As a parent of a 3 year old, I see a lot of examples of her levels of maturity:

-When I tell her she can’t dunk her battery-operated toys in the water table outside, she gets frustrated that I am taking away her fun. ⁣⁣

-When we encourage keeping the Sabbath Day holy, she focuses on everything that she can’t do on Sundays.⁣⁣

-She gets really upset when someone else isn’t following the rules.⁣⁣

-When she is really really tired or hungry, she loses any little amount of maturity she had left in her and anything could set her off.⁣⁣

-She changes her mind on what she wants to eat for lunch after I have already made it. ⁣⁣

-She doesn’t always say please or thank you, and she ultimately has no idea what sacrifices I make out of love in order to make her life fairly enjoyable, fun, and safe. And that’s okay. As a parent, I don’t expect her to see or recognize it all. ⁣⁣

Okay… did you notice any parallels to your own spiritual understanding?⁣⁣

Here’s what I’ve noticed. How many times have I thought:

-That Heavenly Father was giving me rules that were keeping me away from having more fun?

-That the Sabbath is more of a burden than a blessing?

-That I have to be concerned and worried about everyone else’s decisions?

-That I can ignore healthy food and sleep habits and still function well? (HINT: I absolutely cannot )

-That I actually wanted a different blessing or opportunity than the one He gave me?

-That I should try and do better at saying prayers of gratitude to my Heavenly Father, forgetting that I only see a sliver of what He actually does for me?

Spiritual maturity is essential to develop. ⁣⁣

In D&C 109:15, the Kirtland saints prayed: “that they may grow up in thee”. ⁣⁣

We aren’t going to be fully spiritually mature right now. But we can take inventory:

Are we understanding the importance of seeing the big picture?

Are we maturing?

Are we growing up in the Lord?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Growing up  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I can already tell you that one of my kids would choose to wait for the two marshmallows.

And the other would gobble up the first one before I even finished the question. 

Let’s consider this famous marshmallow experiment in the spiritual sense.

Has it ever seemed like people who are not members of God’s covenant church have a lot of good things going on in their lives?

Of course, there are amazing people who are not members of the covenant who are still building up the kingdom of God in good, righteous, amazing ways.

But even the people who deliberately choose evil or purposefully break covenants can often seem super happy, successful, rich, and indulgent.

When that happens, I think a part of us goes, “huh.” ⁣

But Christ has told us that this is what happens!

People do “find happiness” in things other than the gospel.

Not lasting peaceful joy, but some immediate happiness.

And in Matthew 5:12, Christ teaches:

“Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven.”

Are we “spiritually mature” enough to not need the greatest of our rewards RIGHT NOW?

Can we wait and endure?

Can we be okay with being persecuted and poor if that is part of our path?

Can we find joy and peace along our journey, no matter what we may encounter?

If we can endure some time right now looking at the marshmallow that others are enjoying, then later we can receive unspeakable rewards in heaven!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The marshmallow experiment  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.

And now that I live day-in and day-out with a three year old, I get a clearer and clearer picture of it every day!⁣⁣

Here are a few interesting observations I’ve noticed in my daughter recently.⁣⁣

(And for what it’s worth, my daughter is actually very mature, kind, and brilliant for her age for the most part! I don’t want this to seem like I’m ragging on her– it’s all in good fun, and for an important point!)⁣⁣

When I tell her she can’t dunk her battery-operated toys in the water table outside, she gets frustrated that I am taking away her fun. ⁣⁣

When we encourage keeping the Sabbath Day holy, she focuses on everything that she can’t do on Sundays.⁣⁣

She gets really upset when someone else isn’t following the rules.⁣⁣

When she is really really tired or hungry, she loses any little amount of maturity she had left in her and anything could set her off.⁣⁣

She changes her mind on what she wants to eat for lunch after I have already made it. ⁣⁣

She doesn’t always say please or thank you, and she ultimately has no idea what sacrifices I make out of love in order to make her life fairly enjoyable, fun, and safe. And that’s okay. As a parent, I don’t expect her to see or recognize it all. ⁣⁣

Okay… did you notice any parallels to your own spiritual understanding?

