In Far Enough

First off, I have to apologize for disappearing for the last couple of months! My life has included the end of a busy semester, a visit from the most amazing girl I know, and the start of an internship that's going really well so far. I'm not trying to make excuses, as my lack of COMMITMENT to my blog has been the real issue. COMMITMENT has been on my mind, and I'm re-COMMITTED to my weekly entry.

We had family visit from Idaho recently, and it was tons of fun having them here. We get lonely out here in Oklahoma sometimes, so we always love visitors! The pool was extremely popular during the hot, humid, summer days here in OK. My uncle decided he was going to try and do a "gainer", which is basically a backwards flip. Not a "backflip", mind you. You stand facing the water, and as you jump, you throw your head back and flip in the opposite direction of a front flip. If this was absolutely confusing, go to youtube and search "gainer".

A gainer takes commitment. It takes all of your momentum. If you're uncommitted, the result will be painful and embarrassing. :) There is no halfway with the gainer, especially jumping from a diving board like ours, with little spring. You're in or you're out. Compare this example with a story from Marvin J. Ashton from the Seventy:

"I'm thinking of a five year old boy who fell out of bed in the middle of the night and came
crying to his mother's bedside. To her question, 'Why did you fall out of bed?' he replied,
'I fell out because I wasn't in far enough.'"

So it is with the gospel. The time to commit to the Savior is now. Many times we feel the urging of the Spirit to do this thing or that, but we're afraid to fail. We're afraid of making the commitment only to be unsuccessful, so we continue down the path we're on, never reaching our true potential or experiencing the immense growth that comes with fully committing our lives to Christ. Dale Carnegie once said, "If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don't want to be." COMMITMENT is the essence of becoming.