Someone offends you. You’re hurt, angry, and want retribution. Yet the Lord says we should forgive everyone. Why?
We are to forgive others not for the sake of the person that offended us, but for our own sake.
We benefit when we forgive others. A burden is lifted. Anger and hurt are removed. Positive feelings of peace and love fill our heart and the result is happiness and health.
That’s why we should forgive everyone!
Rich people:
Give to the poor or your riches will canker your soul.
Poor people:
Labor with your own hands, don’t lay hold on other people’s goods.
Both rich and poor:
Be satisfied, be pure in your desires, avoid greed, and you will have the “fatness of the earth”.
A man here in Houston was the CEO of a large marketing firm. One of his clients was Michael Jordan and he has pictures and a nice chair Michael gave him. He had a limo take him to work each day. He was rolling in money, wealth, and prestige.
Now he is destitute and has very little. What happened? He says that because he set his heart on the money and was prideful he lost it all.
Something to keep in mind.
If it doesn’t edify then it isn’t of God. Edify means to uplift, to benefit in a moral or spiritual way.
Ask yourself when you listen to music, view entertainment, and in your education: does this edify? If it doesn’t then it’s not of God and is not going to be of benefit to you.
- DC 50:23
A successful marriage relationship is established by following these two principles:
Accept the other person for who they are, including all the good and bad. Don’t try to change them.
Think more of the other person’s needs and desires than your own.
I believe that if both people live these principles they will have a strong and happy marriage.
- DC 49:15
Find value in others just as you value yourself. Esteem others as you esteem yourself.
The effectiveness of a family, team, class, church, friends, and other groups correlates to how much the individual people esteem others.
David Lilienthal was commissioned after World War II to head up the Atomic Energy Commission. He brought together many brilliant people who were stars in their own rights and had many differences in perspective.
There was a tremendous amount of pressure to get going on all their objectives. Instead of diving right in David took several weeks for them to get to know each other, to value others as themselves.
The result was a highly effective group that was extremely creative, productive, and were able to resolve differences quickly.
That is the power of valuing others.
Watch this if you want to see what serving and loving God with all your might, mind, and strength looks like:
Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
- DC 33:7
People judge us so quickly based on appearances. Clothes, hair, looks.
God looks at our character, what’s on the inside. People look at our personality, what’s on the outside.
Therefore it’s better to be judged by God than by man.
Look at yourself in the way God sees you rather than the way people perceive you to be. Live your life so that God is pleased with you. Don’t worry if other people are pleased with you.
A related thought: when someone comes along and says they will save you from all your problems don’t count on them. People are fickle. They are unreliable. They are imperfect.
The only person that can save us from all our problems is God so put your trust in Him, not in other people.
Our brains are rationalizing machines.
And the “lie” in the word rationalieze is the particularly dangerous part.
It’s so easy to justify terrible behavior that we sometimes do it without even realizing it. We lie to our self and in the process justify all kinds of crazy stuff.
Some people want to believe there is no God and so they look to science for all the answers. If there is no God then we don’t have responsibility and can do whatever we want. In spite of the fact that all evidence points to a Creator many people rationalize it away.
I used to wonder how people could commit atrocities. From the last century think Nazis and Communists for example. They were people just like us.
How could they have gone so far astray? Rationalizing.
Perhaps they believed the end justifies the means. If you start believing a lie it can lead to some pretty extreme and dangerous behaviors.
If you recognize even in small part that you are rationalizing, let that be a big red flag of warning. Consciously go back to correct principles and stick to them, don’t let the lies inside your head persist.
Gaining common consent in an organization is brilliant. It breeds unity, reduces politics, and increases the strength of the organization.
Where common consent is applied members of an organization are asked to either support or oppose the decisions made by the leaders. It puts responsibility on the members so there is more engagement.
When there is total support there is strength. When there is opposition there is opportunity to make things better. Interestingly, organizations that apply common consent have very little internal opposition or politics and are exponentially more effective in accomplishing their mission.
It’s a brilliant way to govern.
- DC 26:2
We learn best when we are seeking for knowledge. However knowledge alone is not enough to really learn. Apply the knowledge and real learning happens.
Too many teachers are steeped in the industrial model of education where a teacher is the authority figure in the class, controls the class, and spoon feeds information to the students. This is about the least effective way for people to learn and really should be changed.
