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?