Define Your Dash

In a Relief Society lesson last week, we talked about “Defining our Dashes,” or making sure that the dash between our birth and death dates are remembered.  We discussed leaving our posterity, family, and friends a statement of beliefs, a credo, and/or a write-up of our testimony.  It’s meant to be a few brief sentences about the core beliefs by which we live, and can be thought of as a personal “Page of Proverbs.”  This kind of thing is appealing to me, perhaps just for my own purposes, but I love the idea of sharing with my children a few things I’ve learned.  So without further ado…..

This I believe:

1)      The Holy Ghost is truly a gift that can change your life for the better.

Henry B. Eyring said, “The companionship of the Holy Ghost will have a purifying effect on your spirit.” 

As I’ve gotten older and experienced some of my own struggles, I have learned the answer to these struggles cannot be found in another person or thing or place.  Through these struggles I have been forced to look more inward and upward for strength.  In doing so I have tried to foster a more deep relationship with my Heavenly Father, and I feel I have been very blessed by that relationship.  One of the sweetest blessings that has come with this stronger relationship with God is the gift of the Holy Ghost that seems to offer me incomparable power I have found from no other source.  Heavenly Father or the Holy Ghost don’t take my pains away, but they carry me through them and guide my steps if I just keep trying to foster that relationship with them.  Something I have tried to do in building this relationship is to write down on my phone some of the thoughts that come to me in my quiet moments.  They are thoughts I think might be worthy of writing down or might be coming from the Spirit.  As I have looked back and read those notes months or even years later, my testimony has been strengthened as I see and feel the truthfulness of those promptings as they have come to me.  So many promptings were preparatory for future events.  Some were incredibly inspiring and have served as further inspiration for me down the road.  Some have simply helped me keep going.  These little experiences I have had with these silly phone notes have been a testimony to me of the “unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost.”—That sometimes these promptings are unexplainable, but no less real.  They have served as a reminder to me of the following quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley:  “The humanists who criticize the Lord’s work, the so-called intellectual who demean, speak only from ignorance of spiritual manifestation.  They have not heard the voice of the Spirit.  They have not heard it because they have not sought after it and prepared themselves worthy of it.  Then, supposing that knowledge comes only of reasoning and of the workings of the mind, they deny that which comes by the power of the Holy Ghost.  The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God.  That Spirit is real.  To those who have experienced its workings, the knowledge so gained is as real as that which is acquired through the operation of the five senses.  I testify of this.”

2)       Accept mortality and make it your friend.  I heard someone say this a while ago and it has stuck with me ever since. 

Friends are those that we accept for who they are and love even when they are hard to love.  We are blessed by the love we give our friends. 

There will be times when mortality may not seem like your friend.  Mortality may seem like a dark, unsympathetic ghost that haunts your happiness.  It will be that way if you make it so.  Choose to make it more than that and see the good that can come from accepting it, loving it, and acknowledging its goodness.

3)      Bruce D Porter once said, “When we yield our hearts to the Lord, the attractions of the world simply lose their luster.”  I have found this to be very true, and I have also found that when our hearts are with God, we are living the TRUE “good life.” 

4)      Each of us is responsible for our own happiness, and we can fulfill that responsibility with God’s help and His love.  But you must remember that you have to put in the work to find that life’s satisfaction you seek. 

5)      Keep searching and working towards your best self and then embrace it. 

“We each do the best we can.  My best may not be as good as your best, but it’s my best.  The fact is that we know when we are doing our best and when we are not.  If we are not doing our best, it leaves us with a gnawing hunger and frustration.  But when we do our level best, we experience peace.”  --Marjorie Hinckley

6)      I love trees and everything they represent.  God’s love, family, the fruit of eternal life.  Remember eternal life with our loved ones is more desirable above any other fruit.  Think of the tree.  Seek of its fruit. 

7)      As I have grown older, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of compassion towards ourselves and others, for life can be difficult.  Us humans need as much love, sympathy, and compassion as possible.  I hope my children don’t have to get older to be compassionate people, but I also hope that in their life’s lessons they can internalize this foundational message taught best by Christ himself:  Be loving.  Be compassionate.  Love they neighbor as thyself. 

8)      Our children have not aged past ten yet, but I am confident they can already repeat the following phrase uttered out of my mouth so frequently:  “Good habits make a happy life.”  So much of life’s problems and difficulties can be avoided by establishing consistent, good habits that help us prioritize life and achieve the balance we need to keep going.  These habits include basic things like eating well, consistent sleep, spiritual habits, personal goals, educating our minds, exercising our bodies, and feeding our souls and bodies with things that offer respite, peace, and joy.  I am not perfect at all of these all of the time, but I keep trying and I believe that ultimate persistence has helped me immensely.

9)      Sheer grit and mental toughness is something that I haven’t achieved easily in my life.  I was born with a soft heart and a sensitive soul.  I am grateful for all I am because of this sensitivity, but in order to survive this life so far, I have had to force myself to have grit and mental toughness to keep going.  Not every minute of every day requires it, but you can be sure there will be days and even some years that will require these essential qualities:  Sheer grit and mental toughness!  Reach deeply, pray for it, and it will come.

10)   Choose wisely those who you spend time with.  A good indication of a true friend with solid character is if that person allows, fosters, and celebrates all the good that you have to offer.  

11)       Don’t be afraid to be respond slowly to people or even to life’s perplexing situations.  I believe there is much power that can come from allowing time, thoughtfulness, and prayer come before your choices to speak or act.