A more effective way of learning is where the teacher leads and the students teach. For example a teacher asks a thought provoking question and several students share their thoughts about it and a discussion follows where insights and experience are added – now everyone participates and everyone benefits. All are edified together when learning is done this way.
I hope we can change our mind set about effective learning, away from what is entrenched in our education systems for the last hundred years and back to a classical way of learning. We’d all be better for it.
Our culture treats youth with very soft gloves. Not much is expected, not much is required.
I believe that the youth have it in them to be responsible and productive, they just need to be given the opportunity. They will rise to the occasion when there is a need.
Suppose that in one instant everyone in the world 20 years and older perishes. Would civilization cease to exist? No! The youth would take responsibility and get organized. They would work together to ensure the continuation of food production, caring for the young, and forming governments.
We can ask much more of our youth. They like responsibility. They like to be trusted and counted on.
And they do come through.
When you have a big decision to make in your life and you seek help from God, how do you know what he is saying to you?
Big decisions like choosing what college to go to, who to marry, and what career path to take would all be more effective if we seek and receive input from a higher source than our self.
God’s pattern for teaching us is line upon line, precept on precept. It’s rare that there is a single BIG EVENT that defines what we are to do. His pattern is to show us a little, then a little more. As we learn more we get more.
Follow these steps in this order to learn to understand what we need to know: desire, seek, ask, discern, hear, and obey. Repeat.
- New Era September 2010, ‘Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept’, David Bednar
We have space to make mistakes.
At times what we want may not be aligned with what is best and things don’t work out. That’s when learning happens.
Since we are free to act and not be acted upon, and this freedom comes from God, we have space to be imperfect. Space to exercise our will even if it’s contrary to God’s will and thereby make mistakes.
If God gives us space to make mistakes should we not give others space to make mistakes as well?
If you want to be rich should you focus on getting rich or on gaining wisdom?
Focus on wisdom.
Seek for wisdom and all things will naturally follow. Wisdom to know how to act, wisdom in our choices and decisions, and wisdom in our perspective will all lead to a richer and more fulfilling life.
Most importantly seeking and applying wisdom will result in eternal salvation and there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.
This idea, that we should not focus on the object of our desires but instead on true principles, applies to more than wisdom.
For example…
If you want to be happy should you focus on self gratification or serving other people?
Serving other people leads to happiness while self indulgence leads to discontentment, lack of meaning, and unhappiness.
To be more friendly you can work on smiling more, making more eye contact, and giving compliments.
These are personality traits and you will achieve some degree of success.
The alternative is to work on character traits. For example increase your faith, hope, charity, and love. Remember temperance, humility, and virtue.
These are character traits. When we focus on character traits our personality naturally changes for the better.
It is most effective to work on our character rather than our personality.
- DC 4:5-6
Working too hard is anti-productive. Life is a journey not a sprint so slow down, pace yourself!
The problem with working too hard is burn-out which results in getting little if nothing done.
Maryann has played volleyball for years and loves it. However this year, her junior year in high-school, she made a difficult decision and chose not to play. She felt it would allow her time to do things of higher value.
She told us that her decision has resulted in peace and satisfaction in her life. She is able to spend quality time with her family and friends, she went to the church girls camp over the summer, and is able to come to seminary every morning and is spiritually strengthened.
Make decisions that will result in a steady pace of life. Don’t work too hard or expend too much energy, just keep your life balanced and consistently move forward and you will then win the prize.
Where there is high trust there is also security and stability.
Where there is high trust work gets done faster. Energy is applied to forward progress rather than posturing for protection.
We prefer to associate with people we can trust.
How about this … associate with God and put our trust in him. His path is perfectly straight. He doesn’t oscillate to the left and right. He always is true to his word.
God is the ultimate partner because he is the most trustworthy.
Trust in God, not a drunk chauffeur.
- DC 3:2
Imagine if you couldn’t belong to anything. No family, no team, no company, no community. You would feel alone and suffer. Belonging helps us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves, it gives us purpose and strength.
As humans we all have a deep need to belong.
God has provided a way for us to belong even after death. As Malachi the Old Testament prophet said, and it’s the very last verse of the Old Testament, the Lord will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and children to the fathers.
We are linked to our fathers and to our children so we can belong to something forever. What a great blessing.
The more you are trusted the more freedom you have.
You are trusted according to how much integrity you have.
