make it worse by chewing on your wound. Don’t make it worse by being so stubborn that you don’t ask for help.

If you don’t ask for help to remedy your mistake, the brush fire grows, burns down homes, hurts people, and you end up in jail.

If you continue to chew on your wound, it continues to bleed, it upsets your stomach, you can’t eat or drink, then your Mom puts a collar of shame around your neck, and you have no idea what you did to deserve all this. You look pitiful.

To read more of Molly’s articles, click here.

Remind you of anyone? Just look in the mirror. You are better than a dog or a pre-teen boy with matches, aren’t you?

I think the old adage, “Work smarter, not harder” has an additional meaning beyond using tools appropriately: be smart and get the help you need, when you need it. Forgiveness and repentance and humility are great ways to get that help.

*The feature illustration for this article is from the children’s book “One Little Match” detailing Thomas S. Monson’s brush fire story. This book can be found on Deseret Book’s website.

Molly A. Kerr

Molly is on a life long quest to figure herself out. Born to be and educated as an aerospace engineer she is also blessed to be a wife and a mom of two in the present, previously served as a full-time missionary, is consistently called to teach the youth in her ward, is eagerly though slowly doing home improvement as money and time allow, all while gradually learning how to be herself and find peace and balance somewhere in between.

Despite her attempts to make “the right” decisions in her life, she has learned to deal with some unexpected challenges over the last two decades. Total tornadoes, really. What she has discovered is that her career has taught her a lot about the Gospel and being a better mother, and the Gospel, when applied to challenges at the office, has made her a better professional. She has also learned that it is okay to be herself, and God still loves (and forgives) her for it.

“I wish you to understand that sin is not an attribute in the nature of man, but it is an inversion of the attributes God has placed in him. Righteousness tends to an eternal duration of organized intelligence, while sin bringeth to pass their dissolution” (Brigham Young Discourses of Brigham Young, 10:251).

Brigham Young’s statement caused me to pause when I first read it. I’d seen sin as an aberration from God’s path, or willful disobedience, but hadn’t ever thought of it as an inversion from His nature and attributes.

The truth is so obvious in simple juxtapositions.

The Lord is a giver. In its inversion, a thief takes. The Lord creates life. In its inversion, a murderer kills. Jesus gave glory to the Father. Inverted pride vaunts itself.

And more attributes and inversions: Peace-War, Love-Hate, Honor-Gossip, Abundance mindset-Victim/Lacking mindset, Happiness-Anger, Built on a Rock-Tossed as a Wave, Forgiving-Bitter/Vengeful. It’s pretty easy to see how each attribute is inverted to an opposite.

Righteousness tends to eternity; sin tends to destruction. Hence, the devil enjoys seeing others miserable like he is, while Jesus Christ suffered for all so we wouldn’t suffer if we repented.

Being Filled with the Holy Spirit’s Inversion

The scriptures readily teach the impacts of being filled with a spirit. The Spirit of God tends to life and eternity. In that inversion, the spirit of devils tends to destruction. We can be filled with either spirit.

The New Testament Gospels discuss all sorts of demon and devil possessions of man. Examples of that destructive possession that leap to mind include Mark 9’s story of a man who besought the Savior for his son’s release.

And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away…straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming…And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him.

Legion

Der liebende Jesus jagt Dämonen in unschuldige Schweine by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

The other story that really hit this principle home for me was the story of Legion in Mark 5.

[I]mmediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

 

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

 

And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

 

For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

 

And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

 

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

In an instant, their possessed pig bodies were violently dead.

Other destructive possessions aren’t quite so obvious. Alma discerned that charismatic, seemingly rational Korihor was possessed.

Behold, I know that thou believest, but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of God that it may have no place in you; but the devil has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God.

Korihor experienced spiritual destruction. He’d had light, but he turned to darkness. He demanded a sign. God struck him deaf and dumb. A horse eventually trampled Korihor to death.

And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.

Blinded to Sight

Being blinded by an evil influence produces pronounced fruits and so does the Spirit of God.

