Parable of the Sower

Today in my scripture study I was reading about the Parable of the Sower in Mark chapter 4. Christ tells about a a sower who spreads seeds across the ground. Some of the seeds go off to the side and birds come and eat them. Some of the seeds landed on hard ground, and immediately started growing, but then because they had no roots they withered and died when the sun came. Some of the seeds were surrounded by weeds and were choked off. Some of the seeds however, found good ground, grew strong, and brought forth fruit.

It was really interesting to me, and so I tried to figure out what it meant. I had a few ideas, but as a read on I found the true meaning. People sow the word of Christ. Sometimes as soon as people hear Christ's gospel, Satan comes and immediately takes it from them and it does not enter into their hearts. Sometimes the gospel enters into people's hearts, they receive it with gladness, but they don't strengthen their roots. When the trials and hardships come, they aren't stalwart and are offended. Some of the people are "choked off" by the riches and lusts of the world. Then there are the people who receive Christ's gospel and endure to the end.

At first I related this to missionary work. There are going to be the people who don't want to hear and who don't accept it, but then there are the people who embrace it with their whole hearts. To watch that seed of faith grow and blossom in people is an amazing experience. Missionaries aren't the only ones who have the opportunity to see this. We can all share the gospel with our friends. But we can't be discouraged when one of the seeds we sow doesn't land in the right place. If we keep sowing seeds we will be able to find those who are prepared to nurture it and allow it to bless their life!

Then I applied it to myself. What type of ground am I? I think sometimes I am good ground, but other times I harden a little. Or maybe I allow some weeds to come in and harm the word of Christ inside of me. It was a great experience to look within and find the things that keep me from being fertile ground. There are some great things to learn from this parable and I hope we will all take a look at the ways we can be better sowers and receivers!

Online Missionary Work

Why in the world are missionaries online? This question is one that is really similar to what I was thinking when we found out that we would be working on Facebook and trying to share the Gospel through the internet. Facebook is something that has always been forbidden to missionaries, along with almost every website. So you can imagine our suprise when they told us about this. I was actually so shocked that I thought maybe they were playing a prank on us or something!

After about a half hour it started to sink in, and I started to think about all the possibilities this could present. The internet might be the best tool we have right now to get information out to people. Why not use this as a way to help people understand the happiness we all recieve from the Gospel? This could be a great way to get the truth to everyone!

The internet is full of things that will dull our spiritual sensitivity. It had many things that will turn people away from the truth because they do not completely understand. Over the last six years there was a study that has shown that internet searches of the word "mormon" have gone from 80 percent negative, to being 80 percent positive in some countries. The reason for this is that positive information about the Church is being spread across the web.

This is another effort to show the good. There are so many great websites that the Church has out right now: mormon.org, lds.org, youtube.com/mormonmessages, ect... We as (full-time and member) missionaries have an obligation to the Lord to share these things with our friends. This is an easy way to "...invite others to come unto Christ..." You can read more about this at Church News .

We can all do our part and share this wonderful message. Let's get the Lord's invitation to come unto him to all the world through the internet!

Letting the Lord Teach Us

This is a topic that has been on my mind for quite a while. I think humility plays a large part in being "teachable."  The more I learn about pride and humility, the more I realize how easily pride can creep into our lives, and how quickly humility vanishes. In Helaman 3: 36 it says, "And it came to pass that the fifty and second year ended in peace also, save it were the exceedingly great pride which had gotten into the hearts of the people; and it was because of their exceedingly great riches and their prosperity in the land; and it did grow upon them from day to day.This story is shown many times in the Book of Mormon. People are righteous and they prosper, but they take the glory upon themselves and say in their hearts, "look what I have done!"

I wondered why this is. As I examine my own life, I often find myself resisting change for the better. It was a mystery why I did this because I want to become better and grow closer to the Lord. When I searched deeper I realized that I don't want to be wrong, and  changing would somehow (in my mind) show that I was wrong. It would seem to render everything that I had done previously of no worth.

This isn't how it works though. When we are able to trust in the Lord and do what he wants, we build upon what we already have. It doesn't make what we already know or do useless, it just adds to it and makes it better. I try to examine my life every day to see all the things that I did right, but then I look to see the ways the Lord has shown me I can improve. Let us all realize more the things that we have done well, and the things the Lord has already done for us. Then look forward to the things we might not know, the things we aren't sure about, and take a step of faith to let the Lord teach us.