CAN you open it?

Christmas time is here! So that means I am going to write a blog about something completely random, so here we go! 

   Can openers, they unlock the goodness of what has been stored in a can of your favorite soup or tuna or whatever you kids eat these days. The can opener really is one of the few things you can use to get past the can neatly and easily. And once you do, you are able to enjoy whatever awaits beneath the seal.

   In today's world, the true meaning of Christmas is on the downfall. Much of the world is seeing just the material part of Christmas and miss the real meaning of it. It is like we are taking our can of Campbell's® Chunky Baked Potato with Cheddar and Bacon Bits Soup, and just appreciating the outside of the can and not getting to the real meaning of having a can of soup. But when we allow Christ to be the can opener for our Christmas Season, we will begin to unlock the true meaning of Christmas, Christ himself!

My prayer is that we all remember to keep the Savior as the Center of out CHRISTmas. Don't just look at the material part of it, because without the soup, it is empty. Let this holiday season the most fulfilling you have had, with Christ in the center. 

CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE
http://mormon.org/christmas

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

Probably one of the most used phrases and pieces of advice given to people, but do we always remember to do it? Sometimes the message can seem quite straightforward, but what about those small exceptions we sometimes make. One example is found in Mosiah Chapter 7  where Ammon and 15 others are traveling in the wilderness in search of the people of Lehi-Nephi to make sure they were still alive and well, having not heard from them in a very long time. Upon arriving in the land, instead of receiving a warm welcome as they were most likely expecting, they were immediately seized by the guards without any questioning and were cast into prison for two days. After being in prison for the two days, the king brought them before him and asked why they came into his land. Upon learning who they were and where they came from, the king rejoiced at the reunion! They were even able to help the king out a lot with various different things that wouldn't have been possible without them. 

So before we judge someone, make sure we understand who they are and why they do what they do before we begin to make assumptions. It is very easy to label someone by how they look, or what they do.

 Here is a little modern day example of this, I think you will be as shocked as I am to see what talents he has! 

Cleaning up

One thing I dislike just as much as the next person is cleaning up! I really don't care to make my room presentable, sanitary, or anything of that matter, I just want to live in it. But, As always, whether at home or in college, I am asked to clean up my room. Something I grew to be very good at through this has been hiding the mess. I find space under my bed, in my closet, or really anywhere that is not noticeable to the naked eye. I would make it look just nice enough that when my mom would come check she would be somewhat satisfied and stop getting on my case about it.

In most cases, my mess would accumulate to be so large that I no longer had anywhere to hide it and it would be overwhelming and not fun to handle. I would finally realize that my problem was so large, that I could not neglect it any longer and inevitably I always take the long, arduous process of cleaning, organizing, and folding.

The result though of my hard work, a sense of accomplishment. I, at that moment, did not want my room to get messy again, I wanted it to stay clean and spotless, especially after all the time and hard work I had put into making it look nice. These feelings didn't last more than a couple weeks at the best until the mess began to accumulate all over again. Now it may just be me being an inherently messy individual, because others are probably a lot cleaner than me, but that is a non germane tangent of my introspection of life. Now may we return to the aforementioned field of contemplation. But somehow at sometime, it gets messy again, hopefully I have learned my lesson by now to just clean as I go. That would make it a ton easier!

I am sure the real life application is basic and straightforward. As we go through life, we can accumulate a plethora of filth that keeps us from being clean in the eyes of God. Luckily, we have been given all of the necessary tools to make our lives as clean as we can make our rooms and even cleaner!