Now, after you come back from Disneyland…

I think it is a fascinating question to ponder.

I’ve heard many people say something along the lines of:

“Having lots of money just makes you more of who you already were.”

Basically, if you are barely scraping by financially right now, but you still pay your tithing and help a neighbor out when they need a meal…

Then you would likely be a wealthy person who still pays their tithing and can help people in need in much more dramatic ways.

But if you are living comfortably right now, but stingy with giving away any money…

Then it’s likely that you would find reasons to be stingy with your money when you had a lot more of it, too.

The Lord says:

“Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls . . . Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite.” (D&C 56:16-17)

So, if both the rich and the poor receive warnings from the Lord here, what can we do to make sure we are doing as we should?

Rich AND poor people can be prideful with hardened hearts.

Rich AND poor people can be humble with broken hearts.

It doesn’t really matter what our bank account looks like if our hearts are pure, broken, and humbled before the Lord.

We might not be able to control how much money we have, but we can always control the state of our heart.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Rich and poor hearts first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

That person who gave a great lesson about loving others but then said something rude.

That guy who talked about the importance of serving others but can’t show up to help at the ward service project.

That family member who tells you not to judge, and then says judgmental comments all the time.

“Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me”. (Isaiah 29:13)

We could all sit around and point fingers endlessly.

But what about if we turned that finger around and looked at ourselves for a bit?

Could you give a great spiritual thought about the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy by doing good things that bring you closer to Christ?

How does that compare with your actual Sabbath observance?

Could you talk about the importance of temples?

How does that compare with your feelings about your personal worship in the temple and your attendance habits?

Could you give lots of reasons for why it’s so easy and important to share the gospel with other people?

How does that compare with your willingness to bring up gospel topics with people who aren’t members of this church?

At the end of the day, we ALL are able to teach about certain gospel principles much better than we are able to live them.

But here’s what I’ve learned about what actually matters most:

Where is your heart?

Our lips and our actions aren’t always going to align.

But our heart can be aligned with our lips and our actions.

Our actions will fall short, even though we have good intentions.

We wanted to serve but got too tired, we tried to make the Sabbath a delight but the kids are crazy, we want to love the temple more but we haven’t gone in a long time.

“Jesus Christ blesses those who want to improve and who try to keep the commandments. We always get credit for trying.” -Elder Holland

We always get credit for trying.

…But we have to really try.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Lips and hearts first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’ve had my heart prepared to not be accepted into a program at school.

I’ve had my heart prepared for a struggle my son would have to face.

I’ve had my heart prepared before receiving a big calling that would affect our family a lot.

And as I’ve talked with others, I’ve had them share other personal, sacred experiences where their hearts have been prepared for a huge financial setback, and even the death of a loved one.

I know that God prepares our hearts in ways that are sometimes indescribable, and for experiences that we may be the only ones to know about.

God prepares hearts.

I also have learned that I can do my part to prepare my own heart for situations that I do know are ahead of me.

I’ve found literal priesthood power when I prepare my mind before entering the temple.

I’ve discovered genuine love when I prepare my heart to love and serve someone who seemed difficult to love and serve.

I’ve experienced great peace when I’ve prepared my soul to expect miracles.

“Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it”. (Ezra 7:10)

Life is busy and stressful and crazy.

But taking time to prepare our hearts or listening to promptings from God that prepare us for large tasks ahead will bring much more love and peace in the long run.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Preparing hearts first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Everyone was taking the sacrament.

Everyone has gotten dressed up in their best clothes out of respect for the ordinance.

And I felt like a hot mess.

Trying to keep a baby from crying, trying not to let my kid flip the bread tray over (like he has before), trying to be at least kind of reverent.

Just trying.

But still a hot mess.

“Everyone else has it all together. Everyone else can handle their kids and keep them reverent. Everyone else is worshiping appropriately.”

Those words started to creep in my head.

But then guess what happened?

Over the next two hours, all the “perfect people” around me gave talks, led lessons, shared comments, chatted with me in the hallway…

Each person opening up about a sufficient trial they are going through.

I KNOW this, and yet I still forget!

Of COURSE the pews aren’t filled with perfect people who haven’t got a cast in the world.

We are all a hot mess in one way or another.

Just because we smile or we wear nice clothes doesn’t mean our hearts are okay.

“The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

The Lord knows the sins, the heartaches, the distractions, the loneliness, the overwhelm that fills each seat at church.

And I think this is how I want to become more Christlike.

I see the outward appearance, yes.

But I want to know the hearts around me, too.

I want to connect and mourn and love.

So that instead of sitting in the pew, wallowing in self-pity, I can learn to see and love as the Savior does.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The hearts in the pews around me first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I remember a few years ago being in this situation. Things were starting to get messy.

Finally, I knew I needed to have this important conversation, and I was trying to mentally prepare myself for it and the accompanying uncomfortableness.

I had my point that I needed to make, and I practiced how it might go over and over in my head.

I realized that I should probably pray in preparation as well.

As I knelt down the night before and asked for help in this awkward situation, I suddenly felt prompted to take a different approach.

It didn’t really make sense to me, but it also totally felt right.

I knew I needed to drop a lot of my “points” and instead ask more questions, being totally open to any answer.

The conversation the following day was definitely awkward at first.

But… it resolved much quicker than I thought.

And I had been making one big assumption that ended up being completely wrong.

I have learned that God is really good at preparing hearts.

Laban did not want Jacob and his family to leave him.

So when Jacob followed through on a prompting and left with haste and secrecy, and Laban found out about it, he was not happy.

He gathered his men and pursued Jacob until they met up.

But that night, the Lord came to Laban in a dream and spoke words that softened his heart.

When Laban and Jacob had the confrontation, Laban said: “It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” (Genesis 31:29)

God prepared Laban’s heart to take a different approach to dealing with his son-in-law, and it resulted in everyone being content and respectful of each other’s boundaries.

God can prepare our hearts for the tough conversations we have to face, too.

And God is probably also trying to prepare the heart of the person we need to speak to, too.

We’ve all got our agency, of course.

But I believe God is always working to prepare our hearts for what we will need to face next.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Preparing hearts first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’ve had this overwhelming emotion in my life plenty of times – where there are so many people that I know who are in need of help or love, but there’s no way that I can reasonably help everyone.

And yet, my heart shows me the way.

I truly believe that our natural desires and intuitions are often Heavenly Father’s way of showing us our personal path.

I usually feel drawn to just a couple people who I know that I can help.

My heart is turned toward them.

I feel that godly love for them, I feel compelled to action, and I know my energy is being spent in the right way.

Family history work is not a topic that I am amazing at. At all.

But I want my heart to be turned to my predecessors.

I want to feel that pull, to love them, to be compelled to action on their behalf…

Why?

Because I think it’s a beautiful concept.

Starting from Father Adam and Mother Eve, God has done nothing but pour out blessings and covenants upon those who remember Him.

And yet, I feel that the adversary tries to convince me that I am completely isolated in my faith journey – I can only look at what has happened to me and what miracles I’ve seen as evidence.

But when my heart is turned to my mothers and fathers, from immediate to distant relatives, I remember that I’m not alone.

Just as I hope my children can rely on the strength of their family members, and so on.

We have help. We have people, both on this earth and on the other side, cheering us on.

And when we allow our hearts to be turned, filled with love and action, we can feel that tender reminder that we are not alone.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Where is my heart turned? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.