His Grace

As I have thought about some of the things we face as people in this life, I often wonder how much we look to the Savior for the strength we so desperately need. With the rise of unrighteous behavior all around us and the ever scary threat of evil and contention driven at the very core of the world we live in , it makes it difficult sometimes to remember the most important stuff. I try as I look through the dismal peep hole of life's door to see past all the crap and look at what really matters. When I do this I see the world as the beautiful splendor that it was intended to be seen as.

I thought just recently about the atonement and what its significant role in humanity it played. I thought about the amount and measure of harm and suffering it brought to the Savior and then was able to take a breath and wipe the tears from my cheek and say thank you Father for the love that Thou has for us. And with that thought still fresh in my mind, my minds eye began to see the face of the Savior, his soft eyes and gentle look. The way He simple would smile as he instilled eternal truths into those that would listen and with the love He could only posses softly reach toward a fallen child and embrace them with gentle care. And then with His soft reproach to Peter to sheath his sword when the soldier came for Him, and to still show compassion and love for all mankind, it made me think. While still caught up in the imagination of it all I began to feel the sorrow as I visualized the torture from the guards and the hateful laughter as they forced that crown of thorns upon our Majesty's head, how painful that must have been. With an eye single to the work laid before Him, He struggled to carry His cross, the cross He chose over heaven, so that we could be free. Deeply ingrained in my countenance and my memory is that dreadful but glorious event. When God became man that we might become eternal.

I know that this is a topic that I have spoken of often before, but one that can never be spoken of enough. For me each time it is brought back into perfect memory and I began to think deeply about it, is when there is something that I need to be focused upon, or even learned. Now a dear sister from church so eloquently wrote not long ago, that everyone is entitled to that atonement, and the power that it possesses, the power to free captive souls. There are people all around us that we as everyday people don't approve of, or maybe even don't like, those people need our prayers. Those people are the ones that this atonement is for as well, it does not apply only to the righteous and no one, no one deserves to die without a chance at salvation.

Many stand at the head of this great country we live in that probably don't know God the way we do, maybe it is because no one ever told them, maybe because someone never prayed for them. I know that there are people next door to us or people we work with that never have had a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ taught to them. So what do we do, we pray and we teach and if possible we invite them to attend church or read the word of God. But what we can't do is forget that the atonement is for all of God's children and not just His faithful children. The rewards listed for each faithful servant are available to all, we just need to share what they are.

The next time we feel the need to judge, or even condemn, please remember that when Jesus chose the cross over heaven, he chose to give us His grace and His mercy and more over, His freedom from death. May we all be willing to change I so pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.