Blessed by Barriers

In the talk Blessed and Happy Are Those Who Keep the Commandments of God, Elder Von G. Keetch share the story of a group of unhappy surfers. When he met them, the were complaining about a barrier someone had strung out in the water that kept them from surfing the larger waves farther out, but a man with binoculars soon showed them why the barrier was there. Through the binoculars, the group could see dorsal fins beyond the barrier. Sharks were feeding on the other side. " 'Don’t be too critical of the barrier,' he said. 'It’s the only thing that’s keeping you from being devoured.' "

The spiritual message of this event is fairly obvious, and I'll repeat it here. God's commandments exist for our protection. If we obey them, we will be safe from the spiritual dangers that exist in this world. However, unlike other analogies that share this message, this surfing barrier isn't just a sign that we could choose to ignore. It's an actual barrier. That fact, I think, warrants a slightly different version of the lesson we can learn from it.

We can break God's commandments very easily if we want to. In fact, it's sometimes difficult not to. However, this barrier would have been much more difficult to overcome than the warning sign that usually represents the commandments, which leads me to think that this barrier should actually represent something else.

Perhaps the barrier could represent a withholding of requested blessings that wouldn't actually be blessings to us. We might pray to be accepted into a particular college, for example, but it may be important for us to attend a different college instead, for reasons known only to the Lord. By placing a barrier in the path that we'd prefer to follow, God can redirect us to where we really need to go.

I'm grateful that God knows and wants what's best for us, even when we don't, and that He loves us enough to protect us with barriers that keep us from the things that would hurt us. True, He usually respects our agency and intelligence enough to let us make our own decisions, but I'm glad that He steps in to literally block us from harm when He needs to. I know that all that He does, He does for our benefit, even and especially when what He does for us seems to be holding us back.

Ponderize - 2 Nephi 4:31

In his General Conference talk, "My Heart Pondereth Them Continually," Elder Devin G. Durrant challenged us all to "ponderize" (ponder and memorize) one scripture a week. He listed many different benefits of ponderizing scriptures, but he said that "the primary goal of ponderizing is to provide an uplifting place for your thoughts to go—a place that keeps you close to the Spirit of the Lord."

This is not a unique idea. President Boyd K. Packer recommended picking a "delete key," a scripture or favorite hymn to keep in mind and to turn to when an evil thought comes to mind. For a while, I had tried to follow President Packer's counsel, but I couldn't decide which hymn or scripture to use. Now, I'm thinking that I may not need to decide. At least, not yet. I could decide to ponderize a new verse each week and use each week's ponderizing verse as my "delete key." If one of them works better than the others, I may keep using it while I ponderize others. If not, I'll just use whichever scripture I'm ponderizing that week.

Elder Durrant said:

We are living in a time of ever-spreading evil. We cannot just accept the status quo and be fed ugly words and sinful visuals almost everywhere we turn and do nothing in response. We must fight back. When our minds are filled with uplifting thoughts and images, when we “always remember him,” there is no room left for filth and trash.

I do not want to leave room in my mind for the filth and the trash of the world. There's too much junk in there already. But I also know that I won't really ponderize anything unless I commit myself to it. So I'm going to commit right now to ponderize a scripture this week and to ponderize a new scripture each week in April, starting or ending on Sundays. I may go longer, especially if I start realizing some of the blessings by the end of April. The scripture I'm going to ponderize this week is 2 Nephi 4:31 (which wasn't the scripture I was planning on ponderizing this week, but it caught my eye as I was looking for the other one).

O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?

I like that this scripture is also a prayer, and a prayer asking God to help us repel evil thoughts, which is  the primary goal of ponderizing. I wouldn't be surprised if this verse caught on as my delete key, but we'll see. Each Sunday or Monday, I'll share the insights I gained from ponderizing that week's scripture, if any, as well as the next verse I plan to ponderize and my initial thoughts on that verse. I hope that, by doing this, I will qualify for the blessings that Elder Durrant has promised, including increasing my spiritual attunement and my resistance to the evils of the world.

Members of the Body of Christ

Throughout his talk, Elder D. Todd Christofferson sometimes referred to the church as "the body of Christ." This is not terribly unusual. Groups of people are often called bodies of people. Nor is it unheard of to hear parts of the body referred to as "members." The Apostle James called the tongue a "little member" in James 3:5. The analogy of us being "members" of a group or "body" can help us better understand our roles as members of the body of Christ.

Quoting First Corinthians 12:22, Elder Christofferson said:

This religion is not concerned only with self; rather, we are all called to serve. We are the eyes, hands, head, feet, and other members of the body of Christ, and even “those members … which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.” We need these callings, and we need to serve.

Each person is unique and has unique talents and capabilities. Each member of the church is called to serve the Lord, to effectively take His place in serving others, but we each serve in different ways. Some teach. Some testify. Some encourage. Some uplift. Some lead. Some organise. Etcetera. Just as the different parts of the body have their own functions and purposes, each member of the church has their own role to play as well. And just as no part of the body can function well without the others, we all need each other to keep the church running as well as it does. Most groups only work when each member does what they do best, and the church is no exception. We should each do what we can to build up God's church as unique and essential members of the body of Christ.

We Need Each Other

In the first Sunday Morning Session talk in the October 2015 General Conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke about why Jesus Christ organized a church during His mortal ministry, why such a church was necessary, and why such a church is necessary today. Some people believe that it isn't.  Some people believe that they can come sufficiently close to God without an organized religion. However, for most of us, for all of us, we need the help of the Lord's church in order for us to accomplish the Lord's purposes.

It is important to recognize that God’s ultimate purpose is our progress. His desire is that we continue “from grace to grace, until [we receive] a fulness” of all He can give. That requires more than simply being nice or feeling spiritual. It requires faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism of water and of the Spirit, and enduring in faith to the end. One cannot fully achieve this in isolation, so a major reason the Lord has a church is to create a community of Saints that will sustain one another in the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.”