Blinded by an incorrect judgment, Saul held coats while others stoned saints like Stephen. He rounded up and persecuted the righteous. But in a dramatic turn of events, Saul saw the light, repented of his erroneous ways, and corrected his life path. He devoted his life to the true God.

Filled with the Spirit of God

Rather than specific stories, two quotes demonstrating the principle of God’s spirit tending to life, creation, and eternity sprang to mind.

Joseph Smith sent the following in a letter to the Quorum of Twelve in 1840:

Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.

Possession of the love of God yields dramatic, beneficial results.

Illustration of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, from T. B. H. Stenhouse’s The Rocky Mountain Saints.

Possession of the Holy Spirit

This quote by Parley P. Pratt has changed the course of my life several times. It correlates well with Brigham Young’s thought—that we are designed with the Spirit of God, but because of the Fall are subject to inversions of these characteristics. I love it.

An intelligent being, in the image of God, possesses every organ, attribute, sense, sympathy, affection, of will, wisdom, love, power and gift, which is possessed by God Himself.

 

But these are possessed by man, in his rudimental state, in a subordinate sense of the word. Or, in other words, these attributes are in embryo; and are to be gradually developed. They resemble a bud–a germ, which gradually develops into bloom, and then, by progress, produces the mature fruit, after its own kind.
The gift of the Holy Spirit adapts itself to all these organs or attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity.

 

It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being. (Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, pp 101-103).

My personal challenge is to expunge the inversions from my soul. My spirit is resilient and welcomes the change. For any shallow or deep-rooted aberrations, the Savior’s atonement promises relief and regeneration. “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

(Originally published on Delisa’s blog on Patheos.)

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

As I wheeled the can to the curb for pickup, I noticed that the truck had luckily not come yet because blue garbage cans littered the street where we live. However, not everyone had their garbage cans out yet. Some had delayed or forgotten.

It wasn’t a big job. My wife helped bring a few waste baskets down from the upstairs room and in just a few minutes, we had all the trash deposited and ready for pickup—a light job to say the least.

When I was a boy, men used to follow behind the truck and throw the metal trash cans into the back of the garbage truck to empty them. Nowadays it’s automatic. But either way, the task was completed at regular intervals and was manageable.

But imagine with me a different scenario. Let’s say that we were too busy today to properly deal with the trash and empty the garbage as I have described. That isn’t too big a deal. It happens on occasion to all of us. But if that scenario repeats itself week after week, the consequences are much more severe.

“Okay! You are all taken care of,” yells the garbage worker. “We’ll be back in a year to pick up whatever you have next.”

What? Next year? We need this service every week! There is no way we can carry our garbage around for an entire year. Our homes and neighborhoods would be putrid with decaying garbage and filth. I can’t and don’t want to even imagine the side effects of such a poor strategy. I think you get my drift.

Well, it was at this point that I situated the empty garbage can now in its vacant spot just outside the garage. I thought to myself, ‘No one would dispute the need to exercise habits of cleanliness by regularly dealing with trash in our home and yards, but are we ever guilty of failing to address the filth or at least the unsightly in our lives?’

Repentance allows us to free ourselves of “garbage” that we collect in our lives.

I know that I could do better at this. Maybe you can too.

Just like regularly emptying the garbage in our homes, we need to eliminate the unappealing and sinful elements in our lives. If we don’t, it is just like carrying around garbage that bruises our relationships, impedes our effectiveness, and causes havoc that could otherwise be avoided by taking out the garbage regularly—and by that, I am referring to repentance.

Repentance is not more work. It is simply doing it at regular intervals. For me, it is something I try to do every day. That way, problems are addressed when the task is still small and easy to tackle. There are many good reasons why this strategy is superior to delaying the inevitable, but rather than taking my word for it, let’s defer to a more reliable authority on the subject than I. According to the Church’s website, repentance is explained as a change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general:

Repentance implies that a person turns away from evil and turns his heart and will to God, submitting to God’s commandments and desires and forsaking sin. True repentance comes from a love for God and a sincere desire to obey His commandments.

