Keep the Weeds out of your Life

So we've been coming and going a lot this summer and I have neglected weeding the flower spot in the front of my house. It has mostly looked like just cheat grass growing over and around the few flowers that bloom in the hot summer months in St. George. Dan usually takes care of the weeding around the rest of the house and Lindsey has always been my flower garden weeder.  I don't like weeds or weeding.

Dawson has been bringing friends over to the house a lot lately so I broke down and bought a new welcome mat and decided it was time to weed the flower garden spot. You either have to get out early in July at like 6:00 am or do it after the sun goes down. I chose the later because the garden is on the East side of the house so the blaring sun was not a factor about 8:30 pm.

I began weeding by just bending over and pulling out the weeds with my bare hands; it looked like mostly grass. After a few pulls, I realized that because I had waited so long to pull the grass, it had now produced those nasty, pesty, clinging, prickly spurs that latch onto you and never let go! They are like fish hooks that attach to your skin and are very painful to remove. They have popped many a bike tire over the years that we have lived in St. George.

When I looked down at my clothes, I realized that there were about 20 attached to my body. Then when I stepped to shake around and try to remove them, I found that there were 20 or more stuck to the bottom of my flip flops! Now I realized that this job was going to require the use of gloves, a shovel and a big garbage can to deposit the noxious weeds into.

I painstakingly picked each burr from my clothes, arms and flip flops, gathered the necessary tools to complete the job, most importantly the gloves and began the job again. Some of those pesky burrs would even prick me through the thick work gloves. An hour later, with sweat running down my brow, I completed the job and swept up all remaining evidence from the porch and walk way. I even vacuumed the front entry and front room carpet to make sure that none of the painful burrs were carried into my home. If you've ever stepped on one of those barefoot, you know that every precaution to avoid the burr trap is worth it.

As I reflected on my neglected task and how much more difficult the weeds became to remove, the longer I waited, I realized that it is a lot like the little weeds that creep into our lives. When little mistakes and sins start popping up in your life, it is best to go after them immediately and get rid of them, before they grow into something bigger that is harder to get rid of. If I would have taken care to pull the few weeds that start to show up weekly, I wouldn't have to deal with the hard job that comes from letting the task become too large and overwhelming.

That is the beauty of renewing our covenants weekly in Sacrament meeting as we partake of the sacrament. We are able to reflect on our sins of the week, ask for forgiveness, commit to not making those same mistakes again and then start fresh again each week.  Prevention and checking in each week helps us keep from letting our habits and mistakes, bad feelings and anger build into something that is much harder to get rid of.

Thus is the parable of the weeds.

Choose the Right Path and the Atonement

Elder Brian Angell, Andrew's friend from high school posted this story on his missionary Facebook page as part of his proselyting. It is a story learned from hiking with our family in the Subway in Zion. 

     "The right path isn't always the easiest path to take, but it is far more rewarding in the long run. Once while hiking with my friend Andrew, I learned this lesson. He had invited me to do a rather treacherous hike in Southern Utah, a hike you need a permit for. He had an extra slot on the permit, so he invited me to go with his family and some other friends. On one part of the hiking trail, me, Andrew, Sam, and Gabe came to a fork. One path offered a steep, difficult descent into a valley to continue, and the other path was very easy and clear. We surveyed the two paths, including the rocky terrain of the treacherous descent, and the much smoother and easier path off to the right. Andrew told us he knew for a fact that the way to continue was down the steep, uneasy terra firma, but he did not know if the other way led back to the trail we needed to be on. We came to the conclusion that Andrew and Gabe would go down the steep descent, and that me and Sam would try the easy way, which I readily went down because I wanted to go the easy way. Me and Sam walk down this path for a half hour, and the trail starts to disappear. We stop to look around and find the trail, and kept seeing what we thought was a trail but it just turned out to be a regular looking, untouched patch of ground. I pointed to the direction that we had been going this whole time, and suggested we continue going in the general direction despite the fact that there was no longer a trail. Soon enough, shoe prints disappeared and the only tracks in the area were those of elk and deer in the area.

An hour after our separation from the group, me and Sam found ourselves facing a hill that was composed of very loose rock and no vegetation. The hill was too steep to get up, and we could not go around to the right, so I said to Sam, "I will try to get around this to see if there is a path on the other side. I am light weight and long, so I will have an easier time getting over the loose rock" This particular hill was in our way from continuing our current path, and we could not go down the mountain now because we were now in between a forest and a drop. The only way way either back the way we came, or around this hill of loose rock because the mountain had ceased to become able to hike down, it had become nearly a cliff. I started to traverse across the loose rock, when I started to slip. There was only a couple of bushes to grab onto, and since they were the only thing to keep me from sliding down the rest of this hill down to the deadly cliff, I grabbed onto the bushes, giving me numerous cuts on my hands. But you know what, I didn't care about the cuts because the bush had saved me.

 As I was planted there on this steep hill, I turned to look across the valley behind me. I was frantically searching for Andrew and Gabe, but could not seem to find either of them. Finally, I saw a red speck across the valley on the mountain. It was Gabe's shirt! I yelled across with as much projection as I could muster so my voice could span the mile gap that separated us. They spotted me in the predicament that I was in, and quickly communicated that if I was to continue, the only thing awaiting me on the other side of this hill that I tried to traverse was a cliff and nowhere to go. I got myself off this hill as soon as I could and told Sam that there was only one way back, and that was the way we came.

 We started off going back to where we first split and after a while, we found a trail again. We started running, and eventually found our way back to our original choice: the path that looked very easy, or the path that looked more difficult. Considering our experiences on the path that we went down we gladly took the descent down into the valley. We found our way to Andrew and Gabe eventually, and were glad to be alive, no matter how bruised and cut up we were.

This is like life. We are faced with decisions all the time, some harder to make than others. Sometimes, the wrong path looks easy at first and the right one is easy. But then you continue down that wrong path and it gets more and more difficult, and eventually you find yourself lost. You continue in the general direction even though you are lost, and soon enough you find yourself sliding towards the deadly cliff edge to face the destroyer, that devil who has been the author of all lies from the beginning. He is waiting for you to slip off that edge where he has been leading you to this whole time. Suddenly, you find yourself with less choices than you had at the beginning. The only way to stop yourself from slipping is a sharp, dry bush. You can choose to grab onto the bush and get hurt, or you can choose to keep slipping towards your death.

 My advice if you find yourself in such a situation in life: Grab the bush. It will hurt and you'll end up bleeding, but it is a small price to pay. Stopping yourself will hurt, but it is a necessary step. Then, you need to pause and seek for help beyond your own. Gabe's red shirt was a mile away, but I could still see it. I turned and yelled for their assistance, to which they readily gave what they could from the distance that I had created. I had only one option at that point, to turn around and take the necessary steps to get back to the correct path.

No matter how far down the wrong path you are, stop before it ends you. Gabe's red shirt, or the Atoning blood of Christ, will be within sight when you seek it. He will be a beacon for you, and He will help you. 2nd Nephi 31:21 teaches us that "this is the way, and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God." Christ's arm of mercy is ALWAYS extended towards us. He wants you and I to have eternal life, and the only way is through the Atonement. I have a testimony of the Atonement and I know of it's power. It is the only way we can be forgiven and be made clean.

 I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Brian Angell

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