If we know the Word of God and understand it, these 18 points are the ways our Heavenly Father would have us live, phrased in a different way.
At the start of the new millennium, the Dalai Lama issued eighteen rules for living.:
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: 1. Respect for self 2. Respect for others 3. Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Nice, right? :)
Showing posts with label Godliness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Godliness. Show all posts
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Monday, November 21, 2011
Pride; the most insidious of sins
I really believe Pride is the root of all evil. It shoots out all kinds of different sins, but if you look back to where the sin came from, it seems like Pride is always at the root of the problems.
Misfit Cignet is one of the blogs I read pretty regularly. She's written some really thought provoking posts and the one I read most recently is, to me, all about Pride. In it, she's actually writing about all the ways that we may, as humans, try to DO things that are righteous for those in observation of us to see and notice our righteousness. See, it's all about pride.
Anyway... I've been thinking about her post, and about pride generally, a lot and seeing problems with pride in little things. Yet even though they may be "little" the problem is still there; and so I must get back to business and so some weeding. I've thought, off and on, that I don't have to worry about pride; "I've got that handled now," I might think for a day or so. But then I only have only to hear a talk, read a Christ-centered blog post, read an Ensign article or some other God-focused, Christ-centered something and I realize that I DO have more to work on. The problem area may require me to dig a little deeper to see the insidious blackness of Pride on my soul, which I haven't yet weeded out.
And so it is never ending. Thankfully, the Lord is Love and desires me; in all my weakness! Bless His Holy Name for wanting a sinner such as I am!
Misfit Cignet is one of the blogs I read pretty regularly. She's written some really thought provoking posts and the one I read most recently is, to me, all about Pride. In it, she's actually writing about all the ways that we may, as humans, try to DO things that are righteous for those in observation of us to see and notice our righteousness. See, it's all about pride.
Anyway... I've been thinking about her post, and about pride generally, a lot and seeing problems with pride in little things. Yet even though they may be "little" the problem is still there; and so I must get back to business and so some weeding. I've thought, off and on, that I don't have to worry about pride; "I've got that handled now," I might think for a day or so. But then I only have only to hear a talk, read a Christ-centered blog post, read an Ensign article or some other God-focused, Christ-centered something and I realize that I DO have more to work on. The problem area may require me to dig a little deeper to see the insidious blackness of Pride on my soul, which I haven't yet weeded out.
And so it is never ending. Thankfully, the Lord is Love and desires me; in all my weakness! Bless His Holy Name for wanting a sinner such as I am!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
What If...
What if...
What if life is a test?
What if God is with us every step?
What if change is the path to Godliness?
What if pain is simply a fire on the way to purity?
What if suffering is necessary to understand who God truly is?
What if torment is merely a synaptical firing in the brain that I can choose to ignore?
What if being broken enables Larger Hands to create what was meant to be in the first place?
What if becoming who we are meant to be means leaving behind who we already thing we are?
What if drowning in despair opens eyes and unstops ears and births a new-to-Spirit being?
What if struggle is really the point because THAT is what will make us strong enough?
What if relationships are all that really matter in this experience we call life?
What if knowledge is the only thing we can take with us to the next?
What if endings are merely doorways into new beginnings?
What if hopes must die to birth the truth?
What if I had to end to be His?
What if...
What if life is a test?
What if God is with us every step?
What if change is the path to Godliness?
What if pain is simply a fire on the way to purity?
What if suffering is necessary to understand who God truly is?
What if torment is merely a synaptical firing in the brain that I can choose to ignore?
What if being broken enables Larger Hands to create what was meant to be in the first place?
What if becoming who we are meant to be means leaving behind who we already thing we are?
What if drowning in despair opens eyes and unstops ears and births a new-to-Spirit being?
What if struggle is really the point because THAT is what will make us strong enough?
What if relationships are all that really matter in this experience we call life?
What if knowledge is the only thing we can take with us to the next?
What if endings are merely doorways into new beginnings?
What if hopes must die to birth the truth?
What if I had to end to be His?
What if...
