May the odds be ever in your favor

{free printable!}

I know I've been absent since "day 17" but I promise I haven't been placed in the witness protection program. The past few days I've been in a book/movie induced comatose state. Thanks to the Hunger Games. Before that I don't know what happened. It's been 8 days since I last blogged, so I guess it would be fair for me to start with a catch up on the 8 days of my 30 days of Thanksgiving that I have missed.

day 18
I am thankful for extended family.

day 19
I am thankful for photoshop

day 20
I am thankful for large fancy cameras and clear photographs

day 21
I am thankful for the prodigious Hunger Games Trillogy

day 22
I am thankful for deep sleep

day 23
I am thankful for thick books with beautiful stories

day 24
I am thankful for missionary work

There. I'm caught up.

During the time my mind has been preoccupied with Hunger Games musing I have managed to pull some gospel related annalogies out of my thoughts. It started with the snare analogy I gave for my devotional in Seminary. (Which, by the way turned out awesome due to the fact that my teacher conveniently had a snare in his office. Also, I had a scripture about shares. Mosiah 23:9 people. I'm like Seminary Katniss) And it has led up to my most reticent installment of a spiritual thought that I gave during BYC today.

The Arena

Today's topic in Young Womens was about "finding solutions to your challenges and problems"

We got into a discussion about how the Lord knows more about what's happening in our lives thank we do and BOOM! Hunger Games sparks of knowledge started to flow thorough me.


We are sent to this earth just as the tributes were sent to the arena. We volunteered. Not for the same reasons, but still, we volunteered even though we knew the trials and hardships we would encounter during our stay.

When we are moving through live in this world all we can see is what's going on now right around us, while in the games the situation is the same; you only know what's going on right around you. You never know what's coming. However, in the games you have an earpiece. This earpiece connects you to the one person that has an areal view of the situation. This is your Mentor. He can see what's coming up around the corner and what the best path for you to take is (this is in reference with the third book when the "games" aren't official "games" and Katniss does actually have an earpiece".) As inhabitants of this world we don't know what's coming around the corner. We sometimes wonder why things happen in our lives and we question things we don't understand, but we have someone that can help.

We have a Lord and Savior that serves as our "mentor" in this game of life. Our "ear piece" is prayer and scripture study. This is how we communicate with our mentor. This is how he communicates with us. However,  there is a choice we have to make. In the situation Katniss is in she has the choice to listen to her mentor, or to rip the ear piece out of her ear. She chooses the later, but we must be aware that choosing the later leads to being confused and lost. So I advise you to "use your ear piece".

Our mentor and our earpiece are what protect you from the one thing that is trying to destroy you. Satan, "The Game Maker". He designed all chaos in the games. He sets stares as traps to catch us when we least expect it. He sends fires to burn and water to flood. His stares spring on us and encircle us in sin in such a way that we can't be freed without the help of our "Mentor". He sends trials and tribulation that leads us to heartache. It also leads us to fight with one another.

This is my last point. In the games the tributes are forced to fight each other. Isn't this what we are doing on the earth right now? There is a statement said to Katniss several times throught the series to "remember who the real enemy is"

Our real enemy isn't each other. It is Satan.

We shouldn't be spending our time dressing up like capitol people trying to be better than one another. We should be spending our time trying to help those around us win our war with Satan.

See, this is the difference between life and the games. In the games there can only be one victor. In life, however, anyone who succeeds in triumph with their fight with Satan may live. The quality of living we will receive after we defeat our own "Hunger Games" far exceeds anything that could be written about in this story. The "Victors Village" we will stay in stands much much taller. We will stay in the "mansion's of our father" {Enos 27} which sound pretty dang fantastic to me. The reward we will receive will far exceed the winnings of food given to the victors, but will extend to receiving "all that the father hath" {D&C 84:38}.

I know that as we fight our games, and as we listen to our Mentor we will be able to overcome the Game Maker. I know that we will be able to one day stand before our God and he will be pleased with what we have done if only we do our very best to be our best now. I know that Christ can help us with whatever we may need help with and I know that through him we can all make it back home.



Feel my sunlight



p.s. My bishop even mentioned something about missionary work "catching fire" today. It's not just me.