As I mused about gratitude today, my thoughts have circled around all thatI have to be grateful for. But for me, today, the thoughts have focused on the Atonement of Jesus. Clearly this is something for which I am always grateful, but my thoughts don't center on it as often as they should. Today, that's where my heart has been.
I think of the Atonement as very personal and individual. If you go to 3 Nephi 17:21, you read that He blessed the little children "one by one", we know He listens to our prayers one by one, and I suspect He suffered for us, one by one.
Heber J. Grant taught that "He came as an individual offering with a personal message to each one of us. For each one of us, He died on Calvary and His blood will conditionally save us. Not as nations, communities, or groups, but as individuals." That's powerful. He did it for me. He did it for you. He did it for each of us, as separate, individual people.
C.S. Lewis agreed: "He (Christ) has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world." Again, powerful and deeply meaningful.
Life is hard. We all have burdens to bear. The only way to pass through it is to do as Christ taught: "Come unto me. . . " (Matt. 11:28) This is how the burden is lightened. This is why we try to take His identity on ourselves. We study Him, we try to follow His example, and every Sunday, when we take the sacrament, we take upon us His name. We are His family. We have been bought with a price. We are His children and He loves us. And as we study, follow His example, and learn to know Him, our love for Him grows.
As I ponder this miraculous gift, I try to take in the reality that He did it for each of us separately. It's not something I can understand and probably never will, but it's a gift that no one else could have given me and it's priceless . I am so grateful.
2 comments:
You really should change your blog to Gram-tastic's Goosebumps. That's what I get every time I read your blog. I love the one by one idea. I think that is hard to fathom because there are so many of us. It's so true that He knows us individually.
I think one of the hardest and most important things for us to grasp is the individualness (word?) of the Atonement. Thank you for the reminder of it--I know I don't focus on the Atonement nearly as often as I shoud.
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