Taking His Yoke

In my living room I have this beautiful painting of the Savior by Simon Dewey.
Underneath the picture is this scripture:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

If you've ever wondered what a "yoke" is, here's a picture:

It's used by oxen to carry a load. With two strong oxen yoked together, they are able to carry a heavy load together. Imagine how difficult that same load would be to pull if there were only one ox working to pull it.

So it is in life. One can carry a load all on his own, or come unto Christ and take His yoke upon him. When I feel like my load is NOT easy and my burden is NOT light, I take some time to ask myself sincerely: "Am I yoked with Christ?" Next comes the necessary course corrections (repentance) that brings me back to Him, under His yoke. I appreciate that my burden is not taken away from me. I am not absolved of the burdens of life by coming unto Christ, rather I am helped in pulling the weight that I am given to bear. And with Him, my burdens are lighter and I can bear them with ease, submitting "cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." (Mosiah 24:15)

I do my best to remember the Savior's Atonement. I remember that He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane so that when I repent of my sins and come unto Him that I do not have to suffer the full weight of my sins. I know He did this because He loves me. I choose to show my love to Him in return by yoking myself to Him and by being willing to humbly, willingly accept the will of the Lord in my life.

Spending Time in the Sun

The other day I was standing at the end of my bed talking with my husband when I happened to glance down at the floor and I saw this:

I busted up laughing and had time even to run and grab my camera from the other room and snap the picture. He was out! I put this picture on the desktop of my laptop and every time I see it my face breaks into a smile. I'd like to share some insights about this picture that I thought of while looking at it.

First of all, notice that my cat chose to lay in the sunlight. The sun is brighter than anything else I can see. Light is warmth. Even on a cold day in winter, if I can find a sunny spot and stand in it, my body can be warmed by the sunlight. Light helps to see. Light can even direct actions... for example, I wake up and get going in the morning because of the light! I believe that when we choose "sunny spots" to plant ourselves in, we can feel all the wonderful feelings of joy flowing into our hearts. We can feel our souls warmed by the Light.

Now, the next thing I want to point out about my cat is his position. (by the way, I've never seen him sleep like this either, which makes it an even better shot!) He obviously has no reserves. He's got his head back, his legs totally extended, and his body is totally flat on his back. His eyes are closed and he is out like a light. Man! He looks so relaxed! When I look close enough, I can see he's got a big ol' cat grin all over his furry face! I believe there's a lot I can learn from this dear cat of mine! He is certainly not ashamed to be totally planted, relaxed and so comfortable in the light!

I like to follow his example. I am not ashamed of it when I choose to fill my life with light by standing in holy places. I love to be warmed by the Savior's love. I am happy when I plant myself firmly and comfortably in the light of His love. Worries about what others think of me go out the window because my comfort comes from knowing that I am basking in His light and that I am happy doing so! That's what I'm here to experience in life: happiness! "Men are that they might have joy!" (2 Nephi 2:25)

Another thing I have learned from Weber's position is to not take myself so seriously. It's okay to do something because I LOVE to do it! It's good to be relaxed and not so worried about all the little worldly things that can keep me bogged down and stressed out. I am putting my trust in the Lord and basking in His light when I am relaxed, happy and joyful. This kind of freedom and joy comes when I purposefully seek out His light and purposefully choose to bask in it.

So now when I look at this picture, I think about the ways that I am basking in light and warmth and I like to ask myself this question: "Am I choosing to spend my time with the Son?" I love it when my answer is "yes!"

The Hunger

I have a deep hunger for knowledge. The knowledge I hunger for and seek after is divine knowledge. I yearn to know more of the things of God. This hunger drives me to seek and to question. I apply the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 which says: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." I know that "all things which are good cometh of Christ." (Moroni 7:24)

I often ask myself: "What am I hungering for? Where is my focus? What is it that I am spending my time focusing my energy on?" When I identify the answers to these questions, I then ask myself, "is my energy being well spent?" I feel so good when my answer is a resounding YES! However, there are many times when I realize that my focus is not where I want it to be and my energy is not being well spent. So I make a course correction. I want my time and energy to be focused on one thing: how I can serve my Lord today in building up His kingdom.

I love when I feel like Mary of old who sat at the feet of Christ and just absorbed every word coming out of his mouth. I love when my mind is on seeking out, obeying, and teaching the words of Christ. At these times I am filled with the Spirit and I yearn for more. I want to continue to seek for divine knowledge and guidance. I believe this knowledge will fill my spirit and help me to be a kind, thoughtful, and loving person. I want to continue to "feast upon the words of Christ" to satisfy my hunger for knowledge because I believe that "the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." (2 Nephi 32:3)

I Seek After Charity

The reason I am on this earth is so that I can learn to become like my Father in Heaven. My elder brother, Jesus Christ, is the perfect exemplar I can look to and follow. In the scriptures it is said that charity, the pure love of Christ, is the greatest gift to seek after; that "if ye have not charity, ye are nothing." (Moroni 7:44, 46) To me, charity means truly caring more about serving others than serving one's self. Having charity means to serve God with all of the heart, might, mind and strength, and with no ulterior motives. Being charitable is seeing everyone, ourselves included, as children of God and treating them as such. Serving with charity means seeking the inspiration of the Lord so as to be an instrument in His hands in bringing love, peace and comfort to a heart in need. A charitable person is focused on Love.

The antithesis of charity, I believe, is selfishness and victimization. It is when one is more concerned with getting as much as possible for as little effort, time or money as possible. It is only caring about personal wants and how to satisfy personal "needs" with little or no regard as to how one's actions may affect someone else. It is ignoring personal accountability in any given situation and believing that someone else is always to blame and someone else should fix the problem. An uncharitable person is focused on themselves.

These two dualities are the end result of what individual, daily choices lead to. They are a state of being, not who we are. I believe we are children of God, all equal in His sight. It is through our own choices in life that we end up at one end or the other. Change is a choice away. One of the greatest gifts we have been given is agency. We "are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death according to the captivity and power of the devil." (2 Nephi 2:27) The way we view the world, our belief system, governs our actions. If we want to make a change in our actions, first, we must be willing to change the way we believe.

I believe we are all in a great moment in the eternities with the opportunity to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior. I believe that He will come again. And I believe that He will come among those who live as He did. I want to be among that group. My intent in my life is to become like my Heavenly Father. The way to become as He is, is to seek after charity.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren (and sisters), if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail - but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whosoever is possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren (and sisters), pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons (and daughters) of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:46-48)