One of my favorite bible stories is of Peter and Christ when Peter was walking on the Sea of Galilee and started to sink and Christ grabbed his hand to lift him back up. Usually we look at this story as a lack of faith on Peter's part. But after reading the book When You Can't Do It Alone by Brent L. Top, it opened my eyes more to the story. Brent L. Top says, "The focus should not be on Peter's sinking but on Christ's lifting". He then continues on later stating, "What a great learning experience for Peter and each of us. When walking on water by yourself, you will always sink, but when you focus on Christ, take hold of His outstretched hand of grace, and walk with Him, you cannot fail."
How true is this? How many times do we try to walk on water, think we can do it all on our own, and then end up drowning? I know I try too many times. Or how many times do you think the Savior has stood there in hopes we would reach up, when we just end up drowning... probably more than we know. I believe even multiple times a day.
Every time, we need to do all we can and then leave it up to the Lord. Some see this as a weakness of 'giving in' when in reality it is not. It is a way of courage. Giving in and giving it all up to the Lord is a way to exercise and show your faith in him. It is the key that unlocks the door of divine help and intervention.
How many times a day can we look to him and let him lift us up, like really look and let him lift?
With love,
jm
"For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." St. Francis of Assisi
Monday, July 14, 2014
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Some Sweet Advice
Just some advice from this young genious. Listen intently and open your heart to what he has to say. ;)
http://youtu.be/l5-EwrhsMzYLove,
Jm
“Don’t stop believing, unless your dream is stupid… then get a better dream and keep going, keep going, keep going…” - The Kid President
“If everybody’s good, then it gives the world a reason to dance… so get to it!” - The Kid President
Monday, June 16, 2014
God and The Laws of Science
I believe God works through and by logic and the laws of science. Everything from the creation of this world to how he blesses us have some kind of science and logic behind them. I believe that he is bound by these laws or ways of thinking. Just like how we are bound by the law of gravity and so many others that we face every second of everyday.
Stephen W. Hawking said "It is a matter of common experience that disorder will tend to increases if things are left to themselves. (One has only to stop making repairs around the house to see that!)" Life has a way of just going wrong. Things have a natural way of just falling apart. Hawking continues, "The explanation that is usually given as to why we don't see broken cups gathering themselves together off the floor and jumping back onto the table is that it is forbidden by the second law of thermodynamics. This ways that in any closed system disorder, or entropy, always increases with time. In other words, it is a form of Murphy's law: Things always tend to go wrong! An intact cup on the table is a state of high order, but a broken cup on the floor is a disordered state. One can go readily from the cup on the table in the past to the broken cup on the floor in the future, but not the other way around." How true is this?! I can't even grasp the idea of the broken cup fixing itself. It is just not possible. Because this is not how 'the laws of the universe' work.
John Taylor said, "These laws (which govern the universe) are under the surveillance and control the great Law-giver, who manages, controls, and directs all these worlds. If it were not the case, they would move through space in wild confusion, and system would rush against system, and worlds upon worlds, would be destroyed, together with their inhabitants."
This to me is proof that there is an intelligence running everything. A god-like being that created this world and still has his hand in it now. The laws of science prove it. There would be no way that we could be created, with the great lives we have, with the knowledge and possibilities we have right now and in this moment. It just is not possible.
With love,
jm
"This disorder, or condition of progressive randomness, would proceed uninterrupted unless there were an intelligent, powerful force in the universe that could somehow reverse this natural course." - Tad R. Callister; The Infinite Atonement
Stephen W. Hawking said "It is a matter of common experience that disorder will tend to increases if things are left to themselves. (One has only to stop making repairs around the house to see that!)" Life has a way of just going wrong. Things have a natural way of just falling apart. Hawking continues, "The explanation that is usually given as to why we don't see broken cups gathering themselves together off the floor and jumping back onto the table is that it is forbidden by the second law of thermodynamics. This ways that in any closed system disorder, or entropy, always increases with time. In other words, it is a form of Murphy's law: Things always tend to go wrong! An intact cup on the table is a state of high order, but a broken cup on the floor is a disordered state. One can go readily from the cup on the table in the past to the broken cup on the floor in the future, but not the other way around." How true is this?! I can't even grasp the idea of the broken cup fixing itself. It is just not possible. Because this is not how 'the laws of the universe' work.
John Taylor said, "These laws (which govern the universe) are under the surveillance and control the great Law-giver, who manages, controls, and directs all these worlds. If it were not the case, they would move through space in wild confusion, and system would rush against system, and worlds upon worlds, would be destroyed, together with their inhabitants."
This to me is proof that there is an intelligence running everything. A god-like being that created this world and still has his hand in it now. The laws of science prove it. There would be no way that we could be created, with the great lives we have, with the knowledge and possibilities we have right now and in this moment. It just is not possible.
With love,
jm
"This disorder, or condition of progressive randomness, would proceed uninterrupted unless there were an intelligent, powerful force in the universe that could somehow reverse this natural course." - Tad R. Callister; The Infinite Atonement
Friday, May 30, 2014
The Complete Realist
One hang up a lot of people have about Christ and His Atonement is the idea that he did not struggle with temptations because he never indulged himself in sin or even anything close to a sin. Then because of this he truely doesn't know how hard it is to deal with temptations.
This is false.
