The Benefit of New Perspectives

I've been thinking a bit about perspectives lately, mostly because I've had a catchy song about perspectives stuck in my head. The song describes looking at a cityscape from an "ariel area rug" (i.e. magic carpet), noting that "You can't see much of the skyline; it looks like more of a grid." The song makes a point of saying that it's not arguing whether this new perspective is "better or worse" than "the world that we see from the ground;" it just argues that "it's a brand new perspective, literally," and that if we look at the world briefly from that perspective, "we'll be glad that we did."

What I like most about this song, besides its general catchiness, is that it makes a good point about perspectives. No one perspective is better than another, except, perhaps, for new ones. Looking at something from new perspective can teach us more about it, so any new perspective we gain increases our understanding, which is almost always a good thing. It's not that the new perspective is "better" than the old one was; it's just better to have looked at things from both perspectives than from only one.

I think we would do well to explore other perspectives, especially when dealing with complex problems and issues. And since each person has their own perspective, we'll never run out of new perspectives to explore. If we talk to each other and really listen to each other, and try to understand one another, we can collectively learn more about the world around us than any of us could have learned on our own, using only our own perspectives. I wouldn't say that any one person's perspective on an issue is any more or less valid than anyone else's perspective, but I would say that looking at the issue from multiple perspectives will help you learn more about it than you'd learn from using only one perspective. So let's open our minds to new perspectives, even to the perspectives of people we disagree with. We can learn a lot by looking at things from other people's points of view, and the more we learn about the problems of society, the closer we'll get to finding solutions.

The Immorality and Eternal Strife of Man

Moses 1:39 says that God's work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Hearing this verse quoted in church a few weeks ago made me wonder what Satan's work and glory might be. By twisting the words of the verse, I supposed that Satan's work and his glory might be to bring to pass the immorality and eternal strife of man. This guess has no basis in any kind of scripture or doctrine, as far as I know, but I still think that there may be some truth to it.

Immorality, broadly defined, is the opposite of righteousness. Basically, immorality is the direct opposite of the trait that God most wants us to possess. And strife means opposition, which President Benson described as being a central feature of pride, "the universal sin, the great vice." Thus, immorality and strife are pretty high on the list of things that Satan wants us to have and God doesn't.

Yet, if I may indulge in a moment of social commentary, it seems that there is a good deal of immorality and strife in the world today. Society seems to be gradually lowering its standards with every passing year, and social groups are constantly at odds with each other to achieve their own objectives. Immorality and strife are so prevalent, it would seem that the adversary is doing a pretty good job of fulfilling his work and glory.

As Satan is trying to get the world to engage in immorality and strife, it's important for us to try to achieve the opposite of those in our personal lives. We should try to improve our righteousness and stick to our moral principles, and we should seek to establish and maintain peace with our fellow man. It won't be easy, especially as the world continues to become a more unrighteous and aggressive place, but achieving the opposites of Satan's desires will help us accomplish God's desires, which should closely align with ours.

I am not certain that the adversary considers his work and his glory to be to bring to pass the immorality and eternal strife of man, but it makes a lot of sense to me. I wouldn't be at all surprised if immorality and strife were central to his plans, as they seem to be opposite to God's ideals, yet also very present in our society. At the very least, immorality and strife are vices, perhaps even central and/or universal vices, and thus are traits that we should avoid, whether they're key to Satan's work and his glory or not.

Understandable, but not Justifiable

Sometimes, I feel absolutely certain that I've blogged about something, but then I can't find the blog post that I'm sure I've written. This is one of those times. Between how much I admire Captain Moroni and how many times I've blogged about the War Chapters, I'm surprised I've never blogged about Captain Moroni's anger issues.

Moroni's anger is mentioned several times in the Book of Mormon. He gets angry at the Lamanites, at dissenting Nephites, at the Nephite government, and possibly others. One thing that I find interesting is that almost every time his anger is mentioned, the reason for his anger is also given. Lately, I've been highlighting the places in the Book of Mormon where Captain Moroni gets angry, planning to blog about the reasons he got angry, though I thought I had blogged about that before.

However, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to blog about that just yet. I have more verses to find, highlight, and ponder. In the meantime, I'd like to blog about the reasons for Captain Moroni's anger in a more general sense. The thing is, I'm pretty sure he always had fairly good reasons for getting angry, but I also think that no reason he had was actually good enough.

Anger is a sin. Even if it's not written in the "Thou Shalt Not" format, we have certainly been counselled to control our anger, and I'm not sure how well Captain Moroni did at that. It seems to me that, even though  Captain Moroni always had good reasons to be angry, that doesn't mean that it was the right thing to do. His anger was understandable, but perhaps not justified.

There's an important distinction there. A lot of what people do is understandable, and forgiveable, but still wrong. When people give in to human weakness, like getting angry when others are frustrating, we should remember that that's perfectly understandable and very human, but it's not something that they or we should do. We can and should forgive such behavior, but we shouldn't condone it or emulate it.

I look forward to learning why Captain Moroni got angry so many times, but I don't plan on allowing myself to get angry as often or for the same reasons. I plan to continue to try to control my anger, no matter what I learn from studying and blogging about his.

To Lead and to Follow

I can't believe this didn't occur to me earlier. To lead someone means to go before them, showing them the way, and to follow means to go behind them.

It's so simple. Leaders aren't just commanders. They don't just say "you go do that thing," then sit back and watch. They say "Let's go do that thing," and then they start to do it, trusting that the others will join in. Leading isn't just about giving commands, and following isn't just about obeying them. It's about working together. It's about setting a good example and following that example. That's why the phrase "Do as I say, not as I do" irks me as much as it does. Leaders shouldn't just tell their followers  what to do and how to do it; they should show them, by example. They should walk the path they want others to follow, not just tell them where the path is.

That, in my opinion, is part of what makes Jesus Christ a great leader. He didn't just tell people how to live; He showed them by living that way Himself. Good leaders follow His example by leading by example, by literally leading their followers, not just bossing them around. Since I've been called to be a leader, I'm going to follow the Savior by being a leader who literally leads.

The Lord's Kind of Leadership

I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately, for a number of reasons. First, I just came back from a week-long experience where I served as a leader. Second, we in the United States are approaching an opportunity to select a new leader. And third, the next General Conference talk I had planned to blog about just happened to be about what it means to be a leader. In his April 2016 General Conference talk, The Greatest Leaders Are the Greatest Followers, President Stephen W. Owen of the General Young Men Presidency said:

The world teaches that leaders must be mighty; the Lord teaches that they must be meek. Worldly leaders gain power and influence through their talent, skill, and wealth. Christlike leaders gain power and influence “by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.”

