Who am I?

Who am I?

Well... Let me see.

Just give me a sec, would ya?

Sometimes, being a Missionary on Facebook can be really distracting. You see all your friends doing all these cool things, going to college, parties, getting married, and doing some really cool things with their lives. But the thing that I've noticed as I scroll through my News Feed day to day is the overwhelming confusion I see. People are always trying to "Find" themselves. They want to be comfortable, yet unique. They want to fit in, yet stand out. They want to be included in an exclusive world. The world starts to dictate their lives by showing them the World's way to popularity and fame and acceptance. Having to look a certain way, dress a certain way, have just the right body type, the right hair, do the "right" things. Movies, TV, music, and everything else in this world shows us who we "need to be to fit in".  What seems innocent at first starts to become a weight, which so often times becomes a burden that is impossible to carry. And then, after being trodden on and beaten down, completely depressed from trying to live the World's ridiculous standards, the World will come to us and say, "Isn't it great to be accepted for being yourself?"

Tragically, this to often happens. We forget who we are we look for it else where. The people we meet will say there is no God, because God wouldn't allow these things to happen to us. We lose our divine identity. We forget the truth.

What's the solution?

Well, we need to remember who we are.

I am a firm believer that everything in this world is a metaphor that shows us how God works, or the adversary. Everything that is in the world helps us to know how God really works, at least I like to think so. Things like DNA. Think about your DNA for a second. Every strand of DNA is the code for a part of your body. These codes form genes, which determine the characteristics of your body. In this case, everyone is different and unique, but these characteristics and genes come from our parents.

That being said, I like to think that our Spirits work the same way. We all are spirit children of God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe. He is our Father. So wouldn't we also, by the same line of thinking, have Spiritual DNA? And wouldn't our Spiritual genetics come from Him? We have God-like Characteristics, we have what you could call a Divine Nature. We can do things that we never thought imaginable. Yes, just like our physical DNA is unique to us, so is our Spiritual Identities. This is who we are. We are divine offspring of our Eternal Father and God. We have abilities and talents that we have received from our Heavenly Father. We can do anything that we want.


Its in our DNA.

One Word. 21 Days.

Ok.... Sorry, but I'm cheating a little this week. Two blog posts in one!

Inspired by one of my friend's mission blogs, I decided to take up the
One Word Challenge. One would challenge is that where you pick one
word to live by for a year. My one word is going to be:

EVERYDAY.





"Success is small disciplines repeated every day." That is a quote
from Pres. Anderson of the mission presidency of the Washington
Vancouver mission. He is probably one of the most successful people I
know. And this is what he lives by. His favorite saying is "Everyday
Everyday Everyday."

Alma 37:6 reads:

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say
unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to
pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

Now I'm not so sure about you, but I can't think of a single small and
simple person who just wakes up one morning and says "Man, I think I'm
going to confound a wise person today." That just doesn't happen.

Small and simple people do small and simple things. Little things.
Like watching that football till you tuck it in. It's the smallest and
simplest things that make a difference. And so, I make you this life
changing promise. If you truly believe that you have a divine
potential, here is what I want you to do:

3 things, super simple.

1. Every morning and every night, I want you to say a simple prayer to
your Heavenly Father asking Him what your divine potential is.

2. Every morning and every night, do 10 push-ups.

3. Every morning and every night, read 5 verses in the Bible or the
Book of Mormon.

Do these three things for 21 days. It takes 21 days to establish a
pattern, to start a habit. President Anderson gave us this challenge
and asked us to read a sheet of paper every day for 21 days. If I get
time, I'll post it.
This is the 21 day challenge. I promise you that as you do those
things for 21 days, that you will see a magnificent difference in your
life.

"Your commitment to excellence is directly proportional to the quality
of your life." - Vince Lombardi

If you want to improve part of your life, it all starts with you. A
journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, so make it a great
one.

And remember, God loves small and simple things.

#everyday #IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE #21daychallenge #1word

What is Small and Simple?

What is small and simple?





I get up, every morning at the same time. Work out, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. Start studying at 8. I study the scriptures, the doctrines, the language. Then we go out. We knock on doors, share cards, contact people who have interest in the message we share, and teach them. It's not the most glamorous lifestyle. It's frustrating at times.

But it is my life.

When I was playing on my high school football team, my position coach (I played wide receiver) was very adamant about one thing: doing the little things. Things like making sure when you lined up, that you had the right foot on the line. Or that when you caught the ball, you looked at it till you tucked it away. (We even had to say what we saw on the ball when we tucked it.) Why was he so focused on things like that?

Because the little things make a big difference.

It's the same thing with us. We might feel unimportant at times, like
"Why would God spend time on me? I'm not that important, right?" Well,
let's think of my football example. If I had the wrong foot on the
line, I would have to take an extra step to run my route. That will
put me about 2 yards off of where I need to be. The ball gets thrown to where I should be, gets picked off, which may lead to a touchdown for the other team. Then we lose....

All because I didn't spend the time on one little thing.

I love sports because I can relate life to them so well. Just like that little example, if God, our Heavenly Father, didn't take time to make sure he did the little things right, what would happen?
This is why I know that God cares about Me. This is really what being Small and Simple is.


The #IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE movement is all about this fact. We are Phenomenal by nature. We are created to do amazing things, and we all have a divine purpose. There are over 7 Billion people on the planet, (that REALLY makes us feel small, Huh?) but we each have God-given talents and abilities. And when we figure out what those really are, we can do anything.


Because "[We] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [us]." (Philippians 4:13)

and also "Yea, I know that I am nothing, as to my strength, I am weak, therefore, I will not boast of myself, I will boast of my God, for in His strength, I can do all things..." (Alma 26:12)


Find Out who you really are. Be Amazing.

Be Small and Simple

#IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE

#IAMSMALLANDSIMPLE

WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION

I may not be too much.

I am Small and Simple.

I may not be the best.

But I can do amazing things.

 I am Small and Simple.

I don't need to rely on myself.

I rely on something more.

I am Small and Simple.

You might think I'm foolish.

You might think I'm insane.

But I know that I can do this.

 I am Small and Simple.

So what does this all mean?
We see these athletes on TV who do things that seem superhuman. We see celebrities and actors and singers and models that are unnaturally "beautiful." We see incredible people do incredible things all around us, and almost always we think that we could never ever be that kind of people.

Well, I don't know about you, But I ain't thinking like that anymore.

 Because I know what I really am.

I AM SMALL AND SIMPLE.

I'm nothing terribly special. I'm pretty good at sports. I have a decent singing voice. I can hold my own on the dance floor. I'm terrible at remembering names. I'm not even very good at blogging.

But I am a Son of God.

He is my strength, His grace and mercy give me the power to do everything I can to bring about good. But I'm not the only Small and Simple one here.

You are to.

But by Small and Simple things are great things come.

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise (Alma 37:6)

Be a part of this revolution. Comment below or Post how you are small and simple on my Facebook page with the Hashtag #IamSmallandSimple   (Find me on Facebook: Elder Kyle Ward or @ https://www.facebook.com/kyle.ward.503)