Acts vs. Intentions

"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention."

Do More......

“Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.”

William Arthur Ward

Gold Flecks

“Great things are wrought through simple and small things. Like the small flecks of gold that accumulate over time into a large treasure, our small and simple acts of kindness and service will accumulate into a life filled with love..."

~M. Russell Ballard~

A Single Minute

Wake Up

"Like the elephant, we are unconscious of our own strength. When it comes to understanding the power we have to make a difference in our own lives, we might as well be asleep. If you want to make your dreams come true, wake up. Wake up to your own strength. Wake up to the role you play in your own destiny. Wake up to the power you have to choose what you think, do, and say." 

-Keith Ellis-

Praying Cream and Living Skimmed Milk

I love this quote by Henry Ward Beecher:

"It is not well for a man to pray cream and live skim milk"

I've done that before... gone before God with fantastic intentions and assurances, only to not live up to what I promised. Thank goodness He's patient! I had read this following quote last week from Elder Uchtdorf, and it ties in well with the sentiment:

“Those who are unafraid to roll up their sleeves and lose themselves in the pursuit of worthwhile goals are a blessing to their families, communities, nations and to the Church.

The Lord doesn’t expect us to work harder than we are able. He doesn’t (nor should we) compare our efforts to those of others. Our Heavenly Father asks only that we do the best we can—that we work according to our full capacity, however great or small that may be.

When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration. President Thomas S. Monson put it this way: “It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we’ll make the effort. . . . It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled".

(Elder Uchtdorf, "Two Principles For Any Economy, Ensign, Nov 2009)

Bind up the Testimony

2 Nephi 18:16
“Bind up the testimony…..”

I remember reading this scripture when I visited the island of Malta several years ago - I don’t know whether because I was in a place where there was so much ancient history, including temples which are older than the pyramids in Egypt – but when I read the words, “bind up the testimony” I thought about mummies.

In order to stop the body decaying once someone had died, the Egyptians discovered a way to defeat this process by drying it out, using basically salt and bicarbonate of soda, so that bacteria and fungi couldn’t grow, then they embalmed the body and wrapped it in bandages.

It seems to me that there are some similarities to ‘binding up our testimony’. The object being to protect it from decay, to preserve it, but unlike mummification not just to preserve and protect, but to foster growth. The way that we ‘bind’ our testimony is through performing good works, following the example of the Saviour who “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), This can be likened to wrapping our testimony in bandages. But this is not enough, as without the preparatory use of chemicals decay still occurs, albeit at a slower rate. I liken this to ‘faith’; all the good work in the world will have little effect until our motive is our faith in Christ. Faith is the foundation, Christ is our Example, when coupled with Good Works our testimonies are protected from decay.

A bit of a ramble I know for just a few words of scripture, but I hope you are able to glean something from what I have shared:)

Fire for the Deed

Columbus, in a letter to the Spanish hierarchy, wrote:
'Our Lord unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my emprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?'
(quoted in Mark E. Petersen, The Great Prologue, Deseret Book Co., 1975, p.26).

This reminded me of Nephi’s example:
1 Nephi 3:5 - 7
“And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord.
“Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.
“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
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When we have confidence in God, we have that fire which drives us to accomplish His will, even against opposition – and that is how we build up the kingdom, and ourselves.

Gaining Knowledge

Alma 12:9
"And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him."
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Spencer W. Kimball
"The knowledge of the spiritual will not come to an individual without effort any more than will the secular knowledge or college degrees."
(Conference Report)

When Are You Going To Really Live?

I read this somewhere (but I don't remember where) and copied it down. Hope you like it:

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"I am discovering that many people want, above all else, to live life fully. But sometimes the past prohibits our living and enjoying life to the utmost in the present. A schoolteacher entered his room a few minutes early and noticed a mealworm laboriously crawling along the floor. It had somehow been injured. The back part of the worm was dead and dried up, but still attached to the front, living part by just a thin thread. As the teacher studied the strange sight of a poor worm pulling its dead half across the floor, a little girl ran in and noticed it there. Picking it up, she said, "Oh, Oscar, when are you going to lose that dead part so you can really live?" What a marvelous question for all of us! When are we going to lose that dead part so we can really live? When are we going to let go of past pain so we can live fully? When are we going to drop the baggage of needless guilt - guilt over things we have been forgiven for or need never have felt guilty for - so we can experience life? When are we going to let go of that past resentment so we can know peace? Have you been dragging something that is dead and gone around with you? Are you ready to "lose that dead part so you can really live"?

Alfred D. Souza said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, and a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off , until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your ship comes in or your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you've got it all done, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy......Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Thought for the day: Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.

Beyond Confirming Evidence

Faith is not perfect knowledge (see Alma 32:26). As President Boyd K. Packer, has stated: "Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence … , must go into the unknown … , must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness"

(In Faith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983, p.42).

I hope you have opportunities to exercise your faith in Christ today. I hope I can too.

Commanded in All Things

After Nephi receives the interpretation of Lehi’s dream he returns home, and his brothers are disputing about what their fathers dream meant.

Nephi said to them: “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” (1 Ne 15:8), and they replied: “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.” (1 Ne 15:9).

