Lake Powell and the Gospel

So my family LOVES going to the lake. I think we all live for the week of the summer spent on a houseboat on Lake Powell. Its the most relaxing week of my life every year. We basically anchor ourselves to the beach and spend a week sleeping in, boating to see the beautiful sights like Rainbow bridge, wake-boarding, skiing, eating, and tubing. There is nothing in the world to rival a trip to Lake Powell. The only catch is the wind storms. Every now and then a giant wind decides to pick up. Its horrifying to be out on the lake and only a little less terrifying to be on the actual houseboat. As the wind picks up the boat sways back and forth, threatening to debeach itself at any moment. For years we heard horror stories of sunk ships and broken boats and bones. After some time our luck ran out and we added our own horror story to the book of Lake Powell wind tragedies.

We can secure our lives as we tie off to the anchors God provides

A lot of time is spent at Lake Powell playing card games or watching movies. I think I was watching a movie at the time and happened to look out the window and notice some wind was picking up. I thought, "good thing our anchors are in super good". We prided ourselves in the depth of the hole and the weight of the rocks on top and even the wetness of the sand for extra support. Our angles to the boat from the lines were even excellent. I was so unworried about it I just continued watching the movie. Suddenly I had this weird feeling of movement. I looked out the window where a few minutes before there had been a picturesque water scene; it was now the beach. I ran to the other window and saw that our lines from the boat to the anchor had somehow come undone and though the anchors were safely in the sand our boat was only attached to two of them and we were now swinging completely back and forth from one side of the beach to the other. Of course I raised the alarm and just as we were about to hit some rocks my dad got the boat fired up and backed us away and out into more open water. The catch was that action tangled the ropes into the propeller. I elected to dive under, untangle them, and bring back to the beach where my brothers would be waiting to retie them up. Meanwhile my dad would wait til I was safely on the beach with the ropes, fire up the boat, and re-beach us as we tied the lines off again. Luckily my uncle was able to get the ropes out with me and soon we were re-beaching ourselves, this time careful to tie the knots well. It was a scary and stressful time but eventually we were all safe and secured and back inside soaking wet, too relieved to do anything but stare at each other.

The gospel provides secure anchors for our lives

In so many ways this is how our lives are. We have anchors in our lives that secure us to the beach so that we can have the vacation of our lives, as in live in joy as only the righteous do (Mosiah 2:41). We can enjoy all that life offers us even when the winds and trials rise up because we will always be safe on the beach. The anchors of our Savior, the Book of Mormon, the gospel, our Heavenly Father will never fail. So what goes wrong? Our lines. The "rock of our salvation" never moves, not even an inch. It is up to us to tie ourselves off to this security with our own lines and ropes in order to enjoy the safety those anchors provide. We can strengthen this link by obedience to the Commandments, faith, repentance, scripture study, and sincere and daily prayer. When we put in the time for example, to truly read and ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon, we tie ourselves securely to the anchor of our faith in the Restored Gospel. The Book of Mormon will always be a perfect anchor (Introduction page) to our testimony of Joseph Smith, Thomas S. Monson, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but it is up to us to tie the line. Whenever we become lax in our reading of it, or lax in our obedience to any principle of the gospel that ties us to the anchors, we become vulnerable and when the winds hit we will de-beach and be left to be carried "to and fro" by the winds and waves of life (James 1:6). We will be left in a terrible pickle much like the one my family experienced. We can avoid this by making sure our lines are securely fastened to the anchors the gospel provides for us. But always remember, should we come undone, the Atonement is always there for us, and no matter how many anchors we untie from, no matter how bad the storm, and no matter how far away from the beach we have gone, Christ will ALWAYS provide a way back for us if we rely on his Atoning power in our lives. It is never too late to re-beach and re-secure ourselves to our anchors, and it is never a bad idea to continue to secure your line every day. Only then can we truly enjoy our "Lake Powell" vacation without fear or discomfort, even on the windy days.

