For the past couple of years, I have been pretty into listening to podcasts. (Enough that it has slowed my reading down quite a bit because instead of listening to audiobooks in the car, I typically listen to LDS podcasts. I love Follow Him, Real Talk Come Follow Him, and All In. I enjoy Don't Miss This and also sometimes listen to Unshaken Saints, Leading Saints or Talking Scriptures. I also just found podcasts by Kerry Muhlestein called The Scriptures are Real that I plan to give a try.)
I love the All In podcasts because each one is an interview with someone who loves God and tries to follow Him. Most are members of the church, though not all. And the podcast always ends with the question: "What does it mean to you to be "All In" the gospel of Jesus Christ?" And every week the answer is a bit different. It has lead me to think A LOT about what it means to me to be all in. And my answer varies depending on the day or month. But today I have felt like I wanted and perhaps even needed to record what being all in means to me right now.
Sometimes my answer would be as simple as "Love God, and love my neighbor." And that is the crux of it. It can be simplified down to that. But today, I feel like there are some things sitting on my heart that I want to express.
So here's what is in my heart and head right now. To me, being all in means that I am striving with all my heart to "Let God prevail." I am trying to make sure that He is my greatest friend, my greatest influence, and that I am striving to become like Him. I love Him, and being all in means that I pledge loyalty to Him. I strive to follow Him, and to be obedient to His commands.
Being all in also means that I love others. I've heard it said that the way we love others is a barometer for how fully we love God. I want to love God fully, with my whole heart, might, mind and strength. I have thought a lot lately about what it means to love others. It seems like the world's definition for love is acceptance and to allow people to "be themselves" with no encouragement to change, improve, or grow. I don't believe that it real love. I think my opinion is sometimes unpopular...and sometimes I may be accused of being judgmental. (And sometimes I AM guilty of being judgmental.) But I believe that truly loving others includes helping them become better, helping them reach their divine potential, just as Christ does. It includes having rules and expectations of my students and then holding them accountable while being patient and forgiving of their mistakes. It means teaching truth clearly and directly, even if that truth is unpopular or may make some people uncomfortable because their situations are imperfect or because they are choosing another path. It means sustaining and honoring the prophet and other leaders, despite them being human and even when it is soul-stretching to do so. It means trusting that they see things I don't see and have been led and inspired by God to give counsel that will be to my benefit. Loving others means meeting them where they are, but then helping them to become a little better. Loving others means focusing more on how I can help them and love them well than on how they are demonstrating love to me. It means being willing to forgive hurts, and it also means having high expectations for those I love.
Being all in means that I repent regularly...because while I want to do all the things I have listed above, I fail. Daily.
Being all in means that "we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26) That we trust that the Savior "doeth not aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw call men unto him." (2 Nephi 26: 24.) Being all in means that I am striving to develop Christlike attributes. In the words of Elder Hales: "Disciples live so that the characteristics of Christ are woven into the fiber of their beings, as into a spiritual tapestry."
I have a long way to go in becoming perfect, but if I am striving to live as I believe, if I'm striving to be a disciple of Christ, if I'm striving to let God prevail, then I believe I am "all in".
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