Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Lifting Burdens: The Atonement of Jesus Christ

it was one of those days..

today, was a great day, i was able to sleep in until 11:00, wake up by watching president samuelson's devotional, and then head off to my one tuesday/thursday class at 1:00. after my class i was able to hang out around the house with my friends, and since i had nothing else to do i worked on my american heritage homework and i finally took the sillabi from their plastic coverings and put them into a binder..

but all this free time, gave me time to think, and i had an interesting analogy come to mind. Well yesteday i went out with my roomate and his family out on utah lake and we had the opportunity to go wakeboarding, which was tons of fun and i got up for my first time! But the downside was i forgot sunscreen, and i was out on the lake from about 10 in the morning to about 4 in the afternoon, which i could hear ringing in my head in the voice of my dad "was the time of the day when the sun is the most intense!" nedless to say i am quite fried..
But anyways, i was thinking about how, when my skin is sunburnt, i feel its rays much more intensely, even to the point where they're painful. and i was shocked by this sensitivity.. But being raised by my wonderful parents, my mind automatically started thinking of how could an affliction like a sunburn, be related to the nature of god.. And then i realized something, when we are constantly feeling the spirit we are much more sensitive to it's "light" and it is always governing the way we do things, much like the deliberately slow movements of a sunburn victim. I dont know.. i thought it was pretty cool. but time went on and then later
Tonight at about 10:00, i remembered i had some math homework, due by 11:59
it was tough, and i felt quite like this...

and of course as soon as i started my homework, my belly decided that it needed some food
so, instead of starting on my homework i decided to make some spaghetti..
lots of spaghetti..

i ended up with tons of spaghetti, and there is still a mess all over the kitchen.. (it was my first time making real food on my own)


so once i had finished making my spaghetti it was time to go back to my math
but i really just didnt get it, and i was getting frustrated and contemplating whether i should maybe just be dropping the class, seeing as one of my roomates had chosen to do so today.. but i continued on, because of a persistent thought about a paragraph in my patriarchal blessing that says "there will be times when others around you are satisfied with mediocrity, this is not for you.." something to that effect, and so i girded up my loins and went back to work, but i was still flustered and things just werent making any sence. So i tried reading a couple passages from my scriptures, but not even that helped.. So i went on youtube and typed in mormon messages (if you havent found these, they are instant ways to regain peace, or feel the spirit) and clicked on a video about how the atonement can lift our burdens.. and it was amazing the peace that i felt.



it always amazes me how ready heavenly father is to bless me, with comfort, remembrance, and some times just the hope that through him i know that things will turn out the best. I know that i have a father in heaven who loves me.. and i sure hope he knows that i love him, even though i forget to thank heavenly father for my spaghetti until there's only one bite left.. or when my prayers are shorter than they should be.. I hope he still knows that, i know that without his love for me and his great plan, there would be no way that i would make it through this life.. let alone make it through this life on a path heading towards an Eternal life. I know that my redeemer lives, it truly is manifested through everything around us.. even in my sunburns..