Before Christ left his disciples, he promised them the Gift of the Holy Ghost, a spirit that would reside with them to teach, comfort, and communicate in behalf of Jesus Christ.
After speaking of this gift, Christ tells them: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Today we are blessed with this same gift. All of us are able to feel the promptings of the Spirit, and those who have been baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost are promised constant companionship (so long as our side of the bargain is upheld). We can feel the peace left to us by the Savior. Our hearts need not be troubled or afraid, because we place our trust in the one who knows us better than any other- because he has felt our sorrows and borne the burden of our sins. And he, who knows better than anyone the weight of the world, promises us that it's going to be okay- we can be at peace.
I choose to believe that.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
What I wish I could ask
How?
How did you do it? How did you move on? How did you love so deeply, be hurt so drastically, and then love again even more fully? How did you convince yourself that life is better now? How did you let yourself dream again- real dreams, not the ones from the storybooks? How did you learn to laugh again? How did you erase the bitterness and the hurt? How did you convince someone else that you were worth it? How did you believe that yourself?
How can I?
How did you do it? How did you move on? How did you love so deeply, be hurt so drastically, and then love again even more fully? How did you convince yourself that life is better now? How did you let yourself dream again- real dreams, not the ones from the storybooks? How did you learn to laugh again? How did you erase the bitterness and the hurt? How did you convince someone else that you were worth it? How did you believe that yourself?
How can I?
Sunday, March 3, 2013
New rule: 24 hour, 1 week
When life seems dark and dreary, don't forget to pray. And also...
WAIT A DAY. Seriously. If things don't get better (or at least there aren't some better moments) within the next 24 hours, give it another day. And if at the end of a week you looking back wondering what the heck was wrong with you, then maybe it's time to start worrying.
But if there are even a few small moments of goodness- cling to that. Focus on that. And remember that those are the moments that make life worth living.
I have such a tendency to freak out too easily, too quickly, and to not let all the pieces fall into place. Some days are just rotten. Sometimes people bug you. Sometimes there's too/not enough much to do. Sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and just can't ever escape the funk. The point is to not make any drastic decisions or let any potentially life-altering thought processes run too far until you've had at least one good night's rest, three good meals, one good workout, and some prayer and scripture study. It's amazing how much one good, well-balanced day can change everything.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Blue Like That
This has been my favorite song for as long as I can remember. I don't know where I heard it first, but since I was a little girl I've pulled it out every few months to calm my soul and rekindle my dreams.
"The adversary has long cultivated this overemphasis on personal autonomy, and now he feverishly exploits it. Our deepest God-given instinct is to run to the arms of those who need us and sustain us. But he drives us away from each other today with wedges of distrust and suspicion. He exaggerates the need for having space, getting out, and being left alone. Some people believe him—and then they wonder why they feel left alone. "
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Agency and Happiness
2 Nephi 10: 23
"Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."
I had an interesting realization this morning: Agency is often the greatest source of happiness in this life. Why? Because we can choose. We can choose what lifestyle we want, and the blessings associated with living a healthy, active, and restful life. We can choose how to react to the circumstances around us- we can choose to be cheerful.
Too often we consign ourselves to our bad circumstances, explaining that we had a bad day because we didn't do so well on a test, got in a fight with our roommate, or whatever. What we're really saying, though, is that our reactions to those events made us unhappy. It is important to allow ourselves to feel- even when that's sad, hurt, or angry. Those feelings tell us that something is up- that we didn't like the way we were treated (and thus shouldn't treat others that way), that we are disappointed about an outcome (and might need to study harder or alter our expectations in the future), or something else. But it's what we do next that matters. If we allow ourselves to see the incident through the lens of the eternal plan of happiness, we can learn to approach our lives a little differently. We can use experiences of hurt to learn, and thus to become more completely the divine sons and daughters that our Heavenly Father knows we can be.
Even though it is often the agency of others that hurts us deeply, it is that same agency that enables us to be wonderful, blessed people anyway.
"Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."
I had an interesting realization this morning: Agency is often the greatest source of happiness in this life. Why? Because we can choose. We can choose what lifestyle we want, and the blessings associated with living a healthy, active, and restful life. We can choose how to react to the circumstances around us- we can choose to be cheerful.
Too often we consign ourselves to our bad circumstances, explaining that we had a bad day because we didn't do so well on a test, got in a fight with our roommate, or whatever. What we're really saying, though, is that our reactions to those events made us unhappy. It is important to allow ourselves to feel- even when that's sad, hurt, or angry. Those feelings tell us that something is up- that we didn't like the way we were treated (and thus shouldn't treat others that way), that we are disappointed about an outcome (and might need to study harder or alter our expectations in the future), or something else. But it's what we do next that matters. If we allow ourselves to see the incident through the lens of the eternal plan of happiness, we can learn to approach our lives a little differently. We can use experiences of hurt to learn, and thus to become more completely the divine sons and daughters that our Heavenly Father knows we can be.
Even though it is often the agency of others that hurts us deeply, it is that same agency that enables us to be wonderful, blessed people anyway.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
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