One of those moments when I get it.

So, here I am, sitting on a Sunday, and realize something that I love about the doctrine of my Church. For anyone who may have missed the memo, or just does not know, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. More commonly known as "the mormons."

Now before I begin on something I love about the doctrine of my faith, I want to clarify that I am NOT TELLING ANYONE ELSE THAT THEY ARE WRONG IF THEY DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT I BELIEVE. Do we got that? I do not believe that I am the end all, be all of theological knowledge. (If I was, we would be in a lot of trouble, because I don't know a lot). I am merely stating something I love, and something that makes sense to me about what I believe to be true.

Someone or something that I was listening to today mentioned something about "being saved" (I think it was on tv while my roommate was watching and I wasn't paying attention, which is why I can't give more context) Now, in my faith, when you "are saved" it doesn't mean that you just accept Jesus into your heart, although that is part of it. It's about accepting him into your life AND THEN DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT. In order to be saved, you must accept him, and his love, AND live by his commandments. Which, when you understand them, bring you more happiness than you could imagine. (and P.S. you never understand them all the time either. There is just trust you have to live on when other ones have made sense...at least if you are me.)

Him saving you was ALL about his love for YOU, as a person, an individual. But, just saying you accept him isn't enough. After all, actions speak louder than words. We are expected to become perfect, like unto Christ. We are expected to live as him. We can't just say we believe and then do what we want. Isn't that great?

But it gets better.

He knew that being perfect was not going to happen right off the bat. He KNEW we were going to make mistakes. He KNOWS we are human, so he atoned for us so that we could repent and make it right. He provided us a way to learn from our choices and we can make our mistakes and stumblings and shortcomings a true thing of the past. We can move on and grow a little better than before. And there is nothing we can do that he won't help us come back from. Nothing.

But it gets better.

He gave us a CHOICE. We get to choose whether or not we want to follow him or not. We are not forced to do anything. Choosing to follow him doesn't always make anything easier,but for me at least, it can help it make sense. It also helps me remember there is so much more than I can see and understand. And in all of this, he gave ALL of us the choice to follow after him or not. He gave us the choice to BELIEVE in him or not. Our choice, which means we are responsible for them, but I literally CAN NOT put any blame on anyone else for MY choices.

But it gets better.

Even if you choose not to follow him, he still loves you. HE STILL LOVES YOU!!!!!!!! More than you could ever possible imagine. More than is possible for you to comprehend. He loves you. YOU! Whoever you are reading this, HE LOVES YOU!!! And there is literally nothing, NOTHING, you can do to EVER change that. No matter what you do EVER, he will love you and want you to be happy.

I think that's one reason why I love my faith so much, it is a message of love. It is a message of hope. I would never survive somewhere where I was told that my Father in Heaven and his son could stop loving me. Told that I would never measure up. I am told on a weekly basis at church how much he loves us.

And if I can't seem to get anything else right in what he's told me to do, I hope I can get that one down.

To love. No matter what.

I love that love is infinite. That the more I give, the more I seem to have to give away. Just loving people makes life easier. It makes life better. Remembering that people are people and they make mistakes, and they are trying to figure out life, just like I am. They are doing the best they know how. And if I can know that, maybe we can figure things out together, share the burden.

Loving isn't easy. In fact, if you want to stay guarded don't allow yourself to love anyone. Because the people you love most will hurt you most. Because they are the ones you care about. But, oh, I believe that loving is worth it. I'm so much happier when I feel love from my friends and family.

When I feel that love, I feel like I can make it one more day. I feel like I can take the blind step into the dark. It's easier to face every storm.

Because that's how I understand it works, that's why I want to learn to love others. Maybe I can help them make it one more day.

I Love that I am expected to work for my salvation. It helps make me a better person. And maybe, I can help someone else with their ride through life.

It's like He knows what he's doing up there or something. :)