Putting aside finals week, however, I am so happy and excited! I'm going home at the end of the week, and I've got some things I'm working on and it's going to be great! No overthinking on my part. When I was planning it there was some overthinking but I'm past that stage now. :)
I'm grateful for church today! I felt a lot of peace today, which is great. :)
The sacrament hymn today inspired the thoughts I had during the sacrament today–not that it normally doesn't, but today I was just able to pick a certain thought from it:
In the sacrament hymn "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth", the line "Once forsaken, left alone" really stood out to me today. Heavenly Father had to leave His Son alone because He could not bear to watch Him suffer. Because of that, Jesus Christ knows exactly how it feels to be utterly and completely alone. And He will never leave you alone, or comfortless. He was born to save us, and He lived and died to save us all, so of course He will be there for us. That is why He is our Savior–so that He can be there for us when no one else will be. I know that He is always there when you feel like no one else is. He is there.One of the things that was said in sacrament meeting today was something that I loved and had never thought of before: "Peace and joy are nearness to God." As we come to Him, and approach Him, we will be able to feel peace and joy. I loved that. Another thing that was mentioned was that God receives His glories when we grow spiritually. I liked that–as we do good deeds, we are glorifying God.
In Gospel Principles we talked about love. A few things that we said what we thought love was were:
-Sacrifice/Selflessness/Putting someone else's needs before yours
-Love can be pain
-Love is time
We also noted that people feel love in different ways.
Andrew asked if we could love someone we don't know. A couple things we talked about were:
-Through God, you can love everyone. Because God loves everyone, if you love God, you can love everyone through your love of God.
-We also talked about how even though it might be tough at first, as you show love for someone you don't know–as you proceed as if you love them–you can learn to love them. It's like with faith–sometimes you don't have enough faith to do something, but if you proceed as if you have the faith, you will grow in that faith. If you proceed as if you have the love for that person, you will grow in that love and will come to love them.
In Relief Society, we talked about following the example of Jesus Christ.
First we talked about what some things that go into creating a Christlike life:
-Love
-Sense of purpose
-Awareness (for others)
-Obedience
There are many more things, but these are some of the core things that Jesus Christ exemplified in His ministry on earth.
We then talked about how to develop Christlike attributes. First and foremost, you have to work on one thing at a time. It will be easier for you and less stressful. Second, read the scriptures. Sometimes we know that we need to work on things, but we don't know what to work on. By reading the scriptures, you can find some more examples of Christlike attributes and also things that you need to be working on. Remember to see yourself as He sees you, and as you know He sees others. You are His, too, and He loves you and knows your worth.
Then we discussed Jesus Christ's example. He set the perfect example. "What a marvelous example for us to follow! Even in the midst of great personal sorrow and pain, our Exemplar reached out to bless others. … His was not a life focused on the things he did not have. It was a life of reaching out in service to others." (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Howard W. Hunter, pg 308). I'm not perfect–oftentimes there are things that I want but don't have–but one thing that I do know and love and try to do always is serve others. I love serving others in whatever way I can. In serving and making their lives easier, my problems seem to go away. Even if it's a little out-of-my-way, I will drop everything if someone needs me.
The last question that was asked that was more of a thinking question was, "What will you give up to make room for the Savior?" I loved that question because there are many things that I can give up to make room for my Savior. I'm working on that but I thought that it was a nice question to share so you guys could think about that.
I'm grateful for my Savior, and for His presence in my life. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to grow to become more like Him. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to serve and make my family and friends' lives easier (also the occasional stranger). I'm grateful for the strengths I have, and I'm grateful for the weaknesses I have which enable me to develop more strengths. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father and for His love and guidance. I'm grateful for the Christmas season, and the chance that I have to think about and focus on the life of my Savior, and how I can be better about becoming more like Him. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to find and have peace and joy. I know that as you go out of your way to serve others that you will be blessed. I know that as you come to love those around you, you will be able to love more fully and service will become easier for you. I know that as you turn to your Heavenly Father, not only will you find peace and joy, He will help you turn weaknesses into strengths, and He will help you know what you need to do to change into who He needs you to be. He loves you and knows the sacrifices you make. You will blessed for putting the needs of others above your own.
For those of you in school (learning or teaching), I wish you a (hopefully) relaxing last week of school before Christmas break! For those not, lucky you! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful holiday season. 💕
Xoxo
Mattie
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