The Parable of the Air Potato

To stray from my normal theme of going through the alphabet letter by letter, I thought I'd mix things up a bit with a parable. So without further ado, I give you, The Parable of the Air Potato.

And there went certain missionaries to the Ravine Gardens State Park to more fully "go about doing good" (Acts 10:38).

And that's about as far as my Bible lingo goes. Our first task, and one that will be our most frequent task in our volunteer work at the Ravine Gardens, was that of picking up air potatoes.

What, you may ask is an air potato? An excellent question, which I will now address. Air potatoes come from a vine that was brought to Florida from Asia long ago as a decorative plant. The vine however has become a weed that is choking out the natural vegetation. This vine has leaves that form a heart shape and produces countless air potatoes which drop to the ground. These air potatoes cannot be used for anything, it's only function is to produce more of this vine. Each air potato has  the potential to become a new vine producing even more air potatoes and choking out even more vegetation. You can see how this is a problem.

One of the larger air potatoes

Our task was to gather these air potatoes before they became new vines. We gather them and they then are thrown in garbage dispenser to be taken to a landfill. We started out confident that we would be able to find many air potatoes very easily since we had been told that they were all over the park. My dear companion and I soon discovered that this was not the case. We had been scanning the trail side and couldn't find any. It was becoming increasingly frustrating. Then, we saw one of our fellow missionaries on his knees, sifting through the brush and finding numerous air potatoes in various sizes. Some as small as my pinky nail, others about the size of a baby's head. We followed the example of this elder and got down on our knees. As we sifted through the brush, we could feel many of these smaller air potatoes and soon had gathered a good sackful of air potatoes. Some of them were deeply rooted and we had to dig deep and pull with all our might to dislodge these stubbornly populous air potatoes. We did get a couple of scrapes from the experience but we were able to rid the park of a good number of these infectious air potatoes.

Now to repeat the question often asked, "what's that got to do with the price of tea in China?" Or in Biblical terms, "what meaneth this parable?" Fear not dear reader, an explanation is at hand.

Sin is like unto the vine, it is something that is not natural with our spiritual nature even though Satan would have us believe that it is something that looks nice and surely will cause us no great harm. It's leaves make a heart shape, it can't be bad right? WRONG! Sin is a weed, it is garbage that has no right to infect our souls yet we invite it in. It is not something that was originally a part of our souls but if we let it in, it becomes infectious and tries to choke out all the good in life. The vines can be torn down, but there's still those air potatoes or habits which will allow the sin/vine to keep coming back.

Many examples have gone on before us and we have the scriptures which helps us understand how to experience true and lasting repentance. It's when we get down on our knees and pray that the real work starts. We are then able to pick up and rid ourselves of our sins in their various sizes as we sift through our undergrowth and weed out the bad. Some sins require some deep digging and more effort than others in order for complete removal. If we are persistent in efforts though, the air potato/sin will come free and we can rid our souls from it's grasp. Sure we'll get some scrapes along the way, but in the end we know that we are better off than we used to be. It's a process that takes a while and takes continual up-keeping but it is well worth the effort we set forth.

Remember, it is never too late to start picking up air potatoes, so get down on your knees, and start working.

J is for Judging Others

Judging others. A two word phrase that could easily cause us to stumble. The Savior taught us, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged (Matthew 7:1-2). We need to be careful with how we look at and treat others. Often times, there is much more going on than what we can physically see. It is very easy to misjudge others at first glance or even after knowing them for quite some time.

There comes to my mind a story that was told by the prophet Thomas S. Monson:

"A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash.
'That laundry’s not clean!' Lisa exclaimed. 'Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!'
John looked on but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.
A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, 'Look, John--she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.'
John replied, 'Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!'
...Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgments when we don’t have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgments do we make about them?
Said the Savior, 'Judge not.' (Matthew 7:1) He continued, 'Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?' (Matthew 7:3) Or, to paraphrase, why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor’s house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?
None of us is perfect. I know of no one who would profess to be so. And yet for some reason, despite our own imperfections, we have a tendency to point out those of others. We make judgments concerning their actions or inactions.
There is really no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: 'Judge not.'" ("Charity Never Faileth")

We all have areas in which we fall short. Do we want others to focus only on those things with which we struggle? We must not do this to others.

