The bread of life . . . and veggies!

I had really been encouraging my children to think about what they say in their prayers. I wanted them to really let Heavenly Father know what they were thinking about.  So, my son was saying the blessing on the food one evening and took my advice to heart.  He said, "We thank thee for the food.  We thank thee for the fruit, but not the veggies because I really don't like those." This gave me a good laugh and made me feel like at least he was trying to take my advice to heart.  Also, it got me thinking.

Veggies are good for us.  They provide us with many nutrients that we need.  However, bread really fills us up.  If you eat only veggies you usually don't feel as full or satisfied.  Bread can fill us up and make us feel good.  In fact it is often referred to as comfort food.  The scriptures refer to Christ and his gospel as the "Bread of Life."  We use bread as a symbol of Christ's body during the sacrament.  The gospel can fill us up until we feel satisfied and comforted.

Sometimes when I try out various diets that cut out all carbs I feel as if I am walking around hungry and unsatisfied.  Our Spirits can often feel the same way if we neglect our scripture reading or prayers.  If you are walking around feeling spiritually or emotionally hungry or tired and you are looking for comfort, then turn to the Savior who can fill you up.  His gospel can provide the means for you to feel satisfied in life.

Partake of this Bread of Life by opening up the scriptures and "feasting upon the word."There is a reason the scriptures say the "Bread of life" and not the veggies of life.  Veggies are good but bread satisfies you hunger and fills you up.  Feed your soul today!

Perspective

The other day I entered a beautiful room inside the temple that had original artwork hung on the wall.  The only chair available for me to sit in was right up against the wall.  I glanced over at the wall and realized I was sitting very close to one of the paintings.  I was up so close that I could see the brush strokes on a small corner of the painting, but I could not see the painting in it's entirety.  Honestly,  sitting up that close, the part of the painting I could see kind of looked like a brown mess.  The brush strokes almost seemed chaotic and meaningless.  Later as I left the room I was able to view the painting from further away.  The painting was of a beautiful landscape.  The brown mess was actually a part of a mountain scene.

I realized that if that "messy part" had been missing the entire painting would have been ruined.  From further away it did not look like a mess at all but was very beautiful.  I realized the artist had known more than I on how to put together the colors and brush strokes to make beautiful artwork.

Sometimes our lives can feel a bit "messy" or "chaotic."  We may wonder why we have to experience certain difficulties or trials that make life hard.  We need to realize that Heavenly Father is the master artist and is putting together our lives in a way that will create the most beauty.  We may just be "sitting up too close" to be able to see with proper perspective.  Someday we will be able to stand back and see how all the pieces of our lives were put together to make a beautiful masterpiece.

Watch With Me

I was sitting in Sacrament meeting one Sunday morning trying to keep my kids quiet while the sacrament was being passed.  It is often difficult for me to completely focus on the Savior during the Sacrament since my attention is split between trying to think about Jesus and keeping 5 young children in line.  This particular day my thoughts wandered to thoughts of the apostles that were waiting while Christ was suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. Christ was utterly alone in this experience.   He went out to where His friends were waiting and they had fallen asleep.  He asked them "will you not watch with me one hour?"  I started to think about if I had been with the Savior at that time.  I would have wanted to stay awake to provide comfort to Him in His time of need.  I started to think that it wasn't very good of the apostles to fall asleep when the Savior wanted them to stay up with Him.  Then a thought came so clearly and directly to my mind that I cannot dispute the source being directly from the Savior to me through the power of the Holy Ghost. "Will you not watch with me one hour."

I realized that I had effectively "fallen asleep" many times by not directing my thoughts to the Savior during the partaking of the Sacrament.  He wants us to stay awake and watch with Him by directing our thoughts and actions toward Him throughout our lives.

Road signs

As we drive we use signs and painted lines to guide us and keep us safe.  A painted line along the road is a simple thing.  We can choose to follow the warnings or  not.  If we choose to drive over the lines and not heed the warnings and suggestions we are putting ourselves and others in great danger.  Not following the guidelines can put us in harms way.  Traveling can bring great freedom.  We can make decisions on where we would like to go and enjoy the things we see and experience along the way.  However, if we cross over the lines we could get in a crash.  We could hurt ourselves and others.  This would greatly restrict our freedom.

Commandments are like the boundary lines in life.  If we follow them we are keeping ourselves safe as well as enhancing our freedom to go where we would like to in our life.  We can cross over these boundaries but in doing so we are putting ourselves and others in danger and potentially risk loosing our freedom.

We have many other guidelines in our lives.   Just like signs along a roadway we have the scriptures, a prophet, and communication with our heavenly Father to guide us and keep us safe in life.  Keeping the commandments and communicating with Heavenly Father helps guide our life and keeps us from crashing!

Which way to go

My four year old daughter is attending preschool and learning a lot of new things all the time.  She approached me one day and lifted up her foot.  She then asked me, "Is this my right foot?"  I was impressed that she had gotten this right and told her so.  Then she lifted  up her other foot and asked "So is this my wrong foot?"

Sometimes in our efforts to navigate through life it can be difficult to discern what the right and wrong path is for our lives.  Some decisions are more like trying to decide between right and left than right and wrong.  Because of this it is important that we turn to our Heavenly Father and ask Him "Is this right."

Finding balance in our lives

       I started attending an exercise class two weeks ago.  During one of the first classes the instructor had us get out an exercise ball.  I worried a little since I had very little experience with one of these and thought it looked like it had the potential for some embarrassing circumstances.  The instructor told us that the purpose of using the ball was to help strengthen our core.  As I attempted to position myself on the ball and do the exercises I felt myself really wobbling around.  The instructor kept yelling things out like:
 - tighten your core
- find your center
- balance so you don't fall
      Finally by the last few reps I felt like I was getting it.  But, as soon as I was feeling confident the instructor told us to grab our weights and we were going to do the same exercises but with added resistance.  Of course it was much harder with the weights and I had to go through the whole process again of trying to really concentrate on tightening my core, finding my center, and balancing.  Let's just say I fell a few times!
      However, over the last two weeks as I have had additional opportunities to use this exercise ball, I have learned that if I pause while I am getting into position and make sure I am centered and balanced before I begin the exercises,  I am much more successful.
     I started to think about how this relates to life in general.  If we strengthen our core (or our testimonies), pause to find our center (or look to Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study), and balance ourselves properly between our spiritual, emotional, and physical health, we will be much less likely to fall.  Also, when we find ourselves with added resistance during difficult times we need to lighten the load somewhere else to find our balance again. We will have to concentrate even harder on strengthening, centering, and finding balance.

Keeping on track

The other day I was trying to type up a lesson.  I was looking at my paper on the desk and not checking back on the computer screen.  Apparently I am pretty confident in my typing skills because I didn't look up for a really long time.  When I finally did, I realized that when I had put my hands on the keyboard I had moved my right hand over by one key.  The result was a complete mess that didn't make sense.  I had to completely erase all of it and start over with my hands where they were suppose to be.

As I thought about this experience I realized that in life we only have to be off track a little bit for life to not make sense.  If we do not look up from our lives and check in with our Heavenly Father on a consistent basis we may end up in a mess.  We cannot rely on our own strengths alone. We can use repentance to erase what we have done and start over, but if we are checking in regularly we will not have to do this as often.  Make sure you are positioned on the side of the Lord!