Closing Reflections

Following the personal revelation that I had a reason to come into Pathways allowed me to learn why I was meant to be there and. I am meant to be in Pathways so that I can learn how to strengthen my weaknesses and learn what my strengths actually are. Through the lessons I learned in Pathway this semester, I learned that I have the ability act on what the Spirit tells me and that doing so will bring happiness to others even if the prompting was very simple.

Having the opportunity to partake in secular and spiritual learning combined is something I have never done before this semester and it not only provides the opportunity to learn life skills that will be help my present and future development, it also allows me to learn by the Spirit and helps me to prepare for what is yet to come. I see every opportunity from God as a gift that He gives me because He trusts me to make the most of it and cherish it with all the energy and passion I have. The Spirit has communicated with me through small and simple means throughout the semester and because I learned how to listen to it better, I was able to listen, learn, and be given the ability to all that needed to be done in order to achieve success.

As it says in the talk 'The Spirit of Revelation', revelation is a gift that we are invited to receive. I believe we show God our acceptance of revelation by not only keeping it in our hearts, but by also recording it where we can go back and reflect upon it often. Every time I have received some sort of revelation or spiritual insight over the years, I have felt it necessary to write down not only for myself, but to also show God that I am willing to act on whatever He may ask me to act on when He asks me to do it. Trusting the Lord has brought me nothing but blessings.

Being able to partake in education that had both a secular and spiritual element to it was a comfort, as I was just recovering from a very difficult family situation and needed some direction in my life. I put a lot of prayer and thought into whether or not to pursue Pathway and have that as my focus and source of spiritual rejuvenation that I so desperately needed and things worked out in such an amazing way that I knew that this was the course for me.

Having time around people and beliefs that were identical to mine helped me to strengthen the love I have for Heavenly Father and Christ and also helped me to find a source of safety in something that is reliable and always will be, as God, Christ, and the gospel are eternal. I have learned the value of many things through my time in Pathways and also that I have great value to the Lord. God has constantly opened the way for me to be able to do my very best all that I have done in this course.

I have invested a great deal of time in the course thus far because I felt with all my heart that if I put forth a full effort and invested myself in this work, the Spirit of God would help me know how to do it well. The results of my decision to use my agency responsibly by putting a full effort into the course has helped me see the hand of the Lord more in my life and in the lives of my family. The course has helped me by giving me a deeper sense into my spirituality and I have been able to feel the Spirit easier and more often because of all that I have.

Closing Work For the Semester

Practice Test Attempt 1 - 1:18 to 2:04 - 10 wrong.
Practice Test Attempt # 2 - 94%

