Life has its way…

The past few months have been incredibly busy, and much more intense than I ever thought they would be. Yet I guess that is the very nature of life. There are moments that are expected to be calm and casual that turn into stress and excitement, and times when anticipated events end in rather calm and sometimes disappointing results. As for me the past few months, it has been much more engaging than I expected.

Yet, as with most things in life, it gave me an opportunity to recognize the things in life the should take and hold the greatest priority. My head is constantly full of dreams, passions, hopes, and desires, that are often overturned and molded into something different than the initial spark of hope in my head. Amid those dreams, I am constantly brought back to understand that there are certain things that I should give the majority of my attention to.

God is foremost in this list of priorities.

This picture is one that I captured just the other day as I hiked to the top of a hill near to where I live. I had spent most of the time trying to form a picture of something I thought might look good, but never turned out nice with my camera. Just as I was about to leave and turn back having never found the shot, I looked up. I almost missed one of the most amazing displays of nature I had seen. The clouds in the sky had been whipped into a gorgeous design. Moments and shots like this one help me feel inside the reality of God and His existence. But, just as I did with these clouds, the business of life often leads me to miss the most spectacular moments I am given.

Those spectacular moments are found in Him. And the gospel should be lived from when I wake in the morning to the moment I lay my head back down at night. Such a commitment is easily forgotten, but I am grateful for moments like these that lead me to find the importance of why we are really here on earth.

People are the second priority. And I believe they are closely tied to the first.

This priority was learned in a difficult way that stripped me of some pride. The past few months have required me to dedicate more time to my engagement and future marriage than to my schooling. I have always been an “A” student in the past, and this will be the first semester since I was in the 7th grade that I will not have a 4.0 GPA. It has hurt my pride a little, to realize that I have lost that, but I wouldn’t change it. There is something much more important going on. Her name is Jessica, and I have been shown that it is ok to lost and sacrifice other things in life, just to make sure that everything that is going on between us is right. I haven’t done it completely right, but I have been able to recognize that is OK to let go sometimes.

What a blessing.

The Capacity to Live with God

I have come to gain a greater understanding of a certain principle this week. It was one of those experiences where principles you knew to be true came to an even greater depth and application.

There are times in our lives where, when we wake up in the morning, we feel as if instead of getting out of nightmares we are waking up into one. There are times in our lives where we question how in the world it got so hard, why in the world it got so tough, and when in the world it would get easier. These moments seem to drag us down to the depths of despair, and bring us to our limits we had hoped to never see.

But there is something with that limit that surprises me. It brings us to a point where instead of destroying us, we gain a power that was previously unknown, that motivates and drives us to get out and to find a solution. We amazingly seem to get through, and then a wonderful miracle that I call growth seems to occur.

Once the storm has passed and the tempest is over, we are given the blessing of being able to look back and learn, and then turn forward and change. We are given a power

that I am fully convinced can be gained no other way. I am also fully convinced that this is exactly why the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, had to atone for the sins of the all mankind. There was no other way to fully gain the knowledge and the joy that was necessary to stand on the right hand of God. In order to obtain such glory and achieve such a purpose, an immense trial had to be experienced.

 ”And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and^btemptations of every

kind; and this that the word might befulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the

pains and thesicknesses of his people.

 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose thebands of death which bind 

his people; and he will take upon himtheir infirmities, that his bowels may be filled 

with mercy,according to the flesh, that he may know according to the fleshhow to 

succor his people according to their infirmities.

Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son ofGod suffereth according

to the flesh that he might ^ctake uponhim the sins of his people, that he might blot out 

theirtransgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and nowbehold, this 

is the testimony which is in me.” (Alma 7:11-13)

It was required. And as it was for Him, it is so for us. And I am grateful for that. I am

grateful that I have a loving Heavenly Father who, in the grand scheme of things, understands that if I am to become like Him and live with Him some day, I am going to have to go through deep pain-staking trials. I will have to experience sorrow, grief, pain, loneliness, and all other experiences that could, at least in the temporal
moment, hurt me. But then, thanks to His wonderful and perfect plan, He will give me the strength to get back up, to change, to move on, and to have a greater capacity to sustain an existence in His celestial kingdom. And so as I pray, I will thank my Father for that. I will one day, have that capacity. I will one day be strong enough to be comfortable in His presence, because through the grace of God I will have become like His Son. How grateful I am for God’s perfect plan.

