I have always had a Christian foundation, I learned who Christ was at a very young age. I grew in my knowledge of Christ as I grew older and attended church and read the scriptures, I established a relationship with Him as I served as a missionary for my church. I consider myself very blessed to have always had a knowledge that I have a Savior and really cannot imagine life without that knowledge.
On my mission I met a young man who was from the country of China and there he had heard about Christians and that we believed in a man who was called Jesus. As we talked about Jesus Christ, his desire to learn more about Him and his relationship with Christ also increased. One day, in one of our "meetings" or "lessons" we wanted him to find out for himself that Christ was not only the Savior of the world, but that Christ was HIS personal Savior and that Christ loved Him personally. We knew this knowledge would change his life completely.
As we taught this young man, we shared that Christ was a light in our lives and that with Him everything became more hopeful and more bearable. We read the following scripture about Christ that is found in Mosiah 16:9 in the Book of Mormon: "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." Then we asked: "What do you understand from this scripture about Jesus Christ" and he responded with words that changed my life and helped solidify my personal relationship with Christ: "We cannot live without light".
Even though his knowledge of Christ was still new and maybe not as clear, he understood the most fundamental truth, just as we cannot live without light, we cannot live without Jesus Christ. I know that the simple statement he was able to share with us is absolutely true, I could not live without Christ in my life. Sure, we can still get around a dark room, sure, we can manage to turn on a little flash light as a temporary solution, but how different would it be to flip on a light switch and let light flood a room?
I know that Christ is our light. Just as an obstacle-filled room wouldn't magically change and be obstacle-free when the light came on, our lives won't magically change and be challenge-free when we rely on Christ, but He will make all challenges bearable. He invites us to let Him help us He says: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30) I know that if we but trust in Christ, believe in Him and most importantly love Him, that our life truly will be filled with light and He will help us bear our burdens.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
100% responsibility means 100% control
One of the biggest lessons I was taught on my mission was the principle of responsibility and the blessing of agency. We have been given agency to be able to choose, not only to choose right from wrong but to be able to be in control of our lives. With the gift of agency we can choose to be happier, be better and most importantly we can choose to be responsible.
One of the most life changing teachings I have received came from Elder Lynn G. Robbins from the presidency of the Seventy, he is a general authority for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He taught that we can only have complete control of our lives if we choose to be responsible for all our actions. For example, when we hurt someone's feelings the responsible thing to do is apologizing, when we apologize, we are accepting that we have done something wrong and we are assuming responsibility for our actions. If we weren't to apologize, we will give power to the issue by allowing it to make us feel remorse, maybe sadness and the matter will weigh in our minds, it won't allow us to be happy; there is where we lose control and we allow an issue to control us.
Another example can be a reverse situation where we are the ones who have been hurt and are saddened, angered or frustrated because of the matter. The only way that we will be in control of the situation is if we forgive. Forgiving others can have a healing effect, but most importantly it allows us to have control over our lives. We can choose to forgive even when the person who hurt us hasn't apologized. If we forgive we are choosing to take control, it is not a sign of weakness, rather it empowers us as we take control of our thoughts and feelings instead of letting the issue consume our thoughts and lead us to more anger. This concept is so hard for me to put into words, but simply put, if we choose to apologize, forgive, love, be patient, etc. We will feel like we are in control of our lives, instead of letting arguments, stress, fatigue, etc. dictate our mood and how we feel.
We can choose to be in control, we can choose to be happy, we can choose to be better. We were given agency to have power over ourselves, to "act for [ourselves] and not to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:26), to choose to become like Christ little by little. I am grateful for the opportunity to choose, I am grateful for the knowledge I have that I can be in control of my life. I have chosen to be more like my Savior, I have chosen to love Him and serve Him. I truly know that Christ lives, I know that he will help us choose and He will help us be in control of our lives. He is the ultimate source of strength, light and perfect love.
One of the most life changing teachings I have received came from Elder Lynn G. Robbins from the presidency of the Seventy, he is a general authority for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He taught that we can only have complete control of our lives if we choose to be responsible for all our actions. For example, when we hurt someone's feelings the responsible thing to do is apologizing, when we apologize, we are accepting that we have done something wrong and we are assuming responsibility for our actions. If we weren't to apologize, we will give power to the issue by allowing it to make us feel remorse, maybe sadness and the matter will weigh in our minds, it won't allow us to be happy; there is where we lose control and we allow an issue to control us.
Another example can be a reverse situation where we are the ones who have been hurt and are saddened, angered or frustrated because of the matter. The only way that we will be in control of the situation is if we forgive. Forgiving others can have a healing effect, but most importantly it allows us to have control over our lives. We can choose to forgive even when the person who hurt us hasn't apologized. If we forgive we are choosing to take control, it is not a sign of weakness, rather it empowers us as we take control of our thoughts and feelings instead of letting the issue consume our thoughts and lead us to more anger. This concept is so hard for me to put into words, but simply put, if we choose to apologize, forgive, love, be patient, etc. We will feel like we are in control of our lives, instead of letting arguments, stress, fatigue, etc. dictate our mood and how we feel.
We can choose to be in control, we can choose to be happy, we can choose to be better. We were given agency to have power over ourselves, to "act for [ourselves] and not to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:26), to choose to become like Christ little by little. I am grateful for the opportunity to choose, I am grateful for the knowledge I have that I can be in control of my life. I have chosen to be more like my Savior, I have chosen to love Him and serve Him. I truly know that Christ lives, I know that he will help us choose and He will help us be in control of our lives. He is the ultimate source of strength, light and perfect love.
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