*Over the last few months I have put a lot of thought into what my anchors are in my life. As I think about what has helped me through life's challenges and storms and turbulent water I realized that it is my belief in four things:
1) That I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me personally and answers my prayers
2) That Jesus is the Christ and my Lord, Savior, and Redeemer
3) That Christ established a church while on this Earth and that that church exists today
4) That the Book of Mormon is the word of God; testifying to me that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet on the Earth today
If any of my "ropes" tied off to these anchors slacken even just a bit, I feel the difference and loss of stability in my life-especially in hard times. Even if three are strong and one isn't I may enjoy a fairly calm and stable life-but when life really hits my boat feels the absence of even one anchor. All four are vital to my success and peace in this life, and in my life to come.

If you would like to share your own anchors please Facebook me and I would love to post them! Thanks!

Angels We Have Heard on High

So I am rounding up with the Nativity story and have been thinking now about the angels. They appear a few times in the Nativity; to bring news to three parties 1-Mary 2-Joseph 3-the shepherds.

1-What can we learn from Gabriel? I think that we can learn that when we are asked of the Lord to open our mouths and teach/talk to people we are to do so. I am sure Gabriel was both excited and nervous for the news he brought; he knew the joy of the news but I am sure he also worried how Mary would react to it. I am sure he knew it was truth and something that would bless her life but it would also be hard to carry out. We, like Gabriel, must open our mouth still and focus on the blessings the gospel brings to people who hear it and not focus on the changes they will have to make and how hard it is. If we truly understand the blessings of the Lord through His restored gospel then sharing the message will be good news and not hard to hear. We will WANT to share it because we see the positive and the blessings rather than the "obligations". President Urchtdorf said "the gospel of Jesus Christ is a pathway not an obligation". Let us remember that as we share it with all who will hear us.

2-What of the angel that brought news to Joseph? He told Joseph after Joseph had decided to have Mary put away-"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:20-21) I am sure Joseph was confused and upset about what he had thought Mary had done, yet he still tried to do the right thing. When we come to trials or "upsets" in life the Lord can help guide us or clarify problems in our lives so that we can move forward in the way the Lord would have us and in the way that is best for us. Let us strive to live so that our example or even words can be a source of guidance and clarification to those around us confused but seeking the truth of the gospel that will lead them to Christ as the angel did for Joseph.

3-The angels brought unto the shepherds "glad tidings of good joy". Christ IS the glad tidings of good joy. Let us, like these angels, proclaim Christ to "all" (Luke 2:10) so that they too may come unto Christ. When we seek to truly understand who Christ is and utilize the Atonement in our own lives we will realize how wondeful the message of Christ truly is, and we will seek to share this message with all we can. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth;" (Mosiah 12:21 or Isaiah 52:7)

Let us be like the angels of old and share the gospel message of blessings with courage, seek to guide others as we live the gospel, and share the glad message of the Atonement and life of Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer.

Joseph

Joseph to me is one of the most amazing characters of the Nativity. I often think about his quiet and firm example to us all. I think first of all we see that he is the kind of man worthy to marry Mary-the mother of the Son of God. That alone says a lot about this man. The second thing I notice about him is his charity. When he discovers Mary pregnant he had the power to have her stoned-he could have had his "revenge". Instead we are told in the Bible "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily." (Matthew 1:19) Joseph loved Mary, he loved her enough to not to embarrass of chastise her but do all he could to help her. I think it was his charity that helped him receive his own heavenly messenger confirming that Mary was the mother of Christ and that he, Joseph, was to marry Mary and care for them both. I can only imagine how hard it would be to be the "step" father of the Son of God. I certainly would feel  inadequate to "fill-in" as Christ's earthly father to teach, meet his needs, and be an example to him; but he took the job gladly. Joseph was also an honest man. He went to pay his taxes when asked despite the hardships of traveling with a very pregnant women. He cared for his family and searched diligently for a place for them but when none was available he did all he could for them anyways. Christ worked alongside him in his carpentry and I am sure Christ watched Joseph as Christ grew "in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (Luke 2:52) I love Joseph for his humble yet courageous example as a father and husband and as a servant of the Lord. We too can be as Joseph and seek to love and not find fault, live our callings and obey the Lord, and seek to better be an example of faith and help those around us watch, change, and "glorify our father" (Matthew 5:16).

