The Plan, The Vision and The Promise!

One of my all time favorite things to do is to snowboard.  I love it! The fluffy white powder of the backcountry to hitting the jumps in the terrain park, I love it all.  But it's not as fun if you don't have someone to share the joy with, so I would go with my buddies and also with my family. When I got a older and a little more experienced I decided to try out new aspects of snowboarding.  In most ski resorts they have terrain parks.  These parks consist of jumps, grinding rails and other features to try some tricks on.  I really liked the idea of the rails.  They would stick a nice waxed rail in the ground with a little jump leading onto the rail so you can get up on it.  It was somewhat of a challenging thing to stay balanced on the rail and not fall off before the end.   I tried these rails over and over again, but never seemed to get very good at them.  I would watch my friends go on them and I would watch snowboarding movies to see how in the world they could get to the very end without falling, it seemed unreal.
I picked up some great advice from an experienced boarder that told me how to stay on the rail without falling off so easily.  He said that you have to have your eye set on where you want to go.  If you want to make it half way through the the rail, then focus your goal as the half-way mark.  Or maybe you're just hoping to just barely make it on the rail then you probably won't make it to the very end.  The key is is to focus on your destination.  I wanted to get to the end of the rail so he said to have your eyes set on that place.  I gave it a try and sure enough I made it through the rail all the way to the end.  Now this didn't happen every time, and I fell off quite a few times without making it to the very end. But it sure did help me out!
While serving a mission it's easy to get sidetracked and think about other things from back home.  I was one day walking along the curb next to my companion as I was trying to balance on the curb without falling off, and remembered the snowboarding advice that I was given to focus on the end goal.  We were just finishing up a lesson teaching about the Plan of Salvation, and I made the connection in my own life to look at the end goal of where I want to end up.  Not only at the end of this life, but the life after this.
Now the question is... What is Eternal Life? And why is that something that we should desire?  In Moses 1:39 it reads "For behold, this is my work and my glory - To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  Our Heavenly Fathers purpose and his work and his glory is to help each and every one of his children to live a life like he has.  Immortality is to live forever as a resurrected being only through Jesus Christ and his Atonement, and eternal life is to live in God's presence and continue with our families.  I want that in my life!  My family is one of the greatest gifts that Heavenly Father has given me. I love them! With all the many gifts that Heavenly Father has given us He mentions one in particular that is greater than any other gift that he has ever given us. In Doctrine and Covenants 14:7 we read "And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." 
This gift is a promise that can and will fulfill if we keep our promise to Him.  To go back to the comparison of the snowboard grinding on the rail, we first have to jump on the rail.  Likewise, to obtain eternal life, we have to jump on the rail as well, meaning we have to enter into a covenant, that covenant or promise is baptism.   2 Nephi 31:17-18 states:

"17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.

18 And then are ye in this straitand narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which Witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive."

We are not forced to have this goal in our life, we are free to choose. As we read in 2 Nephi 2:27  "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose libertyand eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. " 

The blessings of the gospel are here now, we don't need to wait. "This is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God." (2 Nephi 31:21)  I know without a doubt in my mind that this is the way to live with God again.  It is a lot easier to make life's tough choices when we have a vision to where we want our life to go.  The choices we make in this life will determine where we will be for eternity.  Don't fight off waiting until tomorrow to choose this path, start now!  I know God lives and loves us all, and He wants us back with him! I love you all!

Rio Vista Beehives

Recently I have been fascinated by the wonderful and interesting life of honeybees.  My companion and I were introduced to these little creatures by one of the members of the Church and he needed some help switching over some hives.  Well I'm not quite sure if he really needed our help or not, but we gladly volunteered to dress up in the bee suits to help him with his bee needs. So on a beautiful Saturday morning we found ourselves exploring the hectic life of honeybees.
We made our way over to crack the lid on the bee box to check them out.  These bees were not quite sure how to respond to us. I'm sure they were fearing there was an intruder coming so they were doing there job to protect their hive. Our bee tour guide didn't think anything of it and acted like it was a normal thing for all of this to happen.  I on the other hand was a little weary of these creatures and not quite sure how to respond, so I took a couple steps back of fear of getting stung.  I soon realized that I was not going to get stung so I returned to help the bees.  After getting used to having thousands of bees swarming around me, I couldn't help but think how amazing these creatures are.  The worker bees were the ones that really amazed me.  They only live roughly for 45ish days and basically work themselves to death.  I thought to myself that somehow I needed to learn something from these bees.  They only live 45 days and their whole lives they are doing something productive.  They're not sitting around playing xbox, sleeping all day, or engaging themselves in other time wasting activities.  They are diligent, hard-working and doing what they are made to do. I related that to us.  Our Heavenly Father created us and for a purpose.  Lately I have been thinking to myself if I could be more like these honeybees and do what I am supposed to do here on earth.  I know we live a little bit longer than 45 days, but the same concept applies. We live for roughly 70-80 years.  During this probationary time we are here, are we filling this time with what we are supposed to do here and follow Jesus Christ? Or are we off over in left field somewhere playing with dandelions?
As we read in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 2:25 it reads: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy." Once Adam partook of the forbidden fruit they were able to know good from evil, to experience joy and sorrow, but he first had to experience what brings joy, and what brings sorrow.  As we are here living our lives we can do the same and find what brings joy and what brings sorrow.  Our loving Heavenly Father created us so that we can have joy and experience trials and opposition.  Sometimes we have to learn the hard way and make mistakes to learn what we're supposed to do.
I know that Heavenly Father has a purpose and a plan for each one of us to be happy in this life, and gain Eternal life in the world to come.  As we come unto our Savior Jesus Christ and turn our lives towards him, with full purpose of heart, he can and will heal us to become more like him. He loves us. I know that if we fill our lives with purpose and meaning, just as these honeybees do and fulfill what we were made for that we can be happy. Even if we think that we are already happy and don't need anything else, there is so much more out there that we do need.  I know this from experience in my life. Living a life full of sports, snowboarding and listening to music is fun and all and it may make me happy, but I can be happier.  Fulfilling our purpose and being happy are directly connected.  If we are fulfilling our purpose and doing what we are made to do, the happiness follows. I know we can't make these steps alone, but if we turn to Christ, he will help us.

 "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage"

Mosiah 7:33.