I Stand All Amazed!

    How blessed we are to have a loving Heavenly Father who cares for us, wants what's best for us, and gives us the tools to accomplish the tasks that lay before us. 

He is literally the Creator of our spirits and like any father, wants us to grow and become the best we can be.  I am grateful for my own, earthly parents who I have been given to learn from and follow after their example.  They have always been a great strength in my life and continue to be.  Indeed, our relationship to our earthly parents is the same to our Father who is in Heaven.

If we do not follow what our parents have asked of us, then there will be a consequence and similarly, if we do the thing that they have required of us, we are rewarded.  The rewards however, come in many different forms. 

    Sometimes a reward I received might have come in the form of some monetary substance.  Luckily for me, most of the rewards I did receive built up something more precious then gold could ever construct.  When I was around the age of eight, my parents decided that it would be good for me to receive pay for some of the chores that I had been tasked with.  Boy, was I as faithful as ever to accomplish those tasks!  I am sure that bathroom, though maybe not done as complete as would be done by someone older, was sparkling clean in the sight of my eyes.  After about a week and a half or so though, I started to slack and eventually, stopped doing them.  When asked why I no longer did the chores, reminding me that I would lose the reward that came from doing them ( and still have to do them without any pay!), I responded that I had enough money for the time being and didn't need to do them anymore.  How grateful I am for my parents that instilled in me ethics and knowledge that continues to help me today. 

    Through the years I have come to know the value of their teachings as I strive to find my way.  Included in those teachings was that of my Lord, God, and Savior, who has laid the way and the only way that will bring us back to him.  How can we find that way though, if we never seek it?  Parents have the solemn responsibility to care for and love their children.  It is their duty to listen to them and provide, within means and to sustain their child's independence, whatever they stand in need of.  They cannot know of our needs and help us, at least not fully, if we do not talk and converse with them about our life, our problems, and our triumphs with them.  The same stands true for our Father in Heaven - if we do not seek him in daily prayer and thought, though he knows our needs perfectly, we do not leave our hearts open to receive the hourly guidance that he so willingly grants to all of His Children.

   I stand all amazed at His works, His love, and His passion.  How beautiful to know that he sent His son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins and, through repentance and following His commandments, lead us on a path that will with a surety bring us back into the presence of our Father.