There are many approaches to leadership, and some methods are better than others. Throughout history, people have used intimidation to attempt to control people, and they have had some success, but that is not the Lord's way. The Lord would have us be humble and kind, whether we are leaders or followers. There are times when we have to be strong and put our feet down, but most of the time, we are to be meek and patient, exercising tolerance and respecting the decisions of others.

Too many people in the world, myself included, are too easily swayed by pride. Some leaders pridefully try to impose their will on others, while some would-be followers pridefully insist on acting on their own will. Being a strong believer in individual freedom, I often fall in the latter camp, but President Owen's talk is helping me realize that there is a balance between freedom and obedience. Yes, we all have the God-given gift of agency, but using our agency wisely often means yielding our will to others.

If I'm going to be a leader, and it's becoming increasingly clear that God wants me to be one, I'm going to have to learn to find the right balance between freedom and obedience. I'll need to learn how much obedience I should expect from those I lead, and how much freedom I should allow them to retain. Personally, I would want them to retain all their freedom, and to only follow my suggestions if they choose to, but that's not the Lord's way any more than ruling with an iron fist is. God expects me to obey those who have authority over me, and He expects those over whom I have authority to obey me. That, in a slight way, goes against my personal beliefs, but I trust that God's ideas of leadership and followership are wiser than mine.

The basic idea of leadership, as far as I understand it at the moment, is to be gentle, but firm. We shouldn't be too strict with those whom we've been called to lead, but we shouldn't be too lenient, either. We all need guidance, and some of us need more firm guidance than others. As leaders, we need to be willing to nudge, and occasionally shove, our followers in the right direction, just as God does with us, just as we need to be willing to step back occasionally and let others make their own choices, as God sometimes does. Learning when to be firm and when to be gentle is going to take a lot of practice for me, but with God's help, I think I can master it. I've already learned a lot about the Lord's idea of leadership. God willing, I'm going to continue to learn a lot more.

The Faith to Keep a Two-Land Hand

In Magic: the Gathering, playing most cards requires mana, which is generated by land cards. Since each land can usually only produce one mana per turn, it's important to make sure you have enough land cards to play the other cards in your hand. However, since each player starts with only seven cards in their hand, and normally only draws one card per turn, it takes a certain amount of luck to get the number of lands you need by the time you need them.

For example, if you draw an opening hand that had several three-mana-cost spells, but only two lands, you would have to decide whether you'll keep that hand or take a mulligan, shuffling your current opening hand back into your deck, and drawing a new hand with one less card. Taking a mulligan might increase your chances of having all the lands you'll need, but having fewer cards would put you at a disadvantage. Alternatively, keeping a two-land hand is a small gamble, but with two or three chances to draw a land by your third turn, your odds are fairly good, so it's usually worth it to take the leap of faith.

In life, we never know what will come our way next. We can make educated guesses and we may have pretty good odds of things working out according to plan, but the future is never certain. In life, we can never know what cards we'll be dealt. But often, God asks us to move forward in faith. Unlike us, God knows exactly what cards are coming up next, and in what order. He knows which risks we can afford to take, and which ones we should shy away from. God knows when we'd be safe with taking a two-land-hand, or even a one- or a zero-land-hand (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Sometimes, we need to move forward with faith in order for things to work out according to God's plan, but if we do, they always will. God's plans are foolproof, so even though we may not know every detail about God's plans, and we may not know what'll happen next, if we act in faith, God will reward that faith with success.

Now, I'm not saying that you should always take crazy risks, like keeping a hand with too few lands in it, but what I'm am say is that, if God prompts you to go ahead and take the risk, then there really is no risk at all. God knows what's going to happen, so if He assures you that everything will be alright, you can have full confidence in that assurance and move forward in faith. I doubt God really cares how well I do in my Magic games and which opening hands I choose to keep, but if, for some reason, He prompts me to keep a hand that has very few lands, or even no lands, in it, I hope that I would have the faith to keep the hand, trusting that God would give me what I need in the moment I need it, just as He does when it really matters.

The Courage of the King Men

As I've been reviewing the war chapters, I've found it shocking how often the bad guys set good examples. Case in point, when the King Men failed in their attempts to reorganize the Nephite government, they were offered an ultimatum: Either fight, and possibly die, for a cause they didn't believe in, or be put to death. Under the threat of death, many of them chose possible death over certain death, even though that meant switching sides, but a handful of them stuck to their convictions and chose death.

This choice must have taken a great deal of courage and conviction. Sure, their conviction was misplaced, but their loyalty to their cause was admirable. If I were put in their shoes, being forced to choose between death and fighting for a cause I opposed, I'm not sure I would have the courage to make the right decision.

However, I know a few truths that make the decision a little easier. For example, this life isn't all there is. When we pass on, we'll go to an afterlife in which we'll be judged according to our decisions. Knowing that, going early into that afterlife for having boldly made a righteous decision doesn't sound so bad. Plus, we're all going to die eventually anyway, so choosing life over righteousness would really only buy you a few more years or decades, if that. All in all, dying for a good cause isn't all that bad, especially compared to the alternative.

When it comes to one's moral convictions, it's almost certainly better to die for the right cause than fight for the wrong one. Fighting for the wrong cause means promoting evil, and possibly dying in the process. Dying in the act of promoting evil won't exactly look good on one's permanent (eternal) record, and surviving is almost as bad. The longer a person survives the war of which they're on the wrong side, the better that side will do. With their help, that side may even win. And when the war is over, no matter who wins, they'll have to live with the fact that they made a cowardly and immoral choice.

I admire the courage of the King Men who chose death over betraying their political beliefs. Granted, in their case, it was the wrong choice, but I admire the courage with which they made it. I personally hope I never get put in a similar situation, being forced to either die for my beliefs or fight against them, but if I am ever forced to make that kind of choice, I hope that I'll have the kind of courage those King Men had, the courage to stand by my convictions, even in the face of death.

Pretending To Be Native American

The only thing I dislike about the Scout Camp we went to this year (beside the fact that there's a lot of hiking up and down hills to get around camp) is a ceremony that the Staff performs late in the week. This ceremony borrows heavily from what I can only assume is Native American tradition. I haven't seen much of any genuine Native American ceremonies, so I have no idea how closely this ceremony mirrors theirs, but I strongly suspect that this ceremony was entirely composed of falsehoods and fabrication.

