A Broken Heart.....

 I was contemplating what a "broken heart" was, and I thought of Harley.

 Isn't he beautiful?  We adopted Harley a few years ago.  Our family absolutely LOVES this dog!  When he came to our home, he was an escape artist.  He could dig or chew his way out of our yard fairly easily.  We have other dachshunds but we've never had to secure the perimeter of our property from escape like we've had to for Harley.  After some major fortifications, we re-introduced him to the boundaries of our home/yard, and made him certain of our expectations of him.   He came to trust us and, over time, has become willing to observe and respect our boundaries.  He finally came to a point where he stopped trying to escape.  I saw his "rebellion" as insecurity and distrust.  Now that he is sure of how much we love him and care for his safety, Harley has become submissive, tame, loving, trusting, and willing to be led.  He lets us care for him and love him.  Because of the change I observed in Harley, he is what I thought of when I considered what a "broken heart" might be.

We, as God's children, are like Harley.  The more we come to know God (scripture study & prayer), the easier it is for us to understand our relationship to Him and become submissive to His will.  He has a tremendous love for each of us and only has our best interests at heart.  His commandments are our boundaries, which are for our safety and are to teach us discipline as we progess to become like Him.  Today in seminary, we discussed the sacrament.  In 3 Nephi 18, the Savior institutes the sacrament with the Nephites.  Because he has fulfilled the Law of Moses, they no longer are required to offer animal sacrifices but are required to offer a broken heart and a contrite spirit when they partake of the sacrament.   I showed my class this movie clip from the Old Testament seminary year.....

 

When we understand what a broken heart and a contrite spirit is, then we can focus on presenting that offering to him each week in sacrament meeting.  It means letting go of our will in exchange for His, being submissive to Him and allowing Him to lead us by our faith in Him.  It means being continually repentant, softened, humbled.   Being truly repentant means godly sorrow for our sins to the point where we no longer want to take them up again.  As we partake of the emblems of the sacrament, we recommit ourselves to keep the Lord's commandments, remember Him always, and take upon us His name.  He promises to give us His Spirit to stay with us.  With the Savior's sacrifice on our minds in sacrament meeting, we are brought into a state of humility and understand of our dependence on Him for our salvation. Gratitude.

There is so much more to the sacrament to be said.  So much I'm leaving out.  Trust me, I had a STACK of notes that I took with me to class on how to teach the sacrament to my class.  I decided to linger on the topic of the broken heart and contrite spirit and take a chance (or follow the Spirit) that this was what they needed to hear.