Let me share a lil' something about friendship

(Relationships in general, really.)

“True love ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.’ So Christ loved us, and that is how He hoped we would love each other.”

—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (source)

When you meet someone who changes your life, when that someone cares for you despite all your flaws, when that someone understands and shares your faith, when that someone reminds you of your divine nature and worth, when that someone is willing to support you in all that you do, when that someone inspires you to become better and to fulfill your potential as a child of God, when that someone shows you enough maturity and willingness to be your friend....the very least you could do is cherish them with all your heart.

It isn't about making rash promises to each other.
It isn't about planning for the future.

There isn't any time to worry about how your friendship will be in the future. There isn't any time to think, "Is it worth it?". There just isn't any time for that. Because it doesn't matter.

It is about the Now. It is about what you are doing for each other Now. It is about the unconditional love and support that you can offer each other Now. It is about constantly praying that you will have all it takes to make sure you can fulfill your individual mission towards this person. Now.

Heavenly Father doesn't put people in our lives just for fun. He doesn't put people in our lives for us to make each other worse. He puts people in our lives for us to uplift one another, to pull each other through the thick of things, "to bear one another's burdens" (Mosiah 18:8), as we promise to in our baptismal covenant. He wants us to learn from one another and to love one another (John 13:34). Loving one another can take a lot of work, but it wouldn't be a commandment if it didn't have a special and specific purpose.


For us to characterize an important relationship as anything less than divine would be wrong. For us to treat it like anything less would be defiling it.

With steadfastness and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be able to fulfill our missions in life, we will able have better relationships. With the same principles, we will eventually be able to rejoice in eternal life (2 Nephi 31:20).

All it takes is true desire, willingness, and pure love. It takes ever-growing faith and constant prayer.

It takes a change of heart and mind:

 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by therenewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. - Romans 12:2

Once we have this change of heart and mind, we will be able to recognize what our Father expects of us. With a change of heart and mind, will be able to recognize how to treat certain relationships and what is best for one another.

It it my humble testimony that our Father in Heaven knows us perfectly. He listens to our needs, hears our prayer, and answers them. We have to keep a faithful and careful watch of how he is going to make those answers manifest. Once we find those answers, it is our duty to make the best of it. If our Father sees fit that the answer to our prayers should be made manifest in the form of a person in our lives, we must make sure we care for, support, and cherish that person.

It is my testimony that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know this because it has proven itself to be good in my life. The light of Christ has absolutely transformed everything in me, and continues to do so. I love my Savior and I will continue to cultivate my relationship with Him, by following His commandments and feasting upon His word. I share this beautiful knowledge that I've been able to acquire through Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

All the little children

Yesterday I started thinking about children and I pretty much mentally planned how I’m going to raise my own future kids. I couldn’t even sleep for a while just thinking about it all. Of course, I know raising children is going to be a lot more difficult than I like to think and I know that I’m not going to be the ~awesomely perfect~ mom I hope to be. I know half of the stuff I’m planning probably isn’t even going to happen.

But here ya go, an ever-growing list of the things I have in mind for the future little boys and girls that I hope to raise:

• No television in our home. We might have a TV in some corner of an attic or our garage for when we want to watch quality movies or home-videos.
• Limited amount of toys. I want my kids to cultivate a big imagination, enough to create their own toys and means of entertainment. If we have toys, they will be simple toys that require lots of critical-thinking.
• I will be strict enough with them that they will grow up learning self-discipline skills so that when they reach18 they'll be well-organized and fully competent adults ready to succeed in the world. Unlike a certain someone I know (cough, me).
• They’re going to do all their own chores and clean up all their own messes. We might even have a “chores calender” so that each of them will know what they have to do everyday. Part of learning organizational skills and self-discipline.
• My children will read books. Lots of them. Beside holy scripture and religious material, I will encourage my kids to read all types of books appropriate to their ages.
• My children will pick a musical instrument of their choice to learn from an early age. If there’s one thing that I regret (for the lack of a better word) about my childhood is never having pressed my parents to let me learn to play an instrument. Of course, money was a problem for us at the time, but I still could’ve learned another way. My kids will learn to play an instrument of their choice whether they want to or not. Again, discipline. Once they’re of age they can choose to quit if they truly don’t like it.
• Similarly and for the same reasons as the last bullet point, I will enroll my children in a sport of their choice.
• My children will naturally be involved in church activities and the like, and I will raise them with the principles of my religion (LDS), but will always encourage them to do critical-thinking and “soul-searching” of their own. Really the best thing I can do is be a great example for them to follow.
• Instead demanding respect, patience, or anything like that from them because I’m their parent, I will show respect, patience, etc., to them as their parent. Another example of leading by example, I guess. 

I will (hopefully) be adding to this list as I think of things since there are definitely a lot of aspects of parenting that I have yet to consider, but this is will be it for now. c:

And here's the only picture that I have to prove that I actually like children, as opposed to what most people seem to think:

My little cousin "Joshi" and I. It was taken in 2008 or 2009, uh, I can't really remember. 

And I promise I didn't pinch her so she would smile! (ehem)

xx