Sodom & Gomorrah

I went to a fireside last Sunday and had the priviledge of listening to a BYU professor of religion. He was an awesome speaker.

One of his points was: "Let the past go, celebrate the present, and look to the future with an optimism born of the spirit."

He told the story of a colleauge who, when he was a bishop, was able to see a young lady who had sinned, and then followed all the steps of repentance, but could not seem to forgive herself. I personally think this is the hardest step. He told her to go home and read the scripture story of "Sodom & Gomorrah" and to come back to him and tell him what she learned from it. She comes back to the bishop and tells him that she learned, "When you sin, you are destroyed." The bishop says, "No! That is not the lesson I wanted you to learn." She then asked, "Well what then?" He came back with a resounding "Don't look back!"

How come it is so hard not to look back? My husband always says he hates it when I bring up past mistakes. His especially. Sometimes it is hard for me to let go. All my past mistakes as a mother are probably the hardest. Before I was in therapy, I was not doing a good job at motherhood. I still feel guilty about that. I even said to my therapist that I hope my kids forgive me for that. He said they will when they have children of their own.

So, one of the last things he said was, "God cares more about your direction than your location." He also said we need to concentrate more on our aim instead of the target. If we are taking aim and working to improve it, we will hit the target.

We know the outcome of this world. God will win. No matter how wicked it gets, or how many of our dear brothers and sisters choose wickedness, God will win! Since we know the outcome, will we be able to work harder on our aim? Yes! At least I know I will be trying.