Sharing is Caring

Something amazing happened yesterday! I walked outside and KA-BOOM! The sky was on fire! It literally took my breath away. 

.....I couldn't breath. 

.....For several seconds. 

.....I could have died. 

That's how beautiful it was.

So I, being the incredible photographer I am (this is a joke. I am artistically challenged.), scrambled through my bag to dig out my camera, zoomed in a little, and pushed the little silver button. And the result is an absolute masterpiece, if I do say so myself :D

Just take that in for a second. 

WOW, right?? There isn't another word for it! 

As I stood there trying to stop hyperventilating (my mommy always told me I am a drama queen) I looked around and realized I was completely alone on the street. Sister Raynor was in the car already, and everyone else was inside. I felt so excited, I just wanted to sprint from door to door in that little neighborhood in South Phoenix and yell for everyone to come outside! See what I am seeing! Feel what I am feeling! 

.....But I didn't.

Why?

I had a moment of complete joy, and my only desire was for everyone else to know and participate in that happiness.... and I kept it to myself. I snapped a photo and tucked my camera away into my purse. 

Why do we do that? God gives us blessings so that we can bless the lives of others! He gave me the gospel so I could be a missionary, and share it in Arizona. He gave it to me so I could be a mother, and teach it to my children. Not so I could feel a moment of perfect joy and then tuck my Book of Mormon on the back of my bookshelf and go back to my selfish life. 

King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon says, "...are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have..?"

Along with that scripture, Elder Jeffrey R Holland said, "Don’t we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don’t we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don’t we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case? Little wonder that King Benjamin says we obtain a remission of our sins by pleading to God, who compassionately responds, but we retain a remission of our sins by compassionately responding to the poor who plead to us."

Doesn't that touch your heart a little? We have so much... why don't we share it more? Especially when that is why we have it in the first place! 

CHALLENGE: Here it is. Don't do what I did! Be a better person, think a little harder, and love a little more. It is simple.... share something. Send your best friend a link of an uplifting video that you think will help them with the hard time they are going through. Or give half of your candy bar to your little brother. Or your little sister. Or your significant other. Share your toys. Or post your favorite verse of scripture on your Facebook wall. There are so many options! Buy a sandwich for that homeless guy on the corner. Invite someone you love to come to church with you. Give a hug, or a compliment, or a smile to someone who desperately needs it! 

I promise you will feel MORE joy from sharing than you would if you had kept it to yourself.  

"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true." Mosiah 4:12