King Benjamin's Speech

This week I the great opportunity to read about King Benjamin and his people. There is one verse I feel always sticks out in this part, and it is one that we reference frequently. and it is found in the second chapter, the seventieth verse it says:

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

I spent all morning looking for a mormon message to go with this, and honestly I didnt feel like any of them fit with what I was thinking about this week.

So I'm going to share what happened this week.

It was probably still the most normal day, I had just finished my normal study block in the library that I do almost every morning and was about to head to my class. I was walking behind and older gentleman who I assumed was a professor here on campus.

While I was walking behind him to exit the building he stops and see the security lady and says "wow! your hair is beautiful! its like a waterfall cascading down your head!"

For a moment I stared. Her hair was in fact very beautiful. But the fact that he took the time to stop and make eye contact and genuinely compliment her with such enthusiasm is what really stopped me.

Seeing him act that way made me want to do the same,

its like those cheesy commercials where the act of kindness goes around in a circle are more than just cheesy commercials. Its a real thing. I spent the rest of the day trying to make someone smile as big as this man did for this young lady.

I know that when we make another child of God feel that way, just feel awesome, that we are truly serving God. Making Him not only proud of us but also glad that someone helped His child.

Unwavering In Every Moment

This week I have had a lot of interesting conversations about how we need to be unwavering in our faith and that our faith will lead us to make better decisions. I have been reading in the end of 2nd Nephi this week where it has a lot of prophesy about our day. And a few verses really stood out to me in the 28th chapter- where it says,

"Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark."

Now to break that down a little better, it says that there will be people in this like who will tell us that we can do whatever we want and we wont be punished for that.

But I can tell you, that just as if we break a law of our country, we will be punished,
also if we break a commandment of God we will also receive a punishment.

To further illustrate this point here is a Mormon Message that was shared in the last general conference of the church.

Just as this couple made an incorrect decision and had drifted away from safety is how we are if we commit sin following these teachings of men.

Just as this father thought he was stronger than the current and could make it to the sand bar, are we puffed up in pride when we disobey commandments of God.

Just as the video warns we need to make wise decisions, especially when it comes to following the promptings of the Holy Ghost to help us better understand the reasons why things happen.