LET'S BE HAPPY!!!

I have a challenge for my self and for each one of you! Ready? Here it is, this is pretty epic and seemingly impossible... Alright here it is.... BE HAPPY! Wow monumental I know but I'm serious. I wish everyone could just try to be a little happier about life. We live in this trial filled world that drowns the light and happiness out of us. It is quite depressing and heartbreaking. You want to know the worst part? We let it happen, we let the sadness and the darkness take hold of us, then we get to a deep painful world where the pain is easier and desirable. This is a sick way that Satan messes with our minds and we let it happen everyday!


Satan traps us in a pleasure of pain. You probably don't want to see it but this is true and most of us fall into his trap. We don't want to hear this but it is necessary. We like pain and depression, What the heck Michayla? Hear me out, we like to be victims, we have dark pleasures for others and ourselves to feel sorry about how awful our life is. It is a sick way to think but I guarantee that sometime in our life we have all fallen into this way of thinking. I know I have I struggle with it continually. We all have a victim mentality that makes everything into a huge awful event, in reality it is but a small moment. I wish that we could all see this demon inside, but unfortunately a very small amount of people will ever see this love of pain and sadness, I promise that those who over come this will find joy in their lives!


So if you decide that you want to change this then you have to first see it in yourself (not in others) then you have to want to change. You have to be happy! I am so sick and tired of having everyone around me be so low and depressed all the time. So many are always unhappy and I understand how hard life gets but there is no hope through sadness. Nothing gets better through being depressed about it. You want to know the truth about depression? It is a selfish addiction to pain. When you are depressed you are only thinking about you. When you let this take over you don't do any good for anyone, you don't fix the situation, you make it worse for yourself and for others. Please don't feel offended over what I say. I know all too well how awful depression is and how nearly impossible it is to be rid of. It is very real and a true sometimes medication needed sickness!  It's like a cold dark blanket of chains is dragging you deep down to the darkest corner of the earth where there is no light or hope.  But there is hope! There is always hope!!!


We can choose! We have agency over our own mind and body. We may not always understand that power but it is there! We can choose to be happy we can choose to escape the dark corners of the earth. It is hard no doubt but it is very possible! I wish that we all could have the courage and the willingness to pull ourselves up, but many will never choose this simply because of their pride and selfish desires. Those who choose to remain in dark places are the controllers and heartbreakers. Eventually they get to such a lonely place that all they want is to control and drag everyone down with them. We must not allow for this, it is not right for them or the people who they focus their anger and sadness on. No one should have to be dragged to that but it happens all too often. Look at yourself and make you are not doing this. It is hard for us to see ourselves clearly when we are like this. So strive and ask for a clear picture!


I wish these people could see the light and beauty around them. I wish they could see how amazing life can be and how beautiful people are.  Instead of trying to destroy others and themselves in their own pride and depression they could be living and doing so much good. They choose to harm and hurt. If you feel you may be one of these poor souls please do what you can do to change and see the hope that is out there. See the pain you bring to those you love, open your eyes and SEE! There is so much good. We are promised in the scriptures that there is opposition in all things which means that no matter how much evil is on the earth there is and equal amount of good and beauty. Look, SEE it is everywhere!


As life gets increasingly tough I ask that you try your hardest to choose happiness to choose to see that everything really will be okay, this hard time is a very small moment. Trust me I know how hard it can be to be the happy person. I try to always be happy even when my heart feels like it's being ripped from my chest but it blesses others and in the end that is worth the pain. Just make sure you take time for occasional sadness in the right places so you don't hold things in too much.  As I wrap up my ramblings for the night I challenge each and everyone of you to "Cowboy up" and Choose to be happy! It will bless you and others! Let go of the sadness and "Keep moving forward." Stop hurting yourself and others! BE HAPPY!!!!

Have a good night!

The Michaylaist manifesto...

