A Better Year

This has been quite a year, and most people are glad that it's finally over, hoping that 2021 will be a better year. But 2021 will only be a better year if we make it a better year. We need to stay positive, help each other, be smart about our decisions, and choose to follow the path that leads to happiness. It's true that 2020 wasn't the best year, and 2021 is almost guaranteed to not have some of the problems that 2020 had, but other than that, how the year goes is mostly up to us. Our actions, reactions, interactions, and attitudes will have a profound effect on the overall quality of the year. We won't be able to control everything that happens this next year, but we can control what we do and how we respond to what happens.

We all hope that 2021 is a good year, but we don't have to just hope that it is. We can make it one.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Today, I watched a video that said, among other things, that pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we think that things can't possibly improve, then we won't put in the effort to improve things, and nothing will get better. By the same token, hope can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we have hope, and act on it, then we can, in small ways, improve the world. Reality is shaped by our actions, and our actions are shaped by our thoughts and attitudes, so our beliefs about the world can have an effect on the part of the world around us. If we believe the world is terrible, then we're more likely to see the terrible things in the world, and possibly add to them, but if we think the world is good, we're more likely to both see and contribute to the goodness in the world. We choose what kind of world we live in, partly by choosing how we see the world. Both optimism and pessimism are self-fulfilling prophecies, and I know which one I'd rather see fulfilled in my little corner of the world.

Choosing Our Paths

One of the gifts I got for Christmas this year was Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. I like this book because it's inspiring, yet surprisingly realistic, and it covers one of my favorite aspects of the gospel: agency.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
...
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

I love that we have the freedom to choose what path we follow, and I love the implication of being highly selective in which paths we choose. If a particular path doesn't seem so great, we can choose another path. We have the freedom to decide where we go, so where we end up is mostly up to us.

Granted, there are also forces outside of our control that can affect us. We don't choose our starting point, for example, and there are aspects we can't choose about the road ahead of us. Sometimes, our only options are bad ones, and we have to try to choose the least-bad one, but barring situations like that, we often have the freedom to choose between multiple good options, and we get to try to find the best one. And while there will always be forces outside our control, there are also always forces within our control, like our own decisions. We can make up our minds to do something, and even if we try and fail and learn that we lack the power to do it, our decision still matters. In the end, we'll be judged by our choices as much as by the consequences of our choices. If we try and fail, we still tried.

So, ultimately, our decisions matter, and those decisions are entirely up to us. There are lots of paths laid out before us, some better than others, and it's entirely up to us to decide which paths we choose to follow.

Warning Signs

The other night, I saw a phenomenon that I couldn't explain. It was a ring of light, a "halo," surrounding the nearly full moon. It looked incredible. At the time, I entertained the possibility that it was a sign from God, perhaps even a sign of the Second Coming. Whatever it was, I prayed, fearing the worst.

I now know that this phenomenon was a "22° halo" and that these events are actually fairly common, even more so than rainbows, which are also frequently interpreted as signs from God. Yet, despite the phenomenon's natural explanation and frequent occurrence, I think I was right to interpret this sign as a warning sign.

We are in the Last Days. We have been for some time now. I don't know how many "Last Days" are left. And regardless, any day could be any given individual's last. We only have a limited amount of time on this Earth, and it's constantly running out. Every winter, every new moon, every sunset, every hourly chime of the clock, is a warning sign that our time is running out.

I was right to pray when I saw the halo around the moon. We should always pray. We should always be preparing for the Second Coming. And we should always be ready to face the fact that any day, any moment, could be our last. Every sign that time is passing is a warning sign, urging us to repent and prepare while we still can.

This blog post is a warning sign. Will we heed it?

Components of Change

The new Come, Follow Me manual says "The aim of all gospel learning and teaching is to deepen our conversion to Jesus Christ and help us become more like Him. ... This means relying on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to help us change our hearts, our views, our actions, and our very natures."

