LIFE

I read once...

making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life"

I got thinking

Am I living or am I making a living?

Do I know what my life is like?

Do I even like my life?

Are my day to day actions creating a life for me or a living?

of course I looked in the dictionary...

LIFE ~ the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects

LIVING ~ the means of maintaining life 

Our life is like a ball game. Sometimes things get going rough so you call a 'time out' to get reorganized or regrouped, to ask the coach for advice and help. Sometimes our lives get rough and things go wrong so we need to call 'time out' and pray to our Heavenly Father for guidance.

A little boy was trying to lift a big rock. His dad came and asked his son if he was using all his strength. The boy said, 'Yes, but I still can't move it'. The dad said to his son, 'Then you're not using all your strength, because you haven't asked me'.

The Atonement was made

The Atonement was made 

Ever and Always is offers amnesty 

from transgression and from death 

if we will but repent. 

Repentance is the escape clause in it all. 

Repentance is the key with which 

He can unlock the prison from inside.

We hold the key with our hands, and 

agency is ours to use it.

Boyd K Packer 

Fear AND Change

Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about change. I still maintain the opinion that change is a good thing.

 It helps you grow. It helps you progress. It helps you learn.

Thank goodness I'm not the same person I was two years ago, or even nine months ago. Thank goodness for progression.

Although change is undoubtedly a positive thing, it does bring with it a certain amount of uncertainty.

I think it makes you stronger.

For me, the future is a beautiful thing, however I have this thing called fear of the future. Maybe it's a fear of commitment. Maybe it's just that I've never experienced it so I don't know what to expect.

Whatever the case, it still scares me.

So today I went for a walk. I passed some deer crossing the road. They looked petrified. They stared me down, and the closer I got to them the more uneasy they became.

I have never seen fear take hold of an animal so quickly before in my life.

One of them wasn't even close, but the moment it saw me coming around the corner it started darting off in any direction it could think of in order to get away. I passed them, and thought to myself,

"Wow, I'm so glad that I don't live in that kind of fear".

 I have been living with fear of the future for a few years now but guess what, whether I like it or not, the future is coming right around the corner.

The future will forever scare me. The unknown is a frightening concept.

I can try to run off in any direction to get away from it, but it's still going to come.

Knowing that, wouldn't it be so much better to face it with faith rather than with fear?

God has said that faith and fear cannot exist in the same place. I love God, so I choose faith. I know that God is with me, and will be forever.

That is all I need to put one foot in front of the other, and follow my Savior, knowing that because of Him,

"there is always hope smiling brightly before me".

It's hard to sit back, and let it all happen. It's hard to wait. But knowing that God knows best, and that He has a plan for me,

one that equals happiness is what gets me through.

~TR

CHRISTmas

God not only lives, but He loves us. He loves you. Everything He does is for our good and protection. There is evil and sorrow in the world, but there is no evil or harm in Him. 

He is our Father - a perfect Father - and He will help us find refuge from the storm. 

Jeffery R. Holland