We must also be careful not to judge others according to their circumstances for our circumstances do not reflect who we truly are. A shinning example of this, for me at least, is the popular Disney character Aladdin.

Aladdin was a very poor young man living in the streets of Agraba. He was always scrapping for food and as a result was always on the run from the palace guards. Everyone referred to him as "street rat." Aladdin never took their criticisms to heart though, he continued to show kindness and compassion to others. In a moment of self reflection Aladdin states, "if only they'd look closer, would they see a poor boy? No siree! They'd find out, there's so much more to me." This proves to be quite true as later he is sought out as "the diamond in the rough." This phrase means "a person who is generally of good character but lacks manners, education, or style" (New Oxford American Dictionary). Aladdin didn't have the best in life and outwardly appeared to be someone of little consequence but with a heart of gold. We are implored to remember that people, "like so many things, it is not what is in the outside, but the inside that counts." This same concept is told to us in the Bible where we read, "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

It is so important to remember how the Lord sees each individual so that we can look past how we naturally see someone. To quote Thomas S. Monson, "Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: 'If you judge people, you have no time to love them.' The Savior has admonished, 'This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.' (John 15:12) I ask: can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer--with Mother Teresa: no, we cannot."

This leads me to think of the Old Testament prophet Jonah. The Lord told him to teach repentance to the people of Ninevah, a very wicked city. He was very reluctant to accept the task, thinking the people would surely reject him and the words of God. After some persuasion from God, in loving being in the belly of a whale for three days, Jonah ends up going to Ninevah and preaching repentance to the people and that Ninevah would be destroyed. Upon hearing this, the people of Ninevah humbled themselves before God and repented of the evils they had done. God recognized their true change of heart and so turned away His anger from them and didn't destroy the city. Jonah couldn't let go of his judgement of the people though and was angry with the Lord for sparing Ninevah. He was so busy judging them by their past that he left no room in his heart to love what they had become. (For full account see Jonah.)

It takes a great deal of charity to refrain from judging others. As we grow more in our charity and love towards each other, "[we] will avoid judging others, criticizing them, or saying negative things about them. [We] will try to understand them and their points of view. [We] will be patient with them and try to help them when they are struggling or discouraged." (Preach My Gospel: "Charity and Love")

Each of us has judged and been judged falsely. It is never a pleasant or peaceful feeling no matter which side of it you're on. It is not our place to judge. "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Romans 14:10). Christ is the ultimate judge and all of His judgements are just and perfect, far different from our own. Therefore, let us leave it in the hands of Christ and judge less and love more.

I is for Integrity

Integrity. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, integrity is, "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles." In other words, one must have both honesty and strong moral principles in order to be a possessor of integrity. Furthermore, "integrity means thinking and doing what is right at all times, no matter what the consequences. When you have integrity, you are willing to live by your standards and beliefs even when no one is watching. (For the Strength of the Youth: Honesty and Integrity). Integrity takes a lot of faith and hope in Jesus Christ, for it is through him that all things are possible. Integrity is something that comes from the heart.

The author of Proverbs states, "The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them." (Proverbs 11:3). There's a lot of power in integrity and it affects not only the person exercising integrity, but also those around them. This brings to mind three examples of people whose integrity did just that.

The first example is that of one of the few righteous women mentioned in the scriptures, Esther. Now, you might think Esther being an example of courage. However, the principle of integrity takes a great amount of courage, for it is not always easy to do what is right. In a set of unique circumstances, Esther, Jewish by blood and religion, becomes the queen of Persia. The Kings right-hand man, Hamman, hardened the heart of the king against the Jews and got the king to sign a decree that all Jews were to be killed on a designated day, unaware that the new queen was also a Jew. Esther knew that her lineage and religious association was unknown to the king. It would have been so easy for her to say nothing, to not claim herself as a Jew. However, she knew the injustice of this decree and knew that she needed to stand up for herself and for her people. This meant that she would have to consult with the king. To go before the king uninvited was a crime worthy of death. After much fasting and prayer though, Esther went before the king and eventually told him how this decree would affect her and her family. In great mercy, the king repealed the decree. (For full account see The Book of Esther)

Esther's integrity saved not only herself but also her people. Despite the possible penalties that could have befallen her, she's stood firm in her faith and did was right even though it wasn't easy.

