the Prince of Peace.

So I'm reading "Our Search for Happiness" by Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
This morning I read this:

"It's hard to have a negative attitude about things if and when your life is focused on the Prince of Peace."

So as I was thinking about this, it hit me that no matter what is going on in our lives that seems to be bogging us down, it ultimately doesn't matter. What matters is that we have our "life focused on the Prince of Peace" then everything else falls into place.

for example:

Right now [or possibly ever] it doesn't really matter that I can't really speak Spanish very well.
[Or that every time the phone rings I sort of dread it..]

What matters is that I try.
That I do all that I can to show the Lord that I am doing everything I can with everything He has already blessed me with.
I'm showing him that I'm trying to magnify what He has given me and I'm proving myself so I can better help those people who I have been called to serve.



It doesn't matter that sometimes cicadas attack when you try and take a picture of them...

Because under the direction of our Heavenly Father, Christ created the Earth in all it's beauty. And I guess even the gross things are here for a reason. ;)



It doesn't matter that sometimes people don't like us here because they have their "own beliefs".

But it doesn't matter because we know the truth about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of God's Plan of Salvation.

We know

where we came from.

why we're here.

where we go after this life.

And because of that, we know that God loves us, that we are His children, and that he knows each of us individually.

He has always known that because He gave us mortal bodies, we would make mistakes and we would sin.

And, once again, because He loves us more than we can comprehend, He blessed us with the greatest gift He could ever give: the gift of His Son Jesus Christ. We know that through Christ we can overcome whatever challenges we are presented with in this life as we use His Atonement.



And as we focus our lives on Him and make choices that help us follow Him and lead us one step closer to our Heavenly Father, we really don't have any reason to be negative about anything in our lives.

Our life is a gift.

Good, bad, ugly, or more beautiful that you could possibly imagine.

And as we focus on our Savior, ultimately, everything is positive.