"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked..(Mosiah 4:14)

Day 14 (Dec 14) #LIGHTtheWORLD
Jesus taught us to clothe the naked and you can help

Always loved this scripture about clothing the naked. I felt it really pertained to motherhood and all the laundry I did and frequently continue to do.

"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of all sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness." (Mosiah 4:14)

Some days, and maybe it is really some weeks that I am better at getting the laundry done. I keep trying to have my children learn to do their own laundry so they can eventually clothe themselves.  I believe that helping my children learn how to do their own laundry is part of clothing them. And this applies to clothing them physically and spiritually. It takes commitment and time. Sometimes I call it climbing a mountain, simply because I literally have mountains of clothes to wash, fold, and put away. You can read a whole post about climbing a mountain of laundry (here).

One more thought, doing laundry and repentance, they pile up if you don't keep doing the washing. And another thing, they both feel so good when I keep working on them and don't get such a large mountain to climb.

Previous laundry all done and folded (taken by me and folded by me)

"...blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me..." (Helaman 13:11)

Day #28

I am so grateful for this scripture because for me, it has helped me see and understand what repentance really means.

"But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not." (Helaman 13:11)

For the longest time I misunderstood what repentance really is all about.  I had wrongly believed that repentance was about beating myself up and that there was a penalty I needed to pay even after repenting. But I was so wrong! Repentance is really about returning to God, about turning my heart and will to God. True repentance brings a "fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general." (Repent) Isn't that awesome?!

Repentance is all about the direction I am going. When I think about repentance now, I envision myself on a path and I do 180 degree turn. I turn in the direction of a loving and merciful God who is rejoicing because I choose to move forward, towards Him and in so doing He helps me all along the way back to Him. Indeed, "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance" (Luke 15:7). There are no "just persons", we all need to repent and return to God. God is rejoicing over me and you, when we return to Him. From my own experience I know that "repent is perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary" (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland).

This is a quote from an awesome talk by Jeffrey R. Holland, "Broken Things to Mend"

"...For He has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; He comprehendeth all things, and He is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on His name" (Alma 26:35).

In life, I have to ask myself some hard questions, a lot. There came a time in my life when I had to grow up and make a choice for myself about various things. I was no longer the child, but the adult. I couldn't blame my parents for my choices anymore, or the "bad teacher", or "insensitive leader", or "inconsiderate friend" who ignored my needs at whatever age. I was "grown up" and I was the one leading, and teaching. I became the parent, and the leader, and the teacher. I ask, at what point do we quit blaming others for things that happen to us and turn to Christ, repent of the pain that is within us, and allow Him to heal us?

Repent of pain you may ask? Why do we need to "repent of pain"? Repentance: "The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, i.e., a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we were born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul's salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin, and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Bible Dictionary, Repentance). Sin is "willful disobedience to God's commandments" (Guide to the Scriptures, Sin). If "pain" is keeping us from turning, returning, yielding, or allowing Christ to heal us, then we are sinning. (I know it is a matter of semantics, but I am using the word "pain" to describe a lot of excuses to hang onto things that, perhaps, it's time to let go and get a "fresh view" about life and what is all around us.) I am not talking about physical pain that we can't control or do anything about. I am talking about clinging to past hurts, past "pains" i.e. the pain of not forgiving, the pain of pride, the pain of hate, the pain of holding onto anger, the pain of blaming others for things that have happened in the past that we need to let go, etc. You may be thinking that pain isn't sin, or that pain isn't "my fault", especially when "so-n-so" did "such-n-such" to me or my child or my family. I understand the need and desire to hang on to "pain". But when we hang on to emotional pain, rather than turning it over to the Lord, letting Him heal us, it does become a sin. We are commanded to "forgive all men" (D&C 64:10), this would include ourselves.

We become something less than we are capable of becoming when we hang on to "pain". We continue to think and "see through a glass, darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12), rather than being able to "see clearly" (Matt. 7:5, 3 Nephi 14:5). President James E. Faust said, "May I suggest that you take your challenges one day at a time. Do the best you can. Look at everything through the lens of eternity. If you will do this, life will take on a different perspective" (Instruments in the Hands of God; italics added)

The Savior said after He had appeared to the Nephites, "O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you" (3 Nephi 9:13 italics added)? He wants us to "return unto [Him]" and "repent of our sins". Hanging onto past hurts, or clinging to things of the past, justifying "bad behavior" because someone hurt us, only keeps old wounds open, allowing infection to set in and not let true healing take place. It hurts us because it keeps us away from Christ and His healing power. Christ can and will heal us, but only if we let Him in (see Revelations 3:20). He is omnipotent and He wants to heal us "...For He has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; He comprehendeth all things, and He is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on His name" (Alma 26:35). Christ will not only heal us, but He understands our hurts, our pain, our loneliness.  Pres. Faust in the same address said: "Some injuries are so hurtful and deep that healing comes only with help from a higher power and hope for perfect justice and restitution in the next life... You can tap into that higher power and receive precious comfort and sweet peace " (Instruments in the Hands of God). We must tap into this power, the power of the atonement and let it heal us, heal our hearts, our minds, our souls. We don't need to keep suffering needlessly because we want to hang onto "pain". It isn't easy to let things go, to be the "grown-up" all the time. But with the help of the Master, we "can do all things" (Philippians 4:13). Staying home, away from church isn't the answer to healing...no matter how badly we have been offended.