Change is required in all four of those components. A change of heart or views is nothing without a change of action, and a change of action is hollow without a change of heart. And any of these changes would be, at best, temporary, unless we change out natures as well. Granted, these changes take time, especially since we're trying to change in so many areas at once. But these changes build on each other. A change of heart naturally leads to change of action, if we let it, and as we maintain these changes through conscious effort, our natures with gradually change to match.

We have many changes head of us. Let's try to make sure that every part of us is steadily working on changing for the better.

The Greatest Gift

My family has exchanged a lot of wonderful gifts over the last few days. It's been a lot of fun, and there's a lot of fun and joy to look forward to as we enjoy our gifts together. But at the end of the day, a handful or us watched a video reminding us that the first and greatest gift of Christmas was God's Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. As wonderful as our gifts to each other may be, none of them can match the gift that God gave to us over two-thousand years ago. I'm thankful for the gifts I received today and yesterday, but I'm even more thankful for the gift God gave me before I was born and the gift Jesus Christ gives me every day, through the Atonement. Jesus' love is the greatest gift ever given to anyone on earth. My hope is that our still-pretty-great earthly gifts help us remember and be thankful for the greatest gift we've ever been given.

A Special, Evening Tradition

Today was a great day. We enjoyed lots of yummy treats and exchanged lots of nice gifts, and we even managed to spend some time visiting with relatives near and far via video calls. And we ended the day, as always, with prayer and scripture reading. One thing I love about my family is that, no matter how tired we are at the end of a day, we try to make prayer and scriptures a priority every evening. It's a great way to end a day, especially a day as special and sacred as this. I'm thankful for my family's traditions, both our annual ones and or daily ones, which help us maintain and grow our faith. They're important, no matter what day it is, but they seem especially meaningful on a day like today.

Christmas Family Time

Something that's consistent among many holiday traditions, both in December and at other times of the year, is that these holidays are often spent with family and/or other loved ones. I love how these traditions remind people to spend quality time with those who are closest to us. It's important to have strong emotional connections to other people, especially this year, so I'm glad that, at least over video calls, we can spend Christmas time with our family, which I am going to do now.

Another Testament of Jesus Christ

In our Book of Mormon reading tonight, my family focused our scripture study on verses that testify of Jesus Christ. They speak of His role as our Savior and Redeemer. They speak of our need to turn to Him for salvation and eternal blessings. The Book of Mormon truly is, as its subtitle says, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, in addition to the Old and New Testaments. I'm grateful that we have so many scriptures from so many people, places, and times, all teaching us about Jesus Christ, our relationship to Him, and how we can strengthen it. I'm grateful that the ancient prophets made the effort to record their testimonies and teachings in the scriptures, and countless people made the effort to preserve and distribute those scriptures to all corners of the world. We have been blessed with many scriptures and testimonies of Jesus Christ, and I'm grateful for all of them, including those found in the Book of Mormon.

Serving the One

My brother and I went on a bike ride tonight. It was supposed to be a community thing. My brother had planned a route, and he had invited lots of people from his neighborhood to join him. I was the only one who came. And, actually, I almost didn't go. But I'm glad I did. And when I got there and saw that it was only me, I almost told my brother that we could call it off. But I'm glad I didn't. My brother had already put in a lot of work, scouting out the best Christmas lights to see and planning our route. I didn't want all that work to go to waste, and I knew that my brother would be blessed for performing that service, even if the only person he was serving was me.

But of course, I wasn't the only person my brother served tonight. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." My brother served the Lord tonight, and I'm glad I was there to see it.

So, give service. Even if you only end up helping one person, you will still be serving the One.

Time and Growth

I'm not a huge fan of the passage of time. Our time is a finite resource of an unknown quantity, and it's constantly depleting. Yet, there is something good that comes out of the passage of time: Growth. People become better, stronger, more Christlike people only through growth over the passage of time. So I suppose I'm glad that time is passing. That passage of time makes growth possible. Without the passage of time, everyone would be forever stuck wherever they are. So I'm grateful for the passage of time, and more especially for the growth that can come with it.

