Holes

A few days ago, Sister Petersen and I were doing some service for an investigator. It was a bright sunny day, and we were working in her backyard. She had some metal posts/bars in the ground that she wanted to get out. We did some little, skinny ones first, and they came out easy. Then there were other metal bars that Sister Petersen and I started trying to get out. We tried the same technique that we did with the little ones, by twisting them, and slowly trying to pull them up. But we soon realized that that wasn't going to work with these other ones. So the investigator got some shovels, and we proceeded to dig around them. We dug a little, then tried to pull them out. But it wasn't working. Then she thought to inform us that those bars were probably about 5 or 6 feet, and they were about 4 feet above the ground. So now we knew that they were in further than we had originally thought, so we dug more, and with more purpose.

So, I was digging, and a thought came to my mind that those bars stuck in the ground are like sins stuck in our souls. We see them, so we know they're there, but we don't try very hard to get them out. Because we've had other sins that were small, and were so easy to pull out. And so we assume that these other, bigger sins will be just as easy to get out. We twist them, and pull a little, and there's a little give, so we think that when we are ready to get rid of them, it will be so easy to just yank it out and be done with it. But, little do we know, that those sins are actually much more rooted in our hearts than we realize.

As I was digging, and I knew it was deeper than I had at first realized, I thought that maybe this last shovelful would be it, and I would finally be able to tug the bar free. But it wasn't. It just kept going, and going, and going. Seriously, it must have been like a mile deep! I finally just had to keep the faith, and trust that eventually I would get to the bottom of it. So I dug, and twisted the bar, and dug, and twisted the bar. One point I was just annoyed, and gave up the shovel, and just tried to yank it free, but the dirt had that bar tight in it's dirty grasp.

I finally decided to just be patient, and diligently keep shoveling dirt, and twisting the bar. After a few minutes, I was finally able to pull the bar free. It felt like quite an accomplishment! So I compared this to purging ourselves of sin. When we have a sin that we're trying to get rid of, we can't just rip it out. Some sins are little, and it's not hard to get rid of them. But there are other sins that are bigger, and have deep roots. These sins take a while to dig out, and you have to be careful. You have to dig around the sin so that you can get to the root. If you just yank it out, the roots will break, and it will still be there. It may look like it's gone, and your heart may heal over it, but in time, the sin, like a weed, will poke it's head out, and you'll realize that it's still there.

It's not always easy to get rid of a sin. Sometimes you will have to hurt your heart a little by digging to the roots, to be able to free yourself of the sin. But I think we all know that when we sin, there will always be pain involved. And to truly repent, and get rid of the sin, we need to feel godly sorrow, and feel some guilt to want to get rid of it, and to change.

Also, while I was digging out the bar, my shoulders and arms started to ache. We will ache as we are repenting. It's inevitable. It's necessary. It takes effort to get rid of something. Our muscles (our soul) will start to stretch, and there may be times when we just want to quit, and stop the pain. But if we persevere, we'll get through it, and we will be stronger in the end. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27) It's like exercising. Sometimes it hurts, but that's how our muscles become stronger. We may feel weak, but Christ will strengthen us as we come to Him for help.

But! That's not the end. We can't just pull the sin out and leave a hole. After I had dug around the bar and pulled it out, there was this hole gaping open. So I filled the hole up with the dirt I'd dug up. So it is with sin. We got the sin out, and the roots, and we feel so good, and clean! But we leave this hole open, ready to plant the next sin. Part of repenting is replacing the bad with good. We need to fill the hole with good things. If not, all that hard work will be for nothing, because the sin could very well come back.

I know that repenting is a something that we all need to do, to come closer to Christ. We all make mistakes. We all have those bars of sin stuck in the soils of our hearts. What we need to do is get rid of the sin, root and all, and then plant a seed of faith in its place. (and that, my friends, is a whole other post for another day :)

And that was the lesson about sin I learned while digging holes. Digging holes really does build character! Who knew?  

Key to our Salvation

Alma 36:27 "And I have been supported under trials 

and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of 

afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, 

and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put 

my trust in him, and he will still deliver me."

I read that verse a while ago, and I love it. A little background of this verse; this is Alma the younger speaking, and he's talking to his son Helaman. Alma is telling Helaman about his conversion from a wicked man, to a repentant son of God. In this verse, Alma is telling Helaman that God delivered him from his bondage, from prison, and that He supported him through his trials. Being supported in trials could be a whole other post, but I wanted to talk about something different. When I read this verse, I thought about what bondage from Satan is, and how we are put in prison.