Reflections on all the lessons

1) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is when I heard Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 mentioned in the first gathering and how it basically says that it is by faith and by acting in faith that we become courageous enough to keep enduring the insanity of mortality. For me, acting in faith includes teaching and to teach, we must first learn and to learn, we must be willing to accept that we will eventually have to teach what we have learned in order to keep the knowledge in practice and to also learn how to better apply it in our own lives.  When it comes to free agency, there are two ways to use it; properly or improperly. It is IMPOSSIBLE to engage in a bad behavior or make a bad choice without hurting a person, as we ourselves are people and when the Spirit leaves us due to bad behaviors that are not repented of, the absence of that presence will surely come to cause us pain when we come to feel that loss.  It may take time for us to feel the absence of the Spirit when we lose it, but we will eventually feel that something is missing and the pain of loss will accompany the realization that something has been lost. The concept of acting in faith is the most important thing I want to remember from this lesson because it shows me that God believes enough in our potential that He provides us guidelines in which we can live a very spiritually safe, yet very productive life. We are given knowledge and the choice to learn it and by choosing to learn what the Lord invites us to learn, we are acting in faith. Another action of faith is actually putting into practice what God has to teach us even if we don't fully understand why His teachings are important. The commandments and standards God sets forth are not meant to restrain, but to protect us from things that would eventually kill our spirit after wearing us down. By making correct choices with our gift of free agency, however, we will not need to go through the grieving period that comes when the Spirit is lost and we acknowledge the loss as being real and has come as a result of our own bad behavior. Ultimately, it is by our choice as to whether or not we keep the Spirit with us and it is by our own choice when we lose the Spirit as to whether or not we utilize the Atonement to get the Spirit back into our lives. 2) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is that being a disciple means being someone who commits to a cause they feel is worthwhile, such as one serving in Christ's name, and doing so for the purpose of learning and growing is actually putting the concept of leadership with a small l into practice. Furthermore, leadership with a small l is loving and serving as the Savior did by reaching out and assisting others when they did not know something that I do know or cannot do something that I am good at. It is by using my God-given gifts that I can be a leader and a good example unto others. Remembering this concept is important to me because my confidence is shaky when it comes to communicating with other people effectively enough to be of a help when there were things that people needed help with. Each time I get the chance to practice talking to people and offer them help, my confidence grows and I can feel the Spirit giving me strength to keep on wanting to be of help to others.  3) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is how Doctrine and Covenants 130:18 says that God gives us different degrees of intelligence depending on the knowledge we accepted and when we accepted it. God gives us knowledge when we show him that we can use it in a spiritually responsible manner, thereby letting Him know that we are open and ready for any experiences or blessings He wants to give us. There are two reasons a person does something; desire to do it or the demand from someone else that it be done. We may not like heeding another person's request that something be done, such as learning, but if we accept the responsibility that comes with acquiescing to the demand, we will most likely learn much depending on the attitude we take into it and we could end up desiring to learn even more hereafter.  I want to remember the concept taught in Doctrine and Covenants 130:18 because it reminds me that although I have learned a great deal, there is still so much yet to learn and I need to actively cherish each piece of information that God gives me because who knows how long it will be mine for? We need to be very selective in what kind of influences we allow into our lives so that we can truly enjoy that which is good for as long as it is our to enjoy. I am very selective in not only my learning, but who I associate with. I feel strongly that the type of people you associate yourself with is the type of people you eventually emulate and the type of spirit you will come to adapt.  4) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the reading called 'Job Hunting According to Nephi' that was written by Edgar Tooley and how it talked about how it is necessary to be humble in order to seek the help of the Lord in whatever predicament we find ourselves in, as He knows what will be best for us and can guide us in that direction if we are willing to allow ourselves to be taught. If we are not teachable or humble enough to realize that we may not always know what is best, why would the Lord want to help us find our way? The Lord is willing to help us, but only if we want to be helped and we are humble enough to realize that we NEED His help and sometimes, the Lord will allow us to have experiences that will help us realize that we need His help and cannot do without it.  I want to remember this because I find it very fascinating that we are given so many opportunities to do better and we are also given the Atonement so that we can do more than just dare to dream. Because of the Atonement and the fact that we can let go of our sins and let God refine us, we can dare to act on seeking after our righteous desires. Yet, with all the opportunities we are given, the Lord doesn't just hand them to us; He invites us to go out and use our agency to pursue what we want and feel would be best for us even though it might not be the best thing in reality? Our choices make our reality and reality sometimes makes our choices for us, but we always have the Atonement to come home to if we come to find that we do not know what is best. 5) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the talk called 'The Three R's of Choice' by President Monson and it talked about how all choices have consequences, but all consequences have different levels of impact on the different people that are affected by the choice that is made. The right to choose refers to the free agency that we have and how free agency is a precious gift given to us by God that we might learn and grow according to our mandate of mortality. Along with Christ, Satan volunteered to perform the Atonement, but his motives were to rob people of their agency and to take the glory for a plan that was not his own; he wanted to be an eternal plagarist. Fortunately, Christ was chosen and we have our agency to do with what we will. The responsibility we have to make decisions refers to the obligation we have to choose whether or not to support good or evil in this continued war that is waging between good and evil. As much as we may want to remain neutral, neutrality will eventually turn into apathy and with apathy comes the loss of being able to choose for ourselves, for apathy is choosing not to care and with that, the loss of ability to care will soon follow. The results refer to the unavoidable fact that our choices have consequences and those consequences can either be very big or very little depending on our choice. Consequences to not just affect the one making a choice; they affect others connected to the chooser. While the Atonement is there and has paid for our sins to be taken away so that we aren't imprisoned by them anymore, we have to want the Atonement's help to be able to enable that payment that will save us. We need to be grateful for our agency and the chance we have to use it wisely.  