This morning I attended a Relief Society breakfast. After the meal they gave us a message and encouraged us to set some goals specifically for ourselves. When I came home, I pondered the goals that I wanted to set. I have goals that I made last year or the year before that I want to continue to do for the rest of my life. I realized that to be at my best, and to be most effective in achieving these new goals as well as carrying on with the old ones, that having things neat and tidy and clean would help me accomplish this desire. This room being clean makes it possible to study the gospel more effectively, think clearly, pray sincerely, and feel the peace of the Savior. In fact, I think that this was the first step in accomplishing the goals I have set for myself for this year.
Now having just gotten over a bad cold, I feel much like this room being recently cleansed and organized again. There is no longer anything in my sinuses plugging me up and inhibiting me from taking a breath, my lungs are mostly clear, my eyes are no longer heavy and droopy, my skin is no longer chapped and dry, my throat is no longer itchy and sore, and I no longer have a cough that expels every drop of breath within me. Having those things gone is so much like cleaning a room. It feels great!
As a seminary teacher, I can't help but see the parallel to the atonement of Christ which both heals and cleanses our lives. I'm so grateful for the reminders of these things that I've had today. It is a joy to me to be clean and pure. I am not perfect, I make mistakes, and just like the room that I cleaned today – sometimes things get cluttered and need to be put right again, and sometimes I catch a bug and get sick, but I know that it is through the atonement of Jesus Christ and through obedience to His laws that spiritual cleansing and purification come to pass.
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