Thoughts from the Edge

I've been thinking a lot about the different social views everyone has. Opinions are so heated.
I feel like there is a constant war between two sides on practically everything.

For a long time, I've felt that you have to fully pick a side without reservations, or no one will accept you. Or that if you pick a side, you can't value any part of what the other "team" has to say. I've seen and felt a lot of rejection, neglection, and even ludicrous for having a certain opinion. That, somehow, what I think is always wrong, and there is no possible way that I can justify why I think the way I do, because I'm wrong and that's just the way it is.
"You're wrong, so we don't like you, and therefor anything you do or say from now on will also be wrong."
There's a lack of being empathetic towards the opposing view. This causes hurt between people.
I don't like hurting people.

This is why I try to agree with as much as I can on both sides. This doesn't mean I don't have strong beliefs, I do, and I intend to defend them if they are being threatened.
However, I will not shove my opinions down anyone's throat, post it all over social media, become defensive, comb through articles/comments and tell people why they are wrong. That just causes turmoil and there's a 99% chance you aren not going to change anyone's opinion anyway.
It's more important to make people feel like you are their friend than be right.

One of my favorite quotes: "Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding" - Bill Bullard

People are always saying, "Have an open mind!" I don't think this should necessarily be true. If you're going to be wishy-washy on everything, you won't be able to stand strong on anything and people can use you like a puppet.
The saying should be "Have a firm mind, and an open heart."

Rather than being totally on one side of the border, I think that it is okay to come to the edge to meet the other opinion. That is where compromises and unions are made. Things become more fruitful there.
One of my favorite YouTubers, Hank Green, explained this concept much better than I ever could. Hank studied ecology. He notes, that in instances where the ocean meets the land (called an ecotones), they tend to be more diverse and fruitful than either biome alone. The "edge" is a fantastic place, but it also tends to be a violent one. While there are many benefits from being able to use resources from either biome, there is also a lot more access for predators... and getting pummeled and dragged around can be exhausting. But because of the intermixing biomes, there is much larger adaptability, productivity, diversity created here. The key is to stay strong where you are, but have the ability to use the other side if you can. Here's the link if you'd like to watch what Hank has to say about the matter. (It's under 4 minutes, I highly suggest it :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WHRerf-lrw

Anyway, on a more spiritual note, in Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas are praised as if they were gods... and then are heavily stoned...by the same people.
The problem is they had too open of a mind. First, they saw Paul perform a miracle and they were convinced that he was totally awesome. Then, in verse 19, it says, "And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead."
All it took was for someone to come and tell them that Paul was not awesome and they stoned him. They had no firm opinion of their own.

Now, I'm not saying you should never change your opinion. I think recognizing that original opinions were wrong can be hard. No one likes to admit they were wrong. I highly respect people who can do that. But if you truly believe and know something, stick with it! Hold fast to it! Be passionate about it!
I just beg you to not push other people away because your opinions.
I would consider myself an edge dweller. I connect well with people on both sides of the spectrum, even if my values belong on one side. I try and connect with whatever I can, even if it's small. Being on the edge allows you to learn a lot from both sides. It makes it easier to communicate to the other side without offending, but most importantly they feel like they matter.

In the words of our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, "Never let a problem to be solved become more important to be loved."

Don't forget to be awesome!

Coming to know Christ

I frequently wrote in my journal as an 7 year old. Sometimes, I like to go back and read what I wrote. For instance, one of my favorites read, 

"We learn about Jesus every Sunday. I think I know almost everything about Jesus."

This makes me laugh every time I read it. I thought I knew so much because I had heard the stories over and over. The lessons all seemed the same. Now, I recognize that when I was seven, I didn't know Jesus, I just knew the stories. I didn't have a personal relationship with Him. 

Which also reminds me of a story I was told in Young Womens.

"A man died and was resurrected and waiting in a room to be interviewed. Another man was ahead of him. The door opened, the man entered, and the door closed. The man on the outside could hear the conversation on the other side of the door. The interviewer began: “I want you to tell me what you know about Jesus Christ.”

“Well, He was born of Mary in Bethlehem; he lived thirty-three years, spending the last three organizing his church, choosing his Apostles, and giving the gospel to direct our lives.”

The interviewer stopped him and said: “Yes, yes, that’s all true, but I want you to tell me what you know about Jesus Christ.”

“Well, he suffered and died so that we could have eternal life. Three days later he was resurrected so that we might return to Heavenly Father.”

“Yes, yes, that is true, but I want you to tell me what you know about Jesus Christ.” The man, a little perplexed, again began: “Well, he restored the gospel in its fulness to the earth through Joseph Smith, reorganized his church, gave us temples so we could do work to save our dead. He gave us personal ordinances for our salvation and exaltation.”

The interviewer again stopped him and said, “All of what you have said to me is true.” The man was then invited to leave the room. After he left the door opened and the second man entered. As he approached the interviewer he fell upon his knees and cried, “My Lord, my God.”

