In church today one of the speakers talked about the legacy that Joseph Smith left. As he was talking about that it made me think - what kind of legacy do I want to leave behind. Here is the list that I came up with

What king of legacy do I want to leave?
-Living the Gospel
-Applying the Atonement
-Sharing the Gospel
-An eternal family
-Make the world a better place and help others make the world a better place
-Sacrifice my life (my day to day actions not my pulse) for others

    Well how do I make sure that I can leave this legacy behind? Well this speaker spoke about Benedict Arnold and talked about his legacy. Whenever people hear his name the first thing that comes to mind is traitor. It turns out that Benedict Arnold was actually a very faithful American having done many things in battle that saved many and he should have died while doing but didn’t. The speaker went on to explain that Benedict Arnold was willing to give up his life for America but was not able to give up his pride. Through politics and other things he was not given promotions he thought he deserved and was not held up to the esteem he thought he deserved. Because of this he sold out America because of his pride and was later hung as a traitor instead of dying as a hero.

    The words of a song I like ring especially true:

    I’m a man without a country
    I’m a martyr for no cause
   
    When the time comes for me to leave this world I don’t want to be without a citizenship to God’s church nor do I want to die for no cause. In order to avoid this I have to make sure that my pride doesn’t overpower my desire to do God’s will.

During the sacrament today I was thinking about the two symbols used. The bread representing the Savior's body which he sacrificed so that we can live again and the water representing the blood He shed so that we can repent and become perfected in Him. I thought that it was interesting the symbols used in the sacrament and started writing down ideas that came to my mind when I thought of bread or water.

When I thought of bread I thought of the passover and the use of the unleavened (unrisen) bread. They wouldn't let it raise so that they could be ready to leave and have it ready to cook/eat at a moment's notice. I think that this means that I should make sure that my relationship with the Savior is to the point that I am always ready to have His help.

When I thought of water I thought of how important it is to our lives. Not only does it quench our thirst and necessary to our survival - it is also used to clean and purify everything around us. If I didn't have access to water not only would I become dehydrated but I wouldn't be able to clean or wash anything which would cause disease and bacteria to spread.  

Along with that I can survive longer with no food than I can with no water. I even know that whenever I finish fasting the first thing that I go for is water and not food.

So what can I learn from this? It seems by all accounts water is more important than food and has a greater impact on my life. This isn't to say that food isn't important, but a week without water would be worse (and not physically possible) than a week of no food.

I don't mean to read to much into symbolism but what I got out of water being used to represent the sacrament is that the sustaining of our spirits is more important than our bodies. I am not trying to say that we should binge and sit around all day. What I am saying is that the spirit lives forever whereas our bodies are only temporary (until the Resurrection) and for that reason we need to make sure that we striving to make sure it is properly sustained.

It has been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. It started out as a way to share my experiences with reading the Book of Mormon backwards. However I decided to change it to a way to organize what I learn everyday to the internet so I can search what I have written easier and maybe it just might help someone who stumbles upon this.

I feel that even though I am doing this for myself I will write in the blog style and with the intent that others will read this. This is because I when I explain topics to others I will think about the topics from all angles and figure out which way is the easiest way to explain them and at the same time convey the most amount of understanding of the topic.

I have started to take a notebook with me to church and during the sacrament I take it out and think about a specific topic and write down any notes or promptings I have related to that. In the past I thought about the word "remember" and how it shows up so much in the sacrament prayer. Another week I thought about the word partake and what that really means to partake of the sacrament. Whatever I do though I make sure that it relates to the sacrament and specifically what I can do to be perfected in Jesus Christ.

Today's idea was the importance of consistency. I thought about all the things in my life that bring me closer to the Savior that required consistency. The only things that I can think of that you don't do on a consistent basis are the ordinances of the Gospel (besides partaking of the sacrament).

The main things that I have to do to draw closer to the Savior is:

• Prayer
• Scripture Study
• Church Attendence
• Meditation (some people would also call this pondering)