mind, body, and spirit

My attitude toward money is that it can be used for good or evil. Money has helped our family to learn to be unselfish as we help others who are in need. It has helped us to visit different places throughout the world and see and learn from other cultures. Money has also helped us to do are part in building up the kingdom of God. My wife and I love the scripture from Jacob 2:17-19: 17 Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. 18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. 19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted. We have been blessed with significant means and we have tried to do as Jacob councils. What a blessing it is to be able to help others and ...

I have thought and pondered about the following teaching from Elder Oaks in his talk, "The Challenge to Become." He said, " Jesus’ challenge shows that the conversion He required for those who would enter the kingdom of heaven (see  Matt. 18:3 ) was far more than just being converted to testify to the truthfulness of the gospel. To testify is to  know  and to  declare.  The gospel challenges us to be “converted,” which requires us to  do  and to  become.  If any of us relies solely upon our knowledge and testimony of the gospel, we are in the same position as the blessed but still unfinished Apostles whom Jesus challenged to be “converted.” In all the things I have been learning lately, I think the most important question I can ask myself is, who am I becoming? I know that our ultimate goal is to become like our Savior Jesus Christ. No other success will compensate for our lack of conversion to our Savior and His gospel.  I defini...

"There is a fellow by the name of Rowan..." In 1899,  President William McKinley needed to deliver an urgent message to General Calixto Garcia. “There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia if anyone can,” someone told the president. As I thought about that statement, I can't think of anything better than to have it said of me that I could be counted on to get the job done, if anyone could be counted on to get the job done, Brian Muir could. What a statement of respect and admiration. To know that you are highly respected and counted on to get anything done, would make you feel amazing. It reminds me of the scripture in 1 Nephi 3:7 where Nephi says, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded..." He didn't say he would go and think about doing the things the Lord commands, or he would do it when he got around to it! He would do it!!! The Lord knew he could count on Nephi just as the people could count on Rowan to do what ne...

After reading Elder Holland's talk, However Long and Hard the Road, I thought about one of my races along the continental divide between Idaho and Montana. I remember as we neared the finish line, my body completely gave out. I laid down in the dirt because it hurt too much to stand. I felt excruciating pain in every part of my body. I was probably dehydrated and lacking even the smallest amounts of nutrition the body needs to keep going. With a quarter mile or so to the finish line, it seemed there was no possible way for me to get my body to cross that line where my wife anxiously waited for me to finish. My body and mind was ready to quit, or had already done so. I had run 62.25 miles over the last 19 hours and had nothing left for the last .25. Another runner was trying to give me a pep talk and do all that he could to get me going. Finally in desperation, I mustered all I could do to say a prayer in my mind asking Heavenly Father to help me finish. That's all I wanted at t...

I loved this weeks learning about the 7 habits. Steven Covey is my hero and the things that he teaches in the 7 habits are principles that have helped me focus on what is truly important in life. Our study this week has been very timely. I have been struggling trying to balance all the things that are going on my life. Sometimes responding constantly to things that always appear to be urgent. As I read the reading material about the 7 habits, the third habit, put first things first, really resonated with me. Covey has a four quadrant box and labels them: 1. Important and urgent; 2. important and non-urgent; 3. urgent but not important; and 4. not urgent and not important. As I pondered this and which quadrant I tend to work out of, I realized I spend alot of time in the third and fourth quadrant. Covey says the goal is to maximize your time in quadrant 2 on important but non-urgent activities. He says this is the heart of effective personal management and by increasing the tasks carr...