L is for "Look Not Behind Thee"

"Look not behind thee." A phrase many of you will recognize as one used by the Lord to Lot and his family as they are fleeing the city of Sodom which is about to be destroyed by God.

Let's back up the story a bit though to how Lot came to be in this wicked city in the first place.

Lot was the nephew of Abraham. They traveled and lived together for a good stretch of time but the time came for them to settle and part ways. Lot had first choice of the land and it is said that he "dwelled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom." (Genesis 13:12). There's Lot's first problem, he has his tent set up facing the city of Sodom so that's all he sees everyday whenever he looks outside. We gain what we set our sights on so it isn't altogether too surprising when in the next chapter we learn that Lot has actually moved into Sodom. Skip ahead a few chapters and we learn that Sodom had become so wicked that the Lord has decided to destroy it, there were less than righteous people in that whole city (see Genesis 18). An angel comes and warns Lot to take his family and flee with the instruction "look not behind thee" (Genesis 19:15-17). And so they fled, "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." (Genesis 19:26). She was so focused on looking back that she lost the ability to move forward.

Here's this great video I found about what we learn from Lot's wife and how looking back prevents us from new beginnings:

 Okay great so we know we need to look forward and not look back but why do we continue to look back anyways? There are many different reasons but I think the main one is that we feel the need to hold on to something there. It might be guilt, it might be a friendship, a relationship, a loved one, a job, the list is extensive. For whatever reason though, something keeps us looking back wishing we could have done something different, wishing to be back where we were. Doing so will not be helpful to us though. Elder Jeffrey R Holland stated it this way:

The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future ("The Best Is Yet to Be").

When we are full of faith, we are able to look to the the future instead of dwelling on the past. Like Elder Holland stated, there are valuable lessons to be learned from the past but these lessons are to help us learn and move forward, not to keep us looking back. There is some wisdom in the most recent Disney power ballad which proclaims, "I'm never going back, the past is in the past." We shouldn't desire to move backwards into the past but rather forward into our future. As we learn to let go of what holds us back, and we rely on the atonement, we will be able to become better than we were before.

Let me conclude with one of my favorite scriptures. It comes from the story of a people who were told to by the Lord to build barges that would lead them to a promised land. The barges had no sails and the Lord said this of it "ye shall be as a whale in midst of the sea; for mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth" (Ether 2:24) The Lord here states that He is in control of the winds and the rains and that He was driving them "toward the promised land" (Ether 6:5). Our past, present and future are in the hand of the Lord and He is sending "ferocious winds" that will indeed blow us to our promised land, eternal life, to be in the presence of God again. We need only to endure and remember to look forward and "look not behind thee."

K is for Knowledge

Knowledge. There is knowledge in things such math, science, and literature and then there is knowledge in things pertaining to God such as faith, hope, and charity. While all knowledge comes from God, due to the nature of this blog, we'll be focusing more on the obtaining of knowledge of spiritual things. The Merriam-Webster dictionary informs us that it is "information, understanding or skill that you gain from experience" and that it is "the awareness of something". Knowledge increases our our understanding of the world around us and so heightens our spirituality. It is "one of the attributes of God...Knowledge of things of divine and spiritual things is absolutely essential for one's salvation" (Bible Dictionary "Knowledge"). Knowledge of God and his plan for us is what will help us in the eternal sense of things.

So how do we obtain this spiritual knowledge? The scriptures teach us "...seek ye learning out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." (D&C 88:118). In other words, knowledge isn't going to just fall into our laps because we desire to learn, but rather we must seek to learn by studying the scriptures and then asking in faith if what we have studied is indeed true. We need to be active in the learning process in order to gain true knowledge. "As you study diligently, prayerfully, and with pure intent, the Holy Ghost will enlighten your mind, teach you, and help you understand" (Preach My Gospel: Knowledge). The Holy Ghost is a testifier of truth and so you will be able to feel of the truth of something through his influence.

There are those who would claim visitations of angels would help them to know of the existence of God. These people mistaken the process of obtaining knowledge. Such events can spark a person's desire to know of God but do not change their hearts, the change and desire must take place within us and cannot be forced by anyone. To illustrate this, allow me to compare three characters from The Book of Mormon: Laman, Lemuel, and Alma the younger.

Let's first look at Laman and Lemuel. The two oldest of, at the time, four brothers. Their father was a prophet and had brought their family out of Jerusalem because he had been commanded to do so by God (see 1 Nephi 2). Their father sent the four brothers back to Jerusalem to obtain a record that had their genealogy and the scriptures on it (see 1 Nephi 3). The youngest brother, Nephi, came up with a couple of different ideas to get the record and both fail. Laman and Lemuel become angry with Nephi and their other younger brother Sam and begin to beat him with a rod. An angel then appears and tells Laman and Lemuel to cease from beating their younger brothers and to go and fulfill the commandment that had been given them to obtain the record (see 1 Nephi 3:27-28). Now instead of being humbled and willing to be obedient after seeing an angel, the scriptures tell us, "and after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur..." (1 Nephi 3:31). They didn't gain anything from the encounter but rather remained exactly the same. They had no desire to change and did not take this opportunity to learn to be humble and slow to anger, they went back right to complaining about the situation.

On the other hand we have the account of Alma the younger, who in his youth was quite the rebellious soul. His father, whose name was also Alma, was the head of the church and yet he and his friends went about "seeking to destroy the church" (Mosiah 27:8-10). Alma the elder and the people of the church prayed that Alma the younger and his friends would be "brought to a knowledge of the truth" (Mosiah 27:14) and as a result, an angel appeared to them. The angel shook the ground they stood on and commanded them to repent (Mosiah 27:11-16). Upon the angel's departure, Alma the younger fell to the earth and was as if he were dead for two days. When the two days had past, Alma the younger arose and told all of how he had repented and from that time forth he did all he could to serve the Lord (Mosiah 27:19-32). Many years later, Alma the younger teaches of his conversion and shows us the true source of his knowledge was not from the visitation of the angel:

"Do ye not suppose that I know these things myself? Behold I testify unto you that I do know that these thing whereof I have spoken are true. And how can ye suppose that I know of their surety? Behold I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know of these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me." -Alma 5:45-46

Alma the younger obtained his knowledge not because he had seen an angel but because he had fasted and prayed many days concerning what he wanted to know. Alma the younger put in his part and the Lord poured out His Spirit upon Alma that he was able to obtain that knowledge. The confirmation of truth that the Holy Ghost brings will be something that will linger, something you will never forget.

Acquiring spiritual knowledge does take effort on our part, we must study with diligence and then pray with sincerity. It is important to remember that knowledge will not come all at once but rather "line upon line; here a little, and there a little"(Isaiah 28:10). With each piece of knowledge, we will be able to grow to become closer and more like our Father in Heaven. We are promised though that if we seek that we shall find (Luke 11:9), so if we truly seek spiritual knowledge, we shall indeed find it.

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.