What If?

This morning, while waiting for Sacrament Meeting to start, I read from the Book of Mormon.  In my personal reading, I've started 2nd Nephi.

I read this (2nd Nephi 1:8-10

"8 And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.

 9 Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever.

 10 But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them."

I wondered what if the descendants of Lehi, all of them, had remained righteous?  Would the "New World" as the Americas were called ever been discovered?  Would Christopher Columbus had been able to find the Americas?  Would the pilgrims have known about the Americas to leave Europe in search of religious freedom?  Would there have been a Trail of Tears?

Then the answer came.  Sometimes the question "what if?" is good for an increase in knowledge and understanding.  In fact, it's great if you are looking to innovate something for the future.

But pondering "what if?" about the past?  It may be interesting and even educational, but to dwell on it serves no purpose as it will not change how things are now.

YOUR Happily Ever After

For the full talk: Your Happily Ever After

I would invite you to fully study this talk.

If you are grieving and think you'll never feel happy again, "hold on, the light will come". Many thanks to Michael McLean for that song.

Realizing Your Dreams

I don't have BYU TV (it's too expensive for me), so I was looking at their web site and found a television series that peaked my interest. It's called See The Good and I've only watched one episode on it, but it was a good one.

Here's the link to the episode: Realizing Your Dreams

What are your dreams? What did you want to be as a child, and has that dream come to fruition? This video is a must see, but not embed friendly, so click on the link above to view the video.

Potential

We all have potential. What is yours? This is part of another phenomenal talk from TOFW.

Chastening

If you saw the video in the last post, you saw a reference to Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk, "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten". Here is the link to the talk: Elder D. Todd Christofferson

This is definitely the thing I need to be working on. Why? because it's the only way to truly have that relationship with the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Psalms 25:9: The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

By the way, I've personally met Elder Christofferson (while he was serving in the Seventy) and this is a truly humble man. He lives what he preaches.

Choose To Become

Last month I had the opportunity to attend a Time Out For Women event in my area. Because the event didn't occur until November, the theme and a lot that went along with it was gone in less than a month. The blogs, however, are fortunately still up. If you don't know what a Time Out For Women event is, here is the link: TOFW

The events are sponsored through Deseret Book, so it's somewhat of a commercial enterprise, as the speakers and musical entertainment all have books and/or CD's they are selling at the event in the bookstore.

That said, there is a lot more to TOFW than a really long infomercial. I've been to these in the past, but this one made an impact on me. The theme for 2011 was Choose To Become. The talks were focused on some aspect to help the women attending to find ways they could choose to become a little more of what our Father in Heaven and the Lord know we can be. It's not focused entirely on being a good mother, it's focused on how you can take care of you while you take care of the young ones in your life.

I think the reason this impacted me so much is that for a while now I have felt like I'm at a crossroads in my life. Duh. Yes, I am. My eternal companion has been serving his mission for 11 years now on the other side, my father has been gone 5 years as of December 13th, I will most likely be moving in with my Mother at some point soon to provide her with whatever help she needs, and I have several projects on the burner that have either yet to be finished or haven't been started yet. I'm clearly at a crossroad in my life, it just a matter of figuring out which road to take next.

I thought I had a really good relationship with the Lord, but I'm finding that this relationship was at a child's level. This relationship needs to be at the grownup level if I'm going to really be able to find out where I need to be headed and what I need to be doing with my life. Coasting is no longer an option.

I got an email from TOFW for the DVD with a number of speakers from the 2011 Tour, and found there were some phenomenal talks (only 1 presentation I had seen in Phoenix, the rest were new to me) with scripture references and, for some, even notes for me to use with my studying. This, along with reading The Book of Mormon, reading Increase In Learning by David A. Bednar and going through all of the references is helping me to understand things with the grownup understanding I am seeking. Here's a taste from one of the fantastic videos on the DVD. If you can get your hands on this one, it's well worth the price.

A Few Messages of Faith

I've been sick this past week. After my second visit to the doctor on Friday, I was driving home and stopped for a long procession of vehicles, a funeral procession, going towards the local cemetery. It reminded me, as God often does, that while my challenges are indeed challenges, I've been through worse. He also reminds me that as bad as my week has been, someone has had a worse week. My prayers go out to all who mourn the loss of a loved one.



And if you're not at that level yet: