Mindset
The beginning of the week wasn't something I would always look forward to. I have now come to really appreciate and grow to love the beginning of the week. For a few reasons.
- Sunday
- Monday
I have grown to love Monday for some pretty obvious reasons.
Preparation Day, which means; shopping, talking to family, sports, email, and other various activities. Great time to relax and get ready for the week. Greater than all of that, Sunday really gets me hyped and ready to go for the week.
Like I said, I haven't always liked the beginning of the week. I would dread going to church and having to get up to go to school on Monday.
Thankfully, my mindset has changed. I am very grateful for the opportunity I have to be able to take time on Sunday to focus on my Savior and get ready for the day to come.
My thoughts are specifically turned towards the Doctrine of Christ.
Faith
Repentance
Baptism
The Gift of The Holy Ghost
and Enduring to the End
Each Sunday we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and continue in this prosses of the Doctrine of Christ. I like to think of the list above as a repetitive cycle.
We are always going to mess up (Sin). Its inevitable. It is part of our fallen nature as humans with an imperfect body and natural man desires. Thankfully, Christ came to the earth to be able to help us practice how to use and develop self control, so we can become perfect (Eventually). This is what is call the Atonement.
But what does 'Atonement' mean?
In simple terms it is a "Compensation for a wrong". In regards to a religious context this is Christs suffering for us. For you.
Jesus Christ's Atoning sacrifice is combined of His suffering in the Garden Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary, His death, and His Resurrection.
With his suffering, He took upon Him all of your pains, sins, sorrows, and death. Therefore making it possible to be able to return to Him and our Father in Heaven to have eternal life.
As we use this process that I described earlier, (The Doctrine of Christ) we are utilizing the Atonement.
I wanted to highlight the repentance part of this process. And the sacrament is a huge part of this.
Yesterday was a unique experience as I partook of the sacrament. We had one of our friends come to church a little late so he walked in the back and was sitting alone. We get up and walk back to sit with him. We get into a good conversation about repentance and how the sacrament is a part of it. We were whispering during the song before the sacrament was passed around and then during. He asked a unique question where I was able to express my testimony and love for Jesus Christ.
He said, along the lines of, If we come to church each week and repent then go back doing the same things we did before coming to church, wouldn't He (Christ) get tired of saving us over and over again?
To put it simple, no. He would not. I was able to express thoughts, such as the ones above, about the Atonement.
We are always going to mess up. It would be impossible for us not to. In the Book of Mormon we read about this in Ether 12.
Moroni, is feeling a bit overwhelmed with the task he has to complete. Write in the records and keep them safe. In this, he expresses how our human bodies are the weakness that God gives us so that we remain humble and will turn to Him.
(Ether 12 [23-29])
His hand is going to be extended towards us, all we have to do is grab.
As I explained this to our friend at first I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to have a usual sacrament experience and do some reflecting for myself.
But I did something even better. I was able to reflect by sharing with someone else why I love the process of repentance and turning toward Christ each and every week.
I sure do look forward to Sundays. It is a fresh start, which I am definitely in need of. I am not perfect but I know that through Christ I can eventually get there. (Not on this earth lol) BUT I can sure try my best.
Pardon the rant but it is something that is important to me.
Jesus Christ will support you! Just grab His hand.
There is not much this week that I have an update on. It's been pretty rainy and just getting hotter and hotter.
The work is moving on and we have some cool people that we are working with.
Thank you
That's about it. See ya.
-Elder Payne