In the book "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister, he states, "He was as vulnerable to suggestions and impulses coming into his mind from his mortal nature, a nature inherited from his mortal mother, has any of us. He simply paid no attention to those suggestions, and he immediately put them out of his mind. The ability of the flesh to suggest, to entice, was the same for him as it is for us, but unlike the rest of us, he never responded to it. He didn't ponder, deliberate, or entertain the sinful options even as theoretical possibilities - he gave no heed to them."
Hebrews 2:18 states, "In that he himself had suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted." And C.S. Lewis elabotates this statement. "No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to find it: and Christ, because he was the only one man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means the only complete realist."
What an idea to ponder over! What an example to follow! What an amazing Savior we have!
Love,
jm
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Pep Talk
Need a Pep Talk? Check out this little man. He is my favorite...
http://youtu.be/l-gQLqv9f4oLove,
Jm
“What will you create that will make the world more awesome… nothing if you’re just sitting there” - The Kid President
“You were made to be awesome” - The Kid President
Sunday, March 30, 2014
An Exercise and Opportunity for Greater Happiness
Something I have been thinking a lot about is the blessings we are unaware of. The things that we have access to, but maybe have no idea how to access them or maybe have no knowledge that they are even there. Happiness that we could have right now if we would just reach and work a little harder for it.
What made me think of it is this...
I have been trying to eat as healthy as I can and exercise hard every day. I have been trying to cut out bad food, or at least minimize how much I consume these foods (more than I have in the past that is). The results of being consistent for just even a few weeks have been incredible. I have more energy, more mental clarity, I look better, I feel better, I'm happier... This list could go on and on. It is just incredible! But here is the 'kicker'... I would never know truly how this feels without going all the way and staying consistent.
Pondering over this for a few days and realizing all that I have missed out on (and what others are missing out on), I realized the parallels between this and the gospel. We really do not know all the of the blessings our Father in Heaven has in store for us. We could never know... unless we exercise faith and obedience to his laws and ordinances. Once we make the decision to go full steam ahead and stay consistent, it is only until then that we will be worthy to receive and experience all that he has in store for us right now. Ya... right now! He has many blessings that he is holding for you. All we have to do is ask, have faith, act, and continue to do so. I can't even imagine the happiness he has in store for me that I have access to right now if I just reach a little farther for it.
We truly will never know unless we simply make that decision, try, and... test it out.
See how it works, then expect results.
With Love,
jm
"It should be no surprise that as we become more godlike we become more powerful. Knowledge brings power; purity brings power; love brings power. The acquisition of each divine trait brings power. Power and godhood are directly related...One of the ironies of life is that we acquire love as we give it away; we increase in knowledge as we dispense what we have. And so it is with certain powers. As we exercise power in righteousness, we acquire more power. As we exercise power in unrighteousness, we lose even more than we gave away." - Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Ask and Ye Shall... Achieve Greatness
Growing up I was so afraid to ask questions in fear I would be asking a dumb question or just look stupid all together. But then I realized if I never ask questions, I will never learn anything and I would then literally sit in stupidity, never knowing about the things going on around me.
Asking questions is something that I have learned and am still learning to do. When someone speaks up about a topic I am not familiar with I try to jump at the opportunity to ask more about it. What a great opportunity it is to learn from those around me. Everyone around us has something they are experts at that we are not. We can learn something from everyone! How truly incredible is that?!
Joseph Smith was the "master asker", as Tad R. Callister says in his book The Infinite Atonement. He says, "His queries triggered the First Vision, the Word of Wisdom, the revelation on celestial marriage, the vision on the three degrees of glory, and in truth, almost every other notable revelation in this dispensation."
Oh how true is this? If it was not for Joseph Smith inquiring about which church he should join, acting upon what the scriptures teach by asking in prayer, we would not have the knowledge of the church that we do now! My life would be completely different!
Think of someone great... Aristotle, Isaac Newton, Einstein, Da Vinci, etc. ALL of these people asked questions. They all had questions about the things going on around them and they all achieved greatness by asking questions and chasing after the answers.
The beginning of our greatness is simply in this idea... ask questions and you will gain knowledge. There is no doubt about it.
Love,
jm
"Take those chances and you can achieve greatness, whereas if you go conservative, you'll never know."
-Danica Patrick
"To avoid critisim say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -Aristotle
Asking questions is something that I have learned and am still learning to do. When someone speaks up about a topic I am not familiar with I try to jump at the opportunity to ask more about it. What a great opportunity it is to learn from those around me. Everyone around us has something they are experts at that we are not. We can learn something from everyone! How truly incredible is that?!
Joseph Smith was the "master asker", as Tad R. Callister says in his book The Infinite Atonement. He says, "His queries triggered the First Vision, the Word of Wisdom, the revelation on celestial marriage, the vision on the three degrees of glory, and in truth, almost every other notable revelation in this dispensation."
Oh how true is this? If it was not for Joseph Smith inquiring about which church he should join, acting upon what the scriptures teach by asking in prayer, we would not have the knowledge of the church that we do now! My life would be completely different!
Think of someone great... Aristotle, Isaac Newton, Einstein, Da Vinci, etc. ALL of these people asked questions. They all had questions about the things going on around them and they all achieved greatness by asking questions and chasing after the answers.
The beginning of our greatness is simply in this idea... ask questions and you will gain knowledge. There is no doubt about it.
Love,
jm
"Take those chances and you can achieve greatness, whereas if you go conservative, you'll never know."
-Danica Patrick
"To avoid critisim say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -Aristotle
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