Well, here it is another week. Liz is ready to be done with this pregnancy. Brinley is loving school. Wyatt is Wyatt and is always fun and curious.
This post is going to be a little more on the serious side again. I've been doing a lot of thinking about life and the things that happen. With so much going on in the world that seems horrible how can there be any hope? How can we have anything to look forward to? The answer that I've found that seems to fit the best and help the most is pretty simple on the face but extremely complex underneath. There is one thing that encompasses all. The cool thing about it is that it applies to everyone whether they want to accept it or not. Whether they believe in it or not. That's the cool thing. The sad thing is that there are those that haven't ever had the chance to learn about it. The most disappointing and frustrating thing is there are people who have had the chance and still refuse to accept or believe it. That's their choice, and I'm all about choice.
The thing I'm talking about you may have guessed at by now. It's not a tangible thing, not something you can hold or see. It's not something that can be described using words we have, well, described adequately. This thing is everlasting and reaches from the beginning of time to the end of time. There is a scripture from a prophet a long time ago where he describes what would help. "And...he shall go forth suffering temptations, pain of body, hunger thirst and fatigue even more than man can suffer except it be unto death; for behold blood cometh from every pore so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people. And lo, he cometh unto his own that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him and shall crucify him." (Mosiah 3: 7,9 emphasis added)
There is one man who knows every kind of sorrow. He know knows how it feels to be alone when the world is against you. He knows what if feels like to be made fun of and shunned for what you believe. He knows hunger, pain, sorrow for lost loved ones, frustrations at shortcomings. He knows fear, He knows despair, He knows frustration at people not listening. He knows sickness and death.
Anything that people are going through physically, spiritually, mentally, or emotionally, they don't have to do it alone. They can know that there is someone that knows how they feel and what they're going through. They can have faith that no matter what happens, they aren't suffering in vain. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. That's just the way life is. But when those bad things happen or it seems that no matter how good or obedient we are we never get ahead, we need to remember that this life isn't the end goal. What happens here is important. Not so much what we make in money and things, but what we make of ourselves and what we inspire others to become.
The Savior, Jesus Christ, made it possible for peace to be found regardless of circumstance. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be faint." We need to know and learn of the Atonement. We need to learn how to apply it and help others apply it.
Each of us is a son or daughter of God, whether we want to be or not. Each of us has the ability and freedom of choice, but not freedom from consequence. I hope we can all choose to live the best life we can regardless of what you choose to believe. God is bound by his laws, and part of those laws are rewarding obedience. The Atonement is real. The peace that comes from it is real. There is nothing anybody can say or do that will convince me otherwise because I have felt it for myself so many times.
Sorry this is a long one. Hopefully you haven't fallen asleep or been too bored. I promise they won't all be like this. There will be a lot of fun and learning to be had here. But this I needed to get off my chest.
This post is going to be a little more on the serious side again. I've been doing a lot of thinking about life and the things that happen. With so much going on in the world that seems horrible how can there be any hope? How can we have anything to look forward to? The answer that I've found that seems to fit the best and help the most is pretty simple on the face but extremely complex underneath. There is one thing that encompasses all. The cool thing about it is that it applies to everyone whether they want to accept it or not. Whether they believe in it or not. That's the cool thing. The sad thing is that there are those that haven't ever had the chance to learn about it. The most disappointing and frustrating thing is there are people who have had the chance and still refuse to accept or believe it. That's their choice, and I'm all about choice.
The thing I'm talking about you may have guessed at by now. It's not a tangible thing, not something you can hold or see. It's not something that can be described using words we have, well, described adequately. This thing is everlasting and reaches from the beginning of time to the end of time. There is a scripture from a prophet a long time ago where he describes what would help. "And...he shall go forth suffering temptations, pain of body, hunger thirst and fatigue even more than man can suffer except it be unto death; for behold blood cometh from every pore so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people. And lo, he cometh unto his own that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him and shall crucify him." (Mosiah 3: 7,9 emphasis added)
There is one man who knows every kind of sorrow. He know knows how it feels to be alone when the world is against you. He knows what if feels like to be made fun of and shunned for what you believe. He knows hunger, pain, sorrow for lost loved ones, frustrations at shortcomings. He knows fear, He knows despair, He knows frustration at people not listening. He knows sickness and death.
Anything that people are going through physically, spiritually, mentally, or emotionally, they don't have to do it alone. They can know that there is someone that knows how they feel and what they're going through. They can have faith that no matter what happens, they aren't suffering in vain. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. That's just the way life is. But when those bad things happen or it seems that no matter how good or obedient we are we never get ahead, we need to remember that this life isn't the end goal. What happens here is important. Not so much what we make in money and things, but what we make of ourselves and what we inspire others to become.
The Savior, Jesus Christ, made it possible for peace to be found regardless of circumstance. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be faint." We need to know and learn of the Atonement. We need to learn how to apply it and help others apply it.
Each of us is a son or daughter of God, whether we want to be or not. Each of us has the ability and freedom of choice, but not freedom from consequence. I hope we can all choose to live the best life we can regardless of what you choose to believe. God is bound by his laws, and part of those laws are rewarding obedience. The Atonement is real. The peace that comes from it is real. There is nothing anybody can say or do that will convince me otherwise because I have felt it for myself so many times.
Sorry this is a long one. Hopefully you haven't fallen asleep or been too bored. I promise they won't all be like this. There will be a lot of fun and learning to be had here. But this I needed to get off my chest.
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