Spiritual Laundry, part 3

 Continued from part 2!

Sometimes through the week we may fall, we may stain our clothes with a little dirt as we make mistakes. We can use some stain remover when we spill ketchup all over our clothes, or wash a dirt stain out in the sink. At the end of the week though, we still wash those clothes in the laundry to wash away whatever underlying dirt or smell we may have overlooked by ourselves. We can have our clothes cleaned and purified all the way through!
 When we sin, or fall, make mistakes, during the week, we can still pray for forgiveness for those sins and have them forgiven right then. But, as we partake of the sacrament each week and renew our promises with our Heavenly Father, we can have ourselves cleaned and purified all the way through to wash away those underlying things we may have overlooked during the week. We can all have the cleansing effect that comes because of our Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement for us. I am so thankful for Him and the sacrifice that He made for me so that I can be cleansed and feel the warmth of His love all the time! I know He loves each and every one of us and invites us all to come to Him!

John 13:4-9

4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

 5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

 6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

Will you set the time aside each week to let your Savior Jesus Christ wash you and cleanse you of your sins?

Spiritual Laundry, Part 2

Continued from Part 1!

As we discussed, doing laundry is not just a one time thing! Neither are the covenants we make at baptism. Each week on Sunday when I attend church I renew the process. I don't get baptized again, but as I partake of the sacrament (the bread and water in remembrance of Jesus Christ, (3 Nephi 18:1-12), I again promise (or covenant) to take upon me the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, and keep his commandments (for addition things we desire to do click here). In return the Lord promises to wash away, or forgives my sins, and allow me to have the Holy Ghost (also called Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord, etc.) to be with me as long as I keep these promises. This is called the gift of the Holy Ghost, where we can have the Holy Ghost to be with us at all times if we are keeping our promises to God. When we do not have the gift of the Holy Ghost, we can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, but we do not yet qualify for his constant companionship.

Warm toasty and fuzzy!

I know some people who throw their towel in the dryer, go take a shower, and then grab the towel when they are done so it is nice and warm. This warmness fades though as the coldness of the world outside the dryer slowly cools down the towel. Before baptism, we can still feel the Holy Ghost and the warmth and comfort he can bring into our lives at times, but after baptism when we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost we can have that warmth and comfort to be with us always. Our garments having been washed white through the blood of the Lamb of God (3 Nephi 27:19) can always remain warm and comforting as we follow Christ and keep the coldness of the world away! I know our Savior loves us and always wants us to know that and be able to feel that love, so come unto Him! His arms are outstretched towards us continually. Let His warmth and love embrace you!

To be continued...

Spiritual Laundry, Part 1

So I'm trying something new or once! I'm going to break up the topic I want to write on over a series of a few blog-posts. I want to talk about everyone's favorite thing... doing the laundry! Ok, so not everyone's favorite, but we can all relate. Each week you have to take all your old, dirty, smelly clothes, take the time to sort them. Then you have to start the wash, come back in 40 minutes to an hour, load them up in the dryer, and then come back in another 40 minutes to an hour and get your fresh, warm clothes!

"Boy... you stanky"

 If you really want to put the extra effort into it you can buy certain laundry supplies to make your clothes smell like evergreens or flowers or the ocean or cotton-candy... Well, I'm not sure if they have cotton-candy scent yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. Regardless, doing the laundry is something we do each week (at least I hope) so we can stay clean, fresh, and still be able to be around people without driving them away due to our odor! Through a combination of water and heat our clothes are made brand new!

The scriptures teach of a good parallel for the purifying power of water and heat!

When I was eight I did something, and still do, similar to doing the laundry. I was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! My father, holding Priesthood authority , took me into the water and as I was immersed and came forth (symbolic of the death/resurrection of Christ, also called baptism by water), my sins, like dirt and odor in laundry, were washed away through Jesus Christ (Alma 7:14).
Afterwards I received the gift of the Holy Ghost (called baptism by fire in the scriptures, see 3 Nephi 12:1-2). The Holy Ghost, can guide us and direct us. Like laundry after it has been in the dryer, the Holy Ghost can also give us feelings of comfort, peace, and warmth (Luke 24:32 and 3 Nephi 11:3).
I know that through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from our sins, those mistakes dirty our soul and create a rank smell of remorse and distaste in our mouths. As we are made clean we can be able to return to the presence of our Father in Heaven. No one wants to be in our presence when we have gross, smelly, mouldy clothes, and likewise, we cannot remain in our Heavenly Father's presence when we allow ourselves to be covered in gross, smelly, and mouldy sin, for "no unclean thing can dwell" in the presence of God (1 Nephi 10:21). We can be made clean and pure though, and I am so thankful to our Savior Jesus Christ for this!

