New Year Resolutions

New Years resolutions are always a great thing and I think most people always set their resolution to be a classic get into shape. It’s funny how every year in January all the gyms are packed full of people who have set a new year’s resolution to get in shape. As the days pass then weeks and months you find the gym slowly get less and less busy as people lose the determination they once had to get in shape.

Whether the resolution is to get into shape, or learn a language or to get straight A's it is always hard to continue to do the resolution throughout the year. It’s hard not to fade off as the months go by like the people at the gym. My question is what can we do to keep the determination going throughout the year on our resolutions that we have set? What can we do so we don't fade out after a couple months?

I have thought and pondered about this and I have come up with a few of things and hopefully they will help you.

1) The first thing is we need a desire to reach our New Year resolution. When we have that desire we will be willing to sacrifice. This will be easy at first but the natural man will come into all of us and after a while when we are tired we will want to go back to our old easier way. So to get over this problem we need to change things up. So if you have a resolution to get in shape you could change what time in the day you work out. You could change the kind of work out you do, so instead of always running on a treadmill you could take a yoga class something like that. This way it will be like you are changing your goal but really you’re not.

2) Another way is to set smaller goals that will help you accomplish your ultimate goal. You can work towards multiple small goals that over time will help you get to the end that you are working for. For example if you are learning another language you could set at smaller goal to learn maybe 5 words a day. Then over time you will be able to speak the language.

3) Remember that if your goal is there to uplift, edify, strengthen, or help you or others in anyway the lord is going to be there to help you. I can promise he is going to help you help yourself and others.

Hopefully you are able to take something away from this that will help you to be able to accomplish your new year’s resolutions and help you reach your goals.

Wise Men Still Seek Him

This is a busy time of year with shopping and giving and holiday cheer. Have you stopped to think for just a moment on what you are going to give our Savior? He has done so much for us and all he asks is to give him our hearts. I invite you to slow down for just a minute and think about our Savior and to give him your heart. Please watch this video, I promise you it is going to be well worth your time and you will want to help others out.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I’ve been an awful good guy all year, Santa buddy so hurry down the chimney tonight:

1 Rolex

1 '65 convertible, steel blue

1 yacht
Mercedes decorations
Cha-ching and I don't mean as a loan

I’ve been a sweetie all year Santa buddy, next year I could be just as good if you check off my Christmas list. I really do believe in you so let’s see if you believe in me.

Sincerely,
Michael Buble

This is Michael Buble’s Christmas list he must have been a really good boy if he is asking for all of this. Christmas lists are ways to let Santa know what you want for Christmas. Then if Santa decides that we have been a good boy or girl during the year he gives us what we asked for.

This is extremely similar to a prayer. We always ask God for things and he gives them to us. The only difference is that we usually have to seek out our answer. Don't forget this year as you are writing Santa letters to get on your knees and talk to your heavenly father.

I know that as we do so we will remember the real meaning of Christmas and have The Spirit of CHRISTmas with us during this season.

This short Mormon message is a great little clip that really helped me to remember that Christmas isn’t all about what is on our Christmas list.

Remember the Real Meaning of Christmas

In the Christmas devotional a couple weeks ago President Uchtdorf tells a story about when he was 4 years old and with a candle he almost burned down his apartment. As a child he was devastated he thought he completely ruined Christmas. As he got older he realized that all the decorations and presents are not the real meaning of Christmas, that it actually means so much more.

The Christmas season should always be ways to remind of us Jesus Christ. With our decorations, nativity scenes or Christmas tree ornaments of our Savior. All of these remind us of the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior.

Elder Uchtdorf says in the end of his Christmas talk that Christ is our redeemer at Christmas and always. Always remember that Christ loves us during this holiday season, no matter where you are or how you celebrate it.

Watch Elder Uchtdorf's Christmas devotional "Of Curtains, Contenment, and Christmas" here.

Space Shuttles

Space shuttles are a magnificent piece of machinery that has been created. The technology used is practically out of this world and what the shuttles can do is incredible. In essence when a space shuttle is on its way home from a quest it comes back to the earth from hundreds of miles away. I don't know the exact distance but they are coming into landing from a great distance away. When they land they come down to a small landing strip that is only 300 ft wide and 15,000 ft long.

When the space shuttle starts it's decent and looks at its landing it only looks like it is the size of a pinhead. If the shuttle were to get off course by just the slightest degree for how far away it is, it would miss the landing by miles. As the shuttle comes into landing the computer systems and all the fancy technology that it has keeps it on course and the people working are watching it are making sure it stays on course. somehow the space shuttle coming in from hundreds of miles away can come down and land back on earth on, compared to the universe, a very very small landing strip.

Thinking about traveling to space always blows my mind. But just like space shuttles have computers and technology to get them back home, so do we. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to guide us right back to our Father in Heaven. Although getting space shuttles to come home and land is probably extremely difficult and confusing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and it's easy to return home to our Father in Heaven.

All we need to do is a few simple things and the more we do them the easier it gets and the more we want to do them. It starts with having faith in Jesus Christ. As our faith builds it will make us want to repent and put our lives in closer harmony with our Saviors. The more we repent and build our faith we will want to be baptized, just how Christ was, by immersion and with proper authority that has been restored and is once again on the earth in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After we are baptized we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion, which helps us endure to the end. I like to look at it as enjoy to the end because we have all the added blessings from heaven everyday in our life.

As we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ we will be led home to our Father in Heaven and we will enjoy life all the way home.

Go to The Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet on line here.

The Death Crawl

There is so much potential in the world and so often it’s not known. People rarely know how much they can actually accomplish, they limit themselves mentally and sometimes they do it subconsciously. I think it happens sometimes because we set goals for ourselves and when we reach that goal we think it is enough, we reached our expectations so we don’t push ourselves as hard. I catch myself doing this all the time. When we give it all we've got and don't limit ourselves to goals we can exceed and excel to levels higher than we ever imagined.

I was recently shown this inspirational video clip The Death Crawl from a movie called “Facing the Giants.” This clip is about a football coach talking to his team about having heart. the coach says "Your attitude is like the aroma of your heart if your attitude stinks your heart's not right." it's cool because it goes on to show how a team captain's heart is not right for their upcoming game and the coach proves to him that they are stronger than they give themselves credit.

This video can be taken in so many ways. I picture myself there, doing the death crawl pushing myself to the 50 yard line, but I put myself in the world trying to find success. I'm blindfolded and I hear the coach telling me to keep pushing myself and to just go another step. But I picture him as Jesus Christ telling me to press forward, to keep giving it my all. I picture myself finally collapsing because I am exhausted; I look up and see that I have superseded all my expectations.

This video gave me a lot of motivation to give everything I do 100% and really do my best. I know we really can do more than we think we can and that we have to just push ourselves to our limits until we collapse, we can't set limits. When we do we will impress ourselves and reach greater levels.