A Not-Half-Bad Saturday

By way of an update on my previous blog post, one of my teachers extended the due date of the last-minute assignment, so I have more time to work on it, and I made solid progress on the other assignment, despite spending a significant portion of my day chatting with my brother, helping around the house, and/or possibly being sick. Today's had some ups and downs.

All-in-all, I'd say today was a good day. I got a good deal of stuff done and enjoyed the majority of the day. It was pretty much how a Saturday should be, in my opinion, apart from all the sniffling. But even with the sniffling, I'd say it worked out well enough. Just like life itself, today didn't go as well as I might have liked, but it went well enough to have been a positive experience and for me to feel that I can genuinely thank God for letting me experience it.

Sudden, Unexpected Challenges

Right now, I'm feeling a little bit frustrated because I got a pair of assignments that are due this Monday. This wouldn't normally be a problem; College students have assignments due all the time. But this time, my classmates and I weren't given the assignments until last night, giving us only three days to complete the assignments, which either involve a good deal of writing or a good deal of research.

I don't mean to complain. This situation is an anomaly, and I maintain my opinion that the teachers at my college are the best. They're smart and informative, many of them are funny, and they all care deeply about the success of their students.

I just wanted to use this experience to highlight and important and unfortunate truth: Life sometimes takes you by surprise. We're not always given a lot of advance notice when a challenge or crisis comes up in our lives. We're not always given much time to prepare ourselves. Sometimes, we just have to do what we can to react well to the challenges life throws at us. This makes resilience and flexibility as much a virtue as preparation, partly because, in situations like this, there is very little time given to prepare.

It's also a good reason to try to stay righteous, even when things are going well enough in your life that you don't feel you need any extra blessings, because you never know when you're going to need to pray for help, and when you do, it'd be nice to know that you're worthy of the help you're praying for.

Life doesn't always play nice, and it doesn't always seem fair. Sometimes, it gives you problems that it didn't warn you about. But regardless of whether it's nice and fair or not, that's life. Sometimes, we just have to roll with the punches and deal with the problems that come up, including the ones that come up suddenly and without much warning. It would be nice if we could always know what's coming and have plenty of time to prepare for it, but that's not how life works. Instead of complaining about it, it would be more productive to deal with the situation as well as we can on short notice. I'm confident that I'll complete both of the assignments adequately by the time they're due, despite having had less time to work on them than I would have liked.

Grammar Nerd Analyzes Prayer Advice

I just saw this on Facebook:

Because I'm a grammar nerd, the second part of this picture quote stood out to me. If I were writing it, I probably would have said "Not every prayer has to be long and eloquent," leaving open the possibility that some prayers may have to be long and elegant. But they don't. No prayer has to be long and eloquent. Why would it? God cares more about sincerity and intent than length and eloquence. Some prayers may have to be long, depending on how you're feeling, but no prayer has to be eloquent. Prayers can be short and simple. They should always be honest and heartfelt, but they never have to be impressive. When you pray, try to say what you're truly feeling, whether it comes out eloquently or not.

Studying for Time-Sensitive Tests

Over the past two days, I spent at least three-and-a-half hours preparing for a 20-minute quiz. Today, I took that quiz, and I aced it. I got every question right. This success came mostly because of the time I had invested in my preparation. Though it may seem a bit extreme to spend ten times the amount of time preparing for something as the thing itself will take, it worked. The hours I spent studying, and the notes I made with that time, allowed me to quickly access the information I needed when I needed it most. In fact, because of my notes, I was able to access the information quickly enough to answer every question confidently in only ten minutes - Only half the time that I was given. Thank goodness it was an open-notes quiz!

In life, we are frequently put to time-sensitive tests. We are asked to make important decisions, and sometimes, we aren't given very much time to make our choices. When we're faced with temptation, we aren't always given all the time we needed to mull the decision over; we need to choose whether we'll yield or resist as soon as the temptation enters our minds. Fortunately, while we are occasionally forced to make split-second decisions, we can spend some time preparing for those decisions in advance. To prepare ourselves for our moral tests, we can study the scriptures and strive to develop Christlike attributes, which will attract the Spirit and help make the right decision easier, almost automatic, to make. We may be given only a few moments to do the right thing, but we can take all the time we need before the quiz to find out what the right thing is and to prepare ourselves to do it.

When it comes to life's moral tests, we may only be given a few moments to make our decisions, but we can prepare ourselves well in advance. Like Captain Moroni building walls around Nephite cities, we can shore up our spiritual defences long before we need them, and that will help us be prepared when our faith and faithfulness are tested. When we face the tests of life, we won't have much time in which to take them, but if we begin preparing early, it won't take us much time to make the right decision.

If You Can't See Your Beauty...

Not long ago, I shared the following photo on Facebook:

People who were wiser than I was did some fact-checking and discovered that, with their compound eyes, butterflies can, in fact, see their own wings, though probably not from an angle or with a level of self-awareness that would allow them to appreciate their own beauty, so the idea still kind of works.

The odds are pretty good that you see at least a little bit of your own beauty. You may have been told what others see in you and you might have thought "You might have a point, if not for X, Y, and Z." You see the traits that make you beautiful, but you don't see the beauty yourself.

Just as with the butterflies, it's a matter of perspective, and I'm not sure how much we can do to improve our perspective in this case. Butterflies can't grow eye-stalks to look at their wings from a better angle, and even if they could, I'm not sure their own beauty would impress them. Like the butterflies, we might never be able to fully recognize our own beauty.

