Heaven

"Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject."

                                                     -Joseph Smith

Parable of the Refiner's Fire

I'm pretty sure that we've all gone through a hard time in our lives, right?  For some, it may have gone on longer than others, or is still going on.  Well, I was going through that a few years back.  And my friend, Keith, said some inspired words.  Keith is absolutely wonderful.  He is such a strong Spirit, and he is so in-tune with the Spirit.  Anyway, he uttered these words, or something along these lines.  I can't remember the exact quote, but here's my paraphrase-ment: "Just remember that a silversmith, to get the metal into its purest form, has to put the metal into the hottest part of the fire."

Naturally, my brain tried to figure out what he just said, and what in the world it had to do with me.  I came to the conclusion that we, as humans, are the metal.  The silversmith is God, and the fire is life.  Sometimes, we may look around, and think "why am I the only one who's going through this?  My life is so hard, and a lot of other people's lives are so easy!  Why is God doing this to me?"  Well, through that hard part in your life, just remember that your imperfections and weaknesses are being burned right out of you, leaving a pure, more perfect Son or Daughter of God.

Keep it up.  You are absolutely amazing.  God loves you so much, I promise you that.  There is so much for you to do in this life, just keep going.  You are able to bless so many people.  God has given you the instruments to do so (through talents, circumstances, etc.)  Your job, now, is to figure out how you can accomplish that.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of God.  I love the Gospel.  I love my Lord.  I love my Father.  I know that Jesus Christ lives.  I know, with all my heart, that He died for us so that we can repent and come back to Him.  I know my family loves me.  I know that this life is placed here for us to polish ourselves, and become better.  And I think it does a pretty good job of that.  I would like to say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Prayer

As we progress through our lives, continuing performing our church duties, we sometimes tend to fall into the rhythm of things.  We start to just go through the motions.  I am probably one of the people who is most guilty of this.  When we go through the motions, we completely forget the whole point of it all.  We start to "look beyond the mark," as Jacob said in Jacob 4:14.  We miss the most important part of it all, we miss the entire reason we are here.  Yes, we are here to get a body, and to obey the commandments.  But, above all, we are here to continue to develop our personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ.

Developing and maintaining those relationships with God the Father and Christ can bring us so much joy.  Whenever I'm just going through the motions, and forgetting the basis of the whole Gospel (Jesus), I always feel like there's something missing.  In those instances, I have never been able to attain that perfect, everlasting happiness.  I feel alone, and slightly cold.  I mean, it is so great that you're keeping the Commandments, but without that personal relationship, it's truthfully not going to avail you too much.  Like, who wants to dwell eternally with a God with whom they don't know very well?

Now, the question is this: "how can we develop this relationship with God?"  Well, how do you develop a relationship with a classmate, or with a family member?  You talk with them.  You confide in them.  And overall, you learn to trust them, even trust them with your life.  The more you talk to them, the stronger the bond becomes.  And the way in which we talk with our Heavenly Father is prayer.  When we get down on our knees, and sincerely pour our heart out to Him, that is talking to the Almighty.  That is where the bond forms.

However, communication is a two-way street.  We can talk to Him through prayer.  Then, how does He talk to us?  He accomplishes this in a few ways.  First, we can listen.  After we finish a prayer, we should sit and ponder for a moment, and give Him a chance to respond to what we just told Him.  Another way that He can communicate to us is through the Holy Scriptures.  God has placed little hidden gems within the scriptures, that He knew that you would need, with His infinite foreknowledge.  We can receive personal messages directly from our Father by reading the scriptures.

Brothers and Sisters, I pray that we can receive that relationship with our God.  I know that through that, we can have eternal and everlasting happiness.  I love my Lord, and I love my Father.  I know that this is the true church here on this Earth today.  I know that God loves us, each individually and specifically.  I would like to say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, amen.

Because of Him

I absolutely love this video.  This really brings into perspective all that He did, and it just makes it so much more real for me.  Happy Easter everyone. :-)

Parable of the Painting

As many of you might know, I am very fond of parables and analogies.  They make my journey in understanding the world much easier, and I hope they can help you as well.