I want to remember the three R's of choice because it reminds me that I need to be wise in all that I do, as everything I do will have an effect on something or someone. I can make a choice, but I cannot choose the consequence of my choice, so I need to be very aware of not only the choices available to me, but also of what the consequences are to those choices. 6)  The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the article called 'Child of Promise' written by who was then known as Elder Eyring. For as long as we are alive and can control our lives, time is ours and we choose what we do with it, but that it is also precious and we should treat it as such. It is not our mind, but our heart, that will help us to see the value of time for what it really is and help us to treat it like it is worth something to us. time is a property, a commodity, that we inherit from the Lord as part of our mortal experience and that we can use our agency to decide how we will use our time. We are ALL children of promise when we start out, but whether or not we remain such is up to us entirely. I want to remember this part of the lesson because I haven't always been wise with my time and have often found myself looking back and asking what could have been done differently. I know we are encouraged to not look back at the past because the past cannot be changed, but I can't help but wonder and I shouldn't dwell on what was, as I can only do something about what is and what can be. Now that I know the value of time, I can become better at using it wisely.
7)  The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the CES Devotional called "What Is Truth?" that was written by President Uchtdorf and it starts off by saying that we are the future of the Church, which is both awesome and slightly intimidating, as it is hard enough being a good child of God sometimes and we'd fail at that if it weren't for the Atonement. We learn about the truth of the Atonement when we mess up in life and need to utilize it in order to get back on the straight and narrow path, as it helps remove the burden we feel from messing up and when that burden is off our shoulders by our choice, we feel a sense of liberty. I want to remember this because I see many people and other sources proclaim to have the truth, yet the others who make such a claim are not often open-minded to learning anything from others, as they are afraid that new information will collapse what they know to be true. It is fascinating to watch others cling to truths simply because it is all they know even if the truths have been disproven; they are afraid that if they let go of what they know, they will have nothing. 8) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the talk by Marion G. Romney titled 'The Nature of Self-Reliance' and how it talked about how man is free to choose their way and that includes choosing to be self-reliant, as we are all invited to find our own way in mortality and how can we do that if we don't know how to care for ourselves and meet the needs that will come during our journey through mortality? We need to learn how to and actively take care of ourselves so that we can be in a position to care for others through the stewardships we will be given in the Church and also in our own families of creation. Even if we cannot work for whatever reason and must be on assistance, we still should do things for others and/or the community, such as volunteer work, to show our gratitude for what we have been given. I want to remember the talk because man is truly free to choose what they will become, but nobody can truly choose what they can become without first learning to take care of themselves. Knowing and practicing the concept of self-reliance helps people to believe in themselves enough to create goals and future aspirations. When people know how to take care of themselves, they believe that they can accomplish greater by helping others through sharing what they have learned. 9) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is how Moses 1:39 talks about that God's work and God's glory is to give us the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation so that we might have immortality and eternal life. In order to do God's work, we have to be in a position where we can feel the spirit and that requires us to realize that we first need the Atonement for ourselves before we can share the knowledge of it with others. Along with the Lord's work, however, we are faced with doing temporal work that is expected of man on a daily basis in order to survive temporally. For six days, we do this work, but on the seventh day, we are commanded to rest and engage in things that will rejuvenate our body and Spirit. The Sabbath, which is Sunday, is for resting from the work we do the other six days and without taking rest from our labors, we become overwhelmed and unable to function either temporally or spiritually. The Lord is very aware of the fact that we have both temporal and spiritual responsibilities, as we are given such responsibilities to test and try us that we might be able to become perfect by the personal that these opportunities do for us. The Lord gives us gifts and abilities in which we can do His great work and the work we are meant to do to glorify Him and our journey of growth. I want to remember this part of the lesson because we are truly the beauty of the Lord and when we work for good, we become more beautiful and more like Him. To neglect our responsibilities in favor of making ourselves comfortable and remain in our comfort zone, we exhibit both frailty and foolishness because we are not trusting the Lord to guide us as He has promised. We also exhibit frailty and foolishness when we try to go beyond our abilities without the help and instruction of the Lord, as we are trying to test God and His admonition that there is a proper season and path for everyone. We need to trust in God and work with what we has given us, as He will help us to make the most of what we have been given so long as we are willing to push forward in faith with our best efforts. If we do not try our best, however, and use what we have to do what we can for the Lord, for ourselves, and for others, we are cheating ourselves out of opportunities that will help us grow and also blessings that we can receive for trusting the hand of the Lord to uplift our lives. The Lord is willing to help us if we ask, but He cannot and will not force us to take help that we are not motivated to ask for. If we do not ask of God, we will not receive. If we ask of God, we will receive 10) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the talk 'Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts' by Elder Wirthlin and how it talked about how we needed to be wise when dealing with both. Being able to survive in mortality sometimes requires that people go into debt in order to gain what they need to build themselves a safe and comfortable living while alive, but there is a fine line between safe and comfortable. Safe living may be very simple, but not provide all the comforts one wishes to have. Comfortable living may provide everything that is wished for, but may not necessarily be spiritually or temporally safe. Debt is bondage and why would we want to go into unnecessary earthly debts when we are already in debt to our Savior, Jesus Christ, because of how He saved us through the sacrifice of His blood and life? I want to remember the talk because I believe that experiencing and possessing something doesn't mean we have to go