Rather than trying to look at our own wings to judge how beautiful we are, we should recognize that we are not the best judges of our own beauty. Neither are other butterflies, who may either call us beautiful because they see in us a beauty that they can't see in themselves, or may call us ugly because they're jealous of our beauty. Rather than judging our value by our own flawed perspective or by the words of those we don't trust to be honest, we should judge our beauty by the opinion of the One who is always completely honest and whose perspective is perfect.

We may not be able to see our own beauty, and others might not see it either, but God does. No matter what the world thinks of you, and no matter what you think of yourself, God knows how beautiful you are, inside and out. So, instead of asking our peers or our reflections whether we have value or not, we should ask the One who knows us best and loves us enough to be honest with us. He can tell us how precious we are in His eyes. You may not believe that you're beautiful, and you may not believe it when others tell you you are, but I hope that you'll believe it when you hear it coming from Him. You are beautiful. If you don't believe me, ask Him.

Thor's Hammer - Wart's Sword

The other day, my mom and I both found and shared a funny photo on Facebook:

We shared this image just because it was funny. I can imagine Thor challenging Wart to try and pick up his hammer while he, Thor, tries to draw the sword from the stone. Wart, thinking that the hammer was simply very heavy, puts his back into trying to lift it, which should have worked - if the hammer wasn't magical. Meanwhile, Thor puts his considerable strength and his "worthiness" into trying to pull the sword from the stone, but he can't. Neither of them can wield, or even lift, each other's weapons, no matter how hard they tried.

Upon seeing this image, a friend from church, Jason Alkema made the comment, "Too often, this is why we struggle in life." I agree. We all have our own roles to play. Wart was destined to become King Arthur of England, and Thor was meant to be a defender of worlds. When they fill their own roles, they can each heft their own weapons with relative ease. The difficulty comes when they try to take on the roles that were meant for each other. Wart wasn't meant to be a superhero, and Thor wasn't meant to be King of England, and that's perfectly alright for both of them. Each of their jobs are important in their worlds, and each of them are fairly well-suited to do their jobs, even if they would struggle with doing each other's jobs.

We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and God knows what we can do with those strengths. He has a plan for each of us, and we each have a role to play in the eternal scheme of things. Our natural talents, plus some practice and a little bit of divine aid, will make us able to accomplish the work that God has in store for us. The trouble comes when we ignore our own gifts and try to fill roles that were meant for other people. Wart could never be a superhero, and Thor would make a lousy king. Neither of them would do very well at all at trying to do each other's jobs, though they each have the right set of traits and talents to be perfect for their own roles.

You may not be a king or queen (yet) and you may not be a superhero or superheroine. Maybe that's not the work that God has cut out for you right now. But God does have a role for you to play, and you're just the right person for the job. If you trust in the Lord and listen to His Spirit, He can lead you into the role that was meant for you, and you'll find that you have all the strength and wisdom you need to do it. This will allow you to help fulfil our Heavenly Father's purposes, to find an enriching task that's perfectly suited for you, and to avoid the struggle of trying to fill roles that were meant for other people. We each have our own gifts. If we follow God, he can help us find the perfect job to make the most of our gifts, and save us the struggle of trying to do somebody else's.

Always Something to be Thankful For

This afternoon, my brother gave a lesson on gratitude, which reminded me of a photo my mom shared on Facebook:

One idea that came up multiple times during the lesson is that we should try to find something to thank God for each day in our evening prayers. Those who had tried doing this found that they were surprised at how much they had in their lives that they were thankful for. We truly have many blessings in our lives. Even our adversities, and our lives themselves, are blessings from God, even though they may not always feel like blessings. I know that we will be blessed for remembering that, even when we're going through hard times, we will always have things in our lives to be thankful for. And that, in itself, is something for which I am thankful.

What Do You Want?

One thing that amazes me about the gospel is that God lets us have what we want. As we read in Alma 41:5:

The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.

If we want happiness, God has given us the plan of happiness, which includes living His gospel. If we want good things, we can get them by doing good and being good. Alternatively, if we want evil things, God will let us have them, even though He warns us of the consequences. And if we want fun, we can have it, though it won't do us much good in the long run.

It surprises me how much God respects our agency - how much He allows us to choose our own paths, make our own decisions, and "let the consequence follow." Sometimes, I think that we really can get anything we want in life if we want it badly enough to pursue it. So the question we must each ask ourselves, especially when establishing our priorities or making decisions of eternal consequence, is "What do I want?" because whatever it is that you want most, that's what you're most likely to get.

Our Other Muscles

In his Saturday Morning Session talk, Shipshape and Bristol Fashion, Elder Quentin L. Cook quoted Maria Konnikova as having said:

[S]elf-control is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Avoiding something tempting once will help you develop the ability to resist other temptations in the future.

This, I believe, is part of the reason why we're asked to fast every month. When we fast, we exercise our self-control. We "practice" resisting the temptation to eat, and that practice helps us resist other temptations.

Come to think of it, I think all behavioral patterns and personality traits may be compared to muscles. In his Saturday Afternoon talk, Meeting the Challenges of Today's World, Elder Robert D. Hales said that if we don't exercise our faith enough, we could suffer what he called "faith atrophy." I've said before that the way to develop any Christlike attribute is to act as though you already had it, to exercise it, so to speak.

Additionally, what we know about habits reinforces this idea. Any kind of behavior can become a habit if we repeat it enough times. This lends itself to the analogy in both exercise and muscle memory. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved." We can gain strength in performing any action or endeavor, perhaps even until it becomes so easy for us that it practically becomes automatic.

Just as the benefits of exercising can extend to anything we want to do or any trait we want to develop, the warning about "faith atrophy" applies to all our traits and abilities as well. The longer it's been since we tried to control our temper or follow the Spirit, for instance, the harder it will become for us to do those things. Thankfully, this principle also applies to bad habits. Just as our positive traits can weaken when we don't exercise them, our negative traits can do the same.

