Getting All Religious Here For A Second

I rarely have these so called “epiphanies” or promptings of the spirit, as we sometimes call them. But I was very much aware of this particular one a few days ago. I was in Eden and Indy’s room cleaning up their mess as usual when Indiana came in and saw what I was doing. He proceeded to tell me he was sorry; sorry for making the mess. I kept about my vigil and replied with something that caught me a little off-guard, “If you were truly sorry, you wouldn’t keep doing it.” As soon as I said it, I realized the lesson I had taught myself. As mortals on this earth, we have the potential to make mistakes over and over and over again and every time, we have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven over and over and over again. Our children are not perfect and neither am I. I was teaching my kids that there is no room for continuous mistakes and if Heavenly Father would apply my same parenting skills to all of us on earth, no one would ever make it back to live with Him for eternity. What a great lesson in parenting. I realized I must teach my children the same way Father in Heaven teaches me; with patience and with forgiveness. My kids are going to do it repeatedly and somehow, I must learn to forgive every time.

On another note, I was speaking with a neighbor the other day about the gift of the atonement. (My neighbors are not members of our faith and so they just call it the death of Christ.) They kept pounding the fact that Christ's suffering was a free gift and I kept stating the fact that yes it is free but there is a price to pay. They disagreed. What neither one of us realized is that we were talking about two different things. After researching the topic later, I realized what I was trying to say but couldn't find the right words. Yes, the gift of His sacrifice, resurrection, is a free gift. We will all achieve temporal salvation. However, eternal salvation and exaltation are not without condition. That is where the price comes in. To dwell in the presence of God we must show obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, practicing faith, repentance, baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.