Without the support and encouragement of other believers, it would be easy to become complacent and to hit a plateau in our spiritual progress. It's easy to just be nice and feel spiritual and think that that's enough. But it's not enough. God wants us to become like Him, and that requires growth. And growth requires guidance, encouragement, support, and challenges, like the challenges we sometimes hear in church, challenging us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year or to collectively gather some thousands of blankets to donate to charity. I doubt many of us would exert ourselves the way we do to meet those challenges unless someone else threw down the gauntlet.

One of the greatest challenges we face in life is to become more and more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. To accomplish that goal, we must become perfect, and that requires a lot of growth on our part, which implies that we'll need a lot of direction and encouragement from others. Elder Christofferson said:

One of the greatest blessings of being part of the body of Christ, though it may not seem like a blessing in the moment, is being reproved of sin and error. We are prone to excuse and rationalize our faults, and sometimes we simply do not know where we should improve or how to do it.

In a church where members watch over each other and challenge one another, we can know where and how we need to improve. For those of us who already know all too well where we need to improve, the church can provide encouragement and the assurance that perfection is within everyone's eventual grasp and that each of us already has and can and will continue to improve. We have each come a long way in our spiritual journey, and with the help of our brothers and sisters in the church, we can each continue to improve and progress.

We are all on the same journey. We all have the same starting place and the same goal, and we are all working toward that goal together. Our individual paths may be different, depending on personal circumstances, but we're always within earshot of each other, so we can all challenge and encourage each other to keep going. Without each other, I think that many of us would give up on our and Our Savior's ultimate goal. But when we're all pulling together and encouraging each other, there's no limit to what we can accomplish. God has set lofty goals for us, goals which I'm sure we can only reach together.

Blogging Behind Schedule

General Conference season is upon us once again, and I'm entirely unprepared for it. The first session of the April 2016 General Conference has already taken place, and the next five will take place a week from now. This is not a bad thing. In fact, I look forward to getting my spiritual batteries recharged, so to speak. The problem is that I have more than a week worth of General Conference talks to blog about from last Conference, which means that I have a decision to make. Should I continue blogging about the October 2015 General Conference talks until I finish them, even though the April 2016 General Conference has already started, or should I start blogging about the April 2016 General Conference now, dropping the last few talks from the October 2015 Conference?

I'm inclined toward finishing up the last few October 2015 talks. For one thing, I'm a bit of a completionist. I'd like to finish what I started. Also, I don't want to miss out on revisiting the Sunday Afternoon Session talks. Maybe there's an insight in there that I or one of my readers really needs to hear. Besides, being behind schedule for a while, and working to correct that situation may teach me a lesson that I apparently desperately need to learn.

I'm not good at setting and acting on good priorities. I tend to waste time during the day, and end up having to do a lot of my work at night, at the last minute. As a result, I'm typically tired when I blog, and the blog posts I write then aren't my best. On a similar subject, I have a paper due one Wednesday, which I had been planning on writing, or at least working on, this week, but while I have made some progress on the paper, I've also hit roadblocks and wasted hours of my increasingly precious time. I will probably be able to complete my paper by its due date, but I'm afraid that its quality won't be as high as it would've been had I managed my time more effectively this week.

So, I plan on completing the October 2015 talks before I start blogging about the April 2016 General Conference, no matter how much time that takes me, and then I still hope to finish blogging about the April 2016 General Conference talks before next October, even though I've proven that I'm not really great at that. I need to learn how to keep to a timetable and to actually work on my assignments when I need to do so, so I can complete my projects on time. Maybe, with practice, I can learn to develop those skills, and maybe being behind my Conference blogging schedule will motivate me to work on that.

Or maybe it'll discourage me and make me feel overwhelmed and depressed. I suppose that depends mostly on my attitude, and it's a chance that I'm just going to have to take.

Thank God for the Resurrection

Tomorrow, in church, I'm going to be teaching some young men a lesson about the resurrection. I'll teach them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how His resurrection made resurrection possible for us all. I'll teach them about how our bodies will be different after they're resurrected and why they would want resurrected bodies at all. I'm also going to teach them that resurrection is a free gift to all of us, and that we don't have to do anything special to qualify for it, however, as I teach them about the freeness of resurrection, I'm going to try not to teach them that that means they don't have to be righteous.

Even though resurrection is free, we still have plenty of reasons to try to be righteous. For starters, it's how we qualify for other blessings. It's also how we follow God's plan for us so we can live up to our full potential. Plus, it's a great way to give thanks to God for the many blessings He grants us, including the gift of resurrection.

Resurrection is a wonderful gift, and we really should thank God for it. With resurrected bodies, we will be one step closer to being like our Heavenly Father. We also will be free from pain and disease, and all of the mortal imperfections and frailties we currently have to struggle with will no longer be a problem for us. Many people, including a few I know personally, are looking forward to the resurrection, when they will be able to walk and run without all the aches and pains they have now. In light of what a blessing resurrection will be, for them and for everyone, we should all thank God for this blessing, and for the other blessings we receive, by trying to keep the commandments. Though we don't have to do anything special to earn the blessing of resurrection, we should all try to do what's right to thank God for it.

Eventual Obedience, Eventual Blessings

Last night, after dinner, my niece began to grow terribly upset. Earlier in the day, she had been told, repeatedly, that if she didn't fold her clothes and put them away, she wouldn't get dessert, yet, she had refused. Now, suffering the fate of which she had been warned, she ran up to her room, crying.

In this situation, I saw a rather sobering analogy. None of us want to find ourselves in my niece's situation, having been warned of something we didn't want to happen, but failing to heed that warning. God has given us commandments, yet we sometimes choose to disobey them, despite being warned of consequences to come and of blessings to be withheld. Having been given chances to qualify for her reward, but having squandered them all, my niece must have been devastated.

