Week 14 Celebrate Your Life

            Celebrate Your Life was this week’s study topic. The first talk I read is Thomas S Monson, he talks about what it means to be a “finisher.” This is someone that remains true and faithful through it all, I found the topic fitting as I am facing what I call end of semester fatigue and battling to finish my assignments and put forth effort I can be proud of. President Monson gave several examples of people who started out strong but them faltered, one that especially stood out to me was David. He was the greatest King Israel had ever had, yet his rise in power affected his judgement and ultimately, he let the lusts of his eyes and heart lead him amiss.

Another example of one who started strong and finished poorly was Judas. He was trusted enough to be one of the Savior’s apostles, to learn at His feet. To walk where he walked, to witness many great and wonderful miracles. Yet ultimately, he chose money and greed over loyalty and his soul. It ruined him and resulted in “remorse, despair, madness, and suicide.

Conversely Job when faced with hardship and temptation that would have tried any of us remained true and faithful to his convictions and faith. He declared that he knew his redeemer lived and never faltered. Jesus Christ also showed a powerful example of one who stayed the course. Despite persecutions and trials of all kinds, and ultimately giving His life He never shrunk from His calling but glorified God in all that He did.

How then can you and I remain true and faithful to the end? The founder of Domino’s obtained great wealth yet after reading C.S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity gave away all the worldly wealth he had to be rid of his pride and do good to others. That is amazing faith, and obedience. In another of this week’s studies affirmations or personal statements were given as suggestions for us to adopt in statements of who we want to become. Among them were these statements, “I am financially self-reliant, I am physically fit, I am identifying my skills and talents, I am a product of what I eat, I understand the value of humor, I am a leader, I am creative, I am mentally tough; I don’t complain, I am a communicator, I can motivate without deprecating others, I am like the great enlightened masters of history.”

Statements like these are great benchmarks for us in creating the end goals of who we want to be and putting habits in place now that enable us to create these realities. Having the end in mind or a clear vision is one of the first steps in a six-step equation President Monson set forth. Next, is effort. Effort is what makes our visions a reality. Third is faith, without faith in the Lord we lack His power. Fourth is virtue, without virtuous thoughts we will fall into Satan’s snares. Fifth is courage, courage is the ability to keep dreaming, fighting, believing, and continue moving forward. Sixth is prayer, of prayer President Monson said; “When the burdens of life become heavy, when trials test one’s faith, when pain, sorrow, and despair cause the light of hope to flicker and burn low, communication with our Heavenly Father provides peace.”

We’re not expected to be perfect, and we will stumble and fall but if we keep moving forward we will finish strong and can obtain the peace and reward of those that continue true and faithful to the end.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Entry 5 Skill, Character, or Luck?

My key takeaways from "A Hero's Journey" video;   This is a  speech  by Jeff Sandefer at  BYU  Idaho entitled “A Hero’s Journey. He said that we each have important and critical mission and that succeeding hinges upon finding our entrepreneurial callings. There were so many parts of his speech I highlighted, these were some of my favorite quotes and take-aways.   "So what does it mean to choose a hero’s journey? It means to live every moment of your life like it matters, because it does. It means to live as if you have an important mission, because you do. It means seeing struggles as adventures, and setbacks as lessons. And like Sir Lancelot and the Holy Grail, or Harry Potter and Voldemort, what matters most isn’t the prize at the end, but how the hero has changed in the process."   He gave the encouragement to find six role models, three through age 45, three up to sixty, and three over sixty. Of these role models he posed we as...
Read more

Entry 2 Randy Pausch Final Speech

Why do you think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams? Randy grew up in a home where his dreams were seen as realities, where he wasn't limited. I love that his parents let him paint mathematic equations on his wall because it inspired him.      He also never lost sight of his visions and values, and wasn't deterred by set backs he even said he saw experience as "what you get when you don't get what you wanted." When he hit walls he didn't give up but worked even harder to show why he was the right candidate and he worked harder to prove it.  Do you feel that dreaming is important? Why or why not? Yes I see dreaming as important because without a dream or vision there is no real motivation in life, nothing to feel passionate and alive about, nothing to work hard to accomplish.  Discuss at least one of your childhood dreams. Explain why you believe you can or cannot achieve this dreams. One of my childhood dreams was to visit Africa ...
Read more

Week 13-A Journey of Grattitude

This week as we studied about gratitude the talk "An Attitude of Gratitude" by Thomas S Monson particularly stood out to me. He said, "w e can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. He then went on to list some specific things we can focus on being grateful for. The first was gratitude for our mothers, he talked about how they sacrifice so much for their children and families. He quoted a writer who said, “God could not be everywhere, and so He gave us mothers.” Next is gratitude for our fathers, of this he said; “Daily he toils to provide the necessities of life, never complaining, ever concerned for the well-being of his family. This love for children, this desire to see them well and happy, is a constant in a time of change.” Third, he liste...
Read more