2.  Brick
The house that you grew up in was built by a builder who had a set of plans. Brick by brick, and stone by stone, each part was constructed and built to match the plans of the builder. Your parents and others told you nursery rhymes and stories in your home as you grew up, but there is a part of these stories and ryhmes that they forgot to tell. The stories of Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, and the wolf and three pigs are symbolic of us and Jesus Christ, and they represent the fall of man and Jesus Christ's role as our Savior. Listen and find out how each story tells of Christ.
3.  The Great I Am
My father once told me with "greater blessings comes greater responsibility". The things that he taught me pointed towards the Savior and His divine mission to bring us home again. My mother loves roses and her love taught me how a Red Rose symbolizes the life of the Savior. If we will take the time to really stop and look beneath the surface of our lives , we'll see what the Lord has made us. We will see his promises fulfilled that His constant help will be there to make up for our weaknesses. In time our weaknesses will be made strengths through His power. He is the Great I Am.
4.  Day By Day
When I was in the scouting program and at other times on family trips I remember going on many hikes through the mountains. As I would walk I would always ask how far it was to the next stop and when this hike was going to be over. I think as we climb the giant mountains or trials in our lives that stand before us, we ask ourselves when will this trial finally be over? It is more then we can take. These trials in our lives help to keep us humble. We must learn to rely upon the Lord. He knows the end from the beginning and a day at a time he is trying to move mountains in us, chipping away and softening our hearts, helping to guide us, molding us and making us. One day looking back we will see the mountains he has moved in us and the great accomplishments he has helped us to achieve.
5.  Wash It Away
One Birthday my friend told me that he was a better person for having known me and he gave me a seashell. He said to whisper a wish into it and cast it into the ocean and that the wish would come true. This gift really meant a lot to me. I have kept that seashell and have wondered from time to time what gives us the power to achieve goals. We can either choose to make a wish or to make things happens. Overcoming our weaknesses and changing our ways is hard. Learning to let go of our desires and allowing the savior to be in control is hard thing to do. As we let go of our own wishes and allow Him to be King, his goals become our goals, we are given power to become what he would have us be. The wrong choices we have made are washed away by the blood of the Savior like footprints on a sandy beach are washed away by the waves.
6.  Broken Wings
The fall of man brought sin and death into the world. Metaphorically speaking, we are each sparrows who have fallen with broken wings; we do not have the power to overcome sin and death. In the scriptures, wings are a symbol of the power to move and act. There isn't a sparrow that falls, but that God knows it. He knows each of us, and He sent His Son, who took upon himself the sins of the world. He was crucified. Yet, out of death, he brought new life and rose again with healing in His wings. He has the power to heal our broken wings, to help us overcome sin and death, so that we might fly again. In doing so he gives us the grace and power to move and to act in a manner that is pleasing unto Him. May we allow him to gather us through our own repentance, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. May we be given to fly once more.
7.  Crossroads
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, I like to think of us as the bruised and beaten beggar. The Savior, who is the Good Samaritan, comes to the crossroads of our lives and binds up our wounds and leaves us in the care of his servants here on earth. We must learn to take the roads that are safe from the thieves who wish to destroy us. In the story of the ten Virgins, five were prepared and five were not. When the Bridegroom came, the five foolish were without oil. By the time they had returned, it was too late to come into the Feast. When the Savior comes again, there is going to be a Feast. What if we are left empty handed, without a fork to use? We would be left to watch everyone else partake of the feast without us. On a daily basis we come to forks in the road of our life, or choices that lead in different directions. The choices we make today will determine if we will be standing at the crossroad of our Savior's life, prepared with a fork in our hand. So, when you come to a fork in the road "pick it up and put it in your pocket.  Then, take the road that leads to the Feast.
8.  A Mechanic's Hands
I have a mechanic friend who, at the end of his work day, has hands that are beaten, worn, torn and stained. He sits in his recliner each night and thinks about the works of his hands that day. While making a shirt at a youth conference I found my own hands stained. I saw a parallel between my stained hands and our lives. We can often find ourselves both spiritually and physically beaten, worn, torn and stained by the end of the day. There is, however, a Mechanic in our lives, the greatest mechanic of all, our Savior Jesus Christ. I'm sure he often sits and thinks of the works of his hands. This Mechanic and his hands were stained by blood as he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for our sins. He was beaten with a whip and scourged. Spiritually and physically he was worn out. And his flesh was torn as they crucified him, driving nails into his hands and wrists. The marks in his hands represent the love he has for each of us, his work. He continues his work today. Just like my mechanic friend uses tools with his hands, we can become tools in our Savior's hands.