To be? Or not to be?

  I think a lot about the choices I have made throughout my life, I think we all do.  More recently I have due to the end of this phase of my life, and the beginning of another.  I haven't always been who I am today.  I have become who I am through the choices I have made.  I am realizing more and more that I still have so much to work on.  I wont be done progressing just because I have fulfilled my mission and returned honorable.  Life is not a "to do list".  We should always think of our lives as a "to be list".  "To be or not to be that is surely a good question." (What manner of men ought ye to be? LYNN G. ROBBINS April 2011 General conference) 
   Since my mission is coming to an end, and I have so much I want to become I decided to make my own "To Be" list for my last mission newsletter article.  In the same talk Elder Robbins said, "Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am."  So this is my plan, to make these things part of my nature.

  My To Be List

Be the kind of man who honors his covenants.  Be who I am, but even better tomorrow.  Be a missionary.  Be someone who sets goals to accomplish them.  Be the man who isn't afraid of things that are tough.  Be humble, yet confident.  Be a prayerful man.  Be a man who feasts upon the scriptures daily.  Be a man who overcomes, and achieves.  Be a man who never forgets the things he's been taught.  Be an honorable priesthood holder.  Be a good man.  Be happy.  Be the kind of husband and father you know you should be.  Be energetic.  Be the man who remembers his roots.  Be the man who loves his family, no matter the decisions they make.  Be kind.  Be a man who does not judge.  Be a servant.  Be a man who works hard.  Be strong.  Be the man who remembers with fondness his mission.  Be a man who is in the world, but not of the world.  Be a man who gives what he can to help.  Be a man who keeps the sabbath day holy.  Be a man who goes to the temple regularly.  Be a man who is an example to the youth.  Be the man who always shares his testimony with others. Be Patient.  Be Diligent.  Be like Captain Moroni, and shake the very powers of hell.  Be like Ammon and glory in the Lord.  Be like the Brother of Jared and have great faith.  Be like Nephi and never question the commandments, but go and do.  Be like King Benjamin and serve to the end.  Be like Abinadi and never deny your testimony.  Be like Jesus Christ and be perfect.  To Be?  Or Not to Be?  That is surely a good question.  This is the kind of person I want to BE.

Hear, Remember, Understand, Apply and BECOME.

I hope I will be able to make these things part of my nature and less of a to do list.