Elder Richard G. Scott said, "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day." This is how we exercise the traits and abilities we want and atrophy the others. This is how we can become better people. This is how we can gain righteousness and lose our imperfections. If we exercise and atrophy long enough, we could, theoretically, change everything about ourselves. This, I believe, is the process by which we can truly become like God. By exercising Godly traits and allowing our base human nature to atrophy away, we can become more than what we are now. We can become perfect. All it takes is that we keep exercising and atrophying, starting now, throughout the eternities.

"An Innocent Man"

In Alma chapter 20, King Lamoni, having been converted by Aaron, was attacked by his father, who was king over all the Lamanites. Aaron defended King Lamoni, saying:

...it is expedient that thou shouldst forbear; for if thou shouldst slay thy son, he being an innocent man, his blood would cry from the ground to the Lord his God, for vengeance to come upon thee; and perhaps thou wouldst lose thy soul. - Alma 20: 18

 It was the word "innocent" that stood out to me this evening as I thought about this event. King Lamoni had been far from innocent; in fact, he had been a murderer. However, he repented, and not long thereafter, Aaron told his father that he was "an innocent man."

Such is the power of the Atonement. When one repents, the sins of which they repent are taken off of their record, and they become as innocent as if they hadn't sinned. It's a great miracle of mercy, almost too wonderful to believe, and it's at the heart of the Christian faith.

I am very grateful for the Atonement and the opportunity to repent. I'm grateful that, through the Atonement, I can get a clean slate, so to speak. There are a number of sins of which I have been (and, in some cases, still am) guilty. I look forward to the day when I can stand before the Judgement Seat and be declared "an innocent man."

"Studying Takes Time"

This morning, my history teacher said something along the lines of "Reading is not the same as studying. Studying takes time." This is as true for scriptures as it is for history books. Yes, you could just read them, and you might get something out of them, but if you really want to learn the material, you're going to have to take the time to study it.

I know this is hard to hear, especially for those of us who already have enough demands on our time. I'm not saying that just reading your scriptures isn't good enough. Reading your scriptures is a good thing, and if that's what you're doing now, that's great. But if you'd like to understand the scriptures better and get more out of them than you currently are, you're probably going to have to spend more time with them. I know that you may or may not have or be able to make more time for scripture study. If you literally can't make any more time for scripture study, or if you already study the scriptures for a considerable amount of time each day, then this message isn't for you. But if you find that you've been spending too much of your time online and not enough of your time in-tune with the Spirit, a shift in time-managerial priorities may be in order.

It's easier to just read scriptures than it is to study them. And it's even easier to just not read them at all. But you don't get much out of the scriptures at all. To really benefit from the scriptures, you're going to have to study them, or at least read them, even though, unfortunately, studying the scriptures takes time.

The False Choice of Happiness

At the close of the Saturday Morning session of this last General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook warned us that:

The adversary has been successful in planting a great myth in the minds of many people. He and his emissaries declare that the real choice we have is between happiness and pleasure now in this life and happiness in a life to come (which the adversary asserts may not exist). This myth is a false choice, but it is very seductive.

Satan would have us believe that we're choosing between having happiness now or having happiness later (maybe). If that were true, then the wisest choice would be mostly determined by how long "later" is and how far it is away. In order to get the maximum amount of happiness, we should choose whichever option will give us the most happiness for the longest period of time. In Rich Burlew's webcomic, The Order of the Stick, General Tarkin, an evil dictator who knew he was in a fictional tale, decided that his would be the story of an evil emperor. In his mind, living like a king for several decades was worth the knowledge that he would someday be overthrown and likely killed by some hero. His choice was to have happiness now and an unhappy ending later.

Yet, even in fiction, I don't think that was a wise choice. In both Tarkin's universe and ours, we all are headed for an afterlife that will last for eternity. If we really do have to choose between happiness in this life and happiness in the next, choosing later happiness is always going to be a better choice. Besides, the quality of the "happiness" the adversary offers us is far below the quality of the happiness we get from God. In fact, it isn't really happiness at all - just momentary pleasure. The devil doesn't offer us happiness in this life or the next.

God offers us happiness in both. Elder Cook taught us that "Happiness in this life and happiness in the life to come are interconnected by righteousness." The question isn't whether we'll have happiness nor or later; the question is whether we'll have happiness now and later - whether we'll have happiness at all.

I used to buy into the adversary's premise that we can have happiness in either this life or in the eternities, but not both. But now, thanks to Elder Cook, I've come to realize that when we keep the commandments, we can have our eternal happiness and our mortal happiness, too. In light of this knowledge, I'm going to try harder to choose to follow God's plan for out happiness rather than Satan's plan for our misery. When I learned what the choice really is, it's easy to tell what the best choice is.

It Only Takes a Moment to Invite the Spirit

What does it take to have the Spirit with us? Toward the end of the Saturday Morning Session of this last General Conference, Elder Francisco J. Viñas said:

The moment we begin to remember [Jesus Christ] and keep His commandments every day—and not just on the Sabbath day—is when the remission of our sins begins to gradually take effect and His promise of having His Spirit with us begins to be fulfilled.

Taking a moment to truly remember Jesus Christ, His teachings, or His Atonement, or to, in whatever way we can manage, keep at least one of His commandments, invites the Spirit to touch our hearts, to testify of the truthfulness of what we're thinking or of the goodness of what we're doing. It may still be difficult for us to feel the Spirit, but if we invite Him into our hearts, and don't drive Him away, He'll be there.


