Who is the first priority in your life?

So for those of you who have been checking here to make sure I am alive shame on you. I do way more with Facebook because it takes me 2 min to write something new and here I feel like I need to give more details. I know that it has been a while since I posted anything here and rather than catch everyone up on what I am doing with life I am going to write something that I have been thinking about for awhile. I am grateful for the choices I have made in my life and the values that I have chosen to follow. I was a work the other day and a co-worker said something and I can't remember what she said but the first thought that popped into my head is I am glad that I do not have to make those choices or worry about the same things as her. Now before you starting thinking I am judgmental and that I don't know what is going on in her life you are right but that does not change the fact that I am grateful for who I am. My next thought was why do I make the choices that I make and there is only one answer that I can give and that is because I chose to put the Lord first in my life. The Lord has given me well everything I have and while I would not say the path to where I am today was an easy path trust me it has been hard I am grateful that I have the lord in my life.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Christ because there is no door knob for him to let himself in we have to chose to let him in. The one thing that we have that cannot be taken from us is our agency. Heavenly Father and Christ give us everything else but because of the laws we have our agency where we can chose who we are going to follow. The one thing we can give them in return for all that they do for us is our agency and aligning our will to the will of the Father. How can this be done in the crazy world that we live in? It is by the choices we make. If we put Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as the number one priority in our lives all other things will fall into place. That's right for those of you who are reading between the lines I just said it when I am dating someone and eventual get married I want to come second but only if the first priority is to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Here are some things that we can do to show Heavenly Father that He is our first priority and that we want to align our wills with His. First do as he asks you to do, second serve each other, and third make time for Him. Lets go over each of these with more detail. For those of you who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from here on out referred to as LDS church most of my knowledge and experience comes because I am a member so if you are confused by something or have questions feel free to ask me. First do as he asks us to do. There are a lot of ways this can be done lets start small and work our way up but I am not going to start where you think I am going to start. As members of the LDS church we are given callings that the Lord things we can handle even if it is with His help. We are sometimes asked to step out of our comfort zones and do the things which the Lord needs. We need to take these callings that Lord gives us and magnify them, learn what we need from them, or use them to help others fell Heavenly Fathers love. Some people think that being a greeter is just a calling given so that everyone has a calling but here is another way to look at it. As a greeter you could be the first interaction with a new member or someone who was led to the church. You help people to feel welcome at church and to feel like they are important. Sure you hand them a program and say Welcome but do you really say Welcome. Speaking to people face to face is 95% body language so does your body language say Welcome or does it say I do not want to be here or I hate this calling. People rely on each other more than we let on did you just tell someone with your body language that you do not care about them and could make them think that neither does the Lord. Even the people that we see every week at church are going through a hard time and may even need someone to help them feel like they are important did you as a greeter who didn't bother to show up to fulfill your calling or doing it begrudgingly just shoot them done? There are even the callings that people think do not matter at all like Ward Indexing leader but people may not even index unless there is someone there to encourage them and lead by example. True we do not all get the big callings like Relief Society President or Elders Quorum president, Bishop or higher but that may because we couldn't do what the Lord wanted with the little things why would he trust us with something bigger. Also every calling has something we can learn from it whether it is a testimony strengthener, something we need to learn about ourselves, or maybe it is the only way we can help someone in need. Yes I am going there lets look at visiting and home teaching. Do you just contact the people you visit or do you truly try to get to know them so that you can show them the love Heavenly Father has for them because lets face it we all need to feel of that love from time to time and most of the time we feel it through the love shown us by other people. If we truly get to know those who we are entrusted to visit we start to love and see them like our Father in Heaven does and then we can show that love to them. Sometimes all you need to do to show the love is by actually visiting them. Think about it how did you feel when you knew someone was supposed to come and visit you but they didn't show up? Even people who are less active know that they have someone assigned to visit them and are disappointed when they do not even try to come, actually even those of us who are active and strong feel that way. We have the little things that the Lord gives us just to see what we will do and if we do well he may give us something more. Another thing that Heavenly Father asks of us as members of the LDS church is to visit Him and worship Him in his house, this is the temple and is something more than just going to church every Sunday. When we go to the temple we make covenants and renew those covenants with our Heavenly Father and he in return blesses because he is bound by His promises. Some of us have it easy and we can travel 5 - 10 min to get to the temple to make covenants with the Lord and others of us have to save up every penny they can for years to go to the temple one time in their lives because it is such a great distance and such a big sacrifice for them. Also think of all the people that have passed away before they