Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Mundane...

So, over the years, when you look back on your life, you only tend to remember the big events that stand out. A quick brainstorm of the last 10 or so years, for example, makes me remember only a few notable experiences; the time I almost had my finger pulled off in a pulley, my seminary graduation, the MTC, my homecoming, my marriage to Ligia, and of course the births of our two children. But for the most part, the vast majority of the past ten years doesn't even exist anymore in my memory. Surely this is why the prophets recommend, or even command, that we be a record-keeping people.

I think about all the lessons that I've learned over the past few years that I've had to repeat over and over and over... It seems so clear when I re-learn those lessons that I wonder why, or how, I ever even forgot them in the first place. I find that the answer is extremely simple. But because it's so simple, it's frustrating. The reason is found in a couple scriptures that I really enjoy. D&C 59:21 says, "in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments." And then also in Alma 36:29, when talking to his son about their forefathers, he says, "and he has also brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem; and he has also, by his everlasting power, delivered them out of bondage and captivity, from time to time even down to the present day; and I have always retained in remembrance their captivity; yea, and ye also ought to retain in remembrance, as I have done, their captivity."

These two scriptures, and countless others like them, all talk about remembering the great works of the Lord, and being grateful for them. I think that the problem I have, and I doubt that I'm alone, is that a lot of times I tend to forget the blessings of the Lord, and therefore am very ungrateful. Fortunately, this is something that's easy to remedy. Well, maybe not EASY, but SIMPLE. This time, the scripture is Alma 37:6-7, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."

I think that that's the key, it's the small and simple things. Daily prayers, daily scripture study, frequent entries to a journal or some other source for keeping records, etc. In other words, the things that can be mundane if we forget to focus. This is something that I've been working on lately and I feel a lot closer to the Lord. I find that when I do these small and simple things, I have much more control over all aspects of my life.

Anyway, sorry if this comes off as "preachy". Ligia was getting on my case because I hadn't written for a while and she wanted me to post "my thoughts and feelings". So there you have it, hopefully it may help others going through it.

3 comments:

Eloisa said...

Thanks Alex,
At the same time you were writing this I was in the middle of a high temperature argument of two dear people to me that they could not communicate and the theme was about writing a journal. You were very inspired, thanks again.

Stephen said...

"Ligia was getting on my case because I hadn't written for a while".

Thanks, Ligia. I enjoyed the results.

Kristin Kimble Purles said...

I get on Kellen's case for not writing . . . ever, but I don't get results. I'll keep trying though. You're a great writer Alex. You should do it more often.

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