Partaking of the Sacrament

When we want to become good at something we practice. If we want to be good at tennis, we practice the skills and we play a lot and we get better. The same is true for any other sport. The same is true for other things in life. If we want to be good at using spreadsheets we use spreadsheets and practice using formulas. If we want to be good cooks we cook a lot and try different techniques and practice practice practice.

The same thing is true for spiritual things. We get better at reading scriptures by reading regularly, praying by praying often. When we take the sacrament we renew covenants we made at baptism. So many families let their children under 8 take the sacrament and I often wonder if that is the right thing and what will I do with my children. I feel we take the sacrament for granted as far as it’s true purpose. I want my children to be excited about taking the sacrament as much as they are about getting baptized. So what do I say to them to help them understand why they are not taking it? This is what I thought.

The sacrament allows us to repent and make ourselves clean again, like when we are baptized. Until you are eight the Lord does not hold us accountable for our actions. He knows we are learning to keep the commandments and learning what is right and wrong. When you turn eight, He knows you have learned enough to allow you to make decisions and be accountable for them. So he asks us to follow his example and be baptized and all the mistakes we made before are washed away. Then, because He knows we will still make mistakes he gives us the sacrament that lets us be made clean again. So, until we are eight, the Lord asks us to practice keeping the commandments, so when we are baptized we are better prepared to account for our actions and truly appreciate the sacrament.

I don’t know if that is a good approach to this, or if I’ll even do it. After all, I don’t have children yet. I do feel that the sacrament is sacred and should not be taken for granted. It is an opportunity to draw close to our Father in Heaven through His Son, Jesus Christ, by renewing the covenants we made at baptism.

We are baptized once, and while I don’t remember much about my baptism, I know it was a special moment. The Lord has given us the chance to remember that moment every week. That is a moment we should cherish.

My “Conversion” and My Testimony

I was recently reading the testimonies of other members of the church and felt the spirit very strongly. I was reminded of my testimony and how I came to receive my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have shared my testimony, particularly of the Book of Mormon several times to others, and as prompted by the Spirit, I have stood in fast and testimony meeting to bare my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, I felt I should enter it here, so it can be preserved, for at least as long as this blog exists and so others who happen upon this blog, whether friend, family, or other visitor, might know that I have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. Everyone in the Church, whether a convert, or someone who was raised in the Church, has a conversion story, because there comes a time when all of us must find our own testimony. This is the story of how I found my testimony.

I was born into the church. My mom grew up in the church and my dad was a convert while in the military. They were sealed in the temple and all of us were raised in the gospel. When I was very young, my dad stopped attending church, I am sure for a variety of reasons, but I continued to go to church with my mom and my siblings every week. I was baptized when I was eight years old and ordained a deacon when I was 12 years old. As time passed, I continued advancing in the Aaronic Priesthood. Did I have a testimony of the Church, I am not sure, I think I did on some level, but not really my own, and not very strong. I knew I was expected to serve a mission when I was 19, but I did not want to go. I don’t exactly know why, but I know I didn’t. I remember thinking that when the time came for me to submit my mission papers that I would casually avoid it.

Towards the end of 1994 and beginning of 1995, I stopped going to church. I had recently graduated from high school and had started attending a single’s branch in my stake. I had not been doing things to strengthen my testimony so what little testimony I had was not enough to keep me going every week when it was up to me to get ready and go. Some time in February 1995, the year I was turning 19, and after having not been to church for a couple of months, everything changed. I literally woke up one morning and knew my life needed to be and could be better. I set a goal to read the Book of Mormon all the way through for the first time by my nineteenth birthday, I was going to set an appointment to receive my patriarchal blessing, and I was going to serve a mission. Not because my mom or anyone else wanted me to, but because I knew I was supposed to, and I wanted to.

