Last night I went to bed thinking about the Atonement.  I had just prayed for my wife and my daughter, both of whom are to speak on that topic in church tomorrow.  Marjorie had only received the assignment that very day, and was feeling resentful toward the procrastinating bishop’s counselor who had given her no more time than that to prepare a meaningful talk on such a profound topic.

Probably to help her, the Holy Ghost gave me a waking thought.  I love such episodes.  There can be no doubt where such thoughts come from, when into my completely blank, waking mind comes a picture and a thought that I’ve never had before.

The picture that came into my mind was of a room that we used to have in our home, and of my 2-car garage/shop as it has sometimes looked.

Back when we had the luxury of not needing all of our bedrooms for children, we had a room that became the catch-all for everything that we didn’t have time to put away.  We simply put the box or the item into that room, shut the door, and forgot about the item and the mess that was behind the closed door.

My shop was the worst in that regard.  There was a trail along which one could sidle to get to the back of the shop.  When the trail itself began filling in, my eldest son enlisted the help of his brother, and they cleaned it.  There was no way to organize it; so their method was to simply load everything into the pickup, and to haul the stuff over to our old barn where they threw everything into a pile.  It was all stuff that I was afraid to throw away because I thought that someday I might be able to use it.  I was amazed when I saw what they’d done.  My shop was suddenly useable again.  In the back of my mind, though, I found myself being slightly resentful as I worried that I wouldn’t be able to find some item that I’d saved for a rainy day.

As it turned out, I enjoyed my clean shop, and there were very few items that I had to go looking for.  The boys knew the difference between useful items and just plain junk.  They’d done something that I had been unable or unwilling to do for myself.

The Atonement is like that.  Our lives become so cluttered with sin, frivolous things, and just plain junk that we have no idea where to begin to get things cleaned up.  We don’t have the energy or the means to do the job.  It requires someone else to come in, start the process, and to do the job.

Without our Savior and Redeemer, we’re all lost.  Nephi said that “save Christ should come all men must perish.”  (2 Ne. 11:6).

“And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.”  (2 Ne. 9:23).

When I was a young boy I had a lot of bad habits.  I was disgusted with myself.  I was not a member of the Church, but I wanted to be better than I was.  I wanted to clean myself up and be rid of all the disgusting things that I did.  I couldn’t have been more than 8 or 10 years old, but I knew something had to be done to straighten out this life gone awry.  I made a list of all my bad habits.  It was a long one.  I remember being very ashamed as I wrote all of those disgusting things down.  I was going to get rid of them all.  I thought that by listing them, and by regularly referring to my list, I could eliminate them from my life.

The list was very embarrassing.  The reason I remember this episode is because of the thought I put into where to hide the list.  It had to be where I could refer to it, but where there was no danger of anyone else ever finding it.  I finally settled upon a dark cubby-hole where no one ever intruded.  It was dark and dusty and spider-infested, and I didn’t like even putting my hand in there.

I worked at getting rid of all my sins for most of that day.  I thought that it was simply a matter of refraining from doing those things.  The fact of the matter was that I still had the desire to do all of those things, so one by one, I did them all again.

The list worried me, though.  Even though I’d hidden it well, there was still the chance that someone might find it, and know what a disgusting person I really was.  So I retrieved the list from its hiding place, and burned it.  I remained disgusted with myself for the next 10 or 12 years, but I was powerless to fix anything or to clean anything up.  I didn’t know where to begin, and I didn’t know how.

Three or four months short of my 20^th birthday I was given a book.  I became very excited as I read the book.  In that book I found the key to becoming a good, clean, and useful person.  I learned that it couldn’t be done without help from a special One.  That One was Jesus Christ.  He’d gone through everything I was going through, and knew how to clean things up.

I read that “he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

“…The Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance.”  (Alma 7:11-13).

“O how great the holiness of our God!  For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.”  (2 Ne. 9:20).

This was all a revelation to me.  I’d burned my list, but my Redeemer knew everything that was on it—and still loved me.  He’d already taken upon Himself all my pains and afflictions and temptations and sicknesses and infirmities and sins and transgressions.  He was willing to take all of those things away and leave me feeling clean and worthwhile if I would come unto Him, accept Him as my Savior, make a solemn covenant with Him, and keep His commandments.

I entered the waters of baptism 20 days before my 20^th birthday, and promised to always follow Him and keep His commandments.  My future father-in-law, holding Christ’s authority, baptized me.  I went home with my girl friend, his daughter, to her house, and there I bawled like a baby.  I felt so clean!  All of those stupid things I’d ever done, and all of those disgusting habits were gone!  My Redeemer had taken them.  He had come in, cleaned the house, and then said, “Go, and sin no more.”  (John 8:11).

At baptism we covenant to keep the house clean from that point on.  We also covenant to show others how to clean their houses.

My eldest son—the one who cleaned my shop—grew up, married, began a family, and bought a house far away.  We visited him there.  He had a fine, big shop—as big as mine back home.  But after moving all of their belongings, and renovating the house, his shop was full of stuff, and impassable.  Whenever he visits me, he always comes prepared to do a project.  He builds cabinets, wires in appliances, and does jobs that I don’t have the skills or energy to do.

So I began in the far corner of his shop, and made a clean place where I could turn around.  I organized and threw away and swept and kept expanding my clean area until by the end of the day I’d reached the other side.  I really hadn’t expected to get that far.  I turned around and was overcome by what I’d accomplished.  My son was amazed—and grateful.

Whenever I visit there now, I check his shop.  He has kept it organized.  Everything is still right where I originally put it.

He did something for me that I couldn’t do for myself.  I did something for him that he could not bring himself to begin.  That’s Christ’s gospel in action.

Jesus has done something that we are all powerless to do.  Through His Atonement He has already paid for all of our sins, has overcome death, and has opened the way for us to spend eternity with Him in a refulgence of light, cleanliness, usefulness, worthiness, and happiness.