But she hadn't yet squandered all of her chances. After crying for a while in her room and while everyone else was eating dessert, my niece started folding her clothes. While she could have easily spent all night feeling sorry for herself, she instead went to work on fixing the situation.

We can do the same. I don't know at what point it will be everlastingly too late to start keeping the commandments, but that point hasn't come yet. We can still repent and come unto God by keeping the commandments. And as long as we are tying to keep the commandments, God is willing to help us.

Having folded her laundry, my niece came down to the dining room, hoping for dessert, however, the rule was the she also had to put her clothes away. She went back up to finish her chore, but this time, her sister was sent up to help her.

One of the ways God blesses us for even being willing to keep the commandments is by helping us to do it. He gives us a portion of His spirit to guide us. When necessary, He even sends angels to help us. God wants us to succeed because He wants to be able to bless us, because He wants us to be happy.

Thankfully, my niece managed to complete her chore before bedtime and was rewarded with her dessert, proving that even if we've been disobedient, we can repent and begin to earn the blessings promised only to those who keep the commandments.

I'm grateful for the justice and mercy of God in offering us blessings for keeping the commandments and giving us every opportunity to earn those blessings. The commandments of God may sometimes seem stiff and rigid, but they exist for our benefit, and God will always bless us for keeping them, even if our obedience, and thus our blessings, come much later than either of us would have liked.

Sharing Traditions

This evening, despite not being Jewish, I enjoyed a wonderful and spirit-filled Passover dinner with a few members of my family who aren't Jewish either. Together, we appreciated the symbols of the Passover dinner, applying them to our own faith to gain another layer of meaning from many of them. I hope this isn't worrying to any Jewish person reading this. I'd like to think that we can all borrow from each others' customs and traditions, so we can each learn from each other, so long as we do it respectfully.

I don't think a person necessarily has to be a member of a particular religion to appreciate and gain from the customs and traditions from that religion. A person doesn't have to be Christian to learn from Christian symbols. A person doesn't have to be Buddhist to gain from Buddhist teachings. And I certainly didn't have to be Jewish to enjoy and appreciate a meal that was probably pretty close to a traditional Passover meal.

I believe that each religion has something in it from which other religions can learn. There is light and truth and goodness in just about everything. We just need to be willing to share what light and goodness we have with each other, and to appreciate the light and truth others have, so we can all benefit from each other, so each of us can grow in light.

One Light

Right now, other than the screen of my laptop, the only light in the room is coming from a single lightbulb, yet that one lightbulb generates enought light to illuminate this whole room and most of the next. I noticed a similar phenomenon in my room a few mornings ago. It was too dark to tell where anything was, but at the flick of a switch, a single lightbulb came on, and I could see everything clearly.

We are each only one person, but just as one lightbulb can make the difference between total darkness and bright illumination, one person can make a big difference as well. If one person volunteers for service, others might join them. If one person expresses kindness, others' hearts will almost certainly be touched. And if one person stands with courage, they may inspire others to take a stand as well.

Sometimes, people really need that courage. Without such a light, there would only be darkness. When in darkness, it's difficult to tell where to go, and it's easy to become afraid. In such a state, any light, however dim, would be a welcome sight.

We can be that light. We can be a friend to the friendless. We can give hope to the hopeless. We can be the one light they need to help them see clearly enough to find their way. Most importantly, we can be the light that guides them to the source of our light: Jesus Christ.

May we each be willing to share what light we have with whomever may need it. We never know who may be going through a dark time in their life and may need a little light. One little light may be all any of us have, but if we keep that one light shining, even when all other lights go out, that one light may be enough.

Additional Directions

One last post about President Eyring's talk, The Holy Ghost as Your Companion, before I move on to the next talk. In that talk, President Eyring said, "When you demonstrate your willingness to obey, the Spirit will send you more impressions of what God would have you do for Him."

This truth was illustrated by an experience his father had had while in Australia for work. Part of his trip took place on a Sunday, and he wanted to take the Sacrament, but he couldn't find out where or when the Latter-Day Saints in the area met. So he went outside and started walking, praying at every intersection he hit. Eventually, as he was walking, he heard Latter-Day Saints singing, and he saw a Sacrament table in the window of an apartment building.

I have no doubt that President Eyring's father had been led by inspiration. His willingness to take the Sacrament prompted God to direct him in the way to go, and his willingness to follow God's directions made it possible for him to accomplish his righteous desire.

Most of us don't experience any spiritual guidance that's as obvious as that. Often, we don't realise that we've been acting under the influence of the Spirit until long after the fact. But I know that if we are willing to listen to the directions our Heavenly Father gives us, He will be more willing to give us further directions, leaving a figurative trail of breadcrumbs leading to our ultimate destination. President Eyring's father didn't know exactly where he was going when he set out on his Sabbath walk, but he knew exactly who he was following, and the fact that he was taking the first steps of obedience led Heavenly Father to guide his steps to where he needed to go.

A Well-Timed Trial

For me and several other students, today was the first day of Spring Break. However, I wasn't able to enjoy this first day off very well for two reasons: first, I have a paper due shortly after Spring Break ends, and I need to work on it, and second, I was sick today. This was kind of a bummer to me, it's almost never fun to be sick, but I have to appreciate the good timing. I'd rather be sick when I don't have to go anywhere or do anything than when I have obligations to meet. I didn't miss class or work because of being sick today, and I was still able to work on my paper a little bit. This illness hasn't been fun, and I hope it doesn't last, but if I had to spend a day or two being sick, God picked a good week for this affliction. Sure, it's still annoying to be sick, but I have to be grateful that the sickness came during a week when I have time to take care of myself. My cup of blessings doesn't feel completely full at the moment, but it's at least half-full, and I can be thankful for that.

"My Mother Was There to Meet Her."

