Mortality vs Spirituality - Priorities for Success

Yesterday, in Institute, we watched a short TED talk which contrasted two types of desires. The first wants to build, to create, to innovate; and to change the world. The second wants to reflect, to learn, to understand; and to become a better person. "Adam One asks how things work. Adam Two asks why we're here. Adam One's motto is 'Success.' Adam Two's motto is 'Love, Redemption, and Return.'"

I mostly identify with Adam Two. While I enjoy learning how things work, and love having success in my endeavors, most of my endeavors are spiritual and internal. I spend more time trying to become a better person than trying to become more employable. I'm more concerned with my afterlife than with my mortal life. Granted, both are important, but there's a certain question of priorities, and I favor attempts to advance my eternal progress over attempts to advance my mortal progress. This more long-term approach may pay off better in the long run, but in the meantime, my short-term condition is fairly miserable.

So, I have a problem with my priorities. I understand that many people have the opposite problem as I have - That they're so focused on worldly concerns that they neglect their spiritual needs, whereas I put so much focus on my spiritual concerns that I neglect my physical needs. Since both needs are, well, needs, they both deserve and require attention, and entirely focussing on either of them at the expense of the other is self-defeating and will lead to a great deal of hardship and pain. At least, that's what I think will happen. I don't actually know from experience yet.

It could be that I'm wrong about my priority problem actually being a problem. It could be that mortal life only matters in how it affects our spiritual lives, and that getting a well-rounded education and a well-paying job are relatively pointless in comparison to developing a strong testimony and increasing in wisdom. On the other hand, my priorities problem may be more critical than I thought. Perhaps how we spend our mortal lives, and how well we thrive in mortality will have a bigger impact on our spiritual lives than I currently think. Can you imagine God saying, when we reach our final judgement, "I wish you had completed your education and pursued a career in sociology"? I can. But then again, I have a pretty good imagination.

The reason I think God might care about how well we do in terms of the world's idea of success is because it directly relates to how much good we can do. The more money we earn, the more money we can invest in solving the world's problems. The more education we gain, the more we can use our knowledge to improve the lives of others. The more we create in terms of art or inventions, the more others can enjoy what we create. And thus, with a sufficient amount of what the world calls success, we can vastly improve the quality of life for millions of people all around the world, and that's a very good and worthwhile thing.

On the other hand, the reason I think God may not care at all about worldly success or the lack thereof is because of how temporary it is. I've heard of Earth life being described, from an eternal perspective, as barely a blink of an eye. If there was an infinitely long rope stretching forever in both directions, and you tied a thread around some point in the middle of the rope, that would be where mortality fits in in our eternal timeline. Anything we obtain from the Earth will be left behind when we die. Anything we build on the Earth will likely be destroyed at the Second Coming, if not sooner. And even if we spend our lives saving other people's lives, everyone is just going to die eventually anyway, so I really don't see the point in any of it.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be this depressing.

So, how much does worldly success matter, in the eternal scheme of things? Since life is so short, does how we spend our time here even matter at all? Then again, if this life didn't matter, why would God have put us here in the first place, and why does He care so much about people ending their own and/or other's lives early? Earth life must be important for something. I doubt that the purpose of life is acquisition, but could acquisition help us fulfill our purpose in life? Might it even be vital to fulfilling our purpose, whatever that purpose may be? To reiterate and expand upon Adam Two's question, Why are we here, and where does worldly gain fit in to why we're here?

Sadly, I don't have the answer to those questions, and I don't have time to explore them any further. I have to go get physically ready to do something that I consider spiritually important. As if I have any idea what's really important anymore.

Backtracking to Delicate Arch

I think part of the reason I forgot Elder Claudio D. Zivic's story about the piano player was because right after he shared that anecdote, he shared another one:

Several years ago I went to Arches National Park with my wife; our daughter, Evelin; and a family friend. One of the most famous arches there is called Delicate Arch. We decided to walk about 1.5 miles (2 km), climbing the mountain in order to reach the arch. 

We started off on our pathway with great enthusiasm, but after walking a short stretch, the others needed to rest. Because of my desire to get there, I decided to continue on alone. Without paying attention to the path I ought to take, I followed a man in front of me who seemed to be moving forward with great surety. The pathway became more and more difficult, and I had to jump from one rock to another. Because of the difficulty, I was sure the women in my group would never make it. Suddenly I saw Delicate Arch, but to my great surprise, I saw that it was in an area inaccessible to me. 

With great frustration, I decided to go back. I waited impatiently until we met up again. My immediate question was “Did you reach Delicate Arch?” They happily told me that they had. They explained that they had followed the signs showing the way, and with care and effort, they had reached their destination.

Later in the talk, he relates this to one's spiritual journey. Sometimes, we try to follow our own path, only to fined that it's not taking us where we want to go. In those situations, it's best to backtrack (to repent) as soon as possible, so we can get back onto the right path. Elder Zivic didn't reach Delicate Arch on the day this story took place, but I wonder if he might have had time to reach it if he had turned back when he reached the point where one would have to jump from one rock to another. That, in hindsight, was clearly not part of the trail that lead to Delicate Arch. Had he realized that then, and turned back immediately, might he have been able to find the correct path again and make it to Delicate Arch that day?

Heaven is our ultimate destination, and keeping God's commandments is the path we have to take to get there. Unfortunately, all of us fall off of that path from time to time. When that happens, we need to realize our mistakes as soon as possible, and repent and correct them. Sin slows down our spiritual progress, but it doesn't have to stop us from reaching our goal. If we repent and correct our course quickly enough, our mistakes won't even slow us down very much, and the lessons we learn from our mistakes can help us avoid making costly mistakes later down the road.

Satan is often very subtle, so when he succeeds in leading us astray, we might not even notice we've gone astray until we notice that God is no longer with us, and the going is a lot rougher without Him. As soon as we realize we're on the wrong path, we should begin making efforts to return to the right path to continue our spiritual progress. It may take us a while to learn that we need to repent, but the sooner we start that process, the better off we'll be. Elder Zivic might have reached the arch if he had turned back sooner, and it's not too late for us to reach our goals either.

The Shadows Flee

Last night, we watched The Saratov Approach, a movie about the experiences of two kidnapped missionaries and their families, and an episode of Once Upon a Time, a TV series in which storybook and fairytale characters are brought to the real world, and there's usually someone who uses dark magic causing trouble of some kind. In both stories, and I don't think it's a coincidence, they mentioned that light overpowers darkness. In addition, I started reading from the hymnal as part of my personal scripture study, and the first line of the first hymn in the book is, "The morning breaks, the shadows flee." It may be that someone is trying to tell me something.

Light eliminates (mild pun on illuminates) darkness. As soon as the light appears, the darkness disappears. From a scientific standpoint, this makes perfect sense because darkness is just the absence of light. This reminds me of something a devil taught in the fictional story, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, that hell is, essentially, everywhere God isn't. Earth can be hell, if we drive away the spirit of God. But Earth can also be heaven, if we do what it takes to always have the Spirit with us.

The Holy Ghost is a strong source of spiritual light, and those who have accepted and keep their baptismal covenants have the promise that the Holy Spirit may always be with them. When we have the Holy Ghost with us, the spiritual darkness that is in much of the world is driven away, making us less vulnerable to temptation, including the temptation to harbor negative thoughts and emotions. In other words, the darkness that is often so presence in the world is repelled by the light of the Spirit. "For while virtue, by choice, will not associate with filth, evil cannot tolerate the presence of light," Elder Boyd K. Packer, Inspiring Music-Worthy Thoughts.

So, if we find ourselves in places of darkness, or if we find any spiritual darkness within us, we can illuminate and destroy that darkness by holding on to spiritual light. We can replace evil thoughts with righteous ones, temptations to commit sin with righteous actions, the presence of tempting spirits with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and so forth. We don't have to remain in darkness, as long as we know how to access the light.

A Desire to Obey

This morning, I have as little or less time than I had yesterday, and it took me even longer to find something to blog about. This means that I have very little time for blogging right now. Hope the blog post turns out okay anyway.

The next Conference talk is Let's Not Take the Wrong Way by Claudio D. Zivic. At the very beginning of his talk, he shared an anecdote that I promptly forgot about because he immediately launched into another story.

