M.V.P.

Game time. Are you ready? You're about to walk onto the field for the championship game. Yeah. You're excited, anxious, and nervous at the same time. Adrenaline is running through your blood, because you have the risk of getting injured, losing, etc. Everything is on the line. So why do what you're about to do? Because it's the only way you'll have a chance for winning right? You can't win if you never play.

artwork by Greg Olsen

And so it is with life. In making the decision to come to earth, we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew we were going to face challenges, be tested and tried, slip and fall. But we also knew we were going to get back up again, that even though we would experience hardships and disappointments, we would also experience triumphs and victories. We realized that we had to come to earth to prove to God that we could do what He wanted us to do. "And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God." (Alma 42:4) so that we could have eternal life, so that we could win. We also knew that we couldn't win on our own, we needed an MVP. We needed our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24) Only through Him, are we guaranteed to win, if we accept Him and follow His teachings.

To go into a game, you need the proper equipment. I mean, you wouldn't run out onto the football field with swim trunks and flip-flops. You need a helmet, shoulder pads, football cleats, etc. In life, we have been equipped with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the scriptures and living prophets. All have been given to us to help us endure to the end, no matter how exhausted, how frustrated we may feel at times. We must not give up. We must keep going to reach our end goal, eternal life. It wasn't made to be easy, but Jesus Christ is here to help us.

There was a point on my mission just a couple months ago where I just felt worn out. I was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained. I didn't know if I could do it anymore, if I could have the patience to endure. So I prayed, because it's what the scriptures told me to do, and what a really good friend of mine told me to do. I prayed for the strength to continue. I still pray for it everyday, because it's the only way I can do it. The Lord is my strength. He is our strength. He has given us the means to receive eternal life. He overcame spiritual death by suffering the penalty of our sins and He overcame physical death through His resurrection. It's only through Jesus Christ that we can be cleansed from sin and live again.