It’s about the people

The most important part of life is the relationships we have with others.

This is something that I have been thinking about lately. I also believe that it is something easily forgotten, or at least something that many of us are unaware of.

As I grew up, I was blessed with a Mom who loved me. And I mean she really loved me, not just because she bought me things, or fed me, or tried to teach me good principles (which all of the above she did). When I say that I mean my Mom loved me, she took upon herself very seriously her role of motherhood, and pondered and thought and dug for ways of how she could teach us to be great. She ached to raise us in a way to brought up powerful and incredible people.

I spoke with her awhile ago about that. Since I’m in the business of creating my own family and will be married in June, I asked her about this very thing. Interestingly enough, she said that for the longest time she said thought she had failed. As we went through our teen years, she struggled and struggled to get us to do the simplest things like make our bed consistently, wash the dishes, and to pick up after ourselves. In her mind she wasn’t doing something right.

But she made a conscious decision. She decided that the relationship she had with us was more important than the to-do list she was to teach us. She didn’t want to be the “bad guy”. She didn’t want to be the one that was always on our case. Instead, she felt like it was more important to establish a good relationship with us rather than continually nag us on our chores. So, eventually, she would just pick the things up, wash our dishes, and push through trying her best to teach us the right things, hoping that someday we would get it.

Now I know that that approach may seem contrary to belief that in order to teach your kids you have to discipline them and get them to do things. In fact my Mom thought the same thing, believing that she failed. But now, looking back, that single choice to focus on the relationship rather than the to-do list saved me. It taught me how to reason. It taught me how to think and to analyze and to appreciate how much my parents actually did for me. And eventually I taught myself.

Moral of the story? When it comes down to it, it’s the people in our lives that make us who we are and makes life worth living. It’s the people we see every day that show us purpose and meaning and that feeling inside of complete joy. I am so grateful that my Mom keyed into that principle. I hope that from this day forward we can focus a little more on the people around us and the relationships we have with them, searching to cultivate a little more love and to find out what really matters in our lives.

There is still good in the world

Well, a bunch of European countries just got downgraded again. The once great Joe Paterno’s funeral came amidst one of the greatest scandals to hit college sports. The Middle East is still unsettling, and it looks like the GOP race will be caked with mud-slinging.

What do I have to say about it all? It’s ok, because there is still good in the world. There are still people that care. There are still people that love for the sake of others. There are people that sacrifice for the good of their families. There are good people out there, and that is why, amidst all this chaos, we still somehow are able to find a little bit of piece somewhere.

We can find it in several places according to our needs. Some find it in God and church, a community of followers to ideals higher than themselves in an effort to promote love and kindness. Some people can find it in the home, where love still abounds and ties can be stronger than ever. Other people can find it at work. They find it at school. They find it in the simple acts of service rendered to others.

The point is that we can all find it. The goodness is there, and if at first you think it will be impossible to find, just start with yourself. Be the first good act. Be the first kind word. And soon enough, as time goes on, the world will be a better place and you will recognize how beautiful our lives can be.

Step into the Dark

As the executive secretary up at the YSA Central 2nd ward, I got to work closely with the leadership. Something that my bishop said often during our meetings and discussions of how we could work with the ward was that, at some point, everyone needs to “take a step into the dark.”

This does not mean to delve into the unrighteous side of life. No, in fact in this case it signifies a point in life where faith is required. To step out of a the simple stagnant security of a stationary life, and to move forward into something bigger, something better, something that we can’t see yet.

I have even mentioned this before. I believe that it is human nature to want to see the end of things before we even start them. But undoubtedly, in order to progress, we reach a point where we have to just go. We can’t think of the “what-ifs”. We can’t let ourselves get caught up in the “yeah buts…”. It’s about trusting a higher power and moving forward.

 

Deception, Truth, and Faith

I just want to say before I start this post that I am excited to write about this topic. It’s been something on my mind a lot lately and I think if we can understand it in the right way, our lives will be incrediblly blessed.