Noah

When we are prepared we shall not fear and our hard times will be moments of rejoicing, for God always keeps his promises when we do our part.

Last night I was talking with someone and heard the popular saying "when it rains it pours". For some reason in my head I instantly thought, "yeah, just ask Noah". As I thought more about that I realized how well he learned that lesson and prepared for the times of torrential rains. We often talk about how Noah started building the ark when there wasn't a cloud in the sky and was mocked for it. Yet in the end it was a good thing he got a head start on the job, for when the rains came and then poured I can only imagine the peace and confidence he felt as he loaded his family into the safety of his gopher wood ark.

Today I think that we all have similar experiences in a way. We have the "good times" in life and then we have the "floods" of trials in life. What I want to do better is to prepare for those floods. I want to start my ark now rather then later so that when hardship comes my way I too can fill that peace as Noah did and figuratively get into my "ark" of testimony, trust in the Lord, hope, faith, and a solid relationship with God through months of daily meaningful and personal prayer. Only then can we say to ourselves "come what may and love it". May we all follow the adage quoted by President Monson this last conference, "When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past." May we do as President Eyring suggested and draw courage from being prepared. When we do so we will be far more prepared for the rains of life and will be able to grow and even enjoy those moments of hardships in our lives for we, like Noah, will be able to step confidently into our own arks prepared in the Lord's way.

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

The next member of the Nativity I would like to discuss is the gifts given to Christ by the wise-men. These gifts show to me that the wise-men loved and understood who Christ was.

Gold: Why gold? Well first of all it is worth a LOT. To me this gift of the wise-men was to show Christ they were willing to sacrifice a lot to know Him. They were willing to pay a price to find Christ in their lives and become better. When we come unto Christ we must be willing to sacrifice to allow the Atonement to work within us. An amazing example of this is Lamoni's father in the Book of Mormon. In Alma 22:15-18 Lamoni's father shows Aaron and God what he is willing to give up to know God. First it is his entire Kingdom; a pricy offer. But it is not until verse 18 that his "sacrifice" is accepted and Lamoni's father finds God. What was this sacrifice? ALL his sins. Let us search for ways we can sacrifice our sins to better know God for the more we become like Him the better we will know him. The second thing about the gold is that it was pure. For a long time we held gold as our currencies standard. I can think of no greater standard on this earth than Christ himself. He is the standard. He is the way. He is how we can learn to sacrifice our sins to Him and become as He is.

Frankincense: I learned in the Bible Dictionary that Frankincense was used by Priests during their sacrifices in the Temple. To me this shows that the wise-men truly knew Christ was here to be a sacrifice for our sins-to be the Lamb of God. They knew Christ's mission and what that meant for them-the price of their sins had been paid and it was now possible for them to return to God. To me this shows their deep gratitude and respect for this sacred gift of Christ.

Myrrh:  One of the uses for myrrh was for the embalming of the dead. Again the wise-men knew Christ. They knew he would die and then conquer death so that every single one of us can be Resurrected as He is and obtain immortality.





I know that the wise-men were giving the 2 year old Christ more than just "nice" gifts. They were showing their understanding, reverence, and devotion to Christ and His Atonement, example, and Resurrection for each of us. May we all follow their example and find meaningful gifts to give Christ this season. If we do so, we like the wise-men, may return home "another way" and allow Christ to change our hearts.

Principles of the Nativity: Wise Men Still Seek Him

So I have been thinking a lot about each person in the nativity and how each of the characters teach me lessons about who I want to be. Each member plays such a significant role in that miraculous night and I want to pay tribute to them all this month, starting with the wise men.

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There are so many things we can learn from the wise men and their journey to Christ. The wise men traveled for a long time by the guidance of the star that appeared at Jesus' birth. Assuming they began as soon as the star appeared it took them roughly two years to reach the Savior. Once they got to Christ they gave him three valueble and meaningful gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I find it also interesting that once they found Christ they "went back another way". This was because they were warned in a dream to avoid Herod. After that we don't really know what happened to them. But this small insert in the nativity story brings to mind three lessons we can learn from them.

