A Mighty Change of Heart

All three speakers in church  today taught about reverence.  It's a theme that the bishop has addressed more than once recently.  The talks were very much of an instructive nature, with particular direction given, such as statements that we should arrive early to our meetings and not carry on casual conversation in the chapel.  In other words, we were told to do something because we (as a whole) need to change what we are doing.

Without a doubt, the following are true:
Only some who heard were really listening.
Only some who really listened identified themselves as needing to change.
Only some who knew they needed to change made a determination to take specific action to cause that change.

I taught the teachers today about the change of heart we need to experience as we give Jesus Christ's Atonement power in our lives.  We read scriptures that taught us that we must have "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (2 Nephi 2:7), "godly sorrow [that] worketh repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10), and "a mighty change in[...]our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." (Mosiah 5:2)  Though I don't claim to have experienced this entirely, I have felt the power of the Christ's Atonement in my life as it has changed my disposition to no longer desire things I used to desire, and it's wonderful.  I intend to keep pursuing that change.

It seems to me (though I don't want to misjudge anyone) that many people enter into patterns of living that are comfortable to them and then don't take action to change in any way.  I cannot accept such a thing in my life; I know that I need to change because I'm imperfect and I need to repent.  That's a very broad statement, but I do hear specific words from church leaders or church members, and I feel specific guidance from the Holy Ghost, that make it clear that I need to do something I'm not already doing, start doing something that I'm not doing, or do something differently.  I'd better be changing; if I'm not changing, I'm not progressing--I'm not learning!

Sometimes it's hard to hear that what we're doing is wrong.  Sometimes it's actually very hard to hear that the way we do things somehow *isn't* the best way of doing things.  We have to be of a mind to take instruction willingly and give up habits or methods to which we have become attached, thus possessing the so-important "broken heart and a contrite spirit".  We have to give up our desires and our attachments, and that's why we are told multiple times in scripture that a broken heart and a contrite spirit is the type of sacrifice that we need to make.  (Psalms 51:17, 3 Nephi 9:20, Doctrine and Covenants 59:8)  To be willing to make that sacrifice is to be teachable; it's being humble.  Showing that willingness and humility definitely falls into the category of "pursuits that are difficult but worthwhile".

It can be very hard, but it ought to be hard.  Otherwise, it wouldn't be a "mighty" change of heart.

Last thoughts for now:
I'm grateful for God's mercy in teaching me so much in the past and I trust Him to continually direct me in His wisdom.  Sometimes it will be a stinging blow to my pride, but every time He gives me direction I know it will be for my own benefit.  I hope to often make the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  I believe in learning and growing.  I know that it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can repent and be like Him.