Lakes, Swimming, and Trusting in the Lord

Last summer I spent as much time as possible at the lake. I love swimming – and mountains, and lakes – and there was something about lying on my back in the water, completely relaxed, not worried about work or friends or even about drowning, that soothed all my stresses away. But I learned early on that in order to be like that, I had to learn to let go. If I didn’t want to sink, I had to relax and trust the water to hold my body up. Even when it was windy and my body would move with the waves, if I could relax and trust the water, I would stay afloat.

And, as I’ve been learning, so it is with life. Life is scary sometimes. As soon as we get complacent with our circumstances – jobs, relationships, location – things change. People move, we move, people change and move on and leave us behind. Nothing in life is constant, yet we all fear change. At least, I fear change. I’m scared of starting over, of making new friends, of having to learn new skills, of the hardships I will have to go through in order to grow. What if I’m not good enough? What if no one likes me? What if I cry myself to sleep every night, and there’s no one around me I trust to let inside?

But that’s where the gospel comes in. God is constant, and I know that if I trust in him I will be safe. If I can stop trying to control everything around me, if I do my best and then trust in the Lord to make up the difference, then I will be at peace.

For me, trusting in God is a matter of letting go. Letting go of my worries, of my fears, of my stress. When I do that, then I can begin to see the beauty in life. Like when I lay on my back in a lake in my favorite national park and look up at the pine-tree covered mountain slopes and am so happy to be alive.

But there’s another part to this: When you’re floating on your back, you can’t just lay there motionless. You have to swim. You don’t have to swim quickly – although sometimes that is enjoyable – but if you stay stationary you will start to sink. It might take a couple minutes, but it will happen. Application? To paraphrase someone important and famous, trusting in the Lord is not a sedentary act. You have to do things to make your situation better. The Lord will magnify your efforts, but in order for him to do that there has to first be some effort.

So my goal for this week is to move forward, to let go of my worries, and to trust that, because of my Savior, I will float.

Keep the Fire Burning

I've always loved campfires- watching the flames twirl and twist, the scent of freshly burned wood, the warmth it provides in the cool evenings. Recently, however, I've gained a new sense of appreciation for fire for what it taught me about life. The house I live in is mainly heated by fire. So I've gotten the chance to become a better fire builder. One day as I was working on getting a good fire going, I was struggling to get the bigger pieces of wood to catch the fire. As I watched the fire, my mind began to think deeply. I've heard of our testimonies being compared to a fire before, how we need to keep adding wood to the fire so it doesn't burn out. But in order for the fire to start, we can't start with a big log. I have to start a fire by creating the right environment for it- some kindling and then light a match. Testimonies start with something small and are lit by a spark- by the hearing of the word. However, the fire in the kindling dies quickly and a good fire maker knows to add sticks that are a little bigger. Someone may feel the truths of the gospel, but if they don't continue to experiment, if their flame isn't encouraged to light something a little bigger, it will quickly die. The fire builds slowly, you can't go straight from kindling to a big log, you add pieces a little bigger than the other in places where it will catch the fire. It's our job as members of the church to help others- youth, investigators, recent converts- to make sure their logs are lighting- that they're experimenting and enjoying the warmth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Landscape

The idea for this post comes from an amazing lady that I have the privilege of calling friend. I went fishing with this friend and her family, enjoying the scenery and the company. As we were leaving, another friend of ours showed us her the pictures she had taken, one of which was a landscape picture. It can be hard to capture the beauty of this area because it is all surrounding, but the landscape option on the camera allowed my friend to get more of it. My other friend had tried to get some good scenic shots, but was jealous that this friend's had turned out so much better. Later, when we were in the car, this friend started to play around with her camera and realized that there was a landscape option on it. "There's a lesson to be learned," she exclaimed, "Whenever we feel jealous of something we just need to dig deeper inside ourselves and we'll find there's no need to be jealous!" I have been guilty of comparing myself to others and finding myself falling short. There is greatness inside of us all, if we dig deep, we'll find more than we realized was there. There's no need to compare, we're different, but we're different for a reason, Heavenly Father has different things that He needs us to accomplish in this life. As we rely on Him and learn from the examples from others, we can become more than we ever thought possible.

