Moth-Eaten

I have felt that lately my blog posting has been lame. That they have become like that one sweater your grandmother gave you for Christmas when you were ten years old. You are now 35 and yes, it is still in your closet. What is it now? Moth-eaten. That is what my posts have become lately. Moth-eaten. 

This may bring questions to all of your minds, wondering if moths have been literally eating away at the creative literary center in my brain. I can assure you all that nothing of the sort has been happening. Maybe my amygdala has been overactive lately and has been filling me with feelings of disgust and anger towards the world, thus making me feel that nothing deserves the enlivening words that fall letter by letter from my fingertips. 

Nah, pretty sure that's not it either. 

What I am sure of though is that Alma 34:39-41 is one of my favorite scriptural references. I still remember the first time that the scripture actually stuck with me after reading it. I was 14 years old, doing my daily scripture study and had decided to flip to Alma. What caught my attention was actually a few verses earlier that I had highlighted and written a note next to. My eyes, however, were drawn down to verse 39. 

39Yea, and I also ^aexhort you, my brethren, that ye be ^bwatchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the^ctemptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you,  that ye may not become his subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you ^dno good thing.

I think the choice of the word "watchful" is what made me want to continue reading on after completing this verse. Just as you dedicatedly watch your favorite TV show every time it's on air, or how you watch her face so closely to read into her reaction after you tell her "I love you" for the first time, it is with that same dedication that we need to make sure we are "watchful unto prayer continually".

40And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have^apatience, and that ye bear with all manner of ^bafflictions; that ye do not ^crevile against those who do cast you out... 
41But that ye have ^apatience, and bear with those ^bafflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Patience, hope, and love. That is what I get from these verses. We are told to have patience in our times of adversity and trial, and to have a firm hope. Not the kind of hope you have when you are standing in the parking lot frantically checking your purse to make sure you do have the keys to your currently locked vehicle. This hope is one that is so sure that it is right on the verge of knowing. 
And if we have that firm hope, then we will one day rest from all of our afflictions because we have a loving Heavenly Father who will not allow for us to be tempted beyond what we are able. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I can honestly say that this post, to me, has not a whiff of moth-eaten-ness.