I recently stepped into the smartphone realm, about a year ago, and due to my desire to have a sleek looking phone, I opted out of getting a case or screen protector for it. Somehow I have managed to keep my phone in supreme condition… until a few days ago. After a night filled with grilled cheese, friends and socializing I took a look at my phone only to find nothing short of 100 new scratches engraved into my once blemish-free screen. My mind suddenly played a flashback of my 10 month old son crawling around on the tile floor, with my phone in hand (screen facing down of course) just scooting it across the floor in the happiest fashion imaginable. The far-too-often used phrase by my father immediately popped into my mind “You can never have anything nice with kids”.
Once it really set in that my phone was now full of flaws I began to become urked beyond belief. My mind raced with shoulda’s, coulda’s, and woulda’s. “I shoulda kept my phone in a safe place”, “If I woulda just stopped him before he got to the tile this would never have happened”, “If I could just fix this it’ll all turn out fine”. I searched the world wide web for ways to remove scratches from glass. The best solution I found.. was to use a screen protector in the first place (okay.. slap in the face). I tried the old fashion “rub toothpaste on it” trick and was now left with a minty smelling scratched up phone. I had to find someway to fix my screen because a little piece of my heart would fill with regret every time I looked at my phone’s disastrous screen. After living in remorse for a few days I finally found away to make my phone new again. This way it could be freed from the devastating scratches it has recently acquired.
Although this is a very superficial story, it made me think of a parallel to real life. What if we could never remove any scratches, mistakes, blemishes, regrets, sins, etc. from our life? What if… no matter how many times we washed, we had to see how dirty we were when we looked in the mirror? What if we could never be restored to a pure and original state? What if we had to be reminded of our impurities every. single. day?
Well, fortunately these were only hypothetical questions because I already knew that there is one way to let go of everything we ever did wrong. Like my phone, we too can get rid of the scratches in our lives and be made new.
Tis the season to think about God’s greatest gift to mankind- the birth of His only begotten Son even Jesus Christ. Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, then completed the Atonement. Because of this He has been through it ALL. He has an overwhelming ability to forgive and provides us the enabling power to forget. He knows what it’s like to feel ashamed guilty, or hopeless. He is the light that can brighten a darkened soul. He can carry the burden of life’s woes for us. Because of Jesus Christ, we don’t have to be scratched forever, we can return to our unadulterated form.
I know that Jesus Christ was born of Mary in Bethlehem. He atoned for the sins of the world, and died on the cross so that we might live again. He lives again today and is in every detail of our lives. How grateful I am for the knowledge of our Savior.
This video done by the LDS church added perfect supplement to my post.
Happiness Is Made 