I never seem to do the lessons, that Brother Taggart gives to us, justice. But, I'm going to try. He just does such an amazing job at explaining scriptures and quotes and I've never been able to understand the scriptures more than when I'm in his class. I never want to leave and I always want to share the lessons with everyone I see. This is my chance to share them and tell you what I got out of it.
Today we learned about love and I seemed to take on a whole new perspective of the commandment "love one another". One of the things my teacher had us do was write song lyrics on the board from love songs. Here's a few song lyrics I found:
Collide by Howie Day "You and I collide."
Wanted by Hunter Hayes "I wanna make you feel wanted."
At Last by Etta Jones "I found a dream that I could speak to. A dream that I can call my own. I found a thrill to to rest my cheek to. A thrill that I have never known."
The Dress Looks Nice On You by Sufjan Stevens "I can see a lot of life in you. I can see a lot of bright in you. And I think the dress looks nice on you. I can see a lot of life in you."
I'd Rather Be With You by Joshua Radin "I need to be bold. Need to jump in the cold water. Need to grow older with a girl like you. Finally see you are naturally. The one to make it so easy. When you show me the truth. Yeah, I'd rather be with you. Say you want the same thing too."
Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley "For I can't help falling in love with you."
Love songs are amazing and they are a way to express the feeling of love, but I think these songs sometimes blind us into believing love is something different than what it used to be. This is what I learned from the lesson. "Love is not love without God." If we know God, we love him, and if we love God, we are obedient to him. For we cannot have true obedience if we do not love him. God is Love. He is the basis of everything good feeling and act. One of the greatest gifts that God has given us is the power to love and not just be in love, but to love our neighbors, to love our family, to love the world so much that we do not think of ourselves or the offenses and hurts people have committed toward us. Sin is selfish and taketh away love. Whereas obedience and serving is being selfless and therefore loving others. God loved us enough that he gave up His only Begotten Son. We owe him that much love in return and even more.
L(living)
O(only in)
V(vast selflessness)
E(even as God)
A thought of notes saying 'Made you look'
A thought of messages to fill my book
A thought of us sitting side by side
A thought of smiling far too wide
A thought of places where we once stood
A thought of going if I could
A hundred memories skipping page by page
To take me away and fill my stage
A memory of hearts skipping little beats
A memory of waiting and saving seats
A memory of dancing and feeling shy
A memory of giggling without knowing why
A memory of secrets whispered in my ear
A memory of things I once loved to hear
A memory of spontaneous hugs from you
A memory of feelings both old and new
A thought and a memory of days gone past
To leave me smiling to know they last
A friendship or a relationship can either be the antidote or the poison. Sometimes a person walks into our life to heal us. They become the antidote to a previous poison, but overtime they can become a new poison. And each time, the poison seems to strike right at the heart where it knows it can do the most damage. It will take the heart and infect it until it is scratched, then scared, then bruised until it is black and blue; and then finally, until it is broken or torn. This is the point when we are allowed to be selfish. We all go through a time where we refuse to think of ourselves. We don't want to be selfish, but we cannot become an antidote until we find our own. When we have a poisonous relationship or friendship, the only way out is thinking of ourselves. You can call it being selfish, but rather call it finding your own antidote. And remember, you cannot truly love someone until you learn to love yourself.
THE ANTIDOTE TO MY POISON
You took my heart and you let it swell and beat faster and faster
Which was your disguise to mask the abuse ahead of me
You let yourself appear to be an antidote to my problems
When really you were the poison to so much more hurt
You found the perfect place to inject your painful drug
A place where you knew it would affect me the most
My heart is the center and home to every feeling I've had
Of joy, of sorrow, of love, of hate, of peace, and of pain
First you let the poison numb my senses and rob me blind
You let it hide until it was able to creep in just a little more
Then slowly it sat and sank in deep to fester and infect me
The first sign was a scratch that barely seemed to bleed at all
But a new one appeared each day even worse than the last
And scars appeared in numbers far too many to count
Bruises were next that started out small then grew in size
Which caused my heart to turn from red to black and blue
Until finally it started to tear slightly on the left and right hand sides
And that was when my blindness turned to seeing with new eyes
I discovered the poison and searched for my new antidote
And found it as my heart started to shatter and crack
But injected it straight into the poison before it could break
So don't give yourself credit for another broken heart
Since mine was just scratched and bruised and covered in scars
It may have cracked and had a slight tear but it never broke
For I found the perfect antidote to your not-so-perfect poison
Now here's a song I'm dying to share with you. I think we all go through at least one break up or move on from a bad friendship in our lives. We all have hard feelings for someone at some point, it's a human thing. But we shouldn't hold on to those feelings. So, listen to this song during those times and move on.