To be continued...

The Fourth of July

 Thou shall thank the Lord thy God in all things... And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments ( Doctrine and Covenants section 59: 7, 21 )

Today I wanted to depart from my usual comparison and analogies of everyday things with Spiritual matters, to give thanks to the Lord for the blessings He has given, specifically in reference to the Fourth of July. I want to share some quotes concerning the hand of God in bringing us these blessings, our freedom of liberty, speech, religion, and many others that we enjoy!

First, the discovery of the Americas. Christopher Columbus shares his testimony about his epic voyage, recorded in a letter to the Spanish hierarchy and reads as follows: "Our Lord unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my enterprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?"

Concerning the Revolutionary War, George Washington said: "The success which has hitherto attended our united efforts, we owe to the gracious interposition of heaven, and to that interposition let us gratefully ascribe the praise of victory and the blessings of peace."

The convictions of two delegates at the Constitutional Convention, Charles Pinckney: "When the great work was done and published, I was struck with amazement. Nothing less than the superintending hand of Providence that so miraculously carried us through the war . . . could have brought it about so complete upon the whole." Here is another testimony, this from James Madison, sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Constitution": "It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution."

And lastly, the words of Benjamin Franklin: "I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?

We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this. And I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little, partial, local interest. Our projects will be confounded, and we, ourselves, shall become a reproach and a byword to future ages; and what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

I therefore make the move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business and that one or more of the clergy in this city be requested to officiate in that service."


In the Book of Mormon we read of a general named Moroni, he is a man who did not delight in bloodshed, but delighted in the freedom and liberty of his people. At one point in the history of his people, a man desires to rise up and become king in order to subject the people in bondage. Moroni rallies his forces in defense of his nation. He tears his coat, taking a piece of it and writes :" In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children" ( Alma 46:12 )
Moroni then takes this piece and fastens it to a pole, riding from town to town gathering the people in defense of these freedoms. Moroni was willing to keep the commandments and to fight for his right's to worship his God. The Lord revealed to a prophet named Nephi: "And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper", and if we do not keep God's commandments we will not nor cannot prosper!


Thanks be to God for His continual blessing of us for following Him and keeping His commandments, and for the freedoms and liberties He has given us, to be able to worship as we please without fear of punishment! Like Moroni, let us always be willing to stand up for our God and do what is right. I know as we do the Lord will strengthen us. Let us remember the words of our Founding Fathers and always acknowledge the hand of God in our lives and the blessings we enjoy now today because of Him.

The Lord's Chips

Nacho Libre

Set in a small Mexican town, Nacho Libre is the story of a young cook for a monastery trying to do his best to feed all the orphans a decent meal on a limited budget. This cook, Ignacio, always dreamed of becoming a luchador, but wrestling was forbidden by the monastery. One day while picking up the food for the monastery Ignacio is attacked by a thief who steals the chips. Later Ignacio, under a secret-identity known as "Nacho", teams up with this tortilla thief in order to enter a local wrestling competition to make money to buy enough food to feed the orphans.

At one point in the story we learn an important gospel truth. After being humiliated by the tortilla theif and losing the chips, Ignacio shamefully returns to the monastery empty-handed. One of the monks, in a thick accent, asks:



"Did you not tell him they were the Lord's cheeps?"

In the Old Testament through the prophet Malachi, the Lord chastises his people for continually straying away from Him. In chapter 3 the Lord asks the people to return to Him and gives this scripture through his prophet:

8   Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 
9   Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robebd me, even this whole nation.
10   Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing. that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11   And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

The Lord has revealed more scriptures in these Latter-Days, through the prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord stated:

"And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his 
hand in all things, and obey not his commandments."

These scriptrues apply not only to tithing of materials the Lord has given us on Earth, but also of the gifts and abilities the Lord has given us! What gifts and abilities, or "chips", has the Lord given us that we can use for the benefit of others? Let's acknowledge and thank the Lord for the gifts he's given us! These abilities did not come from ourselves, but they are "the Lord's cheeps". By acknowleding the Lord and giving thanks to Him for the blessings He has already given us in our lives opens the windows of Heaven to receive even more from Him!

Here's a challenge for you.

Think of a gift or talent you have

that you can use to help others this upcoming week. 

Then DO IT.

Steve Nash: Man, Myth, Legend

Steve Nash. Point guard for the Phoenix Suns. 2 time NBA MVP. One of the all-time leading players for assists in the NBA. And overall, just a classy guy. A year or two ago I was for some reason or other drawn to the Phoenix Suns. I'm not sure exactly why, their record wasn't super great at the time and they haven't won any championships in a while. I think it was mostly because of Steve Nash. He is known for his ability to see the whole court and to pass the ball to the person who can do the most with it. His best ability is not in scoring, but in being a team player. That is what makes him such a phenomenal athlete, it's not his sheer skill or ability alone, but his ability to bring the best out of other people.

