I’ve really only had to take care of myself and my new little baby.

This is all thanks to a husband who has been able to take off of work and a mom who flew in to help out with my daughter and change a lot of diapers.

Besides one appointment, I haven’t had to be anywhere or do anything other than spend time with my new little guy.

These are plain and precious times.

Simple. But the most important.

Now, within the next few weeks I’ll have more commitments added in, I’ll lose the constant support of another adult in the house, I’ll begin working again.

Life will inevitably get crazier and busier.

And that’s how life goes!

But I’ve found it so helpful to stay focused on the plain and precious things in my life, even when other distractions are added in.

When the dishes pile up, and a toddler is climbing on me, and we have to get out of the house on time, and I start feeling that stress build…

… I can think back to the plain and precious truths in my life.

That I have a beautiful family. That we love each other. That we are trying our best to be good each day. That we make changes to improve. That we focus on our Savior. That we love our God.

And that keeps me grounded.

I do the same thing with the gospel. When I get overwhelmed with feeling the weight of all the things I “should” be doing at church or start feeling confused, I bring my mind back to the pure and simple truths that I know.

And when I focus on those plain and precious truths, I am able to sift through the things that are good in order to find the things that are best.

Life may not be “plain and precious” all the time, but those most simple and important truths should always be able to calm us and guide us back to the most fulfilling life we can live.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Plain and precious first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Look at Nephi’s question. Who is doing the acting? 

US. 

Have YE INQUIRED?

Nephi is asking whether or not his brothers have acted. 

And then look at his brothers’ response. Who is doing the acting?

They are stepping away from taking ownership for the result and putting the blame on THE LORD for not acting in the way they want. 

They are, in essence, giving up their agency. 

They could be taking action, but instead are waiting on the Lord to intervene. 

Do we understand the marvelous, miraculous gift that agency is? The giant war that was fought over this gift? The sacrifice that our Savior made so that we could have this gift?

And these brothers were pushing it aside. They refused to use their agency. 

Are we throwing away our own agency?

Maybe without realizing it?

I think of the times I’ve known I’ve needed to make a change in my life, but waited until I felt a stronger spiritual urge before I did anything. 

The times I’ve avoided making decisions, thus deciding through my indecision so it didn’t seem like my fault. 

The times I’ve thought it was difficult to do my calling because someone else wasn’t doing {fill in the blank}. 

Are we unknowingly giving up our agency?

Or do we know that we can ALWAYS act and choose for ourselves?

We can make changes whenever we decide they are a priority. We can make decisions. We can fulfill our callings no matter what other people do or don’t do. 

We can inquire of the Lord instead of waiting around for it to be made known to us. 

That is using our agency. 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post To act or not to act first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I gave each of them a sticky note and asked, “What is your stumbling block when it comes to regular and meaningful scripture study?”

Pretty quickly, we had filled the board with sticky notes:

• I’m too tired (that was up there a lot  )
• I’m too busy
• It takes a long time
• I have to be really focused to understand them
• I feel like I don’t know how

And then I asked them: “How can we remove each one of these stumbling blocks?”

It was SO COOL to see the empowering look in their eyes as they realized that they could could pretty easily come up with ways to solve their own problems.

• read them at a different time of day
• make it a priority before I do homework
• make sure I’m in an environment where I can study
• lower my expectations for what I can do on a weeknight
• get a study guide

It seemed so easy for them to list their stumbling blocks, almost as if they were listing facts: “This is just how it is – effective scripture study isn’t possible for me right now.”

But then it was almost equally easily for them once they realized that they could come up with the solutions.

God can and will take away our stumbling blocks.

I believe one way He does this is by allowing us to identify them and then seek personal revelation to know how to remove them.

He doesn’t want us to be stumbling constantly.

He wants to help us turn our stumbling blocks into stepping stones to a greater future.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Stumbling blocks to stepping stones first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It’s a beautiful tree, and the fruit looks perfectly white. Everyone who partakes of it says it is absolutely delicious and fills them with such joy!

So why were large groups of people headed towards the tree, but then walking away?

The mists of darkness – the temptations of the devil. 

Isn’t this just PERFECT imagery for how Satan’s temptations distract us?

These people were suddenly choosing not to walk towards the tree because they literally could not see it anymore! 

They couldn’t see how beautiful the fruit was, or how happy the people were who were eating it. 

All they could see was a mist of darkness.

When I have mists of darkness in my life, where I know that I am specifically being tempted, I have a hard time believing that the precious fruit (God’s love) is really there for me. Following the iron rod to the tree seems a little too good to be true. “All I have to do is to read God’s word and follow it until I feel of His love? Yeah… I don’t have time to read my scriptures tonight. It’s not that important. I’m dealing with some other, bigger things right now.” 

We really start to cloud our own judgment. 

We aren’t thinking clearly because we honestly can not SEE the happiness at the end of the path. 

So how do we escape our mists of darkness? How do we shake off Satan’s temptations so that we can just SEE what our end goal is?

We CLING to the iron rod. We CLING to the word of God. 

We don’t let go of the scriptures and church and Conference talks just because we don’t “see the point” right now.

The mists WILL clear. We WILL get to the tree. 

As long as we CLING, even when we don’t SEE.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The mists of darkness first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Maybe he would just be shown each element of the dream and get a verbal explanation of what it represents. That would have been cool!

But instead?

Nephi was taught the absolutely most important lesson that any of us can learn.

Christ is always the answer. 

Don’t understand that Tree of Life vision? Study Christ’s life. 

An angel shows young Mary holding a little child. And immediately, Nephi knows that the Tree is the Love of God.

An angel shows Christ preaching. Nephi then knows that the Iron Rod is the Word of God. 

He is shown Christ’s life, from his baptism to his crucifixion, and then he sees the world conspiring against the 12 apostles. Nephi now knows that Great and Spacious Building is the Wisdom and Pride of the World.

The angel shows Christ visiting the Americas and converting Nephi’s posterity, but then shows how they fall away a few generations later. Nephi knows the Mists of Darkness are the Temptations of the Devil. 

Christ WAS the interpretation of the dream. 

And Christ is the interpretation of the journeys we take, too. 

When we stay close to the Savior and learn about his life and his teachings, we see more clearly the meanings for everything we go through. 

We see that a phone call from a friend is the Love of God.

We see that the 3 verses we were able to read while trying to feed a toddler are the Word of God. 

We see that the witty Instagram page we follow has started to have a negative effect on our minds and is the Wisdom and Pride of the World.

We see that our commitment to perfectionism is becoming our own Mist of Darkness.

Christ is the interpretation of all things, both great and small. 

Artwork by James Johnson

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The interpretation of my life first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.