From "Just The Way I Am" to "Even As I Am"

I've skipped over a few General Conference talks already, but I really want to skip over another one. It's not that Elder Dalin H. Oaks' talk, The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood isn't blogworthy. It really is! It's just that I'm not sure I understand it and I'm not sure what to say about it. And the talk after it, Elder Donald L Hallstrom's What Manner of Men? looks very interesting and much, much easier to blog about. I guess there's a difference between blogworthiness and blogability, so something can be very blogworthy while not being very blogable. Elder Hallstrom's talk looks like it's both.

In his talk, he talked about our ability and need to change our characters to better match the character of Jesus Christ. He spoke of a conversation with a man who had a vice and concluded "That's just the way I am."

Once this man decided—once any of us conclude—“That’s just the way I am,” we give up our ability to change. We might as well raise the white flag, put down our weapons, concede the battle, and just surrender—any prospect of winning is lost. ...

Well, we meet in this priesthood meeting because who we are is not who we can become. We meet here tonight in the name of Jesus Christ. We meet with the confidence that His Atonement gives every one of us—no matter our weaknesses, our frailties, our addictions—the ability to change. We meet with the hope that our future, no matter our history, can be better.

I know God has the ability to help us change our hearts, but I'm not sure how fully I've extended that belief so that it includes His ability to help us change our natures. Right now,  I have a host of flaws and vices I'd love to be rid of, and that's just the way I am, but in the future, I know I can be rid of those vices. I can become more like Jesus Christ.

Elder Hallstrom said "who we are is not who we can become," and I believe that. I know that I can become better than I am now. When that happens, I'll be able to say "I am free from the sins of my past. I am a righteous, virtuous, and wholly good son of God, and that's just the way I am." Many points of my very nature will have changed.

We all struggle with various vices. Some of us have struggled with ours for a long time. Some of us may have come to believe that those vices are irremovable aspects of our natures - that "that's just the way I am," - but God knows better. He can change us. He can give us the power to change ourselves. With His help, we can remove any aspects of our natures that we'd be better off without, and add Christ-like attributes to our hearts until being righteous, Christian people is "just the way we are," even as He is.