Spiritually speaking, we can all become a "Steve Nash" in our own way. When we enter into the covenant of baptism, we promise certain things, and the Lord promises us certain things in return and helps strengthen us to keep those promises. Part of this covenant states:

"... as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in.... Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized int he name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" (Mosiah 18:8-10)

Jesus Christ wants us to become the best we can be, He wants us to be our very own Steve Nash or MVP. He knows we can become the best player on the court that we can be by serving or assisting others, just like Steve Nash. By being humble, submitting our own skills or abilities to the will of the Lord, and instead choosing to help others, to "mourn with those that mourn" and to "comfort those that stand in need of comfort" we become even stronger and better players than we could be when left to ourselves. We can help bring out the best in other people.  

The world's a court, and everyone's a player.

Do you want to be an MVP or a bench-warmer on the Lord's team?

A Blessing In Disguise

Opposition. Every athlete knows you need it to become stronger. Well, every dedicated athlete does. Without constant training, excercise, and activity, the muscles in the body will weaken and lose their use or effectiveness.
We lift weights, we go running, we get sore. In the end is that such a bad thing?



It is if you do it like this guy....

 Our soreness comes from micro tears in our muscles, seperations you could say, from one end of the muscle to the other. That's why we hurt. The muscles does not have the capability to heal itself with no outside help. It needs nourishing by proteins and other crucial nutirents that come from our bloodstream. Through these vital components and time, the torn, or seperated fibers in our muscles grow back together even stronger than before!!! This momentary seperation in the end is a benefit to our body! It hurts, but the end result is not bad, unless we let the seperation, tears, and pressure increase instead of taking time to heal. This happens when we continue to overwork ourselves instead of resting and healing. After too much continuous stress, or opposition, the seperation builds up until we "pull a muscle", leaving that muscle and other associated ligaments handicapped or useless for a while, making the recovery process even more painful and longer than was before necessary if we would have but given our body the proper time to recover. Surely when we are brought to that point we would choose to rest and recover than to continue straining our muscles even more, by then we see the negative effects of the muscle-fiber seperation.

Our relationship with God is just like our muscles! Let me elaborate. Like the muscle fibers before the workout, Adam was in the garden of Eden with God. God commanded Adam not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). There were two choices. Adam could stay in the garden and not progress, or Adam could eat the fruit, be cast out of the garden (or seperated from God), and be able to experience opposition. Adam chose to partake, transgressing or breaking a commandment of God, and was cast out. Like our muscles, this situation was only temporary. God provided the necessary growth and healing through our Savior Jesus Christ. If we rest and take time, through faith and repentance,we can "apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins" (Mosiah 4:2). As we allow the nourishing blood of Christ to bring the essential components for recovery to ourselves we can begin to rebuild and recover. We can become stronger through opposition by turning to Jesus Christ or we can overwork our muscles by continuing in sin and choosing to delay repentance. As an ancient-American prophet wrote:

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors... I beseech of you that ye do not procrasinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherin there can be no labor performed (Alma 34:32-33)

Are we going to allow the Fall of Adam to be a bad thing, or just a temporary soreness in our life?

Are we going to be strengthened through the Lord Jesus Christ, or continue to be weakened, torn, and seperated by sin?

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death. according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself (2 Nephi 2:27)

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

OR

The Refiner's Fire

I once heard a story of a group of women who in their Bible study had been reading Malchi 3:2, which reads:
"But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap"
Their interested was awoken. What is a refiner's fire? They decided to go straight to the source.



 They went to visit a refiner to learn more so they could understand this verse. They did not tell the refiner their purpose for visiting, they simply told him they came out of honest curiosity to learn what he does. The refiner started out with a piece of silver. He explained that it was not pure silver, but there were other metals mixed in with the silver, keeping the silver from its purity. The way that they removed the other metals was to hold it in the center of the fire, the hottest part. Slowly the weaker metals would melt and run off until the stronger purified silver was the only element remaining of the original alloy. The refiner explained that the refining in and of itself was not very difficult, the most important part was that you watch the silver, for if it is in the fire too long then it will break, losing the desired result of perfect, refined, and purified silver.

"How do you know when it's been in just long enough?" The Bible study group inquired.

"That's the easy part. I know the silver is just right when I can see my reflection in it."