1-We are all on a journey to find Christ. It may be a long and sometimes difficult journey, just I am sure the desert land these men had to travel through included hot days, sand storms, and the discomfort of camel travel. But, I am sure there were good times. I am sure they got to know each other and be there for each other many a time during their journey to find Christ, just as all of us can be. I am sure there were also some beautiful scenes, sunrises, sunsets, oasis, and other moments of peace and contentment. On our way to Christ we can find joy in the journey so long as we follow His star to find Him. Today we have the star of the gospel that will lead us directly to Christ; not nearby or close enough or in the general area, but exactly to Christ like no other thing can. May we follow this star and find joy in our own journey to Christ.

2-When they found Christ they gave him meaningful and expensive gifts. When we come to Christ do we give him gifts that mean something to Him? Are they gifts that show Him we understand who He is? Do we give gifts that take sacrafice and effort to give? Only gifts of this kind allow us to truly find Christ and let Him change ourselves to become more like Him through the Atonement. Gifts such as faith, repentance, baptism, temple worship, kindness to our family and fellowmen, the study of His words; these are gifts that allow Christ to change us and show Christ our love and knowledge of Him as the Savior of the World. This allows item three to occur in us.
3-When the wisemen left they "departed into their own country another way" (Matthew 2:12). When we find Christ, do we? Do we have spiritual experiences that touch our hearts and immediately go back to who we were before? Or do we act upon those moments, "go back another way", and strive to become more like Jesus our brother? Like Nephi and his brothers of old that saw an angel we all have a choice when we see the hand of God in our lives-act and become or go back to what was comfortable (1 Nephi 3:31-4:4). The latter is much easier, but if we seek to have true joy in our lives we must take the higher way. If we do so we will "go back another way". If not, we risk spiritually killing Christ out of our lives as the wisemen would have put Christ in danger had they gone back to Herod. Only when we choose to act when we find Christ do we leave our journey as a new creature on our path to truly become sons and daughters of God.

Our Call of Duty

So I have to admit I am no "Call of Duty" junky but I did spend many an hour happily watching my brother Mark play. He was money with the tomahawk and we spent good sibling bonding time together with this past time. I never played, but I did get to know some of the basics. First of all it is realistic as far as games go, second it can be intensely frustrating, and thirdly that it can be intensely rewarding. Although it wasn't fun to get snuck up on or sniped or have the other team get dogs or helicopters, it was very fun to do this things and thus win and thus be on your way to an upper level. As I watched my brother play he explained that you can prestige. You can earn you way through I think it was 50 levels and then you kicked back down to level 1 again. You had to re-earn your weapons and such but you continued to win points to buy more things to make your guy look really cool; camouflage, face paint, etc. I'll be honest that's about as much as I understand about it and you'll have to excuse any inaccuracies, but based off of this summation of Call of Duty I think there are some really good things we can glean from this game about the Book of Mormon.
1-Just like Call of Duty the Book of Mormon is very realistic. In fact, it is real. The people that lived and wrote and learned in the Book of Mormon are real people with real problems and real solutions. As we remember that and build a friendship with these people the Book of Mormon becomes alive for us. When we view them as friends we can better relate and apply the lessons they left for us. They loved us enough to share their knowledge, strengths, and even weaknesses. Let us love them enough to treat them as real and build a relationship with these people and make the Book of Mormon realistic to us.
2-The Book of Mormon can be frustrating at times. When I hit the Isaiah chapters I start to get flustered that I haven't the slightest idea what is going on. I get annoyed that I feel I am reading and its just going way over my head. But just as in Call of Duty we often get killed by our lack of paying attention or lack of being where we should or lack of well, skill, we often have the same phenomenon when reading the Book of Mormon. We aren't going to understand it all the first time through, just as it takes time to perfect the game of Call of Duty. Even as we increase in skill we are still going to have frustrating moments, BUT we cannot let this stop us from reading. The Holy Ghost is with us to teach us "all" things (Moroni 10:5) and we should live worthy of this gift by being where we need to be in life and by paying attention/listening for it so we can avoid most of our frustrating moments while reading the Book of Mormon. I promise that as we seek to live worthy of the Holy Ghost and strive to listen to its promptings, we will have greater understanding and a lot less frustration as we seek to read, learn from, and apply the Book of Mormon into our lives.
3-The Book of Mormon can be immensely rewarding as we read it over and over again. In Call of Duty as we continue to do well we progress through different levels and thus are awarded with new levels and new equipment to play the game with. We are then kicked back down to level one but we continue to gain new skill, equipment, and good memories as we play the game through again. The Book of Mormon does the same thing in our own lives. As we read the Book of Mormon over and over again we will gain new knowledge, truth, testimony, and witness every single time we read it. It never gets old and it never runs out of ways to help us grow. Each reading will open our understanding to new truths we can use as tools or "weapons" to better survive and live in the "game" of life. There is never a top off or end point in reading this incredible Book; we can never stop reading it because it will never stop bettering us. That is the beauty of the Book of Mormon: it is literally a never ending fountain of truth and happiness bringing principles that ultimately guide us back to our Heavenly Father. That is what it is here for.
I promise that if we read the Book of Mormon daily we will receive blessings without end and beyond what we could ever comprehend ourselves. The Book of Mormon is realistic and we can apply lessons from its characters as we treat them as people that really lived because they really did. It can be frustrating at times but we can lessen this frustration as we live worthy of and listen to the Holy Ghost and continue to increase in "skill" as we read and reread it. And most importantly, the Book of Mormon is a book that will bless our lives every time we read it, whether it is the first or hundredth time we have read its pages. It is amazing all that we receive from simply reading the Book of Mormon simply because it is not just a book, it is the pure word of God written for our day. The Book of Mormon truly is our latter day "Call of Duty".

