I Choose Light for 2017
I made exactly two resolutions this year, and they had nothing to do with my weight, my eating, or not yelling at my kids. (At least, not directly.)
I have chosen this year to put all my efforts in a spiritual direction. I have chosen to focus on what Jesus Christ names as the two great commandments: to love God with all my heart and to love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:36-39). Yes, I know, this breaks all the rules about "good goals." It's not measurable and it's not specific, in the sense that there are specific things I need to do. (So much easier to say that I plan to keep to 2000 calories a day and exercise for 90 minutes six days a week!) But this is what I feel is the direction my life needs. In essence, I'm choosing to ponder each day what I might do that very day to set my heart on God and to love others (especially those who are challenging to love).
Not everyone who stops by this blog shares my faith, and traditional wisdom-- especially for a writer who is hoping to increase her readers-- is that politics and religion should be avoided like the plague, or you will offend people right and left. I'm sure I have, even though I don't post much of my thoughts of either anymore. But I do post some-- mostly because this is such a big part of my life that it can't help but come through. If it didn't, I'd be denying who I am. Anyway, I am sharing a link to a blog post that is making the rounds on Facebook right now. I could share it on Facebook, but I'm currently trying to minimize Facebook in my life drastically, so that didn't seem like a good place to put it. And I'm not sharing it here to start any fights. The title certainly makes it seem like I am itching to start a fight with those who once shared my faith but have since left.
I'm not.
But I feel it's important to share anyway (offensive as some people may certainly find it) because it might help someone who has sat in the same dark place the author describes, and that I personally have experienced also. It was quite an illuminating experience to read someone describe the same direction I have gone down, the same train of thoughts that have led me to stick with my faith even when some important people that I love and respect very much have left it behind.
Here it is: The Alarming Truth Behind Anti-Mormonism.
For those who are wavering (LDS or not-- this applies quite well to Christians in general) in their faith, I'd ask you to read the blog post carefully and ask yourself if your life will truly be better if you abandon faith in a higher moral law. Ask yourself if your children's lives and your grandchildren's lives will be better if they are raised without a definitive way to answer what is right and what is wrong. If you are not sure how to know what truly is right and what is wrong, that's OK. Keep seeking for light and you will find it.
But don't give in to the direction that there IS no right and no wrong. That "right" is different for each person, according to their desires for their own lives. That way lies confusion and darkness, for us personally and for the world that we live in.
I choose light. Even if it is only a spark from a candle.
I have chosen this year to put all my efforts in a spiritual direction. I have chosen to focus on what Jesus Christ names as the two great commandments: to love God with all my heart and to love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:36-39). Yes, I know, this breaks all the rules about "good goals." It's not measurable and it's not specific, in the sense that there are specific things I need to do. (So much easier to say that I plan to keep to 2000 calories a day and exercise for 90 minutes six days a week!) But this is what I feel is the direction my life needs. In essence, I'm choosing to ponder each day what I might do that very day to set my heart on God and to love others (especially those who are challenging to love).
Not everyone who stops by this blog shares my faith, and traditional wisdom-- especially for a writer who is hoping to increase her readers-- is that politics and religion should be avoided like the plague, or you will offend people right and left. I'm sure I have, even though I don't post much of my thoughts of either anymore. But I do post some-- mostly because this is such a big part of my life that it can't help but come through. If it didn't, I'd be denying who I am. Anyway, I am sharing a link to a blog post that is making the rounds on Facebook right now. I could share it on Facebook, but I'm currently trying to minimize Facebook in my life drastically, so that didn't seem like a good place to put it. And I'm not sharing it here to start any fights. The title certainly makes it seem like I am itching to start a fight with those who once shared my faith but have since left.
I'm not.
But I feel it's important to share anyway (offensive as some people may certainly find it) because it might help someone who has sat in the same dark place the author describes, and that I personally have experienced also. It was quite an illuminating experience to read someone describe the same direction I have gone down, the same train of thoughts that have led me to stick with my faith even when some important people that I love and respect very much have left it behind.
Here it is: The Alarming Truth Behind Anti-Mormonism.
For those who are wavering (LDS or not-- this applies quite well to Christians in general) in their faith, I'd ask you to read the blog post carefully and ask yourself if your life will truly be better if you abandon faith in a higher moral law. Ask yourself if your children's lives and your grandchildren's lives will be better if they are raised without a definitive way to answer what is right and what is wrong. If you are not sure how to know what truly is right and what is wrong, that's OK. Keep seeking for light and you will find it.
But don't give in to the direction that there IS no right and no wrong. That "right" is different for each person, according to their desires for their own lives. That way lies confusion and darkness, for us personally and for the world that we live in.
I choose light. Even if it is only a spark from a candle.
Comments