Controlling the Playing Field!

Life gets hard when we cant control what is going on around us! Things always seem like they are working against us you cant hide from it its everywhere we turn. We are only human we cant control things that we have no control of its not possible, so what do we do? The feeling of no control to me is driving down a road @ 60 MPH in the passenger seat of a car while watching a car coming the opposite way smack head on into you. If i had an eject button i would have pressed it, i wanted out but there was no way it was already too late i for sure did not decide to get hit by a car someone else decided that for me i had no control of the situation.

This same scenario can be applied to other aspects of ones life no matter the circumstances. What can we control though cause none of us are helpless we all have the ability and the know how to defend and make a way for us to come out successful. Lets start by controlling what we can control. So we can control only so much who cares that little bit you can control matters, where you are, who you are with, what you are doing and why you are doing something are all pretty reasonable things to control. Whats gonna happen when we do this are we gonna save our self from something bad that could have happened? I would sure hope so, another thing i would suggest is to prepare our self so we are ready for whatever may be thrown at us. Wrestling i figured out soon that you cant just practice to defend against one move when there are tons of others that you will be faced with. And it is the same with life there is not only one thing we have to defend our self from there are tons.

 Our Heavenly Father knows what we are going through in our own lives he understands our circumstances yet bad things still happen. This is not because He doesn't love us its because he wants us to grow, and the only way to do that is by giving us choices. My simple suggestion is to control the little things that we have control over, place yourself in places where you know that the Holy Ghost can dwell, places where our standards or morals are not threatened and also places where we can trust the outcomes will be positive. Do what you can to be the best you can be and always trust that the Lord will help you through all of your trials.  

Have you ever cut your own hair?

Well i cut my own hair last night that was a load of excitement. I probably wouldn't have done it if i knew the mosquitoes would eat me alive! Its all good i didn't lose an ear, i had a helping hand from Elder Houston that trimmed up my ears for me.What can i say it was the first time i have ever attempted this task. Sometimes we all need a hand no matter how strong or good we think we are, and who better to ask than the Big Man Himself! We have all been given the opportunity to ask for that help so why don't we? God loves all his children and loves to hear from them all the time. I am sure we can all take the time out of our oh so busy schedule to thank Him for the many blessings of kindness that He gives to us each and every day. When is the last time you have talked to God? Show God some love and ask for some help He will give it to you. We all may not be cutting our own hair, but no matter what you are doing or going through i know that He cares and will assist you.

Lessons from a bird that cant even FLY!

I have always thought penguins are so cool it might be cause I love the movie Happy Feet but besides that they just look cool. Everyone knows they are birds that cant fly but just cause they cant fly doesn't make them useless, they were given other attributes to survive and live on. Have you ever seen a penguin before? I haven't seen one in the wild only a zoo but i would love to take a trip to go see some one day. In Happy Feet those penguins teach us such an important lesson about sticking together. Penguins stick together through harsh conditions, they travel in colonies to have the ability to protect themselves. I don't know too many penguins that would stick up to a leopard seal by himself and fight it out, they warn the others and then swim like crazy to get away and hope there were none of their brothers or sisters straggling behind. We can learn a lot from these mysterious little creatures just like them we need to stick together and warn others of danger. If everyone would take this attribute of love and compassion and try to help all they have the ability to help how many lives could be touched? I love penguins and the example they are to me i hope we can all be like penguins and try to love and care for everyone around us, God loves you!

Swing Away

Back in the olden days when i was just a young pup we liked to have fun in the sun, one of the many things we would do on a nice sunny day was play croquet. Everyones heard the saying its all fun in games till someone gets hurt. This is true and i know it from experience. We were playing croquet with my family and i would have guessed that i was in a safe spot out of the way that my brother would be swinging the mallet. A few seconds later that was not the case he swung the mallet like we were playing golf. Ooops cant really remember what happened after that probably cause of the need of stiches and staples to my head.

 You would think i would have learned from one experience of this but nope my brother didnt think it was enough, this time we actually were playing golf and i was either to close or my brother just swings weird but to my suprise i was wrong again, there goes some more staples to the head that i didnt want.

Morale of the story? You better teach your brother how to swing before playing a game that involves something that could hurt you. As much as i would love to blame this accident on someone else it could only be blamed on me. I was in control of what i was doing and where i stood. I thought i was safe but then reality opened up and i was not safe. As we go through life we get put in situations were we have choices, what we choose should rely heavily upon our surroundings and what we have been taught. I learned from my mistake of standing at the side of my brother and walking behind him and i learned from that one time i dont need to get hit again to learn where i should stand. As we put our faith in Jesus Christ we learn more of his teachings and that should lead us to following his commandments. We have choices of right and wrong in this life that are clearly sepearated with a fine line, they dont merge together, it is our choice to decide which side we want to stand on.

Being Honest is your best bet

Being honest is something that should be on everyones mind. When we are honest we try to do our best at whatever we may be doing. Sometimes it may seem hard to be honest when it seems so easy to be dishonest, but why would you want to try to cheat somebody when your not only cheating them but yourself as well. As we live a life of honesty we find ourselves caring for the welfare of others and are willing to do what we can to better them. This act of honesty and love truly shows someone how much you care for them. What happens when we act dishonestly? There could be many consequences for being dishonest but think about what it does to you, you just have to justify it a little bit and then it becomes ok and after that first time it makes it easier and easier to continue in that same way. The feelings of peace and relief that we revieve from being honest are far more pleasing than the feelings of worry and sorrow from being dishonest. We are trusted more and are able to trust those who are honest. Have you ever lost or misplaced something and hoped that some good person would find it and make an attempt to return what they found? That doesnt always happen but what if it did the world would be a nicer place without anyone lying, cheating or stealing. Until that day comes we can only do what we can do and we can do it as honestly as we can.

2 Corinthians 13

7Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.

Clean up on aisle 7

We are all human and being human we are all imperfect, each having different flaws and challenges to overcome. Sin is one thing that is almost impossible to avoid, this mainly being because everyone makes mistakes and has to learn to overcome them. What a great blessing it is that we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes correct them and change our ways. We are all able to repent and start over as long as we show that true change of heart and desire to do what is right we can all become clean. (Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?) I like the question that is displayed in this verse mainly cause a lot of us have seen the goodness of God and that keeps us knowing how good He can be to us as long as we are doing the things which he asks of us. So what if we haven't seen the goodness of God or are not able to recognize it, are we exempt from having to repent? I would have to say maybe not, as good as that sounds we all have the ability to choose right from wrong and it is up to us to correct our mistakes. The lord has opened His arms to us and is always willing to forgive us so it is up to us to take Him up on that offer and Repent.

Faith?

   We all have faith in something whether that something is big or small that makes no difference, but do we all have faith in Jesus Christ? If we have faith in Christ we believe on his name and we show it by following his commandments. I have seen how my faith in Christ has lead me to be on a mission; i have always believed in Him and knew of the teachings but it was not till a while back that i fully had faith in Christ and acted upon that faith. By finally acting on my faith i recieved a greater understanding of how important it is for us to act on our feelings and not just say that we know. If saying i could lift that weight on the barbell would make me stronger and bigger then i would be HUGE! But it doesnt work that way you have to move that bar to get the results you want. Faith leads to action and action leads to results, if we are trying and truly putting forth our best efforts we will see greater results. 
                                                              Ether 12
16Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.

 17And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith.

 18And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.

This whole chapter is about faith and the miracles that happened because they first had faith. I know that if we have faith and show that faith by following the commandments of God and do the things that would be pleasing to him we can too recieve mighty miracles, it is not easy but that doesnt mean we cant do it.