I wrote this today after a moment of frustration. It's not my place to tell people how to live their lives. I think I ended up writing this 1% for them, and the rest all for me, haha. Anyways, just a short blurb, nothing crazy. Happy Sabbath!! ALSO I was messing with the text size and nowwww it refuses to pick something consistent. I'm real sorry, but I just don't know how to fix it haha. Just one of those unsolvable mysteries.
JD
JD
The thing about growth is that very rarely do we "spurt". Think of how you got to be how tall you are today. It's true, you have periods of growth spurts growing up. I won't claim I came out of the womb at 5'10" and with a full mop of hair, because I didn't. I was a little ugly potato baby, as most are before they grow. But think about how much it took to get that little thing to be me today. A stinking ton of work.
What encourages our growth? What do we need? I can tell you with 100% confidence it's making the right choices in the little things. There really are periods in your life where you "flourish" or "flounder" based on your decisions. We need to be taking care of our bodies. We need to find ways to challenge our intellect. We especially have to be sensitive to our spiritual needs.
What encourages our growth? What do we need? I can tell you with 100% confidence it's making the right choices in the little things. There really are periods in your life where you "flourish" or "flounder" based on your decisions. We need to be taking care of our bodies. We need to find ways to challenge our intellect. We especially have to be sensitive to our spiritual needs.
It's great that you can kick your m&m habit, start working out more, and see results in your body over time.
It's cool to see your hard work pay off after hitting the books and really trying in school when you get back the grades you've really earned.
It's cool to see your hard work pay off after hitting the books and really trying in school when you get back the grades you've really earned.
But spiritual growth... can we really measure that?
My favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon talks about it.
Alma 32, roughly paraphrased,
If you will get up and work and can't do anything but TRY to believe, even if you can only give me a PARTICLE of your faith and efforts, it's cool. Let this particle work and grow so you can eventually find space in your heart for more.
We can compare the word of God to a seed. Imagine you've put this seed in your heart. If it's true, if it's good, and if you don't throw it away with your own doubts and suspicions, if you sincerely keep it in your heart and are open to the Spirit and genuine communication from God, watch. It will "swell" within you. It will grow to be something good, something worth noticing- and you'll have to say to yourself "it has to be a good seed. Or rather, the word of God has to be good" because I can feel it in my heart. It's brought enlightenment to me, and I can tell. Yeah, I would even say it has brought joy to my life.
Wouldn't this increase your faith? Yeah, it would. Because faith has never been a perfect knowledge.
those are verses 27, 28, and 29 if you want to compare my paraphrasing:
We can all work on our little things. We can all find space in our hearts to try just a little bit more. To have more reverence and respect for sacred things. To pray with more sincerity. To grit our teeth and give with just an ounce more patience. We can try and eat better. We can get more sleep. We can say kind things to people who are less than kind to us in return. We can try to have more faith.
But at the end of the day: we need to remember that we are just people.
And we are all growing.
When you see others through frustrated, jaded lenses, give them the space to make their own choices. They have come far and seen much, but they are still growing. When you feel less than you are, you have still come so far. Maybe you can't see it yet. But you're growing. Choose carefully your little things, and go.
