Sick?

Doctors, I don't know too many people who like to go to the doctors, especially for checkups. Every time that I would go in, all he would want to do is stab me with a needle and tell me what I need to do to be healthier. I saw no purpose in making those trips and having those appointments. I never liked listening to his advice either unless I was sick or injured in some way.

I have recently come to reflect upon the reasons why we go to the Doctor in the first place. He is there to keep us healthy. Maybe if I wasn't poked so many times by those needles, who knows what kind of sicknesses might have befallen me! Who knows if it would have affected the quality of the life I live? Sure, I may have listened when I was sick or hurt, but I may have been able to prevent the future injury with a little bit of prior preventative measures.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles stated in this past General conference, quoting C.S. Lewis, "C. S. Lewis, the striving, pragmatic Christian writer, poignantly framed the issue. He asserted that Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness; but until people know and feel they need forgiveness, Christianity does not speak to them. He stated, 'When you know you are sick, you will listen to the doctor.'"

This is so true. Most will only listen to the doctor when they are sick. likewise, most will look for forgiveness when they find they need it. But I would encourage you all to not wait until you need repentance to seek the Savior of the world. Study His words and ponder in your hearts His message. Christ and His teachings will help prevent sorrow, heartache, and regret with love, peace, and joy. Why wait when you are sick to get healthy? Why not get healthier and feel better than you ever have before? I promise that doing so will bring you added happiness and spiritual growth in your life and will help prevent you from the influence of the adversary. 

Test Time

Test taking, some love it, some despise it, but it is an essential part in evaluating knowledge and progress in different settings but mainly in School. I truly enjoyed taking tests when I had studied, and understand the material I am being tested on. I love displaying the knowledge I have obtained through my hard work and effort in the classroom and at home. But, when I refuse to study and I slack off, I go into the test nervous and usually start with one sincere and distressed prayer to not fail! 

Did anyone else have that really super awesome teacher who would sometimes let you take a test with your textbook out? I know I had a few of those, and those were some of my favorite tests! I was just able to take a problem, look up the answer, and fill it in on the paper! What a sweet setup! But looking for the answer always took more time, so it was always helpful to have studied and know the answers beforehand. Well, Heavenly Father is just like that super awesome teacher! Life is one big test for each of us. We will be rewarded based on how well we do and how we deal with different problems we face. God loves each of us enough to bless us with all of the ways in which He wants us to face each problem. What is the textbook? Well you can probably guess it is the Scriptures! We can find the answer to all the problems we face in life within those inspired verses. We can also seek more answers through the words of our modern day Prophets by listening to General Conference.

I suggest following the same basic idea as the test. Study beforehand. KNOW the scriptures and the guidelines your Father in Heaven wants you to live. Be ready and aware of the different situations and problems you could face in life and know the correct way to handle it. If there ever comes a problem that you don't have the knowledge of what to do, look it up! Study it out in the scriptures and review past conference addresses. This, even though may take more time, is better than making a wrong and rushed decision, the consequences are just not worth it.

So enjoy your open book test! Study up and get all of the answers you will need. God is there to help, we were not sent here to fail, but to succeed gloriously! 

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!

ONE

If anyone knows me, they know I love the game of Rugby! I love to tackle people and I love the competition, but the main thing about it is I love how unified of a game it is. In order to compete at any level, you team needs to work together in harmony to accomplish the common goal, to win the match! When all the players are on the same page and work together, it is much more effective and can compete against teams that may have more skill or talent. As a team, you strive to be ONE, each player has his own purpose that he needs to fulfil. No single person can cover all positions, each person is left to rely fully on each other player to do what they are supposed to do. When people are careless, they can be penalized putting the team in a worse position to win. But when everyone does their job they really become ONE as a team.

The parrallels between this and Heavenly Fathers plan is striking! He has asked us to be ONE. John 17:21-22 states

"That they all may be ONE; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be ONE in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be ONE, even as we are ONE" (emphasis added)



Here, Christ is addressing His Father in Heaven concerning the apostles to become ONE even as He and the Father are ONE. We know that He is one with the Father in purpose, mindset, Spirit, Priesthood, the list goes on and on. He wished for His disciples to be that way and wishes for each of us today to be that way as well.

