Even when we are temple worthy, the accumulated daily weight of our weakness and shortcomings can become a burden to our souls, weighing us down with feelings of inadequacy and guilt. It is difficult sometimes to feel spiritually refreshed and pure, and acceptable before God. Most people do not seem to understand the nature of human diversity, and worse yet, many seem quiet unwilling to accept what science has to contribute to the subject. Many of the misconceptions are no doubt rooted in cultural history over the last few centuries, especially regarding how race is defined and categorized. Although many cultures have attempted to come to grips with these issues, for better or worse, the most influential of these perspectives developed in the Western Word (i.e., Europe and North America). The way many individuals still view themselves and their relationship to other peoples is a legacy of the last four centuries of racial interpretations. As early as 1350 B.C., the ancient Egyptians had classified humans on the basis of skin colour: red for Egyptian, yellow for people to the east, white for those to the north, and black for Africans south of the Sahara. In the sixteenth century, after discover of the New World, Europe embarked on a period of intense exploration and colonization in both the New and Old Worlds. One result was an increased awareness of human diversity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

There is a greater need for a divine oversight in our lives today than ever before. By the power of the Holy Ghost, we can know what to do and what not to do to bring happiness and peace to our lives. All people are enlightened by the Spirit of God, of Light of Christ—sometimes called conscience. There is also a spirit in humans, a spirit the Almighty gives us for inspiration and understanding. This power of God is the means by which every person is enlightened, the wicked as well as the good, the intelligent and the ignorant, the high and the low, each in accordance with his or her capacity to receive light. The gift of the Holy Ghost, however, indistinction from the Spirit of God, does not come to all men and women. The ministrations of the Holy Ghost are, however, limited without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Many outside the Church have received revelation from the Holy Ghost, convincing them of the truth of the gospel. It is through this power that seekers after truth acquire a testimony of the principles of the gospel. Faith and repentance, baptism and bestowal of the Holy Ghost constitute the heart of the gospel of Christ, being the essential requirements for entry into the celestial kingdom. “And I would not that ye think that I know of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the carnal mind but of God,” reports Alma 36.4. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

Because of the plan of salvation, we can be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fulness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last through the eternities. The gifts of the Holy Ghost are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and Fear of the Lord. Wisdom illumines the mind and instills an attraction to the divine. A wise and loving hearts is the perfection of the theological virtue of charity. Understanding helps one relate all truths to one’s supernatural purpose; it further illuminates one’s comprehension of the Sacred Scripture; this gives us a profound appreciation for God’s providence. Counsel functions as a sort of supernatural intuition, to enable a person to judge promptly and rightly, especially in difficult situation. The gift of counsel operates under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the will of God. Fortitude is often identified with courage, but its meaning also encompasses endurance. It is a willingness to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection. The gift of fortitude allows people the firmness of humankind that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil. It is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of the same name. The gift of knowledge allows one, as far as is humanly possible, to see things from God’s perspective. It allows us to perceive the greatness of God and his love for his creatures through creation. Piety accords with reverence. A person with reverence recognizes one’s total reliance on God and comes before God with humility, trust, and love. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

Piety is our recognition of belonging to God, our deep bond with him, even during the most difficult and troubled moments. It is that genuine religious spirit which makes us turn to the Farther as his children grow in our love for others, seeing them as our brothers and sisters.  Fear of the Lord is no servile fear, but rather a joyful awareness of God’s grandeur and a grateful realization that only in the Lord do out hearts find true peace. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all desires. This gift is a fear of separating oneself from God. Many of these treasures of the Holy Ghost are bestowed upon us after one repents and becomes worthy. Those possessing the gift of the Holy Ghost can come to a greater light and testimony. The Holy Ghost bears witness of the truth and impresses upon the soul the reality of God the Father so deeply that no Earthly power or authority can separate one from that knowledge. The word of God is the answer to the fractured soul and is the beginning of its sanctification process. The word of God is engrafted into the heart and when it takes root it produces change and healing. As we are healed and transformed we are able to see our life for what it was and we are able to relinquish long held, outdated belief systems and patterns of interacting with our World. “Thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed,” reports Enos 1.5. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

God has new ways of doing things for us to discover and explore. It is imperative that we learn the ways of God from the Spirit of God. When we do, our vision improves; we make better choices because we have tapped into a much superior data source. The beauty of leaning on God is that the Lord knows all things including our future. Participation in the transformation process guarantees that our souls will be restored. However, when most people fall short of achieving a goal, many of us fall back to being self-critical. Then it is difficult not to let all of that negativity have a drain on our motivation. When we are faced with challenged, and hold a negative perception of ourselves, it is not surprising that we feel quickly defeated. Chronic stress can occur in response to everyday stressors that are ignored or poorly managed, as well as exposure to traumatic events. The consequences of chronic stress are serious, particularly as it contributes to anxiety and depression. People who suffer from depression and anxiety are at twice the risk for heart disease than people without these conditions. Additionally, research has shown that there is an association between both acute and chronic stress and a person’s abuse of addictive substances. More than 40 percent of all adults say they lie awake at night because of stress. Many people who experience prolonged stress are not making the lifestyle changes necessary to reduce stress and ultimately prevent health problems. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

They key to managing stress is recognizing and changing the behaviours that cause it, but changing our behaviours can be a challenge. When circumstances in our lives demand more of us than we feel we can give, we can feel overwhelmed. For some of us, such feelings may arise because we have a house full of growing children, each requiring time and attention. Perhaps we have committed ourselves to too many activities and cannot do them all as well as we would like. Family members may be facing urgent deadlines that create pressures on us, or maybe health problems are causing us to be irritable, impatient, and tired. The list goes on and on. Some experts like to rank stressful activities by the amount of stress they produce. However, the truth is, it is more the way we react to events, rather than the events themselves, that causes stress. It is our ability to adjust to changes in our circumstances that determines the degree of stress we feel. It is for this reason that what is stressful for one person is not necessarily stressful for another. Surprisingly, a certain amount of stress can be good for us. People who have a hardy view of stress will look at a potentially difficult event as a challenge rather than as something to be feared. Even working on a project sixty hours a week can be challenging and exciting as long as we are committed to the undertaking. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

How we cope with stress, therefore, is more important than what causes the stress. However, it does help to identify what those stressors are before we can deal with them. Some people may be trying to stress you out on purpose, but keep being mature. View them as children who are misguided and try not to focus on whatever it is they are doing to annoy you and turn to God in prayer. “Each one of us will give an account of oneself to God,” reports Romans 14.12. Even though life may not be the way we want it and we tried to prevent certain things from happening, it often helps to reflect on the blessings we do have so that we can see that we have succeed at something. And when we believe in ourselves and trust in God, failures will not seem so big. We have to focus on valuing who we are, not what we do. When we look to our accomplishments to validate that we are worthy, our sense of feeling about ourselves rides on those accomplishments. So, if we perform well, we will feel good about ourselves. If we perform poorly, we will feel less worthy. However, we are more than our accomplishment. Just as every infant is born into this World as a worthy human being, we are worthy of just being who we are. The true power is within us. We may know that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, but modern conditions and social pressures have blinded many people from this profound knowledge. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