Bondage from Satan, or being under his control, is like us being in prison. But, we are the ones who put ourselves in prison. When we don't follow Christ, and we choose the opposite path, we allow Satan to take hold of us, and he leads us into a prison cell. But what he doesn't know, or thinks we don't know, is that we are holding the key that could deliver us. And he hopes we don't know that Jesus is on the other side of the locked door, waiting for us to call out to him, and give Him the key to let Him deliver us. We can't get ourselves out of prison. We can't unlock the door when we're on the inside. We need someone on the outside that can take the key through the bars, and then unlock the door and lead us out. But Christ is the only who can, and is willing, to do it.

The key is the token to our freedom, and they were given to us by the Savior. We hold in our hands the key to our salvation. And what is necessary for our salvation? Those familiar with the gospel know that if it weren't for Jesus Christ's Atonement, we could never be saved. The key represents the Atonement. The atonement is a gift that the Savior gave to all of us. And it is through the atonement that we can be free, and be forgiven of our sins. But, we can't access the atonement on our own. We need to come to Christ, and let Him work the atonement inside us. When we give Him the key, we are humbling ourselves, and saying that we need His help to get us out. But if we hold on selfishly to the key, there is no way He can get us out. Think of the scripture where Christ says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him." (Revelations 3:20)

When Christ performed the Atonement, He gave each one of us a key that would get us out of the prison cell. He knew that we would need the key, because He knew we would put ourselves in prison, or allow Satan to put us in prison, sometimes unintentionally. But even so, the only way to get out is by using the key; using His Atonement.

Now, something else about the key, that I thought was pretty cool. (Which I came up with by myself. I'm very proud of myself) So there are people who will refuse help, and they don't want the key. Impossible to believe, but it happens. Or maybe we lose the key sometimes. Some people will throw the key away, or maybe we're careless, and the key slips down a crack, or drain. But the key always comes back. The key is like Percy Jackson's sword, Riptide. If we lose the key, or throw it away, it will always show up in our pocket a minute later. No matter how hard we may try to refuse the Atonement, or treat it with disrespect, or without care, it is always there; Christ is always there, waiting for us to come to him. So, hold onto that key. You never know when you may need it.

I know the Atonement is real. Christ died for our sins, and He lives to help us. I know that when we put our trust in him, and give him the key, He will bail us out of jail, and we can be free from bondage, from sin, and we can rise to the glorious beings we are capable of being. I love my Savior, and I know that He loves all of us.

RISK

A little while ago I was reading in Alma, in the Book of Mormon. Starting in about chapter 45, and going to the end of Alma, the Lamanites and Nephites are warring with each other. War is never a good thing, but I had a little fun with it as I read. Came up with a fun little analogy, so, bear with me. :) There's a Lamanite who wants to be king. Amalikiah. He's very cunning, and he uses murder and deceit to dethrone the Lamanite king, and to make himself king. Once king, he stirs the Lamanites to anger, with the intent of battling the Nephites and bringing them into bondage. So he builds up his armies. But little does he know, that Moroni, the Nephite leader, was already preparing for when Amalikiah's armies came to battle against them, before the Lamanites were even preparing.

Now, there's these armies from the two groups of people, and they are in possession of different cities, or territories. And the Lamanite and Nephite armies, as they battle each other, take possession of cities from each other, depending on how strong and prepared they are. And sometimes the armies take cities back that they lost, and then there's surprise attacks, and building up of armies, and losing armies. All of this battling, and back and forth fighting reminded me of the game RISK. How many of you have played that game? By show of hands... Okay, thanks for your participation. So, RISK is a game I love. You have all these territories, and you try to get more by stratagem. And you try to build up your armies, and fortify your weak places. Then you attack your opponents weak places, or strongholds if you have a big army. And sometimes you have to attack in a round about way, from behind, to get the advantage.

As I read these chapters of war, I thought that those wars are like the war we individually have with the adversary. Satan's cunning, like Amalikiah. But he uses lies and wickedness to get what he wants and to try to defeat us. So we need to be cunning like Moroni. We need to put our trust in the Lord, and build up ourselves, so that we are strong in the Lord. There are times when Satan will have a hold of something inside us, part of our soul, or mind, or heart. And he's always trying to get more. He wants to have us completely, not just a part of us. So we need to build up what he doesn't have, so that he can't attack there. We need to fortify our hearts and souls in the strength of the Lord, so that if he does come against us, he is defeated.

There are several times in a couple of those chapters when it says that Moroni, or the Nephite armies, are fortifying their cities, and never ceasing their preparations. At the end of chapter 49, it says that they had peace, and prosperity in the church. But then in the beginning of chapter 50, it says "And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war." Even when we think all is good, and we're on the right path, and we don't have any temptations, if we're not continually fortifying our minds and hearts, then our places of security and fortifications will start to deteriorate, and become weak, and Satan will find his way in. So, we need to make sure that we are strong, and never stop fortifying ourselves.