Life isn’t perfect. ⁣

Maybe today isn’t even what you planned. ⁣

Maybe you’ve got a lot of “other stuff” going on so you feel like you can’t be fully present. ⁣

But no matter what your circumstances are like today, no matter what kitchen mishaps or missing family members or awkward moments…⁣

“Praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.” (D&C 136:28⁣)

A prayer of praise and thanksgiving is always an option. ⁣

Praise. And thanksgiving. ⁣

Don’t those go perfectly hand in hand?⁣

Recognizing the goodness and glory of God, and then feeling gratitude for all that He has done for you?⁣

Today, no matter what my day looks like, I’m going to offer a prayer of praise and of thanksgiving. ⁣

And, knowing me, there will be some music and singing involved, too. ⁣

But I want to praise my Lord by remembering all that He has given me!⁣

This beautiful earth! ⁣

My body! ⁣

My friends, both old and new!⁣

My family members!⁣

The opportunity to change when I make a mistake!⁣

My scriptures! ⁣

Feeling overwhelming love!⁣

The Holy Spirit!⁣

My covenants!⁣

Something to be optimistic about!⁣

The chance to be alive!⁣

Praise and thanksgiving to my Lord today, and every day. ⁣

What are you feeling especially grateful for today? 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post  Praise and thanksgiving!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

And you know what?⁣

It’s okay. ⁣

I don’t understand all the intricacies of what my own parents did day in and day out to provide the life for me that I had. ⁣

And then I think about my spiritual heritage. ⁣

All 16 of my great-great-great grandparents on my mom’s side joined the church at some point, usually at a great physical or financial sacrifice. ⁣

And I’ve got a similar spiritual heritage on my father’s side. ⁣

I will never fully understand what they had to give up, the hard decisions they had to make, and the cost of their consistency and devotion to the gospel. ⁣

And it’s okay that I don’t fully understand (although I love learning their stories).

What Joseph Smith sacrificed to bring forth the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and numerous other revelations is incomprehensible. ⁣

“The reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world.” (D&C 135:6)

He sacrificed his own life for the cause. ⁣

I will never fully understand what that is like. ⁣

And I will never fully understand what my Savior Jesus Christ did for me, and continues to do for me. ⁣

I learn, I study, I receive blessings, and I get little glimpses into what He has done. ⁣

But I’ll never truly “get it”. ⁣

Not understanding the extreme sacrifices of our predecessors is a natural, short-sighted, human thing to do. ⁣

But that doesn’t excuse me from the opportunity to be grateful. ⁣

To reflect on what my family members, both near and far, have done for me.

To ponder on the prophet Joseph and other spiritual leaders.

And to revere my Savior for His great atoning sacrifice and continued, sustaining help. ⁣

I will never fully understand all the sacrifices made to give me the plethora of privileges I enjoy. ⁣

But I can still learn about them and feel extreme gratitude for those who have given me my firm foundation.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My kids will never understand first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I missed the traditions that I was used to.

I missed the dishes that we always ate.

And I missed the people.

I wasn’t feeling very grateful at all.

As I sat pretty quietly at the dinner table, I tried to have a change of heart.

How could I contribute to the atmosphere even if I didn’t feel very grateful?

What could I do to turn things around?

I realized that I had been thinking a lot about myself.

So instead of feeling self-absorbed and sad, I decided to try and focus on making other people happy.

Gratitude is essential.

But I love it when gratitude leads me to think, “How can I better feed or serve the people around me?”⁣

Peter encouraged us:

“Feed the flock of God which is among you. . . .” (1 Peter 5:2)

Many of us doing that literally today— gathering and feeding loved ones.

What a gift!

But looking at it from a spiritual standpoint is so cool, too!

Gather and nourish the people that you love on a spiritual level.

I don’t think that necessarily means preaching at people.

But sharing love, speaking openly of Jesus, and encouraging.

Focusing outward with gratitude.

I completely transformed how I felt on that Thanksgiving when I started trying to give happiness and joy to other people, even when I didn’t totally feel it myself.