The ties the Boy Scouts of America claims to have to Native American culture has always been my least favorite part of the organization. BSA and the ceremony teach good ideals, but they package those ideals in references to a culture that we are not a part of. We are not Native Americans. We probably don't do a very good job of respecting Native Americans when we borrow from their traditions to spice up our campfire stories. And any campfire story that starts with the phrase "Many moons ago" might as well have started with the phrase "Once upon a time" for how truthful I expect them to be. Sure, we're teaching young men how to be good men, but we lie to them when we do it. And this from an organization whose members' first tenet is to be trustworthy.

My point is that we don't need to pretend to be Native American to be interesting. We can capture the boys' attention in other ways. At the final campfire, one member shared a true story of how he saved a person from serious injury using skills he had learned at Scout Camp six years earlier. It was a powerful message. I'm sure we can find other true, inspiring stories about Scouts who used their skills and their virtues to accomplish good and great things. And we can do so without wearing leather and feather costumes that only cover half of our bodies.

I respect the Boy Scouts of America for teaching young men to act with honor and integrity, but it pains me to see so many leaders of Scouting organizations discard their dignity and act in a way that betrays the ideals of Scouting. I believe that leaders should lead by example, and by dressing up as Native Americans and telling tall tales, we're not setting very good examples of how honest men should behave.

Yet, as with almost every fault I decry on my blog, I have no room to talk. I make-believe to inspire myself to be righteous. The leaders of that Scout Camp may not be Native Americans, but I'm not a Paladin, either. However, I never seriously claim to be a Paladin, and I think that sets me apart from the Scout leaders who performed that ceremony a few nights ago. Whenever I claim to be a Paladin, which is rarely, I only ever mean it in a figurative sense. I have never tried to convince anyone that I literally am a Paladin. But I think some Scout leaders have dishonestly attempted to make young men believe that they really were Native Americans, and in my mind, that is completely unacceptable. Playing fictional roles in skits is fine, but actually pretending to be something you're not takes the idea of fiction a little bit too far.

Maybe I'm just bitter about this because I think that the leaders of impressionable young men should hold themselves to high standards of conduct. Maybe I'm just being a stick in the mud or a wet blanket. Maybe I'm drawing too fine a line between fiction and dishonesty. But I personally don't plan on participating in any supposedly Native American ceremonies organized by members of the Boy Scouts of America. It's possible that there's not actually anything wrong with them, but they seem dishonest and unnecessary to me.

The Most Important Thing I Learned at Scout Camp

It's probably premature to say this, because there's still plenty of time for me to fins out that I'm wrong about what I'm about to say, but I think I may have found my element. For as long as I've been serving as a leader, even of other young men, even of those younger than myself, I've felt underqualified. I've felt that I didn't have what it takes to be a leader. I don't feel like I make good decisions, I don't think I handle stress very well, and a frequently feel overwhelmed. Since planning and crisis-management are part of a leader's job, and I felt that I don't do well in those areas, I thought that I simply wasn't cut out to be a leader.

However, my week at Scout Camp taught me that I have other leaderly qualities. Specifically, I'm patient and understanding, I can be persuasive, yet gentle, and I can provide an uplifting and infectious positive attitude. In short, though I may not excel in the managerial side of being a leader, I have some talent for being a leader "on the field," so to speak. I may not be able to lead an organization, but I can lead a small team.

And the group I've been called to lead is certainly a small team.

Some people believe that knowing one's own weaknesses is useful in that it tells you where you need to improve. I disagree, to a certain extent. While I agree that it is good to try to reduce one's own weaknesses, I'm not sure that eliminating them completely is even possible in all cases, and it may not be the best use of one's time. Rather, I think that knowing one's own weaknesses is most helpful to those who use that information to adjust their methods. For example, a person who has more intelligence than they have strength would do better to put themselves in a position where their intelligence gives them an advantage than to work on their strength until theirs is on par with everyone else's. Yes, one could work on their weaknesses in order to round themselves out and make themselves more adaptable, but in a team, having four or five people who are all average in every way is less useful than having the same number of people who each excel at different things.

There are people who know how to run an organization and who thrive under pressure, but I'm not one of those people. If I made enough effort, I could probably learn those skills, but it's probably wiser to work with the strengths I already have. I have traits and talents that make me a natural leader, just in a different sense than I had been thinking. If there's one thing I've learned at Scout Camp, it's that I can be a leader. I may not be a great organization leader, but I can be a great team leader. If I bear that in mind, consider the Young Men's Presidency as a team, and draw upon the strengths of others while utilizing my own, I think I can be a great leader, which is something I would never have had the confidence to say a week ago. I can be a leader; a team leader.

BTW, I'm Going Camping

By the way, I'm going camping this week, so I won't post any more blog posts until next Saturday or Sunday. See you then!

The Faith of Our Forefathers

The First Presidency Message this month is titled "True to the Faith of Our Forefathers." In this message, President Monson quoted President George Albert Smith as having asked descendants of pioneers "Will you live true to the faith of your ancestors?" I'm not sure how much I like this concept. While we can certainly draw courage and inspiration from the pioneers, I don't think we should promote faithfulness to any particular religion purely in the name of ancestry. As a missionary, I asked many people to depart from the faith of their forefathers. I think it's important to seek, accept, and uphold truth, regardless of the religion of our parents.

The Nephites and Lamanites demonstrate interesting lessons regarding the faith of one's forefathers. Naturally, the Nephites who dissented and became Lamanites are considered villains, and the Nephites who remained Nephites are seen as heroes, but the Lamanites who converted and became Nephites are also among the principal heroes of the Book of Mormon, and the Lamanites who remained true to the faith of their forefathers, or rather "the wicked traditions of their fathers," are villains. Whether remaining true to the faith of your forefathers is a virtue or a vice depends on what your forefathers believed.

No matter what our ancestors believed, we can learn from their examples. Sometimes, they set good examples that we should follow, and sometimes, they set bad examples from which we should differ. They each believed some truths that we should hold onto and some falsehoods that we should discard. I agree that we should hold fast to the things we know to be true, but we should be willing to evaluate the truthfulness of the things we believe, including the things we've been taught to believe. We should be true to the truths that our parents have cherished, but first, we should make certain that they actually are truths.

Reviewing My Sacrament Lesson

It's Sunday again, which means I get another possible opportunity to give the lesson I was scheduled to give two weeks ago, and since I don't also have a talk to give this Sunday, I can really focus on the lesson that I may or may not end up giving.

Let's review the main points. The question posed by the lesson is "How can I help others have a meaningful experience with the Sacrament?" and the core of my answer will be that we can't make the Sacrament more meaningful for other people until it means something to us. So then, the question becomes "How can I make the Sacrament more meaningful to me?" and the answer is simply by remembering what the Sacrament and its symbols mean.

The bread and water represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They represent the sacrifice He made for us, which reflects the great love He has for us and which highlights the importance of repentance.

Taking the Sacrament indicates that we are renewing our baptismal and temple covenants. It reinforces the strength of our sacred commitments. No one who has been baptised should take the Sacrament lightly, and no Priesthood holder should pass the Sacrament lightly, either.

One reason we should treat the Sacrament seriously is because it's a sacred ordinance first performed by Jesus Christ Himself. He administered the Sacrament first to His original disciples, and did so again at least twice among the Nephites after His resurrection. In fact, I think that every time the Sacrament was passed in Jesus' presence, It was Jesus who administered it. When the young men pass the sacrament, they are literally filling the role that Jesus Christ would fill if He attended one of our Sacrament Meetings.

Hopefully, that'll be enough to help my class treat the Sacrament with such respect that others will begin to give the Sacrament more respect as well, which will help them to have a more meaningful experience with the Sacrament  just as we young men start to do the same. The young men may not get many opportunities to talk about the Sacrament in Sacrament Meeting, but if they make a point of handling the Sacrament reverently, that should help others understand that the Sacrament is sacred, which will probably help them have a more meaningful experience with it.

The Game We Both Won

A few weeks ago, I played a game of Magic: the Gathering that went especially well, and not just for the person who won the game.

The main way to win a game of Magic is to reduce your opponent's life total to zero. You do this mostly by attacking your opponent with creatures, which deal damage equal to their power. However, your opponent can block your creatures with creatures of their own, causing the damage that your creature would have dealt to you opponent to be dealt to their creature instead.

In one game, I summoned a creature that had Lifelink, which means that whenever that creature dealt damage, I would gain that much life. Then I gave that creature an enchantment that says that whenever I gain life, I put that many +1/+1 counters on that creature, increasing that its power by that amount.

The first time I attacked with that creature, it dealt two damage because it had two power when I summoned it. Because it had Lifelink, when it dealt two damage, I gained two life, and because of the enchantment, when I gained that two life, I put two +1/+1 counters on the creature, and its power became four. On my next turn, I attacked with it again, and this time, it dealt four damage, so I gained four life and put four more +1/+1 counters on the creature, doubling its power again. I repeated this process again each turn for the rest of the game, and each turn, that creature dealt twice as much damage as it had the previous turn, increased my life total by that amount, and doubled its power again.

This chain of events could have ended the game very quickly, but my opponent kept summoning creatures he could use to block my creature. My creature's power and my life total were both growing exponentially, but none of that damage was being dealt to my opponent. And though my life total was growing too fast for my opponent to have any hope of reducing it to zero, my opponent had another way to win.

Each Magic deck only has so many cards in it, and each player draws a card on each of their turns. When a player's deck runs out of cards, and they're forced to draw a card from an empty deck, they lose the game instead.

My opponent had a creature that, every time it hit me, forced me to move several cards from my deck to my discard pile. And though my creature was much stronger than his, my creature couldn't block his because his creature had a common special ability called Flying. A creature with Flying can only be blocked by a creature with Flying or Reach, and my creature didn't have either of those abilities.

So, for several turns, my creature's power would double, and my life total would increase significantly, but I would also lose several cards from my deck. Eventually, I lost the game because I could never manage to block my opponent's creature, but there was a way I could have won.

In addition to the creature whose power was doubling every turn, I had a handful of other creatures, including Odric, Master Tactician. He has an ability that says that when he and at least three other creatures attack, I could choose how, or if, my opponent's creatures blocked. At just about any point, I could have Odric, the power-doubling creature, and two other creatures attack, decide that my opponent's creatures weren't going to block any of my creatures, and win the game.

But that's not what I decided to do. When my opponent realised that my creature's power was doubling each turn, he suggested that, rather than finishing my opponent off quickly, I should wait a few turns and see how powerful my creature could get. So, turn after turn, I chose not to defeat my opponent, and he got closer and closer to defeating me, which he ultimately did. By the end of the game, my creature had over 800 power, and I had about as much life, but my opponent still technically won.

However, I would say that we both won that game. Yes, my opponent took the official victory, but I also kind of won because I could have chosen to win the game much earlier, had I wanted to. On the other hand, part of the reason I didn't chose not to win that way was because my opponent convinced my not to. His quick talking kept the game going long enough for him to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. If I had pulled that off, I would have counted that as a win. But still, we both had fun, we shared an epic experience, and both of our decks performed very well. In my books, that was a big win for both of us.

Life's not all about winning and losing. How and why you play the game are also important. In life, all players can win. There are some prizes that can only go to one person, but there are plenty of prizes to be won. I didn't earn the prize of winning that game officially, but we both earned the prize of having a good time. No person succeeds at everything they attempt, but there are many little victories we can win. And whenever a group of people are working for the same goal, like having fun, they can all win together. Strictly speaking, every Magic game that doesn't end in a draw has only one winner, but when everybody is having a good time, I'd say that everybody wins.

Opposite Promises

When the Anti-Nephi-Lehies took that name upon themselves, they also took an oath that they wouldn't fight any more, even to defend themselves. When their enemies attacked them, they allowed themselves to be killed rather than fighting back. Later, they relied on their new allies, the Nephites, to protect them. But when they saw that the Nephites were having a hard time fighting their enemies, they wanted to help, but they kept their oath and did not personally join the fight.

However, their sons had not made any such oath when they converted to Christianity, and when the Nephites' need became desperate, they made an oath that went completely against the oath their parents had made.

And they entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea, to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives; yea, even they covenanted that they never would give up their liberty, but they would fight in all cases to protect the Nephites and themselves from bondage.
Alma 53:17

The interesting thing is that both of these were good oaths. It was good of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies to commit themselves to peace, and it was good of their sons to commit to fight to protect that peace. While it would have been a contradiction for any one person to have made both oaths, each of those oaths were good ones. They were just good for different people and at different times.

Most moral laws are absolute, but the most righteous course of action can depend on the situation. God once said, to one people, "Thou Shalt Not Kill," but He also told others that it was necessary for them to kill some specific and especially wicked people. Fighting is usually wrong, but fighting to defend yourself and the innocent is usually morally justified and morally right.

So when the Anti-Nephi-Lehies promised not to fight any more, not even to defend themselves, that was a good promise for them to make, and when their sons promised that they would fight to defend themselves and the Nephites, that was a good promise for them to make. There may be some actions that are always right or wrong, no matter what, but with other actions, what's right or wrong for one person might not also be right or wrong for another.