I saw a movie a little while back that truly impressed me with one man's integrity, entitled Les Misérables based off the novel by Victor Hugo. One of the main characters in the movie is Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean spent 19 years in prison and when granted freedom was still expected to keep parole. He chose to break his parole though to escape the burdens of being a branded man. Many years passed by and Valjean turned over a new leaf. He had become a great benefactor and the mayor of a small town. All is going well until his former jailer, Javir gets assigned to his town. Javir believes he recognizes Valjean but a few days later apologizes to him saying he thought wrong because they just caught the fugitive Jean Valjean. Javir departs leaving Valjean with a difficult choice to make. An innocent man had been arrested and thought to be him. He recognizes the easy path. He could let this man take this place, and he would never have to worry about running from the law again. He instead decided to turn himself in and in turn saved another man's life from being ruined. Valjean lost everything in doing this but he was able to hold on to what was most important, his integrity. Often times, integrity isn't the easy thing to do but it is always rewarding. If not physically, spiritually. 

That leads me to my next and last example of three men as told in the wonderful words of my father that can be found in the third chapter of Daniel:

"The king, Nebuchadnezzar, had a large golden image constructed which he wanted the people to fall down and worship when signaled by the playing of certain music.  Those not doing so would be thrown into a fiery furnace.

Certain Chaldeans informed the king that three of his appointed rulers in the land of Babylon did not fall down and worship the golden image as directed by the king's orders. The king called the three (Shadrach, Meshach, & Abed-nego) before him and demanded an explanation.   Their response was a direct one:  'If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.' (Daniel 3:17-18) A simple statement filled with facts & faith.

Nebuchadnezzar was so enraged with their response that he had the furnace heated up seven times more than it was built to be heated.  The three Jews were taken and bound by some of the strongest men at the king's disposal.  They then were tossed into the furnace, which possessed such intense heat that the men who did the tossing instantly suffered a fiery death.

'Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was so astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?  They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.' (Daniel 3:24-25)

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were called from the super-hot furnace by the king praising the name of the God of the three who were totally unharmed by the flames in the furnace...they didn't even have the smell of smoke on them!

A great account of three faithful men.  What hit me with this reading was this:  There are times in our lives that we are definitely put through the 'fire' with some of the challenges and obstacles we must face.  Yet, just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, we are not left alone in the fire...heavenly companionship is also offered to us in our most trying times.  Conditions were better for the people after the furnace experience of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego...just like we are better after rising from our own personal fiery furnace."

How could I word it any better than that? These men demonstrated great integrity and made things better for all those other believers of God around them.

To restate the scripture from Proverbs, "The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them." (Proverbs 11:3). Imagine what it would have been like for the Jews if Esther had remained silent. Imagine what it would have been like for that innocent man if Jean Valjean had not confessed who he was. Imagine what it would have been like for the people wanting to worship God if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abend-nego had not stood their ground. Take away their integrity and is the situation better? No! It is not. These people brought to pass much greatness because of their integrity. You have that same power my dear readers.

We are given much spiritual strength when we cleave to our integrity so let us be as Job and boldly proclaim:
"til I die I will not remove my integrity from me"! (Job 27:5)

H is for Hope

Hope. Directly related to the principle of faith, hope "is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you" (Preach My Gospel: Chapter 6 Christlike Attributes; Hope). It is essential for happiness for "if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair" (Moroni 10:22). Hope is to expect or anticipate something better, It means always looking forward and not backwards.

There's an Irish proverb that states: "Hope is the physician of each misery.”  Hope can bring us through the darkest storms of life so it truly can heal our miseries along with the atonement of Jesus Christ. This Irish proverb also brought to my mind, several circumstances in which hope proved to be the perfect physician needed.

The first instance is from the Bible regarding a man named Job. Now one might think that his story is one of endurance rather than one of hope. I would counter that it is impossible for one to endure without hope.