Our five dear children play the piano, thanks to the motivation of my wife! When the teacher arrived at our home, our son Adrián would run and hide in order to skip his lesson. But one day something marvelous occurred! He began to love music so much that he continued practicing on his own. 

If we could reach that point in the process of our conversion, it would be marvelous. It would be wonderful to have a desire deep in our hearts to keep the commandments without anyone constantly reminding us and to have a firm conviction that if we follow the right path, we will have the blessings promised in the scriptures.

I have not reached that point just yet. I need frequent reminders and promptings to keep me on the straight and narrow path, and even with those helps, I sometimes make bad decisions. I think that the purpose of commandments isn't to control our actions as much as it is to change our hearts. When we keep God's commandments, we become more loving. When we love more, we have a greater desire to do good (and thus keep the commandments that tell us to do good). Eventually, our natures can change, and we'll someday reach the point where we keep the commandments because we want to the kinds of things we're commanded to do. Then, doing good will stop being an obligation that God is making us do before we can receive special blessings, but something we want to do just because we want to do them (and the promised blessings are a perk).

I'd love to reach that point in my conversion. Right now, I see keeping commandments as a way I can get on God's good side so He'll give me the blessings I feel I need. It's not a great motivation. I'd rather be the kind of person that does good just for the sake of doing good. And I think that's the kind of person God would want me to be anyway. Another thing to work on, I guess. In the meantime, I'll take whatever form of motivation I can get.

Elder Christofferson Defines Redeem

Today, we're doing community service, and I don't have much time for blogging, so I thought I'd just grab something quick off of Facebook. Apologies to everyone who has already seen it.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. He paid the spiritual debt that we should have been punished for - the debt that would have had us sent to hell. He delivered us from hell by paying that ransom. He redeemed us in both sense of the word.

It's hard to imagine what price He had to pay to redeem us. That mathematical estimation I did in Sunday morning (1¢ per Sin X One Sin per Day X 365 Days per Year X 50 years = $182.50) barely scratches the surface because many sins are more serious than a 1¢ debt, and I'd say almost all of us commit a few more than one minor sin per day, depending on how strict we're being with our definition of sin. Also, a lot of people live longer, and some shorter, than 50 years, so each person's actual sin debt varies, as if the debt of sin could even be quantified in a monetary value in the first place.

My point is that we owe a spiritual debt. By accepting the Redeemer's terms, we can pay our debt to Him basically by being Christians, or we can refuse His terms, decide to pay the debt ourselves, and there will literally be a hell to pay.

I'd write a little more, but I'm out of time. Happy Saturday!

If Ye Trust Me, Keep My Commandments

I was about to blog about obedience to commandments, specifically that we don't need to understand the reasons for God's commandments to know that we should obey them, citing that I have very little medical knowledge, but I know basic first aid thanks to the Boy Scout Handbook. For example, I'm still not sure what Shock is, but I know how to treat it. I don't know what the treatment does or how it works, but I'm pretty sure that it works. My hesitation in using that example to illustrate obedience to commandments is that my book, apparently, is outdated.

My copy of the Boy Scout Handbook recommends, as treatment for choking, a method that I've heard may make the victim's choking worse. This led to a brief discussion on how rapidly we update our medical knowledge, leading to the recommended methods being revised and updated frequently. I've taken a handful of CPR courses, and as far as I can remember, I don't think I've received the exact same instructions twice. So, what is the best way to treat someone who's choking or whose heart or breathing has stopped? I don't know. I haven't checked with the medical experts recently enough to be sure.

So, this may be a bad example of why we should obey God's commandments even if we don't understand them, but it's a terrific example of why we should obey God's commandments even if we don't understand them.

Human knowledge is limited, and our "wisdom" isn't always worth following. According to the wisdom of the world, there are many benefits to drinking Green Tea, but according to God's wisdom, there's at least one good reason not to drink it. I'm going to take God's word on this one, since He seems to have a better understanding of the world than we do.

I'm sure I've covered this topic before, but I think it's worth reminding myself that God's wisdom is much greater than mine. So even if I don't know why we were given a particular commandment, I can trust God and obey it because I know that He knows better than I do.

Born to be Awesome

There's more that I want to blog about from Elder Hale's talk, but this comes first.

This morning, I was checking out Facebook, looking for cute pictures, cool news stories, and inspirational sayings, like I normally am this time of day. I usually don't find anything blogworthy, or even shareworthy, but this morning, I found this.

What, you don't think this is blogworthy? Well, you're right - it's not up to my usual standard, but when I saw this, it just really deeply affected me for some reason. I think I'm supposed to share it.

God has a purpose for each of our lives. He's had that purpose lined up for us since before we were born. He knew what our talents were or would be, and He made sure we'd have the opportunities we'd need to excel at whatever He intended for us to do. When we take advantage of those opportunities and follow God's purpose for our lives, the results are awesome.

But sometimes we don't do that. Sometimes we don't see the opportunities when they come. Sometimes we get distracted or decide to do something else instead. Sometimes we forget that we were born to be awesome. And sometimes, we're not.

Thankfully, God believes in second chances and He is the master champion of taking lemons and making lemonade. Sometimes, I think of my life as being nowhere near wherever God originally wanted it to be (not that I have any idea where that might have been. I just know that I'm nowhere close to it). And sometimes, I think that there's no point in trying to follow God to wherever it is He wanted to take me because I just can't get there from where I am. But, even assuming there's anything God can't do, even assuming God can't make what I was born to be out of what I am now, He can still make something good out of me, if I choose to follow Him.

Deep down, I think (or at least hope) that it's never too late to make great progress. It's not too late for me to be awesome. God still has a plan for me. It's a Plan B, since I didn't really follow Plan A very well, but it's still one of God's plans, so I can trust that it'll work out for good results. God knows this wasn't how my life was supposed to go originally, but I still have something inside me that God can use, and He still has a plan to turn me into something awesome.

This time, I'm going to try to follow that plan. With His help (and I will need a lot of His help) I can still become awesome.

Ignoring Temptation

Nearly half of my notes from Elder Robert D. Hales' talk, "If Ye Love Me, Keep My Commandments," came from what he said within the first minute of his talk:

In the premortal Council in Heaven, Lucifer rebelled against Heavenly Father’s plan. Those who followed Lucifer ended their eternal progression—be careful who you follow! 

Then Jesus expressed His commitment to obey, saying, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” Throughout His ministry, “he suffered temptations but gave [them] no heed.”

There are many influences in this world, and some of them would lead us to evil. Jesus felt those influences, but He never yielded to them. He heard them, but He didn't listen to them. He "gave [them] no heed." Could it really be that simple? Can we resist temptations by simply ignoring them? I thought that successfully resisting temptation required a more active approach, driving out thoughts of sin with righteous thoughts and actions. Perhaps that is necessary for us, who have already given in to some temptations, but for those who reject temptations before they have a chance to take root, perhaps rejecting temptation is as simple as ignoring them. Or perhaps ignoring temptation implies choosing to think about something else instead.

It also may be worth pointing out that the spirits that tempt us are just spirits. They can't physically or mentally force us to do anything. They can't physically threaten us because, lacking bodies, they can't do any physical thing at all. All they can do is whisper to us. If we choose not to listen to them, they might as well not even be there. It's the same limitation as the Holy Ghost has. He may try to lead us down the path of righteousness, but if we don't listen to Him, He can't.

Though, both the Holy Ghost and the tempting spirits are persistent. If we don't actively drive them out, their whispering influence will likely get to us eventually. That's why it's important to actively choose righteous actions that will attract the Holy Spirit and repel the evil ones, rather than works of darkness, which do the opposite. Jesus always chose the right, which was why He always had the Holy Ghost with Him (apart from one brief period near the end of His life). The evil spirits that live in this world still attempted to tempt Him, but since He always ignored them, their temptations always failed.

It can be the same way with us. If we choose righteous actions, and resist the pull toward evil ones, the devil and his tempting spirits will be powerless against us, just as they were always powerless against Him.

Commercial Inspiration - Dove's Beauty Patch

Is this becoming a thing now? Inspiring, uplifting, eye-opening commercials? Commercials that change the way we look at the world? Is that how people are advertising their products now? Because if it is, I like it. And I think you'll like it, too.





I'm not sure if I need a beauty patch. A handsome patch, maybe, but I'm not sure I'm in Dove's target demographic. Maybe I could go to the drug store (or dollar store) and pick up some "awesome" patches. I could probably use a few of those.

Then again, maybe not. As this commercial demonstrates, those women didn't need any biochemical patch to help them feel beautiful. The magic that made them feel beautiful wasn't in the patches - it was in themselves. And what will make me feel awesome isn't in any superhero sticker - it's in me. It's all in our attitude and the way we look at ourselves. I think that's pretty cool.

And now I'm thinking that Dove is pretty cool, too.

Faith for the Faithful

There are two messages I'd like to pull from Elder Russell M. Nelson's Saturday Afternoon Session talk, Let Your Faith Show. One of them is on the same topic as the talk itself, letting your faith show. For that one, I don't think I yet have all the material I'd like to have in addressing that topic. I'll have to rewatch more Conference talks first, and also work on my own personal thoughts a little. The other message I wanted to share is derived from the following paragraph from Elder Nelson's talk:

We might each ask ourselves, where is our faith? Is it in a team? Is it in a brand? Is it in a celebrity? Even the best teams can fail. Celebrities can fade. There is only One in whom your faith is always safe, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I heard Elder Nelson say this in conference, I immediately thought that the best team is the one that God is on, the one that's currently in a spiritual battle against Satan and his team. God's team, the best team, will not fail. I also thought that the greatest celebrity ever (though this may stretch the definition of celebrity) is Jesus Christ. No other person who ever lived is known, respected, followed, and even idolized by as many people as Jesus Christ is. If Jesus can be called a celebrity, He is the greatest celebrity that ever lived, and you can be sure that His glory won't ever fade.

I think that it's important to remember that there are only a handful of people and things we can really put our faith on. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are immortal and perfect, and we can count on them. Most other people we know, however skilled or well-meaning thy might be, are mortal and imperfect, and will occasionally let us down. The doctrine of Jesus Christ is pure and true. We can rely on His teachings as a source of true knowledge and wisdom. Other sources of knowledge, wisdom, advice and ideas (including this blog) are flawed, and not always worth your belief. They're certainly not worth your unshaken faith, as God's commandments and prophesies are.

Many different people put their faith in different things. Some people turn to money for peace, recreation for happiness, and science for answers, and while those things can, or at least seem to, offer those things sometimes, they all occasionally fail, whereas faith in Jesus Christ provides such a source of those things as will not fail. The peace, happiness, and answers He offers us might be delayed, but they will come, and at least He won't distract us with false peace, false happiness, and wrong answers, as the others will. God is faithful. Therefore, He is deserving of our faith.

An Easter Testimony

In part because I don't have much time to blog this morning, as I have to go get ready for church pretty soon, and in part because it's Easter (Happy Easter, by the way), I decided that the most fitting thing to do this morning would be to share a nice, simple testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To help me with that, I was fortunate enough to find this image on Facebook.

This quote was given on April 6 of this year, and while April 6 is a special and sacred day for many reasons, Easter is plenty special and sacred, too, so I figure that the quote still fits for today. Plus, I'm sure Elder Bednar's testimony isn't dependent on what day it is, and neither is mine.

I love Jesus Christ. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. My Counsellor and my Friend. He heals, protects, and strengthens me. I have a strong desire to follow Him and His commandments because I know that He loves me and that He's trying to help me become the best person I can be. I want to become more like Him. And I know that through His help and guidance, I can become more like Him. With His help, I can reach my full potential and become a greater, wiser, and in all other ways better person than I can currently imagine myself being. Because of what He and His Father have taught me through their prophets and apostles, I know I have the potential to become just as wonderful as They are, and that helps me to feel that there's at least one worth-while purpose to my life. We all can become as kind and loving as our Savior, and the attempt to reach that potential is reason enough to make life worth living. I've once heard that the whole idea of Mormonism is improvement, and that sounds like a pretty good purpose to me. But I'm getting off topic.

I know that Jesus lives. I don't know it because I'm a personal witness of it (because I'm not one), but because sources that I trust are. I know it's true because they know it's true, and that's good enough for me. There is also the matter of the internal witness, prompted by the testimony of the Holy Ghost. I know in my heart that Jesus that He lives and that He loves each of us. I hope that you have such a testimony. If not, I hope you get one today. Today is a good day for testimonies.

Listening to Spirits

Every once in a while, I find myself being sort of half way to thinking about blogging about something, just because I have to blog about something, when suddenly, I have a jaw-droppingly eye-opening revelatory event, which I feel that I just HAVE to blog about right away. Elder Nelson can wait another day or two. Right now I need to blog about a tree.

Just a few minutes ago, I was getting some breakfast and quoting a Disney movie to myself (which is what I do sometimes when I talk to myself), and it suddenly struck me how much truth was in what I was quoting. In Disney's 1995 film, Pocahontas, the title character tells a sentient tree a dream she had had about a spinning arrow, and this conversation (taken from Wikiquote) followed:

Grandmother Willow: Hmm. Well, it seems to me, this spinning arrow is pointing you down your path.
Pocahontas: But, Grandmother Willow, what is my path? How am I ever going to find it?
Grandmother Willow: Your mother asked me the very same question.
Pocahontas: She did? What did you tell her?
Grandmother Willow: I told her to listen. All around you are spirits, child. They live in the earth, the water, the sky. If you listen, they will guide you.

The mind-blowing thing is that there are spirits all around us, and they are trying to guide us. I don't know about them being in the earth, water, and sky, and I highly doubt that all spirits are trying to guide us down the same path, but I do believe that there are spirits around us, and that many of them are trying to guide us each down our the path that God has laid out for us. They trouble that they face is that all they can do is whisper. They need us to listen intently, and to listen to the right spirits rather than the wrong ones.

It's comforting to think that we're not alone in the world, and that when we need guidance, we can get it if we listen. I, like Pocahontas, would like to know what my path is. Perhaps I should follow Grandmother Willow's advice and listen.

President Eyring's Pamphlet

I was about to skip President Henry B. Eyring's Saturday Morning message, A Priceless Heritage of Hope, because I couldn't remember what was so good about it, but then I checked my notes and was reminded that he had said this:

Whoever you are and wherever you may be, you hold in your hands the happiness of more people than you can now imagine. ... Wherever you are on the path to inherit the gift of eternal life, you have the opportunity to show many people the way to greater happiness.

Then President Eyring told a story about how his great grandfather became a penniless orphan, moved to St. Louis, found a pamphlet written by Parley P. Pratt, and became a Mormon. This blessed not only the life of President Eyring's great grandfather, whose name was Heinrich Eyring, but also the lives of his family members, including President Eyring. President Eyring went on to become an Apostle, giving many talks in many General Conferences, improving thousands (if not millions) of people's lives, including mine. As a penniless orphan, Heinrich Eyring could never have known that his life would go on to bless the lives of millions.

There is, I believe, a sort of ripple effect. Whenever we do something, it never only affects just us. Just as Heinrich Eyring never knew how many people he'd end up influencing, the same could be said of whoever left Elder Pratt's pamphlet wherever Heinrich found it, whether that was in a garbage can or on a pedestal in a library. Over the past year, I've left hundreds of blog posts scattered across the archives of the internet. Could it be that even one person might convert to Mormonism as a result of having read one of my posts? Could one of my blog posts later be read and taken to heart by a future Apostle? (Somehow, that makes me even more subconscious about my frequent typographical errors, not to mention my desire to write blog posts that are inspiring.)

And bloggers and pamphlet writers aren't the only people who have immeasurable influence on the world. Think of mothers, for crying out loud! They each raise a handful of children (some, multiple hands full) which then go on to influence their friends, classmates, coworkers, and children, who the go on to influence their friends, classmates, coworkers, and children, and it never stops! Granted, the amount of influence a person has on their classmates and coworkers tends to be limited. Their influence on their friends is usually greater. But the influence a person has on their children is usually very strong. I think mothers deserve most of the credit for almost all of the good in the world.

What's important is that we remember to use our influence (once we've acknowledged that we actually have an influence) to improve the happiness of others.

I could write sad poetry. I could write depressing stories. I could rant for days about the apparent meaninglessness of life, or forward the semi-logical arguments of atheists who make youtube videos. In all honesty, I've seen a few atheistic youtube videos that I've been tempted to blog about. But I don't. I don't try to spread misery or plant doubts, especially not on my blog. Why not? Because I'd rather spread happiness and plant faith, especially in myself. If I'm going to have any influence on others, I'd want it to be an influence for good.