While it can, indeed, take quite some time to develop a sensitivity to the Spirit and the habit of attracting Him regularly, and to kick the habits we have that drive Him away, it only takes a moment to extend an invitation. Something as simple as pondering a verse of scripture or humming a favorite hymn can bid the Spirit welcome into our hearts, and those of us who have been baptised and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost have been promised that, once He's been invited, the Spirit will remain with us unless we drive Him away. And even if and after we do drive the Spirit away, either by accident or by an unwise choice, we can always repent and invite Him back.


Thankfully for us, the Spirit of God is never very far away. Even if it feels like we've drifted far away from the gospel and we've been away for far too long, we can be comforted in knowing that, if we invite the Spirit back into our lives, it won't take Him very long to return to us. No matter how long it's been since we've had the Spirit with us, it only take a moment to invite Him back.

Picking Up the Slack

This afternoon, my mom shared a lesson about family responsibilities. As it appears in the manual, the lesson is all about the individual responsibilities of fathers, mothers, and children, but one important fact that the manual touches on lightly, if at all, is that not all families have fathers, mothers, and children. Some families have one or more family members missing, or not fulfilling their responsibilities. In those cases, other family members are asked to pick up the slack.

My parents have been divorced for years. Since the divorce, and even before, my mother has had to take on some roles that typically fall to the father, such as leading in family prayer and scripture study. For as long as I can remember, my mom has always been faithful at that, as well as her maternal responsibilities. Since the divorce, Mom has had to take on another of the father's roles: that of the provider. This has been difficult for her, and it often leaves her drained.

I tell you this partly to highlight how awesome my mother is, partly to warn of the consequences of breaking up a family, and partly to lead up to one more paternal responsibility: holding Family Home Evenings.

This has been a weak spot in our family since I was very little, partly because the person whose responsibility it was never accepted that responsibility, and partly because the person whose responsibility it became already had enough on her plate. But as I looked over this lesson, I was reminded that a child's responsibility is to love and support his or her parents. My sister did that last week (and/or the week before; my memory's not that great) by leading us in Family Home Evening. She rallied us together, made assignments, and made sure we had a Family Home Evening, and it went really well.

Through her example and through this lesson, I came to the realization that holding Family Home Evening is as much my responsibility as anyone else's, and I should support my family by doing my part to make sure that it happens and that it's not just another night of the week. So, tomorrow (and hopefully each week thereafter), I'm going to try to make sure I have a spiritual thought to share, that I bring a positive attitude to the game table, and that I'm willing to dish up ice cream and wash the bowls afterwards.

My mom has been amazing at fulfilling all of her family responsibilities and then some. Not having a supportive marital partner has meant that she has had to accept many responsibilities that, in a perfect world, should never have been hers to bear. But this doesn't mean that all of Dad's responsibilities automatically fall to Mom. We all need to help pick up the slack. The responsibility of holding Family Home Evenings shouldn't fall on Mom's shoulders alone; my brother and sister and I should help to carry that load. Holding Family Home Evenings is not her responsibility. It's ours.

Homemade Happiness

I shared this on Facebook the other day, but I thought I'd share it here, too.

Cute, huh?

It's sad to think of how people go to great lengths to find happiness. Some people seem to think they can buy it at a store or earn it by achieving their goals. But happiness isn't an object you can acquire; it's an emotion. You can "get" happiness by doing good and by developing an attitude of optimism. You can get it by looking for the good things in the world and by counting your blessings. You also "get" happiness by making other people happy.

Happiness is not a substance that you need to look for or trade for. There isn't a finite amount of happiness for people to fight over. It's more like a force, or energy. Happiness can be created. In fact, it's far easier to create your own happiness than it is to gain happiness by buying it or working for it.

Happiness isn't as mysterious or elusive as it sometimes seems to be. Creating your own happiness is as easy as doing things that Jesus Christ would do. Happiness isn't something you have to find somewhere. You can create it yourself.

Baby Steps Toward Perfection

Yesterday, a student came to the Writing Center with a paper he was wiritng about his educational goal. He planned to become a doctor - a neurosurgeon, he had said - which is a lofty goal for anyone, but the student seemed to have some understanding of this. In his paper, he said that his time at Sac City Community College was the first baby step toward his goal.

Like this student, we each have a lofty goal ahead of us. We are striving for eternal life and moral perfection. We have a long way to go to get there, but we can get there by persistently taking "baby steps" toward our goal.

As Elder Larry R. Lawrence said in his General Conference talk, What Lack I Yet?:

Be persistent, brothers and sisters, but never be discouraged. We will have to go beyond the grave before we actually reach perfection, but here in mortality we can lay the foundation. “It is our duty to be better today than we were yesterday, and better tomorrow than we are today.”

Elder Lawrence also said that we must be "on a course of steady improvement [to not] miss out on the important experiences God wants to give us," and that "our direction is ever more important than our speed." As long as we're moving forward, it doesn't matter much how quickly or how slowly we're moving. Perfection may be an eternity away, but even the baby steps we take in mortality will eventually get us there.

We and my student from yesterday have long roads ahead of us, and it may seem like we're not making very much progress in our day-to-day activities, but as long as we're persistent in our efforts, no matter how meager they are, we will eventually reach our goals, no matter how lofty they are.

Sacramental Self-Reflection

Here's another example of General Conference speakers seeming to have talked to each other before giving their talks. Sister Neill F. Marriott said:

During the sacrament, which I call the heart of the Sabbath, I have found that after I pray for forgiveness of sins, it is instructive for me to ask Heavenly Father, “Father, is there more?” When we are yielded and still, our minds can be directed to something more we may need to change—something that is limiting our capacity to receive spiritual guidance or even healing and help.