This highlights the difference in attitude between the brothers. Nephi knew that the Lord would provide the way, and ‘went and did’, whilst Laman and Lemuel wanted things handed to them on a plate without any effort being put forth on their part. The Brother of Jared was the same as Nephi and when faced with the problem of being in complete darkness in the barges, he came up with a solution, the sixteen clear stones, (Ether 3) and asked the Lord to touch them to give them light – he didn’t say; “Lord we need light in the barges, make it happen”, but he did his part, and the Lord then did His.

It’s sometimes easy for us to justify inaction, saying that if the Lord wanted me to do this or that He would tell me, but I firmly believe the Lord will usually only guide us as our feet are moving. He has already told us so many things we need to be doing, that we don’t need to be “commanded in all things”, and receive confirmation after confirmation. Just as when Nephi was building the ship he said the Lord showed him “from time to time” (1 Ne. 18:1) so will He show us from “time to time” what we should do, but at all other times we need to remember what the Lord has said:

“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

“For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

(D&C 58:26 - 28).

It's not called the 'Solution' Society!

I really love this quote:

“The very name "Relief Society" describes our purpose: to provide relief. While we often have the desire and the natural tendency as women to fix what's broken, we are not the "solution society." We are the Relief Society. We can soothe a suffering heart when we can't eliminate the trouble. We can bring reassurance and support, kindness, and calm.”

—Elaine L. Jack , Ensign, Nov. 1995

President Hinckley Always Makes Me Cry!!

This is a clip called "Lesson I Learned as a Boy", from a talk given by President Hinckley, and it made me cry! It shows the power of choices. When we make choices based on love the Lord can use us. Don't you just love President Hinckley, oh, and remember to mute the music on my blog before watching.

Inconsistent Discipleship

Neal A Maxwell in his book 'Men & Women of Christ' said:

"We can ease the stress caused by our inconsistency, pain through which we put ourselves repeatedly. Unfortunately, like Oliver Cowdrey, we do not always "continue as [we] commenced" (D&C 9:5). As with our wasteful automobile driving habits that consume extra energy because of quick starts and stops, so it may be with inconsistent discipleship we actually inflict costs on ourselves in the face of divine counsel."

It's hard to keep the momentum of change going sometimes isn't it. Sometimes we try to run faster that we are able, which leaves us too tired to complete the journey as we had planned. To be a consistent disciple we need to run as fast as 'the Lord' knows we need to run, and just as we would regularly service our cars, so we need those regular spiritual tune-ups too to keep our engine in tip-top condition. It's the only way we won't 'become weary and faint' on our journey.

I hope you will be full of energy today - if not physically, spiritually!

Being Someones Answer

"Have you ever thought that someone somewhere may be pleading with Heavenly Father for help, and you may be the one chosen to help answer that prayer? If we're willing, He'll use us. You likely have no idea how often you rescue someone. "

—Mary Ellen Edmunds, Knit Together in Love-

I hope that you can be used today by Him, and that if you are the one in need of rescue that you will be rescued.

He sees our Successes!

"God not only forgives our failures; he sees successes where no one else does, not even ourselves. Only God can give us credit for angry words we did not speak; temptations we resisted, patience, and gentleness little noticed and long forgotten by those around us. Such good deeds are never wasted and not forgotten, because God gives them a measure of eternity."

-Rabbi Harold Kushner-

It is so easy to be self-critical and unfortunately, all too often, we have a perfect memory when it comes to our shortcomings and mistakes, even replaying them over over again in our minds. It is good to know that Heavenly Father has a perfect memory of our efforts to improve and the untold desires of our hearts too. Thank goodness He loves us perfectly and sees who we really are!

A Wise Selection

"The Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants tells us to be 'anxiously engaged in good causes'. This suggests we can't respond to all causes. We must be selective in the things we seek to do in terms of community and civic chores. But it also suggests we ought to devote a measure of our time and talent to do these things, for they do count on the scales of action as God sees it.

"The world is full of fads. The world is full of the marches of lemmings to the sea. The world is full of causes that lead into conceptual cul-de-sacs. Our task, therefore, is to be wise in the selection of good causes, using the scriptures and the modern prophets as our guide.

"Anne Morrow Lindbergh, in her book Gift from the Sea, says: 'My life cannot implement in action all the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.' You will care for more things than you will be able to do things about. Wise selection of causes is one of the highest forms of the uses of free agency that there is, and, really, one of the ways God tests our basic wisdom and our capacity to love."

(Neal A Maxwell, speech delivered at Catalina Young Adult Conference, 23 Oct 1972)

What does Christianity consist of?

"Christianity consists not in abstaining from doing things no gentleman would think of doing, but in doing things that are unlikely to occur to anyone who is not in touch with the spirit of Christ".

—R. H. L. Sheppard, Treasury of the Christian Faith

Nevertheless....

I thought more about this scripiture today:

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."
(1 Nephi 4:6)

Often we read this familiar scripture and stop there -what caught my attention today was the next few words of the verse which follows:"Nevertheless I went forth,....." (v.7)

I love Nephi's example of faith in action - he didn't wait to be instructed or to receive knowledge, but 'went forth' knowing the Lord would guide him. He is much like his father Lehi, who didn't just pray in behalf of his people, but went amongst them and prayed as he did (1 Nephi 1:5).

It reminds me of the quote which says: "Some people pray cream and live skimmed milk"

I hope that the energies with which we live the gospel and exercise faith will be equal to the energies with which we pray to our Father in Heaven.