The Michaylaist manifesto

By Michayla 

In the dictionary a manifesto is defined as being a public declaration. So I Michayla declare my own personal manifesto to you the public, but I have another name for my manifesto and that is a testimony. A testimony or manifesto is a powerful and dangerous thing, all through history men and women have been punished for declaring their manifesto but I would rather be with them than be a coward who does not stand for what she knows to be true. Before I put forth my manifesto there is something else I need to do, and that is to declare my core, the very foundation of what I believe. Every person has a core to start their personal manifesto for me it is a series of scripture; The Bible, The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.  All very true books of scripture that have laid forth my foundation. So here go:

The  Godhead:

At the very base of what I believe is the Godhead but I don’t see it as other religions do as one being. I see it as three separate beings; Heavenly Father (God), Jesus Christ the only begotten son of the father and the Holy Ghost. I believe this to be the very base of what I believe. I take a lot of comfort in knowing that I have a loving Heavenly Father and that I am one of his children. I take comfort in knowing that I have a big brother in Jesus Christ who gave his own life and atoned for my sins so that I may return to that wonderful Father! I take even more comfort in knowing that because I have taken upon the name of Christ I can have the Holy Ghost with me always. I cannot physically, mentally or spiritually see how they can be one being with all they have done. If they were one being I personally would not be able believe in them as strongly as I do, I don’t see if I could love each of them as much as I do if they were all one being. I have felt the spirit manifest to me that they are three separate beings of one heart meaning that they are not one but one in purpose. 

I know God is my father and we are all his children. Despite what some think he is not a mean God he is a kind merciful loving father who wants his children to come home. I am a God fearing girl but not in the way of fear but in the way respect, when I say I am a God fearing person it does not mean he scares me it means to me that I respect him and that I am nothing except through him. I Michayla am nothing except through him then I am everything. I am proud to call myself a daughter of God. If I ever need his guidance I always have an unlimited line of prayer and personal revelation, that has proved helpful in many situations. 

Jesus Christ is my Savior and redeemer. He came to this Earth and he suffered death and pain so that I can go home. Even more than death he atoned for every single sin and he took upon himself every single pain of the world so that we can repent and go home. So that we would have someone to turn to when feel our worst. He gave us the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate gift. All he asks of us is that we use that gift daily. 

The Holy Ghost is known to me as the comforter or our spiritual guide. I know that when I was baptized and took upon myself the name of Christ I received the full companionship of the Holy Ghost, but we all can have him with us, but only when we act in a way that the spirit can dwell with us. I know The Holy Ghost is sent to me by my Heavenly Father so that I can have direction and comfort through some of my worst times.

The Plan of Salvation:

What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where do we go after we die? These are four seemingly basic questions but on the contrary they are some of the most complicated questions known to man. For the past thousands of years we have asked ourselves and contemplated in great depth these huge questions. I know it to be true that all of these questions are answered in this simply laid out plan that was brought by our Heavenly Father it covers each of these questions perfectly and so many more.

How did this plan come to be?

Before we all came to Earth there was a war in heaven. A war that was fought by us over two different plans for us the first was Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation the second was Lucifer’s plan of almost slavery, his plan was a plan that would ensure a safe trip home, but there was a catch we would never get to choose it would all be chosen for us we would never know right from wrong, we would never get to live. In Lucifer’s plan he would see to it that all the glory would come his way. Heavenly Father’s plan was The Plan of Salvation, the plan for us to come to Earth receive a body of flesh and bone and to receive free agency, the knowledge of right and wrong, we would have the opportunity to choose and to live and  work our way to home. Included with this plan there would have to be a child of God who would be willing to come to earth go through the same process of life and then have to give the ultimate sacrifice. He would have to atone for our every sin and pain, then he would have to suffer and die for us and then be resurrected from death, all this would become the ultimate gift to us his brothers and sister so that we could repent and return home one day. In this war in Heaven Jesus Christ stood to be that son of God to do all that for us, but because of his love for his father he give all this glory to him. Now after these two plans were presented we were given a choice of which side to take. We are here today so we.

Chose to follow the father.

What step by step is this great plan?

The plan of Salvation starts at home in the 

*pre-mortal existence: Where we start in a spiritual state still with the father.

*The veil: Or spirits pass through to forget that of the heavenly life.

*Earth: We come here to Earth and receive a body of flesh and bone like the father. We receive our free agency to have opportunity to choose good from evil.  We are placed with an Earthly mother and father. We go through many trials to test us. We go up and down in good and bad things.

*Death: Our Spirits leave our bodies here on Earth but live on!

* Spiritual Paradise/Prison: Our spirits go here till the second coming. Spirit paradise is almost a pre heaven to those who have accepted Christ completely they spend time teaching others and learning and progressing. Spirit Prison is for the souls who have not accepted Christ, they are taught and given more chances to come unto Christ. Both places are here on Earth.

