Good Habits

This week, I read a quote from Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Work, which caused me to reflect on the nature of lasting change. 

"...Stopping [bad habits] and beginning to do healthy things" 

(PMG pg. 188)

It is simply not enough to stop bad habits. We must replace them with good habits. 

In the April 1996 General Conference, Robert D. Hales taught: 

"...by turning on an electric light or by lighting a candle, there was no more darkness...

 You learned a simple law of nature, which is also a spiritual law: 

 Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

 Satan and his disciples cannot tolerate the spiritual light of the gospel; 

they must immediately depart."

 

It is only light that can chase away darkness--only good habits will replace bad ones. 

Currently, I have a bad habit I am working on: going to sleep earlier, and thereby working up earlier, and having more time. 

Sleeping too late will be replaced with the following counsel: 

"retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated."

(D&C 88:124)

“But If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear” (D&C 38:30)

From the time I was twelve years old, I have been taught to “be prepared.”

During conference week, my mission president would urge us to “prepare for the Prophets.”

However, sure enough, this week I neglected the counsel of my former years.

All week long, I was excited about the weekend. I was having a mission reunion on Friday evening. That would be followed up with Saturday and Sunday Sessions of General Conference, where I would receive counsel, comfort, aid, and ideas for the questions and challenges I faced.

Although I planned in anticipation of Conference and my reunion, I didn’t finish all the schoolwork  that I had planned on completing. The catch is that every day, I failed to reach my goals for school work accomplished.

“I’ll just do a little more tomorrow” became my motto every evening. Saturday morning arrived, and the things I had failed to complete weighed on my mind throughout the day, diverting my full attention from the conference speakers, and those around me.

Bottom line, I didn’t enjoy my weekend quite as fully as I had hoped that I would.

So what?

I have learned (or re-learned, to be more accurate) that I ought to be honest with myself when it comes to planning my time and tasks. Procrastination creates a false and deceptive reality that is rarely, if ever realized.

I am making a resolution to complete all of the leftover schoolwork from the week, today (even if means I’ll be awake until the twilight hours). I don’t want it to spill over into Sunday’s conference sessions or onto the upcoming week.

The prospect of a fresh start to the week feels great. 

A Unique Opportunity

This Thursday, I had a very unique opportunity.

I had the opportunity to meet John Wright, one of the missionaries who introduced my grandparents to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.



In the Spring of 1968, my grandmother would wake up early on Sunday mornings to prepare breakfast for her family, and to get a head start on the day's chores.

Every Sunday morning, she would look out the window and see her next door neighbor dressed up in her Sunday best, with the rest of her family right beside her. They would begin walking down the street until they became lost in the horizon.

My grandmother always wondered where this family would go so early in the morning, and so neatly dressed. Sunday after Sunday. Week after week.

One Sunday, curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to step outside and ask her neighbor about their early morning Sunday affairs.

"Where do you always go with your family all nice and dressed up?" my grandmother inquired.

"We attend church every Sunday as a family!" her neighbor happily replied.

As her neighbor described the directions to the church, my grandmother began to look puzzled.

"But there's no Catholic Church in the area you're describing?" she remarked.

"We don't go to Catholic Mass, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," her neighbor proudly proclaimed.

The words resonated deeply within my grandmother, and she felt something strangely familiar stir within her.

They invited her to join them, but my grandmother, young and apprehensive, politely declined.

However, every Sunday morning, as she saw her neighbors head off to church, she would briefly chat with them. Each Sunday, a new question came up, and each Sunday, their invitations to "Come and see" (John :39) were politely turned down.

One Sunday morning, the neighbors decided to extend another invitation.

"Could we invite two of our friends over to your home? They can answer your questions much better than we can!"

...

After several weeks of teaching and encouragement, trials and obstacles, and ups and downs, my grandmother and my grandfather accepted the Elders' invitation to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

They entered the waters of baptism on March 24, 1968.

Matter Unorganized

"Now the word create came from the word baurau, which does not mean to create out of nothing;

It means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. 

Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos—chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. 

Element had an existence from the time he had. 

The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. 

They had no beginning, and can have no end.” 

(Smith, Teachings, 350–52)

 

Image from http://www.alienresearchcorp.com/space/hd-wallpapers/amazing/img/l/evil-nebula.jpg

The purpose of this blog is to explore the "materials" in my environment and try to put them together in order to compose something meaningful and uplifting.

Mostly, I will be posting quotes, articles and videos exploring one idea or another. Below each posted item, I will include my own ideas and thoughts on the matter. 

I hope that you enjoy this blog, and are able to take a little something from it and incorporate it into whatever it is that you seek to create. 

Daniel Torres

9/12/14