Life Is An Opportunity

Today, I saw a video on Facebook that says that life is an opportunity. It's not something that you have to do; it's something you get to do. I think I needed to hear that perspective. I sometimes get overwhelmed by life, and I think "I didn't sign up for this," but in actuality, I did. I did sign up for a mortal life. I once saw it as an exciting, if a bit intimidating, opportunity. Sure, I may not have had many good alternatives, and life can certainly seem like a drag now, but at at least one point, I was glad to have an opportunity to come to Earth.

But somewhere down the road, I seem to have lost that spark of excitement. I somehow lost sight of what an amazing opportunity being alive is. I got caught up in all the things I can't do and all the things I have to do, and this life began to seem much more like a chore than an opportunity.

I'm not going to exaggerate and say that this video changed my entire outlook on life, but I think it contributed a little bit toward helping me change my perspective. I'm trying to get excited about life again, and remembering that I once saw life as a great opportunity, rather than as a set of obligations, helps me out a lot. I'm trying to remember to see challenges and commandments in a positive light, as ways to gain practical experience and to earn blessings, as ways to prove my strength and improve it, and as ways to draw nearer to God by both improving my relationship with Him and by becoming more like Him.

It's going to take continuing effort to see life as an opportunity rather than as an obligation, but if that perspective improves the quality of my life as much as I think it will, it'll be worth it. I'd like to get that spark back. I'd like to once again feel excited about life. I'm usually a fairly cheerful and upbeat person, but I don't feel very upbeat now, and I'd like to change that. I need to change my perspective, and focussing on life's opportunities might just do the trick.

A High Price to Pay

Whenever the title of a talk is a noun, one question one might ask oneself as they study that talk is "What is [the title of the talk]?" For example, one might ask themself "What is Faith?" or "What is the Atonement?" When I spoke about treasures of eternal value, I rhetorically asked "What are treasures of eternal value?" or rather "Which treasures have eternal value?", and then I provided a general answer as well as three specific answers. When I listened to President Nelson's talk, "The Price of Priesthood Power," I asked myself, "What is the price of Priesthood power?" In the last several paragraphs of his talk, President Nelson gave me the answer.

He started by listing several Christlike attributes. Specifically, he listed "faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity, ...diligence... [and] humility." In essence, in order to have spiritual power, we need to be like Jesus Christ, which makes a lot of sense. Jesus performed great miracles with His Priesthood power. If the reason He had such power was because of His righteous behavior, we can increase our power by emulating His behavior.

But that's not all President Nelson said we must do. In addition to exercising Christlike attributes, we must also "Pray from our hearts, ...search the scriptures and feast of the words of Christ, ...worship in the temple regularly, ...[and] follow President Thomas S. Monson’s example of serving others."

It's a long list, and nothing on that list is as easy as merely "reading the scriptures" or "saying your prayers."  Instead, we must study the scriptures and pray from our hearts. Obtaining greater Priesthood power cannot be by result of passive, habitual practices. To really grow in the Priesthood, we must actively seek to do so.

In my opinion, that sounds like a lot of work. That's probably why President Nelson warned us that "In a coming day, only those men who have taken their priesthood seriously, by diligently seeking to be taught by the Lord Himself, will be able to bless, guide, protect, strengthen, and heal others." All other Priesthood holders, those who are less diligent, will lack the power to effectively use it.

This is bad news for me and my family because diligence is not one of my strong suits. I'm okay at service, and sometimes I do well at studying the gospel, but I'm not always very good and continuing to do the things I should, and when I do, I do so mostly out of habit. Unfortunately, it seems as though the force of habit isn't going to be enough. In order to really grow one's spiritual power, one has to take an active approach with respect to the gospel.

I'm going to listen to President Nelson's talk again. I know many of the things I need to do, but I'm not sure I have enough motivation to do it. But President Nelson conveyed his message with such a sense of importance that it, to some measure, increased my motivation to more actively participate in the gospel. Listening to the talk again one or two more times might help me realize that this message is important enough for me to need to act on it, even though I that's going to mean an awful lot of work.

Coming Back to Conference

It's high time I got back to blogging about General Conference talks. I'll still check in with War Chapter insights from time to time, but I'd like to try to finish blogging about last General Conference's talks before next General Conference begins. Besides, picking up close to where I left off, I really like the talk I get to blog about next, The Price of Priesthood Power, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Nearly three months ago, I blogged about D&C 121:36, and I mentioned President Nelson's talk and, specifically, how I haven't really been paying the price of Priesthood power. I haven't been doing all the things I should. I haven't been giving the gospel of Jesus Christ enough of my attention. I really should be doing more to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, especially if I want the blessings that can only come by doing so.

Yet, I probably shouldn't be too hard on myself. We all tend to slip, if we're not careful. I don't need to berate myself for losing focus; what I need is to recommit. And the best way I know of to recommit myself to doing something is by making myself accountable to you. I hearby commit that, sometime tomorrow, I am going to read and listen to President Nelson's talk again, and I'm going to share a new insight from it. The new insight may be on a topic that I've blogged about before, but it will at least have a fresh perspective.

It's too soon to say, but I may try to make that a habit again, reading and listening to General Conference talks. I think it would be good for my spiritual well-being, and I certainly have the time. Just cutting out one or two Youtube videos, or spending 10-15 fewer minutes on Facebook would give me all the time I need to read a General Conference talk, and doing so might save me some of the time I spend trying to think of what to blog about. I still might occasionally sprinkle in a war chapter insight, and if anything happens in my daily life that has some kind of blogworthy analogy hidden in it, I'll try to remeber to blog about it, but other than that, I think I'll shift my focus to General Conference for a while. At the very least, tomorrow's blog post will be about a General Conference talk, and you can hold me to that.

No Good Work is Thankless

This morning, I gave a ten-minute talk, and dozens of people gave me praise and compliments for it. Shortly thereafter, my brother quietly cleaned up a stomach-churning mess, and only a handful of people ever even knew what he did. My brother's work was harder, but he got less recognition for it. It's not really fair, but that's life. We often have to do work that goes unrecognised by the world.

Thankfully, there are others who recognise our work and make sure we're properly thanked for it. Whenever we do good, angels in heaven make note of it, and we will be justly rewarded for it, even if no one on Earth ever knows what we did.

I'm glad people liked my talk, and I'm glad to know that they liked it. It makes me feel like I've done some good in the world. But I'm not the only one who did good today, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who knows that. I'm glad that there are angels in heaven recording everyone's good works, so that no good work is ever permanently thankless. I find it comforting that God watches all our actions, and that, when a person does good, there is always going to be at least one person who notices and thanks them for it.

