purpose of life

You know what I am grateful for? The people that surround and support me. The other night Becky and I were sitting on our couch, the new leather one. Not the old comfy one I so dearly miss, and she asked me if I had read my scriptures for the day yet. I said no, but I need too, so we went and got them. I’ve really become accustomed to reaching for my computer or phone in times of boredom and I feel like there are so many other productive ways I can spend my time. So we got rid of those and locked them in our room so we could concentrate.

Even though we were on different parts of the book, we would stop and discuss certain topics or thoughts. Which lead me to a question I always had growing up. It was a question that I could never really formulate and always pushed out of my mind when thoughts crept in. It upset me that I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to ask and didn’t know the answer to.

My thought, that I now know was basically this… Why are we here? What are we even? Where in the world did we come from? How does this world even exist?

I find comfort in knowing about the Plan of Salvation. It explains everything. Pre-mortal life, mortal life, life after death. Yes, it takes a lot of trust and faith to believe in these things, but I know that they are true and I have a testimony of that. My testimony has grown and it’s easier for me to wrap my head around these difficult concepts because I put effort into understanding. I put the effort into drawing myself as near to Heavenly Father as I possibly can and I notice the difference.

I was talking to a coworker today and we discussed how being a Latter-Day Saint isn’t easy. Some people may say our religion is full of rules, and granted it is in a sense, but they are there for our protection. Things like drinking and smoking, breaking the law of chastity, all drive away the spirit. That is not the way that Heavenly Father wanted us to return to him, with an unhealthy and impure body and mind.

In my life thus far, I have been on both sides of the religion and faith aspect. Life without the spirit isn’t a distant memory, it is a clear reality of what I was missing out on. The thought of falling away from the Church scares the crap out of me, I will never let that happen. It is so easy to fall into worldly temptations, to be selfish, to be ungrateful, etc. And you know what, some days I do get down and think only of myself. But now when that happens, I usually get a mental kick in the behind reminding me of everything I have been given. I cant fathom going through certain trials alone, not understanding where we go from here. 

We have our agency and we make the choices. We decide if we are going to draw ourselves nearer to God. We choose whether or not we want to live a life without the person who created our life. We are in control of whether we are happy or not. We have chosen or not chosen to have faith in Christ, and not only that, but live a Christ like life. We put ourselves in control of the people and examples we surround ourselves with. We can make the effort to fill our life with morals and values that are pleasing to God, or not.

I love Heavenly Father, the gospel, the plan of salvation, the Bible/Book of Mormon/Doctrine and Covenants, my family, my faith, the people I am surrounded with that I can discuss and learn things from.  It’s a meaningful life.