Sacred Covenants

There was a theme today at church. The Sacrament talks and the Relief Society lesson were all about making and keeping covenants. Sister Reeves gave an amazing talk about renewing your covenants with the sacrament last conference. A thought that I had over and over again on my mission kept coming to my head today. Why do we partake of the Sacrament weekly? And my answer is simply, WHY NOT! Once we understand what the Sacrament can truly do for us, why would you not want that as part of your week! Sister Reeves asks, "Do we recognize the ability of the Savior to completely cleanse us every week as we worthily and thoughtfully partake of the sacrament?" I will be honest, for the longest time, I did not recognize that! But now that I do the sacrament has taken on a completely different feel. I no longer sit there and wait for Sunday School because "thats the fun class!" I love the sacrament, because it is the one time in the week where I feel closer to God than any other time. I tell Him what I haven't done the best at. I review my entire week with Him, and I plead for His help. As I partake of the emblems that represent my Saviors body and blood, I am re-cleansed by the Atonement of Christ, as if I had just been baptized all over again.

I had the coolest experience on my mission teaching a sister who hadn't been active in the church for over 10 years. She had done some things she wasn't proud of, and she longed to be closer to God. When the time had come for her to take the Sacrament again, she was more than overjoyed! I sat by her and watched as she felt the cleansing power of the Savior. I know that she felt clean again, and she has taken it every week since as she continues to renew her covenants.

So why make covenants? This is probably the aspect of the Gospel that I love most of all. In the Doctrine and Covenants section 88 verse 10 the Lord says, "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Also in the same set of scripture, section 130 verse 21 it says, "And when we obtain ANY blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." I do not believe in dumb luck. I believe that our Father in Heaven is always watching us and cares about us dearly. He WANTS to give us all the blessings that He can. But He is a just and fair God, so the way He has set up this life is by laws. He asks us to do things, and when we do them, He blesses us. That applies to anyone! But going back to the first scripture I said, He is BOUND when we do what He asks us to. The concept of being bound is why I love covenants. A covenant is a promise that you make with God. We would tell people on the mission that our purpose was to help them come closer to their Father in Heaven. Well how much closer to Him could you be than in a binding covenant with Him! When we make covenants, we are binding ourself to our Father, and He will keep all His sides of the promises because that is who He is! He is perfect! So it is up to us to keep up our end of the deal, and thats the trickiest part of life! But thankfully, if we do make a mistake, we can go through the repentance process (like my friend I talked about) and we can partake of the sacrament to renew or remake those covenants.

I am grateful for the covenants I have made with my Father, starting with the baptismal covenants I made when I was 8 to the covenants I made a couple years ago in the temple! I love being bound to my God, and I love the knowledge that He will continue to help and bless me as I strive daily to keep my covenants!