An engineer will explain that stress is an essential part of any structure. The excess of stress in a structure is strain. When the stress points in a structure are strained, the structure becomes damages. Likewise, once the normal stress of life builds to a certain level, it no longer serves a productive purpose. Out lives become strained, and we face the potential of emotional and physical damage. The truth is, few achieve perfection in this life. For most of us, the best we can hope for is steady progression toward the goals our Heavenly Father has outlined for us. When in situations of stress we wonder if there is any more in us to give, we can be comforted to know that God, who knows our capacity perfectly, places us here to succeed. No one was foreordained to fail or be wicked. When we have been weighed and found wanting, let us remember that we were measured before and we were found equal to our task; and, therefore, let us continue, but with a more determined discipleship. When we feel overwhelmed, let us recall the assurance that God will not over program us; he will not press upon us more than we can bear. The Holy Ghost and the World Soul are thought to be one. The spirit of life is in all things. The creative quality of God becomes humanity, or love, which makes us the moral beings we are. The divine spirit allows us to embrace all things and Heaven and Earth as one body. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

We should nurture our mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes. Consciousness is a tremendously powerful force. When we concentrate on our thoughts and emotions, they become charged with energy and power. This is why thoughts and emotions get stronger the more attention we give them. The World we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Perfect is our ultimate hope, but in the meantime, we should be realistic and kind in our expectations of ourselves and others. Being realistic is a very important way to handle the strains life places on us. However, there are other ways as well. When we decide to use life to free ourselves, we become willing to pay any price for the freedom of our soul. Our center of consciousness is always stronger than the energy that is pulling on it. We just have to be wiling to exercise our will. There is a place deep inside of us were the consciousness touches our soul, and noting can take our consciousness from us. “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a person should run faster than one has strength. And again, it is expedient that one should be diligent, that thereby one might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order,” report Mosiah 4.27. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9

May we treasure the divine gift of communication, and may we use it wisely to build and assist others on this marvelous journey through mortality. Humans face countless social interactions with friends and strangers on a daily basis. In spite of vast differences between these encounters, the contexts within which they occur and the knowledge available to us about others, we appear to achieve our social goals with apparent ease. Evidence from social psychology and social neuroscience suggests that to understand what others think and feel we rely at least partly on our own projections of what we would think and feel in comparable situations. Such claims are buttressed by findings of shared neural representations when thinking about oneself and others or sharing others’ feelings. While this mechanism works when thoughts and feelings are aligned with one’s own, it fails should this not be the case. Therefore, to enable smooth social interactions a distinction has to be made between our own and others’ mental representations and emotional experiences. This ability is also known as self-other distinction and has been related to various domains such as perception-action in the form of inhibiting automatic imitation tendencies, representing others’ mental states that conflict with our own current mental state, as well as our ability to empathize with others, particularly when the emotional statues between self and others are incongruent. #RandolphHarris 1 of 12

People who love God know that they way they communicate is very important. Their communications, both verbal and nonverbal, are to be kind, compassionate, and helpful, reflecting a love for Heavenly Father’s children and an understanding that all people are brothers and sisters. Godly communications are expressed in tones of love rather than loudness. They are intended to be helpful rather than hurtful. They tend to bind us together rather than to drive us apart. They tend to build rather than to belittle. Godly communications are expressions of affection and not anger, truth and not fabrication, compassion and not contention, respect and not ridicule, counsel and not criticism, correction and not condemnation. They are spoken with clarity and not with confusion. They may be tender or they may be tough, but they must always be tempered. Much like the way our understanding of others’ thoughts and feelings relies on projections of our own experiences, the perception of others’ actions and the execution of one’s own actions are believed to have a common representational basis. Such evidence comes from behavioural findings showing that executing an action will be slowed when simultaneously observing an incongruent action. Further, neuroimaging studies also show that action observation activates brain regions involved in planning and executing actions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 12

The real challenge that we face in our communications with others is to condition our hearts to have Godlike feelings for all of Heavenly Father’s children. When we develop this concern for the condition of others, we then will communicate with them as the Savior would. We will then warm the hearts of those who may be suffering in silence. As we meet people with special needs along life’s way, we can then make their journey brighter by the things that we say. Our thoughts, beliefs and intentions rarely align with those of others. Thus when having to fathom another’s mental state, we must avoid merely attributing our own to others. Even through the control problem is converse to that encountered in inhibiting imitative actions, we face a similar challenge in as far as two representations have to be distinguished, in this case our own mental state from that of others. This arguably pertains to a whole range of mental states that arise out of experience (i.e what information does an agents have visual access to and is likely to know as a result versus what do I know as typically tested in visual perspective-taking tasks) as well as beliefs (i.e what is an agent likely to believe based on their personal experience versus what do I believe as typically tested in paradigms of belief attribution. Godlike communications will help us to develop righteous relationships and ultimately to return to our Heavenly home safely. “And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of Heaven,” reports Helaman 3.30. #RandolphHarris 3 of 12

Many people are looking for a hero. Blended mythology with metaphysics, people have often produced an image of the ideal type of individual needed as the savior of humanity. The hero can take many forms: he or she can be a god, a prophet, poet, priest, a man of letters, a doctor, lawyer, first responders, architects, law enforcement, teachers, a baker and so on. In fact, the hero can be what you will, according to the kind of World he or she finds oneself born into. The hero’s ever-varying persona results from the deeper needs of society. He or she is directed not by the mechanical needs of humanity, but by their dynamical unseen, mystical needs. Thus, all heroes have discerned truly what the time wanted, and have led it on the right road thither. In this sense, the hero is a gift from Heaven, a force of nature; and has an essential quality of original insight into the primal reality of things. Because of the hero’s firm contact with the great fact of existence, one cannot lie. The Hero is heartily in earnest: an unconscious sincerity emanates from the individual turning his or her acts or utterances into a kind of revelation, which the ordinary, everyday people are morally obliged to recognize and obey. For all that is right includes itself in this of co-operating with the real tendency of the World. The Lord wants us to remember that our protection is not in humankind or any system. We can and must only rely on God. We must pray for our leaders to have wisdom to fight against any threat to our land. However, we must ultimately put our trust in God, our true hero, who will protect us. #RandolphHarris 4 of 12

The objectivity of consciousness is manifested empirically in the fact that we inhabit one common World; but this empirical community is a posteriori and always remains problematical. The World of different observers is one World that must be taken on faith; and this faith is justified only when the observers actually succeed in reaching agreement. The real World is the result, not the condition, of this agreement. The a priori principle, in which our experience of a common World is grounded, is called God. Drawing near to God is the heart’s desire of most Christians. Yet, with work, raising children, running errands and paying bills, getting a moment to just be quiet and relax seems like a challenge. This leaves many wondering how they can draw near God in a daily basis? Values can be realized, communicated, and related only within the diverse dimensions consequent to the process of self-distinction. God is the transcendent and transcendental principle of the integrity of values. The first manifestation of this integrity is to be found in the concrete unity of the incarnate human person. One of the many ways we can draw near God is to thank him. “Enter the Lord’s gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name,” reports Psalm 100.4. Then, the World and God become the twin poles between which the human person mediates and, in the process of mediation, creates both its own self-hood and the concrete locus of the integrity of all values. #RandolphHarris 5 of 12

