Hello all,
This was a letter I sent to izzy and I felt the interest to send it to you all as well...not forget to remember.
HOLA QUERIDA HNA BERNAL!!!!!!
REPORTING REPORTING HERMANA BERNAL HAS TOUCH DOWNED IN HONDURAS!!!! OPEN THE DOORS, POUR OUT THE ANGELS, MAKE WAY FOR MIRACLES, HERMANA BERNAL IS COMING TO PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE SECOND COMING!!!!! ARE YOU READY!!!???
This week Izzy, I want to talk to you about something I have been thinking about lots. Once you wrote me about how you loved that Alma told his son to remember the captivity of his fathers. I want to focus this email on the importance of this word: remember.
Spencer W. Kimball once said that maybe the most important word in the dictionary is remember. Why? Because a big weakness in the human nature is that we are so forgetful! And right now, we aren't just talking about the little things, like taking out the trash, or doing a homework assignment. We are talking about the many ways that we forget about the Lord.
When somebody gains a testimony of the church, they have a special moment in which they cannot deny that they received a confirmation of the truth. But as the time passes, they forget about that moment and the feelings they had, and that leads many to become inactive. All because they forgot the joy they experienced prior. They stopped doing the little things in the gospel, and that led them to forget. We sometimes do that too. Sometimes I find myself thinking, "Well, in my mission, I haven't seen a whole lot of crazy miracles." Think again Connor. I am forgetting. I am forgetting about all the little miracles that the Lord as done for me. I forget about the past. A quote says that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That may be why Alma told his son Helaman to remember, so they wouldn't fall in the same pride cycle:
" I have always retained in remembrance their captivity; yea, and ye also ought to retain in remembrance, as I have done, their captivity. (Alma 36:29)
What are some other ways that we forget about the Lord? Lets look at the Sabbath day. Why do we have to dedicate the whole day? If you look at the definition of dia de reposo in spanish, it says something that just blows my mind. It says that the Lord set apart this day so that his children "se acuerden de el." are you saying that it is possible to forget him!?? How? How do we forget our creator, our savior? Mormon says,
And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.
Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths! (Helaman 12:3,5).
Do we really need God to punish us just so we can remember him? Actually, forgetting what he has done for us is a huge sign of ungratefulness. When you forget the nice actions of others, they feel as if it wasn't important to you. How do you think the savior feels when we don't honor the sabbath day? How do you think he feels when as MISSIONARIES IN HIS WORK we don't give our "heart, might, mind, and soul"?
That must be why Helaman started the legendary scripture in helaman 5 vs 12 saying "Oh my sons, remember, remember".
This idea is not only seen in the scriptures. When Simba chased rafiki into the woods in hopes of seeing his father, he was upset that he did not find what he was looking for. But when the clouds stormed in and Simba spoke with a disappointed father, Mufasa said "You have forgotten who you are and so you have forgotten me." Can you imagine God saying the same thing to us when we forget about him?
Do you see izzy, why it is so crucially important that you remember the Lord, in every little thing that you do? do you see that when you remember all that he has done for you, you truly show your gratitude and appreciation?
It would not be a foolish idea to keep a log of all the miracles, both big and small, that the Lord has done for you, so you can remember. The Lord does not want to have to punish us to get us to remember. It is better for us to remember simply because we love him.
I love you! Sorry for the long letter but I thought a lot about that this week. Having a good memory may be one of the most important human traits of them all!!
Elder Bernal
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