I had been asked to play a musical number for the Saturday evening session of our stake conference.⁣

And I was SO NERVOUS.⁣

I knew this hymn arrangement super well and it was completely memorized. ⁣

But I kept messing up!⁣

Each time I played a wrong note, I would pull the music out and practice that part over and over. ⁣

And then I would completely butcher another part that I had always played perfectly. ⁣

I focused on each individual note so hard. ⁣

Day after day. ⁣

The stake conference was approaching and I was honestly embarrassed. I thought I had this piece memorized flawlessly, and yet here I was thinking about every single note and messing up in random spots. ⁣

As I sat down discouraged to practice one last time, a thought came to my mind: ⁣

“Invite the Spirit and play your testimony.”⁣

I put the music away, closed my eyes, and started playing. ⁣

But this time, I tried not to think about any notes. ⁣

I just thought about the message and the Spirit that I hoped to share as I played. ⁣

And I played it perfectly. ⁣

I realized later that I played it perfectly BECAUSE I had stopped worrying about all the details.

I had stopped harping on every single mistake that I made and making it a super big deal. ⁣

I just got to the core of why I love to play the piano— because it helps me bear my testimony of God and light and hope. ⁣

Isn’t this true in regular life, too?⁣

When I try to follow all the rules perfectly and feel overwhelmed with guilt every time that I mess up, then I notice mistakes even more.

Things get even worse. Even messier. I can’t fix it all. ⁣

I need a good dose of that simple but powerful lesson Moses tried to teach the Israelites with a brass serpent: ⁣

“Every one that… looketh upon it, shall live.” (Numbers 21:8)⁣

It’s too simple. ⁣

We just have to love Jesus and God and invite the Spirit to be with us. ⁣

That’s all. ⁣

And when we do those things with our whole souls, all the rest of the little details fall into place.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Piano stress  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

It wasn’t impossibly far away, but it was just far away enough that we usually did two youth trips a year to go and do baptisms and confirmations. ⁣

We would make a whole day of it, and, of course, grab ice cream at Fenton’s afterwards. (If you know, you know.)⁣

When I went off to BYU, I was suddenly in very close walking distance to a temple. ⁣

What a shift!⁣

I attended with my roommates, and we all went once or twice a month.

After my husband and I got married and moved to Arizona, we lived about 20 minutes from the Mesa temple. ⁣

And suddenly, we realized… we were on our own for temple attendance. ⁣

No more youth group trips. No more roommates going with us. If our ward had temple trips, they were often during times when one of us was working. ⁣

We had to grapple with the question:⁣

Why do we really attend the temple?⁣

I didn’t love my reasons at first. ⁣

But throughout the years, my answer has shifted. ⁣

When I read D&C 97:13-14, I was reminded of some of my favorite reasons. ⁣

The Lord was teaching these saints, pretty passionately, about why they NEEDED to get to work on building that temple. ⁣

Throughout these verses, He mentions 3 things:⁣

1. For a place of thanksgiving for all saints⁣

2. For a place of instruction⁣

3. That they may be perfected⁣

Thanksgiving, instruction, and perfection. ⁣

It’s hard not to be filled with gratitude while sitting in a beautiful building surrounded by beautiful reminders of all that God has done for us. ⁣

Instruction is given every single time we are in the temple, and the more that I’ve tried to pay attention and learn, the more my eyes have been opened to the wealth of knowledge that is available. ⁣

And as we learn more about the power of God and His priesthood, we become perfected. When we do work for our ancestors, we become perfected. When we sacrifice any item on our to-do list for time in the temple, we become perfected. ⁣

Isn’t that a beautiful trio of reasons why we need temples?! ⁣

What blessings have you seen from worshipping in the house of the Lord?

And what is your biggest WHY right now for wanting to be there regularly?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Temple proximity  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“We all sin.”⁣

All of us. ⁣

Me. You. The last person you spoke to. The person you think that has a perfect life. Your loved one. Your church leader. The prophet. ⁣

Save our Savior, every single person on the earth has sinned and commits sins. ⁣

So… what sets righteous people apart?⁣

There’s a giant spectrum of righteousness, so how do we move closer and closer to our Elder Brother’s example, if we are all sinning anyway?⁣

Saints are sinners who repent. ⁣

People who feel remorse from a sin and then have a desire to never do that again.

And their desire is so strong… that they change their nature. They refine that rough edge just a little bit more. ⁣

As Joseph was returning from his mission to Missouri, there was drama and contention between some of the men. ⁣

And, in a surprisingly transparent moment, the Lord told the men about Joseph:⁣

“He has sinned.” D&C 64:7⁣

It interesting to see that written out about the prophet of the Lord, huh?⁣

Joseph sinned. ⁣

But what allowed Joseph to still hold the keys of the kingdom and not be removed?⁣

“Nevertheless, he has sinned; BUT verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, forgive sins unto those who confess their sins before me and ask forgiveness”. (D&C 64:7⁣)

So what made Joseph unique?⁣

He would sin. And then he would bring that sin to the Lord through confession. And then he would ask for forgiveness. ⁣

The Lord wants to help us to change, so this sounds like the ideal situation. ⁣

He asks us to talk about sin with Him in our prayers. ⁣

And then He asks us to leave that sin behind as we ask for forgiveness in return. ⁣

Everyone sins. ⁣

So do we let the sin fester? ⁣Do we enjoy and indulge?