I'm sure I blogged about this recently, but I'm not sure exactly when or what I said. There is, or at least was, some debate on the subject of whether or not our families will be there in heaven to meet us when we die. I think some evidence for the affirmative surfaced recently, which would have been why I blogged about it, but now I can't remember what the evidence was. However, to that evidence, I would add the experience President Eyring's father had shortly after his wife, President Eyring's mother, passed away.

Dad excused himself to go into his nearby bedroom.

After a few minutes, he walked back into the living room. He had a pleasant smile. He walked up to us and said quietly, “I was worried that Mildred would arrive in the spirit world alone. I thought she might feel lost in the crowd.”

Then he said brightly, “I prayed just now. I know Mildred is all right. My mother was there to meet her.”

Now, I'm not trying to put words into President Eyring's mouth. His father said it, not him, and his father didn't say it over the pulpit at General Conference, so it's still not exactly canonized scripture. However, President Eyring did repeat his father's claim over the pulpit at General Conference, though he neither confirmed nor denied the claim's validity. If the claim was untrue, I think President Eyring would have said so, or that he wouldn't have repeated the claim in Conference in the first place. On the other hand, he didn't exactly confirm the claim either, which would have settled the matter once and for all.

As far as I'm concerned, the question is still pretty much up in the air, but there seems to be more evidence to support the idea than to undermine it. As far as I know, there's no canonical support to the claim that our relatives will be there to greet us, but the popular opinion seems to be that they will be, and I haven't heard any strong evidence to suggest that they won't. At the very least, if President Eyring's father's feelings were correct, then Eyring's grandmother was there at the pearly gates to welcome his mother, and if that sort of thing happened to her, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if something similar happened to us when we pass on.

Gradual Slope

I noticed something as I was biking back from Folsom Lake today, namely that biking back was a lot easier than biking there. I didn't need to stop as often, not did I consume as much of my trail snacks on my return trip. This makes sense, since Folsom Lake is upstream of Sacramento, so logically, it would have to be uphill as well. The tricky part is that, even though the road to Folsom Lake had to have been predominately uphill, it seemed mostly flat. Yes, there was a section of massive hills rather close to Folsom Lake, but the rest of the road seemed pretty much flat. I only noticed that I had been going uphill when I compared it to how easy going downhill felt.

I wonder if going downhill and uphill can be compared to living with or without the help of the Spirit. Either way, life feels pretty much normal. Life is life. There are always going to be ups and downs, just as there were noticeable ups and downs on the way to and from Folsom Lake, but whether the ups seem to outnumber the downs depends mostly on a person's mood at the moment of being asked. But there is a difference between living with the Spirit and living without it, and though the difference is subtle enough that it can't easily be seen, it is also real enough to be strongly felt by those who have lived both ways.

I know that, personally, my life feels easier when I'm following the Spirit than when I'm not. The number of trials I face don't seem to increase or decrease either way, but there's a perceptible difference regardless. Life is easier when you're trying to live in harmony with the Gospel. The difference is subtle, and sometimes difficult to notice, but it is real and it is powerful. As an example of this power, I'm sure I could have written a decent blog post using just my own abilities, but it certainly is a lot easier when the Spirit helps me to find the right words. By the way, I'm sorry if there are any typos in here. It's kind of late as I'm writing this. It's totally my fault, not the Spirit leading me astray. Actually, He helped me find and correct a typo a short while ago, so if anything, this post should have fewer errors than my average late-night post. I'm rambling. I'm sorry.

I'm thankful for the Spirit's guidance to help us in own lives. I know that following the Spirit of Christ is easier than trying to live without its help and influence, even if that difference is subtle and difficult to notice.

How to Make Temptations Less Tempting

As I read and listened to President Henry B. Eyring's talk, The Holy Ghost as Your Companion, several passages stood out to me. One of them spoke of one of the ways having the Spirit with us can be a blessing in our lives:

The companionship of the Holy Ghost makes what is good more attractive and temptation less compelling. That alone should be enough to make us determined to qualify for the Spirit to be with us always.

I want to be righteous. But a part of me wants other things instead. Sometimes, the temptations I feel feel almost too strong to resist. Yet, if I strive to be worthy to have the Holy Ghost with me, He can help me desire righteousness more than I desire wickedness. He can make that which is good seem more appealing and that which is evil seem less tempting.

In this world, temptation is all around us. We cannot avoid every temptation that we might face; we will inescapably have to face some of them. Yet, no temptation is completely inescapable. Though we can't always avoid facing temptations, we can weaken their power. If we have the Spirit with us, we will be less attracted to the things we know we should avoid, and instead, we will feel a stronger, but still gentle, pull toward that which will make us more like God.

At the start of his talk, President Eyring said that his purpose was to increase my desire and determination to always have the Lord's Spirit to be with me. He succeeded. Even without the blessings of personal revelation, feelings of inner peace, and always having someone I can talk to, the blessing of wanting the things I know I should want and not wanting the things I wish I didn't want is enough of a reason to make me want to have the Spirit with me always.

A Chain of Faith and Love

Elder Claudio R.M. Costa opened his Sunday Morning talk by expressing both his love for the stories of Jesus and his gratitude for parents who taught him those stories. Now, he has children of his own, whom he taught the stories of Jesus, and who now teach those stories to their children, in a beautiful chain of faith and love. He said:

I am grateful to my parents for having taught me about Christ. I continue to see how the Savior’s example helps my dear wife and me as we teach our own children.

My heart is filled with joy when I see my children tell stories of Christ to my grandchildren. It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures, found in 3 John chapter 1, verse 4, which reads, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” And why not our grandchildren as well?

I, too, am grateful that my parents taught me the gospel. I know I wouldn't be half the man I am today without it. And I look forward to teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to my future children. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings peace and joy into people's lives. Knowing that the gospel is bringing joy and peace into the lives of those we love, and through them, into the lives of others, can fill us with even greater joy.

I'm sure that Our Father rejoices when He sees the gospel at work in our lives, and that He rejoices even more when He sees us share that precious gift with the rest of our human family. May we all strive to share the joy of the gospel with others, that we may be part of an unbroken chain that touches every human heart with the joy and peace of the gospel.