As Aisha said this morning, “Come home 5 minutes before your curfew.” Profound. That builds trust with your parents and they are going to give you more freedom.
My business partners trust me because I’ve always delivered on what I say I will do. My actions back my words. So they don’t micromanage me or watch over my shoulder. They trust me to pull my weight and the result is I have more freedom.
Have integrity and you will accomplish great things.
- JSH 1:46
Try out for a team and you want to know if you are on the team.
Audition for a play and you want to know if you get a part.
Take a test and you want to know your score.
We need to know where we stand. We want to know where we stand.
So where do you stand with God? You are living your life imperfectly but trying to do right. So where do you stand?
Pray to God and ask him where you stand. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised with the answer.
- JSH 1:29
Knowledge is knowing stuff. Data, facts, figures. Wisdom is applying knowledge, acting on it in a way that’s beneficial.
Two centuries ago a 14 year boy did not know how to act. Instead of asking for knowledge he asked for wisdom. Wisely he sought the wisdom from the source of all truth, God.
I believe wisdom is greater than knowledge.
In our age with all the knowledge available to us at our fingertips and at the speed of electrons, where is the wisdom?
- JSH 1:12
6:00 AM and here they are!
Left to right: Kayli, Eric, Christian, Colleen, Spencer, Kassandra.
Scott (middle) came in late so had to get another picture.
Left to right: Kassandra, Leanne, Brittney, Maryann, Aisha, Markus, Taylor, Wendel.
Left to right: Taylor, Wendel, Ryan, Megan, Eoin, Pablo, Matthew, and John.
I asked everyone what they care about and this is what they said:
As we dug deeper into why they cared about these things they realized it was because they want to be happy. And then we realized that God wants us to be happy (2 Nephi 2:25).
So it all comes together. Everything in the scriptures is to help us be happy. Which means the scriptures are all about what we care about. Our study of the scriptures is therefore really about our happiness.
And so begins the 2010-2011 seminary year. It actually started 8 days ago but I’ve been on vacation with my family and at the Restoring Honor rally in Washington D.C. so my first teaching day is tomorrow.
Teaching seminary is a consecration of time, energy, and heart in the service of the youth in my class, about 20 hours a week. Totally voluntary. It’s an act of service that feels great!
It’s so awesome to be able to do this again. This is my fourth year teaching and it’s been amazing.
What informs how I teach and conduct myself in the class?
We are free to act and not to be acted upon (Alma 2:26-27).
Manage systems not people. Lead people. I’m a leader not a manager.
Be humble, submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, patient, long-suffering, temperate in all things, have faith, hope, and charity (Alma 7:23-24).
I don’t assign seats, don’t force anyone to do anything, and put the learning responsibility directly on the shoulders of the youth. From what I can tell after doing this for 3 years, they like being treated like responsible people and they respond positively to it.
Heather wrote a profound post about the importance of choosing your focus. And she uses her photography skills to bring it alive. Wow, you’ve got to read it!
http://athermusic.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-illustrated.html
We are faced each day with the need to figure out what is good and what is evil.
If we judge incorrectly our lives can get messed up. If we judge correctly everything goes better. Given the importance of getting it right, it’s helpful to understand how.
Moroni said it’s very clear and straightforward to judge correctly between good and evil. “The way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.”
And here is how to do it: “every thing which inviteth to good and persuadeth to believe in Christ” is good. “Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God” is of the devil and evil.
I asked my seminary class what specific areas in their life would it be helpful to apply what Moroni is teaching. They all strongly agreed that they should apply it to their friends. And the other was school.
If you’ve ever wanted to be bad, really bad, think about what happened to these two guys, Coriantumr and Shiz.
They fought literally to the death and caused the death of millions of people in wars just because they chose to be bad and wouldn’t stop being bad.
Coriantumr actually tried a couple times to fix things up but he just went right back to his bad ways.
“He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart… and [he] repented not of [his] iniquity.”
Being determined to be bad, is bad.
To get something you desire you first need faith. Faith first, results second.
There is no cost in choosing to believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. If you first choose to have faith that he is then you will receive witnesses that bear it out and confirm it.
Some examples of faith as articulated by Moroni:
What great thing do you desire, what result are you looking for? First have faith.
Use your intelligence. As long as we have it, we ought to use it.
Suppose you are asked by God to accomplish something difficult, like take a group of 50 people across the ocean in small boats that are sealed shut so the water can’t come in during huge storms.