Today there seems to be a lack of everything. A lack of economy, a lack of jobs, a lack of trust, a lack of love, and lack of security… just a lot of lacking. And yet, one thing that I found the world to be in excess of is confusion. There are too many opinions, too many arguments, and too many things left uncertain.

With so many ideas out there, it is my belief that one of the greatest threats to our society is this confusion and deception. How can we find truth in a world that is so caught up in relativity? For everything that we believe we know, there is bound to be someone out there someone with the same level of conviction of the opposite! How can we know?

Let’s take a second and really dive into this idea of “knowing” something. Knowledge, (and I will use synonymously the word “truth”), is the ability to percieve things as they really were, really are, and really will be. Truth is just the way it is. For example, to give several silly examples, it is true/I know that my computer is turned on right now. I know my eyes are blue.

Seems simple.

Yet as we start to talk with other people, problems start to arise. We start to confuse what in actuality are perceptions as knowledge, and therefore land ourselves into trouble. Many people are convinced, saying that they “know”, that God does/does not exist. Many people “know” that dieting works/does not work. Many people “know” that Republicans/Democrats are what is best for this country.

Let’s hold up. Those are some pretty bold claims! Who are you to say those things and declare that they are right? It sounds an awful lot more like opinion that it does actuallity to me (even if I do take sides).

May I suggest that knowledge and truth are characteristics of God. Whether you believe that a Supreme Being exists or not, we can all understand what the idea of one entails. God, especially in the Christian world, is seen as Omnipotent Omniscient. He knows and has created everything. He understands everything exactly how they are; exactly how they need to be understood. A key into understanding and dealing with people is that even on the simplest matters, what we as human beings draw to conclusions is purely perception. It is the way we see the world, and not necessarily the way world needs to be seen.

There is something about knowledge that doesn’t really last in mortality. That is what is so beautiful and necessary about faith. Knowledge can be seen, felt, and experienced in a moment. The clearest example of this is in the attainment of a testimony or a spiritual experience. When we are in the moment, and the Holy Ghost is speaking to our hearts, we experience a moment of diety. In essence we gain a glimpse of the beauty and love of God because what we are feeling is light. It’s truth and knowledge and for that instant, we can see and feel things the way that they truly are.

As soon as that moment is over however, faith is required. We can never completely recreate that experience. We can remember, and reminisce, and even play back in our minds what happened, but the actual moment of truth is a priceless treasure that is only ours to keep. The adversary knows too that this memory is a fundamental building block to the strength of our faith in the future, which is why he attacks it. He tries to get us to forget it, put it off as nothing, doubt it, or even justify it as something else. In these attempts however, one thing is sure. We cannot deny the existence of that blessing in our lives. It happened, and that is the way it really was.

And so we keep going. We move forward with faith grateful for the moments where our minds our opened to truth. They are very few and far between, and in most cases, they are completely personal. To others they will come across as perception, and probably rightfully so. That is why it is so tough to share things like that. Only those that experience such moments understand their power.

This little piece isn’t written the best, but this is what I’m trying to say. There are a lot of opinions out in the world, and it is our task to find the truth. It’s not easy, but I believe that it is possible and that we can come pretty close. It just takes work and a bit of faith. May we find the way things really are.

 

The Danger of “Entitlement”

Right- Sometimes,rights. that which is due to anyone by just claim, legal guarantees, moral principles, etc.(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/right)

There has been a lot of talk in politics about rights. Ever since the days of the Revolutionary War, the concept of gaining our “equal rights” was the theme which pushed our nation forward. If it wasn’t for that cause, the United States of America would never have come to be, and who knows in what condition the world might find itself if that were the case.

However, with every good thing there too often comes it’s opposite. There is the chance to morph something positive into something harmful and dangerous. The concepts of “rights” is just as vulnerable as the hijacked jet-airlines on 9/11 and the internet plagued with degrading and scam-full sights. In my view, America is on the brink of losing sight of what it really means to have certain rights, and what those rights should even be.

I believe that our true human rights were best explained in the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Simple yet profound words that stroke the hearts of thousands of Americans to fight for the cause of freedom.

