Gas prices are really starting to get way past acceptable. We’ve really reached the point where if it’s not a necessary trip, you just don’t take it. Two months ago I was appalled when I saw Diesel hit $4.05… today it’s up to $4.70. And it’s all driven by greed in it’s purest form. They with the money and power to shape economies invest their fortunes in those things that magnify their wealth… and in turn dig deeper into the pockets of the majority. Sadly, I really don’t see much of a solution coming from anyone, anywhere. And anything I would consider a good solution is just politically and democratically wrong.

Families are being broken left and right, the ones I grew up around and never thought would fall victim to divorce. It just makes me sick. The goodness I once saw in so many people has become tired and worn, and hope doesn’t seem to glow as bright. However, others have a glow brighter than I’ve seen, and it’s they who I should turn to for inspiration and happiness. If I continually focus on the downward trend of hope, then I inevitably fall victim myself.

I’m realizing today the importance of the anchors in life that never shift and never change. Morals degrade, what once was despicable is now publicly acceptable and preached from the screen, things held most sacred to still a majority of people is mocked and scorned at every turn. Yet, the importance of holding on to those truths is never more needed than today.

I guess I’ll make this another resolution for this year, Resolution #3: Hold fast to my anchors that never shift. My beliefs, my faith, my covenants. As life spins more and more out of control, the need to rely on a steady source of truth and balance becomes more and more important. No more straying. No more glimpses. No more varying. Stick to the straight and narrow path and don’t look away.

After only a month in Japan, we had the very special privilege of having Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visit our mission. It was my first up-close and personal meeting with an Apostle. An Apostle is no small calling, and he emphasized that in his opening remarks when he very boldly said that this day he came to teach us not as just a church leader, but as an Apostle, fulfilling his calling to testify of the Savior around the globe. That instantly changed the mood in the room, and has been a comment that has stuck with me all these years. It has increased my reverence to those 12 men plus 1 that hold that calling. One of the most impressive places I have stood has been in the Church History Museum, in the room where they have painted portraits of all the Apostles of this last dispensation. Just looking and realizing the faces of the men that I looked at was awesome. I’d like to go do that again.

In his lesson, which lasted several hours, Elder Scott taught us about learning from and by the Spirit, the nature of our callings as missionaries, and how we ultimately become the missionaries that we are viewed to be. All missionaries, whether the greenest Junior to the seasoned Senior, are viewed as Spiritual Giants by the members and people that they teach. I promise you that most of the time you feel inadequate to the calling. Elder Scott drew on the board a large shape of a man and commented that this is how missionaries are viewed. Then, inside that man, he drew a small stick figure and said that that is most likely how we feel. He then posed the question of how we go about filling that space, filling that mantle of responsibility that rests on our Souls. For hours he taught us about studying with the Spirit and growing our actions, our testimonies, our souls to fill that mantle. Grace by Grace and after time and dedication, we ultimately fill that mantle with the missionary that we become.

This is the question that I pose to myself, and to you. As the years go by, do you find that you are chipping away at your weaknesses and filling the mantle of the life that the Lord has prepared for you? Are you shaving off bad habits and thoughts, serving more diligently, improving your testimony and habits daily and ultimately allowing the Atonement to fill your life? Or, do you find that the same habits from years ago still haunt you, and sadly have even gained ground on you? Do you often look back on years past and wish you are as good now as you were then? Have some things just taken control of your life altogether?

My resolution #2 of 2008 is to no longer have regrets like that in my life. I choose today to have a strengthened resolved against my weaknesses, and chip them away. I choose today to seek, to study, to focus and to live so that the Atonement can take full effect in my life, dictating every ounce of my character. There is nothing more important, nothing more valuable, nothing more life-changing than allowing the Atonement to transform your life. EVERYTHING hovers on that one great act, and I need to let it act in my life in greater power.

Automatic. It’s everywhere! Automatic transmissions in cars, automatic dishwashers, automatic food, automatic cameras, automatic word-check, the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, I’ve discovered this leads to Automatic Life Syndrome, or ALS as we’ll refer to it now. More specifically, it leads to a life based on reaction, and not a life based on action. There are too many outside factors that determine our course of life, so-much-so that too many people don’t make any decisions; rather they let the outside circumstances and conditions determine those decisions for them. They themselves become an agent of Newtons 1st Law of Motion, that an object in motion remains in motion until acted upon by an equal or greater force. We, as people, and more importantly Children of God, are not created to live in such a manner; we are created to be the greater force of change, not the lesser force to be changed.

Letting outcomes dictate our decisions

One of the worst practices I see in people anymore is that of letting the outcome of an event determine the choice that we make. We wait until after the moment has passed and the outcome reached before we decide what to do; which all too often sadly becomes what we did. When you neglect to establish your standards and your choices ahead of decision time, you leave yourself to the whims and wishes and pressures of others; not to the independence of yourself. The freedom to choose, to be independent, to be free was paid with at too great a cost to let they who seek the company of others (Misery loves Company) take that from you.

Decide ahead of time. Stick to your guns. Semper Fi.

So, my resolution tonight is for me to be more proactive in my future. To not just let the days of life pass by doing the same old thing. To not have wishes and wants and impressions go unanswered as I leave it up to others to ‘set up’ the perfect time or circumstance to accomplish that. I’ll go forth with faith with that which I feel to do, and prepare myself to face the challenge head on, and head strong.