Job was a righteous man. He kept the commandments, he loved and worshipped God. This really bothered Satan, as he desires all men to be miserable like unto himself (see 2 Nephi 2:27). Satan wanted to see how faithful to God Job would really be when times were rough, for it is our trails that show our true character. God allowed Satan to test Job because He knew that Job could handle it. For God does not allow us to be tempted above what we are capable of handling (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). And so Job had a Murphy's Law moment of life, when everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. All of his property was destroyed and his whole family was killed. He gets terrible boils and even his friends desert him. Yet through it all, he never forsook God or was angry with him. He had moments of sorrow where he really struggled, who wouldn't? However, he kept his faith in Christ and said of Christ: "he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10).  And as he continued to have hope, he saw himself come forth so much stronger "as gold" and received even more than he had to start with, all because of his never-failing hope in Christ (for full account see Job).

 The next example that came to mind is that of the recently deceased Nelson Mandela, a great leader in the civil rights movement in South Africa. For those of you less familiar with this amazing man, here's a brief background from a letter my father wrote me:

"[Nelson Mandela] was put in prison for 27 years due to the fact that he fought against apartheid, [a segregated political system], in his country. He became a world-wide symbol of what was wrong in that country in the name of apartheid and a man willing to stand up for what he believed in. More than once he was offered freedom by the government if he would denounce his fighting against apartheid...he refused because he felt so strongly against it. Four years after he was released from prison, he was elected President of South Africa. During the inauguration, some of his invited guests were his jailers." My father then proceeded to share with me a true story regarding Nelson Mandela as told by former US president, Bill Clinton:

"That was pretty smart of you to have your jailers come to the inauguration and all of that, but let me ask you something...didn't you really hate them for what they did?"
Nelson replied...
"Oh, yeah, I hated them for a long time. I stayed alive on hate for 12 years. I broke rocks every day, and I stayed alive on hate. They took a lot away from me. They took me away from my wife, and it subsequently destroyed my marriage. They took me away from seeing my children grow up. They abused me mentally and physically. And one day, I realized that they could take it all except my mind and my heart."
He paused and then continued...
"Those things I would have to give to them, and I simply decided not to give them away."
And so I said to Nelson...
"Well, what about when you were getting out of prison? The day you got out of prison in 1990. It was a Sunday morning, and I got my daughter up early in the morning, and I took her down to the kitchen, and I turned on the television, and she was just a little girl then, and I sat her up on the kitchen counter. And I said 'Chelsea, I want you to watch this. This is one of the most important things you'll ever see in your life.'
"I watched you walk down that dirt road to freedom. Now, when you were walking down there, and you realized how long you had been in their prison, didn't you hate them then? Didn't you feel some hatred?"
Nelson replied...
"Yes, I did a little bit, I felt that. And frankly, I was kind of afraid too, because I hadn't been free in so long. As I felt the anger rising up, I thought to myself, 'Nelson.  They have already had you for 27 years. And if you keep hating them, they'll have you again.' And I said to myself: 'I want to be free.'
"And so I let it go. I let it go."

When first reading this story my father shared with me, I considered it to be merely about forgiveness. However when I read and reflected on it again, I found that it is also very much about hope. No person can spend 27 years in prison and still have a positive outlook on life without holding fast to hope every day of that 27 years. It is this bright hope which Nelson Mandela chose to cling to instead of hate. Some might say that he hoped for freedom. I would say that his hope was his freedom. It allowed him to keep what his jailers could not take and as such found freedom emotionally and spiritually and, then much later, physical freedom followed.

As the author of Proverbs states, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." (Proverbs13:12). Or in other words, when you don't have hope, you are spiritually crippling yourself, but when hope is rooted inside of you, it is the source of much strength and growth. This was true for Job, this was true for Nelson Mandela, this is true for me, and it is true for you my dear readers.

There was a time in my life when I let go of hope. There were many things in my life that were going wrong and I chose to focus on them. As I did so, my hope was rapidly diminishing and I was making my heart
sick. As I abandoned hope, I began abandoning other things as well. I abandoned sociability, I abandoned praying, I abandoned studying the scriptures. I was abandoning light and sinking into darkness. The world seemed to be caving in on me and I saw no end to the state I was in.