into debt, but we can find a way to budget simple pleasures into monthly expenses as long as we take care of our spiritual and temporal expenses first. For the needs have to come before the wants in order to be successful in not only surviving what life will throw at us, but also thriving at the delicate art of surviving in mortality. We shouldn't spend on that which has no value to us, but we should remember that we are of great value to God and Jesus Christ and that is why Christ spent his blood and life to buy us out of the darkness where mankind had resided since the Fall. 11) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is The Family: A Proclamation to the World and how it says that we were all created in the image of Heavenly Father and whatever gender we were born to be has a purpose and is a divine characteristic of who we are and who we can become. God gave us bodies so we could do all we needed to in mortality not only for ourselves, but also for the families of creation we all will have the opportunity to make and keep with us for eternity should we choose to. God doesn't and will never condone neglect or abuse of the responsibilities that come with being a spouse and a parent. He will also not condone postponing either responsibility for the sake of convenience and comfort. We will ALL stand accountable before God someday, so we had better make the most of the time that we have and live in a way that we can be proud of. I want to remember the Proclamation because I find it a big relief that God is very aware that His values and the values of the world are polar opposites of each other and if He doesn't provide ways for His children to stand up for what they hold dear to their hearts, they will crack under pressure and stray from Him. I find it amazing that even in 1995, the world's values were still somewhat aligned with the values of the Lord, but there were certain things that they didn't agree on and God knew that chasm would only grow as the world began to view God as more of a hindrance than a guidance to the progression of man. God is aware of how man and Satan are both trying to destroy Him and the values He holds near and dear to His heart by attacking His children.  12) The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson my feelings from reading "An Attitude of Gratitude," by President Monson. We really need to take time in our daily lives, no matter how busy we might get, to think about the Savior and how much He gave us that we might be able to live and learn to our fullest potential and that we don't have to focus on our sins because He bought them off of us and took the penalty required for them, something only one of a perfect life could do. We need to show gratitude for Christ's act of healing and grace by living the best lives we can live.  I want to remember this concept because it is my firm belief that anyone, no matter what their circumstances, can show gratitude for what they have and what they have been given. Everyone shows gratitude in different ways, but the important thing is that gratitude is shown swiftly and properly. We show gratitude to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all that they have given us simply by serving those in need and by living the best possible lives that we can, using our agency properly and repenting when we don't. there are people in need all around us and with that, there are ample opportunities for us to serve and fulfill those needs. There is opportunity to show love for others every day and serve others to truly show that love and lose our daily concerns and worries in the love that we can show through our service and feel as a result of doing service. Intent is nice, but it dies unless action follows it even if the action is but a simple gesture of love.  Flow As far as the flow of the course topics go, everything stems back to the concept of lifelong learning and how learning never even really stops when mortality ends, there is just a different kind of learning to do after death. In terms of learning and keeping the knowledge in practice, we are the ones who are the barriers to our own success simply because we allow fear to overrule our faith and the faith that the Lord has in us to accomplish something He asks us to do. If The Lord has faith in us, we need to stop lacking faith in ourselves and know that the Lord will provide us a way to accomplish what He asks of us. we are given both knowledge and opportunities to help us learn and grow. People automatically think they will screw up, so they do not even bother to try and end up surrendering any opportunities to learn simply because they were scared of failure. If we make a safe environment for the Spirit by engaging in positive and uplifting activities that motivate us to do good and live well, the Spirit will want to be with us so we can become even better at living well. In turn, the Spirit will help us be successful at continued learning. Ponder When it came to interacting with others in order to learn more, I found it very interesting that people have so many different thoughts on the same topic and that everyone's personal experiences contributed to their perspective on things. I worked alongside people both in person and online and getting to know someone you might never see is like getting to know God and Jesus Christ, but we know we will see them in due so long as we do what needs to be done spiritually.  Effective Learning I now know that there are more ways to study and absorb information than before I took this course and that every little opportunity to gain information can have value somewhere at some point in our lives. Because of all the work I had to do on my own and with others, I am now not afraid to try new things that might come forth in my life so long as they do not compromise my standards. I have always believed that it is better to fail having tried your best than to having never tried and cheated yourself out of an opportunity to learn and grow.  Self-Reliance I am more self-reliant now in that I am able to take more of an initiative when it comes to putting myself out there and getting to know people who could be potential friends or more than friends. I really want to learn how to socialize better in group settings, as that is a weakness of mine with the disability that I have, because I need to learn social skills in order to successfully navigate friendships and any potential relationships that might come to pass. Pathways has enabled me to have confidence in myself and in the fact that I am so loved by God and Jesus Christ that He has and continues to bless me with opportunities to grow. Additionally, Pathway gatherings and the institute class beforehand, plus attending church and any church-related activities, have helped me to become more comfortable in social settings and the group activities are helping me to become more comfortable with talking to people. Service As a result of Pathway, I find myself wanting to give more of myself than I used and I feel okay enough to do that because I have learned that even my love will uplift another in need. Any time I can spend with my family is precious to me and it is also precious to them, as we are all being proactive in the process of healing the damage caused to our family by my dad when he was alive and drinking heavily. I am grateful for the help and support I have gotten from my family while going through Pathway and their support helps me immensely. In terms of service to my church and community, I see that there are people in need all around me every day and with that, there are ample opportunities for me to serve and fulfill the need of others. There is opportunity for me to show love for others every day and serve others to truly show that love and lose my own concerns and worries in the love that I can show through our service.