President Eyring said that we hold the happiness of an unimaginable number of people in our hands, and I believe him. If that's true, then we each have an unimaginable amount of influence for good in the world. Let's not let it go to waste. Let's not pass up opportunities to enrich other peoples' lives, and let's especially try not to spread misery and pain. (Though, if you do have pain, it might still be good to talk about it. Healing is a very beneficial thing, for both those who are healed and for the healers.)

We can all do our part to make the world a better place. And who knows? Maybe one of us will share the pamphlet that inspires the next President Eyring.

P.S. I'm so glad I chose not to skip this talk.

Whirlwinds of Adversity

In the rant I didn't share yesterday, I asked myself why life has challenges, and part of the reason, I already knew, is to make us stronger. Trying to pull myself back into the short-lived habit of blogging from General Conference talks, I want to share a quote from Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk, Spiritual Whirlwinds, which spoke on this subject.

In nature, trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds whip around a young sapling, forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread farther. Second, the forces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexible to the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure to return.

Like those trees, we grow stronger as we face and overcome adversity in all its forms. God's purpose in making life as hard as it is isn't because He enjoys watching us suffer, but because He wants us to grow, and facing tough challenges may be the only way we can do that. Life is hard, not because God doesn't really love us, but because He really loves us.

You are infinitely more precious to God than a tree. You are His son or His daughter. He made your spirit strong and capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life. The whirlwinds in your youth, like the wind against a young tree, can increase your spiritual strength, preparing you for the years ahead.

It is because of God's great love for us that He is willing to face short-term hardship, knowing that the results will be, or at least can be, long-term strength. He has the patience and spiritual fortitude to look past our brief pain to the goal of our eternal glory. He knows that the realization of that goal is worth nearly any sacrifice, so according to His wisdom, which I admitted yesterday is greater than mine, it's in my best interest to have a few challenges in my life. Joy. (That "joy" was sarcastic, by the way.)

Adversity isn't a desirable experience, and the scriptures admit that. Hebrews 12:11 reads, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." In other words, yeah, adversity stinks, but if it helps us be better people, it's worth it. God knows that better than anyone, so He throws at us as much adversity as we can handle, knowing that facing adversity will help us grow to become more like Him.

I don't really enjoy facing challenges, but I don't really enjoy feeling weak, either. Every time I make a decision, I either try to avoid the challenge and endure the weakness or I face the challenge and reduce my weakness. The latter sounds much more noble and rewarding, so it really should be a no-brainer, but facing challenges is, by definition, hard. I guess that's the point. If it wasn't hard to face adversity, then facing adversity wouldn't make us stronger, and there would really be no point to it. I have to face my challenges and gain strength through overcoming them. It's the only way for me, or anyone, to achieve the destiny God has lain out for us - joy. (And I'm not being sarcastic this time.)

The Choice of Obedience

I tried to blog this morning, but it ended up being a rant - too long to be worth reading, too angry to be spiritual, and too personal to share. Ergo, I'm going to try to find something slightly inspirational on Facebook or Youtube, share it, comment on it, and call that my blog post for today.

While looking for an image/quote to blog about, I found an image/quote I said I'd eventually blog about. Go figure.

Whenever I don't know what to do, I try to find out what God wants me to do - not because I'm a mindless automaton, which I'm not, or because I desperately need guidance, which I do, but because God wants what's best for me and He knows how I can get it, even when I don't even know what's best for me, let alone how to get it. Essentially, I trust His judgment much more than I trust my own.

Elder Perry also mentioned power as part of the equation. I'm not sure how God's omnipotence fits in with our choice to be obedient, unless it's that when we choose to do what He asks, He often helps us, enabling us to do more than what we could do with our limited power on our own. Or in other words, we achieve more when we follow God than when we try to do things our own way, and that makes sense just from a teamwork standpoint, even without considering that the other member of this team is God.

Obedience is a choice between what we want to do and what God wants us to do, which is sometimes a difficult choice to make, especially in the moment. What we need to remember is that what we want isn't always what's best for us, but God is wise enough to know what's best for us and is kind enough to give us the directions we need. His suggestions/commandments may not be popular or appreciated, but they're always the right decisions to make and they're far less likely to lead to regrets.

The Leaf - A Lesson in Less-Subtle Temptations

Yesterday, I told you that this morning, I'd be blogging about Spiritual Whirlwinds, but right now, I want to blog about something else.

A few days ago, I saw a leaf floating a foot or so above the ground, twirling in the breeze, but never falling to the ground. At first, I was curious about this anomaly, and almost went to take a closer look, but then I realized what it was - the leaf was suspended in a spider's web. As I walked away from the window, I thought about how the leaf gave an obvious indication of the presence of the web, yet I was still drawn toward it anyway. You would think that remaining invisible would have given the web a better chance of catching its prey, or at least tricking me into walking into it, but it turned out that curiosity was almost an effective bait.

Because of Satan, we are frequently faced with temptations, which usually rely on subtlety and non-detection to catch unsuspecting victims, But sometimes, even when non-detection fails, the traps still manage to catch some of us because we grow curious about them. Some people have "experimented" with alcohol, smoking, drugs, and pornography despite knowing that these things are generally considered vices and are frequently addicting. We know that the webs are there, and we know that they're webs, and yet there's still some pull to go toward them.

Granted, once I realized that the leaf in the web was a leaf in a web, my desire to approach it diminished, but with the webs meant to catch us, that's not always the case. People see others that are smoking, drinking, and generally "having a good time," and are drawn to that lifestyle, despite those choices' known drawbacks. Satan's traps are often sneaky, but they can still be effective when they're lying in plain sight. I plainly saw the leaf, and didn't want to be the leaf, but if I thought the leaf was having fun in the web (and its twirling did look kind of fun), and I thought I could have fun by hanging onto the web, too, I might have been tempted by it. And right now, I'm thinking that that's pretty scary.

Satan has devoted his life to tempting others to commit sin, and he has gotten pretty good at it. Subtlety is a favorite method of his, but when that fails, he piles on the bait. Sometimes he piques our interest with offers of fun or pleasure, and sometimes it's mere curiosity that draws us in. In either case, we need to see his temptations for the traps they are, and avoid them, no matter how fun or interesting they look.

Habits and Benefits of a Christ-Focussed Home

This morning's talk is Protection From Pornography--A Christ-Focussed Home, by Sister Linda S. Reeves. As I rewatched the talk this morning, I tried to look for something I could share here on my blog, knowing that it's not likely that many of the people that I know read my blog struggle with pornography. (Incidentally, if you do struggle with pornography, you may want to read the full talk. There's a link to it above.) Fortunately, I found a paragraph containing wise counsel that pertains not only to pornography, but to other challenges as well. Sister Reeves testified: 

Brothers and sisters, because I know from my own experiences, and those of my husband, I must testify of the blessings of daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening. These are the very practices that help take away stress, give direction to our lives, and add protection to our homes. Then, if pornography or other challenges do strike our families, we can petition the Lord for help and expect great guidance from the Spirit, knowing that we have done what our Father has asked us to do.

 Daily prayer and scripture study is, thankfully, a practice that has been in place in my home as long as I can remember. Family home evening is a little harder, since we're not always all home on the same evenings. But it has always been somewhat strengthening to me to walk passed Mom's room in the evening, and see her kneeling in prayer or hear her listening to the scriptures on her computer. It's good to know where she gets her spiritual power, and it serves as an example to me of how I can gain spiritual power as well. Our prayers aren't always spectacular, and we don't always understand everything we read in the scriptures, but just by having that daily routine, I think we gain some of the spiritual blessings that Sister Reeves listed.

Prayer, scripture study, and family home evening help families increase their spirituality and unity. They build a foundation of faith that can be a strength to us when trials and temptations come. Tomorrow morning, I'll be blogging from Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk, Spiritual Whirlwinds, and I'm sure I'll have more to say about the importance and benefits of strong foundations then, but for now, what I want to teach is how to build one, and that it's not too late to start.

