“You’ll love it when you can have a conversation with him!”

“Once she starts eating solids, things will be easier.”

“It will be nice when they aren’t all in car seats anymore!”

“Someday they’ll sleep in all day long and you’ll be the one waking them up!”

Motherhood sure bombards you with a lot of comments that embody the idea of “just you wait”.

Waiting for things to get easier.

Other times it’s waiting for things to get harder.

But it’s about something in the future.

I’m waiting for things to get easier.

And I’m waiting for things to get more difficult.

“Just wait til they are a teenager…”

I had a wise friend help me see how damaging all of that thinking can be.

She told me that there’s a little bit hard and a little bit easy about every stage of life and that she plans to enjoy it all.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose”. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

This is the time of my life where I can’t leave the house for more than 3 hours without having previously pumped milk for my baby.

And this is the time of my life where I get to cuddle the three cutest kids as much as I want.

This is the time of my life where I turn down speaking engagements that require me to travel long distances.

And this is the time of my life where I get to write about the scriptures on my phone while my kids sleep.

This is the time of my life where I can’t serve or volunteer for everything that comes my way.

And this is the time of my life where I get to teach my kids how to pray and laugh at the things they decide to include.

“Life isn’t just to ‘live through.’ We are to experience each moment, enjoy it, and learn from it.” Marty Halversen

Life is always a little bit easy and a little bit hard.

And I’m learning to embrace it all.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Times and seasons first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I was doing great: reading the scriptures each day, praying, serving in callings, not fighting with my siblings…

It was great to sit in an interview and feel really great about what I was doing.

And then, my bishop wisely asked me what I was working on to try and improve in my life right now.

I naively responded, “Nothing right now!”

Oh, to have that confidence that I had then.

Living “the gospel” was simple in my mind, and I was checking all the boxes I had in front of me.

This makes me think of the wise saying in Proverbs 1:22.

“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?”

Now I totally have compassion on younger Cali, and subsequent life lessons were given to me that very much highlighted the unending plethora of things in my life that needed to be improved.

The gospel really is simple.

But that doesn’t mean that the gospel is lived simply.

Loving God and loving others is a whole lot of work.

A lot of discomfort.

A lot of trial and error.

A lot of repentance and change, over and over.

I am ALL FOR simplification…

In most areas.

How long will we long for a gospel that is more simple to actually accomplish?

Or is it time to embrace the all-in, complicated, sometimes messy, but oh-so-fulfilling gospel of Jesus Christ?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Don’t simplify! first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“You’re welcome!” for getting all the songs stuck in your head now.

But I love toward the beginning of the movie when Moana sets out on her solo journey on the boat to find the great Maui.

She’s doing her best sailing her boat, but she’s also completely unqualified.

The ocean helps to guide her when she gets off track.

It gets Moana back in the boat when she falls off, it taps her on the back when falls asleep and starts heading in the wrong direction…

The ocean called her on the journey and the ocean is making sure she can complete her journey to find Maui.

But at one point, a big storm comes.

Moana is wet, tired, and eventually gets pushed off her boat, knocking her unconscious and stranding her on a deserted island.

How could the ocean do this to her?!

She’s frustrated. She’s exhausted. She’s confused.

She feels betrayed by the ocean.

Until she realizes… Maui is on that island.

The storm that she cursed actually pushed her super quickly to where she needed to go.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

How many times have I been just like Moana?

Frustrated that a job didn’t pan out just to find my dream job right around the corner?

Angry that a relationship ended just to discover the best person shortly after?

Annoyed that I didn’t get a certain calling only to feel totally at peace with a new direction?

“Each of us can trust in the Lord and lean not. We can center our lives on the Savior by coming to know Him, and He will direct our paths.” —Bonnie H. Cordon

We’ve got the master wayfinder looking out for us and directing our paths.

We can do our best to steer, even though our best isn’t usually very awesome.

I fall asleep at the helm quite a bit.

But when we stay focused on Jesus Christ, our paths will lead us exactly where He knows we need to go.

Despite our best, mortal, often totally flawed, reasoning.

Trust. He’s leading the way.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Trust in the master wayfinder first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I felt like I only learned about the Savior’s atoning sacrifice in vague terms, and so I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on.

Every General Conference, that would be the “question” in my mind.

Anytime someone started talking about “the atonement”, my ears would perk up.

I love learning about logical explanations.

I wanted to know what actually happened!

What did Jesus do?

How did He do it?

But I never really got the answer that I was wanting.

I never got a confident logical description.

Instead, I gradually realized that my head was never going to wrap my mind around what happened that night in Gethsemane and later on the cross.

It was a big shift in my mind that happened very slowly.

Over the years, I ended up gaining a strong testimony of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice.

But it was by using my heart to focus on how I felt about it and what it meant to me.

“Apply thine heart to understanding”. (Proverbs 2:2)

I shifted from wanting to know, to trusting what my heart taught me.

I changed from pridefully insisting I could completely understand, to humbly acknowledging that I don’t need to.

I’ve realized that my brain isn’t the only thing that can learn new answers.

I’ve got to trust my heart, too.

It’s a pattern that’s helped me navigate spiritual questions time and time again.

And I’ve started learning from what I feel in my heart just as much as what I know in my mind.

I’ve applied my heart to my understanding.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Applying the heart first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.