Lessons Learned from a Pheasant II

Ok so everything in life has a purpose right? So thinking back on that pheasant, it is one beautiful creature! I love all of the many colors and designs that are on there and it amazes me how pretty it is. Well I also know that that is not it’s only function. Now I don’t know what the purpose of that bird is but it certainly made my day a little bit better. Well I’ve been thinking about how each individual person brings different things to the table. Which, in turn, makes the world a more diverse place and extremely beautiful.

Each of us has different talents and skills and because of that, to make the world go round the way it does, we need to be different and unique and Heavenly Father loves us each the same. We are all given spiritual gifts that help the world become a better place. In the book of Moroni in the Book of Mormon, Moroni echoes the words of prophets in the past when describing a few of the spiritual gifts that are on the Earth, in the past and today. Each of us is given a gift that will help lighten and brighten the world around us and make us better. I know I’ve met plenty of people in my life that have made not only my life better but the world a better place to be in.

It’s amazing to me how each of us has a sphere of influence. Though we may not be able to make a grand difference to the world at learge when we first want to, each of us makes a difference to the people that we surround ourselves with. Each of us can listen and help those who may be hurting. Each of us can help the world become a better place. Horace Mann once said “To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is godlike.”  We really can truly make a difference in each person’s life that we touch. We’re meant to. No man is an island and Heavenly Father wants each of us to reach out and help another one of His children. I know He wants us to remember who we are and how we can do good, we can make a difference and we can make the world a better place!

Lessons Learned from a pheasant

A couple of weeks ago, my companion and I were driving down a road, trying to figure out where we should go next when off to the side, by a fence, we see a pheasant. We stop the car and begin admiring this beautiful creation of God’s. As we are looking at all of the different colors and designs we notice that it only has one leg. At first we thought that it could just be standing on one leg (I don’t know if pheasants normally do that or not). Then the bird begins hopping forward and we knew for sure at that point that it definitely only had one leg.

I’ve given this pheasant a lot of thought and in many ways, we are similar to that pheasant. We all possess qualities that are beautiful on the inside and on the out; on the other hand, we all struggle with trials that can be quite debilitating. These struggles may not be apparent at first glance, or they might be. But I know that our struggles that we have are tailored to what we can handle. I know at times it really doesn’t feel like we can but with the Lord’s help, all things are possible and so is overcoming each of our trials.

Now I know when I have trials, I’m a whiner! If I don’t say anything at all (which is rally rather rare) then I wish and think and hope and pray that other people will notice and take pity, or help me out of anything at all. Thankfully Heavenly Father is kind and doesn’t give me extremely hard trials because He knows that I don’t handle them well at all. What I always seem to forget is that, other people are doing the exact same thing! They are hoping that somebody will notice them and help them out. And because we are all God’s children, that is what He would have us do.

In a recent talk given by President Deiter F. Uchtdorf “Pride and the Priesthood” President Uchtdorf is speaking on overcoming price and he says this about becoming humble. “Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing  ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of seving God and our fellowman.” I love this quote because we can feel powerful in the knowledge that we are children of God and we can continue forward and rely solely on our Father in Heaven as we go about serving God’s children and helping them through the individual trials that they are having.

What President Uchtorf is saying is an echo of what Christ says when in Luke 9:24 it says “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” If we give up our own desires and serve God’s children, our brothers and sisters, we will all be able to realize who each of us is and treat one another accordingly. We can make a difference in this dark and scary world and share the light that we already possess.

Nothing Left Untouched

We were speaking with a family the other day and they brought up that as a family they’ve decided to go to the “Most Magical Place on Earth” otherwise known as Disneyland. The more that we talked about this family’s upcoming trip and how much fun they were going to have, the more I wanted to go their with my family.

