Repentance

In the state of Pennsylvania there lies a small town called Centralia. It was a quiet, peaceful town, and had been blessed with tremendous potential: a large anthracite coal seam ran for miles underneath its borders. It had everything it needed to be successful, and the townsfolk had begun to tap into this vast economic treasure. 

One day, however, with an excess of town garbage, a determination was made to clean up the landfill by dumping the garbage into an abandoned open pit mine and setting it alight. This was done with the approval of the town council in spite of the dangers they knew it could pose.

The main part of the fire took days to extinguish, but the town failed to put out a part of the fire that had spread down into the coal seam. Although there were some signs of the fire burning beneath the town (carbon monoxide, smoke in random places, periodic stench of fire), and there were some futile attempts to deal with the problem, no one really thought much of it, and the effects were largely ignored.

Nearly fifteen years later, the gas station owner lowered his dipstick down into the underground gas tank, and thought that it felt hot. He lowered a thermometer, and was surprised when he saw its temperature: 175 degrees! The matter became even more of a concern a year later, when a giant sinkhole collapsed under the feet of a young boy, who was fortunately rescued.

With the danger now everywhere around them, smoke and carbon monoxide pouring out of cracks in the pavement, the town was laid waste and its residents all were compelled to leave. Its potential had been destroyed by first carelessness and then by complacency - ignoring the problem until it had grown far too late.

Some of us have started, through our carelessness, or even through explicit defiance of the principles which we know are right, a blaze within us that burns our soul, a little each day. Some days we do our best to ignore its effects and the pain it causes.  We see its effects spilling out of us, its toxic fumes being seen as anger and impatience with others. This turns into unrighteous judgment and hypocrisy, and eventually to complete disavowal of the principles that we ignored to get us in this mess.

We may realize the problem and make token efforts to quench the flames. While these efforts may help and seem like they have solved the problem for a time, the signs of the unresolved issue keep returning.

The only hope to resolve this problem is a price of unfathomable cost. The entirety of the problem must be excavated, just be laid open, so that the quenching balm may be administered. Concealment only continues the spread of the fire.  Our only hope is the healing balm of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He has paid the terrible cost, he provides the tools.

Our limited view sees the outside layer - "Do you mean we'll have to raze all of the buildings in town to open up our path to the coal seam?" - our own embarrassment at the situation, and the humiliation we may endure as the problem is out in the open. Yes, the only solution is His solution. No half measure will suffice. True repentance requires complete honesty, and complete abandonment of the practices that caused the problem in the first place.

The length of the repentance process depends on the size of the problem, but we must accept His timetable. We must acknowledge that His ways are the right ways, and seek no more to rebel against those principles we know are right.

I know this is true. I know that the Lord heals us, and helps us rebuild after the repentance is complete. He will remake us into something beautiful, something we cannot yet imagine. Trust Him!