Leap of Faith

As I was reading in the Conference edition of the Ensign, I came across a talk entitled, "Get On With Our Lives" by Elder Steven E. Snow. The full article can be found at lds.org under gospel library if you are interested in reading it in its entirety, but I thought immediately of the change that sometimes seems to be forced upon us. It sometimes seems a bit like this:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I feel that this change offers so much opportunity for growth and learning. It can be a really difficult thing to undergo change, we feel that we have to keep things the same, have a sense of the norm being good, but how can we truly go from our "natural man" state to becoming like Christ without a hefty dose of CHANGE?

Elder Snow states that there are four simple ways we can prepare for and face change. The first is to follow the words of the prophets. Sometimes it may seem difficult to follow the prophet and their council, but as we do, we find peace and direction. In the primary song, "Follow the Prophet", it simply states, "We can get direction all along our way, if we heed the prophets- follow what they say." The second way is through keeping an eternal perspective. Sometimes much easier said than done. As we focus on the here and now, we lose focus on what is really important. Is moving away from friends as important as working towards eternal things? Or is losing a job, as terrible as it is, as bad as not living with your family forever? Keeping an eternal perspective helps us to focus on where we REALLY are headed. The third way Elder Snow says we can prepare for change is having faith. President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that we should "move forward with faith". We are often counseled that we sometimes don't know where we are headed, but that as we take that "leap of faith" the answers, peace and assurance will come. Even in the bible we learn that faith will guide us. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul teaches the people of Corinth that "...we walk by faith, not by sight." It always reminds me of a clip from an Indiana Jones movie where he comes to a cliff and there isn't a way across. His father says from the other room, "You must believe boy, you must believe"... and then Indie takes his leap of faith to find an invisible path across the cliff. (The clip can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-c8_OFwZoY)


It's not easy, but as we take the "leap of faith", we can find the path we didn't see before.

Finally, Elder Snow tells us to BE OF GOOD CHEER! What a great thing! Laughter through our hard times can bring so much joy and love to our homes and our hearts. I know that there are many people in my life, including myself, who are dealing with change right now. I hope that we can all remember that as the changes come, and they inevitably will, that there is a reason and a purpose through the change in our lives.