Repent ye, Repent ye or your lands will be destroyed!

My mother tells a story about me when I was a little kid about a time when a friend of mine came over to play. When my friend said he wanted to play cowboys and Indians, I told him that I wanted to play Nephites and Lamanites instead. He didn't know what that was, so I explained it to him. I got on a toy box and shouted, "repent ye, repent ye or your lands will be destroyed!" Not your typical children game but from what I recall it was quite enjoyable.

This is a great example how sometimes, we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, have heard our whole lives that we should "repent" but sometimes don't know exactly what that means. I remember a question posed in my mission prep class a few years ago about whether we could repent for one sin at a time or had to be all at once. I remember I scoffed at the teacher when he said that it was thoroughly impossible to repent for one sin, it had to be all at once. In my mind, I thought repentance meant to get better at not doing something. As I learned that day and with many many other experiences, repentance is not so simple and trivial. Repentance is a complete sacrifice of personal will, giving all to God's will and going through complete change from bad to good. Repentance is not halfway. Not 90 degrees. But full 180. I think of it as when we are walking the wrong way down a road. We have to turn around all the way or else we will be completely lost. 

The word "repent" is found in the scriptures nearly 1,500 times. We, as children of God, must make it a priority. In D&C section 19, Christ clearly tells us that it even a commandment for us to repent. We are blessed that we have been provided a path to follow to repent, though this path will have to be passed through many many times. It is up to us to always have a repentant heart and continually strive to walk the path to Christ.