Beliefs Ablaze

“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.” 

Luke 12:35

My blog title, and the thought process behind it, makes me think of Katniss Everdeen. She is the heroine from Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games series. If you’ve read the books then you'll understand why. For those who haven’t, (I highly recommend them by the way) Katniss was referred to as the girl on fire. 

Since this blog is written by me, and about me, I obviously wanted a title that would reflect that. Yet, being the difficult person that I am, I couldn’t have something simple and straightforward like “Andrea’s Adventures” or “The thoughts of Andrea.” Besides being completely uncreative, those titles are also too “Andrea” focused. I needed to have a title that was vague and thought-provoking. One that related to me, but wasn’t about me specifically or directly. I wanted a title that could relate to all of us. Yep, I do have a problem with over-thinking things sometimes.

I prayed for some inspiration, and asked my best friend if she had any ideas. She insisted that I should incorporate “light” into it. So I went to the best resource guide on the internet, thesaurus.com, and searched for synonyms to “light.” My eyes were immediately fixed on “ablaze” and I just knew that I had to use it in my title. But what in my life is on fire? “Beliefs Ablaze” instantly came to my mind and I knew I had found my title.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single [to the glory of God] 

thy whole body shall be full of light.” 

Matthew 6:22

You’ve heard the saying “sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit”….and so on. Well in my opinion, it doesn’t start with thoughts exactly. I think it starts one baby step back from thoughts, with beliefs and desires. We are all, at our very inner cores, a string of beliefs and desires. For example, I believe that chocolate is unhealthy. I desire to eat chocolate. I think eating chocolate is satisfying enough to ignore my belief. Then I act by indulging in Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked Chocolate Ice Cream. So you see, take away beliefs and desires, and you’ll take away what make me an individual. Furthermore, if you work hard enough to change your beliefs and desires, then you’ll be able to change your thoughts, actions, habits, character, destiny, and dare I say…the world?

“Let your light so shine forth before men, that they may see your good works, 

and glorfy your Father which is in Heaven.” 

Matthew 5:16

So here I am, Andrea M. S.-the result and summation of beliefs and desires…how APA (American Psychological Association) does that sound? But wait just one second, I am more. I am a living eternal soul with inherent energy, faith, love, passion, spirit, and the light of Christ. Throw in what really makes me human, and now I’m illuminated, moving…on fire. We all are.

 “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: 

we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 

1 Thessalonians 5:5

So what do you believe? Are you living in a manner that allows your beliefs to consume you? Let us set our beliefs on fire. Let us allow our beliefs to spark and grow within us. So that together, our flames can combine and set ablaze the world with beauty, light, and the glory of God that is in all of us.

“the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light.” Romans 13:12

“Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations” 

Doctrine and Covenants 115:5