A friend who is dear and near to my heart reached out to me in this period of crisis and urged me to find hope and strength to carry on by going straight to the source and asking for it. This dear friend implored that I get on my knees and open my scriptures and that through doing these things I would find what I so desperately needed. This friend invited me to cease my acceptance of darkness and seek once more for light. I heeded their advice and and prayed to my Father in Heaven, asking for the hope and strength to make it through another day. As I repeated this process each day, and once again started to once again to study the scriptures, I noticed a gradual increase of light in my life. No matter where I was reading in the scriptures, there we're continually verses of comfort, hope and strength. I recognized this as my Heavenly Father answering my prayers and feeding hope to my troubled soul.

My dear, dear readers, learn from my mistake and do not differ hope and make your heart sick. Nourish hope, and it will be a tree of life unto you. I know that hope is a choice and if you don't choose hope,
"ye must needs be in despair" (Moroni 10:22). So choose to "hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." (Ether 12:4)

The ABC's of Life

My father came across this and shared it with me and it ties in perfectly with the theme of my blog. So enjoy my dear readers!

The ABC's of Life

Accept differences, Be kind, Count your blessings, Dream, Express thanks, Forgive, Give freely, Harm no one, Imagine more, Jettison anger, Keep confidences, Love truly, Master something, Nurture hope, Open your mind, Pack Lightly, Quell Rumors, Reciprocate, Seek wisdom, Touch hearts, Understand, Value truth, Win graciously, Xeriscape, Yearn for peace, Zealously support a worthy cause.

G is for Grace

Grace. It's a word most of us hear a lot but many of us do not fully understand. It has a lot to do with the atonement and Christ's charity for us. By definition, grace is "divine means of help or strength" and it is "given through the bounteous mercy of Jesus Christ" (Bible Dictionary "Grace").

In order to fully understand grace, we must understand what mercy means because mercy is part of grace. As found in the Webster's Dictionary, mercy has three definitions: "1. A kind and gentle treatment of a wrong doer or some unfortunate person. 2. A kind, sympathetic disposition; willingness to forgive, spare or help 3. A blessing as an act of divine love." So grace is Christ having great compassion and love for each of us.

To further our understanding of grace, we must also understand that there are three main parts of the grace of our Savior. The first is that through His grace, we will be resurrected. This means that after we die, our bodies will be reunited with our spirit once more, never to be separated again (see Alma 11:45 and Bible Dictionary "Grace") Second, through grace, the atonement, and repentance, we will receive "strength and assistance to do good works that [we] otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to [our] own means." (Bible Dictionary "Grace"). Third, grace allows us to gain eternal life, which means we get to live with God and our families forever (see Bible Dictionary "Grace" and http://mormon.org/values/family)

These two explanations further our understanding of grace and how we are fully dependent on it. However, this all might just be sounding like a bunch of words to you my dear reader. Allow me to illustrate grace with a parable, or a story. There's something about parables that make things just resonate with us more. Jesus Christ, the Master Teacher, showed us this by using parables constantly throughout His earthly ministry. The parable I found for grace goes as follows:

"Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.

If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing ('Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!'), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with Mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.

In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and say: 'Follow me' (Matthew 4:19); “Keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we see His requirements as being way too much to ask, maybe it is because we do not yet see through Christ’s eyes. We have not yet comprehended what He is trying to make of us.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said, 'The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change' (The Lord’s Way [1991], 223; emphasis in original). Let’s put that in terms of the child pianist: The child must practice the piano, but this practice has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change...

 'But don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.' Now wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning process? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?

There should never be just two options: perfection or giving up. When learning the piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No. Growth and development take time. Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. When we understand grace, we understand that the blessings of Christ’s Atonement are continuous and His strength is perfect in our weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). When we understand grace, we can, as it says in the Doctrine and Covenants, 'continue in patience until [we] are perfected' (D&C 67:13).

Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now." (Brad Wilcox "His Grace is Sufficient")

So you see, grace is a part of our lives every day. It's not something we're waiting to receive, rather it's something we are constantly receiving. In the words of Stephen E. Robinson: "By his grace, we live and breathe. By grace, we are spiritually begotten children of heavenly parents...By grace, a plan was prepared and a savior designated for humanity when Adam and Eve fell. By grace, the good news comes...and by grace we have the agency to accept it by grace that comes through faith in Christ, we start the repentance process; and by grace we are justified and made part of God's kingdom even while the process is still incomplete. The grace of God has been involved in our spiritual progress from the beginning and will be involved in our progress until the end. It therefore belittles God's grace to think of it as only a cherry added at the last moment as a mere finishing touch to what we have already accomplished on our own without any help from God. Instead the reverse would be a truer proposition: Our efforts are the cherry on top added to all that God had already done for us." ("Believing Christ": by Stephen E Robinson, May 1993).

