S is for Spiritual.

 

Spiritual has to do with the soul. According to Google, it is "a connection to something greater than oneself." People have different ways of being spiritual. Sometimes, we will feel spiritual in nature or anywhere we feel calm. To some that is in a religious place, for others, it doesn't necessarily need to be in a designated place.

I feel most spiritual when I slow down. My "greater than oneself" is my Creator, or my Heavenly Father. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I worship each Sunday in a church. I am fortunate enough to live across the street from my church building(this doesn't guarantee that I am on time weekly, though). I also worship in a temple. And I try to do so at least once a month. Within the walls of the temple, I feel calm and able to take a pause from the daily stresses of life. Those building are special places of worship for me, and I don't have any "alone time"in those buildings, even though they are favorite places. I often feel spiritual outside of religious buildings. I feel close to God as I pray to Him alone in personal private prayer. I also feel close to God when I am out in nature. The woods is one of my favorite places, whether on a UTV in Wisconsin on my Uncle's land or up in the mountains on a hike or bike ride. Often, the feeling of peace comes as I listen to Gospel music, or read the words in scripture or the words of my church leaders.

Spirituality is a big part of who I am. My faith in God has always been a beacon in my life. Jesus Christ is the center of my faith and I am learning how to know Him and am slowly trying to be more like Him.

I have a job, or calling, in my church congregation(ward) teaching in our women's group or class(Relief Society). Every other week we study together talks that were shared in our past General Conference. In General Conference, church leadership, including our prophet, apostles, and other leaders speak. Conference Weekend is the first weekends of April and October. In our classes at church, we are currently looking at the talks given in April of this year.

For today's spiritual thought, I thought I would share something from one of my lessons. Back in May, I taught a lesson from the talk entitled "The Character of Christ" given by D. Todd Christofferson, who currently is a counselor in The First Presidency of the church. You can read or watch this talk HERE.

Something that really got me from the talk is the question posed by Peter in The New Testament of the Bible: "What matter of persons ought ye to be?" found in 2 Peter 3:11. When pondering what the answer to that question is, I realized that the answer may seem to be a pretty big responsibility. The answer is to be like Christ and to fill those sandals, it would take a lot. In fact, I think I would fall very short!

The list of Christ's attributes that as Christians we should be striving to possess is very long. He was perfect, after all. I don't know about you, but perfect isn't a word I would ever use to describe myself.

I think the most daunting part of becoming like Jesus is that I often feel like I need to be doing it all, right now. Humans want to get stuff done RIGHT NOW.

The talk later goes on to say what the most important thing I needed to hear about becoming more like Christ:

"Yes, it requires a consistent and sustained effort on our part, but remember, it is not simply a matter of our striving. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we, each of us, can call on the grace of Jesus Christ to help us. With our baptism and confirmation, He promises us the companionship of the Holy Ghost, the messenger of His grace."

The beauty of being a follower of Christ is that He is there to help us become like Him. He also took upon himself all of our imperfections so that we can turn to Him for help to improve. This life is all about "striving" and learning. We won't be perfect throughout the journey but if we rely on His merits, we cannot fail.

This life is all about the journey and I was comforted by this sentence: "For most of us, our mighty change of heart occurs incrementally over time." We are supposed to be changing and becoming better people as we experience and live life. I love that we truly do not have to be perfect right now, we just need to be trying. Big change comes in little movements through time.

If you find yourself struggling with not being where you want to be spiritually, remember you are learning and growing. Don't be too hard on yourself as you strive to be better. We can all get there as we lean on our faith.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for coming to my mini relief society lesson.