Each week, day, even often hour it seems like I constantly am hearing or seeing something that puts my life in perspective, makes me really think. "Wow, do I want that in my life?" "Wow, what events in his life led him to make that decision?" Or "Okay now I remember why I don't do that."
There are countless lesson learned all the time. These are some that seem to stick with me.
"Watch your thoughts for they become your words. Watch your words for they become your actions. Watch your actions for they become your habits. Watch your habits for they become your character, Watch your character it becomes your destiny" - Unknown.
"Bridle all your passions that ye may be filled with love" Alma 38:12
"All you champions of science and rulers of men,
Can you summon the sun from its sleep?
Does the earth seek your counsel on how fast to spin?
Can you shut up the gates of the deep?
Don’t you know that all things hang, as if by a string,
O’er the darkness - poised to fall?
If there’s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all.
All you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit,
Did you devise how your frame would be formed?
If you’d be raised in a palace, or live out in the streets,
Did you choose the place or the hour you’d be born?
Tell me what can you claim? Not a thing - not your name!
Tell me if you can recall just one thing,
That’s not a gift in this life?
Can you hear what’s been said?
Can you see now that everything’s grace after all?
If there’s one thing I know in this life: we are beggars all." Thrice- (Which is consistent with King Benjamin's Address in the Book of Mormon about all of us being unprofitable servants because we can never repay God for the gift he has given us that we are all beggers)
Judge not for ye shall be judge with that same judgement.
Let him without sin cast the first stone. We are all a couple bad decisions away from being in the worst state our lives have ever been in.
After getting to know one of my hero's I found out he came from the lowest of the lowest, made decisions I never would have imagined. He is someone that many would have counted out in society. Would have forbidden their daughter from dating. Today a person would not know it. He is so dedicated to the Gospel and to helping others feel the freedom from sin that he felt.
Words mean something but actions mean everything.
"Life for you, has been less than kind
So take a number, stand in line
We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt
But how we survive, is what makes us who we are"
Job said it best when he said. "Even tho God slays me I will still serve him" (or something close to that)
I need the grace of the Savior as much as the person sitting next to me who smells like smoke. Without the Atonement neither of us are making it to heaven.
Giving everything you have to Serve God is relative to each individual. I need to ask my self if I am giving everything I have more often then I need to ask if my neighbor is giving everything they have.
Willing Obedience yields longer lasting fruits then forced obedience.
I get what I really want when I am patient rather then when I force it.
Giving in to temptation feels good for the moment and hurts for a lot longer.
Balance is everything.
Do I want what I want now more then What I what I want for the rest of my life?
Lastly, It's a lot easier to recognize these principles then it is to apply them.
