After church today, we played outside, made a nice dinner, and took a walk. For dessert, I made the Cook's Illustrated layered carrot cake. It was delicious, but so, so rich!
Lately, we have been pretty busy with baseball. Almost every night of our week is spent at some sort of practice. Baseball season is short, though, so we are going to enjoy it while we can. This week, Rob's car broke down. Since it is so old, he didn't even put much effort in to trying to fix it. We spent a very stressful week trying to find a new car because we really need two cars right now to get our kids to all of their different events. On Friday, we went and picked up a 2014 Ford Focus. It only has 40,000 miles and is in pretty decent cosmetic shape. While the process was stressful (mostly for Rob) we are happy it is over.
On Friday, the kids also had the day off of school for Good Friday. After we picked up the car, I took the kids to Frankenmuth. I forgot how charming that little town is. We spent the afternoon looking around the cute shops and we also went through the cute mirror maze.
I think I'll paste in my talk below:
Elder Uchdorf told a story about the city of Dresden in Germany. This city had been nicknamed, the “Jewel Box” because of its beauty. In a very short time, this city was turned to rubble during an explosive war. Many years later, this city has been rebuilt. Elder Uchdorf went back many years later to visit Dresden and noted that the city was once again beautiful and vibrant. He recalled one particular church that had been through. The church had been rebuilt using many pieces of the original building. He noted how amazing it was to see that the pieces of rubble had literally been picked up and used to make this building beautiful again.
Using this as analogy for our lives he said, “It matters not how completely ruined our lives may seem. It matters not how scarlet our sins, how deep our bitterness, how lonely, abandoned, or broken our hearts may be. Even those who are without hope, who live in despair, who have betrayed trust, surrendered their integrity, or turned away from God can be rebuilt. Save those rare sons of perdition, there is no life so shattered that it cannot be restored.” Today I want to share with you some of the thoughts that I’ve had over the past few weeks as I’ve studied the atonement. I truly have a testimony that the atonement is THE mechanism by which we can maintain peace in our lives and certainly is the only way that we can be perfect enough to make it back to our Father in Heaven.
Almost 2000 years ago, Christ triumphantly rode on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem. His followers awaited his arrival and laid down their cloaks and palm leaves as they sang “Hosannas” to their King. He had no expensive crown, no prestigious army, and no kingdom, but people had seen and heard of the miracles he performed. They had felt his love, learned from his teachings, and been blessed by his mercy.
Despite his joyous welcoming to Jerusalem, he knew what the future beheld. Just days later, as he met with his disciples, he told them, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” Later, he would witness his disciples falling asleep three times as he suffered in Gethsemane, Judas Iscariot would betray him with a kiss, Peter would deny association with him three times,
Even beyond all the pain he felt in Gethsemane and on the cross, he had to bear the agony of seeing his closest friends, who were most likely overwhelmed with fear, betray him. Although he knew that these events would transpire, I can’t help but wonder if he really had any idea how much emotional and physical agony he would endure.
And yet, without that mortal support he always had his father. As he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, his sweat came as great drops of blood. He plead with his Father for a way for the agony to pass. But it did not because it was essential to the plan. The next day, as this man who had only ever loved and helped others was nailed to the cross he cried, “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.”
And then for a moment we understand that Heavenly Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His presence. Elder Holland explains that this was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind would feel when we did commit such sins. He says, “For the Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.” The result of this for us is that because Jesus walked this lonely path all alone, we don’t have to do the same thing. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends.
When I was about 20 years old, I learned an important lesson and I have thought about it hundreds of times since. I was a young full-time college student living in the bay area and I was working as a store manager for a company in downtown San Francisco. I felt a lot of pressure to validate myself because I was young. I went in to work one morning, only to realize that I had made a terrible mistake. As went digging to solve the problem, I realized that the mistake was the result of a domino effect of smaller problems that I hadn’t noticed and it would take several days to resolve the issue. I remember calling my boss, who was tough and expecting to just hear it from him. He must have knew thats not what I needed because instead of condemning me, he said, “There is always a solution. . . let’s work together to figure it out.”