How I Get Around - Both Grace and Works

I noticed something strange the other day: travelling by foot and public transportation somehow felt more liberating than travelling by bike. When I bike, I can go wherever I want reasonably quickly. I'm not bound by any particular schedules or routes. I have complete freedom. Or do I?

When I bike, I also have to take care of my bike. I have to lock it up when I get somewhere and unlock it before I leave. And the act of travelling by bike takes energy; I often end up sweaty by the time I get anywhere. It's a lot of work.

Taking public transportation is easier. With public transportation, I can travel great distances by merely walking short distances and then sitting or standing for periods of time. The only difficult part is the timing, and a little forethought and insight can take care of that.

I think it's the forced downtime of public transportation that makes it more appealing. When riding public transportation, one has to sit and wait for a while for a bus or train to come or to get you to where you're going. It makes us experience moments of (probably much-needed) rest.

Also, I like the feeling of cleverness that comes with planning an efficient route. The schedules can be cumbersome and confusing, but figuring out an effective way to use the public transportation system can be as rewarding as solving any other puzzle, plus, it comes with the reward of getting you to where you want to be.

As I tried to think of an analogy that would make all of that blogworthy, I realised that the difference between these two modes of travel can highlight the differences between grace and works. Biking is like working. It takes effort and diligence, and it makes you sweat, but it is also liberating in that it provides a high level of self-reliance.

Taking public transit is more like grace, as it has you spend time waiting for something to carry you and just holding on to something while it does. It means that you're dependent on something other than yourself, but it lets you tap into a power greater than yourself as well.

It's something of a trade off. But thankfully, with a little bit of extra effort, I could have the blessings of both. It's possible (for some people) to carry a bike onto a lightrail train, and the buses in Sacramento have bike racks in the front. If I have both my bike and my transit pass with me, I could bike wherever I want and supplement my biking with riding public transit whenever the scheduling works out. I can have the benefits of both works and grace, if I pay the costs of both.

To get the benefit of biking, I still have to get on my bike and pedal, and to lug it around and lock it and unlock it, even when I'm not really using it. And to ride public transit, I have to study it out so I understand when and how I could use it. Similarly, tapping into grace takes a certain amount of scripture study and devotion, and work, naturally, takes a certain amount of work. You may prefer one method of Christianity over the other, but they each have their uses, and to make the most of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you need to use them both.

The gospel isn't all grace; God expects us to pull our own weight every now and again. But it's not all works, either, as God is willing to lends us a hand. We need to both put forth our own efforts and tap into God's grace, but as we work together with God, we can accomplish almost anything.

Clarion Christians

As an adjective, "clarion" means loud and clear. The word is often applied to a trumpet which warns of danger or signals a call to gather or to action. These trumpets needed to be both loud and clear so their messages could cover great distances and be heard over the roar of battle.

In Let the Clarion Trumpet Sound, Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer of the Seventy compared the message of the gospel to a similar musical sound, both in the context of his grandson learning to play the piano and in the context of the message needing to be proclaimed loudly enough and clearly enough to be heard above the ever-increasing noise of the world.

I don't think that the world is getting more sinful in that the sins we're committing now are worse than the sins we (as a human race) were committing in previous ages. Yes, we are doing some terrible things, but they did terrible things in the dark ages as well. I also don't think that more people are sinning than in past ages. The population has grown significantly, but I think that the ratio of sinners to non-sinners has remained pretty much constant, though I could be wrong.

No, I think the reason that we, as a society, are drifting away from God is not that more of us are sinners or that we are sinning worse, but that we're giving God less of our attention. We get distracted. There are just so many other things on TV, on the internet, and on our phones, that we hardly spend any time with God any more. The music of the gospel is being drowned out by the noise of the world.

I can think of a few ways to counter this. First, it'd be nice if we could get more people to start playing the music of the gospel (i.e. more people should come to church). Second, it's important that we who know the music of the gospel play it as clearly clearly as we can, as loudly as we must, and as frequently as occasion permits. I'm not saying that we should be preachy or drive our friends away by being overzealous, but I am saying that we should try to behave like Christians, and we shouldn't shy away from the subject of religion whenever it comes up.

Recently, someone I was tutoring asked me about the CTR ring I was wearing, and because I was at work, I said that it was a religious thing and left it at that. Now I wish that I had gone into a little bit more detail. At least I could have said what the letters were, what they stood for, and that I wear the ring to remind me to try to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. That wouldn't have taken too long to say, and I think she might have been receptive, or at least respectful, if I had more fully answered her question.

I missed that opportunity to play the music of the gospel, but I'll try not to miss the next one. In a world full of noise and confusion, we could use that gospel sound to calm us, comfort us, and guide us. Let us learn to play the music of the gospel loudly and clearly, and to share that music with others as frequently as we may. I know that our lives and theirs will be blessed as a result of that. The music of the gospel is beautiful and soothing as well as encouraging and inspiring. I wish more people would play it and could hear it over the noise of the world.

The Night President Nelson Almost Quit

President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was a heart surgeon. Years ago, he performed surgery on a girl with a congenital heart disease, a similar condition to the one that took the life of her brother some time before. The operation was unsuccessful and the girl died. Later, the parents of these two children came to President Nelson again, asking him to perform surgery on another child of theirs who had heart problems. This child also died. Devastated by these tragedies and his failure to prevent them, President Nelson collapsed on the floor of his living room. Through his tears, he declared that he would never attempt another heart operation.

The next morning, with a strong prod from his wonderfully blunt wife, President Nelson picked himself up, went back to work, devoted himself to the study of heart surgery, and went on to perform the operation that saved the life of President Spencer W. Kimball.