With Sister Reeves, "I cannot [fully] explain the power of this great book [the Book of Mormon]. I only know that, coupled with prayer, the Book of Mormon carries the power to protect families, strengthen relationships, and give personal confidence before the Lord." I want to develop the habit of reading it more frequently and studying it more deeply. I want to learn more from it and absorb more of its spiritual power. I know that, by doing so, I can gain the strength to overcome my personal challenges, and so can you. Daily prayer and scripture study isn't always easy. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice sleep or recreational activities for it. But as you give your time to the Lord, He will give His promised blessings to you, and those are blessings that are worth spending the time it'll take to get them.

The Sting of Death

I don't know if this is a coincidence or really good timing on God's part, but last night, I saw a production showing the scenes that followed Christ's resurrection, and this morning, I read and listened to Elder Carlos H. Amado's talk, Christ the Redeemer, which talked about Jesus' power over death.

In light of those two inspiring messages, death doesn't seem so bad as we often think it is. When we die, we lose our bodies, but we get them back, better than ever, when we're resurrected. When we die, we become separated from our loved ones, but we'll be reunited in heaven. When we die, we're forced to leave this beautiful earth, but even the lowest kingdom of heaven, the telestial kingdom, in which are found "liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers" (D&C 76:103), is described as having glory "which surpasses all understanding" (D&C 76:89), so even the worst place any of us might end up when we die will be better than here (unless one of us manages to pull off a sin at the same level as Judas Iscariot, which I'm pretty sure would be impossible for any of us).

Thanks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, most of the pains of death are only temporary, apart from the probably permanent move from one place to another, and thanks to the mercy and goodness of our Heavenly Father, the place we will move to will, in all likelihood, be much better than here. The worst pain of death that remains is the temporary separation from our loved ones, but like all trials of mortality, as soon as it has ended, we will have the perspective to see that it really wasn't so bad as it felt. Death may seem frightening, painful, and tragic now, but in reality, it is but a passing from one world to another. And the world to which it takes our loved ones, and to which it will eventually take us, is glorious beyond all description. "And the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ" (Mosiah 16:8).

Live to Serve

This morning, I listened to Elder Ronald A Rasband's talk, The Joyful Burden of Discipleship, in which he spoke about a tornado which tore through part of Oklahoma and gave many people opportunities to serve one another. His talk was mostly about how we should be ready to serve each other, but as I heard his message for the first time, I came away with a different message.

Elder Rasband spoke of a young woman named Tori who had miraculously survived the tornado, and later had been given a blessing by Elder Rasband, who said in his talk, "I counseled Tori to remember the day when a servant of the Lord laid his hands on her head and pronounced that she had been protected by angels in the storm."

I wrote down in my notes that Tori had been saved from the tornado because God loves her and He has a work for her to do. It occurred to me then that God also loves me and that He has a work for me to do, and since I don't know exactly what that work is, I'm probably not doing it, and I need to do something about that.

Since then, I've thought about my purpose in life, mostly wondering what it is. My Patriarchal Blessing doesn't spell out what my purpose is, but it does mention that I'll have many opportunities to serve, and to be honest, that sounds like about as good of a purpose in life as I could ask for. One thing that I enjoy doing and feel capable of doing is serving and helping others. I don't think I have any special talent in any given area, but I feel good inside whenever I lend a helping hand.

Helping others sounds too vague to be anyone's purpose in life, but it seems like a good place to start, and whether this is a coincidence or not, it matches up pretty nicely with the rest of Elder Rasband's talk, in which he quoted President Thomas S. Monson as having said:

We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children.

I don't know if that's the reason I was born, but it sounds like a good thing to do regardless, so I'm going to try to take those words to heart and try to serve others more frequently and more diligently. It may or may not be my purpose in life, but I'm reasonably certain that if multiple prophets and apostles ask us to serve each other, it's probably a good idea.

Legalization - Hint of Advocacy?

As I promised yesterday, I will now launch into a political discussion on the legalization of drugs. But first, a little bit of backstory.

My first opinion of the legalization vs banning of various drugs was something along the lines of "whatever." People are free to make their own choices. As long as they're not hurting other people, what does it matter to me?If they want to do drugs, let them. But then I realized that people are really hurting themselves with drugs. Drugs cause tragic problems, and I want to protect the people that would use them - even from themselves. So, a part of me wants to take drugs off the streets so as to protect potential drug-users from themselves and from the people who would exploit them. But is it really my place to do that?

On an individual level, it's not my place to govern the moral choices of others. But as a member of society, I have the responsibility to try to improve society, and I think society would be much better off without drugs. This topic and a few others were the subject of a conversation I had recently with a person I had met on my mission. He explained that making a thing illegal is to create an illegal business for it. Drugs still exist, even when they're illegal, and people are still going to grow, sell, buy, and use them, even if they could be arrested for it. Illegalization doesn't work. But what's the alternative? Legalize drugs, but bring them into the light. Make sure they're manufactured safely, make sure people know the side-effects and alternatives, and stop fueling the black market narcotic monopoly.

The person who argued that point did so much better than I did just now, mostly because he seemed to honestly believe it was a good idea, and so did I... until I heard Elder Holland's talk.

So if love is to be our watchword, as it must be, then by the word of Him who is love personified, we must forsake transgression and any hint of advocacy for it in others. Jesus clearly understood what many in our modern culture seem to forget: that there is a crucial difference between the commandment to forgive sin (which He had an infinite capacity to do) and the warning against condoning it (which He never ever did even once).

I repeat for emphasis, "We must forsake transgression and any hint of advocacy for it in others." Partaking of drugs is, according to Mormonism, some level of transgression. I don't know if it's strong enough to be called a "sin," but I'm pretty darn sure God doesn't want us to do it. So, if I'm interpreting this correctly, I have a moral responsibility to discourage the use of drugs - to "forsake... any hint of advocacy for it." Does voting for something to be legal count as advocating for it?

At first, that sounds like a stupid question. If a politician voted for something, it would be considered a clear indication of advocacy for it. Why should it be any different for us? I strongly believe that people shouldn't use drugs. I don't advocate for drugs, as I understand that term. But still, do I have any right to protect someone from themselves? Do I have a right to force people to not take drugs? If that's not something that I think I should do, even if I had the power to do it, then why should I give police the power and responsibility to do it? I can't stop others from taking drugs, and I probably shouldn't, even if I could.

But that doesn't mean that I'm in favor of drugs. I still hate them. I hate what they do to people. I wish that they didn't exist. If I could get rid of such drugs, I probably would (which essentially amounts to the same thing as forcing people not to do drugs, but it sounds less controlling this way). Does that mean I should vote against the legalization of drugs? It wouldn't really do any good to make drugs illegal, since people are going to do them anyway. If anything, illegalizing drugs will make the partaking of drugs more dangerous and harmful to the people who are going to do drugs either way, and it'll put more money into the hands of people who are actively working against the law. In light of that, it makes sense to legalize drugs and bring them into the light, but that would probably constitute a "hint of advocacy" for something I believe is a transgression, so I should actually vote against it, even though I don't think it's right to force my moral beliefs on other.

To be honest, if I had to vote for or against the legalization for drugs right now, I'd have to pray really hard about it, and then probably flip a coin.

The Greatest Need

Just after the always-short introduction to Conference from the prophet, the first full-length talk of General Conference  was The Cost - And Blessings - of Discipleship, by Elder Jeffrey R Holland. Elder Holland is always a powerful speaker. He usually covers heavy topics, and he is almost always very bold in his speaking. This Conference, he spoke of Jesus Christ and His prophets and followers being persecuted because of their message, and of our need to "Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them." But for the purpose of this blog post, I would like to focus on a single paragraph from near the end of his talk.

Christlike love is the greatest need we have on this planet in part because righteousness was always supposed to accompany it. So if love is to be our watchword, as it must be, then by the word of Him who is love personified, we must forsake transgression and any hint of advocacy for it in others. Jesus clearly understood what many in our modern culture seem to forget: that there is a crucial difference between the commandment to forgive sin (which He had an infinite capacity to do) and the warning against condoning it (which He never ever did even once).

First of all, the first sentence of that paragraph needs to be a meme. It probably already is.

Well, how about that?

I could, and probably should, write a blog post just about that before moving on to the next topic I wanted to discuss from that paragraph. I had an idea for what I wanted to blog about today, but now I feel that I should give that sentence its own blog post, so I will. I was going to initiate a semi-political discussion about the legalization of immoral activities VS the attempts to stamp out sin through the use of (legal) force, but I guess I can save that for tomorrow.