This story has always slightly haunted me for years. I feel like for a lot of my life, I have only studied the scriptures to just to put things in my knowledge bank. I thought this would make Christ happy. Sure, I could answer questions, I could retell the stories, I could describe what Christ tell us to do in certain situations, etc, but I never worked on developing a personal relationship with our Savior. 

This is the same story of Saul in Acts chapter 9. 

Saul knew every fact about the Old Testament and God. He could rattle of verses, laws, stories, etc. However, he failed to recognize Jesus when He appeared to him, and that scares me. 

In verse 5 it says, "And he (meaning Saul) said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."  

It doesn't really matter how much we read the scriptures, how often we attend church, of if we ace every religion class, you can still fail to recognize Jesus despite how much you've studied and attended.

For one of my YW value projects, I went through a jar that was given to me by one of my leaders. In it, there were 21 slips of paper. Surrounding the jar were the words 21 days closer to Christ. Every single day you were supposed to read a certain passage of scripture, a story/talk, and then there would be a daily challenge relating to that topic. 

It taught me how to be Christlike and, therefore, closer to Christ. I testify that it is not enough to simply have knowledge of Christ. We need to know Him, and I mean really know Him. I have seen the blessings of having Christ in my life, especially over the past year and a half. I'm happier knowing Him. I can see all the blessings He has placed in my life. I can rely on Him. He is my guide. He is my friend. He is my Savior. 

Don't forget to be awesome!

Optimism Rules!

It can be really hard to separate ourselves from the wants of today.

They seem so important right here, right now.
It's just so enticing.
To have more money.
To have more fame.
It's just something we all want and I can't tell you why.

And a lot of the time, deceitful schemes are involved to get more gain.
A white lie here.
A white lie there.
Boom. Instant recipe for money/fame.
Then you collect your winnings and be on your merry way.
Right?
RIGHT?!

Let me ask you this. Do you think thousands of years from now, up in heaven, you will say, "Oh man, I wish I would have lied more to get more money" ?
Probably not.

Haha, I know it seems comical putting it that way, but I'm serious.
I'm willing to bet that you'll be glad that you didn't lie for money (hopefully). That just seems really selfish, and it will probably be embarrassing.
At the end of it all, we're not going to wish we lied for more money during our mortal life.
So next time you are faced with an easy way for money, think of the question I proposed. If it entails lying/cheating, DON'T DO IT.
I mean, it could also entail death.
In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira lie about keeping a portion of property from the church, and they lost their lives. Yikes.

Continuing on in Acts 5 we find that Peter and John get arrested and beaten for testifying of Christ.
A lot of the time, we are told that we will be protected for loving/serving the Lord. For most of us, if we got beaten we'd probably think, "Thanks Lord...? I defended you and I got beaten. What is that about?!"
But that's not what Peter/John thought.
I actually really love their reaction.
In verse 41 it says, "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer same for his name"
They felt honored to be beaten!
If you need a good example for optimism, look at Peter and John.
That's optimism.
Instead of being bitter, they were better.
I like those two words, "bitter" and "better", because if you look at the difference between bitter and better, it's the "i". Being focused on "I" or myself makes us bitter. Remember that :)

Don't forget to be awesome!

Starting 2nd half of the New Testament

I've never intensely studied the second half of the New Testament, so I'm sure I have a lot to learn this semester, and I'm excited to share it with you!

In Acts 1:3 it says, "To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God"
---The "he" in this verse is referring to the resurrected Jesus Christ ---

In class we pointed out the words Luke used "infallible proofs." Infallible means absolutely or certain. This indicates that he probably showed the markings on his hands/feet/side. No one else would be alive and bear the same marks He did.
Have you ever thought about how when we resurrect, we are to have absolute perfect bodies while Jesus, the only one to truly deserve a perfect body, will be the only one bearing scars?
That's pretty powerful. He has engraved us onto his skin so he cannot forget our suffering. He will stand with us and plea for the forgiveness of our sins.

Which brings me to my next point, being a witness. In verse 8 it says, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
In Young Women's we recite a theme that starts "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and in all places..."
Now I want you to think about being called as a witness in a court.
If someone called you up to a stand and asked you to be a witness of the resurrected Jesus Christ, could you?
Do you have enough personal testimony of bear witness of Him?
That's how strong you have to be.

A lot of people like to take Acts 2:21 in isolation and hold onto, "... that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" If you ever run into this problem with someone, I encourage you to tell them to read on. There is a lot more to salvation, and the details are beyond that verse :)

The last thing I would like to cover is the lame man who is healed by Peter and John in Acts 3. In verse two it tells that this man laid daily at the gate of the temple. If you think about it, Jesus probably walked by and through that gate a hundred times. Why did He never heal him?
We don't know.
Perhaps Jesus knew the timing wasn't right to heal this man. That the miracle would be better performed by Peter and John.
Jesus knows the better plan for us, even if we don't. Our timings might be different, but we need to have faith in the Lord's timing.
I know this can be difficult. Being a BYU student, I can see lots of struggles of wanting things now. A spouse, an acceptance to medical school, a child, etc. Sometimes the answer is no, but it's not no forever. It would probably be great to get those things when we want them, but there could be something better for us/others just around the corner if you just wait.