Still a Church Family

Our church had a Christmas Devotional tonight, and it was pretty nice. We had Christmas songs and the reading of the Christmas story, but my favorite part of the program was right after the end. After the closing prayer was said, just about everyone unmuted themselves and wished everyone else a Merry Christmas. Hearing everyone wish everyone else a Merry Christmas made me feel like I was part of a church family in which everyone cares about everyone else, at least enough to wish each other well. It was heartwarming. During this pandemic and quarantine, I've mostly been enjoying not having to go to so many social gatherings and meetings this year, but tonight gave me a taste of what I've been missing. It's nice to know that I'm still part of a church family, even if we don't meet together in person so much anymore. We're still there for each other in spirit, even when we can't be there with each other in person. There were no hugs or handshakes, but at least we were still able to wish each other a Merry Christmas.

Feeling Okay

I'm in a weird mood right now, and I'm not sure how to describe it without sounding strange. I feel okay. And I feel like, no matter what happens, it's going to be okay. God is in control. Life will go on, and even when it doesn't, the afterlife will. We are immortal, eternal beings having a temporary (though sometimes unpleasant) mortal experience. When we die, our spirits live on. When the world ends, a new world will take its place. Even though things are kind of rough right now, everything is going to be okay.

So, let's wait it out. The bad times won't last forever. Let's do what we can while we can, and maybe things will get better. And even if they don't, that's not going to be a problem forever. God has a plan for the eternity after the end, and in it, everything is going to be okay. We don't have to worry about how things will turn out. We just have to have faith and an eternal perspective, remember that God is in control and trust that, in due time, He'll make sure that everything is okay. To some extent, I do, and to that extent, I feel okay.

Us Against the World

When I saw this image, I was reminded of how life sometimes feels like it's us against the world (and it is), but that doesn't mean that we aren't going to win. The world is a formidable opponent, but God is an even stronger ally. He will ask us to face great challenges, but He will help us overcome them. God has given us a near-endless series of mountains to climb, but if we follow the path He has given us, He will give us the strength we need to climb them.

It is us against the world, but when God is with us (or rather, when we are with Him), we'll win.

"Mercy Calls You -- Break Your Chains"

While I was looking up Christmas song lyrics with which I was less familiar than I wanted to be, I found a song titled "Angels From The Realms Of Glory," which had been sung to the tune of "Angels We Have Heard On High." Looking up the lyrics, I saw that there were some verses that the Tabernacle Choir didn't sing. One of the unsung verses referred to the Trinity, so I'm not surprised they skipped that one, but there's another unsung verse that is (at least somewhat) doctrinally sound and that affected me pretty deeply when I read it:

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you—break your chains.

I don't know how doctrinally sound the "endless pains" part is, and the part about justice revoking the sentence isn't technically correct, but we can chalk that up to poetic language. What really struck me about this verse was the command to "break your chains," implying that this is something someone can do, and something that they must do for themselves. God seldom breaks our chains for us. He merely empowers us and encourages us, and leaves the decision ultimately up to us. I was grateful for the reminder that we can and must do what we can to work out our own salvation, with plenty of help from the Savior, of course.

I also love it when Christmas Songs include reminders of what the Savior did for us and why it's so important that He came to earth in the first place. The reason we celebrate the baby laid in a manger is because that person spent the last three years of His life making it possible for us to break our chains, and the best way we can honor Him is by doing so.

Jesus was born so that He could live and die for us, and He lived and died for us to make it possible for us to repent. So, in a sense, repentance is one of the main reasons for Christmas, and it's probably one of the best ways to celebrate it.

Good Gifts

Moroni 10:18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.