Mary: Behold the Handmaid of the Lord

I have been thinking a lot about Mary this Christmas season, especially after the amazing new videos put out by the Church about the birth of Christ (visit lds.org to view these clips). What really stuck out to me was the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her she would be the mother of Jesus the Savior of the World. I think of how I myself would feel if I had received such a calling. The fact that she was only 14 years old at the time adds to the tremendous respect I feel for her response. In those time infidelity when espoused could mean at best rejection by society and future spouse and at worst death by stoning. I am sure she feared what would happen to her as she faced the community as an espoused women now pregnant. How many would believe her? What would Joseph do? Ultimately her fate rested in his hands and in his belief or unbelief of her claim to be the mother of the Christ. And even if Joseph believed her what would her family, friends, neighbors, community say? For the rest of her life she could be marked as an adulterer and scorned and regarded as a fallen and degraded youth. Besides all of these challenges I can think of more; what would it feel like to know you would raise the perfect Son of God? I think of my first day in the mission field and how overwhelmed and unprepared I felt. There are few more frightful and uncomfortable feelings than those of inadequacy and the sense of being overwhelmed with things we feel we are not up to performing. I am sure being told I would raise the Savior of the World would be far more overwhelming than anything I have ever been asked to do for the Lord. And ultimately I can only imagine the pain of being a mother watching a son go through what Christ would go through, scorned and hated of men, rejected by his own, and ultimately, to watch him bleed and die on the cross, suffering for our shortcomings, sorrows, and sins, knowing that just hours before he had bled from every pore under the pain and pressure of performing the infinite and all powerful Atonement. I am not a mother but I can only imagine how that would feel to watch the man I raised and cared for for 33 years go through what the Savior went through. And yet, Mary did not let these doubts, fears, and feelings of inadequacy stop her from performing what the Lord asked her to do. I am sure she had a deep seeded testimony of our Heavenly Father and the wisdom of His will, His callings, His commandments. She knew the Lord knew she could do it and would do it. She knew that following the Lord's will brings blessings that far exceed any sorrow or ridicule the world can bring. She knew that ultimately we must all "trust in the Lord and lean not unto our own understanding". She knew that God would be with her every step of the way, and understood the honor and blessing of her calling, that she Mary, would be considered "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28). She may have understood the pains and struggles she might have because of her calling, but she also understood the amazing experience and blessing raising the literal Son of God would be. She understood who Christ was and the "glad tiding" the message of His coming really was. In short, she trusted God and his words. May we all learn to do as Mary did when we are called to do. Great blessings await those that do so, and as we seek to understand who God and Christ really are, we will gain the ability to trust all his words, and we will have the strength to say as Mary did ""Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).

