Make a Change

We love to watch movies. I find movies much more enjoyable watching them with my husband because he gets really into them. Laughing out loud at home or in the theater. One movie that is especially fun to watch with him is The Lego Batman Movie. So much funnier with him around.

The movie starts out with a quote from Michael Jackson, that is changed be credited to Batman. 

This comes from Michael Jackson’s song “Man in the Mirror.” The song goes on to say, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways.” In essence, Michael Jackson realized that the best way to make the world better was to make a change within himself, the man in the mirror.

In marriage, it is far too easy to pick out the faults in our spouse. We are “inclined to love [ourselves] and fix others. God has asked up to do the opposite. We are to fix ourselves by repenting, and to love others.” This reminded me of the verses found in Matthew 7:3-5:

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

The truth of the matter is, no one is perfect. No one. Instead of focusing on the imperfections of our spouse, we should be focusing on our own. We don’t have the power to change our spouse. We can’t make them stop doing anything. But we do have the power to change ourselves. We can make a change in our own lives.

It isn’t easy. It takes an honest self-inspection. Recognizing our own weaknesses requires letting go of pride. Then, it takes humility and repentance to be willing to change. Some things in our lives may be very hard to change. In his book Drawing Heaven into Your Marriage, Goddard mentioned the repentance paradox. “In order to be saved, we must stop trying to save ourselves by our own power. We must turn ourselves over to Christ completely” (Goddard, 73). We must throw ourselves completely on the merits and mercy of Jesus Christ. “When we trust God enough to turn our lives over to Him, He does miracles” (Goddard, 75).

I was reminded this week of how much I need the Savior. I don’t have the power to make all the changes I need to. But, if I give my heart and my will to the Savior, He can create something far better than I could ever imagine.

(“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Robert Robinson)