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. 

Ice Cream Sandwich Uno

Monday is our preparation day, meaning that we can take care of everything that needs to be done for the week.  We get to grocery shop, do laundry, clean our apartments, wash our car, along with many other things.  My companion and I were writing letters outside in the sunshiney weather when the Elders in our district called to see if we wanted to play a game.  The game was called Ice Cream Sandwich Uno.  They explained over the phone that the way you played was whoever lost the round had to eat an ice cream sandwich.  I thought, how bad can this be?  Eating ice cream because I lost a game?  Well when we went to start playing the game and the specifics of the rules were told the game was much different than I had previously understood.  You not only had to eat an ice cream sandwich when you lost, you had to eat it before the next hand was dealt or you had to eat another one.  So we embarked on the epic game that taught me a valuable lesson.  We started and at first I didn't lose, so it was funny to watch the Elders try and shove the ice cream sandwiches in their face and get done before the cards for the next round were dealt.  Then the game took a tragic turn of events.  I lost a round and had to try to shove an ice cream sandwich in my mouth.  It was a lot harder than I had anticipated.  Thankfully the Elders took pity on me and said since I had the entire sandwich shoved (literally) in my mouth by the time the cards were done being dealt that I didn't have to eat another one.  Then it happened again.  I couldn't believe that I lost again!  I frantically grabbed the ice cream sandwich and ripped the wrapper off and began putting as much of the sandwich in my mouth as I could at one time, but the problem is that when I got my mouth full I could hardly even chew or swallow there was so much ice cream in my mouth. 

Then the game went from bad to worse when for the third time I had to eat an ice cream sandwich as fast as I could.  I begged not to have to eat the sandwich, but no one would take pity on me.  My companion even said to me, "Find someone to pay the price of justice for you, or you have to eat it yourself!"  So since no one volunteered to pay the price of my cards I had left I was forced to once again shove a big ice cream sandwich in my face.  You may be wondering why this story is applicable to a gospel setting.  Well I'm going to tell you.  Sometimes life is hard and we end up losing that "round of uno" and we have to shove an ice cream sandwich in our face.  Repentance is a gift that we each may have.  Just as my companion said to me that I needed to find someone to "pay the price of justice" we each have someone that has already paid the price of justice for each of our sins, or our "lost rounds of uno". 

The catch is that we have to ask him to help us.  He is always willing, but he can't "eat our sandwiches" or take care of our sins for us unless we allow him to.  Our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves you more than you know.  He wants you to be able to return to live with him and our Heavenly Father, so for that reason (his immense amount of love) he has taken care of justice for us.  Our Heavenly Father has to be just, but because of the sacrifice of our Savior we are allowed mercy now.  We have this gift, but we must accept this gift!  Accept the Savior and his atonement in your life today!

Sunday Will Come



Why do we celebrate Easter?  We celebrate the coming of Sunday!  Christ was resurrected!  He defeated the grave!  He lives! We can each take comfort in this statement!  Our Savior overcame the grave, but he also overcame so much more than this!  Because our Savior went through that dark Friday, we can each experience that bright Sunday!  We can each be resurrected and return again to live with our Heavenly Father.  We will each have those Fridays in our own lives.  Those days where nothing seems to go right, where the world is falling in around us and where we may feel forsaken, but this is not the end.  We must stay faithful and continue on the path of righteousness, and Sunday will come!  I testify that this is true, that when we endure those hard times the Savior will save us.  He is waiting for each of us to allow Sunday to come.  We must invite him in to save us from that Friday!  I know this is true, because I have had those Fridays and I have seen the Sundays come! 

Think about all the Savior has done for you this week and all year.  He loves you.  He wants you to be happy.  He is there for you always.  He is with you on the Fridays and is bringing you the Sundays. 

Happy Easter!  The Lord is risen! 

Temple

I have been thinking a lot about the temple this week!  Maybe it's because I'm not near a temple that I can see everyday like I was growing up.  I miss seeing the beautiful temple in Cache Valley.  We are so blessed to have a temple right there for us.  As I think about the temple a primary song comes to mind.  The song that comes to mind is I Love to See the Temple.  The song goes like this:

I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday To feel the Holy Spirit, To listen and to pray.