It is by and through grace that all things are possible and gives us the strength to endure to the end and hope that we can return to our Father in Heaven once more.

F is for Faith

Faith. To have faith is a hope in things which are not seen which are true (see Hebrews 11:1 and Alma 32:21). "To have faith is to have confidence in someone and something or someone" and it "must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation" (Bible Dictionary "Faith").

Faith is our first stepping block. It is because of faith that everything else is possible. Faith leads us to action. Faith leads us to repent using the atonement which leads us to the desire to be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and then endure to the end.

Faith, as mentioned above, requires confidence. Confidence in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That He lives and that He is ready to help us do incredible things, that without Him would be impossible.

I'm reminded of a story from the Bible of Peter:

"And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray : and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer ; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith , wherefore didst thou doubt ? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased" (Matthew 14:22-32). 

Now there are several things that I just love about this story. The first is that Jesus waited until the fourth watch to go to his disciples. The had to endure the first three watches before Christ came. Similarly, our faith needs to be tested for "weak things become strong unto [us]" (Ether 12:27).

Next, I want to focus on Peter, who desired to walk on the water and come unto Christ. He started to walk on the water but when he looked away from the Savior, he began to sink. In this moment, he cries out to the Master and pleads for help and the Master stretches forth His hand.

In our own lives, we sometimes shift our focus off of the Savior. When we do so, we begin to sink. We must then cry out for His help and He will freely give it if we ask. However, even in crying out for help is exercising faith in Him who is mighty to save (2 Nephi 31:19).

We must remember though, our faith is what produces miracles and not the other way around. "The Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith" (Mosiah 23:21) and then according to our faith, we are blessed (see Matthew 9:29). In my life, my faith has been tried time and time again. My most faith building moments have most often come through my most difficult times in life. Interesting how that works.

My companion had an experience in her last area that proved to strengthen her faith despite the whirlwind it put her faith through. Here is what she said of the experience:

"It was a hot Saturday and my companion and I were contacting people in a neighborhood near where we lived just before lunch time.
We were walking down a sidewalk when we spied a man trimming his bushes in his front yard. He immediately caught our interest not just because we are missionaries and we talk to everyone, but because this man was trimming his bushes with a machete. 
So I called out to him and asked him what he was doing. He friendlily responded that he was trimming his bushes, and asked us if we wanted to try it. We answered in the affirmative (how many chances were we going to get to trim bushes, let alone with this cool sword thing!). He showed us how to hold it and swing it and we discovered his name was Scott.
After chatting for a bit, while swinging his machete around, Scott asked us who we were and why we were out and about. We told him we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and now Scott's interest was peaked. He told us of a good encounter he had with a Mormon who was a cop. He got out some lawn chairs and we sat and talked on his porch. The discussion we had, plus a few others we had with him after that, put many questions and doubts in my mind.
Scott, as it turned out, was a faith healer. Not the kind you see on TV who yell and lay hands on someone who faints, then jumps back up again screaming that they've been healed, but a very soft spoken one who lives 1 Corinthians 14:40 in all he does. Scott also didn't have a religious affiliation because he believed that God's church, in it's correct form wasn't on the earth. He had a kind of cynicism against churches because of man's corrupting touch (not an uncommon view today), but Scott lived his life according to the Bible.
In discussions with Scott, one couldn't deny the miracles he had experienced. Every time we would meet with him, he would tell us of those he met who were healed, his daughter's boyfriend with a broken leg being one of them. 
He would ask the person wanting to be healed two questions: "Do you believe in God?" and "Do you believe that God can heal you?" He would then pray in the name of Jesus Christ that they would be healed. There were quite a few who weren't healed but there were also many who were. There was no doubt that there was something to what he said.
As we read the scriptures with Scott, differences in interpretation became evident. We shared The Book of Mormon with him and explained that with the Bible and the Book of Mormon together, the fullness of the Gospel was on the earth and there was only one way to interpret the scriptures when both of these are put together (see 2 Nephi 3:12). We told him that the Book of Mormon is a second witness of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 13:1). It is evidence that we have modern day Prophets and Apostles who guide this church. They also ensure the interpretation of doctrine is not corrupted (see Ephesians 4:11-14). We invited him to read and to pray about the Book of Mormon and seek an answer from God, not man, if it was true (see Moroni 10:3-5 and James 1:5).
Unfortunately, he did not. Instead he went to places on the internet where man had thought they had proven that Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet. Scott shared with us the 'evidences' he had come up with, told us that we needed to rethink our position, and prayed with us before we left.
My faith was left a little shaken. Not from what he had shared with us about what he'd found--I had already know about it and was actually surprised that he had chosen something so little and inconsequential to base his decision off of. 
I had gathered a very big list of questions of the different fine points of doctrine that we discussed and the very fact that he had healed people without holding the Priesthood Authority to do so, which sparked even more questions.
Fortunately for me, I knew to whom I should ask these questions to--doubting my doubts first, before I doubted my faith (see "Come Join with Us" President Dieter F. Uchtdorf)
I first started with my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Examining it and recounting experiences I'd had with it. After several weeks, I came to the definite conclusion that I knew it was true, for there are countless times where I have felt the 'fruits of the spirit'(Galatians 5:22-23) when I had read it. I learned of the truthfulness of it by experience (see John 7:17).
Because I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I still have a few questions left unanswered about this experience with Scott, but since last summer I have read the scriptures, prayed, and received answers for a majority of them.
Day by day I'm continuing to have my questions answered as I 'experiment upon God's word' (Alma 32:27-29). I'm so grateful to know that God continues to speak--through a Prophet today, and to us personally."

