Start at the very beginning - a very good place to start

Have you ever thought of that scripture...really thought about it?

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Most of my time in the church, I have responded to this scripture with my feelings about how ready I am to face the Lord and account for my life...in other words, dread.

As I have begun on a journey in the past few months to really develop my faith and become more like what my Father in Heaven knows I can be, this scripture has taken on new meaning for me.

Generally, what I have put my mind to has happened on the instant side. Doors have flown open before I had to knock on them. Now, there has been some calculation in which doors I would attempt to knock at...but generally I haven't had to wait for much in my life.

"Go out and make it happen." That's my motto.

Now that I am the ripe old age of 36, I have started running into doors....with my face. (this door analogy I give credit to my friend Melissa for introducing me to) They are not flying open as I supposed they would always do. No amount of my style of knocking has opened them fully to my view.

What doors are these?

• Professional success
• Marriage
• Parenting success
• Faith
• Becoming naturally Obedient
• Personal Development

These are things I want bad enough to look stupid trying to get them done.

I look really stupid pretty much all the time now.

Now, of course I would be remiss if I did not count my blessings, which are many. I have been truly blessed in many ways (maybe I'll have a blessings counting post soon). I think that my experience of always being successful at things I try has really spoiled me.

"I want the world. I want the whole world. I want to lock it all up in my pocket. It's my bar of chocolate. Give it me now. I want today, I want tomorrow. I don't want to share it!

And if I don't get the things I'm after, I am going to screeeeeeaaaaaaam!!!!!

Don't care how, I want it NOW. Don't care how, I want it NOOOOOOOOOW! (She was a bad egg.)" (Veruca Salt, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

Now I am learning that this mortal experience really is a fight. I am trying to fight it. I want to finish my course. I want to keep the faith.

I believe that someone who has been blessed with the tenacity, intelligence and knowledge that I have, must be on a higher plane than I am on. So, it is my goal to get to that higher plane. It will be a fight, but it is a "good" fight. A fight worth fighting.

2 Timothy 4:6-9 (emphasis added)

6 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:

Tomorrow and Sunday are wonderful opportunities to see the path to that higher plane (and to check out life up there!). General Conference is one of my favorite times of year. I have never paid enough attention to it, though I have improved of late.

For the October 2010 conference, I have:

• studied the talks
  
• listened to them repeatedly at work (a great way of getting through the day, IMHO)
• discussed them with friends
• tried to implement their teaching

This regimen has been a great blessing in my life. One particular way I have implemented it is from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, "Of Things That Matter Most"

"The wise understand and apply the lessons of tree rings and air turbulence. They resist the temptation to get caught up in the frantic rush of everyday life. They follow the advice “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” In short, they focus on the things that matter most.

Elder Dallin H.Oaks, in a recent general conference, taught, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”

The search for the best things inevitably leads to the foundational principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the simple and beautiful truths revealed to us by a caring, eternal, and all-knowing Father in Heaven. These core doctrines and principles, though simple enough for a child to understand, provide the answers to the most complex questions of life.

There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity that we sometimes do not appreciate in our thirst for intricate solutions."

http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/of-things-that-matter-most?lang=eng

I decided that my family was heading through some major turbulence, and I needed to "reduce my speed and focus on the essentials" as he said. So, I eliminated everything except: church, work, family. It, period, the end. It was hard - achingly so in some instances, but it has been absolutely wonderful to reap the rewards. I testify of the power that is inherent in obeying the words of living prophets.

I intend to gather more gems in the coming conference. One strategy my friend and I have developed is to go into conference with 3 questions.

My questions are:

1. "Behold, the Lord ^arequireth the ^bheart and a ^cwilling mind; and the willing and ^dobedient shall ^eeat the good of the land of Zion in these last days." (D&C 64:34)

So, I have a willing mind, how do I give Him (more fully) my heart. In other words, how do I engage my heart in the process?

2. "...the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty ^achange in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do ^bevil, but to do good continually." (Mosiah 5:2)

I want the disposition to do good continually. How do I focus my efforts on attaining that mighty change?

3. What is His plan for me (in the short term), is there work that needs to be done that isn't, what is my next step?

I pray that the Spirit will allow me to discern the answers to these questions and any other counsel that the Lord has for me.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives, that He is my Savior, that He loves me. I testify that He has mercy on us, that He allows us to develop and grow. I testify that He makes up where we lack.
I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, that he is the Lord's mouthpiece. I know that I will succeed if I listen to, understand and implement his teachings. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.