Concepts

The concepts I will continue to apply to my life after the semester ends are lifelong learning, family relationships, and giving back because I firmly believe that those concepts, as well as the other concepts I have learned this semester, are essential to the success I will have making the most of the opportunities I have and the ones that the Lord has yet to give me. The Lord will not abandon us when we strive to do his work in a righteous frame of mind and I believe that to be true for myself; as long as I continue to try, God will help me. I have found myself thinking deeply about the Savior and how much He gave me that I might be able to live and learn to my fullest potential and that I don't have to focus on my sins because He bought them off of me and took the penalty required for them, something only one of a perfect life could do. I strive on a daily basis and need to continue to show gratitude for Christ's act of healing and grace by living the best lives we can live.

Final Exam

Started at 1:48 p.m.and ended at 1:58. I got all of them right! 100%

Lesson 12: Teach a Friend & Learning Report

I taught Lesson 12 to my mother while we were doing our laundry at the laundromat and following a prayer, I asked Mom what she thought the word salty meant, as the same question was asked of us during this week's gathering. I then asked what charity meant to her and how she would explain it to another who didn't know the meaning of it.

Mom said that she thought the word salty meant spicy and she would explain the meaning of salt as being kind of bitter, yet an addition of flavor. She said salt is used to preserve things.

I then asked Mom what the word charity meant to her and I also asked her how she would explain the meaning of the word to someone who didn't know what it meant.

Mom said that to her, charity means the pure love of Christ. She said she would explain the meaning to another by saying that charity is giving of yourself or your resources for the betterment of other people.

From there, I asked Mom to share when she has received charity and when she has been the giver of charity. Mom said that the most recent instance in which she received charity when my father was sick with his cancer and after he died, as a lot of tender mercies came into her life. As far as giving charity, Mom said that she has been the most charitable when she has been of service to her fellow man through service projects such as helping feed people at the seniors center on Christmas Days in the past and volunteering at the Honored Guest Party in Raymond for many years. She said that giving service and charity gives her a great deal of self-satisfaction.

I then asked Mom what we can become more charitable at as children of God? She said that we can be more charitable at giving of our time, as anyone can be charitable with their finances, but it is so much more difficult to be charitable with our time.

From that point, I asked Mom how the hand of the Lord has touched her life and the life of her family, inviting her to get as personal as she wished or just give a simple answer if she felt more comfortable doing that. Mom said that we might not ever have extra money, but we seem to always have enough because we show our faith by paying tithing.

In conclusion, I asked Mom what the Lord has done for her throughout the week and again invited her to get as personal as she felt comfortable doing with the subject. Mom said that when she had anxiety issues and problems doing tests and other work at school, she would immediately go to her email and look through her LDS Daily Messages to have the Spirit help keep her calm. She and I also prayed continually for her that she would pass her school lessons and all the tests. Mom concluded by saying that ever day she can open her eyes and be healthy enough to do what she needs to, she is very grateful for the knowledge that the Lord is there and giving her blessings as she presses forward.

Learning Report
In terms of the goal I set for the relationship between my brother and I, we managed to have a couple of brief conversations in passing, as we ran into each other while I was downtown and he was on his lunch hour from work. We always ended the conversations by saying how we loved each other and giving each other a hug, so I think that goal was accomplished. I also offered to take him to a movie sometime, but he was busy during the time I wanted to go.

In terms of the goal I set for my mother, I did whatever housework and errands needed to be done after taking care of my own school work so that Mom could stay late to finish all of her school work. She was busy trying to finish a test during the week and was very exhausted and in need of relaxation by the time she got home this week, so we haven't yet done any practice typing tests as of yet. However, we have made an effort to spend time together and I fully intend to help her with her typing through practice tests this week.

The challenge in terms of both my mother and my brother was just seeing them for more than a few moments during the day because we are all so busy right now with school and work. However, when we did see each other, we made the most of the small amount of time that we had and always took the time to say 'I love you,' to each other. Any time I can spend with my family is precious to me and it is also precious to them, as we are all being proactive in the process of healing the damage caused to our family by my dad when he was alive and drinking heavily.

The most important thing I did today was spend time with my family, which is refreshing because there is not much opportunity to do so during the week. I went grocery shopping with my mom and my brother and we got food from a drive-thru before returning back to our respective houses. I know that some families may not look at grocery shopping, driving around, and getting food from a drive-thru as spending quality time together. Since, however, we are all currently very busy during the week, I enjoy any time my family can spend together however we can be together.

The most important thing I want to remember from this lesson is the talk 'What Have I Done for Someone Today?' by Thomas S. Monson and it talked about how there are people in need all around us and with that, there are ample opportunities for us to serve and fulfill those needs. There is opportunity to show love for others every day and serve others to truly show that love and lose our daily concerns and worries in the love that we can show through our service and feel as a result of doing service. Intent is nice, but it dies unless action follows it even if the action is but a simple gesture of love. The Lord will not abandon us when we strive to do his work in a righteous frame of mind. By being prepared to teach others, we shall be given the opportunity to do so as long as we strive to do it righteously.We really need to take time in our daily lives, no matter how busy we might get, to think about the Savior and how much He gave us that we might be able to live and learn to our fullest potential and that we don't have to focus on our sins because He bought them off of us and took the penalty required for them, something only one of a perfect life could do. We need to show gratitude for Christ's act of healing and grace by living the best lives we can live.

