The Atonement of Jesus Christ

I have this picture a dear friend gave to me hanging on my wall. On the left there is a man holding His hand out, reaching for something. He is bearded with kind and loving eyes. His eyes pierce your soul, even from a picture. On the right another man, also bearded, with eyes which seem to say "I can't do it... at least not alone! I need help!". His hand is almost reaching, more like rising to a position of reaching. He almost has hesitation in his movement. In between the two is a stormy, clouded sky with rays of light shining between the clouds, onto waves of water with two men standing on top of the water. The man on the left is our Savior, the man on the right, Peter, His disciple.

Walking on water must not have been an easy task, but it was simple. Peter, even being a strong man could not accomplish this simple task on his own. He needed his Savior to help.

This picture is a representation of the Savior's Atonement for me. It shows us attributes our Savior possess to prove that He is the Son of God and a Perfect being. This story of Peter becomes a parable to our lives, and to the Atonement.

Peter sees Christ on the water, and calls to Him. Christ beckons Peter to come forward onto the water. With faith Peter walks on water. Peter recognizes the storms around him and begins to sink. Peter cries for the Lord and the Lord reaches out to lift Peter up.

We see Christ. We have a desire to come closer to Him. Christ wants us to come to Him, He is continually calling to us. We must have the faith to walk on water to reach Him. As we act in faith, sometimes, we fall, we begin to sink. We see life or mortality as hard. It's too much to handle. We fall into temptations of physical, mental, emotional pleasures. We sink. We must call out to our Savior for help. We must so that He can reach for us.

Elder Holland has said that Christ has descended below all so that no matter how far we fall He can be there to lift us back up.

Christ is there to lift us as we ask for Him to.

He is there to lift us, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Brother, and our Friend.
He is the Son of God, the Only Begotten, the Prince of Peace. He loves us. We must show our love to Him by living His gospel to the fullest and by leaning on the saving powers of His Atonement.
Through His grace we shall be saved.