This is very similar, not only to the theme of Elder Larry R. Lawrence's talk, "What Lack I Yet?", but to a particular passage from that talk:

A perfect time to ask, “What lack I yet?” is when we take the sacrament. The Apostle Paul taught that this is a time for each of us to examine ourselves [see 1 Corinthians 11:28]. In this reverent atmosphere, as our thoughts are turned heavenward, the Lord can gently tell us what we need to work on next.

Both of these inspired individuals shared the message that the Sacrament service is a perfect time for prayerful self-reflection and for seeking guidance and suggestions from the Lord. During the Sacrament, we renew our covenants with God, making it a good time to think about how well we've been keeping those covenants and how we could do better. If we think about it, we could probably find a whole laundry list of things we need to change about ourselves, but with the Spirit's guidance, we can be inspired to know which things would be most helpful to work on right now. As Elder Lawrence said:

The Holy Ghost doesn’t tell us to improve everything at once. If He did, we would become discouraged and give up. The Spirit works with us at our own speed, one step at a time, or as the Lord has taught, “line upon line, precept upon precept."

We have been advised to work on our spiritual progress one step at a time, and the Holy Ghost can help us know what step we should work on next, or how we could better work on the step that we're on. He can give us counsel and encouragement, if we ask for it, and especially if we ask for it when we're in an environment that's already suffused with the spirit. A Sacrament Meeting is such an environment. This week, as I partake of the Sacrament, I'm going to say a silent prayer asking God what He wants me to work on at this time in my life. I pray that He'll give me the guidance that Sister Marriott and Elder Lawrence have suggested that He would. I know that if I seek that kind of guidance, receive it, and act upon it, I will be working on exactly what I need to be working on, exactly what would help me most, and that is an incredible thing to know.

Clay and Hearts - Soft but Firm

I sometimes wonder whether the speakers at General conference ever share notes with each other. In The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life, Elder Richard J. Maynes shared a story about molding pots and Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." In the very next General Conference talk, Yielding our Hearts to God, Sister Neill F. Marriott also shared a quote about being clay in our Heavenly Father's hands:

Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter;

I am the clay.

Mould me and make me

After Thy will,

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still.

In both of their talks, the speakers emphasized the need for us to be humble and to submit ourselves to the Lord. We do this by making Jesus Christ the center of our lives and being willing to change ourselves according to His and our Father's will. A willingness to change is vital. You may have clay perfectly centered on a wheel, but that won't do you any good if the clay is too hard to shape. Similarly, merely focussing our thoughts on the gospel isn't enough; we also need to be willing to change our lives according to its teachings.

In order for the gospel to enrich our lives, we need to make sure our hearts are soft enough to change. Only if our hearts are softened can we be shaped by God's wisdom into what He needs us to be. Then, when He has finished shaping us, we need to be firm and retain the new shape He has helped us take. Unlike hard clay that cannot be molded or clay that is too wet to maintain its shape, we need to be soft enough to become what God wants us to be and firm enough to stay that way.

"My Burden is Light"

At this morning's BYU Devotional, Sterling Hilton shared some of his favorite scriptures, Matthew 11: 28-30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Though he gladly shared what he loved about those verses, he admitted that the last verse was "wonderfully problematic" to him. Living the gospel is not easy. The gospel is easy to understand, and living the gospel (and receiving the blessings thereof) may be easier than trying to get through life without the gospel and it's blessings, but make no mistake; the burden we are being asked to carry is not light.

Or is it? Brother Hilton posed the question: What if we think of "light," not as an adjective, but as a noun? In context of the gospel, light is often related to the spirit, to our testimonies, and to truth. Keeping the spirit with us and bearing witness of the truths of the gospel isn't always easy, but it is part of what we need to do to gain salvation - our "burden," so to speak.

God knows that our task isn't easy; our burden is to carry His light.

The Definition of a Christ-Centered Life

When I reread Elder Richard J. Maynes' talk, The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life, it made me wonder whether Jesus Christ and His gospel truly are the center of my life, and if they're not, what is?

Before I can answer those questions, I have to define for myself what being the center of one's life means. In the context of a spinning wheel, the center is the focus point -- a point that remains stationary while all other parts of the wheel turn -- a constant. The center is also the axis of rotation, implying that it may be the reason the wheel is turning in the first place.

Using those examples to apply the concepts to our lives, it would seem that the centers of our lives are the parts of us that don't change, even when other parts do, and they may be the reason that other parts change. If this constant part of our lives is the gospel of Jesus Christ, we're probably in pretty good shape, because it means that the gospel will remain in our lives, and everything else in our lives will change until it's in harmony with the gospel.

Is this true for each of us? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ the surest constant in our lives, with everything else in our lives changing to conform to it? I'm not sure. There are some things in my life that have very little to do with the gospel. I have a number of hobbies and interests that aren't centered on Jesus Christ. This means that not every aspect of my life revolves around Jesus. Should I change that? It seems a little extreme to have everything in my life revolve around Jesus Christ and His gospel, but if that's what's required of me, I should be willing to try to live up to that standard.

Thankfully, as I re-reread the first part of Elder Maynes' talk, I noticed that he gave us a definition of a Christ-centered life, and his definition is easier to live up to than mine. He said:

The world in which we live is similar to the potter’s spinning wheel, and the speed of that wheel is increasing. Like the clay on the potter’s wheel, we must be centered as well. Our core, the center of our lives, must be Jesus Christ and His gospel. Living a Christ-centered life means we learn about Jesus Christ and His gospel and then we follow His example and keep His commandments with exactness.

Keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ with exactness is going to be difficult. I'm not sure whether we'll be able to master than within our lifetimes. But learning about Him and following His example are a lot easier than making sure every element of our lives revolves around Him. I don't think God expects us to give up all our hobbies and interests that aren't centered on the gospel - just the ones that aren't in harmony with it. We don't have to give up everything we like - just everything that's holding us back. God's greatest desire is for us to live righteously so we can have joy, but as long as our interests don't keep us away from that joy, there's no reason we can't have fun as well.

Sailing or Swimming to Salvation

After Elder Ballard spoke about the truths found in the gospel, he shared this profound application of his analogy:

Now, as we ponder just these few truths that exist within the Old Ship Zion, let us stay on board and remember that, by definition, a ship is a vehicle, and the purpose of a vehicle is to take us to a destination.

Our ship’s destination is the full blessings of the gospel, the kingdom of heaven, the celestial glory, and the presence of God!

God’s plan is in place. He is at the helm, and His great and powerful ship flows toward salvation and exaltation. Remember that we cannot get there by jumping out of the boat and trying to swim there by ourselves.

 The purpose of the Gospel is to lead us to salvation and exaltation, and following the plan of the Gospel is the only way we can reach that goal. We need the saving ordinances and the gospel's teachings. Without them, we'd have about as much chance of reaching our eternal destination as a swimmer would have trying to cross an ocean. It's not completely impossible, and I'm sure some saintly people have done it (once their ordinances had been done for them in the temple), but it's not as easy as it looks, and it's certainly not as good a plan as getting and staying in the boat.

The goal of exaltation is an eternity away, but that's where the Good Ship Zion is headed. It's too risky to swim for it -- We'll likely wear ourselves out and drown if we try -- but we will get there eventually, as long as we stay on the boat.

Alma 28:1-3 - A Sinful Wish?

In the first three verses of Alma 29, Alma says something that confuses me:

O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.  

But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

The first two verses sound fine. It's the third verse that doesn't make sense to me, mostly because it's the one that says there was something wrong with the first two. What's wrong with wishing that you could cry repentance to the whole earth? It sounds like a good wish to me. And it couldn't be that wishing, in itself, is bad, because Alma wishes for something else later in the chapter. Maybe I need to look deeper into this. Maybe I need to reread these verses later, when I'm less tired. But wanting to invite everyone to repent sounds like a good thing to me. There must be something I'm missing. I'll try to figure it out later.

"What's in the Old Ship Zion?"

In October 2014, Elder M. Russel Ballard gave a talk in which He encouraged us to stay on the "Old Ship Zion," -- Meaning The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- and to hold on with both hands. Since then, he had been asked: "What’s in the Old Ship Zion that we should hang on to?" When I first heard this question, I thought that it meant "What is there in the gospel that's worth holding on to?" Having reviewed Elder Ballard's most recent talk, God is at the Helm, I realized that it might have meant "Which principles of the gospel are study enough that we can hold on to them and avoid getting swept out of the boat?" Whether the question means "which principles are worth caring about?" or "which principles will help me stay true?", the answer is pretty much the same. I'll list a few of those principles.

Prophetic Guidance

 Elder Ballard said:

The Church of Jesus Christ has always been led by living prophets and apostles. Though mortal and subject to human imperfection, the Lord’s servants are inspired to help us avoid obstacles that are spiritually life threatening and to help us pass safely through mortality to our final, ultimate, heavenly destination.

The guidance of inspired prophets and apostles has been a tremendous blessing to the church, both anciently and in modern times. By following their counsel, we can avoid many of the pitfalls and challenges of life -- not all of them, mind you, but many.

Another principle Elder Ballard might have touched on, but didn't put great emphasis on is the Priesthood. God's Priesthood authority is found in no other church on the earth. Only here can we receive the essential, saving ordinances that will strengthen us in mortality and will enable us to return to live with our Heavenly Father again.

The Plan of Salvation

 On the subject of living with God again, it's important to remember that it's through modern revelation, received through the prophets and apostles, that we know the Plan of Salvation, which answers many deep and universal questions about our existence. Because of the Plan of Salvation, we know where we came from, why we're here, who we are, and where we're going. The true answers to those questions are exclusive to this church, and they can inspire us to press forward in faith until we reach our ultimate potential.

Eternal Potential

It is only in this church that we can learn the true nature of God and of ourselves. Only here can we learn His past and our potential -- my personal favorite of the truths of the gospel. This cycle of divine heritage is profound and inspiring. Once I learned that I had the potential to become like God, I was filled with a great desire to live up to that potential. It inspired me to be righteous and to try to stay worthy of and faithful to scared ordinances and covenants. These covenants encourage us to stay faithful, and they can only be made by members of the restored church.

There are many reasons to become and remain members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and many of them can help us stay faithful to the church when our faith is tested. The blessings of the gospel are great and empowering. They're strong enough to hold on to and definitely worth holding on for.

Prerequisites to Progression

One last blog post from President Uchtdorf's talk. I promise that not all of this session's Conference talks will get as much attention as this one has gotten.

Toward the end of his talk, President Uchtdorf said that, to progress in the gospel, we should start where we are. There is no minimum level of spirituality that we need to reach before we can start to progress toward our eternal potential.

I learned in my life that we don’t need to be “more” of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become.

God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. ...

However, there are a few prerequisites - if we want to call them that - a few qualities that we need to have in order to begin making progress, and President Uchtdorf listed them.

 All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord.

These qualities, while necessary, are thankfully easy to develop. All we really need is a desire to improve and a willingness to do so God's way. If we are willing to let God help us, He can take us from where we are right now - no matter where we are right now - to where He know we can go. If we have "a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord," we have all the tools we need to progress toward perfection.

We don't have to be perfect now. All we need is to be willing to start where we are and begin progressing from there.

