Lessons I learned from Inmates

Before my mission I went to college. While at college I participated in a travelling show choir. One of our shows was at a local prison. There we did two shows with a variety of music from patriotic, to spiritual, to Broadway, and don't forget to throw The Beach Boys in there. I was excited about this opportunity. A group of us arrived early to set up the key boards and sound equipment. We rolled in all of the equipment,  it was checked, and then we passed through some security doors. The music equipment was quickly set up and before we knew it the rest of the choir and inmates were coming through the doors for the performance. Both performances went very well, but there are a couple of moments which I will never forget.

First, we sang an Acapella version of America the Beautiful. As we sang I looked around and saw these tough men crying. They were crying in gratitude for the country which they lived in. I would have thought they would have been a little frustrated, but they were not. They realized the great country that we live in.

Second, I remember the spirit that was present. We sang spiritual songs about Christ's Atoning sacrifice, leaving a good example for our posterity, and forgiveness. Out of all of the performances that we did that year this was the one that will stick in my mind the longest because of what the spirit taught me after.

After the performances we packed up and left. It was a spiritual feast where I saw men cry, pray, and give thanks to God while we sang about their Savior and Redeemer. As I was thinking about the experience after the spirit taught me why the spirit was so strong there. It was because the Atonement was in use. These inmates were actively repenting, changing, and pouring their lives through the strainer of the Atonement and allowing Christ to remove the impurities. We went into a building with bars, walls, and security cameras ,but while we were performing all of those things went away. We all felt free and close to our Savior. The Savior has figuratively spent many long, sleepless nights there with some of those inmates helping them through whatever they were going through. Christ never left them. Neither will he leave us.  Bars nor high security buildings will keep him out.  Only a closed and hardened heart.

I hope that I will actively use the Atonement always like those inmates were. They showed heroic faith in their relationship with which they had with their Savior. Christ is there ready to help us on condition that we let him. I pray and hope that we do, and in the process the chains of the adversary are shattered

The Lord Always Knows Best

One day Elder Trout and myself felt inspired to go and vist a couple of less active members.  As we tried each house we would find no one home. After this happening a couple of times we ended up with an individual whom we were lacking the house number on their address. We walked to a members home to find out the specific home for this less active.  We knocked on the members door and no one answered.  In frustration we decided to knock all of the doors on the street to find whom we were looking for.  The first house told us to come back.  A little ways down we knocked on another house to which a young mother and her daughter answered the door.  They were excitted to learn more about Christ's message about families.  We taught them a little and set up a return appointment.  By the time we were done talking to them we did not have time to try the other doors on the other side of the street to find the initial person whom we were looking for.  On the way to our next appointment we talked to a man in his garage who had just lost a son.  We were able to direct him to Christ and resources which could help him understand why and give him comfort.

The Lord taught me alot through this experience.  He did not want us to go over there because of that less active member whom we were looking for.  He had others in mind , so from now on when something does not go the way that I thought it would or should I am going to strive to have faith to allow the Lord to accomplish what he had in mind for everything happens for a reason.  We all have the opportunity to allow Heavenly Father to use us to help others around us.  How grateful I am for that.  There are numberless blessings waiting in the wings of our lives just waiting to come on stage.  It is our job to give the stage to them by our faith produced actions.

Why is life so hard?

Why is life so hard? A question which many have asked often many times in their life. Think about it; "Why is life so hard?"

In today’s world we as people to often shy away from something because it is hard. Maybe we need to re-consider the correlation we have made between something being hard, and it not being worth our time.

Steve Pavlina is one of the world’s well known bloggers. He has over 2 million views on his blogs a month. Seth Godin is a well-known writer and speaker. Both of these amazing people have written many books, spoken to many people and started many one show companies. They accomplish more in a couple months then some accomplish in a year. They are great examples of work. Steve says this about hard work in a post which he titled "Hard Work“:

"Hard work pays off. When someone tells you otherwise, beware the sales pitch for something “fast and easy” that’s about to come next. The greater your capacity for hard work, the more rewards fall within your grasp. The deeper you can dig, the more treasure you can potentially find…Your life will reach a whole new level when you stop avoiding and fearing hard work and simply surrender to it. Make it your ally instead of your enemy. It’s a potent tool to have on your side."

Seth said this in a post called "Labor Day“

"Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you’d rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through the other barrier. And, after you’ve done that, to do it again the next day."

These two leaders have discovered and fed the love of work.

Even during Christ's life some of his disciples left him partly because it was going to be hard. After Christ feeds five thousand with food, him and his disciples leave. Christ leaves to be alone, and his disciples get in a ship to go to the other side of the sea. While Christ’s apostles are on the water a storm comes. Christ walks to them on the water and calms the storms. When they come to the other side some people came up to Christ and ask to be fed because they had heard about Christ feeding all of those people. Christ explains to them how he is the bread of life and testifies of his divinity. "Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard."