Honestly Disneyland and Disney World are great places because it’s a place that you can strengthen your family and have some amazing, good, clean fun with your family. Disney does it right. They work hard to make sure that everybody that goes there has a ‘magical’ experience and they leave wanting to come back. They work so hard to keep it a clean environment where people come to feel welcome and special. I know when I was younger, it’s always fun to go up to the character that you admire and they learn your name and you get to talk to Belle or Cinderella and  everything just makes you feel so wonderful. Well Disney does this for a reason. They want you to have a wonderful experience so when you go home, you can tell all of your friends about it and especially that children leave feeling special. It really is amazing everything that they do.

The woman was saying that Disney doesn’t leave anything untouched. Even the door handles are etched with little Disney characters and they do everything right. Because Disney goes into such great detail-no wonder it can be a hefty price to get in. My missionary mind started moving. If Disney works so hard to make it a great experience for us to go there and want to go back, how much more does our Heavenly Father do to help us get to his kingdom? He gives us many great things to help us along our way. He gives us prophets as is stated in Amos 3:7. Heavenly Father is the same, He’s dependable and so if He’s manifested himself through prophets in the past, He will do it again-and He has.

He also automatically puts us with people that their job is to help us grow and be happy and come closer to Him. It’s called families. Though our families aren’t perfect, it’s a great way to foster growth in the Gospel especially because this world is loosely patterned after that of heaven. So our Heavenly Father gives us Prophets, He gives us families, and He gives us friends. When speaking of God, a previous prophet said “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.” Spencer W Kimball “Small Acts of Service”

Heavenly Father leaves nothing untouched and there is a price that we pay in order to “gain admission” into the kingdom of God. We do that by following the example of Jesus Christ. We follow in His foot steps into the waters of baptism, into serving those around us, into helping others gain access to the kingdom of God: by being like Him. When we do gain admission into that kingdom, it will be so much better than meeting a Disney Prince or Princess because we’ll be going up to our Heavenly Father that already knows our name. He already knows how special we are. For that, I am so grateful that God loves us and cares for us and wants us to be happy.

Life is a treadmill

 Have you ever just looked at a treadmill? Just look at one and notice that the only way to move on it is forward. When you’re on one, it takes work to stay on it. It takes some effort to stay on the thing and sometimes we control the intensity of the work out and sometimes we choose one of the workouts and it will push us. The purpose is to push us to new levels and to help us improve in some aspect of our lives. It just depends on the goals that you have. If you want to lose weight, than you pick a cardio work out, if you want to push yourself to the extreme of how fast you can go, then you do that.

Life is a treadmill. You choose to get on it and once you do, you choose the intensity of the pace that you want, you choose if you want to have an incline or not, if your treadmill gives you that option, and you move forward.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same way. Getting into the gospel of Jesus Christ is like stepping on a treadmill. We’re meant to move forward and be pushed to our limits. Sometimes we choose the pace at which we are going to progress and other times, Heavenly Father pushes us to levels that we never thought we could reach. I think of the examples in the scriptures. In the Book of Mormon, the first prophet’s name is Lehi. He chooses to follow God and when he does that, he sees a vision, is given the revelation to leave Jerusalem and come to ‘the promised land’ on the American continent. I’m sure that when Lehi chose to follow God that he never thought that he would take his family and leave the land that he was raised in. Then he was brought to the American continent and his family became two great nations. They also knew about our Savior Jesus Christ and they also had their times of good and bad and it culminated in Christ coming to visit Lehi’s descendants. I’m sure he never realized how much the Lord would push him but I’m sure glad that Lehi stayed on his treadmill for it has changed my life and so many other lives. It has brought me so much closer to my Heavenly Father with more knowledge of our Savior.

Do you know what your limits are? Are you ready to blow past those limits with God on your side? I know I sure am. I don’t know how strong the Lord wants me to be but I know that He is going to take me places that I never thought possible.

Need a little faith

Did you know that you can see the hand of God in your life daily? I know lately I’ve needed a bit of a pick me up, a reminder for why the work is so good but at times so hard and I’ve also been reading in the November 2010 issue of the Ensign for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints-or the General Conference issue of the Ensign and it is fabulous. Not only can you read and hear the words of apostles and a prophet again on the Earth. It’s scripture because God continues to speak to us on a daily basis.

