Our Narnia

As I was studying for my midterms tonight, I was listening to the soundtracks of The Chronicles of Narnia movies. This, of course, then set off a feverish Pinterest searching of quotes from the books and from their author. I started to share some of these quotes with my Papa, but I couldn't stop from crying. Of course, I blamed it on hormones, but my Papa disagreed. "You're a Romantic!" I laughed. "A Romantic? I don't see how that applies here." He explained: "A Romantic means you fondly remember past times, even miss them, wishing they could come back. But you know they can't, so appreciate them for what they are." As the great Aslan himself said:

It's very bittersweet, when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are each told, in their time, that they will not be coming back to Narnia. Again, as Aslan says:

My Papa and I then related this to going on a mission. Being out there is akin to being in Narnia. We learn so much, go through so many trials, but we come away so much better, and we know Aslan, or Christ, so much better than we did before. But just as the Pevensies had to leave Narnia, so too must we leave our Narnia and come back to England, never again to come back to Narnia. But that does not mean we have to forget about Narnia, Aslan, the experiences we had there, the friends we made, the memories we have, and how we have grown. We must realize that we can never go back, but there is so much more ahead of us.

In closing, one of my favorite quotes from The Last Battle:

In His Strength

So today I got a test score back for a very, very hard class that I was stressing about. And guess what?? I aced the test!! I was (well, am) so excited!! I told my family, some of my roommates, my dog--heck, I even think my Einstein bobble head is excited.

But as excited as I was about this score, telling my friends and family is not the first thing I did. As soon as I saw that score, I went to my knees and offered a prayer of gratitude to my Lord. I know that it was through Him that I was able to do so well on this test.

This scripture came to mind when I was thinking about this:

In the Book of Mormon, Ammon says this to his brother Aaron. Ammon is rejoicing in how they were able to bring so many of their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of their God, but then Aaron says, "Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting" (Alma 26:10). Ammon says yes, he is rejoicing and boasting, but he is not boasting in himself, but in his God. He knows where his strength comes from.

My Savior has blessed my in so many ways. He is so willing to help us if we only turn to Him. If we do our very best--in my case, study as hard as I can--and have faith in Him, keep the covenants we have made with him, and put Him first in our lives, His grace WILL be sufficient for us.

"Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will depend and believe on his name.

"Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.

"Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

(Alma 26:35-37)

Change for the Better

Change for the Better

So I was on Pinterest (seems like a lot of people say that these days) and I saw this great quote:

Man, if that isn't relevant to me right now. I just graduated from high school, a lot of my friends have moved away, some are going on LDS missions, and even I'm changing. We can never step in the same river twice. Another quote this reminds me of:

"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment, because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived." (Captain Picard, "Generations")

Sure, it's a geeky quote, but what an important lesson! We need to look to the future--where we are going to be after college, marriage, families, or maybe it's just a date we're going on next week--but not so far as to miss today. Make memories today that you can draw on down the road. 

As I was talking to my roommate the other night, I told her yes, change does hurt, and you're going to miss your friends, family, and how things were, but if we stayed static, how could we learn and grow, and become the people we want, and The Lord, wants us to be?