Helaman 6:35-36 -- On Turning Good

"And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts.And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words."
Helaman 6:35-36

This is an interesting juxtaposition at this point in the Book of Mormon.  Traditionally, throughout the book, the Nephites have been the good guys and the Lamanites have been the bad guys.  And yet, here, they kind of switch places with the Nephites turning bad and the Lamanites turning good.

This can teach us several things, I think.  First, it is never too late for the bad guys. Sometimes that's what we choose to be, but if the Lamanites could change, so can we.  God chooses whoever is willing to come unto him, and he will help us change our hearts and our hats so we can still ride off into the sunset as all good guys should. :)

Another thing we learn here is that we should never grow complacent, assuming we're the good guys.  If we stop working at it, we're going to lose it.  We don't get free tickets to heaven because of our parents or our religion or because we did something good in the past.  We have to always be on guard and make sure our hats and our hearts are pure. :)

What truly matters, much more than the color of our hats or our positions in the world, or even what we have done in the past, is who we are right now, and our relationship with God.  Today, let's move toward the good.  Let's become the good guys, no matter who else we might have been.