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Prophetess
I just wanted to share this post by an amazing blogger. This particular post has impacted me deeply (over the last 4-5 months). I hope you enjoy it. It's all about a little prophetess. :)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
We Are One
Remember how I wrote about how I used to be Ruled by Hatred? (Wow! I just read it for the first time... pretty powerful... I think God was writing for me more than I was writing on that one! ^_^) And then followed that one up a little bit later with talking about how We Become What We Hate? I just read that one for the first time since I wrote it and I got a little misty when I forgave myself... and I feel this filled up feeling cause I'm working on forgiving myself every day... cause I do something wrong (at least one thing!) every single day. I know, I'm so imperfect! *sigh* BUT like one of my friend's pointed out, perhaps I should be glad because the imperfection guarantees me a spot here on this planet... sort of. ;)
So... what's the point in bringing up those posts? Well, they pointed to something that is true, but which I didn't go into explicitly in detail. I feel like I have somewhere else, but I may simply have MEANT to do it and didn't get to it. This has been a problem I'm trying to deal with lately. My memory has been spotty again. It's a struggle. I'm so thankful, though, that Father God gives me little nudges... through Ria, or a friend on Facebook, to remind me of the more important things! I'm SO grateful for His loving guidance!
Back to the point! (See!!! I totally get sidetracked SO easily lately!)
If I become what I hate in someone else... if I used to be a hater and have become a lover... then, more than likely, I'm more like you than either of us realize. Either I was (so part of me is) or I am currently or will be at some point in the future like you. I readily acknowledge that if you are striving to any degree to be Christ's, I am not as advanced as you... and, if you know me, you'll know I'm being completely sincere when I say: I'm sure I'm not as good as you at most things, anyway! I just generally think most people I come into contact with know everything I know. When they don't know some part of it, I almost always feel surprised... and happy that I can share something! (I LOVE to teach and share and just feel a little useful... especially to those who are already friends, but ALSO to those who are yet to BE my friends! ^_^)
So, my point in writing tonight is that I wanted to share something with you. You probably TOTALLY already know about this thing, but I'm STILL so excited about it that I just want to share it ALL OVER! So... I'm going to share it in a couple of ways. First, by name. Have you heard of the Mandlebrot Set?
If not, read on. If you have scroll down until you see some REALLY big letters. :)
The Mandlebrot Set is a mathematical equation which maps/diagrams pictorally the point/skin at which chaos and order meet. I know... isn't that wiggy!?? Okay... so, my first question was (when I learned about this around a month or so ago... it's been so long, yet NO time at all!), "WHAT would such a pictoral representation look like!??" But... before you know the picture, you must know what is in the picture and it's implications.
Now... if you aren't really ready for a paradigm shift today, please move along now. If you're not ready to understand the simple yet profound statements made by Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible (New Testament specifically) and The Book of Mormon... and simple yet profound statements made by others who understood Him... then please do NOT read further. Because if you're any kind of smart (and I'm sure you are smarter than me), this is going to rock your world.
If you're ready to look at the world differently, then feel free to proceed. :)
The picture of the MS (Mandlebrot Set) is interesting in itself. It's pretty. Neat. Abstract. But still cool.
But what you must know as you view it is that the large picture also has along it's outline various sizes of itself. And each image of itself is perfect and complete in itself. Each tiny dot of a knob on the picture is a whole MS... it repeats over and over and over....
There's more.... If you "zoom in" on the MS... onto any part of it... and you keep going far enough... you'll eventually find that you'll arrive at a point that looks exactly the same as the original you zoomed in on. And you can/could do this on any part of the MS. And you can do this over and over and over... and over again.
Oh... let me not forget one key bit of truth about this MS. If you go in and change a part of the MS... no matter how small the change... the change you make will be reflected in the WHOLE MANDLEBROT SET! You change one small thing on the original and the same thing changes in every part that is the same in every part of the whole.... Every little knobby will have the same change in/to it. The WHOLE thing changes as a result of one change wrought in one spot on the basic MS. Does this totally blow you're mind? Are you in awe and amazed? Do you get it? If you get it... and you haven't heard this before... you should be rockin at least a little. Your boat, my friend, is not the same one you entered... or, more acurately, it's the same one, it's just not what you've seen it to be before now!
So, Jesus Christ told us, "Judge not, lest ye be judged; for by what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again." Not a perfect quote, I know, but the truth is intact just the same. This truth is in the MS. ?Do you see it? Do you understand??
He also said, "I am in the Father and the Father in me and the Father and I are one." Do you see the MS proves this? I truly believe that our Savior was saying this truth about Himself as a lesson for us to understand how this is truth for us also. Awesome and amazing!!! God is AWEsome!!!
