followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 100]

When President Nelson introduced his new First Presidency and addressed the members of the Church, his advice was: "Keep on the covenant path." I believe that temple covenants are important and powerful, and that all members should probably be working toward the temple and keep the covenants they make there (and I do my best).

But what's been on my mind lately is my baptismal covenant. How do I use my baptismal covenants to help me stay on the covenant path? Two scriptures about the baptismal covenant come to mind.

First, the sacrament prayer in D&C 20:77:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

This prayer reminds us of the baptismal covenant, to take upon us the name of Christ and always remember Him and keep His commandments. In return we receive the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.

We had a fireside Sunday night that discussed how we should always remember Him, because that helps us have the right mindset in our lives. We were to picture a lonely, inadequate moment and then walking into our room to pour out heart in prayer and the Savior's there. How does He greet you? How do you feel when His arms are around you? If you can hold on to that feeling, you're remembering Him, and the Spirit is there. Certainly an interesting exercise and one worth experimenting on!

And then Mosiah 18:9:

Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

This scripture, in my mind, slightly illustrates one thing it means to take Christ's name upon us: to mourn with those that are mourning, comfort those who need comfort. And we should also stand as witnesses of God.

Boy do I struggle with both of those. I never open my mouth to speak words of witness or words of comfort. So that's kind of what I'd like to work on when I think of keeping on the covenant path.

Especially empathy. Stop trying to solve problems for a second and just listen! Just feel their pain with them. That's what's important right now.

We'll see how it goes. I always have grand ideas and zero follow-through. But I'll get better someday.

(PS: wow, 100 of these MM posts. My last one was in May, and before that December 2016, so I guess it's semi-annual instead of weekly now. Thanks for coming along!)

trace all my books [2017 pt. 2]

Hello and Happy New Year!

In the second half of this year I checked out 40 books from the library (some I had read before, some I had not). From those, I selected my Top 15 and made a video about them. Here it is. Angle's a little weird but since when has that ever stopped us? (Also my mom called when I was almost done with the video, so that's why it has that weird jump cut)

I didn't actually do a great job saying what these books were about in the video (I was rushing so it wasn't another boring 15 minute video like the one in July), so good thing blog posts also exist.

So this one, something horrible happens to this girl and she wonders if she'd made a different choice...or, rather, if the villain could've been persuaded to make a different choice, if things would be fixed. And she's heard of this Library where you can change the past...

Elliot Schafer can apparently see the Wall, which protects our world from the Borderlands or the...Otherlands? Anyway he decides there's no harm in joining the training camp, because it's not like there's anything worth sticking around for in the regular world. Of course he's a terrible person, (AND a pacifist in a war culture) so finding friends is difficult. He'll manage anyway, it just might take 4 years.

The main girl is for sure magical. But that's a big no-no when she's a hostage in the enemy kingdom. But then she gets framed for regicide and has to escape to her home country and everybody's counting on her to wake the land or something. 

The girl. Whose name i don't remember. Knows she's an amazing navigator and is kinda sad that the Royal Explorer is probably going to take her sister on a dangerous expedition. How can she prove herself?

The girl is an amazing painter. Faeries love to get their portraits done by her. She knows how tricky they are, though, so she tries not to accept their gifts. And then the Autumn King comes to get his portrait done and she way messes up by painting him with a human emotion in his eyes and now his rule is in question.

Bonus because I checked it out again.

Ben, Trix, Hero, Prince, Maggie, and Leo are just trying their best in this Prohibition-era world! (a Much Ado About Nothing retelling)

One thing everyone wants is a miracle. One thing everyone fears is what it takes to get one.
Saints are the best at getting miracles for people, but not everybody can get over their darkness revealed.
Set in like 1950s Southwest Colorado.

Plus some other books that I didn't get pictures of...but the only really important one is What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy, because that's the one I read twice in a row. The guy shows up late to his first day of Space Camp where they're going to choose interns, and things go downhill from there. But bad news, he really needs this. But so does she. Her parental expectations are so much pressure on her, she can't fail. And what's the rush, anyway? Are aliens actually about to invade??

So What Goes Up and, I'd say, Speak Easy Speak Love were probably my favorite two.