*Second coming/Resurrection: Christ comes to the Earth again in great glory. Every person who has ever lived is resurrected and rejoined with their bodies.

*Judgment: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” We are judged for what we did on Earth then placed in one of four places for Eternity.

*Outer Darkness (Hell): For those who are truly evil. Sons of perdition. Deny the Holy Ghost! The Really bad guys!

*Telestial kingdom/Glory of the stars: Much like Earth. For those who did wrong on Earth. Did not accept Christ. Can not dwell with the father. Still very wonderful.

*Terrestrial kingdom/Glory of the moon: Much better than last, but still not with The Father. 

*Celestial kingdom/Glory of the Sun: The most high of glories. For those truly followed Christ, Those who have entered covenants with God. You dwell with the father.

So there is a very small definition of this wonderful plan. I know with every fiber of my being that this plan is true. I have seen it in my life, I have seen how the knowledge of this plan has brought great peace to those in deep trials. I am reminded of past tragedies I have experienced. I look at three main tragedies and their differences all were cases with youth deaths; Emily, Kjersti and the Graves family; Laura, Kaleb, Kelsey and Cameron. In these three tragedies I watched very closely my fellow peers as we all grieved together, I watched those who had this knowledge of a Plan of Salvation and of God and Heaven and there was hope for them, they knew deep down that everything would be okay and that we would all be together again. I then watched those who didn’t have any knowledge of what was to come. I honestly don’t know what hurt worse the deaths of those we were grieving or the people who didn’t know, they truly had no hope you could see it you, could feel it,  they were so lost, they truly believed that their friends were gone forever, that was it. These experiences have changed me and have manifested to me in more ways then I can ever express, it's through these times that I have truly found myself.

Family:

Family is the key, the key to human life and to God’s Plan. We are all children of God which makes us all family spiritually. Heavenly Father saw family as being so important that he put into his plan the idea that we all come to Earthly parents. Family and knowledge are the only things we will take with us after we die, but only if we are sealed to our families in his temple. When a man and women are sealed to create an eternal family they make a three way covenant with Heavenly Father. It is a powerful thing to be sealed to your family. It puts a Permanent block on those sad wedding words said “till death do you part” because it goes beyond into eternity. I feel the family is the most important thing we have. It is something that is being lost today, Satan knows full well that if he takes down the family he can take down the Plan. That is why we are seeing such a strike against the traditional family. This is why we need to fight more than ever before to keep Heavenly Father’s idea of family.

I could go on all day preaching to you of what I believe, but I have given you a base of what I know. I have a deep testimony of these things and they are at my foundation. I testify of all things to be true and I will go to the grave defending these truths. I pray to Heavenly Father every day and give thanks for the knowledge and understanding I have. Without belief we are nothing, without God we are nothing, through him we are everything.

I encourage everyone to go and write their own manifesto it can be a powerful thing!    

Warriors...

Warrior: a brave or experienced soldier or fighter.

I am a warrior! You are a warrior! We are all in war, both for good and for evil! Warriors are strong and courageous, they will fight for what they believe to the death. Being a warrior is a powerful calling one with which each of us have engrained in our inner soul. Some may choose to hide their inner warrior which makes it dull and less useable but one way or another we are all born with an inner warrior to face a life of pain and war. We wake up each and every morning ready to face another battle. We are brave individuals that leave the safety of our minds to enter a world full of bad guys in all forms. Each day we wake we somehow create some sort of armor to defend our hearts and souls. It's a painful obligation that will provide a fatal outcome if we do not do it! Are we putting on the right armor? Are we preparing ourselves for the right battles? Are we allowing the enemy in too much? More important than anything are we fighting on the right side?

What is the right kind of protection? 

We all have our different armors to defend us in the different battles of life. Sometimes this armor helps sometimes it hurts. There are forms of armor that are good. They are the ones that protect our inner spirit while also reflecting the morals and standards of the good part of us. 

There are other armors of emotion that hide our deepest pains and depression, those are strong and valuable, unfortunately if you leave them on too long it will begin to hurt you. You must let your emotions flow in the right times and the right places. The people who have mastered this armor hold in their emotions to the point of destruction. Emotions are not meant to be held in all the time, they sometimes need an escape. 

