Motivation

Mo·ti·va·tion: 1. Desire to do; interest or drive                       
                       2. The state of being motivated.

Motivation is the key to all success it is as it says above the DESIRE to do, "Our motives and thoughts ultimately influence our actions." Without motivation how far would we get? How successful would we be in life? Would we want to remain diligent? Or would we no longer feel the need or the urgency to go on? Without motivation we would get complacent, we would plateau in whatever we are doing.

The question I ask is how do you motivate someone or some group of people? Motivation can come from love and can also come from fear. It can also come from the ultimate desire that we have that turns into our actions. But for those who are ultimately missing that desire to act or to do, how is it we are to spark that desire? I ask this in hope's of being able to more effectively motivate others. This post is more of a disscussion, rather than being a blog post of me posting something in hopes of others learning.

Our life and times compared to WICKED

WICKED, a Broadway musical that tells the story of two witches, Elphaba the wicked witch of the West and Glinda the good witch of the North. In this musical Elphaba wants to meet the wizard who she thinks is a wonderful person that knows everything, doesn't do anything wrong, she holds him to very high standing. Glinda does the same, the two are on the same journey until something happens. Strange things begin to happen in the land of OZ. On this journey to the land of OZ Elphaba finds that this wonderful wizard is not the man that she thought he was. He turns out to be behind all the bad things.

Lets take a look at life for just a second. We have this beautiful world we live in. We have so many things that are wonderful, families, friends, wholesome activities etc. We also have the bad like inappropriate content that can be easily accessed on the Internet or seen on TV shows. Things that were once seen as pornographic are now viewed on prime time television. The world today is much like WICKED. The Wizard who from the outside was viewed as wonderful, accepted, and good. Is just like the things of the world like those inappropriate things. They look good on the outside but on the inside are detrimental to our lives. The good things of the world a lot of times are viewed vise versa including the Gospel of Jesus Christ in many cases. Because they are not "in-line" with the ways of the world they are viewed as "horrible" or "wicked" just like Elphaba was. May we all take a careful look at our lives and the things around us and know right from wrong, good from evil. Know that God is love and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly do love us.  



Lost and Found

The other day, there was a missionary playing guitar and singing a song. The song he was singing was Upside Down by Jack Johnson a wonderful song. As he sang this song, I thought about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In today's world a lot of people are looking for something. If you ask people what they are looking for, they might not be able to answer the question because most don't know what it is. As this missionary began to sing this song, I thought about the Happiness the Gospel brings to our lives.

Many people may believe that true Happiness "just can't be found." But it can, this gospel is a gospel of change, because we do many things in our lives that create feelings of guilt or shame whether we realize they are creating those feelings or not. But, when we decide to change our lives, to live the commandments, to do what Heavenly Father has asked us to do, and most of all when we repent happiness will enter into our lives. Now in the song, Jack Johnson speaks of finding this love, this joy, that creates a feeling that he doesn't want "to go away." Well after we have decided to live the gospel, we come to baptism, now baptism does not only include water, there are 2 steps and the second step is receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost or could be the feeling that we "don't want to go away." The Holy Ghost helps us in our lives, it helps us feel the love of God ever stronger than we have before.

Here is the song that I've been talking about:

Fathers Day!

I want to take this opportunity I have of writing a blog and use it to wish my own Father as well as all the Father's that are out there a Happy Father's Day. Something I believe very strongly is that families are ordained of our Heavenly Father. He gives us families so that we can learn in a good environment and things like that. I definitely have a good Father. Although like all Father's he can get mad, whenever I got into trouble it was because I did something wrong and it was definitely for my own good. Even though I wouldn't have admitted that at the time's that I got in trouble, I can now.

Happy Father's Day Dad even though I cant be there, I hope that you have a good one. I love you and so does the rest of the family. Thanks for always being there and trying/doing your best to be the best Dad.

Remembering our Soldiers

It's been a little while since I have posted a blog. I was thinking today, this is the perfect time to post up another blog post and get myself going on blogging again. The post I want to do today is about Memorial Day and our service men, not just our veterans. Memorial Day seems to be one of those holiday's that has kind of gotten out of hand. People have turned it into being about going partying at the lake rather than thanking our troops and showing their support. There is a poem I found on a building the other day and I have since found it online, I would like to share it with those of you who read this and ask that you pass this post along, the poem says;

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN,
who salutes the Flag,

It is the Veteran, who serves under the Flag,
To be buried by the flag,

So the protester can burn the flag.

For my self, if I may be so bold to change the word Veteran to Soldier. It is not just our Veteran's that have been out fighting. We have men and women currently out there fighting. I appreciate what they do, we will never know or fully understand all that they give, or all that their wives and husbands and children have to sacrafice so that their mother or father or child can be out there fighting. These men and women fight for the rights and defend those rights God has given us. God be with them.



"Freedom isn't free."

How Far is Heaven?

There is a song that I am very fond of, I first hear it when I was in High School I was probably about a sophmore or so, the title of this song is "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys, the song as the title states is a song about Heaven. They ask a very simple question yet one that definentaly in my mind sparked some curiosity, the question they ask is, "How far is Heaven?"

Today as i was sitting in a weekly meeting we have as missionaries and on the wall right next to the chalk board is a quote or statement that says;

"How far is Heaven? It's not very far. When you live close to God, it's right where you are."

How true is this statement? When we are living the way we should and we are keeping the commandments of God we are truley becoming closer to Heaven. There is a saying in our church that I really like it says, "Home can be a Heaven on Earth." "How far is Heaven? It's not very far."  This I truley believe, we can all make our home's a Heaven on Earth.

Happy Mother's Day!

As I have sat and pondered and written down my thoughts about Mother's Day, I have been unable to say what I want to in words. There is a song that comes to mind that I fell in love with as soon as I heard it, because it made me think of my own mother, so instead of writing a big blog, I am going to let a band named Il Divo do it for me, because they can express it better.

I am indeed very grateful for my own mom, she's done more for me than I could ever imagine. She is a very wonderful woman. My hope is that she knows how thankful I am, I have not always been the type to show how thankful I am or to listen the best. Most of the time in fact Im pretty sure she thinks I'm not listening or paying attention but I am. And I'm grateful for the wonderful example she has been in my life and continues to be. I love and cherish her. Happy Mother's Day not just to my mom, but to all the wonderful mother's around the world, without you, we would be in chaos.