do you ever leave your spirituality and testimony sitting in a corner?
a dark corner?
well, i do that. more than i should. i get so busy with life and things consume my thoughts, and slowly my spiritual insight and the aspects of the gospel slip away into the corner of forgotten, yet important things. however, God doesn't let me continue with this for too long. there He is, without fail, giving me the push in the right direction, and i'm on the right path once again. Striving for eternal happiness is never too hard.
I was talking with my roommate, melanie about how living a gospel-centered life is so easy, yet it appears to be so hard. simple things like taking institute and reading the scriptures every day; praying, having faith, searching for missionary experiences...all those things will lead to eternal growth and progression. but i wonder: why are these things so hard to accomplish at times? why do i feel like i would rather roll over and finish my episode of 30 Rock than read a chapter of D&C?
Answer: the devil.
I know, I know, it's kind of blunt to come out and say it, but it's true! Big shocker. The devil knows us extremely well. Better than we know ourselves. When he sees our testimonies slipping into that dark corner, he slips his hand around them and pulls them even further into the dark. He clouds our mind with seemingly ordinary and harmless things like, watching TV, worrying about the future, and even finding the "right" person, so we forget about the damage being done to our spirituality.
Luckily, God knows us better than Satan does. Thank heavens for that! God will see us becoming numb to the temptations and do His best to get us focused--but only if we let him. That's the biggest thing: we have to be willing to come back to God and concentrate on things of the Gospel, or our lives will never go anywhere. God can push and prod all he wants, but without us working equally on ourselves, we're a lost cause. For me, laziness is a HUGE issue. I get in a pattern of things, and I don't like to break it. It takes too much time. For instance, before I go to bed, I like to watch shows. Of course, during the middle of my show, I remember that I need to read my scriptures, write in my journal and pray. Naturally, I am too enraptured in the happenings of my show to shut my computer, and focus on more Divine things. "I'll do it tomorrow."
"I'll do it tomorrow." Procrastination. Putting things off. Perhaps one of the most dangerous things that we can fall into. "Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance." God gives us a commandment to be constantly working on our spiritual growth. Putting it off will end in, well, hell. Who wants that? Satan does. He's the only one.
I've realized that centering my life on Christ and the Gospel isn't difficult. But, it does take time. Our time couldn't be better spent. Through studying and learning of the things God has created and commanded us to do, we will learn about ourselves, the things we need to do, and how we can get to where we want to end up. What will get those results? Consistency. Doing "the basics" every day. Read, pray, and write. Reading will allow us to gain knowledge of the truthfulness of the Gospel, writing will allow us to see how God has blessed us in our lives, and how applying the things we learn from reading will help us along the way. Praying allows us to ask God for things we need, things we want, help people we love, and for the Spirit to be with us always.
These three simple things, if nothing else, will help us become the best person we can be. In turn, we will find what occupation best fits us, where we want to go in life, and most importantly, to find our other half. When we are our best selves, we'll find our best "other half". Love will come to those who work; work on themselves and spiritual progression.
True happiness will come if we follow these simple truths.
I know this.
God loves you, and so do I!
