Play On

I read the following poem and fell in love with it before I was even finished. As Elder Wirthlin, one of the Apostles, once said, "We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, our Heavenly Father won't."

T’was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who’ll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar," then, two! Only two?
"Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?

"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three . . . "But no,
From the room, far back, a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
And going and gone," said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of a master’s hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.

A "mess of potage," a glass of wine;
A game, and he travels on.
He is "going" once, and "going" twice,
He’s "going" and almost "gone."

But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought
By the touch of the Master’s hand.

"Touch of the Master’s Hand," by Myra Welsh

Whenever You Wonder...

It'll Be Okay!

And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

The Son of Man hath descended below them all.

D&C 122:7-8

Get Ripped

Who loves working out?

Next To This Guy, Me Neither...

Nobody has all the time in the world to work out, so you gotta make good on the little bit of time you do have. As you work out you can try to keep in mind working on different muscle groups, focus on keeping your reps and weight in line with what you are training for, and of course making sure you have a workout buddy keep you motivated!

The most important thing of all as you are lifting though, as any good gym rat will tell you, is proper form while lifting.

It is critical to lift properly to effectively build strength and to keep you safe from injury. Without that, you can end up with some ugly consequences or just plain wreck yourself and negate your best efforts. People most often neglect proper form when, for one crazy reason or another, they try to lift with too much weight for where they are at.

An Extreme Example Of A Serious Problem

C'mon, you've seen this before! Usually its the guy in the overpriced underarmor gear who you will never see in that gym again, that guy who only works out only on the leg press machine to "impress" the people around him, or that guy who is gonna break his back doing ugly deadlifts. Good people... you don't want to be that guy.

My favorite gym has a sign as you walk in that says, "Check Your Ego at the Door!"
The same principle that is ever present in the weightroom is found in our everyday search to grow closer to our Heavenly Father and walk the path that Jesus Christ has shown. It is that mentality in life that leads us to truly grow. It is that maturity that puts us in a teachable attitude. It is an understanding that to truly get stronger, we must do things in the right way at the right time. From it stems the blessing of seeing imperfections and then being able to actually do something about them. Basically, you cannot fix a problem that you cannot see that you have. Ether 12:27 are words from the Lord about our spiritual growth in the everyday gym that life provides:

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Strength In The Savior

Proper form includes relying upon Him fully. We cannot do it alone. No matter where we are at this very second, we are NEVER above doing the little things like reading our scriptures or praying or going to church... check your ego at the door. In so doing, we can all become the spiritual giants our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ KNOW we can be.