Be as a "Little" Child

I have to start this weeks post with a bit of a bragging session on my wonderful daughter Rachel. I have always loved the way she treats others and has continued to volunteer to help. One of her favorite things that she has done is to visit the older people at the assisted living home in our neighbor hood to just brighten their day. She has always loved being in the Circle of Friends class at school where she can assist the special needs kids. It is wonderful to see the huge smile that she comes home with when serving. I would like to think that I have taught her these things but I know it is a trait that she has been blessed with from her Father in Heaven.

The other day we received a email from one of Rachel's teachers at school and I am sharing that here for you to read because it explains just exactly the type of person she is.

Good evening,

I wanted to reach out to you both and let you know how incredibly impressed I am with Rachel. She is such a shining star, and I’m very glad that she is part of our choir program.  She has shown such tremendous leadership in Women’s Choir. I can rely on her for anything.  She takes charge in the alto section and is always on task and helping others.

Too often teachers reach out to parents about negative behavior, but I like to reward students for their hard work by acknowledging it to their parent’s/guardians. Thank you for raising such a fantastic young lady. If there is ever anything I can do for you or if you ever have questions/concerns, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Clinton Hardy | Associate Choir Director

Central High School

I know that our Heavenly Father wants us to serve and love all those around and we have been commanded to be as a little child. Rachel is not a "little" child but she has taken this council to heart and is an example to everyone in our family. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful spirit in my family and I can learn so much from her as I try to be as a little child and learn to serve and love those around me.

The Atonement Is Not Just For Sinners

This has been a crazy week for our family and has taught me a couple of things about the atonement that I don’t think I really understood completely until now. I have been studying the scriptures on a daily basis and as the weeks have progressed I have noticed that I started seeing differently the world around me, how people react when faced with a trying event in their lives. Then something happens to our family this week that really made me reflect on forgiveness, a trait I have been working on improving in my life. You are asking yourself how does that tie into the title so let me take a minute to share the experience and try to put it all together for you.

On Wednesday this week I was sitting in a conference room at work when my phone started going crazy, I looked down to see it was Kari calling. I was a little taken back because she was aware that I was in this meeting and she would never call during which led me to believe it may be important. I excused myself and answered with, "Can I call you back I am in a meeting?" to which she replied "No this is an Emergency!" I could tell it was important by the tone in her voice she was upset and a bit scared which alarmed me. She then proceeded to tell me that our home had been broken into and Rachel was the first one home and was very traumatized finding the house in disarray. I told Kari I would be on my way home immediately.

As I began my hour long drive home and recounting the description of the house trying to get an idea of what was missing to understand what the implications of that would be in our lives my thought started to turn to the children and how they might be feeling. I was just sure that they felt scared, violated, disoriented, and probably the thing that touched me the most was that they even felt alone. I sat there feeling a little helpless knowing that I was not there to comfort them and to make sure they were safe. I then was drawn to a talk I had been listening to by John Bytheway titled "Five Scriptures That Will Help You Get Through Almost Anything" In this talk he referenced Alma 7:11 "And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people." and then made this observation, "where does it say anything in that scripture about sin?" This scripture points out to me the fact that the atonement is not just for sinners, the Savior suffered all things so that he could succor us in every moment and in every situation. This was a perfect time for my children to learn that principle and apply it in their lives.

Now to tie this back to the trait I have really been working on improving on in my life, forgiveness. As the time continued to pass driving home I began to realize I was not feeling upset and mad at the individuals who and broke into my home. My thoughts were more about a desire to help them find what they were looking for which was ultimately a more satisfying life. Now that is a change for me because in the past I would have been very angry but I think my efforts to have more forgiveness has really paid off and I think I may be starting to become a better person because of those daily efforts focused on making that change in my life.

-David Ankeney

A Few of My Favorite Scriptures

I continue to learn the gospel deeper each week and it is amazing when you apply the principles taught to your own life how much happier and fulfilling life becomes. As I was studying the Book of Mormon this week and trying to find ways that I learn how to be a better person and become more Christ-Like I was happy to come across a couple of my favorite scriptures.