Simplify - Golden Lines

I had decided that I wanted to blog about President Uchtdorf's Saturday Morning Session talk, It Works Wonderfully, at least one or two more times, but I couldn't quite think of how to phrase what I wanted to say about what he had said about over-complicating discipleship. Ironically, the reason I was having so much trouble with my blog post was that I was over-complicating it. I don't need to have new insights in every blog posts. Sure, it's nice when I do, and I should certainly share my insights when I get them, but I shouldn't force myself to stay up late, racking my brain for profound thoughts, just because the thoughts I have aren't "blogworthy." President Uchtdorf warned us that:

[S]ometimes we take the beautiful lily of God’s truth and gild it with layer upon layer of man-made good ideas, programs, and expectations. Each one, by itself, might be helpful and appropriate for a certain time and circumstance, but when they are laid on top of each other, they can create a mountain of sediment that becomes so thick and heavy that we risk losing sight of that precious flower we once loved so dearly.

Blogging is not necessarily a "man-made good idea" to me. I believe I was inspired when I started this program of blogging every day. Over-all, I think that my blog has a strong, positive impact on my spirituality, but my high expectations of my blog posts might. We have been counseled to both go to bed and wake up early, and I haven't been doing that, partly because of my obligation to blog and my unwillingness to let my blog posts be "too simple."

I think I would like to follow President Uchtdorf's counsel and "simplify" my blog posts. They don't all have to be lengthy, insightful lessons like this one. With your pardon, my blog posts may sometimes be as short and basic as sharing a good quote and about a paragraph about why the quote stood out to me. In my history class, we have assignments like that. My teacher calls them "Golden Lines." I think that, every once in a while, I might simply pick out a "Golden Line" from a Conference talk, and let that be my blog post for that day, if you'll let me get away with that. Not only would that relieve the pressure I feel to produce "blogworthy" blog posts (and sometimes help me get to bed earlier), it would also help you, my faithful readers, by not giving you too much to read each day.

The "Golden Lines" approach to blogging may not always result in deeply insightful blog posts, and I don't intend to do that every night, but I don't always have deeply insightful, blogworthy thoughts to share, and I don't think it's healthy for me to force myself to stay up until I think of something that's good enough to blog about. That's a bit too much like gilding the lily. A short quote and a brief testimony may be simple, but "simple" isn't always bad. In fact, this blog post might have been better if I had simplified it rather than making a lengthy argument about why simplification may be a good idea, but it's too late for that now. The next time I'm up past family prayer time, still having not blogged, I'll try this "Golden Lines" idea. In the meantime, I think I'll call this blog post "good enough" and call it a night.

Encouragement and Caution Regarding Self-Study

In his Saturday Morning Session General Conference talk, President Deiter F. Uchtdorf related the story of a time he had received medical advice from his doctor, then searched for more medical advice on the internet. "I suppose I expected to discover truth of which my doctors were unaware or had tried to keep from me." President Uchtdorf then quickly acknowledged the folly of what he had been doing, but aren't we encouraged to do approximately the same thing? When we receive spiritual instruction or guidance, in General Conference, for instance, we're encouraged to study it out for ourselves, as if our own understanding and feelings about an issue could be more certain than the word of God, as spoken by His prophets. Just as a doctor gives better medical advice than the internet, the prophets and apostles have a better understanding of gospel principles than we do. But here's the catch: We're supposed to understand it for ourselves as well.

When I was taking my most recent Algebra class, I was taught many formulas, but every time I was shown a new formula, I wanted to know its "proof." I wanted to know how and why each formula worked. It wasn't that I doubted my teacher; I just wanted to really learn what my math professor was teaching me.

We can do the same thing with gospel principles. We're often told spiritual truths, but instructed to study it out and pray about so we can gain a testimony of those truths for ourselves, rather than simply believing it because Brother, or Sister, or even President So-And-So said it was true. Studying the gospel for ourselves is a very good idea - as long as we don't put more faith in our own understanding than in that of the General Authorities.

"Of course, researching these thing for ourselves is not a bad idea," President Uchtdorf said of his medical study, "but I was disregarding truth I could rely on and instead found myself being drawn to the often outlandish claims of internet lore."

The General Authorities provide us with spiritual truths we can rely on. The counsel and understanding of other people, or even ourselves, isn't quite as sure. If something I've written with my own limited knowledge or "wisdom" disagrees with anything any of the General Authorities have said, I am the one who is wrong. Their knowledge and wisdom is limited as well, but theirs are greater than mine, and they often aren't speaking just from their own knowledge and wisdom. Much of the time, their words come from God, and His knowledge and wisdom are infinite.

While we're encouraged to study things out for ourselves, it doesn't discredit the General Authorities when our findings conflict with theirs, nor should we pit our wisdom against their counsel or our opinions against their testimonies. Some may think me blind for saying this, but they know better than we do, even when we study things out. God's truth is indisputable, and it comes to us through His prophets. We heard a lot of things at General Conference a few days ago, and while we may wish to study them out to find out their truth for ourselves, I would be sceptical of anyone or anything that claimed or seemed to disprove them.

Time to Study Again

Now that General Conference is over, it's time to really study the talks. I enjoyed General Conference, and I tried to get the most out of it by listening intently, taking notes, and trying to record my impressions, but despite all that effort, I have already forgotten most of what was said. That's only natural. Ask any college student, and they'll tell you that sitting through a lecture, even if you take notes, isn't going to guarantee that you'll remember everything from the lecture. To retain or regain a remembrance of what we've heard, we'll have to study the talks again, one by one, and carefully consider their messages.

