Following Christ's Examples......

Following Christ’s Example:

   What is Christ’s pattern for service?  He mercifully does for us only what we cannot do for ourselves, he never infringes on our agency, and allows us to suffer the consequences of our own choices.  In the Bible dictionary, a portion of the definition of “Grace” is to “receive strength and assistance to do good works that (individuals) otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means.  This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation, after they have expended their own best efforts.”
   If we follow Christ’s pattern, we will not step in and keep someone from expending their own best efforts.  We will not do for others what would strengthen them to do for themselves.  To do so sends a powerful crippling message that they aren’t good enough or strong enough to accomplish it on their own.

We Can NOt Be Neutral....

‘...with the right of choice comes the responsibility to choose. We cannot be neutral; there is no middle ground. The Lord knows this; Lucifer knows this. As long as we live upon this earth, Lucifer and his hosts will never abandon the hope of claiming our souls.

Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our eternal journey without providing the means whereby we could receive from Him God-given guidance to assist in our safe return at the end of mortal life. I speak of prayer. I speak too of the whisperings from that still, small voice within each of us, and I do not overlook the holy scriptures, written by mariners who successfully sailed the seas we too must cross.

Each of us has come to this earth with all the tools necessary to make correct  choices. The prophet Mormon tells us, “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.”’

Thomas S. Monson, “The Three Rs of Choice,” Ensign, Nov 2010, 67–70

Victimization.......

“When you operate from a position of victimization, you come into the future with the toxic waste from the past.
“And because your commitment to the issue of offense is stronger than your commitment to moving ahead, the prosperity in your public life and private lives pays a huge toll.  New relationships grind and sputter, new business deals hiss and jerk, suffering like a car being driven with the emergency brake still engaged.  It isn’t that you don’t move forward, but the grinding of your reservations thwarts the creativity and vibrancy you were created to give.”

Much Like Moles.....or Cancer.......

“Much like the removal of moles and skin lesions is done to prevent them from growing into more serious skin abnormalities, removing minor discord before it becomes a calamity is an important use of our time.  Most people don’t like to make waves and they swallow frustration and bury true feelings, not wanting to compromise temporary tranquility, never realizing that massive turmoil doesn’t start out massive-it grows beneath the skin like a cancer that could have been avoided with early detection.  My friend, people resign from a job long before they type the letter.  Husbands leave before they move out.  Children rebel in their hearts before getting arrested for vandalism.”

Doing Your Best.....

Doing your Best

Harold B. Lee

Ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil.

(Mormon 3:20)

President Harold B. Lee said that we will be judged on our capacities and efforts.  “All you have to worry about is that you are doing your best in the place where you are today… There is nothing you can do about yesterday except repent.  That means if you made mistakes yesterday don’t be making them today.  Don’t worry about tomorrow, because you may have no tomorrows…if you can always witness honestly that whatever you did, you did to the best of your ability, and next day try improvement on that, when your life’s end comes, of you it can be said in truth, his was a successful life because he lived to the best that was in him…all [the Lord] asks is that we do our best; and that’s the measure by which we’ll be judged when that time comes”  The Lord sees our efforts; he knows our desires

FHE What Could Be Wrong....

Sometimes you may struggle with a problem and not get an answer. What could be wrong?

It may be that you are not doing anything wrong. It may be that you have not done the right things long enough. Remember, you cannot force spiritual things.

Sometimes we are confused simply because we won’t take no for an answer.

On several occasions when a member has insisted that something be done his way, I have remembered that great lesson from Church history. I have said to myself in my mind:

All right, Joseph, give the manuscript to Martin Harris. Do it your own way, and see where you get. Then when you’re confounded and confused, come back and we’ll get you set on the course that you might have taken earlier if you had been submissive and responsive.

Someone wrote:

With thoughtless and impatient hands

We tangle up the plans

The Lord hath wrought.

And when we cry in pain He saith,

‘Be quiet, man, while I untie the knot.’

Put difficult questions in the back of your minds and go about your lives. Ponder and pray quietly and persistently about them.

Prayers and Answers, Elder Boyd K. Packer, Oct., 1979 Conference.

Where is the Pavilion.....

“The pavilion that seems to be hiding you from God may be fear of man rather than this desire to serve others. The Savior’s only motivation was to help people. Many of you, as I have, have felt fear in approaching someone you have offended or who has hurt you. And yet I have seen the Lord melt hearts time after time, including my own. And so I challenge you to go for the Lord to someone, despite any fear you may have, to extend love and forgiveness. I promise you that as you do, you will feel the love of the Savior for that person and His love for you, and it will not seem to come from a great distance. For you, that challenge may be in a family, it may be in a community, or it may be across a nation.

