VERY IMPORTANT

Some people are born very very very nice. I know people who don't have the capacity to think a bad thought about another person, let alone act on it or say something rude or judge someone. I know everyone has emotions and everyone has their days but I really do know people who come close to perfect in the way they treat other people!

I'm not saying I wasn't born nice or that my parents didn't teach me how to treat others or anything like that, but over the past 19 and almost a half years that I have been on the earth, I haven't always been the best example of Christlike love. Unlike the people I mentioned above, I do indeed have the capacity to be mean. I have done mean things. I have made someone feel bad on purpose. I have made someone feel bad not on purpose. I have made rude comments to someone's face and behind someone's back. I have been sarcastic and salty and sassy and snappy. I have judged someone before I got a chance to know them.

And as much as I just want to cry my eyes out about all of this, I realized that I don't have to let anything I have done in the past define who I am and I don't have to listen to the sassy diva anger fire that is inside me. In fact, I will NOT do either of those two things.

I WILL be kind.

I WILL be grateful.

I WILL be patient and I WILL be loving.

I WILL continue to make mistakes. I WILL apologize and learn from them when I do.

I WILL be motivated by love.

This is my favorite talk of all time. I just listened to it today, and I think it might change my life. Rather, I will change my life because the Spirit I felt during this talk completely overwhelmed me in the best kind of way.

One thing I have clung to while all these thoughts have been racing through my head is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is REAL. No matter what has happened in the past or what we have done, we can change because of Jesus Christ. We have to want to change and be willing to do whatever the Lord asks of us, but it will all be worth it if we do our best to follow Christ. When we decided to come to Earth, we knew that it would be crazy and hard and that bad things would probably happen to us. But our spirits are so strong and fabulous that we wanted to be challenged and tested by experiencing mortality. We wanted to prove to Heavenly Father that we love Him and believe in Him enough to face all that we would have to face and still be faithful. We can't remember all of this happening, but Heavenly Father gave us everything we need so that we may KNOW that all of these things happened. We can know through the scriptures, the prophets, and most importantly the Holy Ghost, that the gospel is true and that the plan of happiness is real. This life is something that is far greater and far more important than we can perceive or even imagine.

"We are studying the New Testament this year in Sunday School. This book of scripture is a story of love—the love of the Father for the Son and the love They have for each of us. We cannot fully comprehend this love. But we can feel it. We cannot fully emulate it. But we can “pray . . . with all the energy of heart” that we might be filled with it (Moroni 7:48). It is a love that transcends all of our mortal experience. It is a love that lifts and builds and strengthens, that calms and comforts us. The only way for us to increase our capacity to love in this way is to feel the love our Father in Heaven and His Son have for us. The more we feel Their love for us, the more we will increase our capacity to share that love with others."