Reflections of a True Millennial

"What would happen if we took off our masks, peeled back the labels, tore down the walls we have? What would change if we just saw each other as children of our Father?" - "Take it Home" by Jenn Blosil Everyone you know is a child of God. Let me say that again: Everyone  you know is a child of God. If everyone is of such a divine lineage, why do we undermine and belittle each other so much? By disrespecting each other, we are disrespecting creations of God. Why do we feel the need to make fun of people about their dress, looks, religion, or other aspects of their lives? "Who am I to judge another, when I walk imperfectly?" (Lord, I would Follow Thee) You don't know what is going on in people's lives, so you have no right to make rash judgements and hasty generalizations. You're own life is not perfect, so your time and efforts should be focused towards perfecting your life, not bringing down someone else's. Can every young man treat every...

I love the fact that no one is perfect. That means we can always be better. Sometimes perfection seems like a daunting task. How are we supposed to become as our Father in Heaven if we make mistakes everyday? It almost feels like to become perfect we have to sit at home reading the Scriptures with no contact to the outside world. Well guess what? We don't. Perfection is possible, no matter how hard it seems, and it all starts with our inherent desire. Our inner soul must be tuned to the promptings of the Spirit that we may act in righteousness immediately when a choice is placed before us. We must accustom ourselves to live without hesitation to do what is right. Remember that the thoughts and judgements of the world mean nothing.  All that matters is what God thinks about you, and "we are everything to God" (Dieter F. Uchtdorf October 2011). His "work and [His] glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). You are God's pr...

You know that moment when you don't see the sun for five days straight? Yeah that's what happened this week in "sunny" south Florida. Its quite a hardship to have soaked socks all day and a wet umbrella in your locker, but for some it was worse. A tornado ripped through the area at 130 mph and damaged several homes. Some places were split in half, while the next door neighbors were untouched. A friend of the missionaries wasn't the most fortunate and had some damage done to his house. Just looking at the mess around his house made me want to pick up everything and just move it, maybe just start over. But this man wasn't in that same mentality. He siphoned some gas from his car and revved up the chainsaw, getting to work. He wasn't going to wait for someone else to come and clean up for him, he had work that needed to be done so he did it. This kind of relates to some messages heard in stake conference today. One speaker quoted a verse from Jeremiah that ba...

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." -Matthew 6:33 You're a high school student, and you've got a lot to do. You've got a lot of stress to make it into college and have a life, or else it seems like you'll be a failure. You have to compete with rigorous classes that require effort and hard work, while juggling a plethora of extracurricular activities, and making enough time for friends and family members. Sometimes the pressure is just too much to handle. Often we get so caught up in the things that seem important, and we neglect what is necessary to our eternal salvation. Scriptures lay untouched for weeks, service is forgotten, prayer is pushed off for a later time, but these are things that we need to be doing everyday. When preaching to the tribes of Israel, Joshua said "Choose you  this day whom ye will serve." (Joshua 24:15) He did not say "Choose you a later day who...

Sometimes you just have to laugh. I have this crazy friend, and last night we decided to bike to Wal-Mart at ten o'clock and pick up some Kool-Aid. After all, it is only 20 cents a packet. We got six packets and paid with change only, how ghetto can you get? Upon arrival at his house the mixing began, and we filled up the pitcher to the top with Kool-Aid. While pouring the initial cup, the top came off and a sea of blue Kool-Aid rushed out all over the counter and floor. With this scenario comes two options: you can get angry that 5 cents of Kool-Aid poured all over and you're going to have to pick it up, or you could laugh your head off. We choose the latter option. Sometimes you just need to laugh! Is it the end of the world when something like that happens? No, so why would you act like it is? Just laugh.

I felt like I had one thing to write about today, but then I say this video and my thoughts seemed to go the other way, but I want to talk about both somehow. Bear with me. But first watch this video. That my friend was an inspirational video with slow motion, happy music, and quotes interspersed throughout. But I'm sure you see the message. Sometimes we get caught up in life, and sometimes we're doing things just to please everyone else or focusing on things that have little value in the grand scheme of things. It would do us all good to take a step back and consider what the important things in our life are. Are the things we're doing really making us better people or are they just causing stress and anguish? Christ remarked to His followers that they should, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." (Matthew 6:28) The simple creations of God are not burdened with life's troubles so heavily that they fall und...

You probably chuckled a little bit at this title. After all, how could you be a genius? You got a 60 on your last math quiz, and struggle to keep up in your AP classes, if you even have AP classes. Does that qualify you as dumb? No. Albert Einstein once said,  “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Well, from that we can learn two things. First, fish can't climb trees. Second, they're not dumb because of it. After all fish can swim around in the vast ocean, get food, and do whatever fish do. So they're not dumb, they're just not tree-climbers. Maybe you can't get straight A's, but your not dumb. Think of all the other things that you can accomplish. You might be a genius of music or athletics. One definition for genius is, "natural ability or capacity." Everyone has the natural ability for something. The key is to figure out what you're good at and p...

Today in chemistry we saw a picture of a horseshoe. That shows you how exciting chemistry is... Anyway, it was being super heated by a blacksmith and was obviously very hot. Throughout it's use, that little horseshoe probably got scuffed up, and became uneven. Yeah, I'm making an analogy about a horseshoe, live with it. Anyway, that horseshoe became imperfect and throughout our lives, we too become imperfect through the wear and tear. When we're born, we're perfect little babies. We wear little baby clothes and wear little baby shoes and are just so dang cute, but that's beside the point. We're perfect and go through life making mistakes, and doing stuff that kids do. Then eventually we're baptized and become perfect again. But then what? We keep going through our days and making mistakes, but how do we become perfect again? It's not like we can just be re-baptized! Well, it takes some effort, and you've got to work. One of my favorite quotes is by M...

I really have no idea what this post is about, sorry. I don't even have anything major to write about, but I guess I might as well write. Maybe I should write about the important things in life, yeah that sounds good. Well remember that time when you totally flunked a test and came out of class livid, practically with steam coming out of your ears? You might have said a not so nice word and slammed your locker or something. What was the point of that exactly? Is one Algebra 2 test really that important, really so important that you're going to curse someone out of take the Lord's name in vain. Really? No. You're not going to sit on your deathbed regretting that test. Of course, you should strive for good grades and all that jazz, but everyone messes up, just don't let it get over you head. Remember the things that are really most important in life, such as family, Church, the gospel, friends, etc.  But a warning about friends, don't rely too much on them, they c...

And thus it comes to a close. This October, the 181st semi-annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was mightily uplifting. It brought a feeling of peace that our trials aren't too heavy to carry and a renewed conviction to choose the right always. A lasting theme that I recognized from this conference was the fact that God is always mindful of you. No matter how low or insignificant you feel, He cares about you. His work and His glory is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) President Uchtdorf put it best in the statement, "Compared to God we are nothing, but to God we are everything." God is always watching over you, ready to protect you. He is always there. Just remember that.