We don't always get praised immediately for the good we do. Sometimes, our good works are more private, seen and recognised by fewer people. But they are always recognised by someone. I'm glad people complimented my talk today, but I'm even more glad that my brother's good works today have been recognised as well.

Not All Knowledge Has Eternal Value

I just finished writing my talk, and it's mostly just an expansion of yesterday's blog post, so if you're a regular reader of my blog and you're in my Ward, most of what I say tomorrow should sound familiar to you. But there's a small caveat I added to my talk that I didn't really bring up yesterday, and I'll only bring it up tomorrow if I have time. So, in case I don't get to it tomorrow, I'll share the caveat with you now: Not all knowledge has eternal value.

You might remember that I said that in order for a treasure to have eternal value, it has to come with us into the eternal world, and it has to retain its value when we get there. All knowledge does the former, but not all knowledge does the latter. I'm pretty sure that when we pass on, we will remember everything. We'll remember everything we did, everything we ever knew, and we'll even remember what we experienced before we were born. Nothing will escape our recollection.

But not everything that we remember will be helpful to us one the other side. For example, I know how many cards are in a standard UNO deck. I know a lot about Magic: the Gathering and D&D. That knowledge will stay with me forever, but it probably won't improve my life (or afterlife) very much. That knowledge is eternal, as all knowledge is, but it doesn't have eternal value.

Other knowledge is much more valuable, both in this life and in the next. This includes knowledge of the commandments and the Christlike attributes. Basically, everything we learn in church and from the scriptures and through the Spirit, has eternal value. That is the knowledge it's most worthwhile to study and retain.

Thankfully, once we've gained knowledge, retaining it won't be a problem. We may forget something temporarily, but when this life is over, we will probably remember everything, from the critical to the trivial. Whether this memory adds anything to our lives or not depends on the nature of the knowledge.

So, while learning about how spell slots work or about the ten guilds of Ravnica may be interesting to some people, it's not going to add very much, if anything, to their eternal value. I can't imagine how knowing what the five shards of Alara are called or what racial bonuses wood elves get might help me in my eternal pursuits, so it's probably not a priority to study that sort of thing. At least, that knowledge isn't anywhere near as valuable, eternally, as is the knowledge of the gospel. While almost all knowledge has at least some value, not all knowledge has eternal value, even if we remember it forever.

Treasures Worth Investing In

This Sunday, I'm going to give a talk on Treasures of Eternal Value. I'm not sure how to approach it.  Money, for example, does not have eternal value, but it's still essential, so we can't devote all of our time seeking treasures of eternal value, but we still need to focus on our long-term investments, even while we're taking care of our short term needs. Maybe that's how I'll frame it - investments.

The Ensign article I was given to help me prepare my talk starts with President Monson telling how, when he was young, he loved exciting tales of adventurers hunting for treasures. That's not exactly a rock-solid investment plan. If we're going to invest a lot of time and energy into something, we should try to make sure what we get for our investment is worth the cost. Treasure-hunting is not always a rewarding endeavour, and even when a treasure is found, one can only ever keep it as long as they live. When we leave this world, we have to leave our material wealth behind.

So what treasures can we take with us? What can we invest in that has at least the potential to last forever? Which treasures have eternal value? There are several. We know that "Families Can Be Together Forever" (Hymns, 300), so our family relationships can be treasures of eternal value. We also know that "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection" (D&C 130:18), so our knowledge can be a treasure of eternal value as well. Alma 34:34 teaches us that we'll have the same spirit after we die as we have when we die, so personal development is a good long-term investment, especially if we focus on developing Christlike attributes.

Since all these things come with us and retain their value when we pass on, it makes sense to invest significant portions of time and energy into them. These are a few of the treasures of eternal value, the treasures that are most worth seeking.

I Am Not Captain Moroni

Captain Moroni was only 25 years old when he was appointed to be the chief captain of the armies of the Nephites. He was younger than I am, but he was able to take command of a nation's entire army, and he led them to victory time and again. I know I couldn't do that. I'm not a great leader or strategist. I'm not sure how well I would do in the ranks of an army, let alone at the head of one. I'm sure that I couldn't have done what Captain Moroni did.

But that's okay. We all have different callings in life, and our individual callings are tailored to our own talents and abilities, or at least to our potential. Captain Moroni must have been an inspiring and wise leader. He had a great deal of conviction and a strong love of liberty and of the Lord. God used those traits to shape Captain Moroni into the greatest military leader the Nephites had ever known. I know that I couldn't have filled Captain Moroni's shoes, but that's not really an issue. God's not asking me to be another Captain Moroni. My talents and callings lie elsewhere. God doesn't need me to lead an army. He has other plans in store for me.

And so it is with all of us. We each have different talents and abilities, so God puts us into situations that allow us to make use of our talents and help them grow. Sometimes, God has great works for us to do, but God's definition of a "great work" may be different from ours. The work God has laid out for us may not be as glamorous as saving a nation from invaders, but it may be just as important, in the eternal scheme of things. We don't have to compare our capabilities or accomplishments with those of others. We all have different roles to play, and we were each given the abilities we need to do that.

None of us are Captain Moroni, but that's alright; only Captain Moroni needed to be. What God needs us to be is ourselves.

How the War Really Began - Disagreement Means Exile

I know I spent a lot of time on the early battles of the war chapters, but now it's looking like those battles weren't actually part of the war of the war chapters. The war chapters' war seems to begin about two years after those battles ended, and for a completely different and even more petty reason.

At about 74 B.C., it came to a certain Nephite missionary's attention that a group of Nephites called the Zoramites had apostatized from Christianity, so that missionary got a bunch of his buddies together, and they went out to teach the Zoramites, with the hopes of bringing them back to the fold. They had some success, converting some Zoramites back to Christianity, however, the still-non-Christian Zoramites weren't too happy about that, and they kicked the Christian Zoramites out of their lands.

While preferable to genocide, exiling the Christian Zoramites made about as much sense as the Lamanites attacking the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. A difference of opinion should never escalate to violence. I can kind of understand it if the unconverted Zoramites didn't want the converted Zoramites asserting their rediscovered Christianity into local politics. I can see the concern there. But if that was the major concern, exile should have been sufficient for them, but it wasn't.

