first message i ever wrote

I wrote this back on July 22nd. I was going to give it in the testimony meeting, but it was deemed to be too long, so I didn't. I recently found it on my computer so I'm going to share it now.

Hi, over the last month or so all the lessons between Gospel Principals and Relief Society have been connecting with what is going on in my life. Especially the last two Gospel Principals classes about the Holy Ghost and the gifts. I was first prompted to write this on Friday, July 22 and its been building since then. I was prompted that this testimony is important to share. It has been an important lesson for me to learn. I feel that it will affect someone in someway. That’s all any writer can hope for is to affect one person. I’m thankful for the promptings I get. Sometimes He comes to me as the small still voice, sometimes pours words into my head to write down, and sometimes He is loud and in my face. I am very glad I get to share this with you. I was prompted to write the following poem Monday, July 18^th. To share it with as many as will listen. Its called Live For Today:

I don’t want to be

I wish I had

I wish I would

I wish I did

I wish I could

Don’t forget the ones

You care about

Don’t forget the ones

You love

‘Cause

One day

When its too late
Don’t want to have

Any regrets

We never know

When He’s going to

Take us back

Never forget to say I love you

Live for today

Live for today

There’s no excuse

For making excuses

There’s no such thing

As no time for family

We’ve got to appreciate

Those we’ve got

While we’ve got them

While we’re here

‘Cause

One day

When its too late

Don’t want to have

Any regrets

We never know

When He’s going to

Take us back

Never forget to say I love you

Live for today

Live for today

Too many people

Waste their lives

They don’t make time

For those that matter

They’re too concerned

In tomorrow, tomorrow

What happened yesterday

Yesterday doesn’t matter

Its already gone

Tomorrow doesn’t matter

Its not here yet

Today matters

Its here, its now

One day

When its too late

Don’t want to have

Any regrets

We never know

When He’s going to

Take us back

Never forget to say I love you

Live for today

Live for today

Thank our Father for our lives

Thank our Savior for our lives

Thank them for

Everything we have

Don’t take life for granted

We’re here on borrowed time

We don’t know

When it’ll be time

For us to go home

One day

When its too late

Don’t have

Any regrets

We never know

When He’s going to

Take us back

Never forget to say I love you

Live for today

Live for today

            Not taking life and each other for granted is a sentiment I’ve seen a lot recently. However not usually in pure manners. I hear a lot of songs on the radio that promote going to bed with a stranger or being loose in general. One I hear the most often is Give Me Everything by Pitbull. Part of the chorus says:

“Tonight I want all of you tonight

Give me everything tonight

For all we know we might not get tomorrow

Let’s do it tonight”

I’ll hear that on 2-3 stations all playing that same song at the same time. It brings across a basic, live for today message, but not in the right way. A few years ago there was a song that was great. If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback. The second verse says:

“If today was your last day

and tomorrow was too late

Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?

Leave old pictures in the past

Donate every dime you have?

If today was your last day.”

I wish there were more songs that promoted it in a pure way. Influences by the media are huge. There have been attempts to bring the message across, but a lot of people don’t want to think about it. Its not a happy thing to think about. It is still important.

            I think a lot of people don’t think about it until they are hit with it directly. For instance, my friend Mike and his grandfather. Mike lived in close proximity to his grandfather for years. Over the last 2 that I’ve known him, he would keep saying, I should visit my grandfather. He would not actually go. His grandfather was no more than maybe 30 minutes away. He only visited his grandfather 5 times. Once at a barbecue, once in the hospital, once when he found his grandfather’s health was rapidly decreasing, once at the hospice, and then the final time at his grandfather’s funeral. His grandfather passed earlier this year. After that he kept saying, I wish I had spent more time with him, I wish I had visited him, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish I had told him that I love him.

            I am thankful that I converted, was baptized, and was confirmed receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost when I did. I strongly believe that if I didn’t, that if I didn’t have Him as a constant in my life. If I wasn’t open to His promptings, If I was unclean to where He could not dwell, then my life would continue to be in a downward spiral. I feel very blessed that I am here and relatively happy.

            I am so thankful for the gifts of the Holy Ghost. It wasn’t until the last lesson about the gifts did I think that what happened to me was really even possible. Now I know that it is. Not taking life and each other for granted is something that my mom has tried to teach me, my whole life. I never wanted to think about it. I didn’t want to deal with it. So I didn’t. I was always, it doesn’t matter how much I screw up today because there is always tomorrow. I am so thankful for this life. I’m not sure if I’ve ever been so happy to wake up in the morning. Now I’m dedicated to praying every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to sleep. That was something I had fallen out of doing on a regular basis. Every time I thank Him for my life, my family, my friends, and for being given that day. Any lingering doubt I may have had about the Godhead is gone.   

            A few of the things I think we are supposed to learn is love and family. We are given such an incredible gift. We are given a body, a life. We get to come here to learn and grow. To live righteously, Christ-like. So we may return to live with the family that has passed and our Heavenly Father. It saddens me to see people waste their lives. One can only imagine how it feels for our Father to see some of his children waste and not take advantage of this gift. One could also imagine what it is like for Him to see those that appreciate what we’ve been given, live, and flourish. My only guess is as a proud parent who watches their children succeed.

            There is no such thing as too many hugs, kisses, time spent with each other, or too many I love you’s. If you lost a loved one today, would you have any regrets? If you were to pass today, would you have any regrets? I am still working on the answers to those questions. We never know when our time will come. It could be today, tomorrow, next week, or years from now. Appreciate those we have, while we have them, while we’re here and Live For Today.

I found these verses I want to share:

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is evil thereof” – Matthew 6:34

“Whereas ye know not shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” – James 4:14

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but of the Father” – Mark 13:32

I know that The Church is true, that God is our Father, that Jesus is his Son and our Savior, and that the Holy Spirit is our comforter and at times protector.

I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen