Exceedingly great joy.

I needed to share this thought that I had while I was studying for my Teachings and Doctrines of the Book of Mormon class this semester. 

We have two lessons each week, and this week's first lesson is all about Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life. There was a section where we were asked to ponder about the words that Lehi used to describe the tree and its fruit, and answer how these words teach me about God's love as shown through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ. I will now share the thoughts that I had:

Lehi's words:

* "I did go forth and partake of the fruit; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white..."

* "It filled my soul with exceedingly great joy."

    "Most sweet", "white", "exceedingly great joy". All of these terms give me the idea of the purest, sweetest, joyous things. The gospel, for one, but also what crossed my mind is newborn babies. They are so sweet, pure ("white"), and bring the greatest joy to all who see them. And how did God give us the gift of His Son? Through a sweet, pure, precious newborn babe, who brought exceedingly great joy to all.

I just wanted to share my sweet thought and new connection between the Tree of Life and Jesus Christ. Have a great week!

Xoxo
Mattie

My favourite Christmas gift.

I don't know about you, but my Christmas rocked! I received lots of new and nice things that I'm so grateful for, but my favourite gift—the one I'm most grateful for—is the gift of my Savior. His sacrifice for me—He didn't have to do it at all, but He chose to. Guys, He could have saved Himself; He could have showed His power to the nonbelievers, but He didn't. He wanted to sacrifice Himself because He loves us. Even when we don't deserve it—even when we are complete morons (because, let's face it—at some point, we all do something so incredibly stupid at least once), He still wanted to save us. He still wanted to give us the option to be able to either accept Him as our Savior, or to decline Him. If we decline His offer, we have to go through what He went through for us. I don't know about you, but I'm so grateful that He suffered for me so that I don't have to. It makes me sad that He had to suffer for every single person who's lived or will live on earth, but I'm so glad that I'm not alone. No person on earth has ever gone through exactly what I have, which makes it hard sometimes to sympathise or empathise, but He has been through it—completely and exactly the way that I have. And I'm so thankful for that. That means that I can turn to Him, and He will know exactly how to help me. I'm grateful that He and my Heavenly Father love me enough to give me a way out. Granted, it's not an easy way out—it does require a bit of work—but it's better than nothing. And I'm so thankful for the way out—sometimes I do something so bad or I lose my temper, but I know that I can be forgiven if I do it the right way—His way.