Know Thee
Wow, what a week it has been. I find it interesting that as I apply focus to certain topics, it seems that all things point to that topic. I am sure it works the same for you. Where have I been focused? I guess it all started out with John 17:3.
"This is life eternal,..."
What does that mean? Can you even imagine eternity? If you stop and ponder, it is almost overwhelming. I know it is a gift, but not a gift given freely. It is a gift that must be earned. When I think about the possibilities of eternity, what I would do, who I would be with, and try to prioritize my actions, I get lost. Then I realize that the guidance is in the rest of the verse.
"...that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
We earn the gift by knowing God. This is where I have been pondering. How do we get to know God? How do we know we are getting to know Him? Why is it so important to know Him?
Well, here are where my thoughts have been guided. First, if we want to be like Him, live with Him, and have what He has, we must know and understand who He is. We need to understand how He arrived where He is and what we can do to arrive there as well. Eternal Life is a life style, not a destination. To earn it, we have to figure out the boundaries of such a life style and then do what we can to live within those boundaries.
God cannot do all that He does and live the way He lives if He does not live standard or way of being. I have thought about that great deal. In my studies this week, I was guided to a talk in the New Era this month by Elder Holland -The Quest for Happiness. Wouldn't Eternal Life be Happiness? I think so.
Any who, an answer came to me in his words. In order to earn Eternal Life we must live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He refers to John 14:5-6. We all know this scripture: "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." With that verse there is a promise that we shall be given all that we ask in His name, if we ask in the the manner of knowing him. Elder Holland changed the words a little. "Live my way, Live my truth, Live my life" In other words, to gain Eternal Life, we must live according to the example of Jesus Christ and the manner in which He lived and taught. If we do so the promise is our.
Elder Holland also indicated that we have to choose to do so. It does not matter what we do, what we pursue, it is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Being negative, mean or angry does not get us anywhere. In fact, that is what happened with Satan, he chose anger and pride over Happiness.
Once we choose, we need to work hard to get it. It is not just given, we have to work, study, and live according to the way God would have us or the way God would live. Knowing Him helps us pattern our lives after him.
Then I read the article by Elder Yoon Hwan Choi. It was a good article, but what stood out to me most was right at the beginning. "When I learned how to apply the words of the prophets, I changed my life from what I wanted to be to what the Lord wanted me to be."
Are we seeing ourselves as God wants us to be? Are we doing all that we can to be who He wants us to be? Again, this is not a destination. It is a process or a life style. It requires effort, time, study, and diligence. Read the article. It was inspiring.
This all sounds good in principle, but I was reminded that Satan does not want us to achieve this Eternal Life. He will do all he can to distract us, have us use our agency inappropriately and such. There is a great article in the Ensign "Are you Afraid of 'Missing Out'"? Really some great advice there.
In my scripture study I was guided to 2 Nephi 3:20, Matt. 7:21, and then I was blown a way by Hel. chapters 1-5. Chapters 4 and 5 stood out, but it all came together to realize that more was accomplished when the people chose to align themselves with God than in all the many battles, wars, and blood shed of the previous years.
When we seek Him, strive to live as He lived, and align our wills with His will, the promise is ours and He will not, cannot, and dares not break that promise of covenant.
I encourage you all to read, ponder, and pray about how you can change to pursue Eternal Life.
There are some great examples of individuals who earned it here on earth, the sealing power. Take a look at how they did it.
Ok, now for the update, small as it is. I am up to suggestions. Puddin and SnackPack do their own updates currently. I am sure I will start adding stuff about Puddin when he gets home. I have not seen a post from Tall Man for a while or maybe he just does not share. Hence, I will continue.
This week has been kind of jumbled. We are all trying to get into a new routine of sorts. Two different P-day, the Queen is on a wacky training schedule, and the Professor is off track, but we made it work. I don't think this week is going to be any different. We had a wonderful Regional Conference today. 226 stakes and 1 district. I love hearing from these inspired men and women. I only hope we can follow their counsel better. Elder Ballard presided.
Like I mentioned, the Queen has been training as of late. Ever day is a different adventure. She was all excited to be working later on Tuesday so we could go to the temple and then, I was asked to switch my late night from Tuesday to Wednesday. I fudged it a little and just worked later than normal on Tuesday so we could still go to the temple together. It was nice to have someone with me.
Yes, the Professor is off track. She is taking advantage of the time to get organized and do some things for Christmas as she usually does not go off track until Christmas. I don't know how that works, but she is on a different track where I thought she had most of the month of December off. We will see.
Tall Man has been working hard at the theater. He has had a couple job interviews and starting a temp job in manufacturing on Monday to tide him over until he gets something permanent. It has been nice to see him a couple times this week in passing as a way station. We just remind him and Ehl-Bo that we would like to see her as well.
Ehl-Bo accepted a government position in Murray. We look forward to hearing of her adventures there. However, the more exciting news is that she got her first professional gig this week as well as a certified, honest to goodness, real actress. I am doing my best to collect autographs. Maybe that is what you should ask for Christmas. They will be worth $$ in the future.
