Thursday, January 14, 2016

My Dog Inspires Me

I like to draw spiritual meaning from odd situations and experiences. This one comes from my dog Woody when he stands on the electric window control.

Woody is a corgi/spaniel. He has the build and color of a corgi, but stands a bit taller and sheds horribly!! Woody loves going for drives, even if he isn't able to get out of the car. And when he has his way he usually sits in the front so he knows where we are and where we are going. He does that by sniffing the air vent.


He has a super bionic nose! He can smell beef jerky in a plastic baggie in the glove compartment. And he always knows when we have turned onto the road that leads to our house by the smell. His smelling senses seem to perk up when we turn corners because that is when he stands on the armrest with his front  paws and puts his nose to the top of the window. If we aren't going too fast I usually put the window down for him because there is no reason for me not to and he only sniffs for a few seconds then he is done. Of course I could do that many times during a drive because he constantly stands on the armrest if we are in town.

In the beginning, I would put the window down for him because I wanted to please him. Whatever the smells were I wanted him to have full access to it. In time he would make the window go down by standing on the control and not realize it. Sometimes the window would go all the way down and sometimes just a portion of the way. If it only went a portion of the way I would put it the rest of the way down.

So here is where the spiritual part comes in. When we accept Christ into our lives and begin to live his gospel, He is there to help us along the path more than we realize because He loves us and wants us to succeed and he happy. We begin to sense the promptings and feeling of the Holy Spirit better that tells us we are on familiar and righteous roads. Then as we learn to live the commandments and become more obedient, we find that we can do more on our own and don't need as much help but know that Christ is there to help when we need Him.

As a convert to The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, I have experienced this first hand. I knew nothing about Heavenly Father, or Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost. I needed a lot of help down the path because I was one lost soul! It was far from easy, but I realized that it had to be to remove the worldliness out of me and help be become the person I am today. I like who I am today! I have come to know that I am loved more than any human can ever love me. And that I am never alone and can ask for help whenever I need it, which is a lot!

No where in the scriptures does it say not to ask. It says to "ask, seek, knock". If you take the first letter of each of those words it spells "ASK"!

God Bless you!




Sunday, January 3, 2016

What Voices Are You Listening To?

I like sports! Maybe a bit more than I should. And to be honest I don't know why. I like watching college and pro football because the seasons are so short so every game is important. I like basketball but it depends on who is playing. Even though I live in Utah, Im not a Jazz fan. Since John Stockton and Karl Malone retired there hasn't been much to cheer about. And baseball and hockey are only fun when I am at the game or during the playoffs.

Here is something I learned while watching a football game a while back. I found myself getting all worked up when my team wasn't doing well, mostly because of what the commentators were saying. I was feeding more off of them then the game and I didn't like how I felt. If the Officials made a bad call against my team and the commentators agreed with it being a bad call I got even more worked up and hoped somehow something bad would happen to the apposing team, something more than what I usually hoped.

After becoming aware of the affect the commentators on me, I started watching games without sound and I loved it! I would just turn the sound back on when something exciting happened. I also found that I could do other things while watching a game like exercise, read, play with my daughter, or dilly dally on the Internet. My wife thought this was strange. I told her I didn't need to hear the game to know what is going on, unlike if I were watching a movie or something where you need to hear what was being said. I also found that by watching sports I didn't have to deal with immorality (some cheerleaders outfits can be a bit small but at least they keep them on), swearing (unless you are good at reading lips), or violence (the kind of violence you see in a movie because sports in general are mostly violent).

Here is my spiritual spin on what I am saying. There are a lot of really great things going on in the world. And there are many great people out there trying and wanting to make the world a better place. And there are also many bad things and bad people who only think of themselves. And there are many voices wanting to persuade us to believe in what they are saying. At times those voices can be very convincing. I think it is good at times to turn the voices off and step back and take a look at what is going on. Watch for a while and make sure the voices you are listening to are leading you down a path that YOU want to go because YOU want to be on it.

The only path I have ever found that is taking me to where I want to go is the path that leads me to Christ. As I have listened to many of the voices in the world I have come to realize that many of those voices are being mislead and do much misleading. Sometimes knowingly and other times not. The only voices that I have found that have never mislead me are of men that are called Prophets, Seers, and Revelators. These are the men, and there are women also, known as the General Authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or the Mormons. I have been listening to these voices for 29 years and they have never mislead me. They are voices of love and truth. They are voices that speak of and for Jesus. If you want to listen for yourself click here: www.lds.org

I encourage you to question the voices that have guided you to where you are today! God Bless You!