You know that, but I am going to provide a different metaphor that has, for me, become a way of life. When I was a boy, my dad had a jewelry box that looked something like a treasure chest. That alone fascinated me. But inside the lid, in its felt-covered interior, were little sectionals that held ‘jewels’ such as cufflinks, tie pins, bracelets, and rings.

Yes. It was a virtual treasure chest for a small boy like me. Though I did not take these treasures to play with at the time, my little imagination was all over it. I don’t remember the contents specifically except for one ring. The ring I am referring to is a beautiful ruby set inside a gold beau. I loved that ring, though I don’t really remember my father ever wearing it. I’m sure he must have, and if I asked my mother about it, there has got to be a story behind this treasure.

For me, the ring represents my father: his love, compassion, and my fond memories of him. When he passed, I asked my mother if I could have the ring. She consented, and now nearly every day when I head to the office, I put it on. And when I do, I think of my dad. I feel the warmth of his smile, the satisfaction of his commendations, and I want to be a better person because he is a very fine person whom I love and admire. I am certain you can relate to those kinds of sentiments in your own lives.

So you may be asking what in the world this has to do with garbage: jewelry and an anecdote that gets more confusing all the time. Well, you see, we all have a Father who loves us and wants to bless us; a Father whom we can love and admire. But He too can sometimes feel far away though we yearn to be near him. But just like I have a symbol (my ring) that reminds me of my father every day, we have the Savior Jesus Christ and customs and behaviors surrounding him that remind us daily of our Father in Heaven. The Mormon Newsroom describes it this way:

From ancient times, men and women have embraced sacred music, different forms of prayer, religious vestments full of symbolism, gestures and rituals to express their innermost feelings of devotion to God.

Whether it is daily prayer and scripture study, keeping the commandments, choosing the type of clothes we wear or the way we speak, these decisions and rituals impact the way we live and the people we become. They remind us of the Savior Jesus Christ and the special relationship we have with our Heavenly Father. Similarly, repentance is a significant part of that custom for me. That very act brings me closer to God. Though for a season we are apart, I know we will be reunited in due time.

It seems that like many commonplace things in life, repentance and asking forgiveness need to occur in a regular pattern of daily orderliness. As we seek mercy from our Heavenly Father, we are reminded of His love for us and we remember Him frequently.

To read more articles by Walter Penning, please click here.

All of our efforts to proclaim the gospel, perfect the Saints, and redeem the dead lead to the holy temple. President Russell M. Nelson told the temple presidents and matrons:

“As you serve … you will come to realize that temple service is the crown jewel of all of our work in the Church.” –  President Nelson.

In a BYU Devotional, Chauncey C. Riddle related,

“These precious jewel concepts, when properly cut and polished, become instruments through which the light of Christ is translated into understanding and good deeds in the life of a Saint.” – Chauncey C. Riddle

As our Heavenly Father’s children, we are told that we are precious, worthwhile, and created in His image. Is it any wonder that the poet William Wordsworth speaks thus of our royal birth: “Trailing clouds of glory do we come, From God, who is our home”?

We indeed are His jewels, and we are reminded of that when we seek His forgiveness.

It is in those moments that we honor and remember Him most.

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

(Matthew 6:14–15)

Walter Penning

In 1989, Walter Penning formed a consultancy based in Salt Lake City and empowered his clients by streamlining processes and building a loyal, lifetime customer base with great customer service. His true passion is found in his family. He says the best decision he ever made was to marry his sweetheart and have children. The wonderful family she has given him and her constant love, support, and patience amid life’s challenges is his panacea.

Yet, I struggle with repeating mistakes over and over again. For those readers old enough to remember vinyl records, I feel like a deep scratch in a record. Remember how the same word in the song just kept repeating until you picked the needle up and moved it on the other side of the scratch? That’s me. Just a mistake on repeat.

My ears perked up during the April 2018 LDS General Conference when I heard Elder Robbins speak these words.