Yep, there you go. You will have to see SnackPack and Puddin's blogs respectively to get more juice on them.
Have a great week
"This is life eternal,..."
What does that mean? Can you even imagine eternity? If you stop and ponder, it is almost overwhelming. I know it is a gift, but not a gift given freely. It is a gift that must be earned. When I think about the possibilities of eternity, what I would do, who I would be with, and try to prioritize my actions, I get lost. Then I realize that the guidance is in the rest of the verse.
"...that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
We earn the gift by knowing God. This is where I have been pondering. How do we get to know God? How do we know we are getting to know Him? Why is it so important to know Him?
Well, here are where my thoughts have been guided. First, if we want to be like Him, live with Him, and have what He has, we must know and understand who He is. We need to understand how He arrived where He is and what we can do to arrive there as well. Eternal Life is a life style, not a destination. To earn it, we have to figure out the boundaries of such a life style and then do what we can to live within those boundaries.
God cannot do all that He does and live the way He lives if He does not live standard or way of being. I have thought about that great deal. In my studies this week, I was guided to a talk in the New Era this month by Elder Holland -The Quest for Happiness. Wouldn't Eternal Life be Happiness? I think so.
Any who, an answer came to me in his words. In order to earn Eternal Life we must live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He refers to John 14:5-6. We all know this scripture: "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." With that verse there is a promise that we shall be given all that we ask in His name, if we ask in the the manner of knowing him. Elder Holland changed the words a little. "Live my way, Live my truth, Live my life" In other words, to gain Eternal Life, we must live according to the example of Jesus Christ and the manner in which He lived and taught. If we do so the promise is our.
Elder Holland also indicated that we have to choose to do so. It does not matter what we do, what we pursue, it is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Being negative, mean or angry does not get us anywhere. In fact, that is what happened with Satan, he chose anger and pride over Happiness.
Once we choose, we need to work hard to get it. It is not just given, we have to work, study, and live according to the way God would have us or the way God would live. Knowing Him helps us pattern our lives after him.
Then I read the article by Elder Yoon Hwan Choi. It was a good article, but what stood out to me most was right at the beginning. "When I learned how to apply the words of the prophets, I changed my life from what I wanted to be to what the Lord wanted me to be."
Are we seeing ourselves as God wants us to be? Are we doing all that we can to be who He wants us to be? Again, this is not a destination. It is a process or a life style. It requires effort, time, study, and diligence. Read the article. It was inspiring.
This all sounds good in principle, but I was reminded that Satan does not want us to achieve this Eternal Life. He will do all he can to distract us, have us use our agency inappropriately and such. There is a great article in the Ensign "Are you Afraid of 'Missing Out'"? Really some great advice there.
In my scripture study I was guided to 2 Nephi 3:20, Matt. 7:21, and then I was blown a way by Hel. chapters 1-5. Chapters 4 and 5 stood out, but it all came together to realize that more was accomplished when the people chose to align themselves with God than in all the many battles, wars, and blood shed of the previous years.
When we seek Him, strive to live as He lived, and align our wills with His will, the promise is ours and He will not, cannot, and dares not break that promise of covenant.
I encourage you all to read, ponder, and pray about how you can change to pursue Eternal Life.
There are some great examples of individuals who earned it here on earth, the sealing power. Take a look at how they did it.
Ok, now for the update, small as it is. I am up to suggestions. Puddin and SnackPack do their own updates currently. I am sure I will start adding stuff about Puddin when he gets home. I have not seen a post from Tall Man for a while or maybe he just does not share. Hence, I will continue.
This week has been kind of jumbled. We are all trying to get into a new routine of sorts. Two different P-day, the Queen is on a wacky training schedule, and the Professor is off track, but we made it work. I don't think this week is going to be any different. We had a wonderful Regional Conference today. 226 stakes and 1 district. I love hearing from these inspired men and women. I only hope we can follow their counsel better. Elder Ballard presided.
Like I mentioned, the Queen has been training as of late. Ever day is a different adventure. She was all excited to be working later on Tuesday so we could go to the temple and then, I was asked to switch my late night from Tuesday to Wednesday. I fudged it a little and just worked later than normal on Tuesday so we could still go to the temple together. It was nice to have someone with me.
Yes, the Professor is off track. She is taking advantage of the time to get organized and do some things for Christmas as she usually does not go off track until Christmas. I don't know how that works, but she is on a different track where I thought she had most of the month of December off. We will see.
Tall Man has been working hard at the theater. He has had a couple job interviews and starting a temp job in manufacturing on Monday to tide him over until he gets something permanent. It has been nice to see him a couple times this week in passing as a way station. We just remind him and Ehl-Bo that we would like to see her as well.
Ehl-Bo accepted a government position in Murray. We look forward to hearing of her adventures there. However, the more exciting news is that she got her first professional gig this week as well as a certified, honest to goodness, real actress. I am doing my best to collect autographs. Maybe that is what you should ask for Christmas. They will be worth $$ in the future.
Yep, there you go. You will have to see SnackPack and Puddin's blogs respectively to get more juice on them.
Have a great week
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