Be Like Jesus Christ

On Mother's Day I was able to talk to my mom and we got to talking about the recent General Conference. She said she wasn't able to watch two of the sessions. I said that it was an awesome conference and she felt that she needed to read the talks in the Ensign. But one of the talks she did listen to was entitled, "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" by Lynn G. Robbins Of the Seventy.
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/what-manner-of-men-and-women-ought-ye-to-be?lang=eng His talk was about developing Christlike attributes. My mom liked how he talked about in order for us 'to be' like Jesus Christ, we need 'to do' the things that He did. Lynn G. Robbins gave a great example of this in relation to himself:

"Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am."

After my mom brought up this talk I told her my thoughts about it also. I related it to basketball, my most favorite sport. Two summers ago I went to Provo, Utah to go to the BYU basketball camp. My older brother lives there and I stayed with him for a month. Prior to the camp my brother took me to the gym everyday to workout. He told me something that has stuck with me since. He told me that every drill I do I need to do it over and over and over again, so it becomes a part of me. When game time comes and the time comes for me to do that move that I have been practicing, it will happen naturally and I won't have to think about it before doing it. I then related that to the Gospel. We need 'to do' things that Jesus Christ taught us and practice it over and over again so it becomes a part of us. When we do this it will become natural for us to do those things. It will be a part of us. We will 'live' that way. We will 'be' what our Heavenly Father wants us to be.

May we all strive to develop Christlike attributes and to make them become a part of us.

Patience... A Great Blessing

What do we do when we want something, but don't get it when we want it? We get frustrated, angry, and impatient, right? That's where patience comes in. We all know that famous quote, "patience is a virtue." Everyone should develop this characteristic, or become better at it because it will benefit ourselves now, and throughout our lives. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk in the April 2010 General Conference on patience, entitled "Continue in Patience". He gave an example in which he says:

"In the 1960s, a professor at Stanford University began a modest experiment testing the willpower of four-year-old children. He placed them before a large marshmallow and then told them they could eat it right away or, if they waited for 15 minutes, they could have two marshmallows.

"He then left the children alone and watched what happened behind a two-way mirror. Some of the children ate the marshmallow immediately; some could wait only a few minutes before giving in to temptation. Only 30 percent were able to wait.

"It was a mildly interesting experiment, and the professor moved on to other areas of research, for, in his own words, 'there are only so many things you can do with kids trying not to eat marshmallows.' But as time went on, he kept track of the children and began to notice an interesting correlation: the children who could not wait struggled later in life and had more behavioral problems, while those who waited tended to be more positive and better motivated, have higher grades and incomes, and have healthier relationships."

What a great example he gives to those who are patient. This can apply to all ages. When we want something and are willing to put the desire for it on hold, we will benefit from the sacrifice and will have success in many aspects of our lives.

However, there is more to just waiting for what we want. We have to put forth the effort, to work for our  desires instead of just expecting it to just show up in our hands. In that same talk, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a splendid definition of patience: "Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can--working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

May we all strive to do all we we can to develop this characteristic. It will only improve our lives!

Share the Gospel with Everyone

I absolutely love this story! The example that Junior set for members of the LDS church is great. He was the only boy coming to church, and he didn't want to be alone. Junior loves the Gospel and has great joy because of it. He wanted his friend to feel that same joy, so he opened his mouth and invited his friend. His friend enjoyed it so much that he invited his friend. The invitation then branced out and eventually, Junior was joined by 25 other boys. Now these boys are all together and watch out for each other. They want to make sure each and every one of them comes to church and does the right things because they love each other. They feel that no one should be left behind, that everyone should know how they feel towards the LDS church. They aren't afraid to invite others because they know that this church is true. May we as members of this church learn from their example and share our testimony to all our friends and invite them to come to church. Let us not be afraid to share with others what we believe and know to be true.

"Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come." (D&C 68:6)

Don't Look Back

Each and every one of us can learn from the story of Lot's wife. As I watched this video, I was thinking of where this video was going. Then it hit me as they were getting to the moral of the story. God commanded  Lot that he and his family needed to leave and not to look back. Lot's wife was scared to leave her past behind because she loved it so much, and so she looked back. She was set so much on the things she was leaving behind and didn't think of the future. As a result she turned into a pillar of salt. We can learn from this by not looking back to the past and to look forward to the future. We can't go back. We can learn from it, but we need to live for the future. We need to have hope that everything will turn out well as we leave our past behind. God has a plan for everyone of us. We need to trust him and have faith in him that our future will be better. As we learn from our past we can change our future. Our Savior Jesus Christ loves us so much that he suffered for our sins so that we have that chance to change our past. The Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to live for the future. I am very grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for his Atonement, allowing me to ask for forgiveness of my sins. Giving me the strength to forget about my past and to have a better future. I love my Savior so much for his sacrifice.