Charity, Forgiveness, and Loving Others

Elder Marvin J. Ashton once said,

Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply five each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resiting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.

How often do we find ourselves judging others without knowing them or their circumstance? I know that I myself have done it on many occasions, often without even realizing it. Charity is not expecting others around us to fit our needs, rather it is about accepting each person as they are and being willing to forgive. Being charitable is no easy task, especially when it is SO easy to be judgmental and unforgiving sometimes. Life is more than being right in an argument, it's more than living the ideal life, it's more than me and you. Charity is more than merely helping others. Charity is helping others reach their true potential; it's helping others realize they are sons and daughters of a divine Heavenly Father; it's being willing to forgive even when what they've done has really hurt us.
I recently read a story about a woman who had suffered in a bad relationship. She had thought that she had married the wrong man. He had no interest in the Church and had treated her very unkindly for several years. When she prayed to ask the Lord if He would approve of a divorce, she had a unique experience. Instead of being told that she ought to follow through with a divorce, she was counseled by the Spirit to recognize her own imperfections, instead of focusing solely on her husbands'. After that experience, she strove to become more compassionate, loving, and understanding. As she changed, so did her husband, and within a few years, their problems had been resolved, and they were able to be sealed in the temple.
In this story, instead of focusing on her husband's problems, she turned to fix her own. By doing so, she was not only able to reconnect with her husband and save her marriage, she was also able to grow spiritually and help him do the same.

Having charity means that we must be able to forgive. Without forgiveness, charity could not exist. The worst thing we can do for ourselves and our relationships with others is not forgiving them. The Savior told us in Matthew 5:7 that faultfinding in others does not work. This is not to say that this is the easiest thing in the world to do. In fact, quite the contrary. It can be really hard sometimes to say "I am truly sorry." Especially when the offense has hit so close to home and cuts deep.

No one is perfect, but we all ought to strive towards perfection. We can all do this through charity, forgiveness, and a genuine love and concern for others.

My day was....fantastic!

Whenever I ask a friend of mine how his day was, he always says something like "fantastic" or "awesome." At first, I always thought to myself, how can your days ALWAYS be fantastic?? You must have a bad day once in a while, or even an okay day. When I finally asked him why, he simply stated that he didn't often have bad or mediocre days. Being slightly cynical, I didn't really believe him until I thought to myself, what really makes a day bad or mediocre? Our attitude of course! So by merely changing our attitude, our day can change from good to awful, mediocre to great, or bad to whatever.

So I've decided to try to for this New Year. Last week was the first week of classes. I was overloaded with homework (mostly because of my accelerated Spanish class), I had to change my schedule a few times, and I didn't get into a few classes that I really wanted to take, but you know what, it was a fantastic week! I made several new friends, had a wonderful time in the classes I did get to take, once I even got a fantastic parking spot! On Monday, I had left my house 25 minutes before my first class in order to get a parking spot south of campus. I drove around for 15 minutes before giving and going to the North parking lots (which were on the opposite side of where my 9am class was), and walked 10 minutes to get to my class, making me late. Along the way, I not only slipped, I actually fell on the ground. And then by the end of the day, I had blisters on my feet because of my high heeled boots. However, that was a great day! I had an awesome time in my dance 180 class, I got to spend time with my (quite attractive) co-worker, finished knitting a scarf for my friend, attended FHE, and gave two of my friends Christmas gifts.

Nothing that happened that day was really amazing or really awful, but it could have been either a great day or an awful day. Had I chosen to stay upset about being late to class, getting blisters, and falling and looking silly, it would have been a pretty awful. Instead, the key is to look at all the good things that happened that day. If you really can't think of something big, start with something little. For example, randomly seeing a friend of yours, doing something right at work, heck even smiling at something or listening to music you really like.

"There are days you stumble and you fall
And sometimes through it all
You think you'll never stand again.
There are times,
when choices weigh you down
And bend you the ground
That's a place that we've all been.
But you can change,
You can turn your heart around
A brand new star, it can be found."
-"You Can Change" EFY 2009

I love this song because it emphasizes that we don't have to let our circumstances control our attitude. I can only hope that I have the wisdom that this young man has, and always let my days be fantastic.