 We live in the greatest nation in the World with the highest economic gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP measures bot the total income earned in the economy and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. The level of the real GDP is a good gauge of economic progress. Some Godly leaders and of course, men and women who use their God-given intelligence to keep our homeland as safe as they possibly can, try to keep misguided actions from leading to heartache, shame, and misery. However, even when we let our guard down and something happens we understand that in the Bible we are told that there will be trials and tribulations. All those heroes cannot save us from the real enemy all the time. There is a battle for souls and the adversary uses people or groups of people to try and succeed. In the end, they will be the defeated for. And yes, there will always be heroes, and we will remember their sacrifice, but let us never forget the supreme sacrifice our Savior, our greatest Hero, who died for humanity. By his dying on a cross, Christ has made the way for us to have eternal life. “Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water. Heal us, O LORD, and we will be healed; save us and we will be saved, for you are the one we praise,” reports Jeremiah 17.13-14.  #RandolphHarris 6 of 12

We are to fear as we approach another year and we should never leave something as important as our energy flow to chance. What we really want out of life is to feel enthusiasm, joy, and love. We serve the Ultimate hero, and any threat or even disaster, he will rescue us from the snare of the fowler. Let us prepare our hearts to pray for God’s protection over our land and that we will all be ready in any impending danger to be rescued by our greatest hero, God. “Our God is our rock, in whom we take refuge, our shield and the horn of our salvation. The Lord is our stronghold, our refuge and our Savior—from violent people he saves us,” reports 2 Samuel 22.3. Energy can heal, and that is why love can heal. As we explore this inner energy, a whole World of discovery opens up to us. The most important thing in life is our inner energy. If we are always tired and exhausted, then life is no fun. However, if we are always inspired and filled with energy, then every minute of every day is an exciting experience. We have to learn to work with these things. Through prayer, awareness and willful efforts, we can learn to keep our centers open. We do this by just relaxing and releasing. If we love life, nothing is worth closing over. Nothing, ever, is worth closing our hearts over. “People draw near the Lord with mouth, but have removed heart from him,” reports Isaiah 27.25. Which means we cannot only speak of God, but we have to have Godly ways in our heart and express Godly actions. “Have love of God always in heart,” reports Alma 13.29. #Randolphharris 7 of 12

Very few people understand the heart. In truth, our hearts are one of the masterpieces of creation. It is a phenomenal instrument. The heart is an instrument made of extremely subtle energy that few people come to appreciate. It has the potential to create vibrations and harmonies that are far beyond the beauty of pianos, strings, or flutes. We can hear an instrument, but we can feel our heat. And if we thin that we feel an instrument, it is only because it touched our hearts. Your heart helps you find out who your friends are. They are the ones who drop everything, run out and crank up their car, hit the gas and get there fast. They never stop to think “What’s in it for me?” or “It’s way too far.” They just show on up with the big old heart. When the water is high, when the weather is not so fair, when the well runs dry, who is going to be there? When you became friends with someone you really liked and found that you have a lot in common, did it seem like an effort to get to know that person?  In order to know God, we will need to put forth some effort. However, if we love him, it will not seem like any effort at all. Without God, repentance would have little meaning, and forgiveness would be both unnecessary and unreal. If there were no God, life would indeed be meaningless. Without God there would be no redemption, no resurrection, on eternities to anticipate, and consequently no hope. #RandolphHarris 8 of 12

God is out ancestor, not distant but close. He is the Father of our spirits; we are his children. We must want to be with him, and we must sense our need to be purified to be with him again. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us. Still, we need to feel now that God knows us and loves us as individuals. There are times when we have felt the closeness of God, our Father, and we know we that we are his children. Those times can come more often. There is a simple way to think about it. Our Heavenly Father has not only invited us to speak to him, he has commanded it. And, as he has always done, when he commands, he promises, too. These energy shifts and variation from the Lord take place in the heart and they run our lives. We are the experiencer of our hearts. If we pray always, God will pour out his Spirit upon us, and great shall be our blessing—even more than if we should obtain treasures of Earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof. When we take in the World through our sense, it is actually energy patterns that our mind and heart can receive and experience. God speaks directly to our heart. More often it will make our hearts burn within us, again softly, but with a burning which will lift and reassure. After we have listened, we will act because when his voice by Spirit we will always feel that we are compelled to do something. #RandolphHarris 9 of 12

The Holy Ghost can do for us physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and intellectually what no human-made remedy can begin to duplicate. It should be our deepest desire that we will increase in our ability to hear and understand the promptings of the Spirit and act on the promptings that we get from the Holy Ghost. When we pray, we have to sincerely learn to formulate genuine and heartfelt questions and humbly take them to the Lord. As we are faithful to the promises we have made to God, we will feel our love for him. It will increase because we will sense his power and his drawing nears to us in his service. God always comes to the rescue. There is a glorious homecoming prepared for us. We will then see fulfilled the promise of the Lord we have loved. It is God who welcomes us into eternal life. God is a love mechanic. He has just what we need. The Lord has the tools to fix us, and he will make sure our engines are clean. All of God’s work carried a lifetime guarantee. God will reveal our love with all brand-new parts. Do you hear me? When God is finished with our motors, he guarantees we will always start. God will raise our hood, and although the oil looks pretty good, even if we have a busted pan, the Lord will fix it, and he will check our pistons, and give us a new carborator, too. When we hit that starter, just like waves of energy, the energy that comes into it will keep us moving. Obedience and righteousness lead to blessings, which lead to joy! #RandolphHarris 10 of 12

We have known each other for so long, but we have not seen each other. Those innumerable letters tell everything or nothing. You may well imagine me and I you. Then why not get out the fence in belief that our real sight can be more brilliant that that in dreams? Distance is melancholically beautiful. On my way of life, you have enriched my spirit, developed my intelligence and ignited a beacon of hope. When the storm is coming, birds hide themselves in the nest.  When I am hit by wind and rains, I always hide in your heart. The Sun proceeds unmoved to measure off another day for an approving God. One this long storm the rainbow rose, on this late morn the Sun; the clouds, like listless elephants, horizons straggled down. The birds rose smiling in their nests, the gales indeed were done; alas! how heedless were the eyes on whom the Summer shone! The quiet nonchalance of passing no daybreak can bestir; the slow archangel’s syllables must awaken her. A power of butterfly mist be the aptitude to fly, meadows of majesty concedes and easy sweeps of sky. So I must baffle at the hint and cipher at the sign, and make much bungler, if at last I take the clew divine. Departed to the judgment, a mighty afternoon; great clouds like ushers leaning, creation looking on. The flesh surrendered, cancelled, the bodiless begun; two Worlds, like audiences, disperse and leave the soul alone. #RandolphHarris 11 of 12