Gratitude can help lead us to nourish others.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Feeding the flock with gratitude first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’m grateful for people.

I’m grateful for things.

I’m grateful for experiences and relationships.

I’m grateful for God and my Savior.

But… do I feel gratitude for what I’ve sacrificed?

Do I feel thanksgiving in my heart for what I’ve had to give up?

At first thought, no.

I’m actually really good at feeling self-pity when I am asked to sacrifice.

“Life is so hard for me!”

“No one else is asked to endure this!”

“This is the worst!”

Wo is me.

And I don’t say that lightly— I mean, sometimes I complain about things that aren’t a big deal.

“Cali, it’s just the laundry. Put it away and you’ll survive.”

But sometimes, things ARE a big deal.

A big, difficult deal.

“I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving”. (Jonah 2:9)

But what if we sacrifice with thanksgiving in our hearts?

Gratitude for the opportunity to learn? Gratitude for the chance to serve the Lord? Gratitude for the opportunity to show our love and devotion?

Sacrificing willingly and gratefully instead of selfishly and dramatically.

It’s tough.

But I can already see my mortal hindsight proving this right a little bit.

I can see how sacrifices I made years ago have blossomed into beautiful growth experiences.

I notice how everything I’ve been asked to give up or endure has given me the chance to also take a huge leap forward in my spiritual progression.

I recognize how much easier it has been when I forget myself and get to work loving and serving others.

So today, I am grateful for the things that I sacrifice in the name of serving the Lord and becoming Christlike.

I sacrifice with thanksgiving in my heart.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Sacrifice with thanksgiving  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Life isn’t perfect.

Maybe today isn’t even what you planned.

Maybe you’ve got a lot of “other stuff” going on so you feel like you can’t be fully present.

But no matter what your circumstances are like today, no matter what kitchen mishaps or missing family members or awkward moments…

“Praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.” D&C 136:28

A prayer of praise and thanksgiving is always an option.

Praise. And thanksgiving.

Don’t those go perfectly hand in hand?

Recognizing the goodness and glory of God, and then feeling gratitude for all that He has done for you?

Today, no matter what my day looks like, I’m going to offer a prayer of praise and of thanksgiving.

And, knowing me, there will be some music and singing involved, too.

But I want to praise my Lord by remembering all that He has given me!

This beautiful earth!

My body!

My friends, both old and new!

My family members!

The opportunity to change when I make a mistake!

My scriptures!

Feeling overwhelming love!

The Holy Spirit!

My covenants!

Something to be optimistic about!

The chance to be alive!

Praise and thanksgiving to my Lord today, and every day.

What are you feeling especially grateful for today? Comment below and let’s share the thanksgiving spirit! 

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Praise and thanksgiving 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 upped my attendance from twice a year to once or twice a month, because that’s when roommates would go.

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 in 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?!

Right now, what is your biggest “why” for wanting to be in the temple?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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

Knowing that there was no way to steer?

Commending yourself entirely to the Lord your God?

What anxiety, doubt, and fear I’m sure flashed through their minds.

But what did they CHOOSE to do?

They sang praises to the Lord.

They thanked the Lord all day long.

And when the night came?

They didn’t cease to praise the Lord.

Thanksgiving always brings a special spirit to me.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always loved it.

And I think this Thanksgiving gives us a special opportunity to reflect:

Have we lost ourselves in the “list” of things we are thankful for, sometimes wallowing in what isn’t on the list, or jealous of what we think should be on the list?

Or have we used this year to practice our attitude of gratitude?

We don’t have to be grateful for 2020.

We can be. But we don’t have to have it on our list.

President Uchtdorf put it so eloquently:

“This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer.”

We are grateful to God IN our circumstances.

Whether we are trapped in a tiny, wooden barge, traveling hundreds of miles through the ocean.

Or whether we are dealing with job loss, loss of loved ones, financial insecurity, faith crises, or any other type of despair.

We can develop and show gratitude.

Through prayers, through scripture study, through service, and through singing.

We can always feel gratitude.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Singing praises first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.