Jet Mariano

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  • MIT8 – “What I learned from the Doctrine & Covenants”

    Cheerful Giver.
    A quiet reminder that faith is practiced through trust, discipline, and gratitude.

    Excerpt

    In 2025, the Doctrine and Covenants did more than guide my study. It quietly shaped my choices, my discipline, my priorities, and the way I practiced faith in ordinary life.

    Intro

    Studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year felt less like following a schedule and more like walking alongside revelation that insisted on application. The lessons were not abstract. They pressed gently but consistently into how I prayed, how I worked, how I cared for my body, how I gave, and how I treated time as something sacred rather than expendable.

    This was not a year of dramatic spiritual moments. It was a year of steady alignment.

    Notes from the Doctrine and Covenants

    Again and again, the Doctrine and Covenants reminded me that God is already offering light, direction, and help. Receiving those gifts requires intention. Revelation is not passive. It is chosen.

    Holiness emerged as something practical. Holy places matter, but so do holy habits. Order invites peace. Discipline creates freedom. Obedience is not restriction. It is alignment with divine patterns that actually work.

    Joy was reframed. Not as ease, but as purpose. Even in difficulty, joy grows when time is used wisely and life is ordered toward things of eternal value.

    Education stood out as a divine expectation. Learning is not optional. God prepares His people by helping them develop intelligence, skill, and faith together.

    Family relationships deepened my understanding of eternity. Joy increases as relationships are strengthened on both sides of the veil. Zion is not built alone.

    Perspective (Direct Quotes)

    Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved.

    Be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

    Teach ye diligently.

    Seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

    Where much is given, much is required.

    Practice (Today, Not Someday)

    Today, I choose to receive light intentionally.
    Today, I guard time spent in holy places.
    Today, I live the Word of Wisdom as a daily discipline, not a checklist.
    Today, I practice the law of tithing with trust rather than fear.
    Today, I invest in learning, family, and unity.

    Holiness is not postponed. It is practiced now.

    Final Reflection

    The Doctrine and Covenants taught me that obedience is not about perfection. It is about direction. When life is ordered according to divine patterns, strength is renewed, clarity increases, and peace follows.

    God does not rush His work. He prepares His people patiently as they choose to act.

    Pocket I’m Keeping

    Light fills every part of life that is opened to receive it.

    What I Hear Now

    Be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

    Where much is given, much is required.

    I am bound when you do what I say.

    Every blessing is predicated upon obedience.

    Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.

    Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.

    Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved.

    Seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

    As health is honored, wisdom and hidden treasures of knowledge are revealed, and strength is renewed to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint.

    As trust is practiced through tithing, fear gives way to confidence, and the promise stands that the faithful shall not be burned at His coming.

    The same sociality that exists among us here will exist among us there, coupled with eternal glory.

    Whatever principles of intelligence we gain in this life will rise with us in the resurrection.

    Zion is built together.

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • MIT8 – “And Now I See”

    From the Last General Conference Address of President Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2025

    After nearly four years since moving to Utah, I returned here for proxy endowment. As I arrived at the temple grounds, news came that Jeffrey R. Holland had passed away. California had endured storms through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after. As the rain finally lifted, light broke through lingering clouds, marking a quiet and sacred hour.

    MIT8 — “And Now I See”

    From President Jeffrey R. Holland, Oct 2025 General Conference

    Excerpt

    “Whereas I was blind, now I see.”
    John 9:25

    Intro

    On December 27, 2025, while I was inside the Los Angeles Temple performing proxy endowment work, President Jeffrey R. Holland passed away.

    As I later reflected on his final General Conference message, my thoughts returned not to sentiment, but to scripture — to the blind man healed by the Savior, and to the simple, unmistakable declaration that became the heart of Elder Holland’s witness:

    “And now I see.”

    Notes from President Jeffrey R. Holland

    President Holland anchored his message in John chapter 9, where Jesus and His disciples encounter a man blind from birth. When the disciples asked complicated questions about blame and cause, the Savior answered not with theory, but with action.

    He spat on the ground, made clay, anointed the man’s eyes, and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The man obeyed. He returned seeing.

