Thursday, April 17, 2014

Watch out... It'll get ya...


Ivy.... Awwwww...

Hey there friends here is a little parable for your day... Well a parable thing... 

Once there was a little missionary that did a lot of awesome service... (The missionary is me... in case you didn't know) 
One thing I have done quite a bit is yard work. I have pulled quite a bit of ivy in my days here as a missionary. Oh boy is ivy fun and I have not seen it quite like I have here on the east coast. There is so much and it never wants to leave.

Ivy is a tricky thing and in my opinion very pretty but it's a pain in the rear too. Ivy is a vine and it likes to wrap and intertwine with everything in its path. Not only that but it takes over other forms of plant life. Wrapping around and slowly chocking them out of existence. It also loves to come back. I don't know how but it always comes creeping back and before you know it the ivy is all over once again.

So what does this silly plant have to do with the gospel? As I have sat pulling and thinking. I have thought how ivy is like unto sin. In so many instances sin is subtle and slow. It creeps up on you and slowly starts to wrap around your roots. It starts to intertwine with your branches and it takes away your nourishment. Before you know it, the ivy has taken over and you find yourself dying out.

Sin does the same thing. It comes in quietly and subtly and it slowly intertwines with your roots then around your trunk. It takes away from your spirit and it subtly leads us to a spiritual and sometimes physical death. I like this scripture in 2 Nephi 28:21 

21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. (2 Nephi 28:21)

That scripture reminds me of the ivy and how it slowly takes over and before you know it BAM, you are in trouble and you have been lead away carefully. Satan works the same way. He starts out small and slow and carefully leads you far from the path home. He slowly chokes out you roots and your spirit... 

Sometimes we think that it's not very big and can't possibly hurt us but if we do not repent and allow the gardener (Jesus Christ) to come and pull we will slowly be chocked out. So we have to repent and allow the sin to be pulled away. We have to use the Atoning sacrifice everyday! Do it now and don't wait, we are asked to not prolong the day of repentance, but to do it right now and I know it will bless your life. The Gardner is longing to pull the sin and cast it away forever but we have to allow him the opportunity. It won't be easy and sometimes it will take time because we have allowed it to grow so much but the freedom and energy we feel after is so worth the pain of change. Sometimes it even feels like it has become part of us, but it needs to go. So let him take it away! Let the weeds be cleared and feel the freedom that comes through the Atonement.


I hope that you have enjoyed my lil parable for the day and I hope that you will "not put off the day of your repentance." I know that Jesus Christ loves us and wants to take away our sin. He has atoned and payed the price so we don't have to. We just have to come to him with repentant hearts and he will cast the painful destructive sin away. I know he lives and I know he loves us. I know from my own experience. You know what else I know? I know it's not easy to let go of sin. It's not easy to change and cast those things that have become so much a part of you away but I know the freedom that comes when you do. I love this wonderful week and I know it is because of Jesus Christ that I am made free! No more choking sin and ivy! 

Hope you have a magical day! 

Love Sister-Michayla Egbert 

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