This is what I love (copied from my FB post)

I wish there was something that I was super passionate about. Because that is what I LOVE. I love when people are passionate about something, and they are willing to share their passion with me. Even when it's something that I am not particularly interested in, if someone else loves it, I want to hear about it. It makes me so excited for them and what they are capable of accomplishing with their passions. I wish I could express in words just how excited I am feeling right now just thinking about friends that I have that are passionate about something. Everything from dancing to photography, music to science, and even accounting!

I also love that I have so many wonderful friends. I don't know what I would do in my life without them. Whether they realize it or not, each of them is incredibly important to me in some way or another. If I'm having a bad day, there is always someone that I can turn to, and often they don't even know that they are cheering me up. I don't think I've ever felt more accepted and welcome in my life. My friends pretty much define who I am. Without them, I would be lost. So, thanks you guys for being a part of my life.

Call me cheesy or lame or whatever you will, but I LOVE anything that makes me happy. Most especially kids movies and EFY music. I don't care if those aren't the most popular things ever, I absolutely LOVE them. I love just singing my lungs out and dancing while listening to crazy music in my car. I love messing around with my friends. I love running my frustrations out. I love just being happy. It's just an incredible feeling. I love being Mormon, and I love being in Utah and meeting so many other Mormons.

I find it so incredible that I live such a blessed life. Sometimes, I can't even imagine how much different my life would be if I were someone else. And you know what? I wouldn't trade a thing to be someone else. I like who I am. Not to say that I'm perfect or even close by any stretch of the imagination, but I know my trials are made for me, and heck yeah they're hard sometimes, but I know I can always make it through. I love being a member of this Church. I love the Prophet and the Apostles.

I love my family. I love that feeling of being where you belong. I love home. Where ever it may be. And sometimes, it can be found in the most unusual places. There are so many places where I have felt at home, and I know I have my family and my friends to thank for that. I am so excited for when I finally get to have my own family. I'm so excited to watch my children grow up and learn things for themselves. I can't wait to be in love with someone for all eternity. I'm so excited to make new memories with a new family.

Finally, I love helping other people feel happy and welcome. For those of you who haven't know me very long, you probably don't know that I get INCREDIBLY nervous meeting new people. Heck, sometimes I get nervous with people I've already met. However, I know that I'm much happier when others are welcoming and kind to me, so I strive to do the same. Even when I'm the new person.

One final thing I just want to mention. In this time, people have become very hesitant to speak strongly about their feelings or passions or whatever because they are afraid to step on someones toes, hurt someones feelings, or don't want to be made fun of for their passion. That's kind of how I am. So this is me, sharing some of my feelings, beliefs, and passions, if you will. For those of you who have made it this far, thanks for reading. I don't know interesting this was, but now you have a little more insight into my mind :)

Worth vs. Worthiness

This semester I am taking SFL 100, which is "Strengthening Home and Family" and the main focus in the class is "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." Can I just say that I absolutely love this class? I love the teacher, I love the Spirit, and I love the readings. One thing we read for last class was our worth verses our worthiness. As beloved children of our Heavenly Father, we each have a divine nature. It has taken a long time to figure out what this actually meant to me, but I think I have an idea. In the Young Women Program, we would repeat a declaration stating that "we are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us." Our divine nature is that we are loved completely by our Father in Heaven, and being children of God, we have an inherent godliness within us. Along with having this divine nature, we also have an absolute worth. This means that no matter what we do, no matter how badly we screw up, whatever we do, we are still worth 100% to the Lord. He still loves us completely. There is absolutely nothing we can do to change our worth in the Lord's eyes.

Sadly, our worthiness and our self-esteem and the way others view us can change. Just because our worth doesn't change doesn't mean our worthiness doesn't. When we disobey, we lose the worthiness we would have otherwise had to receive blessings and participate in sacred activities, such as attend the temple. When our worthiness changes for the worse, often our self-esteem plummets with it as well. Many people tend to think that because they were disobedient, they aren't worth much. Or, if others think that we are worthless, we soon adopt this attitude ourselves. I know that I have most certainly felt worthless because of mistakes I've made, people that have put me down, and even from negative criticism of myself.