It's interesting that Elder Holland said that Christlike love is our greatest need. Not food. Not water. Not even air. I suppose that that could be because we (as a planet) already have sufficient amounts of food, water, and air, by we (again, looking at the global scale) suffer from a deficit of love. Many people do not love themselves, their God, or their neighbors as much as they should, and we could all stand to feel more love from others. Human hearts were made to feel and share love, but for many people, that doesn't happen nearly enough, and there seems to be only one solution to that problem.

Love travels in a circle. It passes from person to person, eventually coming back to each person who helped it along. We spread love by being righteous; by being kind, generous, caring, and supportive, we show our love for other people, and by being righteous and faithful, we show our love for God. In return, God showers His love upon us, and the people to whom we've shown love usually tend to pay it back or pay it forward. Essentially, one way to receive more love from God and others is to show more love for God and others. This will increase the amount of love in the world, and since most true expressions of love are righteous actions, it'll improve the world's overall righteousness as well. And with the increase of righteousness, there will be an increase of blessings (God's expressions of His love for us) for everyone. This makes love a sort of perpetual motion machine, continuously recycling all the love that's put into it.

But like all perpetual motion machines, this process sounds great in theory, but in reality it takes some effort to keep it going. Some people don't express as much love as they receive. In fact, when we take into account all the love God shows us in the form of the many wonderful blessings He gives us, including the gift of the Atonement, the promise of resurrection, and even our own lives, I'd be surprised if any human being expressed that much love, for God or for anyone. According to the laws of thermodynamics, when energy is transfered from one object to another, some of that energy is almost always lost in the process. As God transfers love to us and we transfer love to each other, there are going to be times when some of that love "goes to waste." As people express less and less love for each other (mostly by being unrighteous despite being blessed), God is morally obligated to show less and less love for us by withholding blessings, leading to the deficit of Christlike love, the filling of which has become our greatest need.

The solution is for each of us to try to share with others as much love as we receive. We won't succeed because the more we show love for others, the more love God will show for us, and we just can't dish out as much love as He can. But we can try. And the more we try to share as much love as we receive, the more love there will be in the world, which will translate to more righteousness, which will be answered by more blessings, which translates into more love. It's a perpetual energy machine, made possible by a God who unvaryingly gives out more love than He receives, and it is, in my opinion, one possible way for us to fill what, in Elder Holland's opinion, is our greatest need.

From Strong to Unstoppable

Back to Conference. As I was watching the General Women's Meeting, I heard two quotable sayings that seemed to contradict each other. The first quote came from President Rosemary M. Wixom's talk, Keeping Covenants Protects Us, Prepares Us, and Empowers Us, "As individuals, we are strong. Together with God, we are unstoppable."

The second quote came from President Henry B. Eyring's talk, Daughters in the Covenant:

Heavenly Father taught you before you were born about the experiences you would have as you left Him and came to earth. You were taught that the way back home to Him would not be easy. He knew that it would be too hard for you to make the journey without help.

It's that last sentence I wanted to focus on. Putting those two thoughts together, we need help, but with that help, we're unstoppable. Without God's help, we're strong, but apparently not strong enough. This bothers me because it leaves me with the question "How strong can we really be if we can't make it successfully through life without God's help?" Then I realized that my miscalculation might not be in my measurement of our strength, but in my estimate of the difficulty of our task. One could just as easily ask themselves, "How strong can I really be if I can't even pick up a cement truck?"

Strong is a relative term. If a person had enough strength to roll a sedan over, I'd call them strong, even if they didn't have the muscle to lift the car off the ground. Perhaps we are incredibly strong (extremely subtle reference to the Incredible Hulk, a superhuman known for his immeasurable strength, or perhaps to Mr Incredible, whose super-power is also strength), but the burden of life is phenomenally heavy (no reference; I just needed an adjective more extreme than "incredibly"). It is possible that we're very strong - just not quite strong enough, and we need God to help us make up the difference.

Or perhaps it isn't a question of strength at all. We may be strong enough to do anything we set our minds to, but that doesn't mean we'll know what to do. We may be strong enough to resist temptations and choose the right, but are we wise enough to recognize temptations and make the right choices? It may not be a question of will-power, but wisdom. If so, we have a problem.

Traditionally, wisdom comes from experience, and even the most experienced of us only have a few decades of experience behind them (as far as any of us can remember), whereas God has had an eternity of experience, and probably remembers just about all of it. That's why we have so little wisdom, whereas His wisdom is infinite.

So, it may be that our difficulties in passing the trials and tests of life isn't in having too little strength, but in having too little wisdom. It could be that we're incredibly strong, but even having all the strength in the world wouldn't really help us without sufficient wisdom. Perhaps that's the kind of help that President Eyring said we'd need.

But here's the good news - When we combine God's infinite wisdom with our incredible strength (plus some additional strength from God, if we need it), we will have the wisdom to know what to do AND the power to do it. In other words, "as individuals, we are [merely incredibly] strong, [but] together with God, we are unstoppable."

Additional Messages From James Chapter One

I'm (already) taking a short break from blogging about General Conference because my family just read a chapter of scriptures that are very blogworthy, and I want to blog about them before I forget why I wanted to blog about them.

James Chapter 1 is a part of scripture that's far more well-known in Mormonism than I'd guess it is in the rest of Christianity. The reason we like it especially is because verse 5 is the one that encouraged Joseph Smith to ask, in prayer, the question that led to the first vision of this dispensation, which formed what you could call the starting point of our religion. But as we read James 1 last night for family scripture study, I tried to look for other noteworthy scriptures in the chapter, besides verses 5 and 6, and I wasn't disappointed.

Verses 12-16 give us some good insight into temptation.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

Do not err, my beloved brethren.

In verse 12, the JST replaces the word "endureth" with "resisteth," but I think we all knew that that was what James meant. Verse 13 is interesting. "For God cannot be tempted with evil..." It's interesting to think of how far God must have come. Since God was once mortal, like us, He must have been subject to temptation back in His mortal days, just as we are now. This suggests to me that God has come so far in resisting temptation that it's no longer tempting to Him at all. I'm looking forward to reaching that point, personally. "...neither tempteth he any man." God may (and does) allow us to be tempted, but He isn't the one doing the actual tempting. Satan is.

Or is he? Verse 14 says that everyone is "drawn way of his own lust," suggesting that the person who's tempting us is ourselves. Yet, we know that Satan is a real being and that he is the Tempter, so what's this about our own lusts? I think that we each have our own carnal lusts and sinful desires, and that Satan uses those desires that are already within us to tempt us. At least, that my interpretation of this. I'm probably wrong.

And so it is that lust, our sinful desires, "bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." That is, spiritual death, or separation from God. In The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Doctor Faustus foolishly summons a devil named (Let's see if I can get this right the first time.) Mephastophilis (-checks my spelling- Yes!), and has a brief conversation with him about the nature of Hell. Doctor Faustus stated that he doesn't believe there is such a place as Hell. Mephastophilis insists that not only is there such a place and not only has he been there, he, Mephastophilis, has been damned to never leave it. Then Doctor Faustus asked how he had been able to summon a demon out of hell, to Earth, to have this conversation with him, and Mephastophilis answered in a sobering way:

Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?

Essentially, Mephastophilis's claim is that anyone who has been in heaven, in God's presence, (and remembers what it was like to be there) would consider it hell to be anywhere else. Our sins separate us from God, and unless we repent, we will continue to be separated from Him for all eternity. It's no wonder that James told his "beloved bretheren," "Do not err." in verse 16. Many of those who encourage others to repent do so out of concern for the welfare and happiness of those to whom they're speaking. An invitation to repent is, in many cases, an expression of love.

In the first chapter of his epistle, James teaches us a lot more than the truth that we can pray for wisdom if we feel we lack it. This is also the chapter from which we get "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (verse 27). So I guess my point is that while you may have some verses already highlighted in your scriptures, you should keep your eyes open for other insights that you might have missed in your first few readings. You might find more noteworthy scriptures in addition to what you already know is there.

Watching Gender-Specific Meetings

A week ago today, I watched the General Women's Meeting with my family for Family Home Evening. Now, some people might think it's not fitting for a guy like me to listen to talks given specifically for women, just as some people think it's not fitting for women to listen to talks meant for men, but Elder Dallin H. Oaks blew that concept out of the water in the first talk of this Conference's Priesthood Session, in which he told us (if I recall correctly) that he hopes some women will listen to his talk (which was really good, if slightly confusing. I'll probably blog about it later).

