The Mountain

This is a poem I wrote one day after church.  My bishop's wife had been talking to the youth and expressing how amazed she was at the things we accomplish with our faith.  She said that she has seen us move mountains.  That got me thinking about mountain-moving.  It is quite an undertaking and - at least for me - quite a long process.  That is when these lines popped into my head and I just decided to write them down.  If you hate it just keep it to yourself because I know I was not made to write poetry.

The Mountain

Two men abreast

Walked life's long road,

Each with stories

Like the other had told.

They spoke of hills

And also of vales,

Both triumph and misery

Cluttered their tales.

But no tale could compare

To the one still to be,

A mountain enormous

Afar off they could see.

At the foot of the mount stood they nervously.

"I'm a righteous man,"

Said the first man irate.

"I've toiled already

To reach Heaven's Gate.

Yet if God requires,

Then with faith I will move

This mountain enormous,

My goodness to prove."

So he sat himself down

And closed both his eyes

To use his faith

Till he'd reached his prize.

To stand with God and rise.

"My faith is not whole,"

Said the second man then.

"I've lived too much

In the world of men.

But this mountain enormous

My God giveth me

And only by crossing

Can I hope to be free."

So he picked up his feet

And started to climb.

He banished all thoughts

Of fear from his mind.

Conscious only of his waning time.

The sleet and the snow

Piled up in his way,

But the man would not stop

Until night followed day.

He was harried and worn,

But his light still shone bright.

A prayer in his heart

Kept him warm through the night.

When dawn lit the sky

The man saw he was done.

At the end of the path

Stood the Savior, the Son.

He got to his feet and started to run.

"I'm sorry, my Lord,"

The man said between tears.

He suddenly knew 

All his failures and fears.

"My faith can not be

Like the other man's was.

I could never move mountains

The way that he does."

Without a sound

The man let himself fall.

The Lord knew him well.

The Lord knows all.

In silence he began to crawl.

"Where do you go?"

Said the Lord to the man.

"I know your heart's good,

For when you saw me you ran.

And as to the mountain

Which you claim you've not moved,

Was it not once before you

And now stands removed?"

The man looked and saw

That the Savior spoke true.

He had done what he'd thought

He never could do.

"Thy faith hath seen thee through."

The Worth of Souls

In D&C 18:10 it reads, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."
One of the first times I realized how great the worth of souls is was one year I was at girls' camp. We had a "faith walk" that our leaders had set up for all of us. Let me paint a picture. About 150 girls along with church leaders sat quietly in an outside theatre as reverent church music played from a small battery-powered stereo on stage. Stage left of the theatre was the path of the walk which was just a little dirt trail woven between trees and other stuff you find in the wilderness. If I remember correctly, along the path were scenes of Joseph Smith Jr.'s life experiences. Since there were so many people, only small groups could go through the walk at a time. I had the privelege of being one of the people to choose randomly who got to go on the walk and who stayed. What would happen was I would go to a bench and point to who would go next, and they would silently walk down to stage left and wait for someone else to take them along the path. I hope this makes sense. As I stood there on the stage looking up at all these beautiful young women and their leaders and bishops, I was filled with an incredible spirit. I realized how special each one of those girls was and still is in their Heavenly Father's eyes. I remember thinking, "How can I choose one over the other when they're each so special in their own way?" Fortunately each girl did get to go on the walk so it wasn't like I really did have a big choice to make. I am just so grateful for this experience that I had so many years ago. I know that we are each children of God and that we each have a divine purpose here on earth. I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much, and I'm sure He doesn't like it when we pick on ourselves and others. I know that as we strive to see ourselves and others through the eyes of our Father in Heaven, we will be a lot happier and a lot more capable of loving ourselves and others. I believe also that as we strive to see the worth of each person, our desire to share the gospel with others will increase. Whenever I say something mean about myself, I think about my mother's words. "Mean thoughts do not come from your Heavenly Father." So just remember - positive self-talk and positive others-talk is the way to go, for the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

