3. Love and Thank Heavenly Father Often

I think that the key word in this one is often. Our Father in Heaven has given us so much. The least we can do is to frequently thank Him for what He has done. Also, when we pray to God, we usually thank Him at the beginning of the prayer for all the many blessings He has bestowed upon us. It is simply said in 1 John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us."

2. Don't Gossip

In Mosiah 13:23 a prophet named Abinadi teaches, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."1 We need to be careful with what we say about other people. When we criticize others behind their backs they may not hear it immediately but our Father in Heaven does. God wants us to love one another and we can show Him that love by speaking positively of other people.

Check out a video about gossip by clicking here!

1. Love and Respect Everyone

"Jesus said love everyone; Treat them kindly too.
When your heart is filled with love, others will love you." (LDS Children's Songbook)

While it is nice to be loved back it is more important that we love and respect others out of love for our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ. Each of us is a child of God and deserves all of the respect we have to offer.

What do Mormons believe about Jesus Christ? Visit mormon.org to find out.

16 Ways to Be a Better Person

A couple three years ago my stake president gave a talk that has stuck with me. He included 16 things that we can all work on. My mom typed them up and put them on our fridge. They have been a great help to me. Here's the list:
1. Love and respect everybody
2. Don't gossip
3. Love and thank Heavenly Father often
4. Give selfless service
5. Forgive others
6. Go to the temple often
7. Cave
8. Thicken your skin
9. Don't be jealous of anything or anyone
10. Don't withhold gratitude
11. Don't cause contention
12. Repent
13. Fight self pity
14. Quickly admit you are wrong
15. Take advice
16. Use the phrase, "I could be wrong, but..."

Trust Your Ball

The other day Elder Davis and I were visiting with a family in our area. The older gentleman that we were conversing with had recently played a game or two of bowling. Actually, he regularly gets together with some friends and plays a couple of frames. Anyhow, as he talked he said something that really stuck out to me. He said something to the effect of, "You've just got to trust your ball."

What I got from this was that after you've thrown your ball there really isn't anything you can do. You've just got to trust it. It's kind of like our trust in Jesus Christ. Nephi said, ". . . for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."1 When we do everything in our power to repent and become better we must trust Christ. And the great thing about having Christ on our team is that we will always get a strike!

1. 2 Nephi 25:23

No Regrets

During my high school days I ran on the cross country team. I was definitely not the fastest runner on the team but I had fun and was able to work hard and improve my race times. Many runners would write things on their arms with a marker or a pen to remind them of something during the race. One such phrase I often saw on our team was "No Regrets."

One of the worst feelings after finishing a race is to not be tired. You look back and can see that you could have worked much harder and ran much faster. It's a disappointment most runners will feel at one point or another. Our lives can be compared to a cross country race. We don't want to walk through the finish line, or even jog. We don't want to look back afterwards and see that we could have done so much better. We want to finish strong knowing that we have fought a good fight and finished the course.1 Let us live our lives in such a manner that we will have "No Regrets."

See also:
2 Timothy 4:7

Running the Race by Elder Steinicke