Remembering

How are you at remembering? For some things I am GREAT at remembering. Football plays, stats, and formations come easy to me. Math formulas, and where I put my keys... not so easy.

Today we all can probably remember very easily where we were ten years ago, which doesn't always happen. Lives were changed that day. From the moments of crisis that enter our lives, what do we remember?


God, our families, anything that is important in our lives floods to our memories. There is a reason the mentioned things come into our minds. They aren't just important, they are eternally important. We have the opportunity to live with God forever, and also our families. Crisis in life brings these close to us because we remember how important they are, and that we can't afford to lose them.

I recently just had an addition to my family. Ashton Steve Nielson joined my Sister Michelle, and their awesome family. I still haven't met Ashton, and his older brother Ayden probably doesn't really remember who I am now, but I love these guys! I am grateful we are an eternal family. Who wouldn't? The fact that spending eternity with your family brings joy to your soul.

That fact also brings peace. There is another nephew I won't get the chance to meet for a long time. Though the sting of death pains our souls, the healing power of Jesus Christ can replace that fear with faith, as we continue through our lives. I know I will meet Maddox one day, and that he will not be a stranger in our family, but a gift and wonderful addition.

Why is it that it takes crisis and calamity to compel ourselves to remember the eternally important things in our lives? Look at the events of September 11, 2001. The world turned to God and to their families, but since then our attitudes have slackened and reverted to our natural tendencies and wants. President Thomas S. Monsen submitted an essay to a recent edition of the Washington Post concerning faith and the tragedy of 9/11. I encourage you to read it.

Another place that we are invited to remember, is the Book of Mormon. Time and time again the ancients plead with us to remember those before us, and to "consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it" (Mosiah 2:41 emphasis added).

As our minds are directed towards those things that are eternally important, let us strive to continue to remember these things each and every day. As we do so, our lives are enriched by the Spirit of God, and we, with our families, will stride into the eternities together.

New Beginnings

September is here. That means there is change in the air. I've been thinking about change lately, recent events have fueled this. First is the opportunity I had to watch a friend of mine make a new beginning of her own. Kristen made the decision to be baptized last Friday! It was an awesome experience for everyone who was there, but I bet it was even better for her. She had a great support from family and friends, she is great.

I love the principle of baptism. Baptism is an ordinance (an outward expression of inward commitment), and is our opportunity to make a covenant (or promise) with God. We promise to keep the commandments, and follow Jesus Christ. In return, our loving Heavenly Father promises us a remission of sins, and to have His Spirit to be with us always. Find out more about baptism here.

Think about that. An all-knowing, all-remembering God will forgive you of your past. That is definitely a new beginning. It is also one of the few promises we make where the other Person will never break His side of the deal. That is a good feeling.

As Fall comes into the picture, we can all see the changes that will happen in the world around us. I have thought more and more about the changes I have found in my own life. Like Kristen, I had to make my own decision to be baptized. I had to gain my own testimony of the Book of Mormon, which is what makes anything and everything about this Church valid.

When I think about the changes that the Book of Mormon has made in my life, I remember my time in college, when I found myself heading down the wrong road. I was looking for something to fill whatever it was missing, and found it. I found truth in a Prophet's words in saying,

"And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." Jacob 2:8
Find out more about the Book of Mormon here

As I read, sincerely, I found truth, and change in my life. Because it did, I can tell you that it will for you to! I prayed and asked God if it was true, it IS! As you notice the changes in the world around this season, think about how you have changed. You have. By the mere fact that we have the ability to change means that we can continue to do so. Think about how you can change, then do it! Change for the better, and see your world become full of hope, faith, and a love for all around you.

Putt Your Way to Success

My Mission President is a great teacher. The other day, he was helping a group of missionaries learn how to better set goals for themselves. He came up with a great analogy that had to do with sports, so it's awesome. It makes sense though. As I have tried to apply it in my own life, I have seen improvement in the goals I set.

