The Living Christ

Elder Ballard encouraged us to Share our testimonies on blogs and such in a conference not long ago...so this:
Shortly after Cannon was born my Aunt challenged me to memorize The Living Christ document published by the quorum of the twelve back in 2000. Admittedly its not the first time I had heard the challenge (I tried once before and carried a tattered copy around in my teaching school bag/purse for months if not years, but never got it done.) But my Aunt gave me these cool pictures with in broken down into paragraphs to help make it easier. I enjoyed reading through them and talking to Cannon about Jesus even though he was TINY... plus he was pretty darn close to heaven then. Anyway...I worked on it but never really got it-I ended up giving my cards away to some neighbors who were investigating the church there in Ivins (I knew I could get more from my Aunt but I never did) Well, this month we are studying the atonement in Sunday School as I was looking through the lessons I could teach one of them was about "What I can learn about the atonement from the Living Prophets" and had a link to the Living Christ document. Done. What a perfect time to get back at it. I decided I wanted to challenge my kids to memorize it too...but that meant I really had to get it done first. It was so fun to read and work on with Cannon again almost 2 years later. He loves to hold the cards and turn them for me (its tough luck if I want to see how much I can get done without the cards because he just begs "Please" until I go get them-so I wait until he's in bed and practice on Isaac) his favorite one is the one with a picture of the Savior holding a lamb. He says "A yam, A yam" then "I pet it" as he strokes his hand down the side of the card. Anyway. Its awesome.

But the line that has stood out to me the most this time is the second to last sentence of the whole document that reminds us "His way, is the path to happiness in this life, and eternal life in the world to come." His way is the path the path to happiness, I know its true! Sometimes though, unfortunately, the confusion of this lifetime (for me and I know I'm not alone) is that MY WAY, or getting what I want! leads to happiness in this life...not true. In ways its a bummer to realize, but not really, to know that is really a tremendous blessing and should help me meet life's challenges. It WILL help me if I can just remember. Anyway...
It was cool, I recited it for my kids in class today after we'd spent the whole time talking about their favorite lines in it and why. They were very receptive and it went well, then I gave each of them a set of cards like my Aunt gave me. Even if they don't go for the challenge this time-maybe sometime down the road, like me, they will.
Overall I'm just grateful for the experience!