I can't tell you how excited I am about your suggestions! Thank you! Please, keep offering them. Feel free to add your suggestions to the comments on any current post.
I know I said you'd be hearing from my little sister today, but since I will be traveling all day next Sunday, her post has been switched to then.
We talked about The 13 Articles of Faith in church today. They are basically thirteen points of doctrine from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is not a complete list of the doctrine, but definitely key and interesting points.
As we were reviewing the 13th, it occurred to me that it is a perfect guideline to achieving abiding joy in life.
It states:
"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."
--Joseph Smith
I am spending time with family, so I'm going to keep this short and leave the majority of the discussion in your hands.
What parts of this stick out to you in your quest for joy?
For me, the entire thing is applicable, but what struck me today is the last part. Won't "anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" also be something that would bring joy to our lives? Sometimes I, unintentionally, seek after all things negative. Why? What a waste of all that life has to offer!
You know me, I could ramble on about the rest of this for quite sometime, but I'm anxious to hear what you have to say!
3 comments:
There's a saying I heard years ago that has stuck with me.
"God cannot steer a parked car."
In other words, we need to be doing, not just observing. I think making changes so that we are doing positive things makes a huge difference in our lives. We need to be moving forward. If God feels that we need to have our course turned slightly, he'll do it. But he can't move us in another direction if we aren't moving at all.
I read yesterday on a friend's blog about how she had spent time reflecting on all the good in her life. I loved it! It has made me reflect on the story of Mary and Martha in the bible. So many times we get busy doing things that we stop to enjoy things, both physically and spiritually. This has really hit home to me lately.
I get so caught up in the "doing" of trying to get ready to sell our house, etc. that I too easily forget about the "being" or enjoying of being a mom and spending good quality time with my kids. (It's kind of hard to do both at the same time right now for me).
I know I'm much happier when I work on seeking out the good things in life and moving forward to those things instead of dwelling on all the things that I can't do. Seeking for good is something I can do.
What stuck out to me is exactly what stuck out to you. Seeking after those goodly things definitely would make me happier. For me I just need to make those a priority in how I see my family and those around me. Am I looking for what is virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy in my children? Is that what I look for when I see my husband? Or my neighbor? Too often, I concentrate on what is bad in other people, and that really weighs me down. Looking for the good in others will probably help me to see it in myself too.
"in doing good to all men" is what impressed me this evening. I have been noticing how much good is being done to me. I have so many sweet examples of people who go around doing good to me and others. Sometimes I feel like I don't appreciate their acts of service as much as I should, or I don't let them know how much I appreciate them. Small things like a phone call or a compliment can be really big things because of how they make me feel. It seems like they are constantly looking for ways to do good. They uplift and inspire me to follow their example and do more good to others.
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