We all face discouragement. There are and will be times that drive us to our knees and make us want to quit. However, if we quit during one of those moments, as we will be sorely tempted to do, then our failure will be final. If President Nelson had quit during his darkest hour, he would have ceased to be a heart surgeon, and one of the last acts of his career would have been failing to save the life of a child. Yet, thanks to some much-needed encouragement, he managed to drag himself out of his misery, commit to becoming better, and succeed at saving other lives.

Unless we pursue one or more of a few specific professions, we're not likely so save many lives during our lifetimes. However, we are likely to touch many lives, and if we follow the guidance of the Lord and never give up, we can influence others' lives for the better.

We will all have low moments, but it's important that we don't stay in them. We need to keep striving to reach our goals and to rise above our low points, so we can accomplish the work God has laid out for us. We may never save the life of a prophet, but there are other good and great things God is counting on us to do, and if we give up early, we will never accomplish them. Let us, as often as we need to, remember and follow the example of President Nelson, who failed, wept, and tried again. I am confident that this is the only way any of us will go on the reach our full potential, and we will only succeed in this if we refuse to quit.

The Other Voice

Whether it's an effect of an over-active imagination or of having a close-but-casual relationship with the Spirit, I sometimes hear His voice (or what I imagine to be His voice) inside my head. The other day, I was feeling somewhat frustrated with something I was trying to do, and I heard a voice in my head that put additional pressure on me. I responded mentally, expressing my frustration, and then a voice that I'm reasonably certain came from the Spirit said "You know that wasn't me, right?"

As crazy as it sounds, we're not the only people inside our own heads. We often get guidance and inspiration from the Spirit, even if His influence is usually manifest in feelings rather than words. Additionally, the adversary frequently tries to creep in and subject us to temptation and to negative emotions. Given that these two will enter our minds as frequently as we let them, and that repelling either of them invites the other, we are virtually guaranteed that we are never alone with our thoughts. Though one of the hallmarks of insanity is to hear other voices inside your head, the truth is that we are very rarely without one.

These voices are always trying to guide us, either to salvation or to destruction. The insanity that we usually associate with hearing voices comes from listening too intently to the wrong voice. The other day, I listened, for one moment, to the wrong voice, and that led to me irritably snapping at myself. Thankfully, the voice of reason stepped in a moment later and set me straight again. I am very grateful to have the voice of the Spirit to guide me and help me through my life, even though admitting that I hear His voice makes me sound like I'm crazy, because, ironically, He's the one who's keeping me sane.

Many Ways to Worship

This evening, my Mom and I went to an Interfaith Easter Concert, in which we heard many beautiful, but very different, selections of music. There was an a cappella performance, at least two instrumental ones, and several that had various blends of instrumental and vocal components. Some of the songs were exuberant, and others were mellow.Most all of them were powerful, and I felt the spirit many times during the concert.

This experience reminded me that there are many ways in which a person can worship God. We might praise Him joyously, or thank Him reverently. We might pray vocally, or in our hearts. Our faith can lead us to act diligently, preparing for our eternal future, or to take a step back and re-center ourselves, leaving the tumultuous present and the regretted past in the hands of a caring and forgiving God. I'm sure there are some wrong ways to try to worship God, but I'm also sure that most of the ways people actually follow are probably perfectly acceptable to Him.

A person doesn't have to be a Mormon to reach the Celestial Kingdom. They have to get all the saving and exalting ordinances eventually, but they don't have to convert to Mormonism to do that. What we need is to be converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I think most Christians already are. As long as people are trying to be righteous and serve God as their consciences direct them, they're probably doing alright by Him, and that's plenty good enough for me.

Just as there are many kinds of good music, I think there are many kinds of good people and good methods of worship. My belief is that God cares more about people's hearts than their specific philosophies. We may differ on many points of doctrine, even some important ones, but pretty much everyone believes in being a basically decent person, and that's the part that I think really matters.

Sustained by Faith in His Love

There's a lot that happens in life that we don't necessarily understand of think should have happened, but it can be helpful to remember that God is in control, that He loves us, and that He has a plan for our happiness. Sometimes, things happen that detract from our happiness, but maybe those things are part of our lives to teach us important lessons that we couldn't have learned any other way. Maybe those things are in our lives to help us appreciate the good things. Whatever the reasons are that God sees fit to let us experience those things, I know that He has good reasons. He would never let us suffer needlessly. He loves us too much for that. There is a reason for everything, and someday, God will tell us what all those reasons are. Until then, we need to trust Him and have faith that His love will protect us from that which would actually hurt us, guide us through our troubles, and sustain us in all our afflictions.

"To Effectively Serve Others..."

In Elder Renlund's talk, Through God's Eyes, he says that "to effectively serve others we must see them through a parent’s eyes, through Heavenly Father’s eyes." Despite this being said in General Conference, I'm not sure how true this is. I've done service for people who I didn't particularly like or see as children of God. Is Elder Renlund saying that that service wasn't very effective? I'd almost be offended by that, if not for two things.

First, how do we measure how "effective" service is? What effects are we going for? If we're just trying to get the job done, I've certainly done that. However, if we're trying to touch their hearts through our service and bring them closer to God, I've almost certainly failed.

The second reason I'm not offended by Elder Renlund's claim is that I'm afraid I took it out of context the first time I heard it. What he actually said was that "in the church, to effectively serve others we must see them through a parent’s eyes, through Heavenly Father’s eyes." Church service is very different than other forms of service. In the church, we serve others by sharing the gospel with them and bearing our testimonies to them, among other ways. Service in the church isn't so much a physical activity, but a spiritual act. I have been giving physical service to others, but I don't know if I've been giving them spiritual service.

So, has my service been effective? I suppose it depends on what effects we're looking for. I know I've touched a few hearts through service in the church, but outside of that, I've mostly just been doing physical work. Whether or not that had any effect on the recipient's heart depends mostly on the recipient, though I may just be saying that because it's a cop-out. The truth is that I haven't been trying to spiritually serve all the people I serve physically. I wonder if I should start.