Ghandi said, "Be the Change you want to see in the World." This truth is very plainly revealed/pictured in the MS. Do you see it?? Do you understand how?
Okay.... so, on to the picture. :)
This one is nice. It's quite colorful... perhaps too much so, but nice.
THIS one is more perspectives on the MS... in 4D. Very neat and reveals even more ways the picture is within the picture and beyond! :)
This last YouTube that I hope you'll watch is a bit tricky. You'll have to pop on over to it and then skip ahead to the point on the time-line and make it read: 2:20:32 and you'll see a guy with a great curly mohawk. Now, he's going to go through and share with you the things I've written. I first learned them from him, actually. It's valuable to read it and hear it because the brain sometimes takes up to 8 times of hearing/reading/learning something new to truly process it.
I'd like to ask you to avoid the rest of the movie if you are a Christian UNLESS you have the Gift of Discernment, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and you are firm in your Faith. I ask you to avoid the rest because there is MUCH truth therein, but also MUCH that is untrue. And if you do not know how the Lord communicates with you, then you may be deceived by the whispers of the evil one's angels. Also, the philosophies of men are intermingled with truths VERY liberally. Only if you know God's Word (firm in your Faith) can you truly tell the difference between what the world/men would have you believe and what God has said is true.
So... HERE it is. The MS picture I first learned of/by/from.
What does any/all of this have to do with the posts I referenced in the beginning? Do you see it? Do you understand? We are one. What I hate in you is only a revelation of that which I hate in myself. What I love in you declares to the world what I value and cherish in you AND me. What I accept in those around me reveals what I accept in me. What I reject in you, I rejected first in me. We are little knobbies on the amazingly huge Mandlebrot Set of God. He is the division between Chaos and Order... He IS order. Chaos is held at bay by Him. We are in Him and He is in US! Yet, though this is completely true, it does not reduce the fact and truth that BOTH God the Father and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and bone. They do.
We are one.
WE are one.
We ARE one.
We are ONE!!!!
Praise God, we are one!
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY LEARNED ABOUT AND UNDERSTAND the Mandlebrot Set,
then you probably don't really need to read any of this post. Go ahead and continue your reading/reseraching/surfing and know that I'm SO glad you already know and I hope you'll find some ways to share the info and hopefully bring on the 100th monkey! ;) ^_^
Signed Lovingly,
Your Sister in Christ,
Tori
P.S.
If you'd like to read a blog that could possibly help you make some changes... and which inspired me to write about how we are ONE... CHECK IT OUT!
So... what's the point in bringing up those posts? Well, they pointed to something that is true, but which I didn't go into explicitly in detail. I feel like I have somewhere else, but I may simply have MEANT to do it and didn't get to it. This has been a problem I'm trying to deal with lately. My memory has been spotty again. It's a struggle. I'm so thankful, though, that Father God gives me little nudges... through Ria, or a friend on Facebook, to remind me of the more important things! I'm SO grateful for His loving guidance!
Back to the point! (See!!! I totally get sidetracked SO easily lately!)
If I become what I hate in someone else... if I used to be a hater and have become a lover... then, more than likely, I'm more like you than either of us realize. Either I was (so part of me is) or I am currently or will be at some point in the future like you. I readily acknowledge that if you are striving to any degree to be Christ's, I am not as advanced as you... and, if you know me, you'll know I'm being completely sincere when I say: I'm sure I'm not as good as you at most things, anyway! I just generally think most people I come into contact with know everything I know. When they don't know some part of it, I almost always feel surprised... and happy that I can share something! (I LOVE to teach and share and just feel a little useful... especially to those who are already friends, but ALSO to those who are yet to BE my friends! ^_^)
So, my point in writing tonight is that I wanted to share something with you. You probably TOTALLY already know about this thing, but I'm STILL so excited about it that I just want to share it ALL OVER! So... I'm going to share it in a couple of ways. First, by name. Have you heard of the Mandlebrot Set?
If not, read on. If you have scroll down until you see some REALLY big letters. :)
The Mandlebrot Set is a mathematical equation which maps/diagrams pictorally the point/skin at which chaos and order meet. I know... isn't that wiggy!?? Okay... so, my first question was (when I learned about this around a month or so ago... it's been so long, yet NO time at all!), "WHAT would such a pictoral representation look like!??" But... before you know the picture, you must know what is in the picture and it's implications.
