Reason to Rejoice

Life is good.  There are a lot of really happy times that I can remember.  Times where I laughed, times where I smiled, times where I rejoiced.  Some of them include when the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup (we won't talk about them this year), when my high school rock and roll band played a stellar show, and more importantly, when I opened my mission call to the Montana Billings Mission.  Just thinking of those times fills my soul with joy. 

I had an experience recently that kind of threw me for a loop though.  The experience led me to believe that there are so many more times that we can and should rejoice.  In 1 Peter 4:12-13, Peter is explaining how suffering should cause us to rejoice.  He says, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings..."  That scripture hit me like a brick wall.  Never have I ever thought of that we could rejoice in suffering.  Logically, it doesn't make sense.  Spiritually is a whole different story. 

Times of trial should be considered blessings.  Trials refine us and define us.  Often times when hardship is happening, a blessing is the last thing we want to call it, but we can rejoice in Christ.  We can rejoice that we are suffering with him, and through that suffering, we grow that much closer to him.  We start to understand what he went through, while he fully understands what we do go through.  He loves us and will never leave us comfortless.  We must not sulk in sorrow during our suffering, but rather celebrate because of our sanctification, and realize the reason to rejoice!

Half of my Heart

As you can guess from some of my past blogs, I am a huge music fan.  I always have a song playing in my head and continue to add more songs to my "mental playlist."  The song Half of my Heart, by John Mayer featuring Taylor Swift, has been a recent addition.  The song is about a man who can't seem to put his whole heart into anything.  The lyrics go:

Half of my heart's got a real good imagination
Half of my heart's got you
Half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you that
Half of my heart won't do

The heart is an interesting topic.  It's important to always keep our hearts in the right place, and to put our whole heart into things that we do.  When Christ was asked what the greatest commandment was, he responded with, "...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," (Matt. 22:37, emphasis added).  All of our heart is required.  If we go through life putting only half of our heart on the altar, we won't make it.

John Mayer put it well: "Half of [our] heart won't do."  In this life, there are dozens of decoys and distractions that drag us down the half hearted highway.  We must not let them get in the way of the strait and narrow path set by the Savior.  His way is the only way.  May we all more fully give our hearts to the Lord.  When we do, we will find ourselves on the whole hearted path to heaven.

Finding Happiness

I can remember my parents watching the news, and during commercials I'd switch it to Spongebob Squarepants.  When I was a kid, well I guess I haven't grown up yet, I never liked watching the news or anything of that nature.  To me, it was kind of boring.  But as I got older, it's grabbed my attention a couple of times.  I've realized there's more to life than just a talking, yellow, sponge that lives in a pineapple.

There is so much stuff going on around us today.  The world is changing so much everyday.  We see natural disasters, tragedies, and wars happening left and right.  Captain Moroni, a Book of Mormon War General, was constantly fending off his enemies and trying to keep peace in the land.  It was a time of much war and bloodshed and many of the people were mourning over their losses.  In the midst of all of this, it is written, "But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni..." (Alma 50:23). 

It's hard for me to understand that even amidst all of the wars and contentions that "there never was a happier time among the people."  How can that be?  What was making that time the happiest time?  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer.  No matter what's going on around, we can find happiness in our lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As we truly live the principles of the Gospel, that happiness will only increase.  May we all makes these days the happiest in our lives.

Just One More

"Just one more!"  I can hear those three words being said to me during a wrestling practice.  It was my freshman year of high school during the after school wrestling workouts.  Every time that I was struggling, those three words were repeated many times.  There is one instance that I particularly remember. 

This instance while I was doing pull ups.  After doing as many pull ups that I could (that number is isn't important), I lifted with all my might, and went no where.  "Just One More," said one of the people with me.  I exerted all of my strength, but still couldn't pull myself up.  The person with me held up my legs and told me to do a couple more pull ups.  I pulled as hard as I could, and because he was supporting some of the weight, I got a couple more in.  After that, I was totally exhausted.