Open the window of the Winter quietly to send you a message. Are you well and I am missing you. Safe in their alabaster chambers, untouched by morning and untouched by noon, sleep the meek members of the resurrection, rafter of stain, and roof of stone. Light laughs the breeze in her castle of Sunshine; babbles the bee in a stolid ear; pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadence—ah, what sagacity perished here! Grand go the years in the crescent above them; Worlds scoop their arcs, and firmaments row, diadems drop and doges surrender, soundless as dots on a disk of snow. The pleasure you have brought about, the assistance you have offered, the love you have showed and the life you have lived—all these make you more amiable and respectable with every passing year in our hearts. Listen to the blessings of the Earth in this beautiful and warm World. I wish you a happy life and a successful love that grows deeper day by day. Even if we have nothing, love is enough. Every time we read a scripture, every time we listen to a Bible-based teaching and receive truth from the Word of God, faith is coming to us, increasing in us, and strengthening our spiritual being. When we deposit the truth of the Word of God into our hears, it breaks every bondage and sets us free to be who God created us to be. We all have the potential to grow our faith to a great level. And it really is not that difficult. It just takes a little time and diligence. “The purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification comes from yielding their hearts unto God,” reports Helaman 3.35. #RandolphHarris 12 of 12Pools, lakes, ponds, buckets, bathtubs, sinks, toilets and beaches can all be liability.  Water, during the Summer fun and cool relief from hot weather. However, if parents do not take the proper precautions, water also can be dangerous for kids. Nearly 1,000 kids die each year by drowning. And most drownings happen in home swimming pools. It is the second leading cause of accidental death for people between the ages of 5 and 24. The good news is there are many ways to keep your kids safe in the water — and make sure that they take the right precautions when they are on their own. Kids need constant supervision around water — whether the water is in a bathtub, a wading pool, an ornamental fish pond, a swimming pool, a spa, the beach, or a lake. Young children are especially at risk — they can drown in less than 2 inches (6 centimeters) of water. That means drowning can happen where you would least expect it — the sink, the toilet bowl, fountains, buckets, inflatable pools, or small bodies of standing water around your home, such as ditches filled with rainwater. Always watch children closely when they are in or near any water.

If you are not a swimmer yourself, it is a good idea to take lessons and learn how to swim. And kids over 4 years old should learn, too (check the local recreation center for classes taught by qualified instructors). Kids who are younger (but older than age 1) also might benefit from swimming lessons, but check with your doctor first, and if they child does not seem to like it, do not force them to swim. Do not assume that a child who knows how to swim is not at risk for drowning. All kids need to be supervised in the water, no matter what their swimming skills. And infants, toddlers, and weak swimmers should have an adult swimmer within arm’s reach to provide “touch supervision.” Invest in proper-fitting, Coast Guard-approved flotation devices (life vests) and have kids wear them whenever near water. Check the weight and size recommendations on the label, then have your child try it on to make sure it fits snugly. For kids younger than 5 years old, choose a vest with a strap between the legs and head support — the collar will keep the child’s head up and face out of the water. Inflatable vests and arm devices such as water wings are not effective protection against drowning. Also, if water is still in their lungs after being exposed to water, kids and adults can drown hours later, even though they are longer in the water.

Do not forget the sunscreen and reapply often, especially if the kids are getting wet. UV sunglasses, hats, and protective clothing also can help provide sun protection. Also, be careful not to let kids play with rocks, pebbles, nor deflated plastic; they can cause suffocation. 

Do not allow the hideous, but remediable evils of human society and the cosmic injustice of the human condition have an obsessive hold on your mind. Death by suicide cannot be regarded as an adequate response to the experience of absurdity. Experiencing death by suicide deals with absurdity simply by suppressing one of the two poles—the human being and the World—that together produces tension because it is an isolation of the human beings evaluative and purposive being in the World. Only by living in the face of our own absurdity can human being achieve their full stature. We must accept ourselves as the sole guarantor of our own values and that necessarily involves accepting a principle of respect for other human beings and all life forms.  Someone strong-willed does not give up easily. A strong-willed person is determined. Our will is our desire or drive to do something, so strong that we will never give up. Medical professionals have always been fascinated by the power of the will to live. Human beings have the fiercest instinct for survival. When our lives are threatened, the will to live is a force within all of us to fight for survival. The trails of this life will ultimately lead to joy as long as we patiently trust in God’s plane and discover how to use adversity to grow stronger. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

The way we respond to trials can have a great effect on whether we allow them to become obstacles in our lives or strength building exercises to learning and growth. When we anguish over difficulties, the experiences only serve to weigh us down. However, when we remember that these tribulations are part of the great plan of happiness, it helps us to see them as opportunities to grow and learn. Sometimes it may seem that we are boxers in the ring trying to defend ourselves and we need a private eye, like Matt Shade, to see what is going on. Sometimes we need a personal crisis to reinforce in our minds what we really value and cherish. A common misunderstanding among members of the Church is that if we strive with all our might to live the commandments, nothing bad will happen to us. We may believe if we are married in the temple, our marriage will automatically be Heaven on Earth. We also believe if we live the Word of Wisdom, we will never get sick. However, the truth is that bad things may happen to the best of people. Sometimes bad things happen because not everyone on Earth believe in God and they have free will and may use that gift to hurt others.  Yet other challenges come as a natural result of mortality and the World we live in. We are mortals with bodies that will age and may experience infirmary or become injured. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

The consequence of good and bad actions will come, but they do not always come immediately, and they may not even come in this life. Nonetheless, as mortals, we try to assign fault for every situation. Often, we judge ourselves harshly, concluding that problems occur because of something we did wrong or because we failed to do something to prevent them. Yet, sometimes trials may come to us regardless of any conscious action on our part. If we blame ourselves for things that are not our fault, we make a bad situation worse by seeing ourselves as bad people who deserve bad things. Some people know that by using social engineering, they can convince you that every bad thing in life that happens to your is your fault. This is a tool they use to manipulate you and set you up to take the fall for something big. The goal is to lower yourself esteem and get you to accept fault for everything that happens to you so they can mark you and make you a target. It is difficult to judge our level of responsibility for problems that we face. In these cases, it may be unproductive to try to establish blame because it may cause us to lose focus on the very reason for the trial. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

We unconsciously shape who we are by the thoughts we produce. No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we tolerate it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God, and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the educations tat we come here to acquire. Trials give us opportunities to show the Lord and ourselves that we will be faithful. We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves. Many people limit themselves to achieve more because of the boundaries they have set for themselves. It is difficult for some of us to grasp the comprehensive photo of accomplishing the dreams we desire. We cannot exploit opportunities without taking risks. Similarly, we cannot take risks without motivating thoughts. When we are miserable with ourselves, we cannot succeed at our work or anything else. Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything intelligent in this World. We can use adversity as a stepping-stone to grow closer to things of eternal world. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

