Acts 3:19-21

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."
Acts 3:19-21


I really like this.  Repentance is important, conversion is important... why?  Repentance is kind of like retaking a class.  We didn't learn it the first time, so we need to go back, take it slower, fix the mistakes we made the first time, and get it.  It brings us back to where we should be, ready to study something else, or build on a more solid foundation of knowledge.  Conversion isn't just "converting" to a religion, but actually converting yourself... changing yourself.  To go along with the school analogy, you re-took the class, and now you need to change yourself... your study habits, your knowledge of the subject, because you are trying to change yourself into something... a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher... a person who has mastered all of these lessons and is now ready to engage in a new career.  It's similar to what we're trying to do in the gospel.  We need to convert ourselves into the kind of people that we want to be.  Not only repenting of the bad things we've done or trying to repair the times we've hurt others, but changing our thought patterns and our desires so that we don't repeat those same mistakes, and so that we don't want to do evil anymore.  ... And if we do those things, then the bad stuff will be eradicated from our lives as much as we can, and God will be able to send Christ to us to erase the last bits we couldn't reach, and comfort us, guide us with the spirit, and refresh us in other ways... we'll be in tune with him and able to feel that help that he has for us.  I love the idea of the restitution of all things too.  Everything that was lost will be found again.  Everything that we had will be restored.  And who we were, and how we acted.  Which is why we needed these verses in the first place.  Do we really want to be who we are now for eternity?  Not that we aren't pretty cool right now, but I'm guessing we could all still use some work. :)  And so we repent, and we continue to convert ourselves, and we become who we really want to be, with the help of Christ.  Today, let's retake those classes.  Let's become the doctor or the teacher or whatever we've always dreamed of being.  Let's not drop out of school, physically or spiritually, but continue until we are who we can be, with God's help.