There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today: EVERYDAY: Our Foundation......Upon A Rock

Monday, February 13, 2012

Our Foundation......Upon A Rock

Taking a little break from my "Tender Mercies" posts to focus on something that I have been thinking A LOT about lately.
The frailness of our mortality has been everywhere lately for me. In March, we watched the devastating earthquake in Japan. In April and May, we watched horrible natural storms tear families to pieces, as they lost precious children and loved ones in a moment. There has been car accidents that have taken precious innocent lives, house fires taking whole families, and innocent heartbreaking accidents calling the most precious of souls back home so early. WHY? I have been burdened with bother. Why is this happening?
As I have thought, I have came to a conclusion that has helped me process this information in a way that I need right now to help my testimony grow. That conclusion is this: Our precious family relationships here on Earth: They could be temporarily halted tomorrow as one gets called back to Heavenly Father. Granted, we have the priceless assurance that Families can be Forever, But........there is still an immeasurable amount of earthly pain for that parent who would give anything to hug their deceased child one more time. Our home could be whisked away in a moment so fast that we barely realized that a fire, or an earthquake, or a hurricane was to blame. Our health and wholeness that we take for granted can be changed in an instant as the diagnosis of Cancer (or some other horrible illness) gets delivered to us.
So what do we REALLY HAVE? What is ours forever on this Earth to take with us after we leave this earth? We do have relationships, knowledge, and personality traits that will follow us, but, when all of it is said and done, every last priceless eternal blessing will come to fruition based on the merits we have gained in building a relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Nothing else will bring eternal happiness or peace. We have to allow him into our hearts, and commit to him that we will be tools for righteousness to carry on his work on Earth until our mortal journey is complete.
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!!!!!! NOTHING!!!!!

2 comments:

RosalieFebruary 14, 2012 at 7:43 AM
What a beautiful way to put it, thank you so much! I needed that today...feeling a little down. Thank you for your amazing spirit and insight!

Much love!
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Keddington ChroniclesFebruary 14, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Thanks Rosalie. I'm sorry you're feeling down. Those first few postpartum months: an emotional roller coaster (good and bad). I'm glad I brought some "good". I hope you're enjoying your new little one. :)
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Why This Blog???

Some time ago in an LDS Sacrament Meeting, one of our youth speakers said something that changed my life. He said that a Seminary Teacher challenged them to commit to themselves that they would do something or participate in something that would allow them to feel the spirit EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! As I contemplated that challenge over the next several days, I came to realize the eternal value in such a practice. If we as individuals feel the spirit each and every day of our lives, it would be extremely difficult for our hearts to wander too far from our Savior Jesus Christ.

It was at this time that I made a commitment to myself to feel the spirit of our Heavenly Father around me EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! As I started becoming more aware, a personal miracle took place in my perspective and the way that I viewed experiences, people, and even things that were around me. I realized how much Heavenly Father really loves all of us. He cares about every detail in our lives, even down to the smallest and what some would consider to be insignificant experiences or objects surrounding us.

I began to treasure these daily spiritual experiences in my heart. I thought of journaling on these, but wanted a way to treasure these experiences in a way that would not be too cumbersome or overwhelming (I definately did not need one more thing to do in my already full and busy life). I received an answer to my dilemma in a talk by President Dieter F Uchtdorf (Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). In his talk from General Conference, April 2011, he made the following statement: "With so many social media resources and a multitude of more or less useful gadgets at our disposal, sharing the good news of the gospel is easier and the effects more far reaching than ever before....My dear young friends, perhaps the Lord's encouragement to open your mouths might today include 'use your hands' to blog and text message the gospel to all the world"!

And so here Iam. I am hoping that maybe the little experiences that I treasure in my heart may help someone else out there feel the love the Savior has for them. If it is just me who reads, at least a treasure of my own experiences will be there for myself and future generations of my posterity.

My challenge will be to keep these posts short, simple, and to the point. I simply want a complete daily record of something (or someone) who has touched my spirit in such a way that I want to remember always. In recording such events, maybe (just maybe) someone else will also be touched by the spirit of our Savior Jesus Christ!!!

Spiritual Words for the Soul

-"If you will spend twenty minutes each day with the Savior of the world in private worship, you will spend eternity in his presence." (Stephen Covey)

-"Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down, resisting the impulse to become offended easily, accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they ruly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim over time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others" (Pres. Thomas S Monson)

-"If you live up to these principles, how great and glorious will be your reward in the Celestial Kingdom. If you live up to your privilege, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates" (Joseph Smith)

-"The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not an obligation rather a pathway.......(that) transforms the mundane into the majestic" (Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

-"If you will only allow his divine love into your life, it can dress any wound, heal any hurt, and soften any sorrow"

(Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

-"Mortal messengers with angelic messages. Men and women who have all the physical, financial, and family difficulties you and I have. But who, with faith have consecrated their lives to the callings that have come to them, and the duty to preach God's word, not their own" (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

-"In the matters of discipleship, the church is not a fast food outlet. We can't always have it our way"

(Elder Jeffrey R Holland)

-"If we teach by the spirit, and you listen by the spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal little prophetic epistle just to you" (Elder Jeffrey R Holland)