Let us—all of us—have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. The challenges and decisions before us are aspects of life that determines our destiny. In order to make the correct decisions, courage is needed—the courage to say no when we should, the courage to say yes when that is appropriate, and the courage to do the right thing because it is right. As we continue to center our mind and heart in the Lord, he will help us have a rich and full life no matter what happens in the World around us. The traditional family is under heavy attack. We do not know that things were worse in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see similar conditions today. They prevail all across the World. Our Heavenly Father must shake his head at us as he looks down upon his wayward sons and daughters. However, the church is in wonderful condition. It will grow and strengthen. It is our opportunity and our challenge to continue in this great undertaking, the future of which we can scarcely imagine. We have a choice. We can wring our hands and be consumed with concern for the future or choose to use the counsel the Lord has given to live with peace and happiness in a World where people are becoming awash with evil. If we choose to concentrate on the dark side, this is what we will see. Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around us do not live it at all. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

We love God. God has given us heart and our health to every calling. With admiration and encouragement for everyone who will need to remain steadfast in these latter day, we will one day find ourselves called upon to defend our faith or perhaps even endure some personal abuse simply because we believe in God. Projecting confidence helps us gain credibility, makes a good lasting first impression, allows us to deal with pressure and enables us to meet personal and professional challenges directly. Most people never fulfill their human promise and potential because they remain perpetually helpless children overwhelmed by a sense of inferiority. The feeling of being okay does not imply that the person has risen above all one’s faults and emotional problems. It merely implies that one refuses to be paralyzed by them. We must believe in ourselves. We have to believe in our capacity and in our capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are apart of and to grow and develop. We have to believe and know that with principle we can make a difference in this World. If we keep faith, keep trust, and have the right attitude, we are grateful, and will see God open up new doors. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6

Language is the hallmark of the human species. It is language that culture itself depends—and within language is where humanity’s knowledge resides. There is a buildup of energy inside of our minds that needs to be released because God has not only sowed in people’s minds a seed of religion of which we have spoken, but also revealed himself and daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the Universe. As a consequence, we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to see God. The Universe is a large book, a mirror, and a theater for the display of God’s attributes—preeminently for the display of his goodness to us, but also of his glory, wisdom, power, and justice. God can be known through his works, and by speculation concerning his essence. It is by nourishing his sense of divinity and his conscience, with the contemplation of God’s work, that humans can in principle arrive at a knowledge of God. We should take a moment to examine the difference between our experiences of the outside World and our interactions with the mental World. When we are just thinking, we are free to create whatever thoughts we want in our minds, and these thoughts are expressed through the voice. We are very accustomed to settling into the playground of the mind and creating and manipulating thoughts. This inner World is an alternative environment that is under our control. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11

Our thoughts are not always good. Sinful thoughts are often something we believers struggle with because there are so many images and things happening around us. However, we are able to take control of any thoughts in our head and it is important because the outside World operates by its own laws. All of the thoughts in our heads and the ideas from the outer World intermix and actually influence our experience of the World around us. What we end up experiencing is really a personal presentation of the World according to our own interpretations, and it may not be the true experience of what is out there. However, God’s Word helps us to recognize our thoughts for what they really are, and how to act (or not act) upon them. “Do not conform to the pattern of this World, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will,” reports Romans 12.2. The mind talks all the time because we gave it a job do to. We use it as a protection mechanism, a form of defense. Ultimately, it makes us feel more secure. Our thoughts are a doorway to the depths of our being. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things,” reports Philippians 4.8. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11

The voice of the Holy Spirit is always edification. It speaks messages intended to lift us up, encourage us, bring strength, faith, joy, and peace to the threshold of our fantastic inner journey. When properly used, the mental voice can become the foundation for true spiritual awakening. The Spirit of God wants us to know we are never alone, we are loved, the Lord provides us with strength, there is no sin too serious that God will not forgive us, all things work together for our good, and the Lord’s plans for us are good. Once we come to know the Lord, we will understand the great mysteries of creation. However, sin, although primarily a matter of the will, infects human’s reason. Perversity leads to blindness and distortion because this seeing does not direct one to the truth, much less enable an individual to attain it in this sinful state. Thus, the consequences of humanity’s willful alienation from God is not merely that one does not know God, but also that one’s views about God are now so incomplete and distorted that nothing at all can be built on them. The effects of sin are far more pervasive than people realize. Not only does sin disrupt human’s relation to God; it thereby spreads corruption throughout the whole of human life. Of course, it does not impair our natural faculties as such. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11

Reason and will are human’s chief faculties, and the person in sin may be as intelligent and as capable of making decisions as the person who knows God. The corruption is to be found, rather, in the use we make of our native capacities. To state accurately what sin does to people’s use of their native talents, we must distinguish between human’s supernatural gifts, their abilities concerning Heavenly things, and their natural gifts, and their abilities concerning Earthly things. The supernatural gifts comprise human’s ability to know God, to worship him properly, and to obey him inwardly as well as outwardly. However, when we sin, we are stripped of these gifts. The film The Memory Keeper’s Daughter accurately depicts how the sin of one person can have a devastating ripple effect and destroy an entire family, and the impact can also hurt the community. Dr. David Henry separated his daughter from her twin brother at birth. To hide the fact that the daughter was born with a disability, he told his wife, Nora Henry, that the girl died at birth. In reality, he had a nurse take the daughter to a mental hospital where they planned to leave her until her death. However, the nurse kept the baby after seeing what horrors were awaiting the baby in the mental hospital. Meanwhile, the family has a funeral for the girl, but for years Nora grew up wondering what it would have been like to have a daughter. As a result of her yearning for a daughter, Nora often ignores her son Paul, and cries or lashes out when he does good things.  #RandolphHarris 4 of 11

Feeling incomplete and like she has a whole in hear heart, Nora also goes on to have an affair. Her son Paul actually catches her in the act of letting another man talk under her skirt, so it erodes the trust and respect he has for his parents and sends him on a downward spiral. The film lays out how one lie devastated the entire family, and if they had just lived by the laws of God, it could have all been prevented. Now the father lives with a dark secret he can never reveal. Often times, little sins have impacts that can have lifelong consequences because we experience an estrangement from God. If human society is to be preserved, we have to retain some sense of the laws of God. We tend through natural instinct to foster and preserve society. The human abilities concerning Earthly things have not been destroyed by sin, but they have been corrupted. Both reason and will have been gravely wounded; the mind becomes both weak and plunged into deep darkness. And depravity of the will is all too well known. “People who remain and dies in sin receives wages of everlasting punishment,” reports Mosiah 2.33. If our natural gifts are to be healed and our supernatural gifts restored, our sin must be overcome; we must come to know God. We have already sensed that for this purpose human’s conscience, our sense of divinity, and our awareness of God’s revelation in the objective World must be restored. Through faith, we again know God. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11