Application Activity

The first talk I chose to study was 'Unselfish Service' by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve and it interested me because I strive to give whatever service I can to those who are in need of it and in want of my help. 

From this section, I learned that I often deny myself small pleasures to make sure that more important things or people are taken care of and have their needs met whether I sacrifice my time or just things I want to do or have in order to meet the needs of others. Throughout my life, I have noticed that I have this natural affinity to want to help others and I strive to do what I can for others even if others do not believe I can be of much help. Some of the most significant service I have done is that which benefits others close to me whether it be in life or on the other side of the veil.

The principle of unselfish service applies to me because I was given the opportunity to live that principle not only during my mission, but also in a very major experience that happened almost immediately after I was done my mission. After my mission was finished in April of 2014, I felt the Spirit telling me to go live with my family again and I did so even though I did not understand why the Spirit would send me back to such difficult circumstances, as my father's choice to drink was making life hard for them. However, I did give up the relative comfort and safety that I had gained in Lethbridge and humbly went back to Raymond, determined to seek God's help in enduring all things well. The reason for my needed return became apparent at the end of July 2014 when my dad ended up being diagnosed with a rare cancer that was in an untreatable stage.

Shortly after returning from my mission, I was called to serve in the temple and assist with proxy sealings and that opportunity to serve those who could not help themselves gave me a chance to understand the Atonement and Plan of Salvation better while I was preparing to bid my father farewell from the confines of mortality. The whole experience really told me that God cares about what happens to all of His children and He will ensure that they are taken care of even if He can only do so in the next life.

Changes I will make as a result of this talk are realizing that service is ALWAYS needing to be done and that I can't always have the idea that if I don't do it, someone else will take the time to make sure it gets taken care of. I need to need to have the frame of mind that what if I am the one who is supposed to be the service giver and the receiver of blessings that will come as a result of my service? As a result of the experience with my dad and being led home by the Spirit two months before, I have learned that life is too short for what-ifs and regrets, so when we are prompted to act, we should act right away and however we are prompted to act and the Lord will show us the reason why. 

My second selection was the talk 'If Thou Endure It Well,' by Marvin J. Ashton.

From this talk, I learned that trials happen at every point in our lives and that there is at least a part of us that asks why and how we ended up being deserving of such a thing. We wonder how we have angered the Lord or if we are being punished for some unknown sin. In actuality, however, we are experiencing trials as a test of our faith and also being prepared to receive great blessings unless we have actually made a bad decision and not repented of it, as a trial from that would most likely be a consequence of a poor choice. 

 

Mortality is one giant trial and also having smaller trials to deal with may prove overwhelming. We may end up becoming bitter and frustrated at the Lord even though we know He will help us to endure whatever trials test our faith or serve as a consequence of a poor choice. Trials give us strength and courage to resist adversity and we can become like Christ by embracing strength and courage through trials as Christ did. We are not better than Christ and we can only become better by His love and by continually utilizing the Atonement.

Changes I will make as a result of this talk are just focusing on the fact that the Lord is preparing blessings for me as I continue to endure and I just need to be more patient than I am. Sometimes, I get very frustrated that I haven't received as many blessings as I would like to have as a reward for all that I have endured and I shouldn't, as trials will only be but a small moment and promised blessings will last forever. I will also become more aware of the fact that God is already merciful towards me, as He gave me the Atonement so that I could release my sins to Him and have opportunity to grow through the many experiences He has and will give me. I also will strive to remember that even though life can be very hard sometimes, there is much more to be gained than lost by listening to what the Spirit has to say and acting accordingly in a faithful and prompt manner. I also need to get better at remembering that I need to continually push forward, as if I just stand still and let life pass me by, I am only allowing myself to regress into a fallen shell.

The third talk I chose to read was 'The Merciful Obtain Mercy' by President Deiter F. Uchtdorf.

From this talk, I learned that if we are kind to others who offend us and forgive them even if we don't think they deserve it, we will invite the Spirit to be with us and find it easier to find and accept forgiveness for our own imperfections and bad choices that we repent of. Being unforgiving is like eating poison and allowing it to kill us.

When we feel God's love and truly understand that it is for us, we are more likely to want to share that love with others and do all we can to show our love of Christ. When we truly understand our value to God and Christ, we can understand how important it is to cherish what they teach by cherishing the virtue that will help us to get and keep the Spirit of God with us. Bitterness over how others live their lives and what they may have over what we have does no good and repels the Spirit, so when we focus on what we don't have instead of on our blessings, we choose to isolate ourselves from blessings.