After being cast out of their lands, the converted and exiled Zoramites went over to live with the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, who were now called the people of Ammon, or the Ammonites. When the chief ruler of the unconverted Zoramites saw that the people of Ammon had accepted the converted Zoramites into their lands, he "he breathed out many threatenings against them," "desiring them that they should cast out of their land all those who came over from them into their land" (Alma 35: 9&8). When the people of Ammon refused to re-exile the exiled, Christian Zoramites, the other Zoramites became very angry, joined themselves with the Lamanites, and "began to make preparations for war against the people of Ammon, and also against the Nephites" (Alma 35:11). And the rest was history.

If disagreeing with a person's religious beliefs is a bad reason to go to war, being irritated at another person's kindness is a terrible reason to start a war. The Christian Zoramites had, as far as I could tell, done nothing to the non-Christian Zoramites. They weren't a threat to them. If one nation harbored terrorists that were attacking another country, I could understand why the second country might be upset with the first, but that certainly wasn't the case here. The non-Christian Zoramites didn't lose anything when the Ammonites welcomed the Christian Zoramites, and they weren't at any increased threat of being attacked, so starting a war with the Ammonites and Nephites doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

It reminds me of a quote form one of Elder Holland's talks, and, to use his words, I paraphrase only slightly: "Why should one person be bitter because another chooses to be kind?" So, the Ammonites were nice to the exiled Zoramites. So what? That didn't affect the other Zoramites at all until they decided that was important enough to go to war over. It's about as petty a grudge as I've ever seen. Likewise, we should try not to become bitter when other people are kind to people we don't like. It's one thing to wish ill on another person. Wishing that other people would wish ill on that person takes the animosity a bit too far. As Christians, we should try to be more forgiving than that. Besides, it's entirely possible that the kind people aren't really fond of the unliked ones, either, but are only being kind because they think it's the Christian thing to do. I don't think that's the case here, necessarily, but it may be the case elsewhere.

The enemy of one's enemy is not always one's friend, and the friend of one's enemy is not always one's enemy. We can disagree about things without disliking each other, we can dislike each other without wishing ill on one another, and we can wish ill on each other without wishing that others would wish ill as well. If the Zoramites had felt that way, that might have prevented the most recorded and read-about war in Nephite history. If we want to prevent mini wars in our own lives, we should try to let go of our grudges, too, even when others show kindness to those whom we dislike. It's not easy, but it'll bring more peace into our hearts, just as it might have brought a few more years of peace to the Nephites and the Lamanites.

Integrity vs Wisdom - Rash Promises

One thing I have to admire about the Lamanites is that they take their promises very seriously. When Moroni had Zarahemnah surrounded and outmatched, Moroni offered to let Zarahemnah retreat, if he promised to never come back. But Zarahemnah had enough honor and integrity to refuse to make a promise that he wasn't willing to keep.

However, given how binding their oaths and promises were to them, you'd think that more of the Lamanites would learn not to make rash promises. Yet, in Alma 49, a group of Lamanite captains swore an oath to destroy the people of a certain Nephite city before even assessing the strength of the city they pledged to invade. Upon discovering that the city had become a mighty fortress, those Lamanites led a suicidal attack against the city, despite its obvious strength, for their oaths' sake. This demonstrates an admirable amount of integrity, but a bewildering amount of foolishness.

We should keep our promises, but we should also be careful not to make promises we can't, shouldn't, or really won't want to keep. If we're going to have enough integrity to keep our word, and we probably should, we should be very careful about what we give our word to do. Zarahemnah had the right idea. He refused to make a promise that he wasn't willing to keep, and when he changed his mind and made the promise, he kept it.

I know that the Lamanites weren't exactly exemplars of virtue, but there were a few things they got right. They were better at keeping promises than most good guys are; they just weren't all very careful about what promises they made. We can learn from both aspects of this example. We can learn to only make promises that we're willing to keep, and we can learn to keep all the promises we make. Wisdom and integrity are both great virtues, especially when we use them both together by making good promises and keeping them.

I'm not sure what a person is supposed to do when they've made a bad promise, like some Lamanites did. I suppose you'd have to figure out which is the lesser of two evils: breaking your promise, or keeping it. It's a tricky predicament, but thankfully, it's one we can avoid. One way to keep ourselves from having to keep a foolish promise is to not make such a promise in the first place. As long as we're committed to living with integrity, we should be very careful about what promises we make.

Fear of Fireworks

Right now, as the Fourth of July fireworks are going off, pets all over America are frightened of the loud noises and explosions they're hearing, yet they don't bother me at all. Part of the reason I'm not worried is that I know that the explosions are mostly harmless. The explosives are all decorative and not likely to cause any real damage. Additionally, I'm sure that, even if a rogue firework landed on my roof, my house will provide adequate protection that I will not physically get hurt. I also trust that, if any damage is caused, our emergency response teams will be able to provide aid quickly, and solve most of the problems that the fireworks may cause.

In our everyday lives, there are other other situations that may or may not cause distress, depending on our perspectives. Many of the troubling trials of life are significantly less frightening when considered from an eternal perspective. Illnesses and injuries, even chronic and/or disabling ones, are all only temporary. They are physical problems, not spiritual problems, and all physical problems will be solved in the Lord's own time. Many of the spiritual problems, the ones we actually do need to watch out for, can be prevented with adequate defensive measures. Just as a house can shield its occupants from rogue fireworks, faithful living can keep individuals out of tempting situations. Regular prayer and scripture study can form a barrier that makes it easier to repel evil thoughts. And if, despite all our efforts, a spiritual problem actually does develop, we can deal with the problem through the repentance process.

Life can be intimidating, but in the eternal scheme of things, many of the things we worry about are less problematic than they seem. All trials are temporary. Often, it is only our bodies at risk, not our spirits. And even if we do run into spiritual trouble, there is always a way to get out of it through repentance and righteous living. Worrisome events occur frequently, but we don't need to be distressed. Believe it or not, this is all part of God's plan, and God has everything under control. As long as we are trying to be good, everything is going to be okay. It's all going to work out. Life may, sometimes, be frightening, but we don't need to be afraid. Many of the problems of life are just fireworks. They may be startling, and they can certainly be irritating, but they're not going to cause us any permanent harm, so we really have nothing to fear.

Benefitting From My Lesson

Today, I didn't get an opportunity to share my lesson on the Sacrament. Hopefully, I'll get an opportunity next week, but if the past is any indicator, the odds of that aren't great. Whether I get to teach the lesson or not, I learned a few things while I was preparing it, and it made me rethink how I look at the Sacrament. I've picked up on more of the symbolism and significance than I had previously, and I think this will help me have a more meaningful experience with the Sacrament, even if I never get to share my thoughts with anyone else. As always, at least one person will have benefited from this lesson, even if I never end up giving it.

