If we want to change the world, we must first change ourselves and help those around us. I have always thought that all the decisions we make in our lives are going to bring consequences and one day we will realize that the important thing is that we realize it before it is too late. Our young people need to know this, but it would not be possible without the help of us parents.
Doing the right thing will always be the right thing even if the world says otherwise. For this we must know who God is. In truth, we do the will of God and strive to do good by keeping God’s commandments, being willing to serve others, helping others and loving one another.
Jesus Christ told us to love one another, to love our neighbor as ourselves and to teach this to our children. If we parents serve as good examples, the world would be much better. Children learn from what they see, not from what we tell them.
Protect your children from the evil of this world. Help them to defend what is right, and to do good, and they will become good students, good citizens, and good examples for others, making the world much better. Let’s not get tired of doing good. There will always be someone who needs a smile and a hug and a hand to lift them up.
Once I read something that has always helped me to strive to be better and it was this: a good tree cannot be a bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, because each bears according to its kind. We decide what tree we want to be.
We will never be rich until we get what money can’t buy. True happiness is something we feel and create for ourselves. It is not something we find or can buy. It is something we work for every day and every decision counts. I know that God loves you and I hope that all his love and mercy is with all of us.
“Remember that we are not on earth to see how important we can be, but to see how much of a difference we can make in the lives of others,” wrote George B Hinckley.
Hugo E. Martinez is President/Bishop of the Spanish Gavilan Branch in Gilroy of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. He is a member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County. Bishop Martinez can be reached at hu*********@gm***.com.