But if you go for the Lord to bless others, He will see and reward it. If you do this often enough and long enough, you will feel a change in your very nature through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Not only will you feel closer to Him, but you will also feel more and more that you are becoming like Him. Then, when you do see Him, as we all will, it will be for you as it was for Moroni when he said: “And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.” (Moroni 10:34)”

Where Is the Pavilion?, Pres. Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, Nov., 2012

FHE Begin Where You Are........

“So how do we open our eyes to the hope of God’s light?

First, start where you are.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we don’t have to be perfect to experience the blessings and gifts of our Heavenly Father? We don’t have to wait to cross the finish line to receive God’s blessings. In fact, the heavens begin to part and the blessings of heaven begin to distill upon us with the very first steps we take toward the light.

The perfect place to begin is exactly where you are right now. It doesn’t matter how unqualified you may think you are or how far behind others you may feel. The very moment you begin to seek your Heavenly Father, in that moment, the hope of His light will begin to awaken, enliven, and ennoble your soul.5 The darkness may not dissipate all at once, but as surely as night always gives way to dawn, the light will come.”

The Hope of God’s Light, Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, May, 2013

Repentance.......

We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can repent. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret11 and remove the burden of our sins.12His Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart,13 and a determination to do better and especially to become better..

Of Regrets and Resolutions,  Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, Nov., 2012

Worth vs Worthiness.......

Worth vs Worthiness

“It may be helpful to make a distinction between the worth and the worthiness of an addict.  Worth is the value of being a son or daughter of God.  Worth is innate.  Because we are born in this earth life, we are loved and acknowledged as a son or daughter of God.  By that heritage alone, each of us-whatever our worthiness-deserves respect, honor, and unconditional-love as a potential god.  The ‘worth’ of any soul including the Bishop’s, the Relief Society President’s, yours or the addict’s is great. Eah of us is loved by our Heavenly Father.

“On the other hand, ‘worthiness’ may fluctuate from day to day.  ‘Worthiness’ has to do with being a son or daughter of God and salvation.  Worth is constant. As a loved one, it is most important to intervene with the addict’s ‘worthiness’ and not their ‘worth.’  As fellow brothers and sisters, we want to make sure we honor and respect the ‘worth’ of each of our Heavenly Father’s children no matter how much they drink, steal, lie, or hurt us.”

Hold onto Hope, p 94

FHE When You Have Done Your Best........

You can know you have been a successful…when you:

• Feel the Spirit testify to people through you.

• Love people and desire their salvation.

• Obey with exactness.

• Live so that you can receive and know how to follow the Spirit, who will show you where to go, what to do, and what to say.

Work effectively every day, do your very best to bring souls to Christ, and seek earnestly to learn and improve.

• Help build up the Church (the ward) wherever you are assigned to work.

• Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments.

• Teach and serve other others.

• Go about doing good and serving people at every opportunity, whether or not they accept your message.

When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself. You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you.

Preach my Gospel, p10

Seeing With Our Hearts.......

Brothers and sisters, no matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it.

Perhaps we should be looking less with our eyes and more with our hearts. I love the quote: “One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”7

We are commanded “to give thanks in all things.”8 So isn’t it better to see with our eyes and hearts even the small things we can be thankful for, rather than magnifying the negative in our current condition?

The Lord has promised, “He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold.”9

Brothers and sisters, with the bountiful blessings of our Heavenly Father, His generous plan of salvation, the supernal truths of the restored gospel, and the many beauties of this mortal journey, “have we not reason to rejoice?”10

Let us resolve to be happy, regardless of our circumstances.

Of Regrets and Resolutions,  Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, Nov., 2012

Today Is Mine......

“There are times when the “poor me” mood is upon us; we’re overwhelmed by all the troubles we have to face.  This is especially likely to happen when we have begun to try to change our thinking about ourselves and our relation to others.  We may, at first, become too analytical and try to solve too much at once.

For this frame of mind there is an almost infallible prescription: to empty our minds of all thoughts but one: today and how to use it.

This day is mine.  It is unique.  Nobody in the world has one exactly like it.  It holds the sum of all my past experience and all my future potential.  It belongs to me to do with whatever I like.  I can fill it with joyous moments or ruin it with fruitless worry.  If painful recollections of the past come into my mind, or frightening thoughts of the past, I will put them away.  They cannot spoil today for me.

Today is my special gift from God. How will I use it?  The less I let others affect it, the more serene and satisfying it will be for me.”

One Day at a Time in Alanon, October 28 Copyright by Alanon Family Groups 2000.

We Can Choose Our Attitude.....

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

A Man’s Search for Meaning., Victor Frankl [Trans. Ilse Lasch (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 65–66]