A New Day

This past week has been more stressful than most.  When I woke up last Tuesday, I just felt sick!

Elder Price and I still went out and worked and labored and walked and talked to people all day, but by the time we came in at night, I was just worn out and physically exhausted.  The one thing I looked forward to most was collapsing onto my bed.

Between the time I fell asleep

to the time I woke up, however, something miraculous happened: the sun rose and a new day had begun!

Even though I still haven't fully recovered yet, there is always something special about a new day.  It's a chance to start over, begin new, take a fresh approach on life.  A new day is encouragement to make this day even more special than the day before.

A new day is symbolic of repentance.

The prophet Lehi taught that "the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh... (2 Nephi 2:21)."  The days we experience life are days given to us so we can change in order to prepare to meet our Father in Heaven (see Alma 34:32).

We all make mistakes, and when we sin we become unclean.  The prophet Nephi taught that "no unclean thing can dwell with God... (1 Nephi 10:21)."  When Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane the night prior to His crucifixion (see Luke 22:41-44), He made it possible for us to become clean and to begin a new day in our lives, free from sin.  In these latter days, Christ has said:

"For behold, I... have suffered these things for all [mankind], that they might not suffer if they would repent; ... Which suffering caused myself... to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore... (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16, 18)."

I am so grateful for every new day I am given.  I stand in need of Christ's atonement every day, and I am so thankful that I can start fresh as I repent and follow the Savior.