Coping With Disappointment: Using Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin

    
   
       I have always loved the Peanuts gang, an American classic it truly is! Nothing beats the constant misfortune of Charlie Brown, the witty comments from Linus, and the comedic shenanigans of Snoopy and his yellow pal Woodstock. I remember that there was a really good selection of Peanuts comics and books at the South Weber Elementary School Library. One of my favorite Peanut tales is The Great Pumpkin! To those who are not aware of this amazing tale, Linus believes that every Halloween night, the head honcho named, The Great Pumpkin, comes out of the local pumpkin patch and declares glad tiding and good joy to all of the believers. Everyone thinks that Linus is insane and Linus ends up spending all of Halloween night sitting in a pumpkin patch and never to meet the infamous Great Pumpkin.

     Everyone who live or who will ever live the on Earth will go through some sort of disappointment during their stay here similar to young Linus here. I know that I have sometimes asked the question, "Why does disappointment occur when I am not doing anything wrong?" Linus, was a good kid and he never was into any mischief in the neighborhood. He had a strong hope that the Great Pumpkin would appear to him but instead he became a laughing stock to all of his family and friends!

     Disappointment is just going to happen but always know that there is a loving Heavenly Father who is there to comfort us. Disappointment and discouragement in our own life can lead to a stronger relationship with Heavenly Father in the Eternities. If we come to God in broken hearts willing to hear His words, we will gain more love and appreciation for him. A scripture that witnesses to me that God loves everyone is in the Book of Mormon. It states, " For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." (2 Nephi 26:33).

     Heavenly Father loves us and he understands our disappointments and we can feel his love if we turn unto him and we will be filled with warm peace that will reassure us Heavenly Father is going to make our burden light. So next time we get disappointed; or in other terms, pull a Linus, remember the invitation is there for us to come to Heavenly Father.

The Fam: Eternal Families Make Eternal Joy

     This picture was taken on May 6, 2011 in front of the Salt Lake City Temple. In the picture is my dad (Mike), my sister (Bailee), my brother (Derek), my mom (Jane), and the happy couple (Tanner&April), my brother and sister in-law. It is probably a good thing that I was not there because the picture would go down in value. It is kind of hard to not have been there because this is the very first family portrait that I was not in. I love my family deeply and  have so many memories with each one; except my sister in-law April, but we will chill and get to know each other later. I remember getting baseballs thrown at my head by Tanner when I was first learning to play baseball. I remember all of the social gatherings that I was able to be apart of with Derek and the rest of the Pandit Association. I unfortunately remember being dressed up by Bailee and posing as a jazz dancer. I remember going on drives with my mom and listening to classical jazz. I remember going to the driving range with my dad and spending good time with him!


     I love my family so much and to know that I can be with them again gives me so much serenity and comfort. What gives me the serenity and comfort the most though, is that if I live my life the way God wants me to live it, I can live with them forever. In the last two verses of the entire Old Testament of the Bible, the prophet Malachi writes, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6) This prophecy did occur when Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio. He gave them the keys to seal what is on earth to heaven creating a way for families to be together eternally. That is a reason for why there are temples on the Earth, it is for a man and woman to promise to live their life in a way to where they can live with each other and their children forever. My brother and sister in-law had the privilege of doing that and anyone who is willing to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ can as well. Whey wouldn't you want to be with your family forever rather than just death do us part?


     I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that we can be able to live with our family forever and the way we do that is by being apart of Jesus Christ's church. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ's church a long time ago! You can know for yourself by praying and asking God if that is true. It is a simple way and God wants to make it simple because he does not want any of us to stumble in the dark!


     I hope you have a great day and hope to chat with you later!

Building Strong Spiritual Muscles

    
      Strong man competitions have always intrigued me because it is absolutely incredible to see someone lift up extraordinary amounts of weight just from their own body. It is incredible that they can lift things that are twice and sometimes 3 times the amount of weight that they are. The most incredible concept about competitive lifting though is that these superman like athletes didn't always have huge biceps or bulging necks. They were born with a normal body that was just like another normal human body. The difference though that made their bodies so much stronger than an average human is all the time in the weight room and all of the sacrifices they had to make to be able to endure the physical labor that they endure. They had to pay the price by putting in the time and effort. I believe that with the incredible things these brutes can accomplish, they have paid the price.

     Most of us will probably not be as strong as these select strong men or be able to have the ability to lift tree stumps, but we can be "spiritual strong-men." I think a spiritual strong man is more impressive than a physical strong-man. Having a solid testimony in Jesus Christ and knowing that his purpose in his life was to help us have a resurrected body and give us the chance to gain eternal life is more important than looking like Arnold. The way we gain spiritual strong-man status is by reading the scriptures, serving others, trying to gain Christlike charity, and keeping the commandments. We will have to pay the price but I know that we can one day all be spiritual strong-men and we will even intimidate the physical strong-men!


 
     I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves so much! He appeared to young boy named Joseph Smith who brought back the holy priesthood that would bring back Christ's Church on the Earth. Heavenly Father loves us and he cares for us so much! If you would like to learn more about Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ's Church being back on the Earth, contact me on facebook (Elder Sam Stout) or check out www.mormon.org and click on missionary request on the top right corner. Have a blessed day.

Remembering 9/11

    

     I vividly remember being woke up by my dad on a beautiful September morning in the later part of the year 2001. He told me with a sound of sadness and shock in his voice that the World Trade Center has been hit by an airplane. Me being half-asleep, did not really understand what was going on but I followed my father into his bedroom and on the television I saw a lot of smoke foaming around a gigantic skyscraper. I stood there in shock and awe and was thinking to myself how could something like this happen. We later found out for sure that it was a terrorist attack and it was scary to think that people did not think so kindly of us Americans. It was really difficult for an 11 year old such as I was to think that someone would hate someone else so much that they would do something that serious.

     The after effect 9/11 was very damaging and the whole country was in complete sadness and shock. There was so much hardship that effected the families of the victims. I can't imagine all of the pain that they had to go through. There really is only so far we can go on our own when it comes to coping with such a huge loss. The way to fully cope with something is to rely on the Savior and allow him to help you feel his true and unwavering love. This video shows how a 9/11 survivor had the Savior help him through the grief of what happened.

     I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he can help us through our problems even if they do take time! Heavenly Father knows and understands what we are going through and we just need to keep on keeping on!