Christ’s asks for our all. Work is an amazing sifter of those things which we do need and what we do not. I love to trail run and go hiking in the mountains. When one does this they take the least amount with them as possible to reduce the weight. Work fulfills the same purpose. When one really works they drop, discard, and strip away everything that is access.

God said, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." "This is my work." If we want to help the Lord out with his work and glory we must not shy away from hard work but run to it and embrace it. One will never accomplish a dream without work.  When we put our mind to it and allow the Lord to help; together we accomplish a lot more then we could ever do on our own. 

 

The Dream

Growing up I dreamed, slept, ate, and bled running. The more the merrier. I created schedules and entered races. I ran track and cross country.

It was my senior year in high school. Region was a week away and then state was two weeks after that. I had just achieved my fasting time. I was excited and pumped for the upcoming race. After school one day we headed out on our daily afternoon run. We headed towards a park behind the high school. I felt great! Today was going to be awesome. The concrete road we were on quickly turned into a dirt path about the same width. The trail slowly slimmed down to produce a single file line of runners. It disappeared into a group of trees on the side of a hill and turned immediately right and then down. As I started running down the hill I found myself alone with no one in sight in front of me or behind me. As I got closer to the bottom of the hill, I picked up speed. I got going faster and faster. At the bottom of the hill I planted my right foot on what I thought was the ground. The second I put all of my weight on that foot the rock, not ground which my foot was resting on, moved and my ankle with it. I felt a tear and pop. I staggered and slowed down. One of my teammates came running up behind me to see me in pain on the side of the trail. He lifted and carried me the mile back to the school. As I took off my shoe my ankle swelled up immediately. Come to find out later my tendons had been damaged and my tibia had shifted down my leg and foot. My dreams of running in Region and State disappeared.

In the following months while I recovered, I thought a lot about what had happened. I experienced frustration as I was limited from certain activities as well as missed out in playing soccer my senior year. I wondered why did this happen? Was this fare? Why now? These are question many of us have asked. As I have gone through this experience and many others, I have been blessed and guided to realize by the spirit that it is not a "bad" thing to go through trials. Good and bad people go through trials. A certain trying experience is not a punishment at all. Often it is a blessing and a complement from our Heavenly Father.

In the Book of John, Christ's apostles ask Christ a question along the lines of, "Is a trial a punishment for sinning?" Here is the story. "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man , or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (John 9:1-3)

The man was not cursed with blindness because someone had transgressed. The very opportunity of having an experience which tests and try’s us is what we need to change our very being, grow and become better individuals, and ultimately become like our Heavenly Father and Savior. It is painful but necessary to burn away the impurities.

Let us be grateful for those experiences which allow God's greatest work being the Atonement manifests itself in us and by so doing change us.

 

Living on the edge

There was once a young man who went cliff jumping with all of his friends.  As the day wore on the boys got higher and higher with each jump.  As the boys got higher they starting thinking, "I could get hurt!”, but the fear of disappointing the others kept them jumping.  One of the boys climbed up past the rest of them to make the highest jump of the day.  He jumped off but when he landed everyone could hear the smack of skin against the water.  The young man had landed sideways as he hit the water breaking a rib.  Some of the boys who were already at the bottom jumped into the water dragging their friend out. 

These boys new deep down inside if they did not stop that one of them was going to eventually get hurt.  Why did they keep going? 

Fear of disappointing  is something which has tied down many people from reaching their dreams and having experiences, but “perfect love casteth out fear."(1 john 4:18).  How does one obtain this love? 

The prophet Moroni answered this question in the Book of Mormon by saying, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” (Moroni 7:48)

The first step is prayer.  Not just talking but pleading with all the energy of our souls.  The gift of love will be blessed upon all those who pray and are true followers of Jesus Christ.  Obedience is what characterizes a true follower of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that we plead for love, and then have faith in Jesus Christ to be obedient.

Christ lives and loves us.

Where are you going?

Optimism v. Pessimism.  Two polar opposites which we face daily.  The world throws many different views on this.  Like the one shown just to the left in this picture.  Why be optimistic? 

Optimism shows faith.  Optimism shows a hope in the futures and what one cannot see.  Optimism shows a faith and hope in the Savior of the world.  

Moroni, in the Book of Mormon says," And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith(Ether 12:6).

Being optimistic or having a hope for the future and a faith in Christ shows that faith and hope in the unseen.  As we show our faith and hope in Christ we will be able to dance in the rains and storms of life.  We will see the eternal perspective and have the dirt and mud scraped away from our windshield. 

Let us not see and focus on the couple of dark clouds in the sky and miss the gorgeous sunset on the horizon.