S, I figured out how many pages I needed to read every day to finish the Book of Mormon by my birthday, about five. So, every night, I read from the Book of Mormon. Most nights it was five pages, some it was only one, and some it was more than five to make up for pages I had not read. Some days I was so tired, that I don’t even remember what I had read. But on my nineteenth birthday, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time. I knelt down beside my bed and prayed, as Moroni invites us to do, and asked my Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was the word of God. And I received an answer that day, from the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God. And while I didn’t remember everything I read, I remember how I felt. My life changed, I knew it and the people around me knew it. I was happier and it showed.

Since that time, I served an honorable mission to Los Angeles, CA. I have married in the temple to an amazing woman. I have struggled and I have overcome those struggles. I have struggled again, and continue to overcome those struggles. I expect that I will continue to face struggles of all difficulties throughout my life. But no matter the struggles and no matter the choices I make, good or bad, I can look back on that experience when i gained my testiomny and find strength in the fact that I know the truth. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s true church on the earth. I know His church was restored under His authority by the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that Thomas S. Monson is Christ’s chosen prophet on the earth today. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God and testifies of Jesus Christ.

I hope that this testimony can be a light to others who might be in darkness. I hope it will be a continual reminder to my family that despite my faults, I desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Just what I needed

I have been struggling the past few days.  I had a second interview yesterday for a job that I really want and I have no idea whether I am going to get it.  I don’t want to get my hopes up but I am super anxious about it.  I was looking for some comfort and found some in the Book of Mormon, Alma 7:23-24.

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

Breakthrough

I had a breakthrough this morning.  I am traveling for work.  My boss asked me to come to Mississippi and help out at a health fair here.  We have to be at the health fair at about 10 am to set up and make sure everything is in order, so last night I planned my morning so that I could get in a work out in the fitness center at the hotel, shower, and have breakfast before we left for the health fair.

It is not uncommon for me to make plans like this.  I tell myself that I am going to exercise in the morning and when the morning comes I tell myself I would rather sleep than exercise and that is what usually happens.  This morning, I woke up and said to myself “Chris, are you going to exercise?”  And I thought that I would love to sleep a little more.  Then came the breakthrough.

The thought occurred to me, that if I chose not to exercise, I was choosing to be unhealthy.  I want to be healthy and part of that is regular exercise.  So, I changed the choice from sleeping or exercise to being healthy or being unhealthy.  I don’t have any science to back up this theory, but most people probably choose the thing they want the most or sounds the most appealing.  For most people exercise is a chore not a relaxing day at the beach.  So if given the choice to sleep or exercise they might most likely choose sleep.

By changing the choice from sleep or exercise to healthy or unhealthy, I could use that same logic, but it lead me to a different outcome.  I still chose the thing that is most appealing to me, being healthy, but it ended in exercise, not sleep.  I hope this breakthrough is something that I can keep in my mind the next time I wake up and want to sleep instead of exercise.  Next time you are faced with that choice, turn the tables on it and make it about health and choose to be healthy.  I hope that is something we all want to be.

Get even kind of world?

I was walking home from my bus stop today and I saw a woman parallel parking her car.  She was inching slowly backward, getting closer and closer to the car behind her.  Sure enough she hit the car.  I am sure that she did no damage because she was going slow, but I was still surprised that she hit the car.  While I do not know whether this woman cared if she hit the car or not, it seemed like she didn’t.  When I back up and it looks like I am about to hit a car, I stop.  For all I know, there is a few feet between us, or there could be mere inches.  Bottom line is I don’t want to risk hitting the car so I stop and readjust my car.  For me, I figure I wouldn’t want someone to hit my car, even if slowly, so I will not hit someone else’s car.

When I saw this woman hit the car It made me wonder if our world has become a get even kind of world.  I was taught the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  I would have people not hit my car, so I will not hit theirs.  I think the world’s attitude is leaning more to a “Do unto others as they have done unto me” frame of mind.  Others have done it to me so who cares if I do it to someone else.  Is that the right attitiude to have?  I really hope not.  I hope that I am wrong and that most of the world has the do good regardless attitude and not the I’ve been screwed so screw you attitude.  Whatever is the case, I hope we will all think about what attitude our behavior reflects and live the golden rule.