The talk that most comforted my heart and touched my life yesterday is called “The Transforming Power of Faith and Character” by Elder Richard G Scott. It’s phrases things so perfectly as to why working on our faith daily strengthens and prepares us for the time that our faith is tried during struggles and the like. It is amazing and I would highly recommend it for anybody that may need a pick me up!

When life gets to be tough…

…the tough get on their knees. How many times have you stayed up at night just feeling overwhelmed? How many times have you felt like you can’t handle what you are going through anymore. I know it happens to me all the time where I just don’t think I can handle what is going on in my life anymore and so I turn to people that I trust to help me know how to handle it or lighten my load. Often this is a trusted friend, my sister, or my parents but Sheri Dew once said “Christ is not our last chance, He is our only chance.” And so in order for us to overcome our trials and our pains and our sicknesses or anything that is negative in this life, we have to turn to the Saviour. We need to turn to Jesus Christ. In the Book of Mormon, a prophet named Alma is speaking to a group of people and telling them about the life of the Christ and his mission in this life and it says

“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of ever kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flech, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:11-12)

So Christ took upon himself not only our sins, not only our joys but also all of the pain that we will experience in this life. He did it so that we could be happy, so that we could let go of the burden that we carry-the burden of guilt because of our sin. We can let it go!

Now sometimes life is hard not because of our sins but because of the effects of other people and although it would be wonderful to escape the pains of that, sometimes the purpose of going through those trials is to make us stronger, it’s to better us, and strengthen our faith that Jesus is the Christ and that we can turn to Him at any time. That is the only way that we can be healed is through that faith, through that power that we can overcome, if we turn to the true source of all power.

We have been promised that we will not be tempted above that which we can bear, this is stated not only in the Holy Bible but also in the Book of Mormon. The same prophet, Alma is again speaking to people and he says this “But that ye would humble yourlselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering. Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.” (Alma 13:28-29)

God will not leave us comfortless. As long as we turn to Him, as long as we follow the steps of the Savior, we can find true happiness..

Silver Platters

                                                       

What does it mean to be happy? What does it feel like? How can you share happiness? These are questions that I’ve asked other people and that I’ve asked myself and there are times that I’m not quite sure how to define it or how to find it. In the scriptures it says that the only way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Heavenly Father wants to hand us happiness on a silver platter but we have to reach out and accept it. He loves us and He wants us to choose Him, to come to Him. That was and is the constant invitation of our Saviour, “Come follow me.” I love how it’s phrased in Matthew 11:28-30 ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

There you go, you have it right there, right before your very eyes and all we have to do is follow Him for He will lead us to Heavenly Father. He is going to show us how to get to God. He’s the only way that we can get there and He will light our path as we are searching for what He wants us to do. That is why God has given us so many tools on this Earth in our own personal toolbelt. God wants us to be happy and He knows that this life isn’t easy, that we are all going to face trials and that things are going to be hard but He’s given us the tools to overcome each of our trials, each of our tribulations, all of our pain; we can overcome through the atonement of Jesus Christ. How blessed are we. We should first learn what all of the tools are in our toolbelt and then use them in our lives!

                                                                            

Beyond Limits

Everybody has there own relationship with God and I’ve been thinking a lot about my own. As a missionary I’ve been greatly privileged to hear descriptions about others relationship with God and sometimes I’m not going to lie, I get a little bit jealous. So as I’ve been dwelling on my own relationship with God and how it needs to improve, I’ve been thinking about why my relationship with God isn’t as good as I would like it to be and I’ve figured out why. I have been limiting my own relationship with God. He wants to be my Father and He wants for me to rely on Him more heavily but I haven’t been relying on Him. It goes back to that trust in Heavenly Father and I talked about last time. It’s a relationship that is still in development but one thing that has occurred to me is how I need to invite the Holy Ghost more into my life.