Ether's Barges

I am nearly to the end of the Book of Mormon and there is always a little feeling of excitement for me as I complete reading this remarkable book. Right now I am reading in Ether, a record of a people that came to the America's soon after the fall of the Tower of Babel. I love reading about how they make their journey here to the promise land. The brother of Jared is asked to build barges "tight like unto a dish" (Ether 2:17). He faithfully builds these barges and then discovers he has two problems; no light and no air. He goes to the Lord to ask for his help. The Lord tells him to cut a hole on the top and bottom of the barges, that way, when they need air, they can unstop the hole and let air in. If water comes in instead, they were to just stop the hole up. The brother of Jared again faithfully completes the Lord's instructions, THEN he goes back and asks about the light. Our Savior doesn't tell him how to overcome this problem, he tells the brother of Jared "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire...Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?" (Ether 2:23-25). The brother of Jared again faithfully follows the Lord's instructions. He thinks about it, cuts some stones out of the mountain, and returns humbly to the Lord and asks him to touch the stones and make them give off light. Then something amazing happens, the brother of Jared sees the finger of the Lord touch each stone, and, they give off light. After an incredible visitation of the pre-mortal Christ the brother of Jared again returns off the mountain to accomplish what the Lord has asked him to do-place the stones in the barges and then take a leap of faith, enter them, and trust the Lord will guide him and his family to the promise land. Of course, the journey was long and not easy, in fact, the "winds did never cease to blow" (Ether 6:8), but they blew always in the direction of the promise land, and 344 days later the Lord did as he promised, and every one of those barges made it safely to the land prepared for them-the promised land.

What a beautiful pattern for our own journey to the promise land-to live with our Heavenly Fater again. We all have taken the leap of Faith to be here on Earth and seek to be like our Father so that we can live with him some day. The brother of Jared has taught me some  powerful lessons about this journey:

1) When we have problems in life we go to our Heavenly Father, but we don't just ask for help, we willingly follow his advice no matter how hard or crazy the advice sounds. Personally I would have hoped for a better answer than "cut holes in your boat and open them when you need and just hope water doesn't spill in instead". But the brother of Jared didn't wait for an answer he wanted, he went and did.

2) Sometimes the Lord trusts us to come up with a solution. He may give us some guidance, but ultimately, He wants us to come up with a solution, and then come to him in Faith and ask Him to approve our solution. He will either approve it or tell us to keep searching, and when we do have a solution, He is avaliable to help us with it. It is these experience that build our Faith and build ourselves the most. The brother of Jared increased His faith from this that he could "not be kept back from beholding within the veil" (Ether 3:19)  and actually saw the finger and then the pre-mortal body of of Savior Jesus Christ.
3) Finally that we all must take a leap of Faith sometimes and get into the boat. There were 8 barges and none of them had any way of talking to each other and no way to steer in their journey, yet they got in the boat and "commended themselves unto the Lord their God" (Ether 6:4). We must all take leaps of Faith sometimes that are scary and sometimes long-lived, like 344 days long. BUT we will always end up where the Lord wants us to end up, and the journey will be far worth not only the destination, but what we ourselves have become because of the journey. Though the winds never ceased to blow, they blew towards the promise land. Our journey may not be easy, it may be very windy, but we can know that these trials are for our good and without them, we would never steer and move towards the promise land.
I know that the scriptures have great lessons for us to learn and that we can apply them to our lives with both Faith that the Lord can and Hope that He will perform these same miracles in our own lives. May we search the scriptures daily as we strive to progress on our own journey back to the presence of our loving and, might I add very anxious to see us again, Heavenly Father...