    When challenged by those who opposed Jesus, the healed man bore a witness rooted not in argument, but in experience:

    “Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

    President Holland emphasized that evidence matters — lived truth over accusation, obedience over debate.

    Perspective (Direct Quotes)

    Scripture — John 9:25
    “Whereas I was blind, now I see.”

    President Jeffrey R. Holland:
    “So what if the answers to our prayers come in plain or convoluted ways? Are we willing to persevere, to keep trying to live Christ’s gospel no matter how much spit and clay it takes? It may not always be clear to us what is being done or why, and from time to time, we will all feel a little like the senior sister who said, ‘Lord, how about a blessing that isn’t in disguise?’”

    President Jeffrey R. Holland:
    “My first sight-giving, life-giving encounter with real evidence of truth did not come with anointing clay or in the pool of Siloam. No, the instrument of truth that brought my healing from the Lord came as pages in a book, yes, the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ! The claims about this book have been attacked and dismissed by some unbelievers, the anger often matching the vitriol of those who told the healed man that he could not possibly have experienced what he knew he had experienced.”

    Practice (Today, Not Someday)

    Today’s practice is obedience without full explanation.

    It is accepting that the Savior may heal us through methods that seem plain, uncomfortable, or disguised.
    It is choosing to wash in the pool when instructed — even when we do not yet understand the why.

    Faith is not demanding better ingredients.
    Faith is trusting the Healer.

    Final Reflection

    President Holland taught that God’s power is not diminished by simple instruments.

    Spit and dirt.
    Clay and water.
    A book of scripture.

    What matters is not the method, but the obedience — and the courage to testify afterward.

    Inside the temple that day, I felt again the quiet power of a witness earned through experience, not argument:

    Whereas I was blind, now I see.

    Pocket I’m Keeping

    “Are we willing to persevere, no matter how much spit and clay it takes?”

    What I Hear Now

    The Savior does not always heal in ways that impress the crowd.
    But He always heals in ways that change the soul.

    Link to the Talk

    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/10/41holland?lang=eng

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • MIT8 – “If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It”

    Sleeping Beauty Castle at Night — Reflections of Patience and Light

    Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland — long exposure, reflection pond perfectly still under holiday lights.
    © Jet Mariano bottom right

    Excerpt
    Dreams are born in imagination, but they come to life through patience. This photo reminds me that what seems impossible is often just waiting for stillness — the moment when faith, timing, and light all come together.

    Intro
    At Disneyland, I stood before Sleeping Beauty’s Castle surrounded by soft laughter, bright music, and winter lights. I had dreamed of this shot for years — the castle glowing like ice, perfectly mirrored in the reflection pond.

    The challenge wasn’t the camera. It was patience. I waited for the crowd to thin and for the water to still. When the noise finally faded, I clicked the shutter. Thirty seconds of silence turned imagination into reality.

    Notes from the Scene
    📍 Disneyland, Anaheim, California
    Tripod. Manual mode. I pointed my camera using the LCD screen toward the brightest light on the castle to achieve perfect focus. Once the image looked sharp, I turned my Nikon 14-24mm 2.8G lens from AF to M and my camera to full manual. This prevents the lens from “hunting” in the dark — a trick learned through countless nights of trial.

    After years of practice, I trusted the settings: 30-second shutter, f/11, ISO 2400. The result was this reflection — not luck, but learning.

    Perspective
    Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
    That line carries truth beyond photography. In every art, in every calling, we are dreamers learning to wait for our moment of light.

    The dreamer in us sees what could be. The doer in us practices until it becomes real. And sometimes, all we need is faith that stillness will come.

    Practice
    If you want to capture your dream, prepare your heart and your craft before the light arrives. Keep learning, keep refining, and when the world quiets — act.

    Final Reflection
    Dreams don’t come to the impatient. They come to those who wait, who watch, who trust their settings.
    The castle may belong to Disneyland, but the reflection — that belongs to every dreamer who believes.

    Pocket I’m Keeping
    Dreams start in the heart, but patience brings them into focus. ✨

    Photo Caption (BTS)
    📸 Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland — long exposure, reflection pond perfectly still under holiday lights.
    © Jet Mariano bottom right

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

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