Now... if you aren't really ready for a paradigm shift today, please move along now. If you're not ready to understand the simple yet profound statements made by Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible (New Testament specifically) and The Book of Mormon... and simple yet profound statements made by others who understood Him... then please do NOT read further. Because if you're any kind of smart (and I'm sure you are smarter than me), this is going to rock your world.
If you're ready to look at the world differently, then feel free to proceed. :)
The picture of the MS (Mandlebrot Set) is interesting in itself. It's pretty. Neat. Abstract. But still cool.
But what you must know as you view it is that the large picture also has along it's outline various sizes of itself. And each image of itself is perfect and complete in itself. Each tiny dot of a knob on the picture is a whole MS... it repeats over and over and over....
There's more.... If you "zoom in" on the MS... onto any part of it... and you keep going far enough... you'll eventually find that you'll arrive at a point that looks exactly the same as the original you zoomed in on. And you can/could do this on any part of the MS. And you can do this over and over and over... and over again.
Oh... let me not forget one key bit of truth about this MS. If you go in and change a part of the MS... no matter how small the change... the change you make will be reflected in the WHOLE MANDLEBROT SET! You change one small thing on the original and the same thing changes in every part that is the same in every part of the whole.... Every little knobby will have the same change in/to it. The WHOLE thing changes as a result of one change wrought in one spot on the basic MS. Does this totally blow you're mind? Are you in awe and amazed? Do you get it? If you get it... and you haven't heard this before... you should be rockin at least a little. Your boat, my friend, is not the same one you entered... or, more acurately, it's the same one, it's just not what you've seen it to be before now!
So, Jesus Christ told us, "Judge not, lest ye be judged; for by what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again." Not a perfect quote, I know, but the truth is intact just the same. This truth is in the MS. ?Do you see it? Do you understand??
He also said, "I am in the Father and the Father in me and the Father and I are one." Do you see the MS proves this? I truly believe that our Savior was saying this truth about Himself as a lesson for us to understand how this is truth for us also. Awesome and amazing!!! God is AWEsome!!!
Ghandi said, "Be the Change you want to see in the World." This truth is very plainly revealed/pictured in the MS. Do you see it?? Do you understand how?
Okay.... so, on to the picture. :)
This one is nice. It's quite colorful... perhaps too much so, but nice.
THIS one is more perspectives on the MS... in 4D. Very neat and reveals even more ways the picture is within the picture and beyond! :)
This last YouTube that I hope you'll watch is a bit tricky. You'll have to pop on over to it and then skip ahead to the point on the time-line and make it read: 2:20:32 and you'll see a guy with a great curly mohawk. Now, he's going to go through and share with you the things I've written. I first learned them from him, actually. It's valuable to read it and hear it because the brain sometimes takes up to 8 times of hearing/reading/learning something new to truly process it.
I'd like to ask you to avoid the rest of the movie if you are a Christian UNLESS you have the Gift of Discernment, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and you are firm in your Faith. I ask you to avoid the rest because there is MUCH truth therein, but also MUCH that is untrue. And if you do not know how the Lord communicates with you, then you may be deceived by the whispers of the evil one's angels. Also, the philosophies of men are intermingled with truths VERY liberally. Only if you know God's Word (firm in your Faith) can you truly tell the difference between what the world/men would have you believe and what God has said is true.
So... HERE it is. The MS picture I first learned of/by/from.
What does any/all of this have to do with the posts I referenced in the beginning? Do you see it? Do you understand? We are one. What I hate in you is only a revelation of that which I hate in myself. What I love in you declares to the world what I value and cherish in you AND me. What I accept in those around me reveals what I accept in me. What I reject in you, I rejected first in me. We are little knobbies on the amazingly huge Mandlebrot Set of God. He is the division between Chaos and Order... He IS order. Chaos is held at bay by Him. We are in Him and He is in US! Yet, though this is completely true, it does not reduce the fact and truth that BOTH God the Father and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and bone. They do.
We are one.
WE are one.
We ARE one.
We are ONE!!!!
Praise God, we are one!
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY LEARNED ABOUT AND UNDERSTAND the Mandlebrot Set,
then you probably don't really need to read any of this post. Go ahead and continue your reading/reseraching/surfing and know that I'm SO glad you already know and I hope you'll find some ways to share the info and hopefully bring on the 100th monkey! ;) ^_^
Signed Lovingly,
Your Sister in Christ,
Tori
P.S.
