Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made in analogy between repentance and a tree in high-wind. It went something like this: If a tree does not have a very strong base or trunk, everytime the wind blows hard enough it will bend and the leaves will get dirty. This is comparable to us in that if we are not strongly rooted in the teachings of the Jesus Christ and his gospel, each time the winds of adversity blow, we will bend and become dirty through sin. Now if you simply go to the tree and clean the leaves off, that may seem like a successful cleansing. However, this cleanliness will only last until the next storm arrives, when the tree again will bend. The same can be said with us. If we simply make the outward efforts of repenting and cleansing from sin, we may seem to have beaten our weakness. But this false sense of victory will only last as long as life takes to bring us to our next turn with adversity. Following which time we will be as dirty as before we took the troble to cleas all our leaves. The only way to prevent and protect against this endless cycle is to repair the root of the problem. We have to not only do the intial cleaning of the leaves, but also support the roots and trunk so that it can stand tall during the next storm. We likewise must fortify our foundation of beliefs and change almost our very nature before we will ever be truly repentant. The hebrew translation of the word 'repentance' is roughly "a change of mind, thought, or thinking so powerful that it changes one's very way of life". Also the word for repent in German, "bereuen", signifies a common meaning in English with the word "u-turn" or "to turn around". Repentance therefore is not simply a slight course alteration that you hope will not bring you to an undesirable end, but a complete change in direction. In fact, an entire turn back to where we came from. If our desires, passions, and thoughts are truly changed the enticement of sin will not even tempt us.

Tags: Atonement Repentance Marriage Family

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