Sacrament in the LDS Church

I love the sacrament. For those who do not know, it is an ordinance we of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perform every week in remembrance of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and a renewal of the covenants we have made during baptism to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, obey the commandments, and serve the Lord.

It is a time to remember the sacrifice Christ made for us in the garden when He took upon Himself the spiritual pain and suffering of the world. It is a time to remember the physical suffering experienced on the cross for us.

Because of this, I love sacrament. I can remember the atonement throughout the week, I can read the scriptures and I can strive for the Spirit. But sacrament is a time set aside specifically for this purpose and for the renewal of my covenants and the Spirit dwells there. I feel that much closer to God during sacrament, feel that much more my insignificance and the many, many mercies and blessings He has bestowed upon me.

Sacrament is a huge part of my life. It is a precious time for me, a sacred time. I hope one day everyone may get the opportunity to experience the peace present in a sacrament meeting.

This is My Life

This is the life I have been given. This is the joy and glory and goodness I have received from a wonderful and merciful Father in Heaven. How I have been blessed, why I have been blessed, I will never know.

This feeling of goodness, the Spirit in all its light and happiness and peace. This is life. This. and This. and This. All is good and kind and mine and not mine at all. I don't know the future. I don't know the middle of my story. But I know the beginning. And I know the end. Side by side, hand in hand, kneeling before the glory of God with my loved ones.

I have been given so many blessings. My favorite at the moment is the ability to appreciate all forms of beauty. The soft, caressing beauty of a clear stream, the striking beauty of a winter's blue sky, the curling, twisted fingers of the winter trees.

Goodness, wonder, kindness, charity, mercy, gratitude.

These are the things that live on, these feelings right here and right now. These are the things that become a part of the spirit, a part of the soul. They change who we are and make us who we will become.

We are who we are. We are who we choose to be.

New Home

I love my new home in Jackson. I love the people and the nature and the culture. It is where I am meant to be. I don't know where Father in Heaven will have me settle down, or if I ever will, but I want it to be in a place like Jackson.

I've changed a lot recently and I'm pursuing a path many have tried to follow but have lost heart and quite literally faith on the way. I don't want that to happen.

(This can be applied in the life of anyone who is trying to reach a goal or aspiration.)

The one thing that keeps me going, the one thing that helps me overcome temptations, is remembering why I need to overcome why I need to stay humble and submissive to the will of the Father.

I want to live in eternal happiness. True happiness with a capital T. There are many cheap copies of joy, but I believe I have found a True, untainted, perfect form and I believe that I have found the way to attain that perfection through hard work and diligence. There are many who believe this is folly, many who couldn't care less, and many who agree with me. Either way, I believe and I testify that the way to Truth and Light is through the Gospel as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I pray daily for the courage to be able to say this in any circumstance, before any audience.

It is an eternal process, having faith, but I am determined to stick with it, to always return to it when I falter. Because there is no feeling in the world that can compare with the company of the Holy Ghost and I am determined to never shun His presence.

"O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away and my strength slacken because of mine afflictions?
And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yeah, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?
Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul."
2 Nephi 4:26-28

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do as the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
1 Nephi 3:7 (italics added)

I know not many will read this, but I don't mind. I hope that those who do will do so with open minds and soft hearts that they may feel the truth in my words and be inspired to seek out more knowledge, and that they may be blessed to look in the right places for that knowledge. You don't read a physics book to prepare for a history test.