Alma 5

So what does Mickey Mouse have to do with studying the scriptures? Mickey Mouse is looking in the mirror to paint his creator. How many of us can look in the mirror and paint our creator?
Alma 5:14,16,19,26 reads "And now behold, I ask of you my brethern of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenace? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? " "..can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?" "can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands?" "if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"

I have always loved these scriptures. I have always looked foreward to the second coming. I loved the song "His Image in your countenance" as a youth.

I really enjoyed ELder Bednar's talk on Clean Hands and a Pure Heart in Oct 2007. He talked about how we can attain these two things and said that we can have clean hands and not a pure heart.

He said, "Let me suggest that hands are made clean through the process of putting off the natural man and by overcoming sin and the evil influences in our lives through the Savior’s Atonement. Hearts are purified as we receive His strengthening power to do good and become better. All of our worthy desires and good works, as necessary as they are, can never produce clean hands and a pure heart. It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides both a cleansing and redeeming power that helps us to overcome sin and a sanctifying and strengthening power that helps us to become better than we ever could by relying only upon our own strength. The infinite Atonement is for both the sinner and for the saint in each of us. "

As we were going to the temple last Friday, I was talking with my good friend about so many things in the gospel and she recounted to me something she remembered from a talk. I wish I could remember who gave it. The important factor was that the most important thing was that we were on the right path. It isn't as important how far we are on the path, but that we are in the right direction. That being said, we recieve different blessings when we strive harder to stay on the path and move farther to being closer to our Father in Heaven.

The older I get, the more I realize how dependant I am upon the Lord. I can do all things through Him. I have to let things go and strive to have my will aligned more with His. When I do that, I am happier, more fulfilled and I get so much more done. It isn't always easy, but it is so worth it.