"With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee"

Among all of the truths taught by Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon -- almost none are more precious to me than the truth that I can repent. Nothing, in my mind, is more aching to the soul than to realize that I really have offended God and gone against what I know is right to do.  In those moments, even while fully recognizing that literally everyone has sinned and messed up like me, it still sometimes feels like I can never be forgiven. That I can never be good and clean again.  That I will always have this sin in my pocket -- no matter how bad I wish I could re-do something. For these moments, when we have lost the spirit of the Lord because of sin, Christ gives us this promise: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee... with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee... my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed." (3 Nephi 22: 7-10) There are two important truths that I have learned to love from these verses:

1. Sin separates us from God. -- As painful as that sounds and as hard as it may be to come to terms with, it is true.  It IS possible to lose the presence of God and offend his spirit that it is not with us. However, whether or not we do that is within our control.
2. God's mercy, kindness, and peace do not have to be permanently removed. -- We are promised that as we turn to God, recognize what we have done, and take the steps to repent, we can be fully forgiven and enjoy the kindness and peace of the Lord. It may be hard to comprehend, and Satan will tempt you to think otherwise -- but it is completely true.  We can be completely forgiven through the Lord's mercy and have peace restored to a life that is in distress.

Repentance really is the most hopeful word in this gospel -- every single one of us will need it, so you never need feel alone in the process. And remember, the Lord says that even when we do sin and need to repent, it does not have to be a long dreary process -- he himself describes it as "a small moment." I don't know exactly how it works, and situations vary, but I imagine the Lord will not hesitate even a moment longer than necessary in coming to our aid when we ask. Our sins will not define us nor confine us, that is the truth found in Jesus Christ.

"Whoso cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive"

Working at a preschool, I get to spend a fair amount of time around little children every day and what has impressed me the most is there complete willingness to love. Without any compulsory means or sweet-talking, they instinctively reach out to hold my hand or give me a hug ... hardly knowing me! In any card I receive from them, I never fail to get a number of "I love you's". In fact, the other day a little girl was telling me about her new stuffed animal and before I knew it she was spouting out her home address asking me to come to her house and visit! They love first -- and question second. I thought of this as I read what Christ himself told the Nephites about what the Kingdom of God is like: "Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the Kingdom of God." (3 Nephi 9:22) It's easy to see why Christ cherishes children so much -- they cherish Him. Among other wonderful characteristics, children remind us of the true essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And despite all of the things we need to teach them, we would do well to take a view notes in the process. Afterall, in the words of President Uchtdorf: "Love is the defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ."

"The rock upon which ye are built"

     You know those times when you plan on being productive ... but when the moment comes there is literally not an ounce of motivation in you? That was me, on a plane to Florida, yesterday. Since we were taking the weekend off to visit grandparents in Florida - we planned on getting a lot of studying done on the plane! Good plan, right? And part of that studying was doing some reading in the scriptures... so perfect time, right? Perhaps it was... but sometimes there is something about approaching the actual moment of action (in this case when it was scripture study) where push meets shove and suddenly the things you at one point really wanted/intended to do feel not that tempting anymore -- maybe even inconvenient. I openly admit, this was not the first time (and probably not the last time) that I hit one of these walls and caved -- deciding rather that sleeping was a better alternative.

    Well, I obviously can't leave the story there... but do you get where I'm coming from? Those moments when your knowledge of what is right and your motivations... just don't quite coincide?? From something as simple as brushing your teeth to keeping the commandments, I think we face those tests daily. And instead of suggesting to you that you grit your teeth and push through it, or preach to you about self-control -- I'll tell you what helped me in this case.

    As I was falling asleep, my friend next to me pulled out his Book of Mormon and started reading. Only moments ago, I had no desire to do my homework and finish my scripture study -- but something about not feeling compelled to made me actually want to read it! I stayed in my "falling asleep" position, but instead of sleeping, I read over his shoulder. The page he was on was a really good story that I remembered and wanted to read more about. Then, even after he was finished reading, about to put the book away, I asked if I could borrow it -- reading long into the flight, honestly having one of the best studies of my life.

    We are guaranteed to have times in life when doing what is right (big or small) will be inconvenient. Surround yourself with good people and situations -- friends and family that will probably steer you in the right direction even when you aren't really feeling it yourself.  But beyond that, remember the real reason behind what you're doing -- and you'll probably realize that you do actually want to do it.  For me, this was remembering the awesome stories and lessons in the scriptures that I seriously wanted to learn -- suddenly reading was not a chore but a reward. If we stay focused on the true purpose of life, building our foundation on Christ, we are promised that we will not be overcome -- not even by exhaustion: "when all [the] hail and mighty storms shall beat upon you" (when it starts to get really hard to do something you know you should be doing) remember "the rock upon which ye are built... whereon if men build they cannot fall."

"Nourish the seed"

Have you ever noticed a change in your life when you miss a few times of scripture reading, or even just one day? The scary thing is that sometimes we don't! This isn't to say that there is no actual difference, there definitely is, but it can be difficult to perceive and attribute to a lack of scripture reading. This fact is pointed out in Alma 32 where he talks about "nourishing the seed" or nourishing our testimonies with the word of God on a regular basis. We are promised that "if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life (the love of God)." In fact, the seed (our testimony and spirit) will most definitely dry up and die if it does not receive nourishment (talking with and hearing from God.) So although we may not be able to see the subtle changes in the health of our spirit as we neglect to study our scriptures, Alma makes it clear that it will deteriorate -- just like a growing plant would if you stopped giving it water. And I don't know about you, but there is nothing worse than feeling like you have an empty, weak spirit. So I encourage you, on those days when it is hard to open the scriptures, to do it anyway. Our spirits need the strength and love of God that comes with reading His word.