Do you have your boots buckled up tight enough?

I recall one particular day when I was on the mountain snowboarding. My legs were getting tired and I was fatigued. I started to crash and fall.  It seemed that no matter how hard I tried to stay up, I fell to the hard, icy snow. When I moved my feet in position to carve into the icy snow, the snowboard did not respond. Down I fell again. I remember laying down on the icy snow and thinking, "I'm not going to get to the bottom of the mountain." I was so sore, and I told myself, "I'm done!"

Life is that way sometimes. No matter how hard we try, we sometimes keep falling. When we fall, we hit the icy hard ground. It doesn't feel good. We hurt, we feel like we are done sometimes, and wonder if we can get to the bottom of the mountain.

On the mountain that day, I did get back up and I did eventually did get to the bottom of the mountain.  I reached down to unbuckle by boots from the bindings.  I noticed that the buckles were loose. Each time when I would move by feet to carve, they would move within the bindings. This caused by board not to respond. I thought, "How long have I been trying to snowboard like this? No wonder the board was not responding the way it was suppose to when I attempted to carve in the snow."

In life, are your boots buckled up tight enough? How are your prayers with your Heavenly Father? Are you even praying? Are you reading the word of God? How is your relationship with your Savior, Jesus Christ? Are you applying the atonement of Jesus Christ in your life? These are valuable tools you have to help your "snowboard" work in your life. Sometimes we focus on how hard and icy the ground is each time we fall, we wonder if we are ever going to make it, and we forget to look at the simple things that we have that will help us get to the bottom of the mountain.  The time is now to tighten up those bindings. It makes a big difference.

Uncover the borer.

I have some nectar trees, a peach, nectarine, and apricot tree. These three trees produce beautiful sweet peaches, nectarines and apricots. Just over a year ago I learned of something that killed a neighbor's nectarine tree: Borers. Moths come and lay eggs at the base of the trees.  These eggs hatch and produce larva called borers. The larva then create a home and eat their way into the bark of the trees and can eventually kill the tree.  As you look at the base of the tree, you may or may not see sap exit from the bark. If you do see sap, start to dig into it and more than likely you may find these borers eating away at your tree. If you don't see sap, don't assume they are not there. Dig down around the trunk and clear out the dirt up to 6 to 8 inches. There you may find sap leaking and discover the hidden borer. I have found that I need to regularly keep the base of the trunk of my trees clean and uncovered.  I also regularly take a sharp object like a nail to kill the borer to save my trees.

As I have reflected on this experience, I thought how this is like life. There are borers in our life. They can take on different forms. It could be sin, it could be depression, it could be things we are ashamed of, it could be pornography, it could be things we've kept covered up for many years. Much like the borer, it eats away at us and could eventually destroy us. We feel like we can keep it covered much like the the soil covering up the borer in the base of the trees. We feel we can fix or handle it on our own.

We cannot do this on our own. We need each other. We need most importantly, our Savior Jesus Christ. Only He can make us whole. He is the master of the vineyard, and He is here to nurture and take care of us. Let us not hide our sins, let us not believe we can do this on our own.

My trees produce the most sweet fruit. You too, are needed to produce sweet fruit. You are of great value. You matter, you belong! You belong to you Father in Heaven. He loves you and wants you to return to Him.

A path to world peace

There is an old Chinese proverb that goes like this:

"If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character.  If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home.  If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation.  If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world."

What Jesus taught part 6

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The sixth thing that Jesus taught was how He and Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost work together.    To know Jesus Christ is to know Heavenly Father.  Jesus testifies of the Father, and the Holy Ghost testifies of Jesus and the Father.

35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me;

What Jesus taught part 5

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Closely related to the fourth learning of unity is the fifth learning which is contention is of the devil and not of Jesus.

29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

 30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.

A sure way to have the Spirit flee is through contention.  I'm not sure if any of you have had the experience of kneeling for family prayer and there is an argument over whose turn it is to say the prayer, or during a family home evening where the lesson is on "Love one another" and there is fighting over who gets to hold up the visuals to help tell a story.  Satan in a very subtle way causes us to contend over even the simple things.

What Jesus taught part 4

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The fourth thing that I learned from 3 Nephi chapter 11 that Jesus taught was the importance of unity.

 27 ... for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.

35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.


 36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one.

Some people believe and understand that this means that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one person.  This is not what this says.  They are one in purpose.  They are united.  What can we learn from this?  If you are married, how important is it to be one?  What blessings come from being united?  This may be easier said than done.  Do any of you know someone that is stubborn?   For me, I don't have to look very far.  When I look in the mirror their sometimes stands a very stubborn person.  For some reason if it is not my way, it is wrong, and sometimes this can lead into the next teaching I learn from Jesus and that is to avoid contention.  I find myself struggling with this all too often, especially when it comes to disciplining my children.  When we me and my wife are one and on the same page, it is a beautiful thing.  But, when we are not, it doesn't always go so well.  Can you imagine the chaos if the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost were not united and on the same page?  What about being united as a family?  There is power in being united and close as a family.  Satan knows there is power in this and is doing everything he can to destroy this unit.  May I suggest a challenge for your families.  Read and study as a family "The Family. A Proclamation to the World."  In this document you will find power, truth, and teachings that when followed will protect and keep the family united.  

What about being united and one as His church?  In 4th Nephi, this is where we read an account of the people in America after the visit of Jesus Christ.  There was peace and happiness.  There existed a people that was united.  

 3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.

  10 And now, behold, it came to pass that the people of Nephi did wax strong, and did multiply exceedingly fast, and became an exceedingly fair and delightsome people.

This was not to last though.  As the people were blessed and prospered, there began to be divisions that were created.  People began to become prideful and the unity that was once there was no more.

24 And now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world.

 25 And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them.

 26 And they began to be divided into classes; and they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain, and began to deny the true church of Christ.

 27 And it came to pass that when two hundred and ten years had passed away there were many churches in the land; yea, there were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred unto him to whom it had been forbidden because of unworthiness.

As a church, we need to be careful.  For the Lord will bless us as we keep His commandments.  Let us not get caught up in our prosperous times and become prideful.  Let us always remember God's greatest commandment.  In Matthew 22: 36-40 we read:

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

What Jesus taught part 3

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The third thing that I learned from 3 Nephi chapter 11 that Jesus taught was "how we are to baptize."

 22 ... And he said unto them: On this wise shall ye baptize; and there shall be no disputations among you.

 23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.

 24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:

 25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.

 27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name;

I'll get to this in a later point, but notice as Jesus teaches about baptism he says, "and there shall be no disputations among you."  He must have understood the contention that Satan would stir up around such an important ordinance and step we take to make it back to our Father in Heaven.  I learned at a very young age the importance of baptism.  I was making a covenant with my Father in Heaven when getting baptized.  I was saying, "I'll keep your commandments, follow you, and always remember you Jesus."  In return, He was promising that I would always have His spirit to be with me, which would help me on my journey while down here on earth.  

I remember teaching an investigator of the LDS church over in Portugal the principle of eternal families and how in the LDS temples we practice a ordinance that seals our families forever.  The gentlemen was very interested in this, for he knew of no other religion that practiced such a belief.  He wanted to do this without going through baptism though.  He felt he'd already been baptized, so why would he have to do it again.  As we learned in my previous post, authority to baptize is important, and now in this post, there is a certain way baptism needs to occur, which includes having the appropriate authority; "Having authority given me of Jesus Christ...." 

Baptism is a foundational step in the process.  Jesus knew this and taught this, and led by example by being baptized himself.