Don't we all have ADD?

ADD, otherwise known as Attention Deficit Disorder has been my buddy since I could remember. He is a fun little thing I have and the effects of it, I have found, can relate to us all spiritually in a way!  The effects include, and are not limited to: forgetfulness, lack of concentration, scattered thoughts, obsession over certain things for a while and so on. Having ADD and going through school made everything pretty tough, especially when I would zone off and not listen and not learn what I needed to learn in class, it was almost as if my mind forgot the whole purpose of being at school which is to pay attention and learn so I can grow and get good grades, go to college, get a degree and get a job so I can raise and support my family. So really I am going to school so I can raise and support a family, but in High School that was so far out of sight, I would let myself zone out and not really care too much. That led to bad grades and not getting into my desired college. 

 

It seems sometimes that we all have a little spiritual ADD! Let's look at the purpose of life here as spoken by Amulek.

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."

-Alma 34:32

So, according to this verse, the purpose of this life is for us to prepare to meet God through our works! A lot of times, I find my self forgetting this important point, I forget the big picture! The end result of why we are here is to have Eternal Life! So then why do we at times forget this! Eternal life will be the happiest state we could be in... EVER!!! But sometimes we, myself included, are too near-minded to realize this. We make decisions because they seem fun at the time and not because they bring us closer to our end goal. Just like with me in High School, when I didn't picture the end goal I slacked and the ADD kicked in. 

I would encourage all who read this to try and remember your purpose here, remember where you are going, and do what you have to do to get there. It doesn't matter if it is uncool, inconvenient, or whatever your excuse might be, make sure everything we do will bring us closer to that goal. If you don't know whether it will or not, look to the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He set a perfect example for us to follow.

 

The right way isn't always the lame way, in fact, it is the way that makes you truly the happieest you can be here on Earth and also in the life to come! So be happy, follow Christ's example, and never forget to SMILE!

Much love.

One Little Mistake

Lately, I have rekindled my passion for Su Doku and have been completing these puzzles as quickly as possible. If you are unfamiliar with the game of Su Doku, check out http://www.sudokudaily.net/instructions/ to learn the rules.

As I have been destroying the easier level puzzles, I have been wanting to move on to the harder ones to challenge myself. There are quite a few little lessons I learned through this game that can be applied to life! First, each action you make in the game either is the right or wrong move, there is no gray area. Placing a number in the correct spot will either work towards finishing the puzzle or it will not. Each decision to write in a number should be thoroughly contemplated and worked out to make sure that it will not mess up the rest of the puzzle.

I have made the mistake before of writing in the wrong number in the beginning of one of the harder puzzles. And tried to solve the rest of the puzzle accordingly to that move that I made. I found out about half an hour later that this one move I made had screwed up the whole rest of my game! I was devastated! All that hard work was for nothing! 

This can apply to all of our lives! If we make one seemingly small mistake without thinking it through, it can and WILL affect the decisions we make throughout the rest of our lives. And maybe you won't figure out that mistake until way later, sometimes we figure it out sooner, but in any case, it is something that needs correction! That's why they ask us to use pencils and erasers. This is how the atonement of Jesus Christ relates to all of this! We can take the eraser and wipe our mistake clean! Then we can solve the rest of the puzzle without making that same mistake again! That is the most important part of repentance in our lives! If we are to make a positive change in our lives, we should be willing to NEVER do that again. Repeating a sin that we have already repented of would be like putting that same wrong number in the same square, it just doesn't make sense!! 

When we take our time and thoughtfully complete the puzzle, it all makes sense and works out, it creates a perfect picture and is something that you can be proud of! So let us live our lives in a way that we are working towards a complete puzzle and everything will work out as it should in the end.

Perfect Pairs

Some of the best things come in twos. Peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese and tomato soup, Batman and Robin, Phineas and Ferb! Two is a trend that appears quite often in the world, and usually both parties are quite different! 

Let's take peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter is a creamy or chunky pile of goop made up of peanuts, it is always easy to spread. Jelly on the other hand is more of a gelatinous substance made up of different fruits which is also kind of easy to spread, in most cases at least! These two substances come from very different backgrounds and if used properly between 2 pieces of bread, can make one delicious sandwich!

This is much like life on many different levels. Most likely at some point we will be paired up with someone to accomplish something. Maybe it is a marriage, or a work or school assignment, or even a missionary companionship. At times, the other you are working or living with may seem to be so different form you that you can't imagine how anything good can come out of that situation. But remember the peanut butter and the jelly. They are both very different looking and different tasting as well, yet when combined correctly, make something exceptional! 

I would encourage anyone who is in a "pair" for whatever it may be, look to find how your different backgrounds and personalities compliment each other. Look to put the right amount of peanut butter and the right amount of jelly on this sandwich of life and enjoy every second of it!