Infinite Atonement, Infinite Love
Saturday morning, before conference, my wife was talking to our kids about the Lord's atonement being not just for all sins but for all our pains.
I reflected on some of the visions I've read of people who have been across the veil and in the Lord's presence. They describe an overwhelming love washing over and through them (not necessarily their words, but that is the gist of most).
There are those who suffer grievous pains and indescribably horrible experiences at the hands of others in this mortal life. It is particularly sorrowful when these events happen to the most innocent of us mortals, our children.
How is it that these pains can be forgotten amidst the love of the Lord?
A simple analogy came to mind. Imagine a bucket of water. It is pure, clean, and clear. A drop of black dye is dropped in, and the water begins to cloud. More dye is dropped in and the water eventually becomes too black to see through.
The atonement is an infinite atonement, and the Lord has infinite love.
While overly simplistic, the atonement is like the rushing of pure, clean, clear water that enters into the polluted water. Because the atonement is infinite, there can be no end to the amount of pure water that can flow through the clouded water. This means no matter how dirty, polluted, contaminated or black that water was it can be made washed out and replaced once again with clean, pure, and clear water.
The challenge for us is how quickly we can let the flow of the atonement come into our lives and change and purify us. Are we blocking the atonement from taking effect? Are we letting only a trickle or garden hose slowly filter through and make changes? Or are we willing to submit to the Father and have it small flow be increased through our lives?
It occurred to me, that when we feel the infinite love of our Savior it will wash through us. If we have completely accepted the Savior and his atonement into our lives, it will not matter how bad of experiences we have suffered. It will be washed away with his love, and that is what we will feel, and what we will want to always feel.
Most of those who have described their experience with the Savior are only reluctantly willing to return to their mortal experience. I suspect it is because while will may still have memories of mortality, we no longer experience the pains, grief, and sorrow because they are washed away with the Savior's love, and that love is what is most important to us.
We cannot comprehend the Lord's infinite capacity to love us.
A loving mortal parent has a taste of this love with the birth of a child. That love grows more as the child grows. With each additional child, the parent still experiences an increase in love, and the capacity to love. There is no end to a parent's love, especially the love of a mother.
If we, as mortal humans have the seemingly unlimited capacity to love our spouse and our children, with the love continuing to grow, deepen, and expand as time goes on, then how much greater is the love of our Heavenly Father (and Mother) who have loved us for eons of time, and who have billions of children? And, as our eldest brother and the one who made the Infinite Atonement, our Savior also has this capacity to love us.
An infinite atonement is incomprehensible to us, but it is like the scriptures describe it, the washing away of all that is impure because of the infinite love of our Savior.
I reflected on some of the visions I've read of people who have been across the veil and in the Lord's presence. They describe an overwhelming love washing over and through them (not necessarily their words, but that is the gist of most).
There are those who suffer grievous pains and indescribably horrible experiences at the hands of others in this mortal life. It is particularly sorrowful when these events happen to the most innocent of us mortals, our children.
How is it that these pains can be forgotten amidst the love of the Lord?
A simple analogy came to mind. Imagine a bucket of water. It is pure, clean, and clear. A drop of black dye is dropped in, and the water begins to cloud. More dye is dropped in and the water eventually becomes too black to see through.
The atonement is an infinite atonement, and the Lord has infinite love.
While overly simplistic, the atonement is like the rushing of pure, clean, clear water that enters into the polluted water. Because the atonement is infinite, there can be no end to the amount of pure water that can flow through the clouded water. This means no matter how dirty, polluted, contaminated or black that water was it can be made washed out and replaced once again with clean, pure, and clear water.
The challenge for us is how quickly we can let the flow of the atonement come into our lives and change and purify us. Are we blocking the atonement from taking effect? Are we letting only a trickle or garden hose slowly filter through and make changes? Or are we willing to submit to the Father and have it small flow be increased through our lives?
It occurred to me, that when we feel the infinite love of our Savior it will wash through us. If we have completely accepted the Savior and his atonement into our lives, it will not matter how bad of experiences we have suffered. It will be washed away with his love, and that is what we will feel, and what we will want to always feel.
Most of those who have described their experience with the Savior are only reluctantly willing to return to their mortal experience. I suspect it is because while will may still have memories of mortality, we no longer experience the pains, grief, and sorrow because they are washed away with the Savior's love, and that love is what is most important to us.
We cannot comprehend the Lord's infinite capacity to love us.
A loving mortal parent has a taste of this love with the birth of a child. That love grows more as the child grows. With each additional child, the parent still experiences an increase in love, and the capacity to love. There is no end to a parent's love, especially the love of a mother.
If we, as mortal humans have the seemingly unlimited capacity to love our spouse and our children, with the love continuing to grow, deepen, and expand as time goes on, then how much greater is the love of our Heavenly Father (and Mother) who have loved us for eons of time, and who have billions of children? And, as our eldest brother and the one who made the Infinite Atonement, our Savior also has this capacity to love us.
An infinite atonement is incomprehensible to us, but it is like the scriptures describe it, the washing away of all that is impure because of the infinite love of our Savior.
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