If you can't stand....

I do my best to be prepared.

With father's day just passing, being prepared to be a father has recently been on my mind. I remember going to the park as a child and going to the playground and saying,

"Watch me dad! Watch me! Look what I can do!"

Being prepared takes work. From being prepared for a disaster, to preparing yourself to be a star athlete.

You cannot become, without coming to work.

You cannot become a better husband or wife, without working at that.

You cannot become a better employee, better friend, without working to be that.

Heavenly Father knows this. He knows that we cannot abide with Him, unless we abide by his laws. Why then, do we make it so difficult?

Becoming is harder than doing. Becoming an athlete is different than doing athletic activities. Humility is one of...if not the hardest beginnings we can have.

The beginning of becoming is through the gates of humility.

...Maybe this is why we're asked to be like a little child....we could get down on our knees and instead of a list of "to-dos" we could say,

"Watch me Father! Watch me, look what I can become."

Watch the lights!

The other day I walked over to my kitchen and tried to turn on the light. It wouldn't turn on. I tried again....nothing.

"KacyAnn?"

"Yeah?"

"The kitchen light won't work."

After inspecting what could be the problem, KacyAnn noticed one of the breakers was flipped. KacyAnn said oh, this one is off. And she flips it...

POP!

It sparks and ALL the power goes out in the whole apartment. So...luckily I remembered that I still had lights from that time we played glow in the dark ultimate Frisbee a few years ago and so we were able to see and to get things done until the power company came.

Now, why do I tell you this?

I find it interesting how there are times when we all find ourselves in the dark. Be it because of our own choices, or otherwise. But even if someone else has done something to wrong us, we cannot forget that there is ALWAYS someone who can be there for us. And, like the power company, they may not be there right away. But they WILL be there. If we prepare ourselves, then those times may not be so bad, in fact, they may be a bit more bearable.

If we are humble.

If we are willing to ask for help.

And... if we are careful which switches we flip. Sometimes they spark.

POP!

Dirty Laundry

Have you ever looked at your dirty laundry and seen how much it can teach about repentance?

Think about it, or next time you look at it, think about it.

We have all these things that we do that make us 'dirty'. It may not be any fault of our own, but by our human nature we just get 'dirty'.

Now, most of the time we can 'clean' all the laundry ourselves. There are times though, that our 'load' gets too heavy. We need something to help us clean our load. A tool that will give leverage, or power---to carry our dirty loads and to have them become clean again.

Ah-ha! The magic of laundry baskets!

Cleaning your dirty laundry-It takes some effort on your part, but you have help.

Same is true of life.

Choices are made, and people get dirty.

But the Savior is here to help us carry our 'clothes'...to become clean again.

Don't ask me which soap to use though...that one you can figure out on your own.