What are commandments? (Come, Follow Me)

What are commandments?  We used to live in South Riding, Virginia near a street with tons of street signs, and I love the perspective in Doctrine and Covenants 82:8-9 about commandments from the Lord.  It may seem like commandments are restrictive or controlling, but from the Lord, they are directions that turn us to salvation.

I give unto you a new commandment,
 that you may understand my will concerning you;
Or, in other words, I give unto you directions 
 how you may act before me, 
 that it may turn to you for your salvation.

Inherit All Things (Come, Follow Me)

The Lord's invitation to us in D&C 78 and His promised blessings are so beautiful and inspiring.  They give me hope and perspective.

God's Invitation

 - 2: listen to the counsel of him who has ordained you from on high, who shall speak in your ears the words of wisdom

 - 3: establish... the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people

 - 4: advance the cause ... to the salvation of man

 - 5: be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also

 - 7: prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you

 - 11: prepare and organize yourselves by ... everlasting covenant that cannot be broken

 - 19: receiveth all things with thankfulness

 - 22: a faithful and wise steward

God's Promise

 - 2: salvation may be unto you

 - 7: I give unto you a place in the celestial world

 - 12: and shall be delivered [from] the buffetings of Satan

 - 15: you may come up unto the crown prepared for you, and be made rulers over many kingdoms

 - 17: how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you

 - 18: be of good cheer, for I will lead you along

 - 18: The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours

 - 18: the riches of eternity are yours

 - 19: shall be made glorious

 - 19: the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more

 - 22: shall inherit all things 

One in Christ (President Nelson)

Above all, we are brothers and sisters, children of a loving Heavenly Father.  Let us speak and think that way.

Delete from our personal vocabularies

names that segregate and hyphens that separate.

Paul taught that

“there is neither Jew nor Greek,

there is neither bond nor free,

there is neither male nor female:

for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

President Russell M. Nelson

Critical race theory (CRT) and woke ideology divide people into artificial groups and rank them above or below one another.  Let us remember that our Heavenly Father sees us all as His children first, and Jesus Christ, the greatest of all, descended below all to love and serve us.

Agency and Independence Day

Independence Day....

• I am grateful for this amazing country, built on courage and a belief that we are all children of God and that the Almighty has made us all free to choose our path through life and how we handle the adversity that is part of mortality.
• I am grateful for the miracles--the hand of Providence--that made this country possible.
• And I am grateful for the ideals we strive for and that this day represents.