No Light Without the Dark

I am a huge Harry Potter fan.  I love the books and I love the movies.  I am currently reading the seventh book as part of my annual Harry Potter-thon, and in preparation for the release of the new movie based on the aforementioned installment.

During the seventh book Harry has a lot of doubt and discouragement, which is not surprising considering what he is trying to accomplish.  But, he is in a particularly dark place, feeling betrayed and lied to by all of the people he trusted the most.

This situation kind of reminds me of Luke Skywalker.  Throughout the Star Wars series of movies he became progressively tormented by the Dark Side of the force and seemed to struggle more and more.  This may have not been seen a great deal in his behavior since he never actually joined the Dark Side but you could see him struggle with the temptation somewhat.  I have seen some commentary was visually demonstrated in the filmmaking by his progressively darker clothing.  White in A New Hope, gray in Empire, and black in Jedi.  Anyway, he struggled and faced darkness before the light shined brighter.

Darkness always comes with the light.  One cannot exist without the other.  What would light be without the dark for there would be nothing to compare it to.  We all must struggle and sometimes it will seem unbearable.  It is a lot to ask but we just have to believe.  We want answers and we want understanding, but it doesn’t always work that way.  When we are in a dark tunnel, we want to know when the light will come, how much longer will I have to endure this?  We may just have to trust that the light will come, so just hold on.

Practice makes perfect

I was sitting in a breakout session of the WELCOA training summit I attended last week and I remember thinking that the lecturers were really, really good.  They used the slides to help guide them and cue them as to what they needed to say next, but they knew what to say and when to say it.  There was very little, if any, umms and uhhs.  I remember wishing that I could be as eloquent and organized and prepared as that.  It was as if they had done it a 1,000 times.

Then it occurred to me.  They have done it a thousand times.  They probably practice all the time giving those lectures.  While I was not sitting on their shoulder while they prepared for this presentation, I am sure that some of the steps included the following.  They thoroughly researched the topic and knew what they wanted to say.  The carefully prepared the powerpoint presentation so everything was in the right place at the right time, then they practiced saying what they wanted to say, over and over and over again.  And they probably went through it again just before they actually presented the material in front of the intended audience.

It is just like in sports.  A play is drawn up by the coaches.  It is organized in away to best exploit the defensive in which they will be playing, put all of their players in the right place at the right time.  Then they run through a few times at slower speeds.  Then they practice at full speed, over and over and over again, until it becomes second nature.  Game day comes and they call the play and automatically they think of what they practiced then it automatically happens on the field.

I can be as good a speaker as those who presented during the training summit.  I just have to practice, practice, practice over and over and over again.

Life Decathlon

Life is a marathon

Not a sprint

Maybe it’s a decathlon

With each event

But here’s a hint

Take your time

And enjoy your stint

Procrastination is idiotic, and I don’t know why I do it

I do not understand why I put things off until the last minute.  I really don’t get it.  I am enrolled in an online Masters program.  Each class is five weeks and almost every week we have had a paper due at the end of the week.  Not once have I done the paper and gotten it turned in before Sunday.  I always wait and am stressed out about it and am worried I won’t get it done.  I used to thrive on this kind of time frame pressure.  I felt my work was better when I put it off to the last minute.  Now, not so much.  Now, it just makes me sick to my stomach.  I am going to give myself an ulcer one of these days.

The thing I really don’t understand is that, at least in the case of my current school work, I always find that I enjoy it when I do it.  If I enjoy it, why am I putting it off.  I am actually robbing myself of some of that enjoyment because I am stressing so much about getting it done that I am unable to focus on the material I am studying and it is more dreadful than interesting.  Why, oh why do I procrastinate?  I don’t know, I’ll figure it out tomorrow.

The Struggle

I struggle, I gain

I struggle, I gain

Without struggle, without pain

There is no gain

There is no gain