Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change

My thoughts on Elder Renlund's talk, "Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change"

I really loved this talk. I have been reading/studying the Book of Mormon this year along with my seminary kids and the "mighty change of heart" chapters in Alma have taken on another layer. (Oh, I love when that happens.) Then to reread this talk has brought yet another layer to my discovery.

"Through the Atonement of Christ and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, we undergo this ultimate operation, this spiritual change of heart. As a result of our transgressions, our spiritual hearts have become diseased and hardened, making us subject to spiritual death and separation from our Heavenly Father. The Lord explained the operation that we all need: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”"

(an aside: Think about the parable of the sower and the grounds which he threw the seed and the stony way side and now the stony heart that is removed by Savior himself. Just something to think about.)

I am becoming all to knowledgeable with medical stuff and I know how we can become complacent and lax in taking our medication and then one day: BAM! We realize why we had been taking said drug or doing said thing. It was to maintain what we have (or had). It is for our own good.

The fourth Article of Faith misses I think the most important part of the gospel and that is the fifth and hardest step: Enduring to the end. This is the maintenance part. This is where we prove ourselves worth of that heart given to us. This is were we earn our spot in heaven.

Can we be like the people of Ammon "were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away." How can we? It is simple and yet hard. It is doing what you did to be converted in the first place. Faith, Repentance, Baptism (renewal of covenants during the sacrament) and obeying, listening and petition for the Holy Ghost. This is the enduring to the end--repeating it all over again and again and progressing to the next level of understanding what those four steps are all about.

We can not have a casual relationship with those five steps. We must have a constant and purposeful relationship with them if we want to improve.

I have been training for a marathon (well a half marathon) and I will tell you that in September when I first started I ran/walked for 30 minutes each day (well I didn't run on Sunday or Friday--you need rest days). In October I stopped walking and just ran. In November I added time to two of the five days. In December we added yet more time to one of the days of the week. In January we added time to yet another day of the week.(So now I'm running 30 min on Monday, 40 on Tuesday, 50 on Thursday and on Saturday I'm pushing it up and over an hour, some weeks even going 80 minutes.) Then we add hill training on Tuesday and Thursday. Then we trade the hills for tempo training and up the Saturday training to a total of 120 minutes. All so I can run 13.1 miles four weeks later (May 2, 2010). This is a well designed plan for those who have never ran before. It is amazing what I can do now. But I can't just get up on May 2 and run 13.1 miles without putting in those 500 plus miles over the past six months. There is NO WAY! I couldn't take December off just because it was below freezing. I can't take February off because it was raining every day. No! I had to put in my training every day. (I won't even get into the diet and other stuff.)

I have now decided to run a full marathon in November. In talking with my coaches (listen to this and see if you don't see the parallels) they said that I must continue to MAINTAIN what I have already started. I should take a week break after my half marathon to allow the body to heal but then I should get back out there and keep putting miles on my feet. I will have yet another program to follow--30 minutes and build up. (Actually mine will be a bit more because I already am in "shape".) But they said, I can't take months off; just a week. I must lace up my shoes and get back out on the pavement if I'm going to cross the finish line 26.2 miles from the finish line.

Once we have made that change in our hearts, we can't sit back and let everything go--we have to put in the time on our feet! We have to MAINTAIN what we gained so that when called upon to do harder and greater things we can.