Life most assuredly is a gift given to every man that should be honored and upheld. Life should be protected, even when it comes at the cost of it. Life is indeed precious and in the long run we all run out of it, and so no man should be able to interfere with the length at which one can spend his life. Life, in my opinion, is God’s way of telling us He loves us and that there is a purpose for everything. Something so sacred as such should be safeguarded for the eternities.

Liberty as well is a right to be cherished. I view it as the righteous use of agency, and the ability to act therefore under no repression. This as well is at the center of God’s plan for us, and in order to progress as individuals, it is required to have our liberty to act and govern ourselves.

Of the three however, I would like to focus on the concept of pursuing happiness.

Happiness is something that cannot be guaranteed nor supplied. It is for this reason that the founding fathers decided that the true right lay in the ability to pursue happiness, not necessarily to obtain it. The idea of pursuing something entails effort, time, and persistence. A reward of happiness should require by nature the largest effort available from those that seek it, and in America, that blessing became the vision of millions who came to pursue their own “American Dream.”

These days however, the pursuit of happiness is no longer considered in this light. Now the pursuit of happiness is considered to be the guarantee of happiness by the government. Our “rights” have extended to dozens of amendments to the constitution. People now believe that it is their right to choose the consequences of their actions, such as abortion. People now believe that it is their right to receive health care without working for it while others have spent their lives doing their best to provide that for their families. The list could go on. It’s as if we were entitled to all of these things.

What do I believe that we are truly entitled to? I think the word’s of King Benjamin in the Book or Mormon say it best as he reminded us of our “own nothingness” (Mosiah 4:11) and that even if we were to spend all our lives serving God, we would still be “unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:21). The key is that God sent us down here to work, and that in order to get things in life we have to roll up our sleeves and earn it. If we are to be like God someday, the grace of Jesus Christ isn’t going to help those that are lazy, or those with excuses, or those that expect God to do everything for them.

Even without the concept of God involved, where is the responsibility? How can we expect ourselves to be successful if we wish that the government provide everything for us? And where is the end of it all? If health care were a right, shouldn’t there be a right to have something to eat everyday? What about a nice place to stay? Don’t we all have the right to work?

The answer is yes, but they are rights that we have to earn for ourselves. It’s not a matter of greed, it’s a matter of responsibility. It’s a matter of being selfless. It’s a matter of not expecting things for yourself and earning it for yourself and the good of others.

As JFK so wonderfully put, ”ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.”

May we all give more than we take is my prayer.

As Life Goes On

High school. Mission. College. Marriage.

One stage at a time, life has taken its course and gone as if on its own through some dramatic changes. Each one exciting, each one a little unfamiliar, and each one definitely worth it. Once again, I find myself at the boundary line of something I once knew and enjoyed, with something quite mysterious and exciting.

Feelings I never expected have come at every transition such as this one. Ironically, many of these unexpected feelings are the same, yet I assume that their infrequent occurrence is the reason for the surprise. At each point, I initially found my mind completely consumed in the imagination of what the next stage of life would entail. Who I would be with, the experiences I would have, the places I would be. It was an exciting change and those feelings seemed like a natural and exhilarating part of making the big switch. But then came the few moments before “the” moment. These were the days, hours, or even seconds before the actual transition occurred. These were the moments I least expected.

It wasn’t until graduation day that I realized it was over. High school was no more part of my life. I was no longer a student and I could never be so again, and the daily relationships I had with my peers were almost immediately gone once that day came to a close. It wasn’t until I sat on the couch at home, the night before my entrance into the MTC, that I realized that I wouldn’t be able to see my family in two years, and my brother in three and a half. I couldn’t talk to them, joke with them, or show my love for them, adding the fact that I would miss key moments in their lives. And it wasn’t until I sat alone in my apartment in Salt Lake City that for the first time in my life I was all on my own. No companion, no parents, no friends. Just myself.

Eventually those unnerving feelings wore off, especially with the joy I experienced as I grew to love my newfound life. With time, and often without me knowing, I eventually came to a point where I felt like the spot where I was at was the very purpose of my existence. I was born to be there, as if it was all I had ever known. Life was set, life was working, life was good. And then eventually along came another drastic change….

And then life still got better.

