The Temple

Last week I had a chance to attend the temple for the first time, this was a goal that has taken me eight year to accomplish. I spent years making great gains followed by terrible set backs. I spend many years never feeling worthy enough to attend the temple. To be honest I still don't feel worthy but I learned that if I'm trying my hardest to follow Christ example and if I'm doing all I can then I'm worthy. I learn we don't perfect ourselves before the temple we perfect ourselves through the temple. Now many of the things that I took apart in that day I can not share because if we talked of such things outside of the temple they would no longer be special they would become common place. What I can tell you was the feelings I felt and what the Spirit of the Lord shared with me. I started off by feeling overwhelmed and nervous I was still struggling with feelings of unworthiness. On top of that was the fear of the unknown. Once arriving at the temple I became over came by the beauty of the temple. This gleaming white building standing before me, my eyes struggling to see it through the brightness of both the building and the sun. Inside I was welcome by workers who were kind and made sure that I was taken care of, they made the day go smoothly. I wasn't sure how smoothly things would go with me being an oxygen but they made it work. In the quite of the temple the Lord let me know that He was pleased with me and my efforts. I felt like I was in a dream, peace over took my mind I felt more relaxed than I could ever dream of being. In the temple I could put away the things of the world and just be. It was a wonderful day one I crave to do again and again.

Lesson's Learned From Nature.

We went hiking yesterday in Pike National Forest. We walked around lake Manitou, which is what the picture is, I saw many things yesterday but I learned many others. First, I learned that sometimes we need to just be quiet and listen, in the quiet moments things can become so much clearer. The second, thing I learned is that everybody and everything has a purpose in this world. God, made us all. He had a plan for all of us. The animal's never stop to wonder why they are here. They don't worry that they aren't good enough or pretty enough or smart enough. They don't think they are above doing the work they are doing. They just happily go and do. The fourth, thing I learned is we have to stop and smell the flowers.  

We get so caught up in the hustle of life, the none stop demands of life, that we forget to take a moment and just take a deep breath. We need to stop fearing the quiet and worrying about being the best and just listen. In that moment when you are standing completely still, listening to the the sounds of the natural world, the frog sing his song, the wind whistling through the tree's, the birds calling to each other, and maybe even the sound of water babbling by, that's when you can truly hear His words. As we were leaving we decided to drive a little deeper into the forest. Where we found the ruins of a forest fire, one that had scorched the land a few years ago. As we drove by there tons of tree's that were dead completely burnt but the grass was coming back and the were small tree's starting to grow. Out of the ashes new life was being to grow. Some tree's were completely burnt on one side and still green and very much alive on the other, that tree was learning how to adapt to what it had. So, the last thing, I learned yesterday was that when our life seems to have burnt down around us we need to remember to care for the new life that will grow out of the ashes. We need to stopping crying for what we don't have or complaining about what we can't do. We must learn to adapt to our new life and continue to grow.