Re-evaluate. Redirect. Repent.
First things first, I would like to apologize for my absence on the blog for the last few weeks. School has gotten super busy with the semester drawing to an end. However, I have not felt quite the same since I have not made a weekly post in some time. I hope that these blog posts help to uplift you, because I have found that they help me so much more than I ever realized.
I'm sure we all, at some point in our lives, feel stuck. We feel like we should be improving, learning, and growing; yet for some reason we just feel stuck. It is at these times when we need to re-evaluate our lives and see if redirection is needed. Re-evaluating and redirection automatically take my mind to the gospel principle of repentance.
For the longest time I have always associated repentance with negativity. Some things that come to mind when I hear the word repentance are guilt, shame, and most definitely sin. I have never understood until my mission, and especially recently, that repentance should not be thought of with a negative connotation. Repentance is beautiful and quite essential for our personal salvation. Without repentance it would be impossible for us to return to our heavenly home.
I have been studying the scriptures and praying to know what I need to do to improve my life and path of discipleship. Repentance has been quite a noticeable theme. At first I was really concerned since our first thought of repentance means that we must have done something seriously wrong. Through my studies and prayers I have been led to understand that when we are led to repent it doesn't necessarily mean that we have committed some horrifying sin. Repentance can simply mean that we need to re-evaluate our priorities and redirect our lives to fit to the new priorities.
This is most definitely a justification, but because school has gotten so busy I have found that I started to spend less and less time studying the scriptures. It was more convenient for me to just listen to the scriptures while getting ready for the day. I had also found that my personal prayers started becoming repetitive and less earnest. Without earnest prayer and diligent scripture study I felt like something was missing in my life. I felt like I should be growing and learning and improving, but I wasn't. I was stuck. I was confused why I felt this way, because I was still in the scriptures and praying every day. I just felt off. I had started to become spiritually famished. I was yearning for Heavenly help and I finally decided that I needed to take more time to be holy. Meaning, I needed to set aside a time each day to really study the scriptures and pray to my Heavenly Father.
I opened my scriptures for the first time in what seemed like weeks, and when I opened them I just felt an outpouring of the spirit. I realized that the spirit of the scriptures was what was missing in my life. Just merely listening to the scriptures was not enough for my spiritual health. I needed to actually sit down and study the scriptures. I need to be able to see the footnotes and use the bible dictionary and topical guide. As I started to do this daily, I started feeling so much better. I felt rejuvenated. I started to feel how I knew I should be feeling.
Heavenly Father kindly and patiently led me to understand that I needed to re evaluate my spiritual priorities. He let me know that repentance is merely a redirection. Now that I have begun to understand this new(to me) aspect of repentance it has made me more aware of how I need to spend my time.
Taking time to be holy is not something we do just to check off a list to make us good Christians. We need to take time to be holy because it is essential for our spiritual health.
If you feel like "taking a break" from being holy is what you need, please reconsider. In fact, "taking a break" will prove to be the most detrimental thing you could ever do for your spirituality and conversion. When we "take a break" or tell ourselves that we will "do it later" the "break" never ends, and the "later" never comes. When we feel that way, we need to take time to re-evaluate our lives and identify where our priorities are. Once we have established how we can make our priorities line up with God's priorities, we will most likely need to make a redirection. This doesn't have to be painful or inconvenient. This redirection can be beautiful and life changing if we allow it to be.
I'm sure we all, at some point in our lives, feel stuck. We feel like we should be improving, learning, and growing; yet for some reason we just feel stuck. It is at these times when we need to re-evaluate our lives and see if redirection is needed. Re-evaluating and redirection automatically take my mind to the gospel principle of repentance.
For the longest time I have always associated repentance with negativity. Some things that come to mind when I hear the word repentance are guilt, shame, and most definitely sin. I have never understood until my mission, and especially recently, that repentance should not be thought of with a negative connotation. Repentance is beautiful and quite essential for our personal salvation. Without repentance it would be impossible for us to return to our heavenly home.
I have been studying the scriptures and praying to know what I need to do to improve my life and path of discipleship. Repentance has been quite a noticeable theme. At first I was really concerned since our first thought of repentance means that we must have done something seriously wrong. Through my studies and prayers I have been led to understand that when we are led to repent it doesn't necessarily mean that we have committed some horrifying sin. Repentance can simply mean that we need to re-evaluate our priorities and redirect our lives to fit to the new priorities.
This is most definitely a justification, but because school has gotten so busy I have found that I started to spend less and less time studying the scriptures. It was more convenient for me to just listen to the scriptures while getting ready for the day. I had also found that my personal prayers started becoming repetitive and less earnest. Without earnest prayer and diligent scripture study I felt like something was missing in my life. I felt like I should be growing and learning and improving, but I wasn't. I was stuck. I was confused why I felt this way, because I was still in the scriptures and praying every day. I just felt off. I had started to become spiritually famished. I was yearning for Heavenly help and I finally decided that I needed to take more time to be holy. Meaning, I needed to set aside a time each day to really study the scriptures and pray to my Heavenly Father.
I opened my scriptures for the first time in what seemed like weeks, and when I opened them I just felt an outpouring of the spirit. I realized that the spirit of the scriptures was what was missing in my life. Just merely listening to the scriptures was not enough for my spiritual health. I needed to actually sit down and study the scriptures. I need to be able to see the footnotes and use the bible dictionary and topical guide. As I started to do this daily, I started feeling so much better. I felt rejuvenated. I started to feel how I knew I should be feeling.
Heavenly Father kindly and patiently led me to understand that I needed to re evaluate my spiritual priorities. He let me know that repentance is merely a redirection. Now that I have begun to understand this new(to me) aspect of repentance it has made me more aware of how I need to spend my time.
Taking time to be holy is not something we do just to check off a list to make us good Christians. We need to take time to be holy because it is essential for our spiritual health.
If you feel like "taking a break" from being holy is what you need, please reconsider. In fact, "taking a break" will prove to be the most detrimental thing you could ever do for your spirituality and conversion. When we "take a break" or tell ourselves that we will "do it later" the "break" never ends, and the "later" never comes. When we feel that way, we need to take time to re-evaluate our lives and identify where our priorities are. Once we have established how we can make our priorities line up with God's priorities, we will most likely need to make a redirection. This doesn't have to be painful or inconvenient. This redirection can be beautiful and life changing if we allow it to be.
Comments
Post a Comment