7 years

I have decided that 7 is my lucky number for some reason! I'm not one to gamble, but it turns out that 7 is the perfect number (or so the philosophers say). Good things have happened to me on the 7th day or something to do with seven...well today marks 7 years that I got on a plan and came home from my mission (so I'll really arrive in the US tomorrow (it takes 24 hours to travel from Uruguay to the USA)but 7 years it is...it seems like more and in ways seems like less, but wow I love those people. I'll post some pictures later when I scan them,because, well that was back in the day when we actually used a thing called "film" and my batteries were literally duct taped onto my camera! (I didn't get a digital camera until 3 years later as a graduation gift from college from my brother (that camera has since been stolenn on the beaches of California and replaced twice, nicked by a hammer while making a "lehi legacy" book and now as previously mentioned is stained by the yellow and pink cornstarch colors of the festival of colors from yesterday!))

A lot can happen in 7 years. I've learned a lot. I've learned that love is probably the most important part of why we are here and we should never be ashamed that we love, even when that love is unrequited or unaccepted.

-God loved us so He sent His son
-If ye love me keep my commandments (John 14:15)
-The greatest commandment is to love (Matthew 22:36-40)
-36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great acommandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
-1 Ne 8,11 The rod of iron (the word of God) leads us to the tree (love of God)
vs22 "And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things."

-Charity is the greatest of all (Moroni 7:45-48)
45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
-1Corn. 13:1 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

There have been moments in the last 29 years of my life that I have feared charity, because I didn't know how to get it or was unwilling to do the work to get it. Recently my experience has taught me that if you want something bad enough (or even if you don't want it, because it seems too hard to get) that you have to give your all to it. I have spent sleepless nights figuring out how to get over certain things and have found myself on my knees praying with all the enegy of my heart to get rid of the pain and to find peace...and when I was done praying, I felt an overwhelming peace not solving my problem, but opening my heart and filling it with charity toward all men, allowing them to be who they are so that i could be allowed that same priveldge, knowing then what I know now, that the Lord sent us here to bear one another's burdens, to feel pain and love so that we could qualify to make it home to him again, bringing with us our fellowmen in love and purity, not just forcing us back, but us choosing our way back and that is his pure love. He loves us so much that He lets us choose, which is a thing I never supposed or understood until I had to let/allow others to choose what they will and love them anyway. I think that is a piece of charity. It's coming...little by little, but now I don't fear it as much, because I know it's obtainable, but only if I do it in the Lord's way and not my own...and so it circles 'round "If ye love me keep my commandments" and we do that by loving his children (ourselves included) as He does (or at least trying as He does)...working on it!

Happy 7 years to everyone!

"When the rest of the world looks through the lenses of momentary pleasure, it is only through Christ that we can understand how momentary this life really is, yet the choices we make here on Earth determine eternity." 1-19-2010 B.P.