You recognize two major problems. First, you’ll run out of air and suffocate and second, you can’t see anything in the pitch black.
So you ask God to help you solve those problems. He gives you the solution to the first problem but doesn’t even address the second one.
You ask again. He agrees with you that having no light is a problem, and expounds on why, and then asks you what you want him to do about it.
Have you ever asked God for help and it seemed like you weren’t getting an answer, he wasn’t telling you what to do? Sometimes he wants us to use our reasoning and intelligence to figure it out.
This is exactly what happened to ‘the brother of Jared’. And figure it out he did!
Hanging dead stuff on your body to impress other people doesn’t make any sense.
But that’s what people do who trade long-term happiness for short-term worldly praise.
These words from Moroni are powerful:
“Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies – because of the praise of the world?”
“Why do you adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?”
Imagine you are very poor and for all your hard physical labor have just enough money to pay for the necessities of life. A humble home, bread, minimal clothes.
Now in that circumstance you are given gold coins worth $5,000,000 and told you can’t do anything with them but hold onto them for a year, protect them from people who are going to try to steal them from you, and then you need to return all of them in perfect condition.
Also, you aren’t going to be paid or compensated in any way. In fact having them will bring a lot of trouble and challenges.
How tempting would it be to use them (at least a few!) for your personal benefit? There probably aren’t very many people that have the integrity and self discipline to stay true.
Joseph Smith though was someone that did. He was in custody of ancient writings on metal plates made of pure gold. Purely based on the value of the gold alone they must have been worth millions in his day. Based on the fact they were thousands of years old as a collectors item they must have been worth quite a bit as well.
Yet he was tasked with protecting them and received no financial compensation. He was dirt poor yet he never did anything with them but stayed true to what he was entrusted with. That accomplishment is worthy of our respect!
Rush rush rush. We run around from one thing to another rarely slowing down to consider the importance of what we are doing. What is important anyway?
When Jesus was teaching several thousand people he and was just getting ready to leave, having told them he was leaving, but rather than rush off to his next assignment he slowed down and perceived that they longed for him to stay longer.
He decided to stay and one of the most beautiful experiences in the history of the world occurred. He invited them to bring their sick, lame, and in any way afflicted to him and he healed each of them.
This was just a day after he had suffered all the pains of the Atonement, a completely selfless act that brought excruciating pain on himself. He said his joy was now full and wept several times.
Then he gathered their children around him and they were visited by angels. He blessed each one individually.
It’s beautiful to read about this and inspiring to know that it occurred because he paused and didn’t run off the next thing on his list.
Have you ever been trying to learn something that just isn’t making sense?
It’s the difference between night and day if someone will patiently take the time to explain it. As a learner we appreciate this tremendously.
Jesus was teaching a group of people who were not understanding something he had said, that “old things had passed away, and that all things had become new.”
He patiently explained what he meant, didn’t show any frustration, and didn’t put them down for not understanding. It’s a great example for us to follow.
From James B. Martino, LDS General Conference April 2010:
“Each of us will face trials and tests … it is how we react to those difficulties that will determine our success and happiness.”
“We will each face times of difficulty, and the question is not when we will face them but how we face them.”
Watch this 1 minute video about a boy who at first glance appears to have failed. He doesn’t see it that way.
An Indian legend goes as follows:
A boy is up on a cold mountain top and a snake sees him and asks to be taken down the mountain to where it’s warm. The snake can’t move because it’s too cold.
The boy says, “No, I know your kind, you’re a snake and you’ll bite me.” The snake says “No, I won’t bite you, I will treat you differently because you are doing me this favor” and eventually convinces the boy to take him down.
So the boy puts the snake in his coat and carries him down the mountain. They get to the bottom, it’s nice and warm, the boy puts the snake on the ground and immediately the snake coils and bites him in the leg. “But you promised…” said the boy.
“You knew what I was when you picked me up” the snake said as it slithered away.
We recently re-hired someone at my company that had worked for us 5 years ago. Everything he did was for his personal benefit and at the expense of others. This second time he promised up and down he would be different.
Within two months we had to terminate his employment again. For exactly the same reason. “You knew what I was when you picked me up” came to mind. We should have known better.
Said another way, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
In a continuation of yesterday’s LDS General Conference (www.lds.org) here are the bite-size beliefs I heard in the talks that were given in the Sunday sessions.
