Sunday, March 30, 2014

Where is your focus?

There have been two clear principles on my mind a lot this week. The first is pretty common sense, but I think it was good for me to realize. That is, everyone gets to the end of their rope. Everyone gets to that point where something in thier life is so pressing it takes over everything. It is sometimes hard to recognize when people are at this point because we are all pretty good at faking it, but it happens to everyone. 

The second principle is more dear to my heart, and something that I am very passionate about. I have recently had the opportunity to witness the joy, peace, hope, sorrow, and dispair that comes through the repentance process. There have been moments where I see the hand of The Lord completely taking over the hearts of others in a way that is so exciting, and i have also seen the struggle where satan tries to convince that you will never be what The Lord needs you to be. On this note, I think that  one of Santans most powerful tools in this process is that he places other doubting people around us that don't have faith in the lords work either. 

It is interesting for me to see the stark contrast of these two forces. One has the power to inspire service and self worth, while the other triggers introversion, and outside blame. Unfortunately, to become truly into what The Lord wants us to become we will be faced with both forces, the key element is where you put your focus. 

I have come to realize in my own life, and also in the lives of people I care about that your emotional and spiritual momentum will go where you put your focus. If you are focusing on the wats you fail, you will continue in that direction. If you focus in things that are going well, areas where you succeed then that is where you will move. Now I am not naive enough to think that everything will be butterflies and rainbows of you put your focus there, but if you are constantly trying to focus on the good then when the nasty comes it will have less power to drag you down to the end of your rope. 

This principe applies to how you view others, and your expectations of them. Just imagine how the world would change if we expected everyone to be their best selves? Imagine how inspired we all would be to meet those expectations. If we did our best to focus on the positive qualities of others, then we would be so much more able to love them. We would also be so much more happy to serve them. Honestly, the world would be a better place if we just shifted our focus more closely to how The Lord views his children. 

Now, we all know that I am not anywhere close to perfect at this principle! Although, I have been so blessed recently to witness amazing people that have set incredible examples of how The Lord can bless lives in such a positive way. The psie around me constantly teach me how to have the strength to be better. I am so blessed!