Until I read this, I didn't really understand the difference. I didn't realize that no matter what I do my worth can never change. For that knowledge, I am completely indebted to my teacher, this class, and the Lord. I wish there was some way that I could share this revelation with everyone in the world and help them to understand how amazing it is! I wish I could shout it from this hilltops because it truly is such a blessing to know. Just because I've messed up, doesn't mean that I am failure at life. Just because I've hurt people doesn't mean that I can never be loved again. I know that if I put my faith and trust in the Lord that I be worthy of the blessings that the Lord has to offer me.

Some Reflections on Life

There are lots of things from my past that I wish I could change. But of course, no one has the ability to change the past, and therefore, we must look onward to the future. That is not to say, however, that we should not learn from the past because that is completely untrue.

Today I read something that really impressed me. It was a friend's post about finding greatness within ourselves, the same way we did when we were children. When I was little I wanted to be the first female president. I was convinced that I was the smartest person in the world, and while I was quickly humbled on that, I now realize that even though it wasn't true, I wanted it to be true, and I would do whatever it took to be right. I would learn what I thought was important to know. I never thought less of myself until I started letting other people do my thinking for me. I allowed the judgments of others take control of who I was. Unfortunately, this led to learning a lot of things the hard way. I may not know exactly who I am yet, but I do know there are some things that are important enough to keep a firm grasp on, like the gospel, virtue, charity, self-worth, integrity, love, compassion.

If I have learned anything from these past few months, it's that life REALLY sucks sometimes. Sometimes life gets you so down, you just want to fall to the ground and never pick yourself up again. Sometimes things are so hard, you never think you could strong enough to get through it, let alone ever be happy again. But if that's true, then the opposite MUST be true. If life is really that bad sometimes, then it has to be THAT good sometimes. Recognizing the Lord's tender mercies, making a new friend, getting a good grade after working hard, getting an extra hour of sleep, getting the chance to visit with family and friends, feeling included in the best ward - all of these things can show us how good our lives are.

Sorry if this post is a little scatter-brained. I'm having a bit of a hard time organizing my thoughts. Today wasn't the best of days. But it was the last day of classes (although that was yesterday for me as I don't have any classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays), and our ward had a talent show which I got to participate in. I sang Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why." I did alright, except that I did mess up once. I forgot the words "My heart is drenched in wine," and I sang something more like "My heart is *mumble-something* time." It was actually kind of funny cause I made a weird face acknowledging that I had messed up, and people laughed, so it wasn't an awkward moment thank goodness. Court also performed a song. I've never heard it before, so I don't know if he just wrote it recently, but I had a feeling it had to do with me. It made me cry, it was a very beautiful song. His singing it made me miss him. I wanted to talk to him after, but he left too quickly. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to talk to me now anyways. In other news (possibly a bit more lighthearted) I met someone with two different color eyes tonight. His name is Andrew and one eye is green and the other is blue. It was pretty awesome. Well, that's all I really have for now.

Counting Your Blessings

A few weeks ago, I gave a talk in church about gratitude. These past few months, I've decided to really count my blessings. In my talk, I recounted a really awful weekend. At the end of that weekend, so much had gone wrong, and instead of being optimistic, I was really mad. I was upset at the guy I thought was my best friend, I was mad at my mom for making me drive my little brother down to EFY, which was 8 hours away, I was angry that there was so much in my life that was out of my control. As I started to look for things to be grateful for, I went back to that weekend, and started with every single thing I could think of that I could say "Thank you" for. Little things like getting there and back perfectly safe, not forgetting anything that wasn't replaceable, slightly bigger things like getting a pair of awesome glasses, and getting a little extra time to spend with my little brother, and really awesome things like spending time with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. After realizing my mistake, I apologized to my mom for how I had treated her. I didn't realize how awful I had been until after the fact. And isn't how that always is? I mean, I know that something I need to work on is being grateful for my trials WHILE I'm facing them. I know that if I can do this, not only will I come out of them a better person, but they will be that much easier to deal with and seem to go by much faster.
This season of Thanksgiving has actually not felt like Thanksgiving. It felt like a really short break from school. I guess it was hard for me because it was the first Thanksgiving that I had where I wasn't with my family the whole time. But I just want to take a few moments to share what I am thankful for. I hope that you all will forgive me for this list which, although it may be somewhat long, it will be nowhere near everything that I am actually thankful for just because there is so, so much. Here goes.

