The Atonement Is All Encompassing

Why do we talk about repentance so much at church? Because we all make stupid choices throughout our lives. Sometimes little mistakes, sometimes really big mistakes, but we all make stupid choices sometimes. 

We have the atonement to help fix our mistakes. There are still natural consequences of our choices we can't escape from, but the atonement helps heal us and others spiritually if we will allow it into our hearts. 

Jesus Christ's atonement wasn't just to blot out our mistakes after repentance (Isaiah 43:25), it was also to cover the pain and hurt from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. It was also to cover the grief and sorrows of mortal life (Isaiah 53:4-5). The atonement is all encompassing. 

The next time you feel the ripple effects of someone else's mistakes, or you send out your own painful ripples, reach for the atonement and let it work to heal you.  

Give Them His Love

In John 13:34 in the Bible it reads, "... love one another; as I have loved you ...". Charity, the pure love of Christ, was the whole life and purpose of Jesus coming to Earth. He lived and died because of love for us. He suffered more than we can comprehend with the atonement. 

But sometimes there are people that feel too hard to love. We can give them His love. 

Jesus understands why people are the way they are, why they do what they do, and He loves them and atoned for their sins. We don't always understand why people are the way they are, why they do what they do, but we can have faith in Him and trust His atonement and give them His love. 

That doesn't mean we let people run us over, it means we extend the grace of not understanding them. Hurt people hurt people. For most mean people, they act that way because of deep seated pain. Jesus understands the why, doesn't excuse the behavior, but understands the why and has already atoned for their sins and for the pain they caused you. 

For those too hard to love, it's okay. Love yourself and those in your care enough to do what you need to protect and have a good life of love. Extend the love of Jesus Christ to those you cannot love. Remember that the atonement already covered their sins, your sins, your pain, and their pain. 

I believe in the end it will be okay, and if it's not okay, it's not the end. 

Greg Olson

 

 

Forgotten Gratitude

When told to count your blessings, many things may come to mind, or just a few. There are some things we should be grateful for that we often forget. 

Safety- whether it's coming back safe from a drive or a walk, or living in a war free territory.

Health- though a lot of us have multiple health issues, physical and mental, there are so many other issues that we do not suffer from.

Wealth- wealth is relative, what may be poor in one location is rich in another location. Having access to running water, electricity, internet, food, and health care are all signs of being quite well off compared to most of earthly life. Also the wealth of good family and friends, even if it is only one person. 

If we could all take some extra time to be grateful for that which seems ordinary this month, we can heal our hearts a little. 

God appreciates gratitude and gives us more in return to be thankful for. 

Thankful Grateful Blessed

 Often a small change can lead to big results, and one thing that many people could change is to say grateful or thankful instead of blessed. Switching out blessed for grateful is more than semantics, it is a mind shift in the way you think.

Many people say they are blessed to live somewhere, to have the family they do, to have the job they do. Whatever is good in their life, they are blessed to have it. It implies that people who do not have those good things are not blessed. Why are certain people 'blessed' and not others? We can't tell the difference because they seem to act the same or worse than the people who are not 'blessed'. Why is God favoring certain people who are not doing extraordinary things to get those blessings. Saying you are blessed can sound like bragging to others.

Saying instead that you are grateful for the good things in your life shows a humble attitude. You realize life is not all good for you or others and are grateful for the good things you do have in your life. We all have good and bad things happen throughout life. When you focus on the negative things, they loom large over the good. When you can appreciate the good in your life, whether it is one thing or many, your focus can be positive and you can work to build your resilience through the bad. 

When you are going through a hard time and get the advice to 'count your blessings', focus on being humble and grateful for what is good in your life to help tide you through a rough time. 

Our Loved Ones Are Not Lost To Us Forever

(I came upon this quote on the internet with no source listed.) 

"Death does not unmake a [parent]. If anything, we need to be more resourceful in our [parenting]. There are no parenting books, no theories on how to parent a dead child. But we still parent. We just make it all up, each day, as we go along, hurting and healing. Parenting is just tailoring maternal [or paternal] love to fit each child. We do that with our dead babies too. We wonder which flower would honor their lives, we relish speaking their names. We collect drawings of butterflies, quotes that touch our hearts, we write their names on the sand and in the snow.

We remember. We remember all the time. We remember the love. Also, the pain. That odd quality we have about us... it's because we have something special. We have extra love in our hearts. Love that can't translate into choosing the safest rear-facing car seat, so it becomes love that wonders and meanders, most times with nowhere to go. So this love with no port, it flutters about. Sometimes it bursts out through tears, stinging sobs. Other times it makes for a sideways smile when we remember our child. And it always makes us seem just a teeny bit off. Because we are. A little person is missing from our arms. But all the love for them is here, inside us, bubbling away in everything we do." 

 

With Mother's Day and Memorial Day recently passed, and Father's Day coming up, many people are hurting instead of celebrating. Parents who have lost children physically or emotionally, and children who have lost parents as well. 

 

It is easy to feel so alone in the pain of a loved one lost. The pain is easily dismissed because it is not visible. Broken bones are commiserated and there is a known healing time period. Broken hearts are invisible and there is not a specified healing time period. The grief will stay with you forever, you learn to grow around it and with it. "People tend to believe that grief shrinks over time / What really happens is that we grow around our grief"

  

I believe that those we love are not lost forever. They have moved on to a new part on the journey of their life. Their souls are still alive in a spiritual realm while we remain in a physical realm. When we die or pass on, truly pass on to the next stage of our lives, we will have the chance to reunite with them forever. 

 

I don't understand why some people die 'before their time', before the natural time we believe they should have died. I don't agree with it, and I have told God that we will have to agree to disagree about this until I can stand face to face and learn from God about the whys behind the tragedies. 

 

I do believe that God has a divine plan of happiness that we cannot comprehend with mortal minds. I do believe God does not cause all the trials in our lives, and I do believe that God does not always prevent the bad things from happening. This is supposed to be for our good. I can see the growth and the good things that arise like a phoenix from the ashes, but the burning fire hurts so badly. I do have faith that all will be made right, somehow, when we leave the mortal world for a spiritual realm where we will leave our physical limitations behind.

 

There is much to live for even in the midst of the worst hardships, and we can have faith that we will survive, and we can choose to become stronger. The trials don't make us strong, our resilience and good choices make us strong.