I believe that:
Here are some of the bite-size beliefs that I heard in the Saturday General Conference talks (www.lds.org). There are so many important truths that are spoken in conference it’s like a 5 star buffet of continually arriving food.
My freedom comes from God.
“God gave unto man that he should act for himself.”
“Because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever. To act for themselves and not to be acted upon.”
“They are free to choose liberty and eternal life.”
Therefore I am free because of the Atonement and recognize it would disrespect that sacrifice to allow another man to restrict that freedom against my will.
I believe in retaining this freedom no matter the cost. The ultimate price was already paid for it.
Since Jesus was willing to pay for my redemption and resulting freedom then I am willing to honor and respect his sacrifice by retaining it.
Listen carefully you evil people who are trying to take away my freedom, I will resist you and fight you until there is no more breath in my body.
You may gloat in your shallow victories but ultimately your efforts will be futile. You will lose, your efforts are in vain.
You cannot take away from me what has been divinely given by God.
The only way someone can have power is if they have followers. Take away their followers, or a substantial number of them, and their power is gone.
In fact the greatest fear a controlling leader has is that people won’t follow them. That’s why they resort to fear because it’s so much easier to force people to follow you than to inspire and motivate them with vision.
A group of judges, leaders of a nation, wanted to arrest a man who was truthfully calling them corrupt, but “they durst not lay their hands upon him, for they feared the people lest they should cry out against them.”
You and I have the power to instill fear in corrupt leaders and we should use it to preserve our freedoms.
“Don’t make stupid oaths!” Words of wisdom spoken by Brittney this morning.
What triggered that exclamation?
Well, there is an army that goes to capture a city. They get to the city and find out that it is surprisingly and unexpectedly well fortified and protected. The generals and officers realize they can’t attack and succeed, but to rally their troops they take an oath that they will attack the next city no matter what.
They get to the next city and are even more surprised. It’s better fortified than the first one. At this point Brittney exclaims “Don’t make stupid oaths!”
Well, they attacked rather than break their oath (they had to in order to maintain credibility) and suffered terrible causalities and deaths while inflicting no deaths on their enemies.
What more can be said than “don’t make stupid oaths”?
Two very different ways to build a following:
If someone resorts to the first method you can be assured they want to take away freedom. It’s the only way to get people to follow if your true intention is to control your followers for your personal lust for power.
In 73 B.C. a man named Amalickiah used method #1. He flattered the people and through his cunning got many people to follow. He promised wealth, security, and prosperity if they would give him power.
In 73 B.C. a man named Moroni used method #2. He wrote his message down in clear language, told the truth about his intentions, and without making any promises appealed to the people’s desire to preserve their freedom.
In fact Moroni was purposefully counteracting Amalickiah. One was trying to take away the people’s freedom, the other to preserve it.
If you notice anyone following method #1 and asking you to follow, simply don’t.
“Just because everyone is jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge you don’t need to.” Words my mom said when I wanted to follow the crowd. We lived 35 miles south of the bridge, I could have ridden my bike there.
Alma’s son Corianton had gone after a popular harlot. In Alma’s words: “she did steal away the hearts of many; but this was no excuse for thee, my son.” Don’t follow the crowd. Don’t jump off the bridge, even if everyone else is doing it!
My students doing the teaching…
Logan: People are watching our actions and our behavior will influence others for either good or bad. Alma 39:12
Brittany: boasting and bragging about ourselves makes no sense. Our successes really come from the Lord and we should thank him. Alma 39:2
Sara: We live in a fortunate area where there is too much focus on riches. We need to be careful and set our hearts on the Lord, not on riches. Alma 39:14
Caitlin: These are powerful words: “murdereth against the light”. Rejecting the Holy Ghost is like murdering light and truth. Alma 39:6
Sarah: We can’t hide from God, we can’t progress if we hold to our sins inside. Once we repent let it go, don’t dwell on it. Alma 39:7
Julia: We can’t put the responsibility of our own choices on other people, we need to make right choices and don’t let others steal away our hearts. Alma 39:4
Mauricio: just because many people are seduced by something enticing but sinful doesn’t justify it. Alma 39:4
Andrew: If you devote your entire life to gaining power and money you will find that it is entirely temporary. You can lose it at any time, so why do it? Alma 39:14
Gavin: If we are as precious to God now as the people that lived before it shows how much value the Lord places in us. He clearly doesn’t want us to indulge in iniquity. Alma 39:17
Brooke: Not only will bad things we do be exposed but it will also come back to you like judgment you will be judged by. Alma 39:7-8
One of my teen sons (name not disclosed, but here is a link to his picture from facebook if you are curious) is completely infatuated with his girlfriend. He thinks about her all the time and wants to be with her all the time. Everything he does is with part of his mind on her and how she will view what he does.
