Chapter 22, 23 Review

It is time for another chapter review of my favorite book. By the way, I was at school from 3:00 - 9:00 yesterday for parent/teacher/student conferences. Since we didn't have scheduled appointments and not many showed up (could it be cause they got good grades and no concerns?), I spent some time checking through my e-mail messages and found that DeseretBook had a great sale going on. There is a new book by the author of The Peacegiver", so I ordered it, along with........ to much time on my hands, get away from the computer!

Chapter 22 Light in the Darkness
Grandpa tells Ricky that when he suffers only for himself he is suffering in vain. That he should care more about how others are feeling. "Blessed are you in this new suffereing, for we truly are responsible one to another......As you come to feel fully responsible for the sufferings of those you love, the Lord will take the pain of it from you."
There is a beautiful parallel of the two gardens, Gethsemane and Eden. The person in each garden was sinless, the events in each garden center on exercising agency. Adam had to partake of the fruit, and the Savior, the cup. They both had a choice. "Both partook that man might be." Adam learned to know good and evil, the Savior learned all of the good and eavil that was in the hears of men in all generations. Because of Adam's choice death came into the world, because of the Savior's choice, we are freed from death.
Grandpa tries to explain to Rick just how the Savior suffered, but with our limited use of words it is very difficult. "He suffered for our sins" is just a small part of what happens in the Garden. He tells us that "the far deeper problem is that by choosing to engage in sinful acts, our hearts become sinful, letting Satn gain power over us. We end up losing the very thing that is essential if ever we are to be able to be cleansed and find our way back to him: the desire and ability to choose to follow the Lord." The greater problem is our hearts. Where do we place our hearts?

Chapter 23 - An Agony
Grandfather is explaining how the Savior had to take all the pains of our sins, or the chains that bind us. The beginning of this chapter was very difficult for me to understand. But the sentence that really hit me is "On this night in Gethsemane, Satan is only one sin away from holding all creation in his hand." Do we really understand how important this night was? It is easy to say, yeah, I understand, and go on with our lives. If it is hard for me to withstand temptation, even the littlest things, how great the Savior must be to withstand all temptations. It is so hard to comprehend, as least for me.
But he did overcome all temptation that night, and now He asks us to accept his gift to us. "He comes to each of us, posing the question he posed to Jonah, pleading with us, as Abigail did, to forgive, and literally dying to give us his Spirit and the new heart he has forged that will free us from the chains of our sins. If we harden not our hearts and stiffen not our necks against him, he will facilitate the breaking of our sinful, stony hearts and will give us what Ezekiel called his new 'heart of flesh,' saving us from all our uncleannesses. This is the miracle of Gethsemane."

I have a lot to learn about the Atonement. So much I don't understand.