The miracle of the atonement of Jesus Christ is that there IS always a solution. Jesus Christ made it possible for there to always be a solution, a way for us to pick up the pieces and move on, even when it seems utterly impossible for us to do so. The Atonement cleanses us of sin on condition of our repentance. If we repent, God’s mercy is extended to us. And that solution is always available to us. As we learn to break old habits and create better ones, we are allowed access to the blessings of the atonement over and over again.
The atonement isn’t just about sin, it’s also about struggles. In D&C 88, we read “He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; which truth shineth.” Because he has felt anything and everything we will ever feel, he is able to succor us in all of
our desperate moments, even those moments that we might perceive as desperate and other might see as not a big deal.
Now, in the big picture of life, this problem that I encountered at work really wasn’t that big of a deal. Once I resolved the issue a couple of weeks later, there weren’t any real consequences for anyone, but to me, at that time, it WAS a big deal to me. The great thing about the atonement is that I think Christ knows the immensity of our pain no matter how large or small it may seem to the rest of the world. For example, I can kind of understand how sad and frustrating and awful my 5 year-old child may feel when they break a special toy, and by all means, I have sympathy for them. I do have some empathy for them because I probably felt that same way when when I broke a special toy when was a child. But, I’m mortal and the fact of the matter is that my memory can only hold so many details about emotions. I can’t completely remember how it felt. Christ, however, I think knows how we feel ALL the time when we are sad, frustrated, disappointed, or spiritually struggling.
Chieko Okazaki did a beautiful job describing her understanding and testimony of this aspect of the atonement in her book, “Lighten Up”: “We know that Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane. It’s our faith that he experienced everything- absolutely everything. Sometimes we don’t think through the implications of that belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind, But we don’t experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That means he knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer- how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism. He knows how YOU experience an emotion versus how I might experience it. Because of this he can offer us comfort that no one else can.
As you ponder your testimony of the atonement, I urge you to ask the questions, “how will I apply the gift of the atonement in my life? How does it change the way I live each day? In Tad R. Callisters book, “The Infinite Atonement,” he talks about the compelling power that comes from righteous, voluntary suffering for another. This kind of suffering for another is the highest form of motivation we can offer to those we love. Knowing that our actions may cause suffering for those that we love, can give us motivation to change our course, not necessarily because we want to, but because we don’t want to see them suffer. In the case of the atonement, where the suffering has already taken place, if we know and love our Saviour, that knowledge of his suffering can motivate us to do good. The atonement is a gospel principle that requires action. Yes, the Savior suffered for everyone and yes, repentance is always available to us, but really, hopefully, knowing of our Savior’s sacrifice can motivate us enough to help us to avoid sin and then sometimes when we mess up and sin anyway we can access forgiveness through repentance.
Brother Callister explains that suffering for another can have major impact for the good if four elements are present. 1, the sufferer is pure and worthy (and of course, Christ was perfect, so he was certainly pure and worthy ) 2) the cause for the suffering is pure and just (and we know that is a given too 3) the recipient knows and loves the sufferer 4) the recipient appreciates the cause for which the suffering occurs
So these two elements are essentially up to us. These are the action elements for us. If we know and love the Savior and if we appreciate his sacrifice for us and really understand the reason he did it, then the suffering can motivate towards good.
Brother Callister adds, “there was something in the Savior’s descent that made possible man’s ascent.” He doesn’t say it made man’s ascent is inevitable. Instead, it made our ascent possible. It’s my testimony that because Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, we will never have to walk alone, always have the support of someone who has perfect empathy, continually posses the ability to right our wrongs, and if we have a testimony and understanding of the atonement, we will be filled with the motivation that we need to keep pressing forward. As much as I was not excited to get up here and speak today and I still won’t say I’m “having fun,” I really appreciated the time I was able to spend studying the Savior and the atonement. I hope and encourage each of you to spend some time thinking about what the atonement means to you and deciding how you will let it impact your life. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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