There are many bad armors that we use to protect us. These are damaging to our souls they will destroy us eventually. The bad armors are the Trojan horse of the adversary. They come in many common forms such as pride, addiction, anger, hate, resentment, guilt, sin etc.... We all have these bad forms of armor to make us seem cool and to fit in. These armors are hand crafted but the world and enemy to make us think we are defending ourselves. When used they give us the face of one who doesn't seem to care what others think. That we don't need to obey rules or cherish people we are too cool for that. For those that commonly use these armors only those who truly know them know their inner beauty and compassion. This armor will prove deadly to ones character. What you use to defend your inner self will eventually change you into that form of defense. 

When it comes to armor the greatest one we can have is the one that reflects our inner spirit. It's the one that lets us be who we are no matter what people say. It's the one the enemy hates the most. When you show your inner beauty you have true courage to defend yourself and over come the adversary. 

Are we fighting the right battles?

There are millions of battles to be fought everyday. Many times we tend to lean towards the easier battles, and the meaningless battles. Not only that but we tend to sometimes pick the battles that others will fight for us, which is irresponsible and pathetically lazy. Even worse then having others fight for us all the time is blaming them when that battle is lost or fought wrong. It's one of the worst victims mentalities you can have and it will destroy you in the end, not them. We must take this seriously because this is the war of our very souls. The adversary wants nothing more than to bring us down to his level. This is all very real. We cannot pick the easy battles for now and fight the hard ones later, there might not be a later. We have to be ready right this second the enemy will not wait. Lets not pick the petty things in life to fight for. We must reach deep in ourselves and bring to surface the true courage to win and fight valiantly with heads held high. When choosing our battles let us look to the meaning of the battle and the potential outcome. Is the fruit good? Will the winning of this battle bring forth good things for you and others. Or is it a battle that will bring forth bad fruit and let things into ourselves that will harm us? 

We are all going to have different battles sometimes we can have help in the fight from others who have previously fought in the same battle but in the end we have to draw the last arrow. Luckily those who choose have the opportunity to call upon a higher power to stand with us the whole way through. We have the choice to choose an advocate. This is entirely up to us, many will never choose the help of the advocate they will insist on doing it alone, I guarantee they will loose every time.Will you choose the advocate? Or will you die alone in the battle?

  

 What side do you defend?

We have established the armor the battle the help. Now we must discover the reason. What do you defend? Why are you fighting? You have to know every side of what you defend which means you have to educate yourself about what you defend. You also need to find the reason. Many in our lightheaded world do not know their reason they simple follow others and fight because, well that's just what they are supposed to do, but you need to discover your own personal reason, you have to find what you believe and decipher weather or not your fight and your belief match. All this goes back to my previous post about finding your character, they all link together in some way or another, when you know your character you know what side you are on. So how do you know what side you are on? It's what feels right for you and your heart. Back to the fruits if it brings forth good fruit then it's going to be the right side. This is something that one must ask and decide for themselves. 

As I rap up this long ramble of an evening blog I leave the words of one of my greatest heros Joan of Arc: 

"One life is all we have and we live as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying."

She is one of the greatest warriors of all time. There is great wisdom in what she says. I hope that we can all keep her words close to us as we discover our reason and as we fight this brutal war. Have courage keep going because we all know good will always win in the end. No matter how bad the battle seems, as long as we stand and fight for that which is good everything will work out in the end. Go fight! WIN in the name of the Father!!!!! 

More hero stuff...

This is something I wrote a couple years ago when I took TJYC! It is still something I try everyday to live by!

I have always loved history (personally I think that I was born in the wrong time) but I have always felt a spiritual closeness to those who have paved the way for me to be who I am. There are so many but ten hold a very special place in my heart: Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc, Captain Moroni, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Paul, . Of course there are many many others but those were the ones I felt connection to the most while studying TJYC! Another thing I thought of from what I learned was the traits of a statesman: “virtue, wisdom, diplomacy, courage, inspires greatness in others and moving the cause of liberty. But there are two more on my list and that is experience and Charity. To be a great leader you have to have all of these things.

