Make or Break

I'll start off this post with a riddle:

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me and I will do them - quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed - you must be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of great people, and alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great.

Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine, though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person.

You may run me for profit or run me for ruin - it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet.

Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

HABIT

This is so true.  So many things in life are done just by pure habit.  They can be good or bad.  The key is to start young.  Alma, a Book of Mormon prophet said, "O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God."  (Alma 37:35).  The things we learn in our youth will make or break us.

Starting good habits is the path to success, starting bad habits will only lead to failure.  Habit really is our greatest helper or our heaviest burden.  Once we learn to master our habits, we will truly have wisdom.  If keeping the commandments becomes one our of good habits, then we will see the blessings and feel the joy that comes through obedience to our Father in Heaven.

The Comfort Zone

The Comfort Zone, not to be confused with the Twilight Zone...okay, terrible joke.  Everyone wants to be comfortable.  Whether it be in comfortable clothes, around comfortable people, or on a comfortable couch, comfort is always on our mind.  I'm not going to lie, I like to be comfortable.  As I've been on my mission, I've had to step out of my comfort zone countless numbers of times.  It's made me appreciate those times. 

Think of life if it were always comfortable.  Would we live life to it's fullest?  Would we reach our maximum potential?  Would we even be happy?  I've thought about this a lot of times.  Why is life sometimes uncomfortable?  We have to be put in situations where we're not comfortable in order to learn and grow.  If everything was the same all the time, we couldn't advance in life.  We have to step out of our comfort zone to expand it. 

Think of a muscle.  The only way for the muscle to get stronger is to strain, test, and try it.  In other words, get it out of its comfort zone.  It may be tough at the time, but the strength recieved from it will benefit you for the rest of your life. 

Escaping our comfort zone gives us happiness in this life.  Think of a time when you were doing something that was very difficult.  It could be learning a new song on guitar, beating the next level in a video game, beating your personal best time in a race, or earning an A in a class at school.  Do you remember how happy you were once you reached the goal?  The more difficult the task, the more satisfying the reward.  One of my favorite quotes is, "I never said it would be easy, I only said it'd be worth it."

Nothing in life that's worth having comes easy.  To be able to enjoy life to its fullest, we have to step out of our comfort zone.  We're not alone when we do it though.  Our Savior Jesus Christ is always there with us and will always be there to help us, but it starts with us.