"Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel."
3 Nephi 30:2
You know, it is cool to me that God asks us to repent. He could just sit up there and let us end up wherever we wanted, and he knows that even the lower kingdoms are still going to be nice places to live... but for us, he wants more. He wants us to succeed more than we want to succeed. He wants us to rise beyond all of our mistakes and weaknesses, and become perfect... not a crazy dream, but an attainable goal, because God made it possible for us. Because of him, we can become better than we ever dreamed of becoming... because of him the sins in our pasts and even in our presents *don't* chain us to a less-than-perfect future. No matter what the score has been up to this point, we can still get an A out of life... still succeed, still grasp the ideal. And God wants us to... so no matter how dark it seems, or how unlikely it is that we will change for the better... we can, and will, if we let God into our lives. Our income and social status don't confine us. Our past doesn't define who we are. We are children of God, and he loves us and is working every second to save us from ourselves, and bring us home. Let’s accept his help. Believe in him, even when we can't believe in ourselves. Today, let’s retain some hope, and move forward. :)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Doctrine and Covenants 101:36
"Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full."
Doctrine and Covenants 101:36
This section of the Doctrine and Covenants talks about some of the things that are going to happen in the last days. Fascinating stuff if you want to catch it... especially verse 23. After all of those verses, some of which talk about scary things happening to the earth, God gives us this verse, which is basically saying, yes, all of that is going to happen, but don't be frightened. We've looked at other verses that show us that we do need to learn to be happy in this life, but here we're also shown that that joy isn't full... later it will be, and so much so that even death isn't something that we should be afraid of. I kind of like that idea, since living in fear seems to kind of stunt growth. :) Even though we know the end will some at some point, and bad things will happen, and some bad things could happen to us... the point is not anticipation of possible pain. Physical consequences pale in comparison to spiritual consequences. The point is, live so that the fullness of joy that God offers us can be ours. Live so that if the world ends... or something else tragic happens on the way to work or school... that our lives mattered, that we tried to make a difference for good. Today, let's go and do the best kind of good we can, without fear.
Doctrine and Covenants 101:36
This section of the Doctrine and Covenants talks about some of the things that are going to happen in the last days. Fascinating stuff if you want to catch it... especially verse 23. After all of those verses, some of which talk about scary things happening to the earth, God gives us this verse, which is basically saying, yes, all of that is going to happen, but don't be frightened. We've looked at other verses that show us that we do need to learn to be happy in this life, but here we're also shown that that joy isn't full... later it will be, and so much so that even death isn't something that we should be afraid of. I kind of like that idea, since living in fear seems to kind of stunt growth. :) Even though we know the end will some at some point, and bad things will happen, and some bad things could happen to us... the point is not anticipation of possible pain. Physical consequences pale in comparison to spiritual consequences. The point is, live so that the fullness of joy that God offers us can be ours. Live so that if the world ends... or something else tragic happens on the way to work or school... that our lives mattered, that we tried to make a difference for good. Today, let's go and do the best kind of good we can, without fear.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Helaman 5:12 -- On Keeping our Cool
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
Helaman 5:12
Some days it seems like we can't win... people are pushing our buttons, and we can't seem to not react, or stay calm, or find a balance... and this scripture seems to have the cure. :) That foundation in Christ makes it so that nothing at all can drag us down... nothing can dent the cool. I think it is significant that he says "remember" twice here... the dents and cracks come when we forget, even for a minute, and lose that unshakable foundation. Like Peter, walking on the water. He was doing it... he could do it. But he forgot for a minute where he strength was, and where his cool came from. Today, let's work on remembering Christ. I'm hypothesizing based on this verse that if we can keep him in our thoughts all day, that nothing can touch our cool. Let's try it. :)
Helaman 5:12
Some days it seems like we can't win... people are pushing our buttons, and we can't seem to not react, or stay calm, or find a balance... and this scripture seems to have the cure. :) That foundation in Christ makes it so that nothing at all can drag us down... nothing can dent the cool. I think it is significant that he says "remember" twice here... the dents and cracks come when we forget, even for a minute, and lose that unshakable foundation. Like Peter, walking on the water. He was doing it... he could do it. But he forgot for a minute where he strength was, and where his cool came from. Today, let's work on remembering Christ. I'm hypothesizing based on this verse that if we can keep him in our thoughts all day, that nothing can touch our cool. Let's try it. :)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Romans 10:13
