New meaning of Spring

      I can't believe it is already April! Throughout my life, as April approached my thoughts would turn towards baseball season. The green grass, the pop of the gloves, the ping of the metal bats, the smell of the spring air. Now that I am a missionary, I have come to understand something far more important about the spring season. It's not only a symbol of a new baseball season, but more importantly a symbol to new life through Jesus Christ's Atonement and Resurrection. Though baseball still runs through my veins, I have come to deeply appreciate the spring as a symbol of Christ's eternal love for all of us. He died for us. He also lives for us. We will celebrate Easter this Sunday. We really should celebrate Christ the whole week, or better yet, our whole lives.
    Where would we be without Christ?....The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi tells us where: "...for behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more." (2 Nephi 9:8-9). Not a fun place, that is for sure. Christ redeemed us from eternal torment. He died and lives again, so that we may live again after we die. (see 2 Nephi 2:8). That is the whole point of Easter. He lives!
    Because He died for us, we all will be resurrected, granting us immortality. But it doesn't stop there. Everyone gets immortality, evil and righteous, male and female. God's work and His glory is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). The immortality AND eternal life of man. Eternal life is different than immortality. Christ gave us all immortality as a gift from Him. Eternal life is something we must earn. We "must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." We must also "endure to the end," and if we do that, God tells us that we "shall have eternal life" (see 2 Nephi 31:20).
    I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that through Him, I can be saved if I do my part. We all can, if we do our part. Our part is to follow His teachings and keep all of His commandments. He has set the example, we all must follow it. Spring means more to me than just baseball. It means I might live again, through Christ, my Savior.