How to hike rim-to-rim

I recently accomplished a big goal on my bucket list. Hike the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. Not only did I accomplish this great feat, but I did it in one day. The Park Service discourages people from attempting this, online I read several warnings "Do not hike this in one day". But with strong legs, a strong will, and most importantly, lots of water, I succeeded. It's common knowledge that water is vital to our survival. As a hiker, I've known it's important to stay hydrated. I get ornery when I'm dehydrated and don't have as much energy. Knowledge became more of a reality on this epic hike where I learned to drink as much as you can, especially at the beginning. So before we even started the hike, I drank 2 liters. I was also taught to not worry about rationing your water. We were told "Better to run out and already have it in your system, then to have extra at the end and be dehydrated." The wonderful thing about the Grand Canyon is that there are several places along the way where you can fill up with water. Our goal became to drink all of our water by the time we came to the next faucet. I wasn't very thirsty on the way down the canyon, and I probably wouldn't have hydrated myself had it not been for the wise leader of the group. I could have thought to myself "I've already had a lot of water, I don't need more." But, we knew the hike ahead would be long and hard, so we did all we could to prepare ourselves. In the scriptures we are taught that Christ is the "living water" and He invites all to drink of His water. But how do we partake of the Living Water? First we have to know what the living water is. When Nephi asks the Lord for the interpretation of his father's dream, he sees the fountain of living water and is told that it is a "representation of the love of God". To me, the love of God has everything to do with the atonement. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The atonement, like water, gives life. To drink living water is to apply the atonement in our lives. Not just when we need to repent of wrongdoing, but also to give us strength to become better. The more we strive to become like the Savior; to have our thoughts and actions be one with His, the more we allow his "water" into our system. We are also taught in the scriptures to "Seek the Lord early." That means now. We know life is going to have its ups and downs. Drink now and fill up as often as you can. The fill up stations might be compared to times when we fill up with the spirit. It could be a full-time mission, getting your endowment. Or even seemingly smaller things- a trip to the temple, General or Stake Conference, Sacrament Meeting, a good scripture study. Then rely on the water you've got in your pack. Live the gospel and the principles you've been taught. Doctrine and Covenants 63:23 reads, "My commandments shall be a well of living water".It does absolutely no good to have a camelback full of water and to not to drink of it. Likewise, we should be trying to find ways to apply what the spirit's teaching us to our everyday life. By doing this we're allowing the water to fill us. I was about two miles away from the top of the canyon when I came to the last place to fill up water. I was tired from walking all day, but I was hydrated and I didn't want to stop my momentum. I knew if I stopped to get water it would take me a little longer to start hiking again. I also figured that I had enough water in my pack to make it to the top. That was a mistake. About ten minutes later I ran out of water. Luckily I had enough water in my system to keep me hydrated. My mouth would get so dry and I craved water. I had an apple in my pack, but I wasn't hungry and an apple didn't sound appetizing. I finally gave in and grabbed the apple. It didn't satisfy me nearly as well as water would have. I would take a bit, suck out all of the juices. When they were all gone, I had the meat of the apple left. Usually I love apples, but that pulp was so dry and not fun to eat. I wonder if that's what it's like to not have the fullness of the gospel. Many churches preach the gospel, but don't have it in its purest form. Members are still nourished with liquid, but it's harder to get out and not as satisfying. I am glad I had that apple to sustain me to the top, but I'm more grateful I had wise leaders who taught to hydrate early and hydrate more often than you think.