I will start with my all time favorite as it goes along with being in school and learning, I call it my ladder scripture. The scripture comes from The Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 28:30-31

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, aprecept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn bwisdom; for unto him that creceiveth I will give dmore; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

"Cursed is he that putteth his atrust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the bprecepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost."

As you read this scripture you will notice that we are taught that we learn little by little; the thing that has always made the most impression on me is the last part of verse 30 which lets us know that we are either progressing in the gospel, climbing, or having that which we have learned taken away if we no longer desire to learn, falling down. Picture someone on a ladder they either have to continue to climb up or descend down but they can not just remain in one place on that ladder. This is much like each of us when learning the gospel either we continue to learn and have the desire to learn more and are then blessed with that knowledge or we stand back feeling like we have learned enough and no longer need to learn more, that is when the things we have learned are removed from our mind. Thus we see that either you progress in the gospel or loose that which you have learned but you can not stay with just the amount of knowledge that you want.

The second scripture that was in my studies this week is the gospel in a nutshell so to speak or as I like to refer to it. This is also in the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of bhope, and a clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eeternal life." This scripture does a great job of explaining that we need to love Christ and God along with all men and love them to the end. If we do this then Heavenly Father has promised us eternal life. I know that there are many aspects of loving Christ, God, and our fellow man but if we do those things that show this love and do it throughout our lives we will receive that gift that our Father in Heaven wants for us.

-David Ankeney

Learning how to be more Christ Like

I have began the LDS Pathway Program to gain my long desired BS IN COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY and I am extremely excited! The class that I am taking now that has had the most impact on me thus far is FEDREL 121 (Book Of Mormon 1 Nephi - Alma 29).

The first big assignment in the class is the "Becoming Project" which basically is to help us learn how to be more Christ like. President Ezra Taft Benson (13th Prophet of the Church) said, “The Book of Mormon is the keystone in our witness of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the cornerstone of everything we do. It bears witness of His reality with power and clarity... In the Book of Mormon we will find the fullness of those doctrines required for our salvation. And they are taught plainly and simply so that even children can learn the ways of salvation and exaltation.” (A Witness and a Warning [1988], 18-19)

The Book of Mormon records that when Christ visited the Americas he told the people, “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.” (3 Nephi 27:27) The semester-long Becoming Project is to help me in the effort to follow this directive.

As this assignment was made I pondered, prayed, and fasted to know what attribute I needed to work on the most.  There started to be all kind of promptings in the form of discussions at church, the scriptures I was reading, and things mentioned around the house. It was then brought to my mind an individual that I felt wronged my family and I a number of years ago, this is when I realized I needed to work on my ability to forgive. 

In Mosiah 26:31 we read "And ye shall also forgive on another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses when he says the he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation." This scripture in particular struck my heart and made me realize that I needed to learn how to forgive, thus being the reason for choosing Forgiveness as the attribute to work on.

These promptings and scripture have created a deep desire in me to seek forgiveness from the individual that I once thought need to seek that from me. As time has passed and I look back I have come to the realization that I am the one that has committed the greater sin by the way I have treated he and his family. I committed to starting that process by meeting with my bishop and meeting with this individual face to face and ask for his forgiveness.

The meeting with my Bishop was simply amazing as I discussed this an decided what exactly I should do, he shared with me these exerts from Alma 36: 17-21 which talks about how Alma felt after he remembered the atonement that Christ had made for his sins and the joy when he realized he was forgiven.

Next was the hard part as I had to ask this individual to forgive me and I was not sure how he would respond. He was grateful that I cared enough to take the time for this step and we have began to start mending our relationship. 

What a great feeling it is to be on the path of forgiveness and as I continue on with this project at this point I don't care what my grade is I have learned something about myself and most importantly something more about the gift Christ has given all of us, the atonement.

I want to hear from you, what have been your experiences with forgiveness?

-David Ankeney