Love and Charity

I've been thinking a lot about love this morning. What is love? Is there just one definition of love? How do you express your love for people around you? I watched this Mormon message this morning:

I know this video is specifically about couples expressing their love for one another, but I feel like a lot of what is said in this video can apply to families in general. The Lord sent us to our family for a reason. He sent us to a specific family to help strengthen where we are weak, He sent us there to help strengthen other members of our family. Family loves you like nobody else will. They understand you like no one else will. And how do we convey that? All too often we lose our tempers with them. We take out our frustrations on those who are closest to us. We distance ourselves from them. We turn to outside sources for love instead of turning to what is right in front of us - our family. Aside from our Heavenly Father and our brother, Jesus Christ, there is no one on this earth that loves you more than your family does. Whether that be your parents and your siblings, a spouse, or all of the above, there is no one who will stick by your side, regardless of what you've done, there is no one who will ever love you more than your family will.

But all too often, we let other things get in the way of our family. This is Satan's plan. Satan wants nothing more than to rip the family apart, because he knows that in these times, if the family is solid, then he has no power in bringing you down. It breaks my heart to see families fall apart over and over in these last days.

I love how this video talks about eternal marriage. The couple said that they promised the Lord that they would do everything to make their marriage an eternal marriage. Just because you get married in the temple doesn't mean you get a free ride to the celestial kingdom with your spouse and family. You work at it. You have to keep your covenants. Being a family in the eternities means that you have to be a family now.

I am so grateful for my parents. I seriously have the most incredible parents in the world. They are so strong, and have been through so much together, and even though I watch them struggle through their share of trials, I watch them put the Lord first and rely on the atonement through all of our hardships. They've been there for me when I needed them most, time and time again. I watch them express their love for each other in little ways and think how blessed I am to have that example in my life. They aren't perfect, but who is in this life? 

Another thing that has got me thinking is this article by Elder Bednar on Character. It really got me thinking about Christlike character, which really is charity and selfless love. Even though the Lord suffered through all things, He never once though of Himself, This article is amazing and really got me thinking just what is my true character? Am I honest? Am I selfless? Do I think of others first even when I'm hurting? I want more than anything to be like Christ, but if I can't be these things, then I'm never going to come close to becoming like Him.

How do you show your love for those that you love? Your family? Your friends? Or even just people that you care about? Are you Christlike in what you do? Do you think of them first, or do you expect them to do things for you? Think about what the Savior would do before you act, before you speak, before you think of anything else. Put Him first in all you do, even when you're hurting, and you will be blessed. We were sent here to become like Him. So start becoming.

<3

Do it, and do it now

Before coming to this earth, I'm sure we heard it all - all the trials we would face, all the hardships this mortality would bring, and you know what? We were excited about it. We couldn't wait to get down here and learn our little hearts out, become who our Heavenly Father wanted us to be, to struggle, to grow, to cry, to laugh, we were ready for it all.

And then we got here.

And now what do we do? Well, ok, it's not like we do this all the time, but we complain. We complain about what? Mortality? Yeah. Mortality. It hurts. It's hard. We don't understand things, and people don't understand us. And then there's this guy called Satan. And he just makes everything about 10 billion times worse. That's an approximation, don't quote me on it.


The truth is, life is hard, and it's only going to get harder. Satan doesn't want any of us to succeed, and he definitely doesn't want us to be happy in this life. In my own life, I see him trying to disrupt something every single day. Sometimes he succeeds, because sometimes it's something that I have no control over. Sometimes he attacks us through other people. Just like the Lord uses other people to bless our lives, sometimes Satan tries to get other people to make our lives worse. Sometimes Satan tries to confuse those same people that the Lord brought into our life for good. See how frustrating this life can be? And you know, it is confusing because we are mortals, and we are imperfect.

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between spiritual promptings and our own thoughts. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the devil and the spirit. Sometimes, the thoughts are our own.

