Matthew 14: 22-33. Walking on the Sea

 When the apostles first saw the Savior walking on the water toward their ship they were very afraid because they thought it was a spirit. But after they realized who it was they were calm and Peter asked if he could also walk on the water to meet the Savior.  This was an example of the faith that Peter had, if he did not have faith in the power of the savior he would have not asked to walk on the water. Peter began to sink because he looked around; he lost sight of what was important and began to focus on what was around him instead of in front of him. When Peter began to sink he cried out to the Savior for help and IMMEDIATELY the Savior “stretched forth His hand, and caught him.”

            In Doctrine and Covenants Section 88 Verse 67 it states “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehended all things.” The principle here is that if you keep your focus on the Savior then your whole “bodies shall be filled with light.” This related to Peter walking upon the water because his whole focus at the beginning was walking toward the Savior and with that faith he was filled with light and was able to defy science and walk on water. This can easily be applied to my life because while I am going through a personal storm I can keep my focus on the Savior and He will lift me to safety and help me gain strength to overcome whatever is troubling me.

Matthew 13: 24-48. The Lord often taught with parables

                A parable is a basic sense is a story. I believe the Savior used them so often because the best way for Him to teach principles to the people was to put it on their level and make it into a comparison. Parables can be linked to our day as well, for example the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven can be linked to the growth in the church. It describes how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was able to grow in and prosper while it is so young and it helps in describing the future growth of the church.  In the parable if the seed is planted in the right place and continually courted it will grow, just like the church. The parable of the gospel net can be related the large missionary effort made by the church. The kingdom needs to be gathered, for this to happen missionary work needs to be occurring so that all can be brought to the true gospel on the earth. The parable of the pearl of great price is the reason many wealthy members of the church sacrifice so much, they know the wonderful gift that the church is and are willing to give all they have to keep that wonderful blessing. The last parable I want to address is that of the wheat and the tares. I believe that this can be compared to why some members choose to leave the church, we are all growing in the same place and it can be really easy to mesh into the wrong crowd and loose ourselves and become a tare.

                In addressing the parable of the pearl of great price we are asked what sacrifices we would be willingly to make for this gospel. I believe that I would sacrifice everything for this gospel because in the long run the true gospel is all that matters. Christ gave His life for me, He bled from every pore for me, how can I not give everything I have to help Him in any way possible? I don’t know of any sacrifice I have made directly but to some not drinking, smoking, and doing other immoral things would be considered a sacrifice. Personally I am so grateful I will never be caught under these influences and can live a life without those evil things.

                In the parable of the net a question has come about of what the net represent. I believe that net is representative of missionary work, because verse 47, of Matthew chapter 13, says that the net will gather every kind; this is done with missionary work. To be gathered means to be brought together, to so everyone is accountable for themselves, and we are gathered before we are judged. From there we will be “sorted” and judged according to our actions, from this we see in the parable where there were some placed in good vessels and the bad cast away.

Matthew 5: 1-12. The Be-attitudes

            Blessed to me is gift we receive to lead us to higher happiness. Receiving a blessings don’t come without effort, they require us to do something first. While Jesus Christ taught on the Sermon on the Mount he gave several be-attitudes for everyone to live their lives. Three specific ones that I can relate to my life are: blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, blessed are the pure in heart, and blessed are the peacemakers

            Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: I have found in my life that when I have felt a hunger to learn about the gospel and grow closer to the savior I am becoming a better person. I am nice to those I am around and am a happier toward those around me. I hope that I can keep that hunger for the gospel always. I have had times in my past where I have forgotten about the rich blessing that come from that hunger but when I remembered again I decided to never forget.  

            Blessed are the pure in heart: I had never realized how amazing children where until I had the opportunity to work closely with them.  These are truly children of a loving Heavenly Father and were sent here to remind us of that. Children bring joy into our lives because of their wonderful purity, they have a spirit that the Savior knows is important as he said suffer the little children to “come unto me, for such is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:14).

            Blessed are the peacemakers: To become a peacemaker can be extremely difficult if we keep our hearts at war. When we decide to end this war within our hearts and become loving and accepting to all our fellowman we find a peace that keeps our hearts open to accepting promptings from the spirit and helps us draw closer to our Heavenly Father. I have noticed that when I set out to end the war in my heart and become a peacemaker I feel better about myself and less stressed in my life.

John 4: The Samaritan Woman at the Well

When Jesus approached the Samaritan woman at the well and started to talk to her she was very surprised, because for many centuries there had been great animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans. A main reason for this hatred was because each claimed that they were Israelites and that the other could not be. This hatred was so bad that Jews would go out of their way to not travel to places with Samaritans even if the route was many miles longer. Jesus did not follow what the other Jews did because he treats everyone equally. He does judges us all equally, without prejudice or guile. This tells me that Jesus won’t care if we are black or white, if we lived in America or Asia. All He will care about who we are and what we have done in our lives. When Jesus first talks to the Samaritan woman it’s obvious that she is taken back that a Jew is talking to her but throughout the verses you can see that her attitude changes as she realizes He is the Christ. This is apparent in verse 9 of John chapter 4 when she says “how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?” and then later goes on in the end of the verses the woman runs to tell her friends that she has found the Messiah. When Christ knew details about the woman’s life, her many husbands, she knew that he was someone special. Also when Christ continued to teach about the living waters the woman knew that this man could be the Christ. The spirit caused the woman to change her attitude; the Savior brings an amazing spirit with him that will testify to men that what he teaches is the truth. When she realized that this was the Messiah she ran to tell others that she had found Him. Because of what she told the other Samaritans people were curious and came to learn from the Messiah.

                 As I have come to see Christ’s influence in my life over the years I feel more grateful  for all that He does; the more I study about His life and try to grow closer I can see more clearly how He influences me. In learning about the Atonement, the suffering in Gethsemane and on the Cross I feel love for my savior because I know that He suffered all of that agonizing pain for my chance to return to live with my Heavenly Father. In knowing that Christ did this all for me I feel that I need to share it with as many people as possible because it is an amazing thing to know. When the Samaritans heard that Christ was in the city they went to Him to listen and learn. I believe that if we had the opportunity to listen to the words of the Savior we would feel the spirit and be converted to his words. Christ talks about the woman drinking the living water, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says that if we drink of it we will never thirst again because it is everlasting. Many people are prone to not drink of the living water and to “cast out their cisterns” or harden their hearts from accepting the gospel of Christ.

Luke 1:5-80. The Birth of John the Baptist

Zacharias was told that there would be joy, gladness and rejoicing with the birth of his son John. I believe was rejoicing over John the Baptists birth and mission because he would help lay a foundation for Christ to come and minister unto the people.  Without John it would have been much harder for Christ to gain support. John also did an important thing by baptizing the savior which helped in teaching the people that even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, needed to be baptized by proper authority in this life.  John’s birth was also very important because it meant that the savior of the world would come within John’s lifetime.  Also John’s father Zacharias prophesied saying that John would be called “the prophet of the Highest” (Luke 1:76). He would prepare the ways for the Lord to “give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:77).