It's not really about bunnies and hats, now is it?

Early, early Easter morning I got on the church’s website and found Elder Holland’s remarkable video segment, excerpted from his recent GC talk and set to music and images of the Savior. I wept. It’s all over Youtube now and shared on many, many individual members blogs. I would share it too, if I knew how to embed it. (Ld, help!) Go see, if you haven’t already.

It was a different Sunday for us. Ld had some meetings he couldn’t get out of, Meg sang in a trio in Sacrament meeting, I spoke in church, and then Kenz sang a solo in her ward RS. Oh, and then I substituted in Primary. Afterward we all met up for a late dinner here at home. I love the idea that we were each in our own way speaking, leading or singing out our testimony of the Savior.

I have spoken on Easter 4 times previous to this Sunday. Each time I think, Oh good, I’ll file this talk away and then won’t have to prepare another, just re-give the same talk. But that has never happened. As the years pass my understanding of the Atonement and Easter changes, evolves. I still can’t wrap my mind around it all.

A couple of quotes that match my Easter mood this year:

From Henry B. Eyring, (referencing 3 Nephi 11:1)
“He speaks: I am the light and the life of the world;…I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world;…I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.’

That is it. Eight lines. Fifty-two words. “And…when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth.’

“I have thought often about this moment in Nephite history, and I cannot think it either accident or mere whimsy that the Good Shepherd in his newly exalted state, appearing to a most significant segment of his flock, chooses to speak first of his obedience, his deference, his loyalty, and loving submission to his Father. In an initial and profound moment of spellbinding wonder, when surely he has the attention of every man, woman, and child as far as the eye can see, his submission to his Father is the first and most important thing he wishes us to know about himself.

“Frankly, I am a bit haunted by the thought that this is the first and most important thing he may want to know about us when we meet him one day in similar fashion. Did we obey, even if it was painful? Did we submit, even if the cup was bitter indeed? Did we yield to a vision higher and holier than our own, even when we may have seen no vision in it all?

And from Elder Holland:

“… no amount of education, or any other kind of desirable and civilizing experience in this world, will help us at the moment of our confrontation with Christ if we have not been able—to yield all that we are, all that we have, and all that we ever hope to have to the Father and the Son.” (On Earth As it is In Heaven, p. 126-7)

The above quotes meaningful because submission is hard, especially for this proud heart.

The doctrine of the Atonement comforts and sustains me. It is the answer to our daily challenges, whether they be sin, mistakes, ignorance, or undeserved adversity. The Savior saves us from our sins, makes right and heals imperfect relationships, comforts us in our pain and sicknesses and through His grace, His enabling power gives us strength beyond our own in overcoming our weaknesses.

It's everything.