For the temple is a house of God, A place of love and beauty. I'll prepare myself while I am young; This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple. I'll go inside someday. I'll cov'nant with my Father; I'll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place Where we are sealed together. As a child of God, I've learned this truth; A fam'ly is forever.

Many people wonder why the temple is secret.  My response to this question is that it's not!  It's a sacred thing.  It's something that God has given to us and we don't want it to be mocked or misused.  We make certain promises when we go to the temple and that's why we must have a recommend.  It's for our safety.  It's not keep anyone out of the temple or to make it a mysterious place, but to keep it holy.  Just as this song says the temple truly is the house of God!

This song says, I'll prepare myself while I am young, but IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO PREPARE!!!  How can we prepare?  We can prepare by doing the simple things!  We can go to church on Sundays, partake of the sacrament, read our scriptures, read the church magazines, pay our tithing, fast, listen to conference (which is coming up so soon :) ), and live up to our baptismal covenants that we have made or will make!  We can truly strive to live as Christ lived and as he would have us each live.  One way to know how he would have us live in our world today is by heeding the councel of our modern day Prophet, his Councelors, and the Apostles.

Spilt Water

I had an experience the other week at church that has really had me thinking the last little while.  We were at church in Ronan, MT and it was time for the sacrament to be passed.  The bread came and the water came, but something happened when the water came... I picked up the cup and then immediately dropped it.  Water of course went spilling all over me.  I felt foolish at first and thought that only a two year old would do something like that, but as I've thought about this embarrassing experience it has had much greater meaning than simply doing something and feeling dumb.  What does the water represent?  It represents our Savior's blood he freely spilt for us.  Exactly the point that has hit me:  He gave his blood for me and I can either use the Atonement and make his suffering worth it, or I can ignore his gift to me and simply spill the water cup.  I know that what I did was an innocent mistake and I thankfully took another water glass, and was able to partake of the sacrament.  I know that our Savior was willing and ready to perform the act of the Atonement for each one of us.  He loves us that much!  He wanted to make it possible for each of us to return to live with our Heavenly Father.  None of us has ever done anything too bad to use the Atonement and be forgiven of our mistakes!  Through the Atonement we can be completely forgiven of our sins and be pure and clean!  It is never too late!  Our Savior is there waiting for us with open arms, he is waiting to welcome us back to the fold!  The choice is ours-  We can spill the water cup or we can partake and be cleansed!  I, for one, would much rather partake of the Atonement and allow him to cleanse me.

Where are We Being Led?

I have been thinking a lot about the decisions that we make each day.  We have so many opportunities to choose right and so many times we can choose wrong.  We have a gift called agency, which is the ability to choose.  The Book of Mormon teaches us this in 2 Nephi 2:27 "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.  And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."  On Saturday this verse meant something different to me than it ever had before.  It told me exactly how I can know if a choice is correct or not!  It taught me that as I am thinking about a choice I can think if it brings me closer to the Savior, the great Mediator of all men, or if it takes me further away from him.  I have loved this picture since I first saw it, but as I thought of it Saturday I thought of it differently too.  It was a perfect image of agency to me that day.  Our Savior is there waiting for us at all times beckoning us to come unto him.  The devil, however, is not going to be there for us when we make choices that take us farther from our Savior. Why would we ever want to make choices then  that take us further away from our Savior and lead us to no one?  I don't believe that any of us want to be further from our Savior, but the fact is that we all make mistakes and choose things that do take us away.  The best news is that we can turn around and head back towards our Savior.  He is waiting for us and desires to put his arm around us.  Just as this child is with Him so too can we be with Him as we strive to make choices, big and little, each day that will lead us to Him.  He wants us to come unto Him!  Don't let Satan trick us and lead us away to somewhere that no one will be waiting for us.  Our Savior WILL be there for us!  He loves us!