So how exactly are we to become ONE? We must remember our goal, Life Eternal. With that goal in mind, figure out where your role is in Heavenly Fathers plan. When we recieve callings, magnify them. When someone is in need, help them. Uplift, inspire and remove any hate or malice from your heart. Hate and contention will drive the Spirit away and in sports, when there is contention in the team, you don't trust eachother and don't play effectively. Everyone on the earth is on the SAME TEAM! President Uchtdorf said in a General Conference address "When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges or wanting to cause harm — please apply the following: Stop it!" When we can move past all of those negative feelings and work together against the REAL adversary, the world will be a better place and it will make it easier for all of us to reach our eternal goal! So let's win the game, work together, love one another, and become ONE.

What message are you getting?

Many of you who are reading this probably just checked your cell phone within the past few minutes or so. And if you didn't you probably just did because I made you think about it. There are many messages that come to us every day that try and catch our attention, things that try and persuade us one way or another. Commercials, text messages, billboards, facebook, salesmen, email, friends, politicians.... The list goes ON and ON!

Which message is most important to you? Well, many of these messages are here to distract us from the message our Heavenly Father wants us to pay more attention to. That is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! His message is UNIVERSAL and for everyone on this earth to enjoy. The message is study the scriptures, pray, learn more of the truth, and build your own relationship with your Savior. Live the Gospel and focus on the message that matters. Share the message too and help others realize what they might be missing out on!

Who is your Superhero?

As children, we all loved to dress up as our favorite superheros, some of us even like to dress up like them as we get older. Like me for instance, I made an appearance at a birthday party as CAPTAIN AMERICA!

When we see these Superheros, we want to be just like them, we want to fly, shoot lasers and webs, have super speed. Whatever it it is, we emulate them for it and want it. We are willing to do anything to be like them. 

So think to yourself you do you try to emulate most in your life? Who do you always try and become like? Is it Captain America? Spiderman? Who should we be emulating in our lives? 

You got it! Jesus Christ should be our Superhero! He lived an absolutely perfect life and set the perfect example for us to follow by word and action. He was baptized by John who held the Priesthood to perform it, He taught the Gospel to those in need. He healed served those around Him and gave everyone an opportunity to turn to Him and find the answers to salvation. 

We should take our lives and try and make our actions, words, and thoughts what the Savior would do, say and think if He were in our shoes. Doing so will sanctify us and help motivate us to be a little better every day and to reach our goal of Eternal Life!

Good enough?

Have you ever been at a point in life where you are just happy and everything is going well. I would guess that we have all been there at points. We have all been content with one thing or another in our lives. It is easy to get lazy when life is going well. I know that I am more willing to work to improve my situation when it is below my normal comfort level. But is this how life should be? Should we content?

Look at professional athletes of all kinds, do they settle for staying the same and continuing to maintain the level that they are playing at? Or do they continually practice and improve their already above average talents? Will a car manufacturer who just made one of the top cars on the market quit making cars and call it good since they are on top? Or will they continue to find ways to improve their product and make an even better one?

The world keeps pressing forward and improving, even if it is already in a good spot. We should have that same urgency to continually press forward and continue our spiritual progression. There is always room for improvement and growth, especially in the Gospel. Our only comparisons we should make in this life are comparing our current state to our past to see which direction we are going in, and comparing our lives to the life of our Savior to see how much farther we have to go.

We cannot be exactly like Christ in this life, but the whole goal is to try with every ounce of being that we posses to live a life as close as humanly possible to what Christ would do if he were in our very shoes. If we are content with where we are at, we are missing the opportunity to grow, learn, and progress towards our goal, ETERNAL LIFE.

Remember the words of Nephi when he said, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." (2 Nephi 31:20 emphasis added)

Keep going, keep pushing, it will ALL be worth it.