Hope & BYU

Mosiah 1:7

"And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may propser in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers."

Ah, Thursdays.  Love 'em. Institute always makes my day. Tonight we discussed Elder Uchtdorf's talk about hope. Such a wonderful topic. But first, to the matter of the day. I finally paid off the money that I owed UNT, and in turn was handed a transcript, finally.  After which I started and finished my application to BYU with the intent to attend the spring and summer semesters. I still hope to serve a mission sooner than later, but there is no reason to continue putting off my education when BYU is the one school that will hold any scholarship I may receive for the duration of my mission (which is the main reason I have been reluctant to go back to school lately).  And if I don't end up serving a mission, then I won't be looking back at lost time with regret. All I have left to do is send off my transcripts and get my ecclesiastical recommendation back from the bishop/stake president.  Utah in April, here I come!

Now, to the topic of hope.  hope is such a wonderful gospel principle. But just like any other gospel principle, it works one step at a time. Just like revelation and faith, when we show that we are able to be trusted with small amounts, the Lord will bless us with more.  The same holds true with hope. The more hope we show in our daily lives, the more blessings the Lord will give us so that we can be even more hopeful for the future. The more we understand the blessings of the atonement and the plan of salvation, the more hope we will have in things that sustain us daily. 

I brought up a point in class tonight that when people hope, they generally only hope for positive and uplifting things. And that when we are hoping for such things we tend to think about them. If we are thinking about positive things, then our demeanor tends to reflect that and we tend to smile more, laugh more, love more. That leads to continual happiness, and happiness is infectious. So really, why shouldn't we keep a positive outlook of hope about us always?  When I said that, Brother Elmer related it to a statement he once heard. A thought will produce an action, actions produce habits, habits produce character, and our character will determine our eternal destiny. 

So really, we are creatures of what we think about, things that occupy our minds. And if hope continuously occupies our mind, we have nowhere to but up. Because if we are always hopeful, then we never let despair enter into our thoughts. And if despair never crosses our mind, even when we sin or get distracted, then we will never let ourselves get caught up in the wiles and strategies of Satan.  Satan wants us to get ourselves down, to sin and then feel hopeless, like we have no way out of the situtation we are currently in. If he keeps us in that cycle, we will stay there indefinitely and our lives will become unproductive, isolated, and caustic. But, with hope, we are always looking towards a better tomorrow, a better way of life, a better result than we have previously known. Hope leads to good works, and we learn to cultivate that hope one step at a time, one day at a time.

So, when times seem rough, if we can just remember to stay hopeful for a better tomorrow, hopeful for the support of loved ones and especially for the support and love of God, then there is no limit to the happiness we can experience in this life.