The Uphill Battle

I know I've mentioned before how much I love biking, especially when there's great scenery to be enjoyed. Today was a day of said enjoyment. Of perfect weather, good views of the lake, of cruising over rocks and even some sand, followed by the nice challenge of the climb up the hill.
There's a few steep roads that connect the highway to town. I happen to live closet to the hill that has, by far, the least amount of traffic so when I need a good, challenging workout, that's where I go. Down the hill, and then back up.
A couple days ago a friend mentioned this hill to me. She said that once in awhile a coworker of hers will ride his bike down the hill, to work. According to her, he's a strong guy, yet he still struggles coming back up that hill and has to get off his bike and walk. When I heard this, I just assumed he was strong in other ways because you need different muscles to ride a bike than to lift weights and I've made it up that hill several times, but don't consider myself buff.
Heading back up the hill today, I started thinking about my friend's coworker. I noticed how quickly I had to shift gears down and down again. I wondered how many gears this coworker had and if he used them. I realized I wouldn't be able to make it up the hill without being able to shift to a very low gear.
It made me think about the gospel; about trials in our lives and how we handle them. As we rely on the Savior, some of the pressures and weight gets taken away; the atonement allows us to shift down so it's easier to pedal. Don't get me wrong, the climb upward is slow going and you have to be diligent. If you decide you're tired and stop, you'll go backwards or fall. We have to be diligent and do everything we can, but the Lord makes it possible for us to do so.
In biking up on the steepest parts of the hill, I've found it helpful to zig-zag across the road, making the path I travel, not as steep. It's a longer path, but it's sometimes helpful.
Using the road this way is like using other types of support. Friends, family, coworkers, etc., can be a great help in time of need. If I get off my bike in the middle of the hill, usually the only way to get back on and moving again is to zig-zag across the road. However, even if I zig-zag across the road, I still need to be in lower gear. We still need the atonement, we can't rely alone on the other support systems.
Knowing those few things about bike riding makes it possible to climb bigger hills. I bet my friend's coworker can make it up, he just doesn't know it. In our life, we know the Lord won't give us challenges we can't overcome with his help. The hills may continue to get bigger and more challenging, but that's because our spiritual muscles are growing and we need those challenges.
I love bike rides like today's where I step off my bike and feel what conquering the hill has done to my muscles. It makes me grateful for my bike and its many gears.

Pushing

An institute teacher told this story and I loved it so I decided to share:

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing it with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Noticing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind. “You have been pushing against this rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These troubling thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?” I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.

And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his thoughts to the Lord. “Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even been able to budge that rock. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, When I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?”

“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is simple obedience and Faith in Him…



Read more at Story : Push against the Rock

Rose on the Gray

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering around the neighborhoods south of BYU campus, when I saw something that intrigued my mind. Along the side of an unattractive, brown apartment complex were rose bushes with stems browned and petals dried from the chilly weather. But, amazingly enough, those stems still had roses. And maybe it was just the lack of all other flowers this time of year, but these roses were beautiful: a deep, crackly red, with a dry yellow on the outside edges.

It surprised me to see such beauty on a snowless winter day; especially in a neighborhood of run-down houses and apartment complexes. True, if I had seen those roses on a glorious summer day, they would have paled in comparison to the beauty of the flowers around them, but on this crisp winter day, they glowed with a beauty all their own.

And isn’t life like that? Sometimes your circumstances make it difficult to *bloom at all, but in those cases, the smallest amount can go a long way. Even having the courage to stand there and say, “Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean I’m not going to bloom” can make a difference. And while your blooms at this time of your life may not be as beautiful as they would be in the summer, they are beautifully inspiring for being there at all.

So, when you feel that you are in the winter of your life, don’t be ashamed that you can’t bloom like your summer-time neighbor. Be proud that you’re strong enough to bloom at all.

*Bloom (verb): Pronunciation: /bluːm/

1. To bear flowers; to be in flower, come into flower; to blossom.

In defiance of the cruel climate, the rose bloomed beautifully all year.

2. To come into full beauty; to be in fresh beauty and vigour; to flourish.

The old woman, despite her gray hair and wrinkles, bloomed with a strength seen only in those who have lived long and hard.

3. To glow with warm colour.

Despite the harsh cold, the rose petals bloomed with color vibrant against their browned stems.

4. To give a bloom to; to colour with a soft warm tint or glow.

The girl’s cheeks bloomed with the seriousness of living.

** Pictures found using Google images. Definitions from OED online.