Six Sacramental Questions

The lesson guideline for the lesson I'm going to give tomorrow suggests that the instructor ask the class to consider the following questions. I'd like us all to consider them now.

What is the purpose of the sacrament?

As I understand it, the primary purposes of the Sacrament are to remind us of Jesus Christ, His sufferings for us, and the covenants we've made with Him, and to recommit us to keep those covenants. There may be other purposes, but I think those are the main ones.

What does it symbolize?

The bread and water represent the body and blood of Christ, respectively. It's a pretty simple question to answer, but it's worth bearing in mind, especially when we internalize those emblems and figuratively let Christ into our lives.

How can we always remember the Savior?







This is the first of two questions that might get me into trouble if I get too technical with the answer. The thing is, I don't think we can "always remember the Savior." Perhaps I take absolutes too literally, but I think there are always going to be times when we forget that we represent Christ or that we've made sacred covenants with Him. I'm not sure it's possible to remember Jesus 100% of the time. That's why, in order to keep our promise to "always remember Him," we need frequent reminders, like the Sacrament, to keep thoughts of our Savior fresh in our minds.

Why do you think it is important to partake of the sacrament weekly?


This is the other question that could get me in trouble. The answer I should and will probably give is that it's important to take the Sacrament weekly because it reminds us of Christ and renews our covenants, but if we're being technical and I'm being honest, my answer is that it's not. It's not important to partake of the Sacrament weekly. It's important to take the Sacrament frequently, which is why we attend Sacrament meetings weekly, but we can't attend a Sacrament meeting every week. Every so often, we have Stake Conferences or General Conferences, and the Sacrament is not passed in those meetings. Since it's clearly not an issue that we don't get an opportunity to partake of the Sacrament on those weeks, it can't be too importnat that we make sure we take the Sacrament weekly. We should certainly partake of the Sacrament frequently, and I might even say that we should partake of the Sacrament as often as we can, but, strictly speaking, it's probably not critical that we actually partake of the Sacrament each and every week.

How can we better prepare ourselves to partake of the sacrament?


In addition to the Sunday School answers, I would say that we could prepare ourselves for the Sacrament by pondering the words of the Sacramental hymn that gets played and sung before the Sacrament is blessed and passed. Another way to prepare to partake of the Sacrament is to focus on the emblems and symbols and what they all mean. We should also recommit ourselves to keep our Baptismal and Temple covenants before we renew them.

How can Aaronic Priesthood holders represent the Savior in administering the sacrament?


I'm sure I touched on this yesterday, but the Aaronic Priesthood holders represent the Savior when administering the Sacrament because they are literally doing what He would do if He were here. In this sense, they are filling His role and representing Him to all of us, and it's only by His priesthood authority that they are able to do this.

 I probably shouldn't raise all those questions in precisely that order, but I should be able to use those questions to foster in interesting and doctrinally informative discussion about the Sacrament. And hopefully, through it all, I'll be able to help the Sacrament take on a new and deeper meaning to the Young Men, who, through their example, may be able to help the members of the congregation have a more meaningful experience with the Sacrament as well. While I'm not quite as organised as I typically like to be when giving lessons, I think I've done all the prep work I need to do to lead a good discussion, so I feel like the lesson should go fairly smoothly. Hopefully, the young men will gain something from it.

How to Make the Sacrament More Meaningful for Us

I'd like to take a short break from over-analyzing the early war chapters so I can focus on the lesson I'll be giving this Sunday. The lesson is going to be on the Sacrament, specifically on how the Young Men I'll be teaching can help others have a meaningful experience with the Sacrament. I consider this an important topic for the Young Men because administering the Sacrament is one of their main responsibilities. They perform this ordinance every week, and I worry that this duty has become just a routine or a responsibility for them, just as taking the Sacrament tends to become routine and habitual for us. How can we make administering and partaking of the Sacrament a more meaningful experience for ourselves and others?

Thankfully, part of that question will be answered in finding the answer to the other part of the question. One way to help something become meaningful to another person is by showing them how much it means to us. In fact, that may be the only way to make something meaningful for another person; it first has to mean something to us. So, let's tackle that part of the question first. Let's see how we can make the Sacrament more meaningful for us before we try to figure out how to make it meaningful to others.

One way to make the Sacrament more meaningful is to consciously consider what the symbols in the ordinance mean. While administering the Sacrament, Aaronic Priesthood holders break and bless bread and water and distribute it among the congregation, but we're not just handing out light refreshments. The bread and water are meant to represent the body and blood of Christ. They represent His suffering, both on the cross and in the garden of Gethsemane. And that, in turn, reflects the great love He has for each of us, and the vital importance of following His plan and keeping His commandments. He suffered tremendous pain and gave His life so we could repent of our sins and come unto Him. If giving us that opportunity was that important to Him, that should give us some idea of how important it is for us to take that opportunity.

Another element of the Sacrament that can make the experience more meaningful to the Aaronic Priesthood holders I'll be teaching is that they aren't the first people to administer the Sacrament. Jesus Christ was. He administered the Sacrament to his Twelve Disciples, and He administered the Sacrament to the Nephites at least twice when He visited them after His resurrection. The Priesthood is the power and authority to act in God's name, to do the things that He would do if He were on the earth personally. When the Young Men administer the Sacrament, they are literally doing what Jesus Christ Himself would do if He were to visit our Sacrament Meeting. They are figuratively standing in His shoes. They are acting in the name of our Savior. If I can get that point across to them, it'll certainly make them rethink how and why they bless and pass the Sacrament.

And in case that isn't already heavy enough in significance, there are also the covenants to consider. When we take the Sacrament, we testify that we will always remember Jesus Christ, and that we are willing to take His name upon us and keep His commandments. Basically, we are promising to be Christians, not just in the sense of Whom we worship, but in the sense of Whom we are attempting to represent and emulate. We promise that we are going to think about Jesus Christ frequently, and always try to act like Him, and the Aaronic Priesthood holders are instrumental in helping us make this promise. If they take this covenant seriously, they'll be more likely to take their role in administering the Sacrament more seriously, and their demeanor can help us remember to take this covenant seriously as well.

The Sacrament is full of stated and implied meanings for both those who partake it and those who administer it. It is a sacred ordinance, and we should all treat it as sacred, whether we're passing it or partaking of it. The Sacrament is designed to help us remember and think about the Savior, and if we think about the Savior during the Sacrament ordinance, and consider what we're doing and what we've covenanted to do, this ordinance will mean a lot more for us than just taking a mid-meeting snack.