“Change” is the principal word the Guide to the Scriptures uses to define repentance: “A change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general.” That kind of change results in spiritual growth. Our success, then, isn’t going from failure to failure, but growing from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm (Elder Lynn G. Robbins, “Until Seventy Times Seven,” Apr. 2018 General Conference (citing Guide to the Scriptures, “Repent, Repentance,” scriptures.lds.org.)).

That’s what it always felt like to me. I was going from failure to failure. I felt like I would never learn. Yet, when I stopped to think about what Elder Robbins said, I had grown from my mistakes—even the ones I had repeated. My enthusiasm for trying was always there, and my intentions were good.

Repentance is all about intentions. We all slip up—especially me. I really try to make good choices, and that’s what Elder Robbins is talking about. I am growing from my mistakes, and my slip ups are becoming less frequent on old mistakes. I’m moving on to a whole new set of mistakes to help me grow.

It is comforting to me to know that Heavenly Father’s plan allows for me to continue trying and that He knows my idiosyncrasies and character flaws better than I do. He knows exactly what I will do in any given situation before I do it. He has left room in the plan for my mess ups. He has provided a way for me to fix the problem. His Son, my Savior, has already paid the price of every dumb thing I’ve ever done and ever will do. All I have to do is continue to try.

Having a change of mind and heart is an ongoing process. The process is long and arduous, but each step along the way brings spiritual growth and maturity.

I was thinking about some of my mistakes through the years. I can actually see myself at different times in my life. Looking back at that person doesn’t feel like I’m looking in a mirror. I’m a different person than I was when I made those mistakes. I grew into a better version of myself—and I’m continuing to grow. Apparently, I have had more spiritual growth than I thought. I’ve just been seeing the negative instead of the growth.

Repentance is an amazing thing. It allows us to move forward instead of spiraling downward. The problem is that a lot of us don’t understand or fully take advantage of repentance. We have a mental block thinking that we can’t possibly succeed, so why try? That’s counterproductive thinking, and it comes from the adversary who doesn’t want us to succeed.

I talked to someone a few months ago who thought that she could never be forgiven by God because she had gone too far astray. I assured her that she is a child of God and that her mistakes have already been paid for by Jesus Christ. I told her They both love her—no matter what she has done. I explained that she had repented for her actions and was living a good life. That’s all that is expected of her. I hope she believed me.

To read more of Tudie’s articles, click here.

It is hard to teach children about repentance if you don’t fully understand the process yourself. Therefore, it is important that we fully grasp the power of the Atonement and use it in our lives. The next generation will be bombarded with some pretty hard times, and we want them to be prepared to deal with whatever unfolds. They can only do that if they understand repentance and the power of the atonement.

We need to teach them, as Elder Robbins suggests, to come to the sacrament table every week with a fresh attitude and full of enthusiasm. I love that he used the word “enthusiasm” when talking about repentance. I never considered being enthusiastic about taking the sacrament. I will be pondering that as I take the sacrament in the future.

As you go to partake of the sacrament, think not only of the mistakes you’ve made, but also of the growth you’ve made from past mistakes. Be enthusiastic to rid yourself of guilt and pain. Enthusiastically commit to try harder. Spiritually grow from the experience instead of just going from failure to failure.

Tudie Rose

Tudie Rose is a mother of four and grandmother of ten in Sacramento, California. You can find her on Twitter as @TudieRose. She blogs as Tudie Rose at http://potrackrose.wordpress.com. She has written articles for Familius. You will find a Tudie Rose essay in Lessons from My Parents, Michele Robbins, Familius 2013, at http://www.familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents.

Now maybe that sounds a little extreme, but on occasion, that strategy happens to be the only thing that really works. Let me provide a couple examples.

When I was writing this story, suddenly my mouse froze and my keyboard was no longer responding. So what do you do in that situation? You can’t move the mouse to investigate the reason and keystrokes do nothing. Hmmm. Maybe if I get behind the computer I can see something has come loose … nada. So I pressed the Power button to restart the computer. And miraculously (to me at least) after the reset everything began working again.

