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.