Home

Home is a strange concept. When you're there you know it. Seems like its not only familiar surroundings of walls and furniture but feelings of acceptance and love. The Gospel has a real unspoken acceptance and love for those within its reach. The Savior says that His sheep recognize the Shepherd's voice and follow. The Shepherd not only knows the way home but is home. Although we may wander and feel that we are beyond the reach of acceptance and love we are not, for the Lord waits for us like the father of the Prodigal Son, who ran with open arms to meet the son when the son returned. We're not that far from home if we merely look, as those that wandered with Moses in the desert looked at the raised snake. Look to the Savior and we'll feel the acceptance and love of something that feels familiar.

Repentance, Obedience, Agency, Faith, Hope, and Charity

Repentance is the only real thing that Christ and the prophets taught. All the information supplemental to keeping the commandments was probably only given to give us more reason to keep the commandments.

Obedience is the key to avoiding repentance, but as we are all sinners and weak, there is much to be learned and experience the hard way. Obedience is also the key to repentance, because if we are not obedient to the commandments then we haven't repented fully.

Agency is the key to obedience. If we choose to obey of our own free will and determination, then we are on a path of eternal progression. Not one minute of our lives is empty of decision. We have to decide what to do with our time and talents. Our desires are to be given to the Lord for Him to make them come to fruition, as He is our Gardner.

Faith is the key to using agency correctly. Believing in His will over ours, frees us of the weight of the world and gives us the power to overcome. We must realize that it is His grace by which we keep breathing. He can let us go of this burden of breathing at any time. He lets us live on so that we might learn faith in Him and repent. By our relinquishing our wills to Him, He can give us what we righteously desire. But, if our desires are His desires then vice versa and that is the way to happiness, as He knows whats best for us.

Hope in a better world is often lost when we look at all the injustice, lack of charity, and lack of obedience to God. We find it hard to see the world as anything but hostile in such a state. But, the Savior did come to earth and did show us the way out of all of the turmoil and despair. Hope in Him and His resurrection gives us a motivation to do good, as it is possible to overcome all things as He has done. Hope that humanity can change and be better. Hope that virtue and integrity are not vain but eternal. Hope that there is purpose to love.

Charity is the key to our success. Without it, we are nothing. Charity is the purpose of all that we do in the church. It is the "pure love of Christ" and those that serve Christ are those that serve others. Its neither convenient, nor easy but is the only thing that counts. Blogs, tweets, pictures, possessions, foods, electronics, buildings, all are subject to annihilation by force but Charity withstands any force as the Savior proved in His agonizing atonement, where He withstood all the combined force of the world because He loved us.

Is there room for doubt?

You know, it is a special kind of belief that can exist despite one's logic or complete understanding. There is a faith that is so strong that great opposition and sacrifice does not effect the determination to choose to follow it.
Many assume that faith is not logical or unreasonable as it requires us to walk a bit in the dark. Scientists would rather call this act, a hypothesis or in layman's terms, a hunch. But, it is faith to believe in something without all the evidence.
For me, the act of faith means that sometimes my mind isn't smart enough to keep up with what is right and wrong. I can easily summon thoughts of justifying or reasoning my way out of anything. But, I know that as long as I believe in God, there is an accountability of my deeds and thoughts.
So, is there room for doubt? Always. There is always somewhere we can doubt. Should we? Maybe, a little doubt is good in that we must seek to get rid of this doubt by working to dissolve it. Doubt is like dust, its always going to accumulate with time if we aren't constantly seeking to clean it up.
Two ways to get rid of doubt are to clean it up or simply ignore it. I'm afraid there are times when I think ignoring it is the best solution, and what I mean is to have patience with this concern but move on in what you do know. Many times those little moles of doubt can eventually destroy our mountains of faith. Vice versa, as well.
If we can then, there are times we must seek to rid ourselves of doubt. This requires diligence in obedience to the commandments, fasting, and sincere prayer. The Lord promises us His grace "after all we can do."