Satan wants us to focus on comparing what we don't have to what others may have so we develop a resentment that will stop us from seeing that they are also a child of God. When resentment is allowed to grow and fester like an untreated cancer, people lose themselves to blinding anger and quite often will do things to others that will have great, often very serious consequences that could follow them through life and even into eternity. Anger and resentment can be the cancer of the Spirit and eventually kill it unless the Atonement is remembered and provides a calming influence before action is taken in the name of anger that cannot be taken back. 

 

Based upon my learning experience with the third talk, I will learn to let go of the feeling of being offended quicker than I do and simply forgive my offenders quicker so that I can move on. I can choose to be offended and I can also choose to move on through letting go and forgiving quickly when others offend me. Being willing to let go, let God, and let myself move forward will allow me to benefit from the process of conversion that comes along with utilizing the Atonement to its fullness. I will make a better effort to be at peace with myself and how I life my life and love myself enough to have the Spirit so that it guide me to help others when the opportunity arises to do so. Though I may have difficult experiences with others and find it difficult to forgive, I need to let go of our grievances and let Christ heal us through the Atonement. It is an earnest goal of mine to let go and let God a lot quicker than I do when someone offends me.

I have a disability that often requires me to put in a great deal of effort in order to accomplish things where others may have to put in very little or no effort to accomplish the same tasks. When others put very little if any effort into something and expect to get by or be rewarded on barely any work while I work hard and it produces a smaller result, I often become upset that I work so hard and yet gain so little from it. Seeing others put very little effort into things and then get heaps of praise for great accomplishments that they didn't appear to work very hard for makes me frustrated because I put so much work into everything I do and don't often feel like I get enough praise for my efforts.

I need to remember that the Lord applauds the best effort that people put forth whether it be a very little effort or a very great effort. The Lord looks at the heart of a person and if their heart's intent is to succeed without much effort, they will only end up hurting themselves in the long run because while the Lord looks kindly upon all efforts and the intent of people's hearts, life is not so kind to those who have not only never learned how to give an honest effort, but have also never tried to apply it.

Many prophets go and have gone by the belief that an honest day's work leads to an honest day's pay and that is also true in terms of efforts people put into living their lives; if they don't put in the work, the benefits are sparse. I see many around me who do little with their lives and expect to do great things based on their name or other factors in which they may see themselves as deserving of such honors, but I don't need to worry about the efforts of other people as much as I do. I need to focus on myself and I will make a better effort to focus on what I am doing with my time and what kind of effort I am putting into things. If I give of my best self, the Lord will surely bless me according to what is His will at the time.

Discussion Board Responses

To give back doesn't always require the help of the almighty dollar, it can simply mean a donation of time and talents to bring joy to others. Something as simple as volunteering and helping others who are in need of it can be a way to give back and show gratitude for all of the help that God and Jesus Christ have given us. We do not need to wait until we have money to give back, we can give as the widow did with her mite and simply give of what we have that others might have joy from our acts of love.

Time is the most valuable resource we have and the one that we seem to have the most trouble using wisely, but we shouldn't look down on ourselves or others over that. Admitting that we have a trouble managing time and making a strong effort to improve upon our use of time is admitting that we are teachable about how to invest it rather than waste it. Even if all we can do is give small portions of our time to serving others, the Lord will bless us and enable us to have time for what is important to us.

We may not all have access to unlimited money, but we can do good with what we have been given and appreciate enough to use. The scriptures clearly say that all of us are given gifts and talents and we are also given the choice to do what we will with them. We do not need copious amounts of money to give of our time and talents to make the lives of others less of a burden, we just need the desire and courage to step outside of our comfort zones and turn our weaknesses into strengths by using them for the betterment of others. The Atonement has given us the ability to walk away from our sins, but it is us and us alone who chooses where we will walk to or if we will walk away from our sins at all. When free of our sins, we can find and us our gifts for good if we believe in ourselves enough to act in faith.

Lesson 12

This lesson is about giving back and anyone, no matter what their circumstances, can show gratitude for what they have and what they have been given. Everyone shows gratitude in different ways, but the important thing is that gratitude is shown swiftly and properly. We show gratitude to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all that they have given us simply by serving those in need and by living the best possible lives that we can, using our agency properly and repenting when we don't.

I first read a bit from a talk by President Hinckley called "The Perpetual Emigration Fund," and it talked about how, during the emigration of the Saints, that a fund was set up to finance emigration from overseas so that the Saints could gather to Zion as they so desired. When the Saints were able to repay the money loaned to them, they did and that which was repaid was used to make emigration for other Saints an actual reality, much more than a mere possibility. I am sure that a great deal of organization and sacrifice were made in order to make such a feat possible and many generations have benefited because of the faith of their ancestors to make such an unpredictable journey.

