Life more abundantly

Call it what you want...blog, journal, lessons, daily devotional...all are accurate. I hope that my occasional messages prove valuable today, and tomorrow, will be cherished.

Yet you know, even the words of the Master were misunderstood by some, ignored by many, and resisted and resented by others. The Lord explained that His message would set at variance the unlikely and even breakup families. Matthew 10:34

He uses the analogy of sheep and a shepherd. This was something very familiar to the common people of that day and significant because a shepherd was the sheep's best friend. The shepherd protected the sheep from danger, fed and nourished them, and brought them home from pasture. The shepherd did not put himself above the sheep; on the contrary, he lived and if necessary died for his sheep. The one person the sheep could count on was their shepherd. 

More than just a story, we know the Good Shepherd's voice. Through Him we have life more abundantly. John 10:10

Even during times of difficulty, there is but one fold and One Shepherd.

He knows and is known of His sheep.

The Good Shepherd

DNA

The commandments of God are designed in their very nature to bless each one of us above all else. Never have we been given a commandment that didn't bring us more joy by following it.

But it is even more miraculous than that. Heavenly Father has blessed us with every skill and quality necessary to make our salvation in His kingdom most likely. Every special attribute and gift within you was specifically placed there to give you and others the most joy possible and help you reach your eternal potential.

I call it Divine Investiture.

God is not simply aware of your situation, needs, and concerns, He is fully invested in your success and happiness. There are many ways to say that. Here is one:

For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Moses 1:39

Is it presumptuous to think that the primary interest and focus of the Supreme God of Heaven and Earth is your happiness? It sounds too good to be true. Yet it is true. 

And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. D&C 130:21

He is invested in you, to the point that He sacrificed His Only Begotten Son to reclaim and save you from eternal misery and unhappiness to bless you for every good thing you do.

And gratefully, He has given me the opportunity to witness your growth and triumph.

Do your best

If you are in my generation, you will remember the television show Truth or Consequences with game show host Bob Barker. It was a fun and relatively harmless activity where the contestant's choices influenced the outcome. The host would give the players options to do such things as select between doors on the stage, and if they chose correctly, they could win an all-expense-paid dream vacation or a new car or some other lavish gift. But if they chose wrong, they may receive a booby-prize like a wheelbarrow full of ping-pong balls or a goat. So people would come dressed in funny costumes, hoping their hilarious antics would prompt the game show host to select them. As I say, it was harmless for the most part, and we all laughed at the corny jokes. But life isn't so forgiving, and it's really no joke.

Sometimes our poor choices result in much less entertaining options with much more severe consequences. On the other hand, we are not left alone to make decisions all on our own. And when we do make decisions solo, we can know in our hearts that we are doing the best we can, and God doesn't expect more than that. But He also expects no less. A man's reach is always within his grasp. That is to say, doing our best in whatever circumstance we find ourselves is enough. 

The cards are really stacked in our favor. And when that's not enough, we have hope in Jesus Christ. 

And His promises are sure. 

Come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him.

Moroni 10.32

Made Mighty

Had a great opportunity this weekend. A few of us went to St George to celebrate Naly and Riley's wedding. It was great to see family, great to support Naly, and fun to meet new friends. 

Your mom and I got the chance to meet the kindest woman at the temple Teddy Sue, neighbor and friend of Randy and Penny's family. She was a delight to visit and brightened everywhere she went. During our conversation  she asked if we had seen the Stucki home in Santa Clara. We had not, so she encouraged us to go see it and told us it was near the Jacob Hamblin home.

So on our way out of St George, we drove through Santa Clara hoping for the chance to see these homes. Sure enough, after a little driving, we found the Jacob Hamblin home, and it was open so we went inside and listened to the presentation by Sister Thompson, a senior missionary from Texas. It was a delight. Unfortunately, we didn't have instructions on how to get to the Stucki home, so we decided to save that for a next trip.

On the way home I had two thoughts:

1. How difficult it was for our ancestors to make the journey we completed in just 3.5 hours. Handcart pioneers traveled between 14-20 miles per day. If they had rivers to cross or difficult terrain or weather to deal with, it was even fewer (like 3 miles or less).  As we were driving at 80 mph in air conditioned comfort, listening to music, and snacking on blueberry cheesecake, I mentioned how differently we have things now. The same journey could have taken our ancestors around three weeks and considerable discomfort and risk. How blessed we are today.
2. Thinking that maybe I could find something about the Stucki home on the Internet, I did some searching when we got home:

John Stucki home in Santa Clara Utah (home images)

Current route back to Utah Valley

Short biography online

Great Grandpa John wrote in his journal about the call to go to Dixie and settle there. After mentioning that upon arrival, there was discussion about having them stay in either Washington or where St George is now. But they wanted to go see the Santa Clara Valley, as they had heard it had many different types of timber and brush growing there. He wrote the following:

The valley, being thickly covered with willows, cottonwoods, black willows, and other large brush, made us think that it must be rich soil as well as where there were clear fields, so the company decided to stay there, and the Santa Clara town was laid out. (p51 Family History Journal of John S. Stucki)

I thought how familiar it sounds like our journey to Castle Valley and what we found there. Goes to show how much we can learn from our ancestors' experiences and familiar words repeated in our day can shed life and light on everything we do. 

Recognize, Remember, and Give Thanks

Sanctification

One of my favorite qualities about Grandpa was the purpose he found in lifting others and that he always looked out for the downtrodden. It could have been a family in our neighborhood, an employee who felt a bit aloof at work, or perhaps a young man in the scout troop who hadn't any friends. If there was someone struggling, that's where you would find Grandpa.

I think there were many reasons this was the case. Certainly, Grandpa's love for his family and his desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ were significant reasons he did this. 

But Grandpa was very insightful. He saw things that evaded us. I have no doubt that he was even then helping us prepare for the challenges of our day.

We have been warned that the adversary will try to deceive and confuse even the very elect... Matthew 24:24

Yet his deceptions will not deter us. Truth exists beyond belief...even if nobody believes it, the truth remains firm.

Perfectionism takes a bad rap. Calling someone a "perfectionist" is often said derrogatorily--it's not usually meant as a compliment.

There is only One who is perfect. And gratefully, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can share his perfection until we become more like Him.

But that won't be for ions... one more reason that the Great Plan of Happiness is eternal and families are forever.

That's our purpose, and that makes all the difference.

Toxic perfectionism

What is truth?

John 8.32