If you'd like to read a blog that could possibly help you make some changes... and which inspired me to write about how we are ONE... CHECK IT OUT!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
We Become What We Hate
Perhaps it's overgeneralizing. Perhaps it is not true for everyone... but as a rule it seems to be a true principle: we become what we hate, despise, resent, etc. If we have supercharges negative feelings toward or about something/someone, we either already are (perhaps to a much smaller degree) OR become what we dislike. Do you see this truth in your life? In observation?
I see it in me!
I used to hate things about some very close to me. I used to hate the laziness I observed. I hated that there was always time for TV or a movie (or multiple movies), but never time to spend actually BEing with others... or DOing the things that needed to be done. The explanation for incomplete tasks: "I don't have time." And, in a way, this explanation is always correct. We do NOT have time for all the important things AND all the completely UNimportant things. I could see, from my outside observer's POV, that the time available was simply being spent in worthless/fruitless/selfish ways.
Just for the record, I am NOT talking about just one person right now. I am thinking about a number of qualities in a number of different people I know really very well - as far as knowing others goes. And aren't those the people I should be most Charitable toward? And I don't mean the kind of charity the world refers to! I mean Charity... The Pure Love of Christ, which pure Love includes unconditional forgiveness. I have been commanded, in a personal commandment just to me, to forgive unconditionally, and I still struggle to obey with certain people (those closEST to me)! :-(
The point? I hated those quality characteristics. And I am only beginning to realize the extent to which I hated myself... and/OR BECAME those things I hated.
It seems to me an inextricable sort of thing... like a black hole kind of deal. The only power that can free us from the power of a black hole is the power of God. For even though the scientists don't know this yet (haven't proven it through mathematical equations), even the darkness of a black hole must flee at the Light and Power of Our God, for He is Master of even those!
My Love still needs to grow. My Charity must be dug deeper. I know it. Yet the me of today, compared to the me of 4... 5... 6 years ago... I'm ever more and more leaving behind the hater and becoming a true Lover. And what LIGHT! I mean, LIGHT in every sense of the word.... I feel brighter. Not as in intelligence... though I do feel that as a result of other things... but brighter as in full of actual Light. I feel ever more and more relieved of burdens as I forgive myself for being what I used to hate and forgive others for being less than I know they could be... isn't that what it boils down to? We hate (feel extreme emotion to the negative) because we see in others what we don't like about ourselves... Or, see in others a way that we know they could be better than they are and we hate the bad of ourself or the shortcoming because we KNOW they could be SO much BETTER!
I have so much more to improve. I totally know it. But as I reflect on the distance I've come, I wonder: WHY did I ever sink so low as to hating??? How did I not KNOW that I was hurting me most of all?? Oh, I heard that. But I just didn't KNOW! I forgive me. I hope YOU will forgive me!
I see it in me!
I used to hate things about some very close to me. I used to hate the laziness I observed. I hated that there was always time for TV or a movie (or multiple movies), but never time to spend actually BEing with others... or DOing the things that needed to be done. The explanation for incomplete tasks: "I don't have time." And, in a way, this explanation is always correct. We do NOT have time for all the important things AND all the completely UNimportant things. I could see, from my outside observer's POV, that the time available was simply being spent in worthless/fruitless/selfish ways.
Just for the record, I am NOT talking about just one person right now. I am thinking about a number of qualities in a number of different people I know really very well - as far as knowing others goes. And aren't those the people I should be most Charitable toward? And I don't mean the kind of charity the world refers to! I mean Charity... The Pure Love of Christ, which pure Love includes unconditional forgiveness. I have been commanded, in a personal commandment just to me, to forgive unconditionally, and I still struggle to obey with certain people (those closEST to me)! :-(
The point? I hated those quality characteristics. And I am only beginning to realize the extent to which I hated myself... and/OR BECAME those things I hated.
It seems to me an inextricable sort of thing... like a black hole kind of deal. The only power that can free us from the power of a black hole is the power of God. For even though the scientists don't know this yet (haven't proven it through mathematical equations), even the darkness of a black hole must flee at the Light and Power of Our God, for He is Master of even those!