could make the same covenants that we make and they need our help to make those covenants. That is why we are to attend the temple often because it will bless us and the dead that we help. (Non-members this will be hard thing to grasp but yes we do work for our kindred dead that they could not do for themselves as you learn more about our church you will learn the importance of these covenants and come to understand them.) As members who can go to the temple regularly are you making the time to do so or are you just saying I will go tomorrow because the funny thing about tomorrow is that it never comes. We need to make the choice today to go to the temple as often as we can and to set aside the time necessary to do so. Don't get me wrong I know just as well as anyone else that sometimes work gets in the way but you do have days off from work. Another thing is are you going to church to renew your baptismal covenants and partake of the sacrament. I know that sometimes we have to work and it can get in the way of going to church as well but sometimes you can go to another ward that meets at a different time so that you can still feel of the spirit and partake the Sacrament. I know these last things I am going to touch on may seem small to you but they also take more of a time commitment than going to church, attending the temple, or doing all the little things. These things are praying and reading our scriptures. We are asked to pray morning and night and over meals and to always have a prayer in our hearts. Think about it we are constantly praying and communicating with our Heavenly Father this is a good thing. He wants to hear from us just like our earthly parents want to hear from us he does as well. Trust me if you called your mom and dad everyday at first they would think something is wrong but deep down they would love it and cherish every moment. Our Heavenly Father is almost the same way the only difference is He would not thing something is wrong because yes He does know what is going on in our lives. Remember that picture above we need to let Heavenly Father and Christ into our lives how do we do that we pray and we ask them to help us. In fact you may not know this but you want to with all your heart Heavenly Father and Christ want to help you and They are just waiting for you to ask. True sometimes you may not like the way that They help you but when you look back at your life you will see that They knew what you needed and when you needed it. Next scripture reading this is one way that they communicate with us. Yes we get promptings to do something or talk to someone but also as we read the scriptures we get insight and inspiration. Think about it would Joseph Smith gone to the Sacred grove to pray if he had not been reading James 1:5 If any of ye lack Wisdom let him ask of God? Face it as much as we sometimes do not understand the wording there are times when what is said touches or even hits us like a ton of bricks. These things happen when we are ready to hear them because we have done the things which we are asked to do. Next serve one another. Think about this for a second this goes with the first one in that we are asked to serve each other. The second great commandment is to Love our neighbor as ourselves. We also get things out of serving others. How many times have you been having a bad day or just feeling down and depressed and we go out and do something for someone else you forget about your worries and your strife (sorry in my head I started to sing Bear Necessities from Jungle Book). As we serve each other we show them that Heavenly Father does love and care about them but it can also show us that He loves and cares about us as well. There have been many times when I have been going through a ruff time and served someone else and insight to my life comes to me because of what I learned while serving or just because I was where I needed to be to get that insight or inspiration. There are many things we can do to serve one another but sometimes what is need of us is a simple Hi, or a smile at a stranger walking by. We can never know what each person in this world needs and when but Heavenly Father does and because we are putting Him first and wanting to align our will with His he will tell us how we can help someone at the time and place where we can help them. I can serve at a Soup kitchen everyday but it may not be what the Lord needs me to do to serve His children but it is a start if you do not know what you can do to serve others. As our will aligns more with the Lord's will he will prompt us as to who and when we are needed. Yes it may be inconvenient but that is why he tested you with the things above to see if you are ready to do more. Lastly the third thing is to make time for Heavenly Father. This is simply done by doing all the things that we already talked about. The biggest things is taking the time out of our worldly schedule to show Him that He is a priority in our lives. Go to the Temple which is His Holy House, go to church, and the one thing I have not talked about is take the time to listen for His answer to your prayers. I know I am guilty of this. How many times do we pray and then just jump up and go about our day or hop into bed or even starting eating like the food is going to walk away. Have you ever been frustrated because someone asked you a question and then didn't listen for the answer? I think Heavenly Father feels the same way. As we take the time to listen for His answer we will be blessed because we know He answered but also because He will have the time to teach us the things He wants us to learn. Yes I spent less time on the last three things than the first one but that is because the first one leads to the next two. We can all draw closer to our Father in Heaven by making Him a priority in our lives. I know for November the thing to do is write a post on Facebook everyday with what you are grateful for which is great but will that go away when December comes? One of the ways to see the blessings you are given is to count them. I encourage everyone who reads this as one of their New Year's Resolutions to get a journal and write down everyday something that you are grateful for. If you want we can start the 365 days of Thankfulness on Facebook and everyone posts something they are grateful for everyday and not just during November. You could also do it on Twitter or create a blog just for things you are Thankful for. It is going to help you see the things you are given and may even help your resolve to make Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ a priority in your life in fact the first priority in your life.