When I was in church today, it came time to partake of the sacrament. Holding my 17-month-old daughter Katya on my lap, I took a piece of bread as my husband passed me the tray and then I handed a piece to Katya. She happily ate it but started to fuss and cry as I passed the tray back, and I realized she was upset because she wanted more bread! I brought her outreached hand back down to her lap and gently told her, "Sorry sweetie. We all take just ONE."
My own words caught me by surprise as I pondered a very deep and significant lesson in them. We each take ONE. One person may be battling a pornography addiction and another may have just missed a morning prayer one day, and both of them just take one piece of bread and one little cup of water. You don't take two (or five, or ten) if you had a super bad week, and you don't take half if you felt you had a great week. You take one, every time.
Why is this? Because there's one Atonement of Jesus Christ, and its infinite. We all equally need it, and it equally covers all sins (except murder and denying the Holy Ghost). The type and quantity of our sins are all different, but anyone who sincerely repents can find forgiveness. As the Lord so beautifully states in Mosiah 26:30, "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me."
The parable found in Matthew 20:1-15 teaches this principle well:
1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them theirhire, beginning from the last unto the first.
9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Whether they labored 12 hours or 1 hour, they each received one penny. And though a penny may seem like nothing, the Atonement is everything, and every single one of us can access it.
The three main lessons I took away from this experience were these:
- Don't judge others. They can find forgiveness of their sins just as I hope to find forgiveness of mine, no matter what they are. We are all totally (and equally) lost without the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
- Don't judge myself. When I sin and make mistakes, I tend to want "run faster than I have strength" (Mosiah 4:27) in trying to make up for them. In other words, I symbolically try to eat the whole sacrament tray! Instead, after I've done "all [I] could do" (Alma 24:11) in repenting, I just need to accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ and move on with my life, striving to do good and to be better.
- I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ. Because He lets us take "one." Because, even though He was perfect, He suffered and died for all who are imperfect so that we can be perfected. I know through the Holy Ghost that He is my Savior, and I am so grateful for the forgiveness, peace, and hope that I find in Him.