My Love still needs to grow. My Charity must be dug deeper. I know it. Yet the me of today, compared to the me of 4... 5... 6 years ago... I'm ever more and more leaving behind the hater and becoming a true Lover. And what LIGHT! I mean, LIGHT in every sense of the word.... I feel brighter. Not as in intelligence... though I do feel that as a result of other things... but brighter as in full of actual Light. I feel ever more and more relieved of burdens as I forgive myself for being what I used to hate and forgive others for being less than I know they could be... isn't that what it boils down to? We hate (feel extreme emotion to the negative) because we see in others what we don't like about ourselves... Or, see in others a way that we know they could be better than they are and we hate the bad of ourself or the shortcoming because we KNOW they could be SO much BETTER!
I have so much more to improve. I totally know it. But as I reflect on the distance I've come, I wonder: WHY did I ever sink so low as to hating??? How did I not KNOW that I was hurting me most of all?? Oh, I heard that. But I just didn't KNOW! I forgive me. I hope YOU will forgive me!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Ruled By Hatred
I used to be, ya know. I used to be ruled by hatred. Did you know that? Could you tell? Try reading a post from 2008. Could you tell that I was full of hatred?
Well, I reviewed some posts from back then and I couldn't find one that really revealed much of that part of my heart. "In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrows that the eye can't see..." That's a line from 'Because I Have Been Given Much,' which in our Hymnal is song 219 (because of copyright that song is not avaiable to listen to via the music portion of http://lds.org/). It's a lovely song! I think that was the first one we memorized in the beginning of doring devotionals last October. I guess, even though I was significantly louder a person back then, I kept my hard heart deeply hidden and very quiet.
So, since it's not terribly visible or apparent... do you want to know what I hated? To give myself some credit, I think I was already making SOME good progress in regard to this subject by 2008... but from my point of view now, I can see myself so much more clearly and I see how I was still strugling with hatred heavy in my heart.
Since this post is, initially, about being ruled by hatred, I'm gunna tell ya what I hated! First of all, I hated just about everyone and anyone. Not in an all-consuming rolling-boil sort of way... but in a simmering sort of way. I was, in truth, waiting to take offense to just about everything. In October of 2006 I listened to General Conference. Along with anyone else who listened to that Conference, I heard a particular talk by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twleve Apostles entitled: 'And Nothing Shall Offend Them' . That talk began the process of a tremendous change of heart in me, of which I enjoy many fruits today. I still have much progress to make, but I'm becoming a new woman and, in many ways, AM a new woman already. I continue to try to change daily, of course. I feel like the big changes in me... in my effort to be New, began as a result of this talk. I feel it has truly played a pivotal role in my life.
Why did I hate everyone and anyone? Well... because, at the bottom of all the reasons I could tell you #1 I didn't like me... I didn't LOVE me... in fact, I probably truly hated me! #2 I was full of pride (an unwillingness to forgive pains inflicted by others is prideful). My unwillingness to change and become as Christ is, is a clear indicator of the Pride I had. Pride has many MANY guises! It is the root of all evil, afterall.
Hatred, like all the other tools of the deceiver (fear, envy, pride, anger, etc), binds the one feeling the emotion he has inspired. Initially the bonds are as flaxen cords. But over time the flaxen cords, because there are so many, bind as surely as the heaviest chains. They can become as a cocoon around a developing butterfly... but in this analogy, the bonds of the deceivers tools do not enable metamorphosis into something beautiful as a butterfly, but rather, starve the Soul and bring about eventual spiritual death of the kind that cannot be redeemed.
From within the binding (having been in hatred myself; and still struggling to cut some bonds of one of the evils I used to be consumed by, but still struggle with) it is nigh on impossible to see how to stop the cycle of what we're caught within. "I'm caught, this is a closed cocoon! There's no hope for me. Why bother?" These are thoughts I had and I felt the related feelings, too. But I'm not caught in hatred anymore. And if I can get out of the closed room (locked from outside), I guarantee you: Anyone Can!
How did I do it? The short answer: I did it in and through Christ Jesus and His Redemption brought about by His Atonement which He has already completed for each of us who will believe on His name: have Faith in Him, confess/repent, and be baptized!
Yes... that IS actually the short answer! ^_^
Want more details? If I were you, I would. Thus I share: I tried by praying for the ability to keep trying. That's how I started. And then I kept trying. :) I fell more times than I can count. But I kept getting up and kept praying for support to change.
