Burden or Blessing?

We all know that the older we get the more responsibilities we assume.  It is completely up to us how we perceive these responsibilities.  We can view them as burdens, and just complain about how terrible our lives can be. Or, we can just look at all our responsibilities as blessings.  We can be grateful for what we have and the opportunity to learn and grow from our responsibilities.

There are lots of day to day things that we might never view as blessings.  For me, those things are laundry, dishes, and homework.  Some things change over time, and others remain a never ending task to complete on our to-do lists.

 is one aspect of our lives that should never be viewed as a burden or a nuisance.  The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ coupled with the covenants we make, and the commandments we keep should always be viewed as a blessing.

The gospel will always give us opportunities to learn, grow, and progress.  When we view the gospel and it's lifestyle as a burden, we are preventing ourselves from opportunity to receive blessings. What is really comforting to me is that I am not the only person that feels that the gospel should be a priority in our lives.  In this past April General Conference we got to hear from leaders of the church. President M. Russell Ballard spoke on the gifts of God. If you have not heard his talk, I would highly suggest it.

President Ballard spoke firstly about what it means when we sustain our living prophet.  It means that we promise to listen and obey the prophet's voice, seeing as he gives us direction from the Lord. It is so important that we are taking time out of our daily lives to hear, read, and study the words of our living prophet and apostles. 

Another thing we can do to help keep our perspective of the Gospel as a blessing rather than a burden is to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  This semester I am taking a religion class based on the Book of Mormon and the doctrine of the gospel found within its pages. These first couple weeks, we have been studying about the purpose and role of the Book of Mormon. Its purpose is to draw us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.  This is the same purpose that the Gospel and its commandments provide in our lives. 

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we know that the Book of Mormon is another tool for us to draw closer to the Savior and seek greater understanding of the Gospel.  What better way for us to avoid seeing the gospel as a burden than for us to take time out of our daily lives to study a book that will bring us closer to Christ, and help us understand the commandments we need to keep while living the Gospel. 

I am so touched that our Father in Heaven loves us so much that he provides us with all we need to successfully come unto him through His Son.  We have so many wonderful resources at our fingertips. It is just up to us to choose to use these resources, and make it a daily choice.    How have your studies of the Book of Mormon brought you closer to the Savior? How has that relationship affected your outlook on gospel living? Is it a burden, or is it a Blessing?