Unfortunately, the text of the talks haven't been posted yet, but we can still read the talk summaries and rewatch the talks. Doing that, along with reflecting on the notes we took, should help to remind us of the things we heard and the insights we gained, and it should help us to remember those lessons for longer than if we had only listened to the messages once. We might even catch a few things we missed the first time.

The more times we review the Conference talks, the more we'll learn from them and the longer we'll retain what we've learned. I look forward to reviewing the General Conference talks each at least once, and blogging about some of the insights I gain, especially once the full text of the talks are posted. I know that reviewing the talks again and publicly sharing the lessons I've learned will help me apply the principles taught in Conference and will help me become a better person. I've already seen how my life has improved by reviewing and blogging about past General Conference talks. I look forward to repeating the pattern of study and self-improvement.

Notes by Laptop or by Hand

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I took notes in General Conference on a laptop. It was very easy. I was able to write several pages of notes and even share quick quotes on Facebook every once in a while.

However, I found that there were some drawbacks. Since I could take notes more quickly on a keyboard than by hand, I found myself copying more of the Apostles' exact words and not so many of my own thoughts and impressions. Also, while sharing inspired thoughts on Facebook was fun, having quick access to Facebook and to the rest of the internet was distracting to me.

Today, I decided to take notes by hand, as I always had, and it went great. I recorded more of my own thoughts, or the thoughts the Spirit gave me, I'm not sure which, and they told me how I could apply the words of the Apostles to my own life. It helped me answer some of the questions I had brought to Conference, and it helped me feel the Spirit more than I had yesterday.

I still brought my laptop, on which I'm blogging right now, between sessions, but I won't be using this laptop during the Sunday Afternoon Session. I'll avoid the distraction of the internet and the temptation to copy down every quotable phrase I hear. Instead, I'll record the most personal and important impressions of a piece of paper by hand.

A bit of a disclaimer, though: Many of my family members use their laptops to take notes, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are many advantages to taking notes on a computer. All I'm saying is that I've tried it, and I've found that it's not what works out best for me.

Better Advice for How to Be Happier

When Eva asked her Great Aunt Rose for the secret of her happiness, she first responded by advising Eva to look for the good. Toward the end of this teaching opportunity, Aunt Rose told Eva another secret:

“It is love—the pure love of Christ,” Rose said. “You see, everything else in the gospel—all the shoulds and the musts and the thou shalts —lead to love. When we love God, we want to serve Him. We want to be like Him. When we love our neighbors, we stop thinking so much about our own problems and help others to solve theirs.”

“And that is what makes us happy?” Eva asked.

Great-Aunt Rose nodded and smiled, her eyes filling with tears. “Yes, my dear. That is what makes us happy.”

 Loving and serving God and others will help us have the spirit with us in our lives, which will give us feelings of joy and make us happy. While we may find some happiness when we seek happiness for ourselves, we will gain even more happiness when we seek the happiness of others. That was how Eva's Aunt Rose gained enough happiness to prompt Eva to ask about it, and it's how we can gain more happiness than we can imagine. We all want to be happy, but it's by putting other's happiness before our own that we can gain the most happiness for ourselves.

Good Advice for How to Be Happy

During the General Women's Session of this General Conference, President Deiter F. Uchtdorf shared the following, possibly paraphrased, quotes from two possibly fictional people:

Eva said, “you can’t just flip a switch and go from sad to happy.”

“No, perhaps not,” Aunt Rose smiled gently, “but God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy! So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do? Seems to me that the best things, like homemade bread or orange marmalade, take patience and work.”

We can't always just decide to be happy, but we can decide to look for things that can help make us happy. There are many things in the world, like "blue jays... spruce trees... sunsets and... stars," that are gifts from God that can help lift our spirits. If we pray to Him, He will help us see the things that will fill our hearts with peace and joy.

We can't always control how we feel, but we can choose to focus on the good. Eva's Aunt Rose had another piece of advice on how to be happy, but this is a good place to start. Whatever your emotions are right now, I know that if you make a conscious effort to look for the good in today, it will improve your mood.

I'll share some even better advice for happiness tomorrow.

Stronger Than Stone

Just before the climax of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, things looked pretty grim for our heroes. Quasimodo was in chains, Esmeralda was tied up and about to get burned at the stake, and all of Quasimodo's other friends - other than his gargoyle friends - were in cages, awaiting their own executions. In spite of this, Quasimodo's gargoyles urged him not to give up. Making reference to Quasimodo's impressive strength, they encouraged him to break the chains and save his friends. But he informed them that he had already tried and failed. Defeated, he told the gargoyles to leave him alone. "Alright Quasi, we'll leave you alone," they said, "After all, we're only made of stone. We just thought you were made of something stronger."

And they were right. We are stronger than stone. The scriptures are filled with examples of this truth. Several prophets reported that they or others were able to command mountains to move, and the mountains obeyed. Many times in the scriptures, a man of God would be bound, but would pray for strength or some other miracle, and they'd be able to break their bonds, or their bonds would simply fall off. In the strength of the Lord, we can become physically stronger than stone.

But what about mentally. When I said that Quasimodo was defeated, I didn't mean that it was because he was in chains, about to watch his friends die. He was defeated, mentally, because he had given up. Will we always be defeated so easily by our circumstances? Spyro wasn't, but he was fictional. What about us? Can we stand strong as mountains in the face of daunting challenges?

Of course we can. Human beings are capable of incredible resilience. If we set our minds on completing a task, no amount of discouragement can dissuade us. We can possess incredible will-power, and our resolve can be much stronger than that of stone.

Part of the reason we can be so strong is that we are children of God. His strength is in our spirits, if not in our blood. We have the potential to become just as strong as He is, and He is all-powerful. Given our heritage, it's no wonder that we both are, and can become, much stronger than stone.