By David Armstrong
In the twenty-five years Aaron had lived in his suburban home in a small town of northern Utah, he had paid no attention to the birds that occasionally fluttered in and around his yard. During a trip to visit a cousin in Michigan, Aaron noticed the three large bird feeders near the rear deck of the cousin’s house. Beautiful red and blue birds flocked to the feeders, putting on a brilliant display of color and variety.
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Have you ever ended up where you wanted to be by accident?
I’m not speaking of serendipity that just brought good things into your life, but rather about having a goal and inadvertently reaching it. Or having a destination and arriving there without knowing the possible routes.
Jesus told His apostles, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
He instructed the rich young man, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21).
We cannot pick up Jesus’s cross nor follow Him without meaning to. We will not gain entrance to the Father’s presence by happenstance or coincidence. Joy D. Jones, former Primary General President in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pointed out: “Accidental conversion is not a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Becoming like our Savior will not happen randomly” (“Essential Conversations”).
We can’t take the attitude of Victor in the Parable of the School Counselor. Victor had a long-term desire for his life, but when it came down to it, he had no specific goals or plans, nor was he proactively taking any action to land himself where he wanted.
Mr. Reading’s question can apply to us all: “What are you doing right now that will get you there?”
Further, the questions he put to Victor about things he needed to learn represent the questions we could ask ourselves. “What do I know about the ordinances and covenants I need to enter into? What do I know about exercising faith, hope, and charity? Or virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, humility, or diligence? Loving and serving the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength and an eye single to His glory? Do I know how to love and treat others the way Christ does and would? Have I developed a love for truth and righteousness? What about repenting and becoming clean through the Savior’s Atonement?”
These questions could be thought of as part of our repentance, or they could be part of repeated self-evaluation not specifically tied to seeking forgiveness for a sin. Either way, we can deliberately and intentionally become more like Christ and walk His path.
What blessings have you seen come into your life by purposefully (rather than coincidentally or conveniently) walking the path back to Heavenly Father?
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By Christine Stuart
Jason started his drive to California with excitement brimming inside him. This was the culmination of months of planning and preparation. He believed that dreams were a way that the higher powers in the cosmos communicated with people. So when he had a vivid dream two years ago about meeting a woman and getting married, he believed that was what the cosmos had in store for him. He set a goal to be prepared to find his soulmate and get married by a certain date. That goal was now only three days away.
By Darren Eyre and David Armstrong
In the Parable of the Hapless Mountain Biker, Tom learned five valuable lessons from his first mountain bike experience that translate into five critical spiritual lessons.
Do we have faith in our spiritual equipment? Do we speed up and gain spiritual momentum before the stumbling blocks of life come into our path? For they surely will come. We have a lot of good equipment such as scriptures, prayer, church attendance, family councils, and many other tools God has given us. We should use these to create momentum and make decisions ahead of time regarding what we will do when faced with temptations or stumbling blocks. Using these tools, we will enjoy the path of life and avoid a lot of pain from unnecessary crashes.
The Light of Christ is the divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things. The Light of Christ influences people for good and prepares them to receive the Holy Ghost, which gives us an even greater light to avoid Satan’s pitfalls.
We must always bring the light of the Spirit with us, keep it burning brightly, and keep the batteries charged. We lose the light when we disobey the commandments, plan to sin now and repent later, and skip the spiritually renewing daily actions of reading the scriptures and praying. Not having our light on will allow darkness to overcome us. We can soon crash on obstacles in front of us that are imperceptible without light to see them.
The Savior taught, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). When we follow Christ, we will always have His light with us to make obstacles discernable and easier to avoid or overcome.
The prophet Lehi in the Book of Mormon had a vision of a tree that produced the most desirable fruit a person could eat. After some had partaken of the fruit, however, they “fell away into forbidden paths and were lost” (1 Nephi 8:28). What causes us to fall into forbidden paths? Of the many possibilities, one of the most common is ignoring the warning signs. “Danger!” “Keep Out!” “No Trespassing!” Spiritual warning signs are posted at the entrance to every forbidden path. God gives us warning signs to avoid pain and danger ahead. He knows what lies at the end of those trails: dead ends, summersaults, sticks, and rocks.
In the first place, we should simply stay on the path God has constructed for us—the covenant path—and stay off the branch trails with ”do not enter” signs at their entrance.
In the second place, if we veer off God’s covenant path, we can get back on it. If we are on a path right now that we know we shouldn’t be on, we should not be ashamed. God knew we would occasionally take some wrong turns. What do we need to do to get back on the path we should be on? The first step is to recognize that we are on a bad path, then stop, turn around, and get back on the right path.
Sometimes, however, we’ve crashed and been injured on a forbidden path and can’t get back to the right path alone. We need someone to help us and heal us. Loving bishops have the responsibility to help us return to the Savior to heal us to get on the right path.
Returning to Lehi’s vision of the tree of life and people falling into forbidden paths, one of the reasons Lehi gave as to why people had fallen into those paths was “after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them” (1 Nephi 8:28). They cared more about what others thought of them than what God thought of them.
Don’t give into peer pressure. A fourteen-year-old young woman was hanging out with some friends. Her friends went around the circle telling each other all the bad things they had done relative to the law of chastity. When it was this young woman’s turn to talk, she told them she hadn’t done any of the things others had. They asked her why not. Her response was, “Because I am a child of God.”
Her answer was similar to the experience of Moses after God appeared to him and then the devil tempted him to worship Satan instead of God. Moses’s reply to Satan was, “Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?” (Moses 1:13).
We must know who we are. Don’t feel ashamed of choosing the right in this world where good is made to look evil and evil is made to look good. Do not give into peer pressure.
Recall the story in the Old Testament of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham pleaded with the Lord to spare the wicked cities if he could find at least a few righteous people among the sinful citizenry. When the only people Abraham could save were his nephew, Lot, and Lot’s little family, God gave Lot the chance to leave the city before fire rained down on it. On their way out of the city, Lot’s wife stopped and looked back at the home she was leaving behind. God turned her into a pillar of salt (see Genesis 19).
Do not be like Lot’s wife, looking behind at what she was leaving. Be like Alma who taught his son Helaman to “look to God and live” (Alma 37:47). How do we “look to God and live?” The living prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, has repeatedly taught us to keep on the covenant path. If we have strayed off of it, get back on the path. Taking the steps necessary to be worthy of baptism, receiving and exercising the priesthood, and entering the temple will keep us looking ahead to God and following the covenant path.
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Ed’s doctor told him he needed to lose weight so as to mitigate some health problems that he was developing and to reduce the likelihood of problems that hadn’t happened yet. But Ed detested aching and burning muscles almost as much as he despised having sweat pouring down his face.
The doctor shrugged at his question of what was the best way to get started. “Get some exercise videos. Just do something. Anything.“
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The Weekly Parable 