Jesus Christ wants more than anything for us to repent~ to have a "fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world". He wants us to have His view, which view is eternal. This is the view He had when He "suffered these things for all, that [we] might not suffer if [we] would repent" (D&C 19:16). Sometimes asking the hard questions of ourselves isn't easy. It can be quite painful to change, to be the "grown-up's" that we are and accept responsibility for the choices we are making and quite blaming others for our choices. When we make the choice to "look up" (Psalms 5:3) and turn ourselves, our hearts and minds to Christ, we are choosing to be healed. Being healed takes time, but it is totally worth it. And the view is incredible. This I testify.

"...the race is not to the swift, not the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, not yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all" (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

I have to confess something about myself. I love to go fast, I mean really fast. I love to drive as fast as I can. I love a car with a big engine so that I can go fast. My children will often ask me if I am speeding and I will say, "Just a little". But there are those darn yield signs, speed bumps and dips that seem to get in the way of going fast. And those stop signs just completely put a stop to all the fun. Man, I really don't like those. But they keep me safe. (Sigh). And truthfully, I'd rather be safe than dead, or worse, end up hurting someone or killing someone else because I have a need for speed. So, I obey the signs, or rather the laws of the road.

This need for speed, or going fast has made me think of something lately. It's those darn speed bumps and dips, really, that have made me think about why speed is good and why I need to slow down. There are times when we need to just "be still" (Psalms 46:10) or slow down a bit. We can be "swift to hear, slow to speak, [and] slow to wrath" (James 1:19). I could really use some practice on hearing and slowing down on the speaking part. The speaking before I think gets me in trouble way too much. There are too many times when I think that things would have been better had I just kept my mouth shut. "Be still" (Psalms 46:10) is great advice. Look at the foot note on that and it says, "silence".

Being "slow to anger" (Proverbs 15:18) is another place where it is a blessing to slow down and take my time. Anger causes so many problems...but how to control it is such a challenge. One way to practice is suggested in Proverbs, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger" (Proverbs 15:1). If we slow down and speak softly we have time to actually think about what is coming out of our mouths before we say it and we won't be driving out of control, rather, we will be "yielding to the Spirit" (see (Mosiah 3:19). Those yields really do help keep us safe, not only from harmful driving situations, but emotional and verbal situations as well.

Yielding is a powerful way to have influence upon our hearts. "Yielding [our] hearts unto God" brings the "purifying and the sanctification of [our] hearts" when we fast and pray and become more and more humble (Helaman 3:35).  It is more powerful than going fast and losing control. When we go too fast we can miss those turns that we need to make and could get lost. Yielding helps us to get our bearings, to find the direction we need to turn, or return to Christ. Repentance is returning to Christ. Repentance is an incredible blessing. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "The gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ provides us at all times and at all places with the blessings of repentance and forgiveness. Because of this gift, the opportunity to make a safe return from the disastrous course of sin is available to all of us" (Point of Safe Return). When we "yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit" we are actually putting off the natural man and becoming a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord (Mosiah 3:19).

Now, if the yield signs don't get us to pay attention, then hopefully the stop signs will. The Lord has reasons why He stops things, why He wants us to STOP. He has said, "Stop, and stand still until I command thee, and I will provide means whereby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee" (D&C 5:34). Sometimes, we just need to stop, completely get out of the car and let the Lord do the driving. He knows where He is taking us and we need to have the faith that He will get us there if  we are "faithful in keeping [His] commandments" (D&C 5:35).

When we slow down and put our faith and trust in the Lord we realize "...that the race is not to the swift, not the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, not yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all" (Ecclesiastes 9:11). We must drive with the Lord by our side. We don't need to worry about speed or being the fastest. We can focus on Him and know~ "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37), being at the perfect speed for our needs. This I testify.

"...repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart..." (3 Nephi 10:6)

Laundry, laundry, laundry. I have a lot of laundry to do. Sometimes, if I don't stay on top of it, it feels like it is a mountain that needs to be climbed. But, it's just laundry...that needs to be washed and then dried and then folded and put away and then worn and then washed again. Some people have the real luxury of having someone else do their laundry and they can "send it out" and pretend they don't even do laundry. But reality is, we all get our clothes dirty. Even if we were to just throw away the clothes we wear and refuse to do laundry, we would be denying the fact that we got our clothes dirty. Some might even say, well, I don't because I don't drop anything on them. Well...they start to stink after a while and they still need to be cleaned. Some people may just wear dirty clothes all the time and not even notice they are even dirty because they haven't done laundry for so long.