One idea that I have been pondering recently, is the idea that our lives are similar to a painting; a work of art (contributed to a few EFY songs, including Masterpiece by Julie De Azevedo and While We’re Young by April Meservy and JB Ahfua.)

In thinking about this, I have envisioned myself before a white canvas, painting.  Meanwhile, my mentors and tutors, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, occasionally come over to me to give me suggestions on how to make a beautiful painting.  Well, they’re not suggestions.  They’re commandments.  He knows our desires to make beautiful paintings, and he has given us instructions and guides to help us to accomplish that.

However, let me point out one thing: He has only given us guides. The test of mortality is to obey what the Father has commanded us to do, but we still need to fill in the gaps between the guides, and still make our painting beautiful. In Doctrine and Covenants section 58 verse 26, the Lord explain to Joseph Smith "For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward." In other words, if the Lord has to paint our picture for us, it's all kind of pointless, right? He only sets the qualifications, and we use our Agency to make the rest of it beautiful.

I pray that we all make our works of art in the Highest standard, and that we may all live with Him once again. I know that He lives. I know that He has paid the price for my sins, and I will be forever grateful to Him for that. I love my Lord. I love my Father. I say these things in the eternally sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Alma 37:6

As Jesus spoke before the multitudes, one of the most memorable aspects of his teachings was the simplicity of what he proclaimed.  For example, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed "And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not though away."

Pretty simple, right?

Well, a few things.  I've noticed that amongst this simplicity and straight-forwardness, we (or at least I) wish for something a little more hard and complicated than this.  I start to think "Okay, Heavenly Father, I understand that.  Now, show me the real, hard stuff."  I really need to learn my lesson.  The Chosen People of the Old Testament also started to feel this way.  They noticed how easy it was to understand it, and they began to ask Heavenly Father for harder things.  They wanted a challenge.  Heavenly Father knew that that wasn't the correct way to go, but He gave them what they asked for, anyway.  In response to their prayers, God sent the prophet Isaiah, and along with that, he gave many dreams and visions to His chosen Prophet.  Now, I'm fairly sure that most of us have had experience with these visions that Isaiah was blessed with (see the latter half of 2nd Nephi in the Book of Mormon, and also the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament of the Bible.)  They are extremely confusing, and at least for me, I sometimes understand a little part here and there, but the majority of things taught and spoken are just way over my head.  It seems like we have now come to dread reading those passages.

I don't mean to put words in God's mouth, but I believe that those verses are two-fold.  First, I believe they were a form of rebukement for those early Saints.  I think that God's thoughts were along the lines of "okay, you prayed for harder things.  Here you go.  Now you are going to be held accountable for knowing the doctrines and principles within those chapters.  Good luck."  And that brings me to the second part of that decision.  Those doctrines and principles that I mentioned, the ones that are hidden deep within the visions of Isaiah, are so sweet and pure and wonderful.  If we honestly, and diligently seek for those gold flecks of understanding, I know that we will be blessed.  In the small instances where I've had a flash of understanding, though brief, I have glimpsed the glory of such wonderful teachings.  I know that there's more to those accounts than just "Oh, he had a weird dream."  They are absolutely filled to the brim with such amazing truths, I know they are.  I know with all my heart that if we want to know what's in there, and we actually try to understand, then the Lord will grant us that understanding.

Lessons to learn from this story?  First, don't wish for something that you don't have.  Heavenly Father knows exactly how to take care of His Children, just trust Him.  He knows exactly what He is doing.  Second lesson?  Some things are worth working for.  Those things, if we work for them, we will treasure them more than anything else, because we know how hard it was to get them.  We will hold them in such high esteem, and hold them so dear to our hearts.

I know with all my heart that this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church here on the Earth today.  I know that God lives, and I know that He loves me.  He loves you, more than anything.  I love the Lord my God, and I love my dear Father who dwells in Heaven.  I love this Gospel with all my heart, and I say these things in the sacred name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen.

Words by Michelangelo

"And still, I am learning."

Michelangelo

More words

This made me want to cry when I first saw this.  I know that this is true with all my heart; He has always been there for me, and I'm positive He will be right next to me forever more.  I know that this can be true for everybody else, and that it is true.  Just think about it. :-)