The greatest leaps forward came when I focused more on myself... not the selfish kind of way that the World declares is important... the, "I need ME time!" kind of way.... But, rather, the kind of focus on "me" that the Lord prescribes. I spent time by myself (usually after everyone else was asleep) to be in prayer. I was guided to record my prayers. And I have to tell you, I LOVE those journals!!!!! It has been absolutely a blessing to me and my life that I followed the promptings to write down impressions, images, and eventually words and sentences that I perceived the Lord whisper to my mind and heart.... I have great hope that all, but especially my prayer journals will bless the lives of my progeny. God willing!
I've always told the Lord I love Him when I pray. But one time, after I'd been praying with my journal - writing what I said and writing what was said back to me... I felt unable to continue after I told Father God that I loved Him. And so, since I couldn't think of anything else to say, I waited in listening mode. The response was FULL of pure LOVE!!!! I realized, as I wrote down what the Lord would have me know about His Love for me that I'd never waited to hear what He had to say on this subject because I didn't think I was worthy of it. I didn't want to know that He Loved me because I didn't love me and so I thought, "How could HE!??" But that time I listened... and at the time that I listened, I was only in acceptance of myself. I did not actually LOVE me. I do now, though!!! If He does, how can I NOT?? Am I greater than He? Do I know more than He knows? No. Surely not. So I must love me!!
The same realization has come about the rest of my fellow brothers and sisters on this planet. HE Loves them the SAME way He loves me. And what... do I know more than He? Should I not love them as He Loves them? If He loves me... and I KNOW me and how unworthy of His love I am... then I must MUST must Love others!!! (and I feel this "must" in a joyous and rejoicing way!)
Another thing that has enabled me to come to peace and FEEL the Love of God for others (even those who hate me, hurt me, speak unkindly about me, etc) is the profound realization I experienced of the truths I've sung repeatedly throughout my life in 'I Am a Child of God'. I had a sacred experience in which I saw the truth of this principle... this song... the truth of God's Love... and as a result I know the truth. I know that I am a part of God, that you are, that we all are. And if I profess to Love HIM, I must... I just MUST love me and you and everyone else, too!
So, in my weakness, the Lord has made me strong. I was once ruled by hatred. Now I am filled with Love. I'm not perfect in this area (nor any area) yet, but I have Faith that I can become perfect in and through Christ Jesus. I know that I will not be perfect in all things and in all ways so long as I reside in this tabernacle of clay... BUT I can become perfect in small (yet large) principles like this one. I pray you may come to know and understand these things AND MORE! I pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of how the Lord our Father God and His Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer Love YOU! Amen.
Well, I reviewed some posts from back then and I couldn't find one that really revealed much of that part of my heart. "In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrows that the eye can't see..." That's a line from 'Because I Have Been Given Much,' which in our Hymnal is song 219 (because of copyright that song is not avaiable to listen to via the music portion of http://lds.org/). It's a lovely song! I think that was the first one we memorized in the beginning of doring devotionals last October. I guess, even though I was significantly louder a person back then, I kept my hard heart deeply hidden and very quiet.
So, since it's not terribly visible or apparent... do you want to know what I hated? To give myself some credit, I think I was already making SOME good progress in regard to this subject by 2008... but from my point of view now, I can see myself so much more clearly and I see how I was still strugling with hatred heavy in my heart.
Since this post is, initially, about being ruled by hatred, I'm gunna tell ya what I hated! First of all, I hated just about everyone and anyone. Not in an all-consuming rolling-boil sort of way... but in a simmering sort of way. I was, in truth, waiting to take offense to just about everything. In October of 2006 I listened to General Conference. Along with anyone else who listened to that Conference, I heard a particular talk by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twleve Apostles entitled: 'And Nothing Shall Offend Them' . That talk began the process of a tremendous change of heart in me, of which I enjoy many fruits today. I still have much progress to make, but I'm becoming a new woman and, in many ways, AM a new woman already. I continue to try to change daily, of course. I feel like the big changes in me... in my effort to be New, began as a result of this talk. I feel it has truly played a pivotal role in my life.
Why did I hate everyone and anyone? Well... because, at the bottom of all the reasons I could tell you #1 I didn't like me... I didn't LOVE me... in fact, I probably truly hated me! #2 I was full of pride (an unwillingness to forgive pains inflicted by others is prideful). My unwillingness to change and become as Christ is, is a clear indicator of the Pride I had. Pride has many MANY guises! It is the root of all evil, afterall.