Courage-Joan of Arc: “I know this to now… every man gives his life for what he believes, every women gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes we believe in little or nothing but we give our lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have and we live as we believe in living it, and then it is gone. But to live without faith that is more terrible than dying even more terrible than dying young.” Maxwell Anderson took these words of the great Joan of Arc and expanded them for his amazing play. These words are the words that sent me to my love for Joan of Arc the young women who at 13 heard the voice of God, by 17 was head of the French armies and by 19 was burned by her enemy which made her a martyr, saint and for me personally a hero. When I think of the traits of a statesman I use courage to best describe Joan hers truly is a story of courage. She truly is a great leader in my eyes.

Defending the cause of Liberty-Captain Moroni: His story reminds me a lot of Joan’s he too became a military leader when he was very young and he too acted in the name of God! I think of him as the boy version to Joan. When I was learning the traits of a Statesmen I used Moroni for the defending the cause of Liberty mainly because of his love for Liberty as shown in his title of Liberty.

Diplomacy-Abraham Lincoln: I found a connection with Lincoln because he had a brain kind of like mine he had troubles with worry and depression and he overcame them to become who he was through God and knowledge. I chose him for the trait diplomacy because he was a diplomatic man who looked at all the different sides of things.

Inspire greatness in others-George Washington: George Washington holds such an important part in my heart because he is the father of our nation. I chose him for inspiring greatness in others cause that’s what he did. I am reminded of the story of him when he spoke to the troops and he had to use his glasses to read to the troops, because the war took such a tole on him. I don’t think one soldier listened to a word he read because of the inspiration they felt.

Virtue-Paul: Paul had the greatest virtue next to Christ in the whole bible. He is more quoted than anyone in the bible besides Christ because his words are full of such virtue.

Wisdom-Thomas Jefferson/King Benjamin: Thomas Jefferson is another father of our country he wrote the Declaration of Independence and helped create a foundation with his Wisdom that still holds today. King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon also was a man of great Wisdom. Him words are full of wisdom strait from heavenly father.

Experience-my community: this is one that I added in for me because I feel it is so important. There is no way that you can be a leader without having experience. I have seen this so well in my life through trial. (a little harsh I know) The best way to gain experience is through trial. I have seen death in my community and I have seen those with and without experience. Those with have found peace through their faith and those who do not have experience find hopelessness. I think this applies to all of us. Many get so caught up in only study and preparation that we forget to go out and experience the pains we need to feel in order to connect with those we lead. We have to fail, we have to become lost in order to be found and to become the best leaders we can be, so that we can lead others to light.

Charity-Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ, the first on my list, is the ultimate leader and he has mastered every one of the traits which makes him the perfect example. Of course the one I use for him is Charity because Charity is the pure love of Christ. We have to have Charity to become leaders.

I need a hero...

Heros! I love this topic it's one of my all time favorites and one that is pretty much always on my mind. I love and owe a lot of who I am to my heros. We all need heros but not many of us have them. The concept of heros is something of the past. We base ourselves on modern day celebrities who don't always emulate the characteristics of a hero. What are some of the characteristics of a true hero?

1. For me A hero is someone with an eye single to God.

All my heros have something in common they all have a Higher Power to base their foundations on. Each one of my greatest heros has given their lives for their God in some form or another. This is the most important characteristic when I look at someone who is a hero because it's what gives them their humility and their strength.

2. A hero is Courageous.

My heros are very courageous like I said before they have somehow given their life for their God this takes a lot of courage. They also give their lives for others. They have the courage to stand in the face of danger and defend what they are fighting for. They also have the courage to be exactly what God wants them to be even when the world doesn't like it. They are even courageous enough to have a fear, fear and courage stand hand in hand. If you aren't scared how can you have courage?

3. A hero has Virtue.

Virtue is a beautiful thing. Their are two kinds of virtue, moral virtue and public virtue. When you think of virtue the first thing that comes to your mind is moral virtue, keeping yourself virtuous is to keep yourself clean of immoral things of the world, both in mind and body, this one is very important thing to have in a hero. There is an even deeper virtue that many forget about. That virtue is public virtue Christ is the perfect example of public virtue In my personal definition public virtue is when “You act in the name of God.” Public Virtue is a combination of many of the good characteristics of a hero. I am going to do another post on virtue in the future to cover my love for virtue more in depth.

4. A hero has to have a reason.

A hero must have a reason to fight, live and stand. If they don't have a reason what's the point of living or fighting? They have to have a reason strong enough that they are willing to give every piece of themselves to defend it till the end. It should also be an honorable reason for everyone this is based on their hearts and what is truly important to them. Different people will have different heros with different reasons based on what they think is good.

