A broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Not a whole heart, or a perfect heart, but a broken one. Something that needs to be fixed and healed by the power of the Atonement.
A spirit that feels its unworthiness and unclean nature in the face of God's and Goddess's goodness and holiness.
These are what we are to sacrifice - to set apart, reserve for deity - it is not up to us to make ourselves perfect, but to accept the grace that Jesus offers us - to stop hoarding our sins and our weaknesses and give them to Him to heal.
And when we do, this is what we receive (3 Ne 9:20): And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost...
We receive the Holy Ghost in our brokenness and our inadequacy, not by resisting until we clean ourselves. It is rather our contact with the divine that makes us clean.
How great the mercy of our Father and Mother, and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, to accept us, broken as we are, and still see the possibility of redemption and salvation in us.
May we all see that same possibility in each other.
