M&M's

M&M's, one the greatest candies in the world, but there is something about them isn't so good.

Take a close look at these M&M characters, notice anything odd? Probably not, they look like great guys, all happy and friendly. Well at a first glance you wouldn't notice it but they have a candy coating. What does having a candy coating have to do with us? Well let me tell you.

A while back I wrote a blog about Whoppers melting, and I thought about how M&M's dont melt. Then I thought of a scripture in Ether 12:27. It goes like this: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." So if we humble ourselves we will be made strong. Back to the M&M's now, I thought about how they have that coating on the outside that kinda keeps them from melting or being humble, you could say that the coating is pride. Then what if the M&M's listened to this advice, they would put off the coating (pride), and become humble. When we become humble the Lord has promised to make our weaknesses into our strengths. So that soft chocolately center in those M&M's would be made strong, to withstand the heat of the world. In our own lives sometimes we let our pride keep us from being humble enough to accept our weaknesses, and letting the Lord build and strengthen us.

So what kind of candy would you have if the M&Ms applied this scripture in their life?

Putting All Your Faith in God

Putting all your faith in God is some what of a difficult thing to do. Having total and complete faith in God was hard for even Peter. We know that faith can move mountains, heal the sick and be a shield, but how do we obtain enough faith do these things. Alma teaches that faith can be compared to a seed, that it starts out very small but with proper nourishment and care it can one day become a magnificent tree bearing the most desirable and delicious fruit.

Here are two extreme examples of faith.

 Here we have Peter, who was invited to come to Jesus by walking on water. "And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me" (Matt 14: 29-30).

Then we have the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon. "For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith"( Ether 12:30)

What could we do if we had half the faith that these two men had? What could we do? Most cases in my life I haven't needed to remove a mountain, or walk on water. At times we can be like Peter and doubt, but when we do we have to be like Peter and ask the Lord for his help.

 To remove a mountain we would just get a big bulldozer, and a bunch of diesel. But what about the spiritual mountains that block our way? As the brother of Jared we must put our faith in God, its only a mountain, God put it there he knows how to remove it.

"With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." (Matt 19:26) With our faith in God we can do all things, we could move mountains we could walk on water, we could accomplish the impossible.

Rain rain go away!

Rain rain go away, come again another day!

Most of us have heard this little nursery rhyme. Today I was thinking about this rhyme because its raining, again. Here in the Kalispell area we are waiting for the rivers to flood, so more rain isn't really what we want. Its actually a little annoying. Thats why I was saying this rhyme, only I was thinking DON'T come again another day!


On the other hand, how often do we pray for rain to come to nurish our crops and to end a drought? Or how often do we pray for patience, and don't like the trial that comes. Some times I am not aware that God is blessing me with what I asked for, its just not in the way I wanted it. Heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers them, maybe not in our time or in our way, but he does. That is one of the greatest blessings that I have been given is knowing that God does listen, and answers. Our Father in Heaven desires to bless each of us with happiness, and has promised that "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." He will give us our righteous desires, and will give it freely without punishment. So ask away, but be willing to act on what you have asked for, and be grateful as well. And when you ask for rain be ready to receive rain, maybe more than what you thought sometimes.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We have all heard this before, and we believe it, or do we? It states that we are given certain rights, rights that make us the USA. These rights weren't granted to us from a king or president, nor could they. They were given to us from a supreme power, God. Our forefathers fought for the blessing of these rights to be open to each of us. In the Book of Mormon there were similar rights that were battled for. The people of the Book of Mormon, as the founding fathers, raised there own Declaration known as the "title of liberty".

"...In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children..."

Moroni was the leader of these people, they were oppressed, and their rights were attacked by subtle men who used flattering words.

"Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake."

The Declaration of Independence warned of governments with the same motives.

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

The result of each of the documents was unity and peace. Both peoples defended their rights, family, and love of God in war. War isn't the answer, standing up and defending our liberty is. There are many in the world who would seek to destroy our liberty, but this nation is a choice nation, it was founded on correct principles and a belief in God. With the same faith as our forefathers and Moroni, we to can establish liberty and peace, in our nation. "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Another attack on Pakistani Soil.

There is talk in the news of a second raid in Pakistan to take down another target. This is a very touchy subject, the Pakistani Gov. is not happy about our last raid because we didn't inform them of the raid. This makes for a difficult choice on the U.S. part because of the success in the raid. Fox news said; "

Evidence from the scene where bin Laden died -- described as the largest intelligence find ever from a senior terror leader -- could lead the United States to other terrorists on Pakistani soil." This puts another hitch in the whole mess. The U.S. now has evidence that could lead to another terrorist either being captured or eliminated.

On the other side, the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani  has stated that they are relieved by the death of Bin laden. He also said that the U.S. better not try another raid like the first without informing the government in Islamabad. The Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani continued to say ( as stated by Fox News); "his country would not relent in rooting out terrorists, but warned any 'overt or covert' attack against its assets would be met with a 'matching response.'"

"However, Obama also questioned whether anybody inside the Pakistani government might have known about bin Laden's location all along."

"'We were surprised that he could maintain a compound like that for that long without there being a tip-off,' Obama said. 'We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan. But we don't know who or what that support network was. We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate.'" (Fox News; As Pakistan Backlash Mounts, So Does Opportunity for New Terror Targets)

What is the U.S. to do? How would President Obama make the right choice, to protect our country from terrorists, and continue to please Pakistan? This problem has occurred before, maybe not on this scale but the same question as to which choice is the right choice. Many have found the method in how to answer these types of questions. The answer is prayer, that may seem simple and out dated but in whom do we trust? Who can we rely on to lead us in the right direction? The founding fathers of the United States relied on God. I rely on God and so many others rely on God. This country was founded by God fearing men, but also God seeking men. It is God that enlightened, and empowered this great country to become what it is, and it is God who can help us now.