5. A hero must be educated.

Education is a very key aspect of a hero. They have to know about what they believe they have to be educated on all sides to truly stand and be heard. There are many who do educate themselves, but it's usually just on one side, they don't look at all views and the big picture. A hero is someone who has taken education to another level. There are those who are close minded in their education and then there are those who take their education to wisdom thorough experience, open mindedness, searching and humility. Those who have achieved wisdom are true heros.

Well I have gone through 5 of my many characteristics of a hero, so who are some of my greatest heros? Who are the men and women I look up to to build me and my character? I have a never ending list of people but here are my top 10 heros:

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is obviously the number one hero he is perfect example of what we should look for in a hero. He has perfected every quality I can think of! He sets the bar for all my heros because he is truly the hero of heros!

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc is one of my favorites, if you know me at all you know how much I look up to and love her. She is an amazing women in history who worked in the name of God and went to the death defending his name. I love her because of her courage and strength to stand even when the fire came, even with her moments of humanity she still went back to God. She truly is one of my greatest heros and I hope and pray that I can have her courage in my hard times!

George Washington

George Washington is the father of the greatest nation on this Earth argue if you want but America is amazing and we would be nothing without this man. I know that he was chosen by God to come at that time to bring leadership and hope to a budding destined country. He was a brilliant man who was full of everything we needed to help build a country.

Abraham Lincoln

I love Abraham Lincoln because of his leadership, strength and his brain. He was a great man full of honesty and brilliance. He also had a brain that was often depressed and down but he overcame that hurtle and moved passed his own problems to help heal a broken country. He was the glue to help us stay one nation under God. We can all learn lessons from him and his skills of leadership and diplomacy.

Moroni

Moroni is another great hero. His story kind of reminds me of Joan's. He is from the Book of Mormon. He was a young man when he was called upon to lead armies into battle. He was another man of great courage and a true taste and knowledge of the sweet taste of liberty!

Thomas Jefferson

Much like George Washington we would not have this country without him and his education and his words. Unfortunately he and many of our other founding fathers tend to be trashed and forgotten by or system but we owe all we are to these men and what they did. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence words that we still live by and words that gave us our first taste of hope and liberty. I love him and look up to him and his wisdom so much!

Walt Disney

Walt Disney was quite awesome as well. He built one of the biggest entertainment companies of all time and all with a mouse. He was quite educated and quite American. He had ideas for family and togetherness that still live through his company. I love him and his inspiration to go the distance and Keep Moving Forward!

Family

My family, Past and present inspire me more than they will ever know. With their stories and examples I have grow to heights that I could have never reached without them and their incredible foundation. I am proud of my family both living and dead. They have found life, education, experience and God in a country of freedom so that I could blossom and be me. My greatest hope in life is that I can life my life to hour them and Father in Heaven.

John Wayne

John Wayne has taught me a lot about what I want for in a man. He has set the bar high for what I think a real man should be. Forget that Edward crap I'm on team John Wayne all the way. A true American cowboy that loves his God and his country!

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith brought about the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He was prepared by the Lord to come a bring what I Michayla Egbert know to be true back to the Earth. He is one of my greatest heros because he gave his life to the Lord at a young age to bring me and everyone else the gospel that I love more than anything else!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about just a small handful of the thousands of men women and children who have impacted my life through their examples and their legacies. I hope that you all have your heros and I hope that all of us can do our very best to emulate them as we face the challenges of this life! Let us learn from the past and what they did to help brighten and change the future for good! Thank you to all my heros you mean so much to me!

Suffer the children to come unto me...

"Truly growing up is to become childlike, not childish." Michayla Egbert

Alright here comes one of my greatest passions of all time, children! I love children so very much, they are pure, happy, in tune and very honest. They are sweet and fresh with the spirit. Children emulate the light of Christ with their innocents. I love how deeply simple children are, they see life in such a simple way that is far too deep for adults to understand. Not only that but they trust and believe in everything. Children are perfect and I love to be with them, even more so I love to be like them.

Christ said become as a little child. Well how does that work as an adult? we are supposed to grow up and be mature, right? If you ask me to truly grow up and become mature is to become as a little child. We must look back to our youthful years and rediscover the innocence and simplicity of the mind of a child, only then will we discover the secrets of heaven and earth.

