"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." That sounds really amazing to me. I have pondered about what it means to have a pure heart and tried to put a picture in my head of what someone with a pure heart would do. I can't believe this just dawned on me today, but it hit me profoundly. A person with a pure heart, when faced with the greatest temptation says no. I am not a stranger to temptation. I was listening to Elder Ballard today. He said that scientists have found that there is a pleasure center in our brains and when it lights up, it overrides the area of the brain associated with willpower. "So there's a reason it is so hard for me to fight addiction," I thought. Of anything I have ever wanted in life, I want most to have a pure heart because I believe the promise Christ made (above). It's powerful to me to tie that promise so closely to resisting which is quite hard for me. Resisting is hard for a reason*. It's what the Mormons call "the natural man". It's our natural inclination to give in to temptation. Our love of God is meant to overcome the natural man. It gets harder to put off the natural man if you get addicted or fall in love (that period between engaged and married is extra tough). It would seem it takes an amazing amount of sustained strength to resist temptation. What a test of Faith! Which leads me to another doctrinal point. We came to this Earth to be receive our mortal bodies, learn, and be tested to see if we would follow Christ in this life with the ultimate goal of becoming like our Father in Heaven. And Faith is a belief in things which are not seen, which are true and faith without works is dead. Faith in Christ strengthens a person because it brings them closer to God and it is not like believing in Santa. Faith in Christ brings a whole different feeling. It is an intense & bright love that is more real than any earthly love and it envelops you completely and radiates from you. Faith is more than believing, it is doing. If you think about it, you'll find that Satan knows Christ died for our sins, but he sure doesn't let it change him. Faith happens when our belief in Christ changes us. We can find hope in Him because He descended below all things and felt all our pains and temptations, he suffered for me because of His love. And because of all that, he can succor me and because he overcame the world, I too can overcome. Therefore, Satan inadvertently helps us develop our Faith in Christ by giving us opposition to grow strong against, just like resistance builds muscle.(*)
How many times does the lure of laziness dangle before me? Sometimes that lure has extra pull- I'm drawn to it because the task before me looks overwhelming or I have all these reasons to procrastinate or I have self doubt. At night, the lure is to just go to sleep, skip brushing teeth or journal writing or scriptures or "tucking the house in" {my late night cleaning}... just sleep. Also, I almost never exercise. I have many ways to improve as a mom. Oh, and my patience leaves something to be desired. I will be faithful tonight and tuck this day in. Good night.