Well, guess what...we can do "laundry" every day and be clean and it's not a burden or feel like we are climbing a mountain. (And sometimes, climbing a mountain is wonderful. It is a joy to have a higher view from the top of the mountain and then see all that is accomplished once we have climbed it.) Laundry is really a form of repentance. "The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the word used for this concept of repentance is 'shube:'" (Elder Theodore M. Burton) meaning to turn, as in turn away from sin or return to the Father. In doing laundry we are trying to return our clothes to their original state of cleanliness. Laundry is a necessary part of life. Laundry can actually help us slow down and take time to ponder and "get a fresh view" of things in our life.The pondering time laundry offers can be invaluable. Just as repentance is invaluable and is there to give us a "fresh view". The beautiful translation from the Greek word that repentance is taken "denotes a change of mind, i.e., a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined" (Bible Dictionary). Repentance is talked about over and over and the Lord has "called after you and is still calling after you" (Alma 5:7). The question is whether or not we want to follow His call to repent, to return to Him. Notice, there is no a mention of suffering in that definition of repentance. There is only a turning. Turning to God. 


Repentance can also mean "conversion" (see Matt. 3:2 footnote a). God wants us to be converted to Him, to be totally committed to righteous, clean living. Why? Because He knows we are "blessed and happy...[when we] keep the commandments of God...[we] are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if [we] hold out faithful to the end [we] are received into heaven, that thereby [we] may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness" (Mosiah 2:41)! That is why our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ want us to repent, so we can be with them, now, in our happiness and in our life by following them here, and in the life to come. He doesn't want us to send our laundry, or our repenting out to someone else, thinking that we can buy our way out of our sins or out of our troubles. He wants us to turn our hearts to Him on our own. It is what He asks of us (D&C 4:2). Because when we send our laundry out, we think we don't need Him and we rely upon ourselves and say "there is no God" (Psalms 14:1; Alma 11:24; 2 Nephi 2:13). And in reality, the only way things are ever going to be completely clean, completely "blotted out" is if we "repent...and [are] converted" (Acts 3:19) to Christ.


Be converted to Christ, not to man, or to money or to self or to stuff. They can't "clean" us, but through the atonement, the sacrifice that Christ made, we can be clean and our hearts are changed. We must "apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified (this is conversion); for we believe (this is faith) in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things " (Mosiah 4:2). This is how we can get completely clean, every day of our lives. It isn't a one time application, but as we daily apply the atonement in our lives, we "receive a remission of [our] sins, and [have] a peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith [we have] in Jesus Christ" (Mosiah 4:3). We can and do become clean and more holy and we can learn "the difference between the holy and profane, and...to discern between the unclean and the clean" (Ezekiel 44:23, see also Leviticus 10:10). We don't have to walk around in dirty clothes, i.e. our sins, because "the Lord shall have washed away the filth" (2 Nephi 14:3-4).

As we do our daily laundry, remember that it is the Lord we are returning to. He loves us and wants us home. He will help us do all the cleaning, all our repenting, that we need to in our lives, every day. He will never give up on us. "How oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart" (3 Nephi 10:6). Repentance is a simple, daily task with a major blessing that helps us "always remember Him" (D&C 20:77,79). This I testify is how to do laundry. 

"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1:19)

I hate it when I burn food. It stinks for a really long time, and nobody wants to eat it. And it's even worse when I have spent a lot of time preparing what I thought would be a great meal...and then I burn it, or I don't add the right ingredients, or my family tells me it tastes gross, or they refuse to eat, or they have even said that they are full. I tend to get mad. I try not to, but the natural woman comes roaring out of me, or sometimes tearfully out of me and things just fall apart.

Sometimes...things just fall apart. Sometimes the food does get burned and I can't fix it. Sometimes people really are full and don't want to eat right then. Sometimes the food really is gross. And sometimes, I do act like a maniac and behave badly. But all is not lost (even though at the moment I may feel that it is).

We all make mistakes. Everyone of us. Heavenly Father knew this from before our birth. That's why He had this great plan in place for us to follow if we choose (see Moses 6:62; 1 Cor. 15:22; Titus 1:2; Alma 42:8). It is hard not to get upset with ourselves or others when things don't go as planned, or when mistakes happen, or when tragedy strikes. It doesn't feel good to be out of control. But there is a plan in place and we don't have to be out of control. It does take faith..."For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7) to believe that our Father in Heaven can see far beyond our own natural vision. And it does take faith that He can make burned food not burned.

The plan is made clear in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has made food from nothing that we might follow Him. He did this more than once with the loaves and the fishes. He fed five thousand men, this doesn't mention how many women and children were among them. (see Mark 6:34-44) and again he fed "four thousand men, beside women and children" (Matt. 15:32-38). Both times there was food left over. He can take our "burned food", or our mistakes, our sins, our wrong doings and make them whole. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). The next verse relates perfectly with food..."If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1:19).

If we are willing, we can eat whole food~ eat the food that Christ offers us. It isn't burned or gross. It might take some repenting (meaning turning of the heart and will to God and renunciation of sin (see Bible Dictionary)), but the well cooked food, and the clean smell in our house from the mess being cleaned all up, is so worth it! We all make mistakes, but we don't have to continue to live in them. This I testify is the "good of the land"  (Isaiah 1:19). Come, let's eat!