1 Nephi 15:11

"Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."
1 Nephi 15:11


We might miss out on insight and help from God sometimes, just because we don't believe that he will offer it to us... or because we don't ask.  If something in the gospel, or in life (which is part of the gospel, but usually separated in our minds) disturbs us or confuses us... the thing to do is ask the Lord. :)  He isn't looking for us to be confused.  He wants us to understand, and make the right choices.  Today, let's look for the answers to our questions from God. :)

Daniel 9:9

"To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him."
Daniel 9:9


Pretty amazing, actually.  We rebel against God, treat him dishonorably, slander his name... mistreat his children, and still he is merciful and good to us.  He must love us a lot, eh? :)  Let's do better.

John 14:6

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father but by me."
John 14:6


Thomas was wondering how they would know how to follow him, and what way to go if Christ wasn't there with them, and this was Christ's response.  I think we all have the same question at times in our lives... how do we follow God, or know the way to go, when he isn't there in front of us telling us the way to go?  And Christ's answer is interesting.  He says that he *is* the way... or basically, that he has already done everything that needs to be done.  He's made the travel plans, negotiated for the proper visas, paid for the hotels, gotten us a rental car... all of it.  It is fully taken care of.  All we have to do is follow his relatively simple directions, and everything will go smoothly.  It is when we decide to hitchhike to some other place instead that we get into trouble. :)  Let's remember that Christ is the way, and follow him to our most-desired destination. :)

Alma 33:17

"And now, my brethren, ye see that a second prophet of old has testified of the Son of God, and because the the people would not understand his words they stoned him to death."
Alma 33:17


I was thinking about this today... and unfortunately, I think I sometimes fall into the same trap these people did.  I don't understand some things in the gospel, but how much of that is because I choose not to understand?  Does that make sense?  I think that we probably would understand a lot more if we would allow ourselves to do so.  If we didn't throw up defensive walls against things that we think threaten our habits, then we'd more fully comprehend the gospel.  I know that I accept things really quickly when I already live that way... sure, that makes sense, because it requires no effort on my part.  It is harder to process information that actually requires me to do something.  Do we sabotage our own thought processes?  I think that we do.  When we don't want to live by a certain guideline, then we avoid thinking about it, or even trying to understand it.  Instead, if it pops into our minds at all, we think of all the reasons that it couldn't be right, or perhaps why it applies to other people, but not to us personally.  ...Today, let's try to think past our own mental blocks, and give God a chance to get through to us.  I'm not saying it will be easy... but it will definitely be enlightening. :)

Alma 33:23

"And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith.  And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life.  And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son.  And even all this can ye do if ye will.  Amen."
Alma 33:23


I like this idea of our burdens being light because of joy.  That's a cool idea.  And, thinking about it, it seems to work.  I know that even the worst things can seem fine when I am happy, and even the best things seem tinged with shadow when I am unhappy.  I guess one of the things that we most need to learn about the gospel is that Christ is the source of happiness... we get closer to true joy as we get closer to God, and farther away from happiness as we lose touch with God.  ... it's a basic truth, but I think that sometimes we depend on other things to bring us happiness, and try to imagine that we can leave God behind without losing anything.  As we try the experiment (plant the seed) of living the gospel, we discover that nothing severed from God is worth having.

Isaiah 3:9-10

"The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings."
Isaiah 3:9-10


The part of these verses that strikes me is the "rewarded evil unto themselves" part. I think that makes so much sense (yeah, brilliant comment... God makes sense. Nice that I finally noticed, eh?) ... God has us down here to learn and to grow and to become better than we are already, and when we don't take advantage of that, then we are doing ourselves a disservice. It makes it even worse if we start burying or losing the gifts that we are given. Unfortunately, this is fairly easy to do. All we have to do is get wrapped up in something that dulls our minds and our senses, or narrows our focus to only one thing. Myriads of things can do this, including the simplest of addictions such as television or computer games... and, of course, ranging up through the worst of sins. And I'm not saying that television or games are inherently evil... they aren't. Only that almost anything can distract us from our incredible opportunities, if we aren't aware. That high score on Tetris is very very cool... but the months that it took to get there aren't doing us much good in the eternal scheme of things. :) God's commandments aren't there to restrict us or punish us... they are there to remind us and help us towards fulfilling our potential. In the end, whatever we receive or become will be a result not just of God's mercy and grace, but our own choices. And if those choices are bad ones, we might not end up where we want to be. Let's work on rewarding ourselves with things that matter... things that last.

Matthew 16:25-26

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Matthew 16:25-26


This is kind of getting to me this morning.  I guess that always before when I have thought of this scripture, I have thought it pretty obvious... of COURSE my soul is more important than the world... mostly thinking about material things.  Vacation homes, yachts... nothing that really applied to me personally. :)  Today though, the last part: "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul" kind of hit me.  I think that is the exact deal we are making every day when we make the wrong choices.  If we steal a pack of gum from the store, we're exchanging that pack of gum for a little bit of our soul.  When we tell a lie, we're exchanging that erroneous information for some of our soul.  If we get into an extra-marital sexual relationship, maybe we feel like we're saving our lives, but we're actually losing them... and if we resist temptation like that, then no matter how it feels like we're losing something, we're actually gaining our lives.  There isn't anything, anywhere that is worth trading for our souls.  Whatever our personal addictions, whatever our desires, nothing is that important.  God is watching out for us, letting us know the consequences of our actions.  Let's take him seriously today, and make sure that we aren't selling our priceless eternal souls for pretty, shiny, worthless junk.

Revelation 2:7

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
Revelation 2:7


God offers us so much... the tree of life symbolizes not only life, but the love of God, which is offered to each of us.  Sometimes I think we all fall into the trap of thinking of God as cruel or harsh or impossibly demanding.  We probably have all thought of our parents that way at times as well... and that is the point.  The semester just got over for some of my classes and I think I learned a little bit about perception when one of my students turned in two plagiarized papers that he had gotten off the Internet.  I knew this student, and he is brilliant and talented... but I also knew his writing, and this wasn't his.  So, I did the research to make sure that they were plagiarized.  I didn't want to fail him though... and what I felt when I knew for sure wasn't anger.  It was much more complicated.  Frustration... empathy.  I knew that he was stressed, and worried about failing the class.  I gave him a chance to confess and to re-do the papers so that he wouldn't fail... and when I confronted him, at first he was really really angry and defensive, but after he knew that I was trying to help, and after a couple of hours, he was actually able to smile at me again... which was a relief. :)  ... anyway, all this to say... I think that in our relationship with God, we're all plagiarists sometimes.  We offer him blatantly obvious falseness, and then we get angry when he calls us on it.  He doesn't want to alienate us, but he isn't going to accept less than honesty.  And what he feels toward us isn't anger or hatred... just love, and an overwhelming desire for us to overcome this problem so that we don't have to have it between us.  He wants us to overcome all of it, so that we can come to him and feel his love, and live happily.  He knows that we are brilliant, talented people, and he sees our potential clearly.  It only saddens him when we throw rocks in our own path. :)  ... Today, let's work toward paradise.  Let's accept what God has to say, repent, and get on with life... and eternity.