This scripture hangs in my home under a picture of my brother:
"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).
This brother of mine is such a great example to me! I love having that picture in my home (I could not find the exact picture I have....this one is different than mine) as the first thing I see when I walk in the front door. I am forever thankful to him and look forward to one day personally thanking him for all that he has done for me in my life! Where would I be without him!!! This brother is my Savior Jesus Christ.
Sometimes when I am leading the music in primary (I am currently the Primary Chorister), I am completely overwhelmed by the Spirit of these magnificent primary children. They are so trusting of us and eager to listen, to learn and obey. Often times while they are singing a song I get the chills over and over again. It is quite an amazing experience to have truths testified to you by such young, growing testimonies. Then there are those times that I look into their faces and I see that they are so young and carefree....but soon they will be experiencing the harshness of this world and it breaks my heart. When I think about the trials that lie ahead of them I am tempted to just keep them in that small primary room and never let the songs end, just go on singing with them forever! But then the clock tells me that its time to wrap things up and close for the day....and I realize once again that this is what life is all about. I cannot keep them from learning, from growing, from experiencing all that this life has to offer....the good and the bad. The opposition in our lives is what helps us to truly appreciate the Saviors gift to us....The Atonement.
I use to think that the Atonement was all about sin. I also use to think that I never wanted any part of that horrific event!!!! I felt that if I did not sin, then I would not have been the cause of the pain and suffering our Savior went through.....I was wrong! The Atonement is for ME!!! It is for every single one of us, not just when we are going through sin, it is for every day of our lives!!! He experienced everything we will go through in this life: heartache, disappointment, loneliness, depression, sadness, illness....everything! So that is all of us...we are all going through this life, sometimes barely keeping our heads above water. If we look toward our Savior our burdens WILL be lighter! Satan is all about us being down trodden, hard on ourselves, non-forgiving and troubled. Our Savior would have us feel His light, His tender mercies, His love and acceptance of us. If we are striving to do what is right, to correct our course and to keep our eye focussed on the target then we will feel of his light. Those dark moments in our life do not come from our Heavenly Father, He does not work that way! Those dark moments are Satan telling us we cannot do it, we are not worthy of it and life is too hard! We must take a quiet moment and understand the thoughts in our mind, and recognize there source: if they are dark they are from Satan...if you feel full of light and hope, then they are from your brother, your friend....Jesus Christ!
To forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The scriptures refer to forgiveness in two ways. The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us. One of the hardest people to forgive is usually ourselves, we take things to heart and beat ourselves up! To Him, once we have repented the sin is remembered no more. We must forgive ourselves and we must forgive others! I think most of us can say that we truly do not believe there is one person out there trying to hurt us. But yes...it happens....sometimes by the closest to us! The Lord said: "Ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men" (D&C 64:9–10). When we find the strength to love them and to forgive them then we are showing our Savior that we do believe in His plan, in the way that He and our loving Father have set out for us. When someone hurts us and we are able to take them in and show them the same sort of love our Savior would show at that very moment if He were here....then we can experience something in our life that touches our heart and reminds of the incredible love He has for us...He allows us a little glimpse of that.
Sin is a heavy burden. It brings the tenseness of guilt and the anguish of knowing that we have acted against the will of our Father in Heaven. It brings lingering remorse as we realize that because of our actions, we may have hurt others and prevented ourselves from receiving blessings our Father has been ready to give us. These are the times of our life that we can almost see ourselves growing. We do not learn and grow much when life is good and easy and carefree!!! We learn about ourselves, what we want from this life, which direction we would like to go and who we truly are when we are put to the test! That is what this life is all about.....(I am reminded often of the annoying commercial with the loud blarring beep sound) "This is a test, it is only a test"! That is what we are here for...to be tried and tested! Tests are never fun or easy....so why would think that life would always be fun and easy. If we can remind ourselves often "This is a test, this is only a test" and maybe find a little humor in it....we will understand the day to day trials a little more!
May God help us to be a little kinder, showing forth greater forbearance, to be more forgiving, more willing to walk the second mile, to reach down and lift up those who may have sinned but have brought forth the fruits of repentance, to lay aside old grudges and nurture them no more. ~Gordon B. Hinckley
I love the song that goes:
What the world needs now is love,
Sweet love It's the only thing
That there's just too little of
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
No, not just for some,
But for everyone
I think if we could all just be a little more loving and kind to each other and accepting of each other's downfalls and limitations we would see that most people are just trying...trying to make it through today...to find someone to love them!
Maybe today you will be that person to someone else....that one person who made a difference in their day!
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