Indeed, faith, consisting as it does in a clear knowledge about God coupled with proper worship and true obedience, is a certain sort of knowledge of God—that certain sort which focuses on the Savior as interpreted in the Scriptures. God does not minimize nor dismiss our sins, but the Lord reminds us that our sins are covered. If we confess, in prayer, and repent, we can be free. The voice of God shows us a way out and gives us the strength to do the hard work of making amends. Our inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to be conscious of what we are doing because our thoughts, rightly focused, can be our best friends. When we correct what is on the inside of our minds, our external World will reflect it. If we want to achieve peace in the face of our problems, we must understand why we perceive a particular situation as a problem. “The Lord has commanded that people should not envy,” reports 2 Nephi 26.32. Jealousy means to be fervent and to have sensitive and deep feelings about someone or something, and to be envious of someone or suspicious that another will gain some advantage. Envy impedes our spiritual growth and harms our relationships with others. Jealousy feels so overwhelming because it is more than a surface phenomenon. “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work,” reports James 3.16. However, by eliminating envy, we can improve our relationships with others and our view of ourselves. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11

When we realize that we are not competing with others, we can then rejoice in their accomplishments. The practice of comparing ourselves to others is usually at the root of envy.  It causes people to feel that they are not good enough and that in order to be acceptable one has to achieve more, acquire more, or in other ways appear to be better than others. The tension felt in jealousy may be that of much greater World colliding than can be seen by looking only at one’s personal situation. It occurs when people do not value themselves sufficiently as children of God and consequently feel they have to prove their worth by doing or having. To attain true inner freedom, people must be able to objectively watch their problems instead of becoming lost in them. No solution can possibly exist while one is consumed by the energy of the problem. Part of the reason envy can be so difficult to recognize in oneself is that it often disguises itself in other feelings and behaviours. One costume envy wears is the tendency to criticize. Another is the desire to act in a way that will provoke envy in others. The good news is, once we unmask envy and begin to eliminate it, we can take corrective actions towards remediation of its cause, and this will allow us to feel much better about ourselves and others around us. Real spiritual growth is about consistently moving toward maturity because we want God’s deepest wisdom. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11

Wisdom is one of the most important things in the World because once we become conscious enough to understand our predicament, then we can commit ourselves to the inner work of freedom. Drawing near to God is the key to unlocking every door that seems shut in our lives. The rewards of drawing near far outweigh any sacrifice of time. The Holy Spirit is waiting to show us special insights into the problems that we face today. The Holy Ghost wants to help us walk in perfect truth and strength. God makes salvation. There is nothing higher or deeper than consciousness. Consciousness is pure awareness. “You will keep in perfect peace one whose mind is steadfast, because one trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal,” reports Isaiah 26.3-4.  God’s purpose and the Supreme Court have something in common. The Supreme Court of the United States is a place of honor, respect and procedure. Many of us would like to show up and pursue some righteous changes in the Court. If we are given the privilege, there is one thing we need to do first—answer the call. When court is called into session, all persons having business in the Court are first called to draw near. However, if everyone is in attendance, why call them to draw near and give their attention? It is simple. Just showing up is not enough to get results. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11

If anyone really wants to achieve a victory in what they are pursuing, they must participate and show their intent by drawing near (coming closer) and giving their attention. There is another court in which we must draw near and give our full attention—the court of Heaven. God is seated on the throne of the highest court, and he is making the same call to draw near. God has dominion over the Earth and he does not just call us to draw near for his own benefit. Drawing near to God and waling in the spirit are a lifestyle—a lifestyle of victory and triumph. The more we abide in God’s Word and in His presence, the more we will hear his voice and the more victorious and successful we will be in every area of life. When we get closer to God, he pays special attention to us and the doors of communication are opened wide. We can hear his instruction, correction, and encouragement. And, we will enjoy the other rewards that come directly through this relationship.  When we are in tune with God, we get to follow him to a very special place known and accessible only to his followers. It is a place called truth. If you are a business person, the Holy Spirit may show up and show you how to increase your profits and reduce expenses. If you are a parent, God has the power to settle arguments between your children. If you are a student, it means the Holy Spirit will show you how to excel in your classes. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11

God is the author of truth. If there is a truth to know—God is the one to reveal it. The Spirit of God will continually direct us, and he will show us things to come. God will reveal to us how to prevent problems and trouble. Even when tests and trials come, we will walk right through them. When we find ourselves in an impossible situation—one we just do not have the strength or the ability to handle, we may be tempted to give up and accept defeat? Maybe it is not just one challenge, but a whole onslaught of trials all at once—an infirmary, a strained relationship, bad news from the fake news media, or a temptation we never thought we would face. However, we these are not things that have power over us. God has miracle-working power. When human strength ends, that is where God’s power begins. And the Lord has promised that his miraculous power will bring us through! No matter what our needs or goals, it is the wisdom that comes from the Word of God that will get us there. When we focus our thoughts on God and do what is right, everything we need and desire (even somethings we never imagined) come right to us. “In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to those who sit in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate,” reports Isiah 28.5-6. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11

 Drawing near God moves us into the supernatural, were God’s ability moves onto our ability, and we are no longer dependent on our own knowledge, intelligence, or talents. God will give us the supernatural ability to accomplish what he asked of us. When we have access to the gifts and rewards of God, there is nothing we cannot do. “Lord, you established peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us,” reports Isaiah 26.12. Father in Heaven, we thank you that you desire to spend time with us, and you have even called us to be your friend and children. God, your Word says, if we draw near you, you will draw near to us—and we want to be near you. So right now, we ask you that you cause us to draw near you above everything else. Help us to have supernatural time-management abilities, help us to see clearly when we can set aside time to spend with you, and help us to never compromise that time. Father, you said that you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you. We have pursed you with passion and perseverance. Still, help us to put your Word first in every decision we make, to pray continually throughout the day, and to look for opportunities to listen to your teachings that will build our knowledge and understanding of who you are and what you want for our lives. Thank you. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11

Having a healthy, fully functioning community is not a luxury or something just for a rare few. It needs to be a reality for enough of us to significantly impact the majority. The omnipotence of God resides simply in the fact that whenever he wills anything, his will is immediately and invariably followed by the existence of its object. Heaven may seem distant at times, but God’s pure love encourages us to become more pure and holy. It inspires us to walk in righteousness—not out of fear or obligation, but to out of an earnest desire to become even more like the Lord because we love him. By doing so, we can become born again and be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this World and eternal life in the World to come, even immortal glory. If we do not feel worthy to be a disciple of the Lord at all times, we should not get discouraged. The first step to walking in righteousness is to simply try. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of his prophets; choose to listen to the Heavenly Father, and do the things he asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of us. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give us a spirit of unity,” reports Romans 15.4-5. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