Of course we have to be careful and make sure that we become childlike and not childish. There is a huge difference and difference that one can easily slip into. As adults it is usually very easy to become childish. Childish is when you are immature and emulating the wrong aspects of becoming as a child, unfortunately many of us have perfected becoming childish.

On the flip side, becoming childlike is much harder to achieve it requires us to believe in things unseen, to imagine and to truly dream. It also requires us to be true to ourselves and to not hide our true face from the world. Becoming childlike requires us to open ourselves up to connecting with other humans and loving and trusting them. It requires us to think outside ourselves and to share with everyone. It requires us to see the beauty in every moment and to be happy.

To become childlike is near impossible but we can come close. It is a beautiful thing to become as a little child. We live in a world that tries to completely knock it out of us, it makes us feel stupid about being innocent and true. The world wants us to be childish and seek after childish pleasures. It wants us to "grow up" but are we really? No by being childish we growing down and becoming too dependent on worldly items that will not feed our inner self.

I am proud to say that I feel one of my most cherished spiritual gifts is the ability to see life in a childlike light. I think that's why I'm good with kids. I am far from achieving childlike perfection, but I would like to say it is one thing I am good at. It is very hard and I must say the world works hard to knock it out of me. The world tells me I am stupid and that I shouldn't be so sweet and innocent. Even more than that the world tells me that by being childlike I am weak. In reality I feel that my childlike self allows me a strength that many will never understand. I just have to remember that, too many times I slip into the world way of thinking. I start to hate my childlike side and regret being me. Then I remember how much I love that part of me and how sacred it is, this usually happens when I see children play or be them. They are powerful and filled with the light of Christ! I know that if we strive to become as a little child we will find great wisdom, light, happiness, excitement, peace and so much more! Now go and become as a little child...

True happiness is dirt under your fingernails.

"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work"

Albert Einstein

So a few weeks ago I built a garden in my back yard! It was so awesome and I have a great pride and love for that little corner. That and a discussion with a fellow coworker helped me realize yet another awe-ha moment that brings me great joy! First I want to talk about the discussion with the coworker, I was just hanging out doing another task at work when she commented on what a hard worker I was. Sort of caught me off guard but I thanked her with the thought in my mind of how good it felt to have someone at work who I greatly respect give me such an amazing compliment!

This led to a good little discussion of hard work and how it seems to be dying more and more. Not only that but people always expect that they need to be rewarded right this second! They expect that they should be treated like royalty after doing one petty little job, they went to college they are better than that! Wrong, I believe that the petty small jobs are amazing opportunities to be able to watch the pros and learn. Not only that but it gives a chance to have a little humbling and real life experience. So many expect that with their education they should jump right into a CEO position, on the contrary we have to start at the very bottom in order to truly learn and to earn a higher position.

So how does my garden and this discussion mix? Well they both have one thing in common... Hard work! As I built this garden, and looked at this amazing compliment I realized how amazingly proud I am to know how to work hard! I honestly feel like my ability to work hard and get down and dirty is nothing short of a spiritual gift. I feel like it is a dying art and something that I have to continue to work on. I am so grateful for the parents that pushed me hard to feed that gift. Not only did they push me to work hard but they helped me to discover that hard work is enjoyable, there is nothing more rewarding then accomplishing something I have worked my butt off for.

Not only is hard work fun but it is so rewarding. I would rather work hard for something than having it given to me. I would not love all those belt buckles quite as much and I would not be where I am or who I am. Being able to taste the sweetness of earning something has given me an insight to our whole purpose on earth. I know with assurance that we are here to be tested and to learn and grow mortally and spiritually, all in order to return home to our Father in Heaven and later inherit the kingdom as his children. So why doesn't he just send us home? Well because he knows how much value it is if we earn it! He also knows the value of experience, we would be nothing without experience and we can't truly learn unless we have had experiences and hard work.

I have seen hard work as such a blessing. When I built my garden I was in a life rut. Being able to truly get down and dirty again brought my spirits up so high, it made me feel accomplished and purposeful. By the end of that day I was caked in mud, sweaty and had bug bites all over but I was truly happy. Just like working with cattle it centers and humbles with the greatest pride that one can experience. I am going to do my best to find things that make me work hard physically and spiritually all I have to say is bring it on! It will be worth it when I am finished!

Go now and work hard!