Or do we immediately confess and ask for forgiveness?⁣

Because, I think that that decision makes all the difference.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post We all sin!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I get people messaging me a form of this question pretty often. ⁣

And I always laugh. ⁣

Because if you want tips on how to organize your time, I’m probably not the person to admire. ⁣

And not because I’m not a great planner…

It has more to do with the three kids that I am primarily responsible for each day. ⁣

Little kids have a lot of needs!

Unexpected, constant needs.

I don’t handle everything at all. ⁣

If I’m making dinner, I’ve probably put a show on for the kids. If I’m writing posts for Instagram, I’m ignoring the pile of laundry in my laundry room. If I’m playing with my kids, I’m not responding to urgent messages on my website.⁣

But there is one not-so-little secret that makes many of my days run more smoothly. ⁣

And those are the days when I remember to pray and ask: ⁣

“What should I be doing right now to best make use of my time?”⁣

Now that doesn’t mean that I’ve got God as my scheduler. ⁣

I want to make that clear – I’m not putting all my decision-making on God. ⁣

I still make decisions all the time as to how I can spend my day wisely. (Or sometimes, not-so-wisely…)

But when I feel clarity with my schedule, or I feel urged to switch something up, that’s how I know I’m doing what I should be doing at the moment. ⁣

In D&C 15:4, the Lord told John Whitmer: ⁣

“For many times you have desired of me to know that which would be of the most worth unto you.”⁣

I think this is such a beautiful question to ask. ⁣

What is of most worth for you in this time in your life?⁣

What is of most worth for you this week?⁣

Today? In the next ten minutes?⁣

Try it out this week, and see where the Spirit takes you.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My perfect life  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

When we fall short of a goal, we tend to throw the whole thing out for a bit.

It’s human nature for many of us.

We don’t have time for our full workout, so we just skip the whole thing anyway.

And we do it with gospel habits, too!

“I’m way too tired to study a whole chapter of scriptures tonight so I’ll just go to bed and start again on Sunday.”

Paul gives us some really powerful counsel:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord…” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Paul gives us counsel to be STEADFAST and UNMOVABLE in the work of the Lord.

But what about when we fall short of our habits and goals?!

I like to think of this scripture as two parts:

First, Paul is counseling us to be steadfast and unmovable— in Jesus.

Be so firm in our commitment to Jesus Christ that there is NOTHING that anybody could say or do to take that away from us.

And then, Paul’s asking us to abound in good works.

Do good things as much as we can!

It doesn’t need to be an “all or nothing” approach.

We miss one month of our temple attendance, we just try again the next time.

We read just a couple scriptures as our eyes are closing because we want to invite the Spirit into our lives as much as possible.

We can’t give our full commitment to our calling, so we just show up and give what we can.

The Lord isn’t looking for perfection, so He doesn’t want us to throw our efforts away when they aren’t perfection, either.

Be steadfast in Jesus.

Be unmovable in our testimonies.

And then fill our lives with the good works that we are able!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Steadfast and unmovable first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Whole. Complete. Finished.

But I heard one alternate translation about 10 years ago sitting in a religion class at BYU that I’ve never forgotten.

What if we replaced “perfection” with “spiritual maturity”?

As the mom of a 5 year old, 3 year old, and almost 1 year old, I am very very VERY familiar with what it is like dealing with emotionally IMMATURE (but very cute) little human beings all the time.

Crying about wanting a popsicle when I’ve just offered them ice cream.

Getting frustrated that I insist they wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

Wanting to do everything by themselves, even if they absolutely are not able to.

Not understanding that temporary situations or requests won’t last forever.

They are immature adorable little kids who I have full faith with grow in maturity as they develop patience, broadened perspectives, empathy, and reasoning abilities.

So when Jesus invites us to “Be ye therefore perfect”, (Matthew 5:48)…

What would that look like if we thought about it in the sense of:

Be ye therefore spiritually mature.

When I examine my life, I find many areas of spiritual immaturity.

Impatience for when I want prayers answered on my timeline, or when I want other people to change immediately.

Pride that makes me think I don’t need constant humility and dependence on the Lord.

Annoyance that other people are doing better than I am, and boastfulness that urges me to judge others for everything they are doing wrong.

And that’s what I see as I read the Sermon on the Mount!

Jesus is teaching principle after principle aimed at raising our levels of spiritual maturity.