Facebook Vs Faith Books

Lately, I've been spending too much time on Facebook instead of blogging, then staying up late blogging instead of reading the scriptures before bed. Once again, I've decided to try to break that habit, to blog earlier in the day, and to spend more time studying the scriptures. As a meme my Mom found recently says, I shouldn't spend so much time on Facebook that I don't have time to read my "Faith books." Now, I'm not promising that I'll be able to break the habit or that the habit won't form again later, but I am saying that I'm willing to try try again, even though it's already too late for me to try to pull that off tonight.

Uncertainty About Angels

I'm not sure I understand angels. Some people believe in guardian angels, saying that each person has their own angel(s) assigned to them. But as comforting and interesting as it would be to believe that, the idea isn't supported in the scriptures and hasn't been supported by modern revelation. We do, however, have access to angels which can sometimes serve as guardians. Maybe the idea of guardian angels isn't entirely misled, just off by a little bit. We don't each have our own angel(s). I'm guessing that angels can move from person to person as they wish or as assigned by the Lord. And we don't have the promise of having angels always watching over us. Yes, angels are always watching us, but we have to strive to remain righteous in order to enjoy their presence. These angels are distinct from the Holy Ghost, who can also watch over us if we're righteous, but I'm not sure what the practical difference is or if the distinction is important.

The bottom line is that, thankfully, we are not alone. We can receive divine help and guidance, if we ask for it and try to live worthy of it. That's what really matters here. Whether that help comes in the form of a specific angel, or the Holy Ghost, or an undisclosed number of non-specific angels, the effect is the same. We can get help, if we pray for it. It just may not always be clear which angels and/or spirits that help is coming from.

Why I Play a Cleric

In Dungeons and Dragons, I prefer to play a healer. There are a handful of reasons for this. One is that I know people get attached to their characters, and given that D&D characters often find themselves in combat, there's a chance that careless and/or unlucky characters can get themselves killed. I like to reduce that risk, for the sake of those who emotionally invest themselves in their characters. However, given the 5th Edition's generous healing rules, which basically gives all characters a chance to regain their full hit point total an average of once or twice per day, a D&D team no longer needs a dedicated team healer any more, so I'm free to explore other options. However, I still gravitate toward healers.

The main reason I like to play healers, even if the party doesn't need one, is that healers tend to be devoted to their religion, which typically includes tenets of morality and goodness. It allows me to role-play as someone with high moral standards without seeming especially pretentious. It allows other players/characters to say "Of course he thinks we/our characters should do the right thing. He's a cleric!" rather than encouraging other players/characters to ask why I'm being such a stick in the mud. Naturally, I don't want to spoil anybody's fun, but if people (or their fictional characters) can't have fun while being, or pretending to be, decent human beings (or dwarves, or elves, or whatever), then I'm not sure I'd like to go to their parties or invite them to come to mine. If there is any inclination toward unnecessary violence (and there almost always is in a D&D party), I would like there to also be a moral compass on the team, and I don't mind if that role falls to me.

Still, I guess I don't have to play a healer to play a good guy. I could be a noble warrior with a strong sense of fair-play. I could be a dwarf with high ideals of honor. Heck, I could even be a wizard or sorcerer with a pragmatic approach to altruism (e.g. "If we don't act like jerks, maybe fewer people will hate us"). So I could still try out new classes while maintaining my insistence that our party doesn't act against our moral values. But is that what I want to do?

I am in love with the idea of the classic heroic knight. I want to be a healer in armor with a shield. I want to play a defensive character who causes harm only when absolutely necessary. That's the kind of character that I really want to play, and the D&D Cleric is perfect for that. Of course, D&D's Paladin class is also tempting, as is the Fighter class, each of which grant more hit points than the Cleric gets, making them better for a defensive build, but the Cleric gets much more healing than either of them, which I count as bonus (transferable) hit points, so it probably evens out. So, given that the Clerics still get everything I want my D&D characters to have, I think I'll stick with them as my favorite character class, even if their healing power is a bit beyond what's needed and I could get some of their other benefits elsewhere. Clerics fit my preferred role too perfectly. So, I'd probably still play the party's healer even if we never needed any healing at all.

Self-Deprecation

In each of the three new Apostles' talks, the speaker falls victim to a vice from which I also suffer: self-deprecation. Elder Rasband did it the least, saying mostly only that he felt "amazed" and "overwhelmed." The other two said that they were, as Elder Renlund put it, "evidence to the truthfulness of the Lord’s statement early in this dispensation: 'That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world.'"

I call self-deprecation a vice in part because, as I wrote last night, we have no right to judge anyone, including ourselves, and partly because it can lead to a much bigger problem. Self-deprecation can lead to one feeling like they're worthless, but we all know that that isn't true. None of us are worthless. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God, and we all have or are souls, so each of us has great worth in the sight of God. Yet, when we allow ourselves to fall victim to self-deprecation, we lower our self-esteem and take one step closer to thinking that we have absolutely no value at all.

Granted, most people who self-deprecate don't actually think they're worthless (which is good, because they're not), but they do undercut their perception of their value, and this puts them at odds with their Heavenly Father, who sees great value in each of us. The way I've heard it, self-deprecation is not an aspect of humility, but of pride. President Deiter F. Uchtdorf said that:

Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves.

Furthermore, President Ezra Taft Benson said that a central feature of pride is enmity, or opposition, especially to God. Those who self-deprecate often exercise pride to do so, since God tells us that we have great value, but we tell ourselves that we don't.

Now, by saying all this, I don't mean to insult or ridicule anyone for thinking little of themselves. That would be counter-productive. Nor do I mean to say that the honest admittance of weakness isn't wise. What I do mean to say is that I don't think God wants any of us to beat ourselves up or put ourselves down. That doesn't mean that you're a bad person if you do that; that just means that you've got something to work on. And having and admitting a fault, like the habit of self-deprecation, isn't a bad thing, either. You just have to address the weakness and strive to overcome it rather than letting it define you and spoil your self-esteem.