Anyhow, I like listening to the General Women's Meeting because the talks in that meeting are just as good as the talks in General Conference, but with a more specific focus. I feel the spirit more strongly in that meeting than in some sessions of Conference, and there's a deep feeling of unity and love among the sisters. Also, the music is really incredible.





These women know their identity as daughters of God. They draw comfort from the unity they feel as sisters. They know of their great worth as individuals. In fact, Individual Worth is one of the Young Women Values about which all Young Women in our church learn. Some women in the church are jealous of the power, authority, and responsibilities of the Priesthood. I'm jealous of THIS. I'm jealous that all the women in the church know that they are princesses, special, unique, and beautiful as flowers in the eyes of the loving God who created them. I'm jealous of the way these women must have felt as they sang this powerful, soul-stirring message of the beautiful nature of who they are.

In Priesthood meetings, we never talk about this. We never talk about how beautiful it is that God loves us and that we can be there for each other (unless one of us needs help moving furniture). It's not manly. It's not manly to feel the need to feel like you're part of a circle of love. Yes, we talk about brotherhood and unity, but we talk about it in terms of being a mighty army of strong, courageous men. We never talk about the fact that this brotherhood makes us a family. We talk about putting our shoulders to the wheel to push the work forward, never about providing a shoulder for a heartbroken loved one to cry on. We're too macho for all that touchy-feely stuff.

Except that I'm not. I loved hearing this song, not just for the amazing sound layering of the three age sections, but also for the sense of belonging and family ties it makes me feel toward my family, other members of this church, and my Heavenly Father. These women know their identity and their place in God's plan. I want that. I want to feel like I'm part of His eternal family. I want to feel like I'm part of a group of people who love and care for each other. I want to learn how to comfort others and I want to know people I can turn to when I need someone to comfort me. These women are lucky to be part of such a strong group of sisters.

Now, I don't want to blur gender lines with what I'm about to say, but I think that all people, both men and women, have both masculine and feminine traits. Some men have the hearts of women, and some women have the strength of men. I'm guessing that may be part of the reason why some people become confused about what gender they should be and what gender they're attracted to. They see traits in themselves and others that don't match the gender stereotypes and they mistake personal complexity for some kind of genetic accident. "Men don't have such strong feelings, therefore, I must be a woman." I know that I'm not a woman and that I was never meant to be one. I am a man, but I also I have a few feminine traits, such as a love for beautiful music and messages about individual worth.

I think that there's a reason that both the General Women's Meeting and the Priesthood Session of General Conference are made available to everyone, even though they're specifically made for women and men, respectively. I think those meetings speak mostly toward people with feminine or masculine traits, respectively, and though men are usually more masculine and women are usually more feminine, we each have within us a little bit of both. So, I invite my fellow men to listen to the General Women's Meeting and I invite women to listen to the Priesthood Session of General Conference. Eternal, non-gender-specific truths are taught in both of those meetings, and there might just be something in there that speaks to you. I've certainly heard at least one message in that meeting that spoke pretty strongly to me.

How to Drink From a Fire Hose

Between sessions of General Conference yesterday, there was a frequently repeated commercial (that's not really the right word for it - they weren't selling anything) that basically said that the effects of General Conference are meant to last longer than just for Conference weekend. One of the main quotes that was shared during that "commercial" was from Elder Robert D. Hales from last Conference:

The greatest blessings of general conference come to us after the conference is over. Remember the pattern recorded frequently in scripture: we gather to hear the words of the Lord, and we return to our homes to live them.

In other words, the greatest blessings of Conference come not as we hear the inspiring messages, but as we follow the inspired counsel.

Right now, at this moment, I can barely remember what was said in a few of the amazing talks we heard yesterday, let alone all of them. My sister-in-law, Teresa, related the experience of trying to absorb the messages of General Conference to trying to drink out of a fire hose. I got wet and it knocked me off my feet, but I can't say that I really got a lot to drink. My plan right now is to let that fire hose fill up a swimming pool, and I'll spend the next month or two drinking out of that.

About a year ago, shortly after I first started my daily blogging, I spent most mornings re-watching General Conference talks and blogging about what I learned. I plan to do that again this year, as I should have done six months ago. That should give us all enough time to absorb, reflect upon, and apply the inspired counsel we have been and will be given. I'm not sure wether the videos for the individual talks are up yet. I'd be very surprised if the text was. But there are one or two blog posts I can pull out of the General Women's Meeting while we're waiting for the other sessions to become available as well.

So, that's my general plan for blogging for the next month or two. I still have a list of a few blog ideas, and I haven't given up on trying to blog about toucans, either. Maybe I'll hold on to those and slip them in when I feel like I need to take a brief break from Conference (and/or when I find something blogworthy about toucans). So, if you like General Conference, look forward to the next month or two of blog posts, because that's what I'm going to focus on for the time being.

Quotes and Impressions in Conference Notes

General Conference is almost about to start, and I have one piece of advice. Assuming that you've already heard the counsel to come prepared with questions and plenty of note-taking paper, there's one thing I'd advise you on concerning those notes you'll be taking (and I have to give this advice because I need to hear it, too) - Don't try to copy down quotes.

Yes, the Prophets and Apostles say some very quotable things, and when we quote them, we should try to get their words exactly right, but honestly, just wait a few days. All the great quotes (along with the rest of the talks) will be available on LDS.org just a few days after the Conference is over. It might be a good idea to make note of quotes you want to look up later, just so you don't forget about them, but don't think that you have to copy each good quote in your notes word for word. It's my experience that when I try to copy exact quotes in General Conference, I miss part of the talk from which I'm quoting, and the part I miss may include a joke (they've been known to say humorous things at Conference) or, more importantly, a message that would trigger a spiritual impression.

Which brings me to what (in my opinion) we should put in our notes: Spiritual Impressions. Though the exact words of General Conference will be preserved forever and are available, if I'm not mistaken, to everyone who wants to look them up, and even the video footage will be kept and preserved, and available both on LDS.org and on Youtube, so you can even remember how they said what they said, two things that will not be preserved is how you felt when you heard their messages for the first time, and the thoughts that came into your mind as you opened your heart to the influence of the spirit. That is, they won't be preserved unless you write them down.

When I sit in conference, I'm tempted to write down summaries of the messages the Apostles share, including their memorable, inspiring, and profound quotes, but this time, I'm going to try to ignore those (apart, perhaps, from making notes to look up good quotes later). Instead, I'm going to reflect inward and try to recognize and record the messages the Spirit has for me, personally. Everything else I might have written down can be found on the internet later. What I want to put in my notes this Conference are the things that I otherwise might lose.

So, that's my advice for Conference this time, in addition to, you know, actually attending General Conference and trying to pay attention. These spiritual impressions may be things you get only once. Try to record them so you can hold on to them. Try to make them last.

Come and see. Join Us for General Conference

"The Best Armor..."

Last night, I had a conversation with my brother about the progression of offensive and defensive technologies through the ages, observing that there were never really any cheap, defensive technologies that could match up to the offensive capabilities of their day, but then my brother said "distance," and explained that as long as you can stay out of your enemies range (which usually doesn't cost much to do), your defense is unbeatable. That reminded me of a quote I had heard a few days before, "The best armor is to keep out of range." I couldn't remember who had said it, and I didn't really think much of it until Mom, who had joined our conversation, suggested that that phrase might sometimes apply to spiritual battles as well. Hence, I present to you this blog post, which could not have been possible without input from all three of us.

Picture a map of your home town or neighborhood as a battlefield. Most of the map is neutral territory (or no-man's-land, if you want to put a negative spin on it), but you'll find several spots on that map that have been claimed by God as His territory, and many spots that have been claimed by the devil as his. Gods territory includes most churches and church-owned buildings, and Satan's territory includes such places as seedy bars, strip clubs, casinos, and adult shops. Also claimed as either God's or the devil's territory are most homes. Some homes are places where God's Spirit is invited and welcome, and other homes are places where the Spirit wouldn't feel very comfortable. In essence, some places have greater light, and some places have greater darkness, and the moral of the story is Avoid the Places of Darkness.