Sometimes in life we feel that we are pushed beyond what we can handle.  Sometimes we are.  But it's during those times when the Savior is holding us up.  That's when we feel we can't do it ourselves, so the Savior comes to our assistance and gives us a boost.  Zeniff, in the Book of Mormon, knew he needed to rely on the Lord for strength.  In his time of need he said, "Yea, in the strength of the Lord we did go forth..."  (Mosiah 9:17).  When we can't do it on our own, we shouldn't give up.  We just need to look for the Lord's hand in our life.  Once we do, we'll be surprised how often he really is there. 

Greed Makes You Poorer

What's better than a great tasting Chinese Buffet?  I'll have to think pretty hard to come up with something.  I was privileged to go to a great tasting Chinese Buffet the other day.  The food was great, but of course, the finale is the fortune cookie.  More specifically, the fortune that it contains.  One fortune per customer is the usual rule of thumb, but one of the people that was with me decide to press his luck with two fortunes:  The first one had a good fortune.  The next one said, "Ignore previous cookie." 

This rather humorous experience teaches us a lot about being greedy.  When we are greedy, we shoot ourselves in the foot.  Greed is a part of all of us.  Our job is to overcome that.  We want to be able to keep our fortune that we receive. 

Paul, in a letter to the Corinthians, gives them advice as to what to be greedy for.  He writes, "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way."  (1 Cor. 12:31).  We should be greedy for the best things.  Instead of always wanting money, or other temporal matters like that, we should always want to serve others, read our scriptures, and pray to our Father in Heaven.  We should strive to be greedy for the best gifts, and once we have them, we will have no more desire to do evil. 

Use it or Lose it

I've always been a big music person.  Ever since I can remember, I've been playing music.  Playing the guitar is my most recently acquired musical talent.  After I left on my mission, I didn't have as easy access to guitar as I did back home.  But when I was in my first area, I had a couple opportunities to play guitar again.  I was real excited, then once I started picking and strumming, I realized that I had lost a lot of what I knew.  Many songs that I used to play had vanished from my memory.  I was devastated!

Our knowledge and testimony will dwindle if we stop nourishing it as well.  We need to continually improve our talents and skills.  Alma, a Book of Mormon prophet said, "...Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us...but if ye neglect [it], and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root..." (Alma 32: 37-38).  We must nourish the skills and talents that we have so that when we need to be an instrument in the Lords hand, we will be fine tuned and ready to play. 

We need to continue to exercise those things in our life.  If we slack off on them, then our knowledge and ability will diminish.  And when that day comes, you will feel as I did when I picked up the guitar after a couple of months...devastated!  So do the little things every day, practice what you preach, apply what you learn, and you will never lose it.

Floater

I learned something about eggs the other day.  Float them.  When eggs start to go bad, they develop some kind of gas inside of them.  So if you put them in water and they float, then you know that they're bad; but if they sink, then they are good.

I compared the egg to us, and the water to our baptism.  When we are baptized, we make a covenant, or promise, with God that we will walk in a new light.  We promise to keep His commandments, take upon the name of Christ, and always remember Him.  When we are baptized, we are put under the water as a symbol of the death of our old life, and a birth of a new life.

We have to make sure every ounce of our soul is committed.  We can't go forward if one leg wants to go one way, and the other wants to go the opposite.  We have to make sure we're 100% committed.  The eggs that float are still in the water, but they won't go all the way under.  They aren't fully committed.  There is something that is holding them back.  The eggs that go all the way under the water are the ones that have their heart and soul into it.  They are all the way committed and will do whatever they need to in order to reach their goal.

As we evaluate our lives and try to be better each day, think about how we can be more committed to following our Savior Jesus Christ.  When we do, we will be engulfed in the "living waters" of life.  We will recognize that it is much more satisfying to be a good egg, than a bad egg.