Are You a Solid or Liquid?

So, this may or may not be a blog about silly putty...

Silly Putty. What is it really? It's not a solid but it's not a liquid either. It's just in this awkward in between phase. It doesn't know if it should sit still or if it should try to just let it all out. I don't know if that sentence even makes any sense, but hopefully you know what I'm trying to say.

The cool thing about playing with Silly Putty, is you can mold it. You can mold it into your different shapes and objects, you can squish it between your fingers and toes (I don't squish it between my toes, because that would be gross, but you could if you wanted). You might be wondering where I'm trying to go with this, and I'm asking myself the same question. Let's see what I come up with...


God is our loving Heavenly Father. We are His children. He wants us to be happy, and wants to bless us in anyway that He can. He wants to refine and purify us. We are like the Silly Putty. He wants to mold us into what He wants us to become. Sometimes we have to go through difficult times and sticky situations, but it's through these trials that our Father in Heaven is helping us to learn to rely on Him more, to become better people. 

In a talk by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge, he says, "Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge." The Lord can mold us into much more than we can make of ourselves, as we put our trust in Him.

There have been numerous times in my life, even in my mission, where I wasn't quite sure why I was going through a certain experience. Turns out, the Lord knows what He's doing. I always came out stronger than I was before. I know that if we rely on our Heavenly Father and on our Savior Jesus Christ, if we put ourselves in their hands, we can become something greater than we could ever imagine.

Reality

We live in a time where modern technology surrounds us. In every aspect of our lives, it can be influenced in some way or another by the technological advances of the world. It's up to us as to how we use this technology. Are the things we are doing bringing us closer to or farther away from Jesus Christ?

You should watch this video. Thank you Elder David A. Bednar.

Truth or Dare?

Have you ever played "Truth or Dare?" How the game works is that someone asks you Truth or Dare? If you choose truth, you have to answer a question truthfully. If you choose dare, you have to do the thing they dare you to do. I remember playing it when I was younger. Dares to make you run around the yard. In the snow. With your swimsuit on. Or to eat a crazy concoction made up of mustard, ranch dressing, pickle juice, and whatever else you could find in the fridge. Always a good time. The dares were fun to do, but sometimes I was lazy and would choose truth instead. Although, that made me nervous sometimes because you never knew what they were going to ask.

So what is truth exactly? And how do we know that something is true?

There's a hymn in the LDS hymnbook entitled, "O Say What is Truth?" In the final verse it says,

Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first,

For the limits of time it steps o'er.

Tho the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst,

Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst,

Eternal, unchanged, evermore.

Truth is eternal. It will last forever. God is a god of truth. He is going to give us the truth. We just have to ask Him. In the New Testament Christ teaches, "...If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:31-32)

It's through knowing the truth, that we can stand as a witness of Christ. So how do we know the truth? Well, who better to ask then God Himself. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5). He will let us know what the truth is.

So is it true that Jesus Christ is our Savior? Is the Book of Mormon really another testament of Jesus Christ? Is there a true and living prophet on the earth today? I know these things to be true. I dare you to find out the truthfulness for yourself. Ready? Go.

Choose or die!

I like movies. Nay, love movies. One movie that I love is The Little Rascals. So awesome. It's about a bunch of little boys who have this club where no girls are allowed. One boy, Alfalfa, falls in love with a girl named Darla, and he's kind of stuck in a pickle about what to do. There's this one scene where Alfalfa is dreaming. His friends are coming after him, and so is Darla. They're running him off the edge of the cliff and they start chanting, "Choose or die. Choose or die. Choose or die." He must choose between his friends or his girlfriend. He doesn't know what to do because both are important to him. And right as he's falling off the cliff he wakes up from his dream, or nightmare I should say, still unsure about what to do.

Why do I bring this up? Well, first of all, I like this movie and it makes me laugh. And B) we all face choices each and every day. God has given us agency, which is the ability to choose for ourselves. However, we cannot choose the consequences that come from those choices. We will receive blessings as we choose what's right. The decisions we make will either lead us closer to God, or farther away. "...Choose you this day whom ye will serve...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)

So what do you do? How do we know what to choose? How do we know what is right? Well, here's what the Lord has to say about it, "...you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right." (Doc. and Cov. 9:8) So as we ponder and study and pray to know what to choose, and the Spirit helps us feel that something is right, then that is the direction we should go. Some decisions that we face are bigger and more important than others, and take longer to decide on. It's hard to be patient sometimes as we wait for an answer. Trust me, I know. I'm not a very patient person. There has been something that I've been praying about the past little while, I'm still not sure how it's going to work out, but I keep praying for guidance and direction. I know Heavenly Father will help me to make the right choice, even if my answer may not come right away.

Not to ruin the ending of The Little Rascals or anything, but in the end, everything works out for Alfalfa, Darla and their friends. God will not lead us in the wrong direction. He wants us to experience joy and happiness. It's up to us whether we "choose...or die."