This blog is all about the thought that one is never to old
to learn and gain a greater knowledge, to accomplish, to achieve, to start
chasing after a life long dream, to learn a new skill, to change, or to become
who you are destine to become. That is
what “but a spring chick” means to me.
And with that thought, I feel much power and hope in my life!
With that said, I am thankful for another day to increase my
knowledge and understanding of Gospel truths.
This past year has been a wonderful year of deep pondering and learning,
of coming across those “ah, ha” moments that I never caught before, but are
life changing!
One of those “ah, ha” moments for me has been about the
Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have been
on this earth for 38 years and it has only been in the last year that I feel I
am finally getting a little glimpse and understanding of the immense power of
the Atonement, this amazing GIFT that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have
given to me.
I use to always associate the Atonement with sin and that it
was the Atonement that helps us overcome sin and be forgiven for what we have
done wrong. I did not realize that the
power of the Atonement goes so much deeper.
The Atonement is the ultimate gift given to us from our
Heavenly Father, through His son Jesus Christ, because of His love for us, to
help us BECOME like Him! We are on this
earth to become like our Heavenly Father, so that one day we can stand in His
presence and live with Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ forever! It is ONLY through the ATONEMENT of Jesus
Christ that we can BECOME LIKE HIM.
In True to the Faith, it states that, “The word atone, means to reconcile, or to restore
to harmony.” I love that
definition. The Atonement “covers all” and restores to harmony. It covers all of my imperfections and allows
me to become something greater. I
picture myself as a person with all of these little holes within me. I have these little holes for different
reasons, for example, whether it be because of sin (big or small), sins of omission, self doubt (doubting myself as a
mother, a wife, within my callings, my talents), someone offending me and
causing hurt, physical sickness or aliment, depression, or loneliness. These holes appear over time and at different
times in my life. As I open the gift of
the Atonement and really apply it to my life on a DAILY BASIS, it is as if the power
of the Atonement is washing over my body and filling that imperfect hole and
making me whole again.
I picture the visual, which has been related to balancing
our time and filling our lives with what is most important. Picture an empty jar. It is filled with the big rocks first, then
the little rocks and pebbles, then sand is poured in and one would think, “there
is no more room in this jar”, until water is poured into it and the water fills
all the gaps that one thought did not exist and makes the jar full.
This is how I picture the Atonement for me. The Atonement, when I open up the gift and
allow the power to fill my heart, my mind, and my body, then does it fill those
imperfect holes I have created for myself.
It restores me to harmony and makes me full and whole again! What a
gift.
Each day I have different holes that show up within
myself. Some days I have one hole and some
days I have many. If I apply the
Atonement to my day, whether I have one or many holes that day, each of my imperfect
holes can be filled through my Savior, Jesus Christ. This allows me to then strive to become
better today than I was yesterday through this amazing power and gift!
I was asked today during visiting teaching, “So HOW does one
apply the Atonement in their lives?” I
believe that for each person it is different.
I can share with you how I do it.
The way I am able to allow the “water” or power of the Atonement
to flow over me is by starting out each day with the big rocks
(prayer, scripture study, spiritual study – other books, songs, manuals,
devotionals, conference talks, church attendance on Sundays etc.) so that I
have that strong foundation in my Savior, Jesus Christ and have FAITH in what
He CAN do within whatever situation I am facing. Then in the quite moments of
the day, I am able to TRUST my Heavenly Father and His WILL for me and allow
the water or “power of the Atonement” to flow over me through opening my heart
and allowing the love of my Savior, Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father to fill me
and heal that imperfect hole. I use all
of the knowledge I have learned about myself and my Savior, to give me understanding
towards whatever situation is occurring and to help me change my heart. It is then that the change happens, the
restoration of harmony occurs within my heart, and the love and peace follow.
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