In the Vineyard

Here in the vineyards of the Napa valley, they take great care and thought into their vineyards.  There is much to take into account.  They have the planting, the up keep, the tender care, the harvest, and then the preparation for the next springs growth.  Something that I find interesting is that how precise and straight each row is in the Vineyard.

I look at these rows and think of my life.  Where am I taking myself.  Am I putting thought into how I "prune" my vineyard each day by the little actions I am doing?  How am I keeping my life straight and in harmony with God's plan for me?

"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.  Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name."  3 Nephi 18:18-19

Through prayer, God can help us see the areas that we need to work on and what we can do to have our lives more in harmony with His plan and purpose for us.  Those areas that we need to "prune."   God wants us to be happy and the things he teaches us to do and things that He asks us to do are to make us more happy in our life.  God knows it's hard, He understands our needs.  He wants us to return to Him.  When we turn to Him, He can show us the way to be with him again. 

Seeking for:

What are you seeking for in your life?  What are you trying to develop and strengthen.

Let's try a little scenario:

You are driving down the road and you are looking for an address.  There are many things to take into consideration.

1. What is their street number

2. What is their house number

3. Where on the house or curb is the number for their house

4. Do they look home

Now, once we have found the house, think of how excited you are that you found their home.  This is like searching for things that are of God.  We must look at what we searching for, where to find it, where to look, and then to go and see if it is worthy to be found.

  There are many things to search for and to seek after, but are they things that are worth while.  In the scriptures, it teaches us that we need to search for things of God.  Look at this picture below:

In the scriptures it teaches us, in Doctrine and Covenants 4, that we need to seek after the qualities that are around the edge of this paper, which are:

FAITH

VIRTUE

KNOWLEDGE

TEMPERANCE

PATIENCE

BROTHERLY KINDNESS

GODLINESS

DESIRE

LOVE

HOPE

DILIGENCE

HUMILITY

CHARITY

These are things that God has asked us to seek after.  They are things that He knows will bring us the most happiness.  I promise, if you sought them you would find the most joy that you can have in this life!

Easiness of the way

We have many situations and experiences in life.  Some of them are easy, some of them are hard.  But the scriptures are what give us guidance and a road map.  That is something that I have come to love and learn more about with the scriptures.  They have a straight and simple road map of those things that we need to do to be happy and successful in this life. 

In the Book of Mormon, a prophet by the name of Alma was teaching his son Helaman what he needs to do to receive life eternal. 

Alma 37:32-34
"...Teach them an everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity.  Preach unto them repentance, and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ; teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and lowly in heart; teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls."

Sometimes we need to be careful of how easy this may sound.  We were driving the other day on the road and I was following my Garmin and wasn't paying attention because the "way had become easy" and I completely missed our street to turn down.  Now, if I was paying close attention and not allowing myself to be slothful, I would have made the right turn.  Alma also counsels his son to not be lazy with how repetitive and 'easy' the way can become.

Alma 47:46
"O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way...The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever."

As we read the scriptures and learn what we need to do to return to our Father in heaven, let us not become slothful or lazy with the importance of staying focused and striving to do each thing better each day!

For YOUR benefit

God is a God of love.  He loves each one of us and trust us to do the right thing in this life.  But what happens when we recognize that we have done something against God's commandments?  God still loves us.  God still wants us to turn to Him and repent and come unto Christ.  As we begin doing this, we will experience blessings again in our life.  We will begin to feel the love of God come more fully into our life.  We should never have to question why do I deserve God's blessing?  We do!  We do because he is a God of love.  When we do the things that He asks us to do, even when we have messed up, He blesses us because He loves us.

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-And when we obtain ANY BLESSING from God, it is by OBEDIENCE to that law upon which it is predicated."  D&C 130:20-21

When we are willing to do the things that God asks us to do, He has to bless us.  He willing pours out those blessings that have been set with that commandment that you followed.

God wants to help us and He allows things to happen that will benefit us.  As I read this scripture, I tried to liken this scripture to me.

"He doeth not anything save it be for the BENEFIT of the World [ME]; for he LOVETH the world [ME], even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men [ME] unto him.  Wherefore he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation."  2 Nephi 26:24

God loves each and every one of us.  He wants us to succeed and He is doing everything in His power to help us be successful.  Everyday is a new day.  Strive to be a  little taller, a little smarter, and a little more righteous and God WILL pour out the blessings upon you!

Favorite memories from Middletown

I wanted to share some fun moments that I have had here in Lake County.  As well as share some things that I have learned over the last 6 weeks!

First off, I was officially welcomed into Lake County!!  Here we go!

We went to Bro. van der Boon's home and he plays accordion.  If any of you are wondering, it's a lot harder than it looks!  D&C 60:13 "...Neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known."

I got a new bed!!!!  It is a small thing, but made a huge impact on my rest!  

1 Nephi 16:29 "...And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things."

Sometimes you don't know what to expect.  We found a frog on the toilet seat in our church!!!  "The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed with compassion on perishing souls.  We feel we want to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our backs."  Joseph Smith

There were many, many funny signs found throughout our area, but this one is pretty funny.  We didn't realize until later that it is a code message from Hank to Don...  

Alma 32:21 "And not as I said concerning faith- faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

 Christmas was a lot of fun here.  A member of our ward gave us a 7 ft tree to decorate to have the Christmas spirit in our apartment.
Luke 2:10-11 " And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

 This is Clearlake, the largest lake in California!!            This is Hidden Valley Lake and the
                                                                         view of the valley.

  Alma 30:44 "...And all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

We decorated a gingerbread house with 2 of the girls from our ward.  We had a blast!!!!

3 Nephi 14:24-25 "Therfore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock- And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."

We opened presents, and discovered Silly string in our stockings.  We decided to have a little fun with it and decorated the Elders Christmas Eve.

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind."

 We got the chance to go to the Oakland, California temple together!
                                        Psalms 122:1 "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."

I found my MAN!!! haha, just kiddin'! 

Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, 

and shall cleave unto his wife [companion]: and they shall be one flesh."

We may have gotten turned around a few times here and there...

Matthew 10:39 "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Our district is the best!!!  The elders even made us pancakes for our last district meeting!  YUMMY

Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

We celebrated New Year's Eve with a member and roasted hot dogs and s'mores!!  

3 Nephi 12:47-48 "Old things are done away, and all things have become new.  Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect."

We went to this County jail in Lower lake... It was the first jail in Lower lake.  By reading the bottom sign, the  first inmates and escapees were the men that built it!  Yes! 

Jacob 6:12 "O be wise; what can I say more?"

We were on Cobb mountain and it was so pretty with the fog.            And of course the beautiful mountains.  It is very pretty up here!

And in all, I learn everyday that "He that loveth not knoweth not God; GOD IS LOVE.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son... If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."  1 John 4: 8,10-11