Faith like a mustard seed

A favorite walk

FAITH
     In Relief Society yesterday we had a lesson on the life of George Albert Smith.  At the age of 34, he wrote down 11 creeds he was going to live by.  There was one that really impressed me.  It said," I will visit the sick and the afflicted and inspire in them a desire for faith to be healed."  He wouldn't just give everyone a blessing even though he could, as he held the priesthood and was a righteous man, rather he would inspire in them a desire for faith to be healed.  That seems like such a worthy things to do, try to inspire in people the desire for faith to be healed.  The D&C clearly states that we as a people lack faith.
     I have thought a lot about how I could encourage people to increase their faith, as it must be exercised.  But what are the exercises? Faith is an interesting word.  It is an action word and  has to grow from within, like a seed that is planted in the ground.  If it is not planted but just held in your hands and only think about planting, it will not grow.  The soil is your desire, what great desires do you have? Then plant that seed with your thoughts and visualize the outcome. If when you plant a seed in the garden and then neglect it, up comes weeds and soon the weeds take over and your little seed will wither away.  When you plant a worthy thought in your mind, spend some quality time cultivating it, watering it, keep all the weeds away when they first appear, weeds in our mind are doubts, worries and fear.  Our mind can't contain both faith in what we want to cultivate along with worry, doubt or fear at the same time.  The weeds (worry) will always win out.
     I wish I could just give faith to people.  I have a friend right now that is terminally ill with cancer.  She wants to be healed and has received two blessings that her work here on earth is not complete, yet she lacks the faith to make that blessing work. She knows God has the power to heal and she desires that healing, but allows weeds to take over (worry, doubt and fear) continually in her mind.
      Many of us don't realize we can learn to control our minds, we can keep it from rambling on in all different directions.  It can be controlled with effort. Just like a child has to learn to control his arms and hands, he can't hit every person he sees.  We too must learn to be in charge of our thoughts and keep the weeds out and allow our little seed of faith to grow.

If you have the faith of a mustard seed

you could move mountains.