So you see, our faith can be tested in many ways, but these moments of hardship and testing make weak things become strong unto us (Ether 12:27) and as we go forward in faith, we will truly see that our trials are more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7) because they strengthen and mold us.

When we are patient through our trials, our faith grows and we find ourselves stronger than we were before. Faith doesn't mean we will never doubt, as we shift our glance away from the Savior as Peter did, but we must "doubt [our] doubts before [we] doubt [our] faith ("Come Join with Us" President Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

E is for Endure to the End

Endure to the end. It's probably a phrase most of us are familiar with. It is similar to the principle of diligence. It means to continue in following the example of Christ the rest of our lives. The first way we follow Christ is through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (see Bible Dictionary "Holy Ghost"). It's after that process though, that enduring to the end kicks in.

Enduring to the end means that we must be "continually exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, making commitments, and following the Spirit" (Preach My Gospel: Lesson 3: Endure to the End)

Enduring to the end also makes me think of sports. You have to keep playing your hardest until the end of the game, not just to half-time, in order to achieve the desired results.

I'm reminded of a time years ago, back in my freshman year of high school. I was a part of the freshman girls basketball team which consisted of five girls, myself included. For those of you less familiar with the sport of basketball, this is a very small number for a team, teams usually hold 10-15 players. Five is the number of players on the court for each team at one time, so we had barely enough. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. It was a season that I learned a lot from in many ways and it was during this season the I experienced some of the best and worst times of my basketball career.

One game in particular, I recall like it was yesterday as it is experience not many can say they have. Our small team of five had a player sick that day so our game was a forfeit since you must start the game with five players. We were asked if we wanted to continue to play, of course we did and so the game commenced. Our team of four girls, and our opponents, having a team of twelve girls (3 times as many players). Despite the odds against us, we managed to pull ahead. Then, at the beginning of the third quarter, our best player fouled out (meaning she reached the maximum number of violations and so was forced to sit out the rest of the game), so there was just the three of us on the court. We managed to maintain our lead and then another teammate had an asthma attack leaving just me and one of my teammates on the court. And do you know what happened? We won that game by fifteen points.

At the end of the game, we were all exhausted and were on the verge of collapsing, because enduring takes a whole lot of work and effort. But, we had our reward, the victory. In the same sense, after we pass through this life, if we endure faithfully to the last second through Christ, we "shall stand before him; then shall [we] see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto [us]: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father" (Enos 1:27).