Some of us are overly self-conscious, and that skill and be both a blessing and a burden. It may help us forecast what others want or need for us, but it also opens us up to every critical comment aimed in our direction. This can cause an individual to become wrapped in their thoughts, mentally on guard for any chance to win approval and be accepted. However, after we figure out that we are worthwhile and stop worrying about how others react to us, we will still be aware of others’ opinions of us, but we will not care so very much. At first it might feel odd not to be vigilant in every social situation. Since we will no longer analyze every interaction for its inherent danger or opportunity, we may find ourselves building up a huge bank account of mental energy. Once we realize the gift life has given to us, we become very excited. It is like winning a lot of money tax free and being able to do whatever we want. So, why not channel all of our keen mental abilities in some new, more productive, less stressful direction? How about getting to know who we are as people? We can learn more psychology, religion, art, more names of flowers and trees and birds. Maybe it would even be possible to grow a business and get rid of poverty. When people mature we experience a dramatic change in the way we view the opinions of the outside World: these opinions suddenly lose impact. We shift our attention from words to things. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

None of this is to say, of course, that the opinions of others are unimportant. The fact that we care about what other people think is a basic foundation of society, and it helps us do the right thing at times when it would be easier, or more fun, to follow our own selfish interest. The self-conscious, is us watching ourselves from the eyes of others, and this helped us, as children, learn to adhere to the norms of our families and communities. Self-conscious observation spurs us to climb the ladders of success in educational and professional pursuits. “None of us lives in oneself alone and none of us dies to oneself alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your family? Or why do you look down on your family? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God,’” reports Romans 14.7-11. We should listen for the voice of the Heavenly Father in the bounties and beauties of nature, in the gentle whisperings of the Spirit. As we draw near to Heavenly Father, we become more holy. And as we become more holy, we will overcome disbelief and our souls will be filled with his blessed light. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

The new approach we need to keep growing is by aligning our lives with this supernal light so it can lead us out of darkness and toward the greater light. This greater light leads to the unspeakable ministering of the Holy Spirit, and the veil between Heaven and Earth can become thin. Heavenly Father’s love for his children is the core message of the plan of happiness, which plan is made active through the Atonement—the greatest expression of live the World has ever known. When we are ready to give up self-conscious, adults who experience this magical time of self-awareness, or one watching through the eyes of one’s own inner authority come to understand that God’s commandments hang upon the principle of love. If we do not neglect the great laws—if we truly learn to love our Heavenly Father and our fellow people with all our heart, soul, and mind—all else will fall into place. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in human love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality,” reports Romans 12.9-13.  As we begin to listen to ourselves, we will find that our mental life takes on two important aspects. First, we begin to approach the external World more deliberately, with out own interest at heart. Second, we discover aspects of ourselves—our preferences, talents, and habits. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

As we negotiate a new balance between our internal World and the external one, both changes help us face the World with confidence. Getting this balance is the right key to wisdom. “Learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God. Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever,” reports Alma 37.36. Becoming wise is one of the major objectives of maturity. How wise we become depends in large part on our ability to watch our public self with the curiosity of a detective and the compassion of a saint. What we observe ourselves doing in the course of our maturity may at times startle us, discourage us, confuse us, and overwhelm us. However, we must remember to be gentle with ourselves. We have to understand that we will renegotiate this balance over and over in the years to come. Many people are at war—at war with life, with each other, with themselves—consumed by the fight to win at work and elsewhere. It all includes huge drama, high stakes, tremendous challenges and risks, primal encounters, great danger, unusual camaraderie, and the extremes of play at the edge. However, the ensouled body is in communion with the body of the World and find its health in that intimacy. “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good,” reports Alma 37.37. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

All power ultimately comes from God; he alone has absolute sovereignty. Although many nations have a wonderful constitution, many people see the American Constitution more nearly perfect than others because it recognizes the existence of the Creator and God-given rights of individuals, which the government is bound to respect and protect. Because of the social contract theory, a philosophy of government that holds that governments exist based on the consent of the governed, and individuals who give their consent to be governed have the right to resist or remove rulers who deviate from those purposes. In the ringing language, the Declaration of Independence proclaims: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal (in the eyes of the law), that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. When God reveals himself, he does so as a person. Revelation is the act of a person, not the setting out of a doctrine. In revelation, God encounters humans beings as person to person; humans cannot argue their way to God by philosophy or discover God apart from the Biblical revelation, yet when God calls, humans can at least answer. We must return continually to revelation for renewal. This is in part because of the character of human sin, but it is also in part because we must reassert the personal character of social life in a new context. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

Many people never make the transition from self-consciousness to self-awareness. They get stuck in what is called self-sabotage: they stop caring altogether. The man who just lets himself go, or the woman who just says she is no good at math are both engaging in self-limiting behaviour. A self-aware person makes conscious choices about what to do about simple facts: “I want to live a long, energetic life (fulfilling a person imperative), I will start exercising.” A self-sabotaging person will see the fact, may even see what needs to be done, but will go no further. We can, however, use this gift of life to pursue wisdom. All we have to be to become wiser is to listen to our own internal rhythms and use them in our daily lives. Sounds simple, right? However, anyone who has tried it knows that it is constant work. Wisdom is not a goal, but a life-long process, lit by a sense of ever-evolving relationship with all that we are. If we practice on improving everyday for a week, we should make surprising discoveries that can improve our lives on several levels. The divine love of God turns ordinary acts into extraordinary service. Divine love is the motive that transports simple words into sacred scripture. Divine love is the factor that transforms reluctant compliance with God’s commandments into blessed dedication and consecration. Love is the guiding light that illuminates the disciple’s path and fills our daily walk with life, meaning, and wonder. “And never could be a people more blessed than were they, and more prospered by the hand of the Lord,” reports Ether 10.28. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

God is in Heaven. He lives. He knows and loves you. He is mindful of you. He hears your prayers and knows the desires of your heart. He is filled with infinite love for you. Let us be known as a people who love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and who love our neighbour as ourselves. When we understand and practice these two great commandments in our families, in our wards and branches, in our nations, and in our daily lives, we will begin to understand what it means to be a true lover of God. If only because through doing so we learn to fully and compassionately relate to all that we are, every one of us needs to wholeheartedly engage in the learnings and work that make closeness possible because it will eventually heal ourselves so deeply that we render ourselves all but incapable of dehumanizing others. Full-out intimate relationship is one of the most healing paths there is, and has the capacity to revolutionize our companionship on a significant scale, but only if it foes to a sufficiently deep level. More than cosmetic shifts are needed, more than superficial gains, more than dips in self-help literature and seminars, more than attendance to sporting events. Without a saner, deeper bonding between intimate partners, dysfunctional associations will continue to dominate the community landscape. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8

Virtue is doing good to humankind, in obedience to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness. Virtuous people are proper self-lovers who, in the process of promoting the self, will not hard others. Love is divine because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a community which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is all in all. The psychology concerns the person, who loves, and the mutuality of persons in love. The psychology of mutual love is based on a gift that is first received from other human beings—parents, spouses, children, friends—and primordially from God. Love recognizes the interdependence of human and divine love and their being rooted in knowledge and faith. God is love and has created all humankind in the divine image as knowing and loving persons. It is God’s love that makes possible human love of God, neighbour, and oneself. Since human love is both divine in origin and human in expression, we are constantly reminded of that because of the effects of sin, the divine likeness is wounded in humankind. Nonetheless, the Atonement bestowed a new dignity on human nature and redeemed human kind in a majestic act of love. God’s continuous and sustaining gift, which is manifest in loving personal relationships and the living religious tradition, serves as the basis for the practice of the art of love in a faith-based psychology of love. #RandolpHarris 1 of 8