President is a golfer. I've golfed a little, I started to get in to it before I left Utah. He related goals to golf. When many golfers arrive at the course, they head over to the practice green to fine-tune their technique and get a good warmup before beginning their round. I have been victim of this, but he pointed out how many golfers will start far out from the cup at the very beginning, then they proceed to practice extremely long shots--with little success. What a experienced golfer will do will start close, then work their way out as they make more and more putts.

Goal setting is the same. We cannot start from so far away that we have little or no hope of accomplishing it. We must set ourselves up for success. As we work on what we need to do to progress, sticking to the fundamentals, we reach that distant goal, our confidence is boosted, and we are able to help others along the way.

Look at the pros. Many can nail those shots, even when the stakes are high. Why? They worked towards their goal, by beginning small. Tiger Woods started as a small little boy with a play golf club in his hand, I don't need to name a few of his successes in his life. He's slipped up, many do.

I am convinced of the fact that if we apply the Gospel of Jesus Christ, those goals not only become reality, but they are long lasting. We need not fall into the ways of the world as we become successful. Heavenly Father has given us tools, such as the Book of Mormon, to help us along the way. They have worked for me better than anything, and will for you to.

That Was Easy

Ever been to Staples? How about have you seen a Staples commercial? They nailed me hook, line, and sinker, with one of their advertising schemes. They created the 'Easy Button'. The easy button, on the commercials, makes all the problems go away. It is pretty sweet. A group has a project due and needs to make a huge number of copies, one of them pulls out an easy button, presses it, and presto! Their job is done. When I recently went to a Staples for some regular office needs, I saw they actually sold these little bad boys. Done. I am now the owner of an easy button.

Unfortunately, it doesn't do everything it does on tv. I've tried. I really, really, wish it would make some of the problems I have go away (who wouldn't!), but that is just not the way that the cookie is crumbling. I've often asked why? Why can't there be an easy button? After thinking about that question for a while I found that though we may not have an easy button to make problems disappear, we do have a pretty sweet tool box to use.

Unfortunately, I do not think there will ever be a button that will make things go away, life just isn't about that. If there was, what would be the point? This time we call life is for us to figure out how to follow. Following God is what we're here for, even though we can't see him. So I told you about a tool box, this box is filled with some pretty sweet stuff. Tools I have found helpful in my life have been scriptures, prayer, and going to Church. All three very basic, but vital. It's like the hammer, nail, and saw in things.

I know that this life is for us to prepare to meet God. He wants every single one of us to return back to Him. He has no set number and there are no reserved seats. That's why there isn't a button, but a tool box. We have to take the many things he gives us and go to work, use them, and see how they help us return to live with Him. He didn't send broken tools either. He only sends His best. After using those tools time and time again, we to can say, 'that was easy'.

Juggling

I just went through a crash course of juggling. Why? A friend of mine told me to. I don't even remember how it came up, or why, but I did it. It was tough. Juggling is harder than it looks (which is surprising because it looks pretty dang hard to me). I didn't have very long to figure it out either, but I took a jab at it. Some lessons I learned are worth mentioning.

First, I had a good teacher. Elder Ben Winter was mine. He can juggle like a clown (there might be more to his past than some of us might know). He was good at giving me tips, and didn't let me give up, because I sure wanted to. We have great coaches in life that want us to succeed, but none more than our Heavenly Father.

I learned you have to start slow. One at a time. Throw up one and catch. Then do two, then three, then four, etc. Don't move on until you get it down. You can't just decide to learn and start throwing balls up in the air at the same time. That really stuck out to me because right now I have fifty million things I have to do. It's hard to balance the many new responsibilities and still fulfill my old ones at the same time. Learning to juggle put it in a real life example of taking your time and handling it one at a time.

Being patient and calm will make or break you. If you throw one ball too far, you have to recover. When I would do that, I would panic, which would make the next ball off and it continued in a downward spiral resulting in me dropping all of the balls on the floor. We can adjust when life throws us loops and causes us to make changes on the fly.

Little things in life can reveal to us the tender mercies of the Lord in our lives. What can you learn from today?

See more council from one of the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, L. Tom Perry, here!