UNFRIEND YOU Greyson Chance
I really thought you were the one
It was over before it begun
It's so hard for me to walk away
But I know I can't stay
You're beautiful and crazy too
Maybe that's why I fell into you
Even though you would pretend to be
You were never with me
So it's over yeah we're through, so I'm a unfriend you
You're the best liar ever knew, so I'll unfriend you
Cause I should have known, right from the start
I'm deleting you right from my heart
Yeah it's over, my last move is to unfriend you
I thought in time that you could change
And my time and love would heal the pain
And I didn't want this day to come
But now all I feel is numb
So it's over yeah we're through, so I'm a unfriend you
You're the best liar ever knew, so I'm a unfriend you
Cause I should have known, right from the start
I'm deleting you right from my heart
Yeah it's over, my last move is to unfriend you
You come on to everybody
Everybody all the time
You give up to anybody
What I thought was only mine
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oooooooh
So it's over yeah we're through, so I'm a unfriend you
You're the best liar ever knew, so I'm a unfriend you 'Cause I should have known, right from the start That you didn't have a human heart (favorite line)
Yeah it's over my last move is to unfriend you
Unfriend you
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Woah ohh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
So I'm a unfriend you
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
So I'm a unfriend you
So, I've decided to that I want to try to get more out of my daily scripture study. I think we all have a habit of reading just because we are taught that we are suppose to. But when I really get into it and find something that I need to hear, it's the best feeling. I especially love Preach My Gospel. It has answered my prayers on a number of occasions. What I've decided to work on is developing the Christ-like attributes in Preach My Gospel. This week, I'm working on Hope, so here we go.
"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimsim, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement. The scriptures often describe hope in Jesus Christ as the assurance that you will inherit eternal life in the celestial kingdom.
President James E. Faust taught:
'Hope is the anchor of our souls...
'Hope is trust in God's promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future...
'The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death.' ("Hope, an Anchor of the Soul," Ensign, Nov. 1999, 59-60)
'Being blessed with hope, let us, as disciples, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have 'moved away from the hope of the gospel' (Col. 1:23). Let us reach to lift hands which hang hopelessly down.' -Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Brightness of hope, Ensign, Nov. 1994, 36)"
I don't think that we realize how important Hope is in our lives. Without hope, there isn't a reason to look forward to the future. We wouldn't have a reason or a push to keep living our lives. The hope that tomorrow will be better and that we will be worthy of the glory of God. The hope that people will be better and that we will be better. Each day, we need to take a moment and think about what we hope for.
I hope to be better tomorrow than I was today.
I hope to get over my hard feelings for someone.
I hope to become a better friend.
I hope to be stronger from these trials.
I hope to be worthy :) to be worthy of the people in my life.
I hope and hope makes the future bright.
As we all probably know, this weekend was conference which we all agree is better than Christmas. I sat down this weekend for the first time with a notebook and pen and really tried to listen to the talks instead of doing my usual puzzle. It was worth every second. The talk I wanted to focus on was Sister Dalton's talk about young women that she gave yesterday at the Saturday morning session.
The thing that struck me the most in her talk was the sign she saw that said "What e're thou are act well thy part." I had a few of my friends over yesterday and at that moment we had to pause the TV to make sure we all wrote that down, even thou her talk was for young women and I had five guys over. It really hit me though that it doesn't matter who or what we are, we all have a part and we need to try our hardest and do our best in that part. William Shakespeare once said, "There are no small parts, just small actors." Our part here isn't small. We may think that someone is more important or has a better cause, but if we act well our part, we can make a difference. We need to stand for what we believe in wherever we are. I started a new job this last Friday at a call center. My first day, I had my hair pulled back, but the second day it was down. My boss came up to me and asked if I had done something different with my hair and proceeded to say, "I didn't even recognize you. The only way I recognized you was your necklace." The necklace I was wearing was my young women's medallion. I had never realized that even a small thing like that can make you stand out from others. I would rather be recognized by the good things I do and the things I say instead of my name or face. It's the small things that make a difference.