Now I happen to have spent my life in technology and though servers run for weeks or months at a time, I also know that on occasion, resetting them allows the boxes to restart loading the applications again in the order they are accustomed to running them. This can remove a host of problems. Programs can build up or get caught in a loop of sorts. Significant amounts of memory and resource demanding applications can be refreshed and returned. 

I also realize that dependence on these machines for both business and entertainment makes this strategy infeasible all the time. But on occasion, a reboot or reset the computer can help get everything back on top working order and performing well. In the tech world, we call that maintenance.

So if that is true for computers, perhaps it also applies to our lives. When things are not going so well or perhaps we find ourselves struggling to streamline life’s tasks, a sort of a reset in our lives is also warranted. This can come in a variety of ways. Maybe you need a change of pace or different scenery like during a trip.

Or perhaps for you refocusing your efforts on a goal or task will provide that sense of direction you are seeking. This is true, but I have also found that frequent occasions to re-evaluate my life and tune-up my relationship with Deity is also refreshing, invigorating, and productive.

This occurs at least weekly and involves recommitting to my covenants through the sacrament. Sometimes instances of rededication may occur even more frequently than that. Reassessing our lives and standing before God can help us come closer to him and become the people we have the capacity to be.

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. Doctrine and Covenants 58:42

So why do we want to come closer to God anyway? Maybe you have heard something like this “There are so many fun and exciting things to do in this life, and I am young. I want to experience all the good things of life before it’s too late.” Yes. I know. Just like the great-and-spacious building enticed many to leave the straight-and-narrow and pursue strange paths to seek happiness and fulfillment through a different method, television and media today are doing very much the same thing.

To read more of Walter’s articles, click the picture.

The world portrays fun and beauty and wealth as a means to pleasure, but don’t be deceived. Just as the great-and-spacious building is a facade that doesn’t bring the happiness it professes, neither can sin deliver the things it promises. Anyone who loves you and is interested in what is best for you and your happiness wants all good things for you—here and now as well as in the future. But deceptions in life and tempting shortcuts that look like easy means to happiness now are not the right way to achieve your goal of experiencing lasting joy.

That is exactly why we need to come closer to Jesus Christ because He sees the fallacies of this attitude and has provided a perfect way to help us overcome hardship. Then we can experience the real joys of life.

Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness. Alma 41:10

I don’t feel old, but I realize for some of you that may be reading this, I am comparatively ancient. My two grandsons are the joy of this family. Their parents’ perspectives have changed somewhat over the few months they have experienced childrearing. More grandchildren are on their way and my daughter and her husband just recently announced her pregnancy and upcoming delivery. Interestingly, we took family pictures this week, and I had my goal in life reconfirmed… I now know what I want to be when I grow up… a grandpa.

Joy in your children is only surpassed in seeing their love and excitement as parents. As you see their pride in their children, the tender feelings you have for a family are multiplied over-and-over.

And that is why we want to be close to the Savior because He loves all of us and wants what is best for you and your posterity because you are His family as well. And if the imperfect people that we are with all our flaws and shortcomings want was is good, and right and true for our children and posterity, then he who is the God of the Universe with all things in his hands, truth, understanding, and love certainly wants what is good, and right and true for his children and posterity as well.

There is a big difference, however, in that He has the power to provide all those things to us. Now I don’t mean wish for or hope for what is good and right. I mean God has dominion and power over all and can give us blessings to make us happy. And indeed that is just what He has promised us if we will do our best to follow Him and strive to keep His commandments.

Out of His love for us, the Savior has overcome every barrier to our return to Heavenly Father, and He delights in the unspeakable joys of eternal life. He provides the good things of life for those who will accept the gift He offers them. He beckons to us “Come follow me” and provides the way so that we can enjoy everything He has.

And that really is a joyful noise.

Make a joyful noise unto God, Ps. 66:1 (98:4).

Walter Penning

In 1989, Walter Penning formed a consultancy based in Salt Lake City and empowered his clients by streamlining processes and building a loyal, lifetime customer base with great customer service. His true passion is found in his family. He says the best decision he ever made was to marry his sweetheart and have children. The wonderful family she has given him and her constant love, support, and patience amid life’s challenges is his panacea.