So it is with our Savior Jesus Christ! He is our Great Refiner. He wants us to be happy as he is. He wants us to experience the joy and hope that comes from Him, and we do so as we become more like Him, as our actions and countenance slowly reflects more and more of the light of Christ. Our trials and tribulations are not given to us as punishment, but as a blessing to "refine" us and make us more Christ-like if we go through them with the help of our Refiner. Listen to the words of a modern-day apostle of the Lord:

    

"The Divine Shepherd has a message of hope, strength, and deliverance for all. If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

When we pluck the roses, we find we often cannot avoid the thorns which spring from the same stem.

Out of the refiner’s fire can come a glorious deliverance. It can be a noble and lasting rebirth. The price to become acquainted with God will have been paid. There can come a sacred peace. There will be a reawakening of dormant, inner resources. A comfortable cloak of righteousness will be drawn around us to protect us and to keep us warm spiritually. Self-pity will vanish as our blessings are counted.

The blessings of eternity will surely come to those who endure refining, as the Lord Himself taught: 'He only is saved who endureth unto the end.' I testify that Jesus is the Christ and the Divine Redeemer. He lives! His are the sweet words of eternal life." -James E. Faust (click here)

I know our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love us so much. They will always be there to strengthen us. They will never let us sit in the fire longer than is needed! I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Line upon Line, Link by Link

Have you ever heard the phrase 'keep your eyes on the prize'? It's a phrase I would usually think associated with sports or some other competitive event, but it applies to almost every aspect in our life if we think about it. It means remembering the ultimate goal of whatever we are working towards. Staying focused and diligent so we ultimately obtain the focus of our labors. Imagine our life is a long chain of metal links working together, from the beginning of our life to the end of our life, left to right. Each period of our life is a little link, that can either be strengthened through righteous actions, or weakened from sin. If we look too far ahead in our life we start pulling in that direction, to the right, and previous links start stretching as the weaker links that you have not yet reinforced are strained due to the tugging. The same thing happens when we go the other way. If we spend too much time in the past we pull the chain in that direction, to the left, and once again the links we have not yet reinforced are weakened as they stretch due to the strain.

Listen to the warnings of Book of Mormon prophet: "But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble" (Jacob 4:14). The mark that the Jews looked past was that of the long awaited Messiah, Jesus Christ! Many had become caught up in hopes of a redeemer from their temporal circumstances so that they looked past the mark, or took their 'eyes off the prize', and missed their spiritual Redeemer when he was among them. Instead of reinforcing whatever link they were at in their life, they started pulling their chain in other directions, weakening their faith and rejecting the Savior. Before we are so quick to judge, how many of us do the same things? This is a lesson my dad taught me. So often we are always looking forward to the next thing, the next 'link' you could say, whether it be the next job, or next class, etc. We get so caught up in looking forward to something else, or looking back on opportunities missed, that we forget the gift of time with which we have been currently entrusted and the things we need to focus on now. There will be times that we sin, that we look beyond our Savior, the mark, in our own lives, but as we humble ourselves and repent the Lord gives us this promise: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all mean that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).

What Do Our Hands Say About Us?

I have never blogged before. I have never enjoyed any form of poetry, or writing, or English for that matter. Quite frankly put, words are not my forte. What I do enjoy though is my Savior Jesus Christ and everything He has done for me. For that reason I "labor diligently to write, to persuade... [my] brethren, to believe in Christ" (2 Nephi 25:23). I wouldn't like to say that there will be any definite theme or motif to my blog, I feel that establishing a theme will limit my ability to write, but if I had to choose a theme, or one beginning message to define what I hope for from my blog, it would be from this following story.

Before I came to Tennessee to serve a two-year mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or 'Mormon' Church), two of my favorite hobbies were running and playing the acoustic guitar. My days were filled with miles of pavement pounding and hours of harmonious chords and frets.
If you have ever donated blood before you are familiar with the process before they draw the blood. If you aren't familiar I'll elaborate. Before they actually draw the blood from you, a nurse will go over some paperwork with you, take your pulse, and take a sample of your blood by pricking the end of one of your fingers. Every time without fail I was asked one of these two questions: "Do you play guitar?" or "Do you run a lot?". The callous on the ends of my fingertips was a result of my hours of practice, my extremely low pulse revealed my passion for running. As little as the nurses had known about me, the majority of my lifestyle was revealed through a simple touch of my hands.
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands" (1 Nephi 21:16). What do the Savior's hands say about His lifestyle? What do the marks in his hands, his feet, and his side, say about His unending love for us and His dedication to serving us? The theme of His life was written in His hands, to draw all men unto Him, to have faith in Him, repent, be baptized, received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end!
 Our hands can reveal a lot about what we do with our life. If people could see our spiritual hands, what stories would they tell?

Christ's hands told the story of His life, as our Savior and Redeemer, and through my hands I write to the best of my capabilities to testify of Him. He lives and loves us!