Tuesday, September 25, 2012

In Your Face

When I think back to the good ole football days, one of the main aspects of life on the practice field was the coaches. Football coaches, as many may know, are not known to be tranquil or quiet at all! In fact, they are often loud and in your face! Having a coach yell at you is probably one of the least desirable situations I can think of next to watching one of the Twilight movies! 


I used to think that when a coach was yelling at me that I was just making him angry because I couldn't do what I needed to correctly. This was largely demotivational to me and made me think that not only was I not a good player, but I had no potential compared to all of the other players that were doing so well and seemed to be far more experienced than myself. 

I was severely mistaken in my thoughts. After talking with one of the coaches, he told me that the reason they yelled at me and some other players so much is because they see the potential in us that we don't see. When we aren't doing things the way they know we can, they let us know it. One coach even told me when you aren't getting yelled at is when you need to worry. That basically happens when you do the wrong thing over and over basically showing the coach you aren't willing to listen.

This is similar to how our Heavenly Father interacts with us. He doesn't usually get up in our face and yell at us like coaches do (unless you are Mahonri Moriancumer). He will still show us in different but distinct ways that he does care. He sees our potential and puts us through trials and tribulations so that we can grow to that potential, to be like Him. So when tough times come, don't get discouraged, know it is because God loves you and wants you to grow. He is always there to help and will show you the way you need to go. He cares for you and loves you and only wants the best for you, and I know that to be true!


Friday, September 21, 2012

Crabby?

Have you ever heard about what happens if you put a few crabs in a bucket? The oddest thing happens! A crab by itself will be able to climb out of the bucket, but if you put more than one crab in the bucket, the other crabs will grab it and drag it down! 



The other crabs will keep one crab from breaking free and possibly escaping the steamy doom it has ahead of it. Now let us look at another critter, the ant. Ants are quite the opposite! Ants will work together as a team to get food for the colony. They are always on the same page as eachother and know that if they don't work together, they won't be able to accomplish the task ahead of them! 


Also note in the video how one of the ants goes and recruits others for help and more ants come urgently to the scene! So moral of the story? The crabs are holding each other back from escaping death. I can compare this to people who hold each other back from growing in the Gospel, there will be people who will keep you from repenting of sins and drag you back down into it. On the flip side, teamwork is used here to accomplish something for the common good of the colony. So instead of dragging other people down, give them work and purpose to help others and be in the service of those who need your help. This way you lift others rather than drag them down.

So don't be a crab! Be an ant!