In order for us to have a better relationship with God we have to open ourselves and our hearts to Him. We need to be listening to the still small voice of the Spirit and when we do that, wonderful things will happen. If we are listening for that still small voice that’s been discussed, we can be directed by God. Unfortunately if we’re not listening for that direction from God then we close ourselves off from having a better relationship with Him. It’s like having an open highway of communication and then placing a brick wall on our side of the highway because we’re not going in the direction that He would have us go. Because we are then restricting our communication with God, we are then limiting our own personal growth as well.

I think it’s pretty arrogant of us to limit the power of God in our lives and also in the world around us by saying that He will  no longer speak to us today. Yes we can have a relationship with Him but that He wouldn’t again call a prophet on the Earth. Where does it ever say that God doesn’t care for us enough today to speak to us and why wouldn’t He use the same means as He has in the past, by calling a prophet again on the Earth. That is how He has always worked in the past and it only makes sense that because God is the same yesterday, today and forever that He would once again call a prophet on the Earth has he has done.  He cares for us as much today as He has in the past and we only limit our relationship with Him by not listening or using the gifts and the means that we have already been given.  I’m just grateful that we can go beyond the limits, break the brick wall, and have that very personal and real relationship with God.

                                                                                                                    

Once we know God, then what?

We trust God of course! What does it mean to trust God? I guess the real question would be, what does it mean to trust another person? In the Webster’s New World Dictionary is defines trust as “1a) firm belief in the honestly, reliability, etc, of another, faith.” It also states that to trust means ‘to be confident in.’

So in order for us to trust God, we must have faith in Him, that He is, that He cares, that He listens and that we can trust His word or the scriptures. We have to trust and believe that God will fulfill His promises that He’s made to us, that He loves us enough to send His son like it says in John 3:16 not to condemn the world but to save the world. God isn’t going to force anybody to believe in Him and to trust Him though, it’s a choice that we have to make and that we choose to make by our every day actions. God really does want us to be happy and the only way that we can truly do that is by following the example of His son. That’s why Christ came to the earth, to live and to be our perfect example but also to die so that we may overcome our pain, our guilt, our shame, and find peace, rest, and joy. What a marvelous plan.

I know that to trust God and to have faith in Him, we must respect Him and what He has done. They call this Godly fear. We can fear God, respect and reverence Him, but not be afraid of Him. The other kind of fear is the fear that overcomes our faith and keeps us from coming closer to our Heavenly Father. Sinning destroys our confidence that God loves us and teaches us to be afraid of Him. Hence when Adam sinned, the first response he had was to fear. He was afraid of seeing God because he knew he was in trouble. It’s amazing to me how Heavenly Father is repeatedly telling us to fear not. When angels come to visit men, the first words they say are generally “fear not” Don’t be afraid of heavenly things but move closer to them. How powerful is that.

What do you think it means to trust God?

To Know the Only True and Living God

                                                                                          

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about God as our Heavenly Father.  If He truly is our Father as it states in the scriptures than we can know that for ourselves and this is something that I feel so blessed to know. He loves us and He cares for each of us individually.  I love knowing that we can have a personal relationship with Him. That we can know Him and that He already knows us.  It’s phrased so beautifully in Acts 17:27-29

“That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of our own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device”

I love this scripture because it points out that we are God’s children, that we have His qualities, and as we seek after Him, we will find Him.

Seeking after God is like playing hide and go seek with a small child. You hide so that you can easily be found through slight effort from the child. They are ecstatic that they found you and you’re delighted because they’re so happy. That is how God feels about us. If we are truly seeking after Him, we’ll find Him.

God’s purpose is to help us find happiness and we can only do that as we strive to be like our Father. To know God, is to learn about Him and to develop that personal relationship with Him. We don’t have a perfect record of His example but He has given us the gift of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. As it says in John 5:19 Christ states himself that “…The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”

As we follow the example of the Savior, we are following God because Christ perfectly follows his Father. Christ often spent time alone to be with his Father in prayer and we can do the same.  If we want to talk to God, we have been given the opportunity and the ability to pray and as we pray, God is listening. If we want to hear the words of the Father, we read what He has already given to us through the mouth of His prophets-the scriptures. As we read what God has already done for His children, we will be much more apt to see the hand of God in our own lives. What a blessing and a joy!