Hatred, like all the other tools of the deceiver (fear, envy, pride, anger, etc), binds the one feeling the emotion he has inspired. Initially the bonds are as flaxen cords. But over time the flaxen cords, because there are so many, bind as surely as the heaviest chains. They can become as a cocoon around a developing butterfly... but in this analogy, the bonds of the deceivers tools do not enable metamorphosis into something beautiful as a butterfly, but rather, starve the Soul and bring about eventual spiritual death of the kind that cannot be redeemed.
From within the binding (having been in hatred myself; and still struggling to cut some bonds of one of the evils I used to be consumed by, but still struggle with) it is nigh on impossible to see how to stop the cycle of what we're caught within. "I'm caught, this is a closed cocoon! There's no hope for me. Why bother?" These are thoughts I had and I felt the related feelings, too. But I'm not caught in hatred anymore. And if I can get out of the closed room (locked from outside), I guarantee you: Anyone Can!
How did I do it? The short answer: I did it in and through Christ Jesus and His Redemption brought about by His Atonement which He has already completed for each of us who will believe on His name: have Faith in Him, confess/repent, and be baptized!
Yes... that IS actually the short answer! ^_^
Want more details? If I were you, I would. Thus I share: I tried by praying for the ability to keep trying. That's how I started. And then I kept trying. :) I fell more times than I can count. But I kept getting up and kept praying for support to change.
The greatest leaps forward came when I focused more on myself... not the selfish kind of way that the World declares is important... the, "I need ME time!" kind of way.... But, rather, the kind of focus on "me" that the Lord prescribes. I spent time by myself (usually after everyone else was asleep) to be in prayer. I was guided to record my prayers. And I have to tell you, I LOVE those journals!!!!! It has been absolutely a blessing to me and my life that I followed the promptings to write down impressions, images, and eventually words and sentences that I perceived the Lord whisper to my mind and heart.... I have great hope that all, but especially my prayer journals will bless the lives of my progeny. God willing!
I've always told the Lord I love Him when I pray. But one time, after I'd been praying with my journal - writing what I said and writing what was said back to me... I felt unable to continue after I told Father God that I loved Him. And so, since I couldn't think of anything else to say, I waited in listening mode. The response was FULL of pure LOVE!!!! I realized, as I wrote down what the Lord would have me know about His Love for me that I'd never waited to hear what He had to say on this subject because I didn't think I was worthy of it. I didn't want to know that He Loved me because I didn't love me and so I thought, "How could HE!??" But that time I listened... and at the time that I listened, I was only in acceptance of myself. I did not actually LOVE me. I do now, though!!! If He does, how can I NOT?? Am I greater than He? Do I know more than He knows? No. Surely not. So I must love me!!
The same realization has come about the rest of my fellow brothers and sisters on this planet. HE Loves them the SAME way He loves me. And what... do I know more than He? Should I not love them as He Loves them? If He loves me... and I KNOW me and how unworthy of His love I am... then I must MUST must Love others!!! (and I feel this "must" in a joyous and rejoicing way!)
Another thing that has enabled me to come to peace and FEEL the Love of God for others (even those who hate me, hurt me, speak unkindly about me, etc) is the profound realization I experienced of the truths I've sung repeatedly throughout my life in 'I Am a Child of God'. I had a sacred experience in which I saw the truth of this principle... this song... the truth of God's Love... and as a result I know the truth. I know that I am a part of God, that you are, that we all are. And if I profess to Love HIM, I must... I just MUST love me and you and everyone else, too!
So, in my weakness, the Lord has made me strong. I was once ruled by hatred. Now I am filled with Love. I'm not perfect in this area (nor any area) yet, but I have Faith that I can become perfect in and through Christ Jesus. I know that I will not be perfect in all things and in all ways so long as I reside in this tabernacle of clay... BUT I can become perfect in small (yet large) principles like this one. I pray you may come to know and understand these things AND MORE! I pray that you may be filled with the knowledge of how the Lord our Father God and His Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer Love YOU! Amen.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Fire; My Fire
Burning hurts. I'm not even talking about the burns I've experienced in my tabernacle body. But I'm grateful! I'm thankful that the Lord knows my strengths and weaknessses and knows the exact temperature to which He raises my purifying fire so that He may burn out of me the dross that I've only ever thought was part of me. Part of me, it surely has been, but it should not there remain. And He knows it. I'm so thankful for a Loving Father in Heaven who is guiding my life journey and providing all. God is GREAT! He is the Master of my Story! I praise Him for His goodness, His guidance, and His tender care!!
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