These things are true, but this is the part that matters most - your time with your Father in Heaven to sort those thoughts and feelings out. Regardless of where those thoughts and feelings come from, it's the most important thing to figure out what Heavenly Father wants us to do with them, and where they really came from. That's one reason we should constantly be praying, and one of the reasons we are asked to go to the temple so often.

I love the temple for so many reasons, but one of the main reasons is because I know I can go in there and Satan has no influence on the feelings, promptings and impressions that I get there, so I know, without a doubt, that whatever I feel there is the spirit speaking to me.

I guess I'm writing this more for myself than for anyone else, but it's so easy to lose hope. As mortals, we want things now; we want to be happy right now, and we think we know how to do that best, but the truth is, we don't. Heavenly Father does.

His will for us is often not what we want for us. Sometimes, we have it set in our minds to do things one way, but He wants us to do it another way. We want to do something five years down the road, but He wants us to do it in five months. We want to go here, but He wants us to go there. It's so important to listen to the spirit and do what it tells you when it tells you to. From personal experience, I can tell you that when you ask the Lord so many times if you can do something your way, even when He's already told you to do it another way, there comes a time when He will stop telling you to do it His way, and He always lets you choose, but then you end up suffering the consequences. I'm sure Joseph Smith would tell you the same thing. Remember those lost pages? Yeah, I thought you might.

Yes, life is hard, but life is wonderful. Do what the Lord wants you to do, and do it now, and follow the inspiration you get exactly when you get it - don't wait!

Till next time, readers <3 :)

Three Little Happies

Well folks, remember that other "Happies" post that I posted?? Well, I have three more little happies for you today!

At this moment in time, I am currently sitting on my double bed on the floor of my four year old cousin's room, in Corona, California, with two fans blowing on me, my hair up in a bun, retainers in my mouth, and eyecovers on my forehead. This past week has been spent either lounging beside or in the pool, running on the treadmill, and actually really missing Utah, and what's waiting there for me when I get back! But, I am very excited to be here, because my oldest cousin, Kristen, is getting married on Saturday in the LA temple! I couldn't be more happy for her! She and her fiance are so in love, and it's so beautiful to see.

I mention this only because it has everything to do with my first happy. Today I was at my Grandy and Papa's house, and while using their hallway bathroom, I noticed a glasses case sitting on the back of the toilet. Since I'm about to go buy myself some new sweet specs, I've been trying on different types of glasses to see which style and color I like myself best in, and so when I saw this glasses case, I naturally assumed it was my cousin Kristen's. So I opened up the case, expecting to find her glasses in there, hoping that I could try them on lickity split, but instead of finding her glasses, I found a LOVE NOTE! Just a short and sweet love note. It made me smile the rest of the day. The note was written on a white piece of paper that had been ripped off of a bigger piece of paper and was about the size of my thumb. The note read: "I love you most - Johnny"

Is that not the sweetest thing you've heard all day?! Oh my. Who wouldn't love to get a love note like that? Seriously?! Ladies and gentleman, can I just say that this Johnny totally knows what he's doing? It's not about the big ginormous things that you do, it's the small and simple little ways that you let people know that you love them.

So that's my first happy. More like my first ultra happy.

My second happy is this.

I got a kiss from cousin's baby today. He's 1 1/2. He's gorgeous. And I love him.

When he was teeny tiny, he LOVED me, and then the next time I saw him, he was kind of scared of me, so I was really scared that he wouldn't be my buddy anymore. But this time, I played with him for about an hour - he even shared his toys with me, and sat on my lap of his own accord. Oh how I love that little boy!! When it was time to leave, I gave everyone my hugs and said my goodbyes, and then I went over to Ryan, my cousin's baby, and told him I was leaving, and asked him for a kiss (not thinking he would actually give me one) and he puckered his little lips and gave me a kiss! It was so sweet! Then five minutes later, he did it again!

Now, happy number 3.

My favorite time of the night came. 9:30 to 10:30. And that was definitely VERY happy :)

So there, my dear readers, are my three happies.

Do something happy today :) cheers.