Psychology is the study of the human psyche or spiritual soul, which includes behavior and the mine, but more as well. There is a basic need for safe emotional connection and people often seek safe relationships, as they are a manifestation of health and strength. As relationships develop, they tend to flourish because they are a secure base to help deal with life and the World. Typically, emotional accessibility and responsiveness are desirable. If people have self-love, they respect their thoughts, feelings and beliefs and experience a deep sense of pride; a framework is designed to resist compression, and allows us the right to have ideas, speak them, and expect others to be respectful. People that love themselves acknowledge and accept the fact that they have some faults and, for the most part, excuse themselves. People who are able to self-actualize learn from the mistakes made in life. All knowledge is relative and concerns only what is conditioned by the fact that we know it. Absolute or unconditioned reality is unknowable at this time. We can conceiver it even have faith that it exists, but at best we can have only negative knowledge of it. The experience of our humanness depends on our self-knowledge and the experience of ourselves. The difference between a healthy self-love and a distorted self-love lies in the ability to tell reality from fantasy and the ability to empathise and to love others. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

The great spiritual teachers do not preach only to the converted, but engage with an entire people, and by their ability to reach into the hearts and minds of many they exert a profoundly transformative influence on individuals and society. There is a deeper sense of spiritual affection, a love that unites God and humankind, souls and soul in divine communion.  God cannot be submitted to humanly rational standards of morality so we build a connection and guide humanity to God’s grace, God’s unselfish love, and it is given freely by God. God’s love is sovereign and is directed to the good for those who stand in a relationship with it; it creates value in its object. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. God guides me in paths of righteousness for is name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all these days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” reports Psalm 23.1-6. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

Some people only think about how old they look, and that is an indication that they need to work on their self-esteem. If an individual invests too much of one’s self-worth in the way he or she looks nature’s gentle changes begin to seem like personal insults. Many people who care about the way they look resort to cosmetic surgery to keep themselves looking young. These patients are never satisfied with their surgeries, because no plastic surgeon is capable of erasing age. No matter how many wrinkles the doctor eradicates, a patient’s face will reveal its chronological age within five years. There is another kind of patient, too, a type who does not care about looking young; they want to look good. It sounds like a fine distinction, but someone who wants to look his or her best at forty-five will always be happier with his or her surgery than someone who wants to look thirty at sixty-five. If you do it for the right reasons, plastic surgery can really be terrific. No one can decide how much attention you will give your looks. For most of us, it is enough to dress well, get a good haircut, and generally make the best of what we have. All of us are in some age shock experience. However, who we are is in fine shape somewhere deep inside. So why worry about the flesh so much? Cast your minds back to your first spiritual experience. You are a fierce, energetic, living person. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

The thinking-self separates mind or soul from the bodily material World and has the effect that emotions, sensations, and feelings, necessary for self-reflection, can be neglected. How many times do you force your body to so something at its own expense? We may push ourselves to run faster, lose more weight, stay up later, get up earlier, work longer, loft one more box plant one more tree—at a time when our bodies are screaming “STOP!” in fatigue or pain. Many people fight back, maybe pop some acetaminophen or oxycodone, and keep going. However, this can cause high risk for addiction and dependence, respiratory distress and death when taken in high doses or when combined with other substances, especially alcohol. We learn how to mentally dominate our physical needs early in life. That is what potty training is all about. However, often what starts out as a healthy effort to adapt bodily function to fit social dictates ends up causing strain and damage. Without contemplation, sense, experience, feelings, etcetera, the idea of a personal identity is not possible and the self as a rational and relational being experience Empty Suit Syndrome. When a person is subject to relentless, abusive demands, the physical mechanisms of the body start to break down, and the brain-washing slowly erodes one’s sense of self-worthy, security, and trust in humanity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

Many physical symptoms that we attribute to getting older are actually manifestations of physical strain. For instance, high blood pressure trouble digesting certain foods, and chronic pain, along with more debilitating cancer and heart attacks, are more often manifestations of unrelenting strain. Honor the wisdom of the body by slowing down long enough to figure out how to alleviate the stress it is under. Listening to our bodies has many rewards. We will be healthier, of course, and we will feel better. The better we become at listening to your bodies, the better our bodies will treat us. Aches and pains, poor sleep, or lack of stamina may be the early warning signs of unresolved stress on our bodies. We are probably pushing ourselves too hard, perhaps as a result of some internal pressure to perform. Rarely are symptoms such as these related solely to the aging process. If we leave them unresolved, we are opening the door to physical decline. “The Earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the World, and all who live in it; for God founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters,” reports Psalms 24.1-2. God designed our bodies to communicate with us, to help us achieve mind-body balance. The mind, body, and sensations are working together in creating awareness of self with memory and one’s sense of personal identity. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

The Experience of an integrated self-love, mind, along with emotions and will is a core reality. Although the mind work through reasoning, it works closely with one’s emotions and will, but the mind is the part where all experiences are intellectually observed and where one consciously and unconsciously learns to deal with the inner as well as the outer World. The mind, by the process of reasoning and analysis, assists us to learn lessons about ourselves and makes us conscious about the World. The illative sense sustains a real assent to the existence of God on the basis of the deliverance of conscience. To have a natural theology, that is, to know God exists through reason, we need to recruit our illative sense. The illative sense is what allows us to take our concrete human experiences—whether they be of nature’s beauty, of the demands of conscience (the feeling of guilt, the pangs of remorse, the search for forgiveness), of the sense of the contingency of life, and come to the conclusions that there is a transcendent reality behind it all, ultimately God. Truths and beliefs that we inherit from the ancestors, who discovered the Unknowable toward which they shared the religious emotions, transcended the belief that quantity of life is the supreme value is uneasily qualified by admission of the importance of a surplus of agreeable feeling. The task of morality is to counteract the cruel injustices of the natural order of things. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

The whole net of relationships which we find ourselves in, in one way or another, influences our life-experiences, and thus also our experience of self. The lack of an integrated view point of the self clearly has dire consequences for the understanding of the relationships we have with God, other human beings, ourselves, and the Universe. If we do not experience self, we cannot experience anything else. In short: the ability to think, to reason, in other worse, the rational, is of fundamental importance in discerning the importance of relationships and the development of relationships. It is an ability that draws on and is influenced by our personhood as a holistic experiential experience of past and present realities and future anticipations. Our evaluations, our perceptions of what we experience, are fundamental not only to how we relate to ourselves, but to everybody and everything, God included. It is the light in the Biblical teaching that God’s love towards humans and all of creation is realized within the context of a covenant relationship, is a core truth. Love in Scripture is always within clearly defined relationships governed by certain distinctive responsibilities. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appear to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No” to ungodliness and Wordly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lives in this present age,” reports Titus 2.11. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8