I love that about life. I love that about our God. It is a complete preparation for that ultimate transition we will all eventually make from this life to the next. I believe we will experience many of the same feelings. Excitement, a little nervousness about the unknown, but a knowledge that whatever lies beyond the next stage, our Heavenly Father makes it so it’s better than we knew, more fulfilling than we knew, happier than we knew.

And so I welcome the next transition.

BCS no good, and still we move on

After this past weekend’s slur of upsets and changes in the Bowl Championship Series, the rankings in the BCS poll created an even more evident example of how the current post-season set up does not in fact determine the best team in the nation.

We now have three teams from the same conference (and same division even) occupying the top three spots. LSU at #1, followed by Alabama and then Arkansas. What gets me about this is that if LSU and Alabama win out, then the championship game is going to be played between two teams that have already played each other this year, one of which that couldn’t even win their conference championship! There is no way that a team that isn’t able to win it’s conference should be able to win the national title. However in the system that we have now, if things continue, that is exactly what will happen.

Are they the two best teams in the nation? In reality that’s a dumb question because there is no way to tell. It’s all opinionated. I hope just for the sake of proving this that Auburn beats on ‘Bama and that Arkansas takes it to LSU. That way the polls would implode and it would be obvious that some kind of tournament is needed.

The alternatives are there, the options exist, it’s just the same story that the money and power of the Presidents and conferences come first, and so things will never change. So we just have to accept it, sit back, and be grateful that college football can’t go through a lock out.

When it’s all said and done, I still love college football.

This is love

I’m engaged. And for good reason too. I am planning on spending the rest of my life and into eternity with a girl that far exceeds expectations I ever had in my dreams. And it’s because I love her.

I’ve been preparing for this the past 10 months or so. Love has to be experienced over time to really come to understand it’s depth, but I believe that I was better prepared to understand what it was (especially in the early stages) because I studied it. I searched to understand what it was and how I could feel it and cultivate it, so that when I was to meet Jessica Mitchell and know she was the one I would want to marry, I would be ready. This is what I’ve learned through study and late experience.

Love is a choice coupled with a gift. A gift because it is strengthened and fortified by God, and a choice because we are the only ones that can make it happen. Love does not “just happen” to someone. I think that is one of the grandest misconceptions of love. It is not easy, nor does it come easy, nor is it effortless. It is a choice that requires work and sacrifice (which I will get into later), but most importantly, it’s a choice.

It has to be. It is no coincidence that Christ commanded men to “love one another” and to “love God with all thine heart.” Those phrases were given in command form, which entails that we must choose to obey that commandment or not. I think this is best highlighted in my experience with my fiance’. When I first met her, I found that there was someone else already in her life. Normally, I back off, I decide that it’s better to just leave it be and move on. But this time was different. I distinctly remember sitting on my bed, thinking. Thinking about the disappointment that I had no chance. And then, for some reason, the impression came.

“Go for it.”

That single thought kept running through my head. Just go for it I thought to myself. You have nothing to lose and she just might be worth it. 

Was she ever worth it!

So I made my choice and decided to go for it. It was a choice. It didn’t just happen to me, but it was my decision to try and date her.

Then came the effort. I have never in my life put so much effort into a single person than I have for Jessica. When I made my decision to date her, I came to the realization that the only way I was going to be successful was if I put my heart and soul into everything I tried. The only way to win her, the only thing I think she would ever accept, is my best. And she has been the only one so far worth it enough for me to give my best. That is why love is effort. Love is work. Love is realizing that in order to get the best out of love you have to give the best of yourself. You do things you’ve never done before. You think of things you’ve never thought before. And you go to lengths and ends farther than you’ve ever reached before. It’s when you make that kind of effort for someone that magic starts to happen.

And that is why love is sacrifice. In reality, it is no sacrifice at all. Too often we think of sacrifice as something negative, that we have to give up something very important to us. That is only part of the story! Sacrifice, by definition, is giving up something important for something that is more important. You get something better than the something you lost! And that is why I love Jessica. What I’ve gained far exceeds anything that I have gone without, and so the sacrifice for me is exciting. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it and brings me more joy and happiness out of living than I ever imagined possible.

And that joy comes only because it is focused on someone else. My love is focused on her. Making her life better, happier, more satisfying. Love is selfless.

Mormon had it right when he said, “And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail- But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love…”

I have found love. May you choose and find it too.