So when I read this morning what Alma said to his youthful son a strong correlation automatically came to mind. See if it does to yours:
“Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.”
Wow. If you could extend the same energy, focus, and affections of your heart to the Lord as my son does to his girlfriend there would be no question but that you would be living right.
When Alma says to his son “learn wisdom in thy youth” it’s like saying “go experience life and as you make mistakes learn wisdom from them.” That’s one of the ways wisdom is learned.
What if God told us the answer to every question we had? Our ability to learn wisdom would be stunted.
A master plumber recently told me that when he was just learning the trade it was so nice when his master plumber was around to answer questions. It took the responsibility off his own shoulders. But his confidence and wisdom only grew when he himself had to make decisions.
Now he sees his journeyman plumbers doing the same with him and he realizes that they can’t grow in confidence and wisdom if he is always telling them what to do and making decisions for them.
God answers our petitions in his own time, but he does answer them. Sometimes the answer may be that we need to make the decision using our own judgment. These are the times we progress and grow in wisdom. These are the times to anticipate because we’ll be better for them.
Purveyors of personal destruction are targeting young women like never before. People like pornographers.
“The new target audience for those who create pornography is young women,” said Julie Beck.
She also said, “A lot of antifamily messages that you are hearing are targeting young women…those young women who create the bodies for the future generations and who should teach the families. They don’t even know what they’re being taught in the messages. It’s just seeping in, almost through their pores.”
Who is going to combat these antifamily messages? Again from Julie Beck, “This generation will be called upon to defend the doctrine of the family as never before in the history of the world.”
Let’s stand tall confidently and defend the family!
Picture two high school football teams. One team is filled with cheaters, liars, and drug addicts (bad guys). The other team is filled with hard working, honest, health conscious players (good guys).
Joining the bad guys team is like joining no team at all. As soon as a drug test is administered your team is going to get disqualified. Plus with so many cheaters and liars how can you trust them enough to work together as a football team must?
In the competition between good and evil, joining the evil team is like joining no team at all. In fact Korihor found that out. After doing his team leader’s work for a while he was deserted and as Mormon put it, “the devil will not support his children at the last day but doth drag them speedily down to hell.”
Bad decision, Korihor. You thought you were joining up to a team where you’d get some support. Your problem is, you joined the wrong ‘team’.
Fighting against truth is like banging your head against a brick wall. You will die before the wall comes down.
Sinning is fighting against God. We are breaking his laws and therefore fighting him. There is absolutely no way to win that fight so why even try?
Accepting God’s laws and working hard to keep them results in satisfaction and peace in our lives.
Idleness results in a fuddled mind and body. Overindulgence breeds depression. Workaholism destroys relationships and life satisfaction.
Some things just are. No matter how much you might try to fight against it you will never change it. To get through a brick wall don’t bang your head against it. Instead climb over it, walk around it, or dig under it. Respect it.
When you do your best in an endeavor you are giving a gift to others. A gift that has no expected reward or compensation.
We can perform the art of giving in everything we do. Cleaning the kitchen after a meal and making it shine. Listening carefully to a friend in pain. Smiling and making eye contact with your dentist. This is true art, giving something of yourself to make things better for others.
Interestingly when we exhibit true art we benefit even though there is no expectation. The dentist is gentler. Your family spends more time in the kitchen with you. Your friend listens carefully to you when you need a sympathetic ear.
Be an artist and give the gift of yourself to others.
Out of the 6 billion people on the earth there isn’t a single person who is ungrateful and still happy.
And if you think things are so bad there is nothing to be grateful for, reconsider. There is always something to be grateful for.
Before you get out of bed in the morning lay there and think of 5 things you are grateful for and then get up. You’ll see; your attitude will improve and you’ll be happier all day.
Alma said ask God for “whatsoever things ye stand in need of” and “always [return] thanks unto God for whatsoever things you do receive.” Great advice 2,000 years ago and equally important today.