Our little team of five girls got third place in the league that year because we never let anyone tell us that we couldn't. We put our trust in our coach and in each other and endured faithfully to the end of each game, no matter how often we appeared to be the underdog.

That's how this particular basketball season had such a great impression on me. It  helped me to understand on a more personal level that enduring to the end means to push through and choose to fight the good fight, even when all the odds seem against you. I also came to understand that you don't have to endure to the end on your own. God gave us teams, and he calls them families. You gain charity and love for people when you go through difficult things together.

In this same basketball season, during the pre-season training, I was diagnosed with athletically-induced asthma. This proved to be a great stumbling block for me as I had to go through several brands of inhalers before we found one that was effective and it took me several years and a couple of hospital trips to actually recognize when I needed to stop and to get it under control. Yet, I continued to play the sport that I love. After my freshman year, I played a year on the junior varsity squad and then did two years on the varsity team. Why? Because I had the principle instilled in me that you always endure to the end. You don't just give up when the first obstacle is thrown in your path. Was it easy? No, far from it. It took a lot of dedication and patience and will-power, as does any sport or anything you want to achieve in life.

On a similar note, Elder Richard B. Maynes stated:

"To play basketball successfully, you need to get into good shape. Being in good physical condition comes at a price, and that price is dedication, perseverance, and self-discipline. Spiritual endurance also comes at a price. It is the same price: dedication, perseverance, and self-discipline.

A testimony, like your body, needs to be in shape if you want it to endure. So how do we keep our testimonies in shape? We cannot get our bodies into good basketball shape by simply watching basketball on television. Similarly, we won’t be able to get our testimonies in shape by simply watching general conference on television. We need to study and learn the fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we must do our very best to live them. That is how we become disciples of Jesus Christ, and that is how we build an enduring testimony" ("The Strength to Endure" Elder Richard B. Maynes, General Conference October 2013).

Now you may be thinking that enduring to the end is impossible because we are all imperfect beings. 'Tis not so my dear readers! You endure step by step and become better each day. We slip and fall sometimes, but our Heavenly Father knows that we'll take a detour or two. As such, He has mercifully given us multiple ways to get back on the right path, mainly through the atonement.

I'm reminded of another story my father shared with me about a freeway detour he had to take late at night while heading home from a football game in Irvine due to some freeway construction. He said the following of the experience:

"Small signs marked the route of our detour as we traveled though lightly populated areas near the Pacific Ocean. I relaxed a bit, regarding the detour, and felt confident of eventually getting back to the freeway due to the high number of vehicles following the same route we has to follow. Not long later, I noticed that traffic had thinned considerably and we were in areas of heavy night life crowds, but not traffic. Clearly I had missed a sign, and with it our detour route leading back to the 405 freeway. Anxiety began to set in as we were in unfamiliar areas, having never been in the particular area, I felt that if I continued on in the direction we were heading, we might come across something familiar. Not long passed, and my confidence was restored as we entered areas I was a bit familiar with decades earlier. Making the correct adjustments to our driving route, and traveling down memory lane a bit back to a time my mother, brother & I had visited the area, we eventually found our way back to the 405 freeway...
Seems clear to me that our journey home from Irvine mirrors life in the following regard. Often times in life we are faced with a detour which leads us away from our desired path. These detours can be of our own making or come about due to the influences of others. Sometimes they are just plain hurdles meant to make us stronger. Either way, these detours lead us away from the route we want to take. As we continue the journey sometimes we lose our focus...just like I did on the way home from Irvine. This loss of focus then leads us seemingly farther away from where we want to go. Yet, by refocusing and continuing on the path we know is right we end up back on the right rout despite the temporary loss of focus. Just as memories from my past helped me along our journey of getting back to the 405 freeway, knowing who we are helps guide our path here on earth. The knowledge that we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience humble us enough to understand that, through prayer, we have access to Heavenly guidance."

I testify to each of you that you can endure to the end day by day. Sometime we will stumble and fall but as we seek Heavenly guidance, we will be directed back to the one and true path which will lead us back to our Heavenly home.

Heed the invitation of Christ for He said, "Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life" (3 Nephi 15:9).