Hope and faith. And don't forget charity!

This morning I read a quote that said, "Hope has a way of being self-perpetuating. Hope breeds faith. And faith produces miracles."

In conjunction with that, I just happened to finish reading the Book of Mormon again this morning. As I read in Moroni, chapter 10, I thought about the above quote from Tito Momen.

In Moroni 10:20, it says, "Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity." Moroni teaches how hope, faith and charity are all related. It is clear that they each depends upon the other. You really cannot have one without the other. They help each other to grow, to be more effective and to produce miracles. Moroni even goes so far as to say that without each of these gifts (hope, faith and charity) one cannot be saved in the kingdom of God! (Moroni 10:21)

This caused me to ponder, "What do I have hope in?" "What is my faith is doing for me, for my family and for those for whom I have a stewardship over because of my calling." And, "If I possess this charity that Moroni talks about and do I truly use it to bless our lives?"

The results of my morning pondering: I find myself feeling "acceptable", but with MUCH to learn and a long road to walk still. I find myself contemplating the importance of enduring. Of not giving up, of thinking I've done enough. Although I think it is good to look back on my life and see how far I've come and what I've been able to do for good, I also vehemently support the idea that one cannot justify sitting back and not continuing in good works because of all that he/she has done in the past.

I am grateful to be able to say that ever since I was brought back into activity as a youth, I have not gone inactive again. I am grateful to say that ever since I received my first temple recommend and was endowed, I have always held an active temple recommend. But I am quick to acknowledge that I have not been able to so this alone. I have been given many wonderful people and experiences to help all along the way. I also am quick to acknowledge that I am weak and prone to wander. Prone to falter. And understanding that fact coupled with recognizing all the Divine providence that has been in my life brings such a feeling of gratitude to my Savior and for the Atonement that my heart fills to capacity and my eyes become wet with emotion.

Hope. Faith. Charity. I could study daily these things and still not exhaust my need to learn more!

Over-Thinking

Earlier tonight, I found myself wanting to do a status update on Facebook that would describe some of what I was feeling at the moment. As I searched for the right words and began to type, I found myself deleting the words and starting over. After the third time, I gave up and decided not to post anything of any real significance after all. In fact, I simply stated to all my Facebook-world friends that I had started and erased my status update three times! The response I got was a little unexpected and caused me to wonder if I should have just posted my original thought in the first place. As I started to explain myself on a public forum, I decided that maybe here would be a better venue. Much less attention given here and a more selective audience who I know won't roll their eyes and scoff at my thoughts. I mean, if you're reading this, it is because you chose to come to this particular site and read my random thoughts. You had some amount of understanding of what you were getting yourself into! Whereas on Facebook, it just shows up in front of your face whether you really wanted to read it or not!!!

So what did I want to post on Facebook that never made it there? You can only continue to read if you promise not to roll your eyes! (Or at least don't tell me that you rolled your eyes!)

I just wanted to say how sometimes, when I contemplate my life, how giddy it makes me feel inside. To realize simply that Heavenly Father knows and loves me! I think about people in our society who society has deemed as "important". And many of them truly are important. But they don't know me or really care about me as an individual. But Heavenly Father...He knows me! And he LOVES me!! And It fills me with all kinds of wonderful feelings to know this. So much so that sometimes I just want to announce it to everyone I know! And I want with all my heart for everyone I know to also be able to know this for themselves. But I am so limited and flawed and selfish. And I fall very short when it comes to doing my part. Yet--HE STILL LOVES ME ANYWAY!! It's so amazing! It's so humbling. It's so motivating! 

And why, you may wonder, would I not put that on Facebook? Don't judge. . .or don't keep reading! I don't want someone who doesn't know this for themselves to feel like I think I'm better than they are. Or feel badly and get discouraged. I don't want someone to feel like I'm trying to be all preachy and stop wanting to be my "friend." 

I know that I'm kind of a "one-track-mind" kind of person. I tend to get fixated on things. I tend to see everything in my life through whatever spectacles I am wearing at the time. And right now in my life, I am pretty fixated on spiritual, gospel related things. It sometimes drives my kids crazy. But truth is, when I'm fixated on something, it is very personal to me. I don't want to put such things "out there" to be judged and scoffed. But here, on my little blog that only a few ever read, I feel safe. So--Thank you for reading this. Thank you for not judging or scoffing! Thank you for choosing to read my random and often non-sensical thoughts!

It's good to have good friends! ;-)