I am fully convinced that God loves you and thinks you're a wonderful person. I also believe that He thinks you're fully capable, or at least capable of becoming capable, of everything He asks you to do. Just like the three newest members of the Quorum of the Twelve, we may sometimes feel weak and simple, but that doesn't mean that we are weak and simple, and even if we are, that doesn't mean that we're bound to stay that way. We have infinite potential, and we're each already living up to some of it. So, next time I'm tempted to think badly of myself, I'm going to ask God what He thinks of me and how He thinks I'm doing, and I'll try to be humble enough to accept His assessment, even if His opinion of me is much higher than mine.

No Right to Judge

In my blog post last night, I remarked that I had no right to judge people for being ungrateful. As I wrote that, I realised that I have no right to judge anyone at all. The right to judge is reserved by our Heavenly Father. I don't even have the right to judge myself. Eventually, I'll be a father or some other kind of leader who has the responsibility to judge others. When that happens, I pray that God will guide my judgement, but until then, the only kind of judgement I need is that which relates to the choices I make. For now, my place is to use judgement, not to pass it. I have no right to judge anyone, no matter what faults I think they have. I hope that I can have enough judgement to leave all of that kind of judgement to God.

More Blessed Than We Know

This morning, I wondered aloud whether a certain individual knew how lucky they were. This thought was followed shortly thereafter by a thought, both from myself and from the person with whom I was speaking, questioning whether or not any of us truly realize how lucky we are. We all receive many blessings, some of which, we see, and some of which, we may not see. Given the fact that we may not notice some of our blessings, it could be said that we can never really know how lucky (or blessed) we are, because there's always a chance that we're benefiting from blessings that we haven't noticed yet. In light of this, I'm going to try to be more grateful for all of my blessings, including those I don't know I've been given, and to be less judgemental of those who seem not to be as grateful as I feel they ought to be. If I can fail to notice and appreciate blessings given to me by my Heavenly Father, I have no right to judge others for doing the same thing. They may very well be far more blessed than they realise, but on the other hand, so may I.

Simplest Conference Message Ever

After expressing his feelings of inadequacy and sharing his insight that we are each to do what we can, Elder Gary E. Stevenson said that what he could do was to "testify of the plain and precious truths of the gospel." He then proceeded to quote from the first lesson in Preach My Gospel and conclude his message with one line of his own testimony.

In case you're not familiar with the first lesson or basic Christian beliefs, this is what Elder Stevenson said:

“God is our [loving] Heavenly Father. We are His children. … He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right. He wants to communicate with us, and we can communicate with Him through sincere prayer. …

“Heavenly Father has provided us, His children, with a way to … return to live in His presence. … Central to our [Heavenly] Father’s plan is Jesus Christ’s Atonement.”

Heavenly Father sent His Son to the earth to atone for the sins of all mankind. Of these plain and precious truths I bear my testimony, and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

It was as simple as that. I don't think I've heard anyone share such a simple, fundamental message in General Conference before. Yet, for him, it worked.

I think that we tend to overcomplicate things. Sometimes, all it takes to share the gospel with someone is to relate a simple, fundamental, heartfelt belief. You don't have to be a pastor or a missionary to share what you believe, and you don't need to be eloquent or original, either. Sometimes, all it takes is to quote a scripture (or a missionary lesson manual) and say "I know that this is true." That's essentially what Elder Stevenson did, and he did it in General Conference, where we usually expect to hear unique, original, inspired messages.

Sharing the gospel doesn't have to be difficult, and it doesn't have to take any kind of innate skill. You can share and teach the gospel as easily as sharing a personally meaningful passage of scripture and declaring your witness that what you read is true.

A For Effort

Remember when I told you yesterday that I didn't do the second section of homework because I found it too frustrating? My teacher didn't collect the assignments. Instead, she recorded the names of everyone who brought in homework to turn in. At the time she recorded my name, I assumed that she was going to collect the homework later, but she never did, and I think I heard her say that she was giving full marks to everyone who had done the homework.

Of course, I should correct her. I should let her know that I don't deserve full marks for the assignment because I didn't complete the full assignment. But I wonder how closely this experience may mirror our future experience at Final Judgement.

I know that God cannot look on sin with the least degree of allowance, but I think I've also heard that sin is wilful rebellion against God. If we try to keep a commandment, but fall into temptation anyway, God may give us credit for how hard we tried, even though we didn't succeed. Naturally, being our own worst judges, we won't feel we deserve any credit, but God, considering our effort, may feel differently.

I did make an honest attempt to complete that assignment, so I don't feel like a total fraud. Still, I plan to inform my teacher about what happened (and what didn't happen) and let her judge whether or not I may keep the points she gave me. If she believes in handing out a few points here and there for effort and honesty, she may let me keep them. If she believes more in justice and fairness, she may revoke the points. Either way, I'll be glad I got this off my chest, and I'll have gained an interesting experience that my or may not reflect my Final Judgement. Will we be held fully accountable for all our sins, or will we be given some credit for the ones we tried very hard not to break? I suppose we'll find out later, but one thing I already know for sure is that God is, and already has been, both generous and fair, if not more than fair.

Failing Because of Frustration

This evening, I spent hours working on a homework assignment that I wasn't able to complete. The reason I was unable to complete the assignment was that part of the assignment required impartial critical thinking on a controversial topic which I personally find highly frustrating. Because I got frustrated and angry, I was unable to think clearly, so I wasn't able to complete that part of the assignment. Fortunately, I'm doing well enough in that class that I don't think that failing on this one part of this one assignment is going to negatively affect my grade in any noticeable measure, but the moral of the story is that we need to learn to control our emotions. That is, I believe, one of the purposes of mortality. If we cannot learn to control our emotions, including our frustrations, that may cause us to fail in other, more eternal, areas of our lives as well.