Moroni 10

So last night I was inspired to read Moroni chapter 10 as part of my scripture study. Here are some of the things that stuck out the most to me in that Chapter (20-22). "Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must be charity. And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope. And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity." Many of you probably don't know me, and for those of you who do, you don't know all of my past. But this scripture verse is very true. There was a point in my life I felt there was no hope, but as I have grown closer to God and Christ I have learned that there is always hope, if you are willing to but believe in Christ and allow his atonement to bless your life and save you from the iniquities that all man kind commits.
We could all learn from Christ's example to use Charity in our daily lives and that through Charity we grow ever more closer to God the Father and Jesus Christ. Also like the scripture says through Charity you can be saved and return to the kingdom of God. I believe Faith is also very important because in Faith all things can be done. I have learned a lot about having and employing faith in the last little while. It was amazing to me how directly having the Gospel in my life has made me much more happy (or should I say destroying my despair in all things?). Because I now have faith that Christ will be there for me, and each and everyone of us, in our daily lives. I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the savior of all man kind that he made an atonement for our iniquities. And that through him all man kind, even those since the time of Adam may be saved and return to the kingdom of God.
Now on to Hope. I used to believe that hope was a silly principle that I had no time for. But now looking back at my life I realized that this scripture hits it spot on. When I felt there was no hope in life I was in a great deal of despair, I would not be able to place it at the time, but now looking back I know exactly what it was. Satan trying to push me down, while I was already on my knees. I didn't, at the time, rely on Christ. But now, Satan can no longer do that to me because I have faith in Christ and I will stand with him, and when I get knocked down I will pick myself back up again and look into the eyes of temptation and say "No. As long as I have Christ by my side, you have no place in my life."
I hope this is able to help some people to understand that Faith, Hope, Charity and Love are all very important in this life, as well as the next. They are all Christ like and should be striven for.

Temptation

Today I was pondering on temptation as I read my scriptures today.  In Putting on the Armor of God Stephen Cramer suggests that we ought not intentionally place ourselves in the path of temptation.  For instance, if we are trying to cut down on snacking, we should not open the fridge with absolutely no intention of eating anything just to see what's in there for later.  Life is hard enough without us multiplying Satan's opportunities for him.  Satan knows us well and he tempts us accordingly.  We already have more than we can handle alone.

I remember a story my mother once told me about a thought that popped into her head many years ago.  She said it was horrible and that she had never even considered something like that before.  She dismissed it immediately, but it really opened her eyes to the reality of the devil and his temptations.  Sometimes we can trick ourselves into thinking that our temptations are coming from ourselves, but perhaps we should remember who is manipulating us and putting those things in our heads to begin with.  When we recognize where those thoughts are coming from then perhaps we will have the strength and will to resist them.

The Acceptance of the World

Today I was reading Putting on the Armor of God, by Steven A. Cramer, and the author quoted President Kimball.  The chapter I was reading focused on immorality and covered each facet of immorality specifically.  Although this particular section was regarding homosexuality, I think the quote can be applied to any sin, sexual or not.  I have replaced the word homosexuality with the word it.

"If all the people in the world were to accept [it] . . . the practice would still be a deep, dark sin."  (Page 152 in Putting on the Armor of God, taken from page 79 of The Miracle of Forgiveness by President Spencer W. Kimball)

This really opened my eyes.  We have been told that our world is going to get progressively harder to live in and eventually it is going to become harder and harder to distinguish because what is wrong and what is right.  Even if in 20 years or 50 years the world completely accepts something that is contrary to God's commandments, it is still sin.  I like the idea that if even every single person on earth considered something to be right, it is STILL wrong if God does not approve of it.  This quote helped me to realize today that I need to base my morals and standards not on those of the world OR of anybody else around me.  I need to adopt the moral standards of God.

The Beginning

Hello everybody,

You all probably love hearing inspirational stories, songs, scriptures, and thoughts.  For some time now I have been thinking about how to create a place where people can post those things for people they know to see.  I have found that hearing uplifting comments or stories from people I personally know have more effect in my life than if I have never heard of that person before.  Fuzzystories.blogspot.com is meant to be a place where we can post thoughts, impressions, scriptures, stories, songs, and more in a forum with people we know with the intent to uplift and inspire one another.  I want to keep the posts positive and please no political comments or imposing of your view on the other members of this blog.  However, if your intent is to help out those of us who want to celebrate our spirituality with each other then you are more than welcome.  I hope to hear from each of you soon!

P.S.  In order to help with the archiving of the posts, please include labels regarding the main subject of your post and your name.  That way people will be able to read posts separated by subject or by author if they so desire.  Also, let's try to keep the overall look of the blog as uniform as possible and use the default font and size.  Photos and videos or music are quite welcome!

Thanks!