No one expects us to reach perfection in this life.

But it seems reasonable to me to keep moving toward that mark of spiritual maturity.

To grow and develop so much that I start to realize how silly it was that I had all those rules about keeping the Sabbath, or how embarrassing it was that I judged that woman by what she was wearing, or how blind I was in thinking that God was nowhere to be found.

Be ye therefore spiritually mature.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Spiritual maturity first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“I’m just a disorganized person.”

“I couldn’t stay calm any longer.”

“I completely messed up.”

Life is messy, and we often act pretty messily, too!

In Luke 3:5, we learn that through Christ, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.”

If the Savior can make mountains to be brought low, He probably can take away bad habits or annoyances that we have too. ⁣

Jesus can help us become more patient.

He can make up for the awkwardness we feel when talking to someone new.

He can help us have compassion instead of constantly criticizing.

He can help us kick that habit of gossiping.

Every little crooked and rough way on our souls will eventually be made smooth!

But just like a river carving its way through a mountainside…

This process takes time.

These changes usually happen inch by inch.

Day by day.

Even year after year.

Are we willing to stick with the Lord through the entire process?

The “way that we are” isn’t how we will stay because mountains constantly change.

But we can trust and have faith that eventually, one day, in this life or the next, all of our rough ways will be made smooth.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Rough ways made smooth  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

And let me preface this by saying I was a good kid!

I had a super strong testimony and was active in church.

But I also realize that maybe I shouldn’t have participated in that prank, or I wonder why I felt I was justified in being rude to someone.

I’m not saying I was a bad kid, but I can totally see now that there was a disconnect in my integrity—

My actions did not always line up with my beliefs.

When I read about Noah, he is spoken of so highly in the scriptures:

“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations”. (Genesis 6:9)

Perfect?!

Well, I’m a big fan of footnotes, and when I looked at the footnote attached to “perfect”, I noticed something:

The Hebrew meaning could also translate to, “complete, whole, having integrity”.

Now THAT makes sense to me.

Noah must have been a man of great integrity.

When he said that he loved God, his actions aligned with making God a priority in his life.

When he said he would be obedient, he didn’t purposefully cut any corners.

When he said he would love and care for those around him, he didn’t make exceptions for anyone.

He was consistent in every area of his life.

This is what makes Noah such a great example and disciple of God.

And it makes me want to consider: How does my integrity measure up?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Noah’s perfection and integrity  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

How to walk into a room and not worry about who you are going to sit by— just sitting down and knowing you’ll be fine no matter what.

How to make decisions and feel confident about them.

How to plan events and host.

And it’s not like these things aren’t important…

Being confident has blessed my life in many ways.

But I’ve recently been starting to get a glimpse of something much more important.

Love and service.

Walking into a room and looking for someone I could sit next to who might need a friend.

Not always making the most efficient decisions because they would leave some people out.

Hosting in a way that I’m still able to connect with others, and not in self-serving ways.

With this idea sitting in my mind a lot recently, I couldn’t help but see a new perspective to this pretty popular verse:

“For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.” D&C 128:15

Why can’t we be perfect without performing proxy ordinances for every single person who has ever existed?

Because that is the loving and compassionate thing to do.

It isn’t enough to just be righteous and confident people who keep to ourselves.

It isn’t enough to just worry about ourselves.

Why?

Because Jesus isn’t just worried about Himself.

So if we are asked to become like Jesus…

Then we can’t just worry about “our own salvation”.

Because “our own salvation” requires us to become Christlike.

Which means we are filled with so much compassion and love that we HAVE to, no, we WANT to do the work for absolutely everyone else.

We would never be content with just our own perfection.

Because Christ isn’t content just with His.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Self-confidence and perfection first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me, saith the Lord.” D&C 124:15

(Besides pregnancy hormones, I’m crying at everything right now to be honest.)

It is just so tender and personal.

God really knows our heart.

Like, He REALLY knows.

Deep down, He knows what we love most and what we want.

He knows the good intentions and the selfish intentions.

He knows the true weaknesses, and He knows the continued excuses.

He sees us as we really are.

That is… a vulnerable realization, right?

Like, there isn’t hiding a thing from Him.

(Just a reminder that He sees all this and still loves you completely and isn’t expecting a perfect heart right now.)

But I think that’s what makes the Lord’s comment about Hyrum Smith so beautiful.

He could see that Hyrum wanted to do what was right.

He had good intentions, he had integrity.

And he loved, truly truly loved, righteous things.

Yet, I haven’t heard any reports that Hyrum was a perfect man.

The Lord isn’t saying that everything that Hyrum DID is good. Or that everything he SAID is good.

His intentions and his heart were always good.

Good and perfect are very different.

So how can I become focused on turning my heart to be a little more righteous today?

How can I get rid of the things in my heart that I know aren’t the best for me?

What do I truly love?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Integrity and love first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.