I then read a quote by President Monson about how we all do our best to get through life and how we should do our best to not only live, but help others. I then watched a Mormon Message called "Lessons I Learned As a Boy," by President Hinckley and in it, he reminisced about his childhood and how his father and a friend decided to leave money in a poor man's shoes instead of hiding them and see how the man would react. The man was surprised and very grateful to find the two silver dollars and was overcome with gratitude. He gave a prayer of gratitude because he could now help his sick wife by being able to feed their children. The two boys were overcome with good feelings for performing their act of service.

 A quote on gratitude by President Monson followed, as did reading the April 1992 General Conference address given by Thomas S. Monson entitled, “An Attitude of Gratitude." We really need to take time in our daily lives, no matter how busy we might get, to think about the Savior and how much He gave us that we might be able to live and learn to our fullest potential and that we don't have to focus on our sins because He bought them off of us and took the penalty required for them, something only one of a perfect life could do. We need to show gratitude for Christ's act of healing and grace by living the best lives we can live. 

Along with being grateful for the Savior, we also need to be grateful for:
-Mothers: We need to behold them and cherish what they do for us on a daily basis.
-Fathers: We need to know and cherish the sacrifices they make for our comfort.
-Teachers: They take time to teach us and help us to learn what will benefit us.
-Friends: They stay by our side in good times and bad and love us for who we are.
-Country: We were born there for a reason and the Lord will watch over us.
-Jesus Christ: He died for us that we might live now and in the hereafter.

I then read a devotional address called
"Drenched in Gratitude: Protection Against the Spirit of Entitlement" by Elder Kim B. Clark and it talked about how like physical poison can cause great damage to the body, spiritual poisons can cause great damage if allowed to grow and fester. The Spirit of entitlement is a fallible belief that we are entitled to rewards even if we do not put in the full effort required to gain the reward. We need to work for our rewards, not just assume we can take them with minimal effort and expect that our status, name, or other things will make up for our lack of effort. Our effort teaches us things and we will not learn if we are simply handed things without learning about them, as being handed things teaches us that ignorance is acceptable when it really isn't. Our name, worldly status, or anything else will not entitle us to special treatment in a lot of things, if anything, and we must work for the reward we want.

Fortunately, the Savior has provided remedies for this sickness of self-entitlement:
-Prayer
-The Sacrament
-The Temple

Doctrine and Covenants 88:77-81 talks about how we need to teach others by the Spirit of God by first having it within us and we shall be blessed with the ability to share what needs to be shared however it needs to be shared, for the Lord will not abandon us when we strive to do his work in a righteous frame of mind. By being prepared to teach others, we shall be given the opportunity to do so as long as we strive to do it righteously.

 I then watched a Mormon Message called 'Sharing the Light of Christ.'

I then watched a Mormon Message called '“Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?” by President Thomas S. Monson.

 I then turned my attention to the
“We Can All Help,” section of the Helping Others page on the Mormon.org website and studied it carefully.

I then read a talk called What Have I Done for Someone Today? by Thomas S. Monson and it talked about how there are people in need all around us and with that, there are ample opportunities for us to serve and fulfill those needs. There is opportunity to show love for others every day and serve others to truly show that love and lose our daily concerns and worries in the love that we can show through our service and feel as a result of doing service. Intent is nice, but it dies unless action follows it even if the action is but a simple gesture of love. 

I then took the test and got 18/18 - 100% and I am so grateful for the Spirit's guidance!

 Discussion Board Post
 When we perform service and someone gives thanks for our efforts, the gratitude gives the giver self-confidence and a belief that they are capable of helping others. When someone has confidence in their ability to serve, that attitude of hope and faith invites the Spirit to come into their heart and prompts further opportunities to not only give and receive service, but also to teach about service. When we give service, we often receive gratitude that gives us confidence to keep serving according to our own love for others and also by the promptings of the Spirit. When we receive service, we are reminded that the Spirit gives us strength to be an instrument in the Lord's hand and that we also have the right and privilege of receiving blessings by others whom the Lord has called to meet our needs. Receiving service also reminds us to have humility and gratitude for the giver, the Spirit of the Lord, and the fact that God knows our needs and will do whatever He can to meet them, most often doing so through others. Giving and receiving service often makes us aware that not everyone knows about service and that as givers and receivers, the best thing we can do to say thank you for the Lord blessing us with such abilities is to bless others by teaching them how to give, receive, and teach service not only to benefit them with useful knowledge they can use, but to also pass on the love we have been given. We are all given strength and ability to lift others through the Atonement of Jesus Christ enabling us to look beyond our own imperfections and to waste such opportunity would be to deny ourselves much needed blessings.
 

 O Remember, Remember.
"Have I seen the hand of the Lord in my life today?'

  What extraordinary things can be found in ordinary living if we just take the time to be in tune with our feelings, our emotions, and with the Spirit?