From the Heart by Shelley Turner

I buy my shampoo by the liter, direct from my hair stylist. Right now, the bottle is about empty, so I’ve been mixing in a little water and then shaking it up, for a few extra shampoos. It works. The water gets that last bit of shampoo from inside the bottle and it buys me about another week. The same trick works for my conditioner, shower gel, bubble bath, dishwashing liquid and pasta sauce. Yes, pasta sauce.

You can blame this tendency to get my money’s worth on my childhood. My parents, who met and married during The Great Depression, truly knew the value of a dollar. Growing up in our home, nothing was wasted, and nothing was thrown out until it had served its purpose and about six other purposes as well.

Depression Era values, which in my opinion will never lose their relevance, come from a place of not having enough. That is a real enough perspective, but a worldly one. The gospel of Christ offers a different perspective, as Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Gospel scholar Robert Millet describes it this way:

“We teach fairly effectively that the purpose of the Atonement is to enable men and women to have sins forgiven, and to emphasize that Jesus Christ gave His life for us. Maybe we need to teach a little more effectively the idea that Christ came to earth also to live in us. . . . As we enter into covenants with the Lord, He not only cleanses us, but He empowers us, He fills us. It isn’t ‘I’m getting rid of all the negative,’ it’s also ‘I’m adding a lot of positive.’ What Christ proposes to do is not just forgive us our sins, but, as Paul says, to impute to us His righteousness.”

Sometimes we as sisters try to take on everything ourselves. In doing so, we simply tucker out. We don’t have enough of ourselves to go around. But as we partake of the powers and blessings of the Holy Spirit—as we allow Christ to be “alive” in us—we actually reverse that trend. Our abilities and capacities are increased, our knowledge and understanding are enlarged, our spirits are renewed and strengthened, and our impossible tasks are somehow made possible. Unlike that Depression Era mindset, our thinking now comes from a place of plenty, a feeling of abundance.

One of the neatest things about the Atonement is that it is infinite. It has no end. Its power to save and to lift us will never run out and, in fact, is overflowing. When we think we’ve gotten down to the last drop, guess what—there’s more where that came from. The Lord is simply waiting for us to get our money’s worth.