Friday, October 21, 2011
Choice of Happiness
Sorry its been way long since I last posted on this, I have been really busy with work and school. But the last few weeks have been a trial after trial. I am not going to go into details about it; lets just stick with the fact that it was a challenge. For a week in there I let the trails get to be and became rather down. There came a point where I had a choice to stay down or be happy. I remember a lesson that I had once heard about we can choose our attitude. The speaker shared a story about a man who owned a small store, and one day when he came to open it up he left the back door unlocked. A man broke into the store and held him at gun point and demanded he opened the safe. As he opened the safe he slipped and the robber thought he was making a move and shot him. The man was rushed to the hospital and while being hurried into the ER he was asked "are you allergic to anything?". He decided to be as happy as you can in such a situation and said "Bullets!" He had learned when he was young that each day you can wake up and choose to be happy, and not let anything get you down. I decided to use this advice and it works. This is something we all need in our life's, we can go through life down and out or we can get the most out of life and be joyful and enjoyable to others. This obviously isn't something that we'll be perfect at immediately but as we work on it day by day, waking up and saying I'm going to be happy today we will grow as a person. Life will be much more enjoyable and our stress and worries will eventually fade to minor blips in our life.
Friday, February 25, 2011
The BOM
The Book of Mormon is:
- Another testimony of Jesus Christ
- the key to gather scattered Israel
- Key stone of our religion
- a companion to the Bible
- is powerful evidence of the divinity of Christ
- the proof of the Restoration through Joseph Smith
- answers to the questions of the soul
- magnet to Christ and God
- springboard to testimony and personal revelation.
- a help to developing faith in Jesus Christ
Listen Through Your Heart
I was listening to Stephan R. Covey's book 6 Events. In it he suggest that listening, truly listening, starts in your heart. Now this got me thinking; the heart is representative of love and is the bodies life force. Christ tells us to "love one another with a perfect heart"(1 Pet 1:22). One way to show this love that Peter speaks of is to listen sincerely to the person. We must listen to listen and understand not to give a reply. When this happens we find out more about what their saying and the spirit will speak to us what is important for them to here. If we listen to form a response we distract ourselves from them and distance us from showing them true love. Paul taught the Ephesians that "Christ may dwell in your heart by faith"(3:17). With Christ in our heart he can listen with His spirit, or the Holy Ghost. By doing these things we can come closer to those around us and show our love to our fellow brothers and sisters.
The Blind Call Out
I have been pondering on the blind men and Christ for a while still and was lead to find another amazing truth taught in it. The Blind man could not see Christ or many of His miracles, but he still cried out for his help and mercy. Imagine hearing stories of miracles and heals by a mere wood worker, near by you. But you have never seen any of these miraculous occurrences. If this man walked by you, would you have the faith to call out and ask for help or advice? Would you be willing to do what he asked if it meant you would be helped? Such was the situation of the the first blind man talked about in John chapter nine. Yet with faith, we must all gain, he called out to our Lord and Savior and was blessed greatly for doing such. As this man we have never seen Christ and have only heard of His miracles, but we must call out to Him with the same faith of the blind man. Fully believing, as the blind man did, that Christ will respond and aid us. I know Christ will bless us as we go to him in faith. And that we must continue to grow that faith; as we do so God will bless us more than we yet have been.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Quick note on some good music
Lately I have been on a YouTube music rampage looking for something familiar but different. Check out these YouTube pages for just that!
- KurtHugoSchneider
- TiffanyAlvord
- veronicaballestrini
Who is Truely Blind?
"... One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see"(John 9:25). Throughout the whole ninth chapter of John, in the New Testament, we hear the story of Christ healing a blind man and his run in's with the Pharisees. This story left Sister Chicko Okazaki to ask "who was really blind, the man or the neighbors and the pharisees who refused to admit a miracle had been preformed?" I then began to ponder who are we, the blind man or the pharisees? On the one hand we could be the blind man; blind from natural causes. To us these would be, being uninformed, or being born without the gospel of Christ. The other hand we could be the pharisees, who refuse or turn from the truth to distance them self from reality of consequences of our decisions. I believe that at times we all become a pharisee and must change from the view to come back closer to God. This happens as the prophets give us council; council to listen to better music, dress more modestly, or keep other commandments. We can push them away and doom our self to face the consequences and disappointment from God; or we can do as the blind man, and upon being told the heavenly truths follow them with full purpose of heart. Doing this brings blessings and the approving smile of our Heavenly Father. I know that as we received council from God's chosen leaders that we should follow the example set by the blind man in this story, and stand by and follow council as best we can.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Importance of Friends...
A quote one of my closest friends shared with me inspired me to share this insight.
"A friend is one to whom one my pour out the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep whats worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away" (Arabian Proverb).
In my life I have gone through many friendships, some that last and others that haven't. I have come to see that God grants us these friendships to teach us something; to help us learn and grow into what He sees in us. Sometimes these lessons are not given to us easily. They may come with pain, heartbreak, or loss.
One example from my life happened many years ago. I had an amazing group of friends, all of whom I shared many of the same beliefs and same lifestyles. We were a very close group of friends for a while, then because I befriended someone outside the group they began to degrade and "pick" on me. At first, like many my age would have done, I resented them and what they represented. But after a period of time I learned how to forgive. An attribute that we all need, and one that God wants greatly of us. In no way am I perfect in it but I am working at that still. This event sparked in me a desire to forgive that might never have fallen upon me or have happened much later on in life. Now me and that group are still friends, even though I might not see or hear from them much, there is still a mutual respect for each other.
Other lessons I have learned were from much easier to get. These are lessons that were taught plainly and simply through the love of true friends. Many of these things lessons I hold close and dear because they were taught to me this way by those I care for. I will always be grateful for these lessons and especially for the people who helped me learn them. In conclusion let me leave you with a formula from God for being a good friend and also what to look for in a friend. 1st- Follow the example set by our Savior Jesus Christ and his interactions with others. 2nd- Keep the ten commandments. They teach us the way to interact with God and with man. I know as we follow that formula we will be that amazing friend to always remember, and we can find reason for all our friends.
"A friend is one to whom one my pour out the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep whats worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away" (Arabian Proverb).
In my life I have gone through many friendships, some that last and others that haven't. I have come to see that God grants us these friendships to teach us something; to help us learn and grow into what He sees in us. Sometimes these lessons are not given to us easily. They may come with pain, heartbreak, or loss.
One example from my life happened many years ago. I had an amazing group of friends, all of whom I shared many of the same beliefs and same lifestyles. We were a very close group of friends for a while, then because I befriended someone outside the group they began to degrade and "pick" on me. At first, like many my age would have done, I resented them and what they represented. But after a period of time I learned how to forgive. An attribute that we all need, and one that God wants greatly of us. In no way am I perfect in it but I am working at that still. This event sparked in me a desire to forgive that might never have fallen upon me or have happened much later on in life. Now me and that group are still friends, even though I might not see or hear from them much, there is still a mutual respect for each other.
Other lessons I have learned were from much easier to get. These are lessons that were taught plainly and simply through the love of true friends. Many of these things lessons I hold close and dear because they were taught to me this way by those I care for. I will always be grateful for these lessons and especially for the people who helped me learn them. In conclusion let me leave you with a formula from God for being a good friend and also what to look for in a friend. 1st- Follow the example set by our Savior Jesus Christ and his interactions with others. 2nd- Keep the ten commandments. They teach us the way to interact with God and with man. I know as we follow that formula we will be that amazing friend to always remember, and we can find reason for all our friends.
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