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:13
Prayer is so important... it helps us through everything. God is always there, listening, and wanting to help us... wanting us to ask for the right things. :) And today, when I read it, I was waiting for something to save on the computer, and thought of it in a different way as well. Sometimes you save things so that you don't lose them... so you have a backup copy if something goes wrong. And if you're doing something really important, you start saving more often since you are a little more paranoid about losing it... and maybe it is that way with prayer as well. We're communicating with God and remembering who we are each time we talk to him... restoring the original, trying to prevent corruption in the database. :) We work out our lives, repenting, growing, but always coming back to save, because we need that core reminder of who we are... what we can become, so that we don't lose ourselves in the datastream. Perhaps an odd analogy, but what I was thinking about today. Today, let's remember to pray... to talk to God about our lives, and remember what we're working toward, with God. If nothing else, a Zion society... a place where there is no contention, and it is easy to remember ourselves. :)
Romans 10:13
Prayer is so important... it helps us through everything. God is always there, listening, and wanting to help us... wanting us to ask for the right things. :) And today, when I read it, I was waiting for something to save on the computer, and thought of it in a different way as well. Sometimes you save things so that you don't lose them... so you have a backup copy if something goes wrong. And if you're doing something really important, you start saving more often since you are a little more paranoid about losing it... and maybe it is that way with prayer as well. We're communicating with God and remembering who we are each time we talk to him... restoring the original, trying to prevent corruption in the database. :) We work out our lives, repenting, growing, but always coming back to save, because we need that core reminder of who we are... what we can become, so that we don't lose ourselves in the datastream. Perhaps an odd analogy, but what I was thinking about today. Today, let's remember to pray... to talk to God about our lives, and remember what we're working toward, with God. If nothing else, a Zion society... a place where there is no contention, and it is easy to remember ourselves. :)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Mormon 9:14
"And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still."
Mormon 9:14
I think this verse shows us some of the faulty thinking we have at times... we often think, well, I'll suffer through this, or I'll endure this, and even though I hate my life right now, eventually I'll get through the test and everything will be perfect. We raise the shield, grit the teeth, and settle in to endure the unimaginable torment of the present... but this verse tells us that isn't really the way it works. At the judgment day, God isn't going to change us from what we are to something else. If we've learned to hate life, to think of it as something awful that we have to suffer through... those are the people that we will still be. If we've learned to be unhappy, we won't... can't... be changed into suddenly completely satisfied people. We're here to forge ourselves into what we want to be... not to suffer through waiting for a reward in heaven. And totally not saying that there won't be rewards (there will be), or that it isn't okay to be sad sometimes, or to feel some emotion. Only that we can't let those bad days poison our whole lives. Bad and tragic and horrible things happen, but we have to learn to be happy despite them. To find the good, to enjoy and cheer and have fun even when darkness surrounds us. How else can we fight it back, but by being our own light? We can't become just as dark as everything else. I guess, in the end, the question is... are we okay with being who we are right now... forever? If we're not, in terms of emotion or anything else... then we need to change. Find a way to be happy... find a way to fight back that darkness.
Mormon 9:14
I think this verse shows us some of the faulty thinking we have at times... we often think, well, I'll suffer through this, or I'll endure this, and even though I hate my life right now, eventually I'll get through the test and everything will be perfect. We raise the shield, grit the teeth, and settle in to endure the unimaginable torment of the present... but this verse tells us that isn't really the way it works. At the judgment day, God isn't going to change us from what we are to something else. If we've learned to hate life, to think of it as something awful that we have to suffer through... those are the people that we will still be. If we've learned to be unhappy, we won't... can't... be changed into suddenly completely satisfied people. We're here to forge ourselves into what we want to be... not to suffer through waiting for a reward in heaven. And totally not saying that there won't be rewards (there will be), or that it isn't okay to be sad sometimes, or to feel some emotion. Only that we can't let those bad days poison our whole lives. Bad and tragic and horrible things happen, but we have to learn to be happy despite them. To find the good, to enjoy and cheer and have fun even when darkness surrounds us. How else can we fight it back, but by being our own light? We can't become just as dark as everything else. I guess, in the end, the question is... are we okay with being who we are right now... forever? If we're not, in terms of emotion or anything else... then we need to change. Find a way to be happy... find a way to fight back that darkness.
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