But that's not always possible. What if you pass by such a place on your way to work or school every day? And because most of the map is unclaimed, we all spend a lot of time in no-man's-land. How do we protect ourselves then? Well, in those cases, trying to get to a safe distance from the temptation isn't really an option, especially as most temptations come as surprise attacks or stealthy infiltration, so the temptation is right before us by the time we become aware of it. In those cases, we need to be quick enough to get away from it, or resilient enough to resist it - preferably both.

The good news is that we can increase our defense by frequently visiting places of strength. When we spend time in places of light, some of that light rubs off on us, which can add an extra layer of protection to help us recognize, avoid, resist, and escape temptation. Most people go to church every week. That's a good start. Some people go to the temple frequently - every week, as their schedules admit. I highly recommend that. If you find ways to cultivate the Spirit in your home, do it, so your home can become one of those places of strength. And if you get the choice whether to spend some time in a lighter place or a darker place, tend toward the light. You're less-likely to be attacked by Satan there (on account of being out of his range), and it might help you to build up your defenses for when you're attacked later.

We can't always keep out of Satan's range, but sometimes we can. And if we do, then he'll have fewer and smaller windows in which to attack us, giving us a smaller and smaller chance of getting hit. I might not have called that "armor," as the proverb did, but it sounds like a good defense boost to me.

Will = Power

Remember when I wrote three blog posts in a row that all had to do with the Green Lantern? So does this one. The primary, if not only, limit to the Green Lantern's power is his will-power. If he wants to do something badly enough and really focusses his mind on it, he can probably do it. However, if his desire to do something doesn't measure up to the magnitude of the task, or if he loses focus during the attempt, I wouldn't bet on his success.

In our case, we're frequently asked to do hard things, such as keep the commandments and resist temptation. The difficulty of those tasks isn't that they require a lot of strength or talent (Thank goodness!) but that they require strong will-power. With a strong will, we can resist strong temptations and keep tough commandments. Without strong will-power, we're going to have a harder time passing the tests of life.

With will-power being so important, and also an attribute I could stand to improve in, it may be important to define what, exactly, it is. Dictionary.com defines it as "control of one's impulses and actions; self-control," or, in other words, the ability to control yourself. How do we develop this attribute?

I did a quick search for LDS.org, and the answer that I found is something that I should have recognized right away: Practice. If you want to get better at anything, practice it. Of course, you'll need to learn the basics first, and you may want to pick up some helpful tips as well, but more than learning how to do something, you need to actually practice it, and I actually gave a Sacrament Meeting talk on a way to practice will-power a while back. Let's see, where did I put those notes? I know I saw them recently...

Here we are! The answer is fasting. Since our bodies have a strong, ingrained desire to eat, we can exercise our self-control by trying to go without eating for a short period of time. The more frequently we attempt to fast, the longer we'll be able to do it (though longer than 24 hours is probably unhealthy), and the better we will be able to resist temptation and keep the commandments. Not surprisingly, the more frequently we try to make difficult choices, the more capable we'll become of making difficult choices.

The only limits to how far we go in life are how far we try to go, and how hard we try to get there. I can achieve a level of self-mastery in this life, if I try hard enough. I can overcome temptation. I can overcome myself. All I need is to have faith in myself, and in God, and do my best. I may not feel like I have enough will-power right now, but if I practice my will to keep the commandments, my will-power will grow stronger until I become unshakable. It's hard to imagine myself being that strong, but it can happen. I can I will attain great will-power, and then I will be unstoppable.

Chocolate Ice Cream - Better, but Unchanged

I just saw an image on facebook with the message, "The best love is the one that makes you a better person, without changing you into someone other than yourself" (Unnecessary comma in the original). Of course, this was meant to be a piece of relationship advice, but I couldn't help but see it in terms of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He is the One who most wants to make us better people, but strangely, when He does, we don't stop being us. This seems to be a contradiction. How can He change us without changing us? Let us use an example in the form of chocolate ice cream.

Let's say I want some home-made chocolate ice cream, so I make a batch. It turns out "okay," but I want to improve it, but I still want it to be chocolate ice cream. So, I add more chocolate. Now, the ice cream is much better, but it's still chocolate ice cream. It also still tastes a little "off." I eventually discover that I put in too much of some non-chocolate ingredient (I'm not sure what goes into home-made chocolate ice cream), so I painstakingly remove some of the non-chocolate ingredient, or add more of everything else, and now the ice cream is just about perfect, but it's still chocolate ice cream, just like it was when we started. I didn't change it into rocky road ice cream or vanilla ice cream, I just made it a better kind of chocolate ice cream.

That's how it is with us. We each have a number of aspects that make us us, and some of them are better than others. God wants to improve on our positive aspects to make us better versions of us, but we will still, in some ways, be the same person we were when we started. God's not going to add almonds or marshmallows to us unless we were meant to have them all along, in which case, we probably would have had a few almonds and marshmallows when we started - just not enough. But not all of us were meant to be like rocky road ice cream. Some of us are better off as chocolate ice cream, and for those people, God's going to leave them that way (though He may still add more chocolate).

Now, let's imagine that, while I was making my chocolate ice cream, I accidentally or at least foolishly added an ingredient that doesn't belong in chocolate ice cream (or too much of an ingredient that does). That's what happens when we sin, or take a virtue to an extreme. When that happens, God will help us painstakingly remove those faults, though I'm sure He'll be careful not to remove anything that's meant to stay. While plucking mini-marshmallows out of my batch of chocolate ice cream, I'm sure God will be careful to not remove too much chocolate, and if I had added too much chocolate to my home-made chocolate ice cream (heaven only knows how!), He'll only take out as much chocolate as He needs to to get my consistency right. He won't take all the chocolate out of me and make me vanilla ice cream (yes, I know that's not how it works) unless I was meant to be vanilla ice cream all along, in which case, I probably didn't have any chocolate in me to begin with.

But, to be honest, I don't think God cares what flavor of ice cream we end up being, as long as we taste amazing. It doesn't matter whether we make ourselves chocolate ice cream, rocky road ice cream, or vanilla ice cream. God's going to make just enough improvements and suggestions to help us become the best chocolate/rocky road/vanilla ice creams we can be, and if that means there needs to be more or less of something that we already put in there, God will make the necessary adjustments - but no more. Thankfully (and frighteningly), He leaves most of our life decisions up to us. What kind of people we are is ultimately our decision. If I want to add peanut butter to my chocolate ice cream, God'll let me, and then He'll help me make it the best peanut butter chocolate ice cream it can be. What I am is my decision. God just wants to help me be the best me that I can be.

National Don't Trust Anyone Day

I spent at least part of last night trying to think of a good joke, a good lie I could tell the world, just to see how many people believe me, but then I decided against it. I'm not big into practical jokes, and, since it's raining, I doubt most people would be in the mood to be lied to, so I figured I'd just sit this year out. Besides, sometimes I tell stories and such anyway, just to keep my creativity on its feet. Ask me to define a word I don't know, and I'll probably make something up on the spot. Of course, I'll tell the truth afterward, once I've seen what my mind came up with.

An example of this is that, while discussing the political situation in the Ukraine, which greatly involve the peninsula Crimea, there was a certain amount of uncertainty about how the name of the peninsula was pronounced. I said that it was pronounced with a long I, a long E, and an a that sounded like "uh." "Like the river," I had said. My friend remarked that he had never heard of the "Cry Me A" River, until I laughed and explained my joke. The trouble was that, after explaining my pun, my friend didn't believe me when I told him that that was honestly how I thought the name of the peninsula was pronounced.

The lesson we can learn from this, and from practical jokes, is that dishonesty breeds distrust. And we now have a holiday where, for about 12 hours, nobody really trusts anyone. Some people might say that that's not a bad thing. People should be on their toes and using their heads, and making sure that they're not being fooled. Doubtless, there are thousands of untrustworthy people in the world, and it might just save your life to not be too trusting. While I agree with that on the level of safety, I also think that this holiday is silly.

I don't think it actually makes people safer, because as soon as April 1st is over, people will let their guard down again. I also don't think that practical jokes are harmless, because they often lead to hurt feelings, and can shatter a person's reputation for being honest, kind, and trustworthy. It has all of the disadvantages on the personal level, and none of the advantages on a societal level. All in all, I think that playing jokes on people, even in the name of harmless fun, is a bad idea. Maybe that means I should stop "humorously," intentionally mis-defining words.