'To Be Or Not To Be" (is actually a good question)

Okay, here goes.  A talk that has been on my mind recently is the one given by Lynn G. Robbins in General Conference entitled "What manner of men and women ought ye to be?"  This talk has given me fits lately.  I love how Elder Robbins tells us that to do and to be are inseparable.  If we think we are but we don't do then who we think we are we really are not.  Our faith as he said is dead without works.  On the flip side, just because we do doesn't mean we are.  I guess what I have been pondering is when do you know after all you have done that you have become?  And what is it really that allows you to become who you think you are?  I am grateful for great co workers who teach with me.  Brother Brian Ricks today at the seminary said that the only thing we can do is keep the commandments the best we can.  The change that takes place inside of us that allows us to finally be what we have been professing to be by keeping the commandments, can only happen through one person.  Jesus Christ is the one who changes our very nature.  We may think sometimes however that there is no way our natures can be changed.  We may think that we have been doing for so long and maybe we still don't think we have arrived at being.  I think that is when we have to rely on the Atonement of Christ to change us.  That rang so true to me today.  For the longest time, I have tried to be the best Latter Day Saint I could possibly be by doing all the things I knew I should.  I know I have prayed a lot, but it seems that my prayers are always about how can I do better.  I want to be someone like Christ, not just keep the commandments like Christ.  I feel like I don't quite understand how great Christ really is.  I feel that deeper desire to come to Him and see who He can help me become.  I am grateful for wonderful teachers and friends who take time to listen and share their thoughts with me.  I am grateful for Elder Robbins for opening my eyes and mind to something I thought I knew, when really I am so far away from really understanding how to change.  I thank God for this day and the upward tug from heaven to be better.


Shon