The Edge...

Our Heavenly Father gives us commandments to keep us safe, but the choice is ours to obey or not.  I know that our Heavenly Father doesn't give us commandments to limit our choices but to expand them.  When we don't pay attention to the commandments we sometimes get very close to the edge.  We leave the "safe" area that our Heavenly Father has told us to stay in and we go into the "dangerous" territory that Satan is in charge of.  At first it may seem a little uncomfortable to be at a party with alcohol, or to watch an R rated movie, but over time we become used to the danger of being on the edge.  The danger in breaking commandments never leaves.  Just because we feel comfortable there doesn't mean that the danger has left.  I don't typically go sit on the edge of cliffs, and in this picture I certainly wasn't comfortable.  I would have felt much better if I would have been at least 10 feet farther away from the edge.  I decided, however, that the fear was worth it and I wanted this picture, so I went and put myself in danger to get a cool picture.  How many times in life do we get close to the edge for the sake of looking cool, or to impress a girl/guy, or to rebel against our parents council, or any other reason?  I can think of so many times that people get close to the edge for no reason really at all.  Sometimes we get so comfortable on the edge that the fall doesn't even seem scary.  I know that living life on the edge and in the "danger zone" isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Satan wants us to believe this, but I know differently.  Our Heavenly Father desires true happiness for us and lovingly gives us commandments to keep us safe and happy.  When we follow his council and obey his commandments we are safe from sin and happy as ever.  Don't live your life on the edge.  Take a step back and realize the peace that comes from keeping the commandments.

Rappelling through Life



This is me at Morning Glory Natural Bridge.

 So I've been thinking back a lot to about a year ago when I went to Moab.  My family took an awesome vacation before I headed out to Montana and Wyoming.  While we were in Moab we did quite a lot, but the scariest thing for me was rappelling.  It was also my favorite thing that we did. It was scary for me, because I knew there was a big drop off and I had to make myself go over the edge.  Once I got going though I loved rappelling.  I have thought about this experience and what really happened.  We certainly didn't just go rappelling by ourselves with no equipment.  We hired someone who knew what he was doing to help us.  He brought along all the equipment that we needed to help us be successful and make it through our trip safely.  My parents wouldn't have allowed all of us to go on a trip without having the right supplies and someone to help us make it through the journey.  Our Heavenly Father loves us just as our parents here on earth love us.  He has provided that equipment to help us make it back safely and he has provided many tour guides.  He gives us a manual to teach us how make it back safely.  This manual is the Book of Mormon.  He gives us gear to help us make it back safely.  For rappelling you need:  ropes, anchor materials, rappel device,  harness, sling and locking carabiner, gloves (optional), and a daisy chain.  I didn't know all this (and to be honest I just googled it to see exactly what you needed).  My guide took care of this.  He carried it and set it all up.  He made sure that when I got all ready that I was going to be safe when I stepped off the edge and put all my weight on the rope.  That's why we need our guide.  To help us know what we need to do and how to do it.  Isn't is great that we have a modern day prophet to be our guide?  He gets the "gear" that we need and then helps us operate in the correct way.  We have so many more tour guides that are more experienced and know the gear and how to set it up and work it properly.  We have parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, grandpas, and so many more people to help us with the things we need to do.  Our Heavenly Father who loves us has given us everything we need to make it back safely.  Not to say we won't be sore at times and wonder, but he has.  I was very sore after rappelling, but I used the gear and I made it down safely.  I know that we have everything we need to return back to our Heavenly Father safely.  If you have questions about the "gear" we've been given there are answers.  You can ask me or you can go to mormon.org and look at the answers there.