What Really Matters?

What matters in this life? I mean really, if I were to name a few of the most important things I suppose these would make the list, a general wellbeing or our overall health, a solid career, family and friends or our relationships with others, and last but not least religion. Obviously there are other things that are important but I think these are biggest ones.

Health is extremely important, at least to me. I’m not a health fanatic, it’s just that I know what it is like to be sick. I would say right now at this time in my life I am healthier then I have ever been. That’s not to say I don’t still struggle with physical ailments but at least right now I feel strong and able.
I feel stronger now than I ever remember feeling, and even my physically bothersome constants are becoming less and less troublesome. I would say I’m not simply putting up with them like I’ve done for so much of my life, but rather certain things that I’ve felt like would always bother me are getting better or simply healing. My body can handle injury and sickness far better than I ever remember, and heal quicker as well.
I am grateful for my health. I feel really blest in this aspect of my life right now and am going to do everything I can to keep myself strong and young.

A solid career, well, at this time in my life I am kind of drifting around still not knowing what the next month will bring for me career wise. I’ve done just a little college which was probably one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done. I definitely wouldn’t say that the schooling itself was frustrating, I actually enjoyed my time there quite a lot with the whole class room experience. It’s just the timing of it was probably the worst thing. The majority of my time in school was at a time in my life when I was trying to figure out how to muster the desire to keep breathing from one moment to the next, let alone do my home work.
To the world I didn’t receive any credit or official college experience but I believe I learned more from that experience then some others in my class that actually kept moving on. At this time I still am unsure if I will go back and receive more formal education.
This is one important issue that I am weak at. I really don’t know what my career is going to be, and the job I’m doing now…well, let’s just say, I could do something else…I really just wish I could take my rifle, go up into the hills, and come home with dinner for the next week for my sweet wife and kids in my cabin that I made myself, and then go rustle cattle the next day, and then go hunt down the horse thieves that made off with my buddy, ol’ Joe’s pure bread Mustangs. Ah, simpler times. Just as long as I don’t have to do any of that miserable paperwork…all that paper will be the end of me! Think of all the paper we would save if we could all rely on everyone else simply being honest…

Relationships. Do you believe in true love? There is a saying that I came up with, it’s that the souls desire is to love and be loved, and I truly believe that. Without drawing too much on the last topic of religion, the ultimate love, or true love is the Atonement. Movies, books and other worldly forms of influence misconstrue and give false ideas about true love, destiny, and fate and etcetera. All of these ideas have bits of truth to them. So when people ask me if I believe in true love, I say, “Yes, I do, it is the Atonement of Christ.” That is what true love is, and I believe we can apply this type of love in all of our acquaintances, not just in a romantic way, but with everyone that surrounds us, family, friends, even strangers. But even at that, how sweet is it to hold the one you love in your arms and feel the peace and truth it endows.
The soul yearns for companionship, and it is a true blessing to have good, close friends.

Religion is something that fascinates me. Just the thought alone that there are so many beliefs out there concerned with a certain divine being. Whether it is a physical divine God, an all encompassing spirit, or something completely different, it is remarkable to think that throughout the ages people have pondered upon this great mystery. I suppose it is only natural to desire where we came from, or what our purpose in the universe is, or why there is even anything at all.
O, I say it is one of the most satisfying experiences to gaze into the heavens at night and ponder upon the deepest questions of the soul or the questions one secretly yearns to have the answers too. When I think of others looking into the stars it truly makes me happy because when one does, it opens the mind for divine inspiration and insight. I encourage all to do it more often. It is incredible.
Whether one believes in a god or not or if there is even anything after this life, the fact remains that we are here right now. And for those who choose to believe that there is nothing else after this life I can only say that it truly saddens me. How limited is the perspective of one’s view? How empty one must feel when completely alone if there is no god or if there is no soul, only this life and the savage lusts and desires inherent in us we have no need to control. Why should we try to better ourselves if we are not ever going to be held to some type of bar.
Any who have ever been so alone hope there is something more than just this life and turn to prayer. And sadly for some I believe this is the only way for God to bring those he loves in, by taking away everything they hold dear. But even at that, I don’t believe God just takes it away and leaves you without anything for you to fend for yourself. No, I believe He carefully prepares a way for your escape from that awful hell. Even though to us it might seem like there is no one around us I do believe with all my heart and everything that makes up me that he never lets us be utterly and completely alone. Even when we feel like there is nothing left and that there is not an ounce of light left within your very soul and when you’re in the dark, I believe that there are unseen angels that keep you going and keep you breathing so that you may come out of the dark and one day come to an undeniable knowledge of the truthfulness that there is a God, and that you do have a soul, and when that happens, God knows that your faith through coming out of that dark abyss and going to the ends of darkness itself seemingly alone will only make your light so shine to others for the benefit and glory of heaven itself when you come through to the other side.
I do believe in God, I believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I would never say that I didn’t know. I am eternally grateful for the blessings and lessons that I have received from my God.
A religious faith in any solemn belief is sacred and it is a travesty if anyone should defame or degrade one’s sincere desires to believe in their own God the way that they see fit.
With these words I’ll end. Thank you and until next time, goodbye.