Faith is the Power / Foundations of Faith

“If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts,

 the power to endure will crumble.”

                                               

                                                                 -Henry B. Eyring

From that quote, I picture two distinct images in my mind.

First I see an image of a coal power plant. As coal is taken to and burned at a plant, it generates electricity. We can then use that electricity to power everything from lights, to computers, to even cars now. These things help our lives move forward.

 Faith is power.  To generate that power, we need to add elements to our lives such as meaningful scripture study, mighty prayer, and purposeful service. As we let activities like those burn within our souls, they change us and generate faith. Faith is the power—the energy source that motivates us to keep moving forward and endure to the end.

Second, I see an image of a foundation, and this is the image that President Henry B Eyring writes about. In order to have a strong foundation, there must be solid ground underneath. Next you pour the foundation, and after some curing time, you have a strong foundation.

In building a foundation of faith, the only way to have solid ground underneath is to have personal integrity. The actual foundation is then poured as a mixture of different elements. Meaningful scripture study, mighty prayer, and purposeful service would all be good faith-building elements in that mixture.  Next there must be a passage of time to let the mixture harden, which allows the foundation to be strong. Faith takes time to solidify in our souls. Remember, it is letting the right elements have time to solidify, and not the passage of time alone that creates a foundation of faith.

I’m grateful for Elder Eyring’s April 2012 conference talk entitled Mountains to Climb. It has given me two images in my mind that remind me how important faith is in our lives to help us endure to the end and to help us in a world of changing values stay steadfast and immovable.

My Ounce of Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

-Benjamin Franklin

It is much more cost effective for insurers to try to stop disease before it occurs than it is for insurers to treat disease after it occurs.

Not only is it cheaper to prevent than to cure, doing so improves the quality of life people live. If you’re healthy you tend to stay out of hospitals, have more energy, and don’t get diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Unfortunately, we live in a society that excels at disease care more than actual health care—protecting and caring for your health. It’s easier to treat symptoms than it is to actually deal with underlying issues. However, with this method you just move from one fire to the next, and never extinguish the actual source of the problem.

Employer Physical

In order to encourage healthy habits, reduce healthcare costs, and improve individuals quality of life, my employer has a program that offers its employees $50 for getting a mini physical and another $50 for being healthy according the metrics they measure. If you are deemed unhealthy in a category, there are financial incentives to improve.

I went in on August 30, 2012, for my physical. I was sure that I was going to get the $100 prize because I felt healthy.  My results were as follows:

 *Posting this info is probably a HIPPA violation on myself. Oops. :)

They weren’t worried about body fat. 13% is their target goal for that. What they were worried about was my HDL Cholesterol level. HDL cholesterol is good cholesterol which helps prevent heart disease by cleaning your arteries. It keeps plaque from building up and sticking to the artery walls. The goal there is 40 mg/dL.

Because of my levels of HDL cholesterol, I was not going to get the full $100 because I was putting myself at risk for heart disease. I may not have received the full incentive, but I did receive the motivation to make some changes.

Changes

In order to improve HDL cholesterol, it’s important to exercise regularly, and to eat fruits and vegetables.  It takes months to see results with HDL cholesterol because your blood composition has to change.

Fixing my exercise schedule won’t be too hard. My goal is 30 minutes of moderate exercise 4 days of the week. I was really good at this up until March, when I hurt my left leg and right foot. They’re mostly better now though. I have home equipment, and I bought a pass to the gym. Exercise can be fun if you find the right activities. If you find the wrong ones, it’s torture. Luckily I love to swim, run, and lift moderate weights.

Fixing my diet is going to be the major challenge. I love to drink milk, Capri Suns, juice, and other sugary drinks. I love to eat high sugar foods like ice cream and fruit snacks. I love to eat higher fat foods like sandwiches smothered in mayo and cheese. In fact, I've always joked that my cheese addiction is what would kill me. It was funny because I never believed it. Now it’s not so funny.

For the past week, I’ve made an effort to improve my consumption of fruits and vegetables by focusing on each meal.

For breakfast, I made a lot of whole grain waffles and froze them to make them more convenient. I eat those waffles loaded with fruit, like blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries—no syrup. With that I will have a small glass of orange juice, and a small glass of milk. Other days of the week, I’ll have one bowl of Cheerios, one piece of toast with low-fat peanut butter, a banana, and a small glass of orange juice.

For lunch, I still have sandwiches. However, instead of loading up on cheese and mayo, I load up on vegetables; Green peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes, avocados, and red peppers piled up high on whole wheat bread. As sides, instead of fruit snacks and a Capri Sun, I have carrots, craisins, nuts, and water. I have to say that I like the new lunch more than I thought I would.

For dinner, I make two weeks worth of meals every other Friday afternoon and then freeze them. The meals have a small portion of low fat meat, like chicken or fish, a lot of vegitables, and some whole grain rice or pasta.

With fruits and vegetables, the saying is 'five to stay alive, but nine is divine'...

Resources

Some of my favorite health resources that have been inspiring me as I start this journey are:

Harvard School of Public Health -http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/index.html- This site has a lot of health related science boiled down into easy to understand information and graphics.

Well Steps -https://www.wellsteps.com/ - Well Steps is a company that does health consulting for companies. Its president is Steve Aldana, who was a BYU professor until 2007. The company has a book I love to read called The Culprit and the Cure that explains current health research in an easy to understand and apply way.

I’m really making an effort, so hopefully all of these changes will result in high HDL cholesterol levels. I really get scared when I think about a heart attack, a stroke, or diabetes. I’m excited to have another physical in 6 months. Bring on the results because I’ll be ready!

Lord, is it I?–Cultivating an Environment where Revelation Grows

In Matthew 26, Christ is with his Apostles eating a Passover feast.  As they eat, Christ tells the disciples that one of them will betray him. They are all very sorrowful and every one of them asks, “Lord is it I?”.   

I've always been drawn to the question “Lord, is it I?” because it invites personal reflection and taking an inventory on your life.

In Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk ‘How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life’ from April 2012 General Conference, Elder Scott lists attributes of good soil and bad soil for cultivating revelation.

Revelation can be cultivated abundantly if we are mentally clean, are physically clean, have pure intent, are obedient, and place ourselves in righteous environments.

Revelation can’t be grown if we are haughty, prideful, conceited, or arrogant, if we let emotion rule our lives, or if we seek praise or recognition.

From either of these lists, “Lord, is it I?”

To be mentally clean, am I actively trying to learn and grow, or am I content to watch hours and hours of Netflix each day? What types of material do I fill my mind with?

Is my physical environment disorganized keeping my thoughts cluttered, or am I organized and clean in an environment where I can more easily receive revelation.

How obedient was I this week? Did I actively read scriptures to learn, or did I read just to mark something off my list? How were my prayers? What did I draw from church this week? Did I go to institute?

What did I do this week, solely for attention or praise from others?

What are my motivations? Why do I do what I do?

Do I do things for others, or mainly for myself?

Of course, with each inventory you take, the central question moving forward becomes “How can I improve going forward?”

As we humble ourselves and make needed corrections, we become ‘fertile soil where spirituality grows and produces the fruit of inspiration. This gives us divine power to accomplish what needs to be done.’