I'm so incredibly thankful for my mom, my dad, my three brothers, and my sister-in-law. I don't know where I would be without them. They all have done so, so much for me.
I'm thankful that my dad has let me stay at his house for the past few months, free of charge. I'm actually incredibly thankful for my dad. He has always been there for me. Whether it was for help studying for a test or just being there to listen, he has always been a great role model for me.
I'm thankful that my brother and his wife are letting me stay with them while I'm transitioning to a new place.
I'm thankful that I've always had a place to stay. Even though it hasn't always been the most convenient for those I have stayed with, I was always welcome with open arms.
I'm thankful for all of my friends. I can't believe that people actually want to be friends with me, but I don't know where I'd be in my life without them. Most of them don't know how much they've helped me out.
I'm so thankful for Kara, my best friend since 4th grade. I know that she's always there for me and that I can talk to her about anything. I'm so glad that I have a sister like her.
I'd go through and name all of the friends I'm thankful for, but there are so many, and I'm afraid I'd leave someone out. But please know that each of you has a very special place in my heart. My friends mean a lot to me because I know how lucky I am to have them.
I'm thankful that I get to attend such a wonderful university. I know how unbelievably lucky I am that I get to attend BYU.
For that matter, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm so grateful for the testimony I have of the Church and the amazing friends I've met as a result of being a member. I'm grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that without him, I would have no chance to return to my Father in Heaven, and for that I am forever indebted to him.
I'm so grateful for the Atonement and for my loving Savior. I grateful that I have a knowledge of what Christ did for me and that I have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven.
I'm thankful that I was born in this time period. I know that I was saved for this time for a special reason, and I'm so grateful that I am blessed with that knowledge.
I'm grateful that I get to live in this wonderful, free nation. I know that there are so many people in this world that live in oppression, and I know that I am extremely blessed to live in a country where freedom is a right we have.
I'm grateful for music. I'm so thankful that the Lord gave us the ability to produce something that can bring so much happiness, that can easily bring the spirit, that can lift my spirits when I'm having a bad day, and can make me smile even when I don't feel like it.
I'm thankful for the ward I've been placed in. This may seem a little insignificant, but I really feel like a part of a family there, and I love that everyone in it is so incredibly nice and outgoing. It was something I really needed. After living so long feeling like I didn't have a home anywhere, I feel at home in my ward, and that's a great feeling.
I'm grateful for my ability to make friends. I don't know how I would get along without that gift from God. In fact, I have no idea how I am able to do that, but some how the Lord knew that I needed that now more than ever.
I'm so thankful that I am loved.
I'm so so grateful for the scriptures and the amazing testimony of Christ and Heavenly Father that is in them.
I'm grateful for my ability to cry. I know that without all the sad and incredibly hard times, I wouldn't understand how wonderful it is to be happy and to laugh.
I'm try to be thankful for everything in my life. Even the little things like my aunt calling me and inviting me to Thanksgiving dinner with my family or my friends who will talk with me even when it's incredibly late. I know that I have so many blessings that my cup literally runneth over.

In short, I'd just like to mention how many I blessings I have. This list is a mere scratch upon the surface of all of the things I am grateful for and all of the blessings I have been given. In my talk, I mentioned how much the Lord does for us. I mean, think about it for just a moment. If the Lord can do all that for us, then can't we give a few moments of our day thanking him?

Homecoming 5K

October 24, 2009, I ran the BYU Homecoming 5K. It was my 3rd 5K, and I was able to improve my mile time significantly. Ok, so for those of you who don't know, in High School, my mile time was 9 minutes and 55 seconds. And I ran super hard. This 5K, my average mile time was 8 minutes and 29 seconds, making the total time 26 minutes and 24 seconds. Not bad, huh?

Other than that, I've been overloaded with school work, homework, work, trying to figure out my moving situation, my car situation, and other such fun stuff. My dad and brother are both moving out by the end of this month, leaving me homeless. So I am on the search of new housing, preferable in my ward. Tomorrow I'm going to go check out a house. Hopefully it'll work and not be too expensive cause right now, I'm a little bit on the poor side.

I don't know for sure when my next race is but I will probably at least do one or two this month. Keep checkin for updates :)