⁣⁣How many times I’ve thought Heavenly Father was giving me rules that were keeping me away from having more fun–⁣⁣

That the Sabbath is more of a burden than a blessing–⁣⁣

That I have to be concerned and worried about everyone else’s decisions–

⁣⁣That I can ignore healthy food and sleep habits and still function well (HINT: I absolutely can not!)–⁣⁣

That I receive a blessing, just to think that I wanted a different opportunity more–

⁣⁣That I forget to pray and thank my Heavenly Father, even though I only see a sliver of what He does for me–⁣⁣

Spiritual maturity is essential to develop. ⁣⁣

In D&C 109:15, the Kirtland saints prayed: “that they may grow up in thee”.

⁣⁣Are we growing up? Are we maturing? Are we handling emotions and understanding the importance of boundaries and taking time to see the bigger picture?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Three year old maturity first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I told her that we didn’t have any juice in the car, but that she could have some water.

She started getting upset and asked for juice again.

I offered her the water again, and she reluctantly took it.

And then she asked for juice again.

When I told her that we didn’t have any in the car, she started crying.

“I just want some juice!”

She is two years old, and this was a completely developmentally appropriate conversation.

(At least, back me up if you have also tried to raise a two-year-old ????.)

She doesn’t have emotional maturity yet to understand that she can’t have juice whenever she wants it OR how to appropriately deal with frustration when she can’t satisfy her desire.

Have you ever thought about the concept of SPIRITUAL maturity?

Jesus Christ commands us to “be ye therefore perfect”.

I’ve heard quite a few words that people like to substitute for “perfect”, since we know we will not and cannot achieve perfection in this life.

But one of my BYU religious professors told us his version of a translation for “perfect” that has always resonated with me:

Be ye therefore SPIRITUALLY MATURE.

We can’t get to “perfection”. But we CAN see ourselves sliding farther and farther on the sliding scale of spiritual maturity.

Are we doing what we are supposed to do without needing to be checked in on?

Do we nitpick commandments and find “loopholes”?

Do we act on our own accord to do good?

Do we understand that rewards may be delayed?

We all start out as emotional toddlers who need constant, constant, CONSTANT direction, reassurance, and correction.

But our loving Savior wants us to develop spiritual maturity.

As you study the beatitudes and other wise counsel straight from our Savior this week, I challenge you to look at each commandment on a sliding scale and ask yourself:

How can I be more spiritually mature in fulfilling this commandment?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Be ye therefore spiritually mature first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I think most of us intellectually understand that progress in these areas is made through many small, consistent actions.

Practicing the same measure over and over. Getting up early every day and trying to push ourselves a little harder.

But why do so many people quit piano lessons or stop working out?

Because it’s really hard to not see immediate results.

It takes a lot of maturity to understand that practicing that measure over and over or doing that one lift over and over will actually help us improve in the long run.

So what about our spiritual growth?

Does it really matter if we go to church EVERY week? Read our scriptures and pray EVERY day? Fulfill EVERY calling we receive? Volunteer to serve EVERY chance we can?

It takes SPIRITUAL MATURITY to know that yes, every single time we flex our spiritual muscles, we are building our faith even stronger.

It takes SPIRITUAL MATURITY to know that immediate results are almost never expected.

It takes SPIRITUAL MATURITY to know that these habits will become easier and a part of our nature the more that we practice them.

It’s the small things. It’s the Sunday School answers. It’s the little habits that we try to build.

But it’s also that spiritual maturity to know that God will take our minuscule daily offerings and use them to transform us into more willing and humble individuals.

We turn our heart over to the Lord little by little, and eventually the sacrifices add up to the greatest change in our desires.

We just have to trust that the small things really will make a difference.

And then great things will happen.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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