Many gifts are being exchanged this month, and I'm sure that some people have wondered whether the gifts they're giving to others are "good gifts" or not. There are many possible metrics one could use to measure the "goodness" of a gift, form the cost or value of the gift to the amount of time or effort that was put into the gift, but I think that the best metric for measuring the goodness of a gift is the amount of love that went into the gift. Now, that love can take the form of time or effort or personal (monetary) sacrifice, but it's just as likely to take the form of thought or care or a desire to bring joy to the recipient. Gifts don't have to be flashy or expensive to be good gifts. They just have to come from a place of love. And since Jesus Christ is the source of all love, I suppose it could be said that all good gifts, or at least the goodness of all good gifts, come from Christ.

I may be taking Moroni's words way out of context, and I'm probably being too literal, but I'm not trying to say that all of our Christmas Presents come from Jesus Christ. I'm trying to say that all good gifts come from the heart. If there is love behind the gift, then, in my opinion, it is a good gift.

The Lord Is and Will Come

So, I got curious as to why some versions of Joy to the World has "saints and angels sing" and some versions have "heav'n and nature sing." As it turns out, the "saints and angels" version was adapted by W. W. Phelps, and early LDS songwriter, as part of many changes he made to the song to change the song's focus from the birth of Christ to the Second Coming of Christ. The version that's in our hymnbooks today seem to have kept some of Phelps's changes and reverted some of them to the original version. In my opinion, both versions merit existence because both events are worth singing about. Jesus Christ has come, and He will come again. Both the past and future arrivals of Christ are worth celebrating. Granted, I have a preference for the version I'm most familiar with, the one in our hymnals, but I'm glad that the other versions exist. We should have songs to celebrate both the birth and the return of the Savior.

Losing the Light

I went on a bike ride this evening to look at Christmas lights. When I left, the sun hadn't set yet, but as I biked, I gradually lost the light. Thankfully, I had brought some good bike lights with me, and a reflector vest, so when the light started to get dangerously low, I turned on the lights I had brought, so I could safely see and be seen as I rode around, looking at all the lovely Christmas lights.

The world goes through daily cycles of light and darkness. We can always count on the sun to light our days, unless we're way too close to a pole or under other extraordinary circumstances. Even on heavily overcast days, the sun reliably gives us enough light to see by. Yet, we can always count on the sun to set beyond the horizon, taking its light with it. Without the light of the sun, we will be plunged into darkness. 

But that doesn't mean that we have to go without light entirely. While the moon and stars don't generally shed enough light to do us much good, we can make our own light, usually with fire or electricity (tonight, I chose the latter). But, with but fire and electricity, the light it gives us only lasts so long. Man-made lights use energy. When the energy runs out, the light goes out. When you run out of juice in your batteries and you run out of firewood to burn, your light will fail.

However, losing the light isn't the end of the world. Daylight will return when it's supposed to, just as it always does, and you were probably going to go to sleep long before then anyway. While it's helpful to have a light source handy every waking second, not all of our seconds will be waking ones. We can live without light for a few hours each day. What's important is that we make our light last as long as we need it to. We can count on daylight during the day, but we need to make sure that, during the day, we gather enough energy to make our man-made lights last as long as we need them to.

There's almost certainly an obvious, light-based analogy in here somewhere. If we think of the light as spiritual light, then daylight could easily represent the light that comes from God, and our man-made lights could represent the spiritual light in ourselves: our own testimonies. It's easy to believe and have faith and be faithful when God and His light are readily available, but we know that we're not always going to be that lucky. There will be times of spiritual darkness, during which we will need to rely on our own spiritual light. When those times come, we can only hope that we have enough personal spiritual light to last us until the spiritual daylight returns. So, to prepare for those times of spiritual darkness, we need to gather as much personal spiritual light as we can.

God's light is abundant when available, but sometimes distant. Our own personal lights are constantly available, but limited and probably weak. Losing the light in terms of daylight or perhaps even God's light is inevitable, but temporary. Losing the light in terms of our own personal lights is usually preventable through sufficient preparation and extremely dangerous when not prevented.

The sun will continue to rise and fall, as it does, but as long as we carry light with us, "losing the light" doesn't necessarily mean that we will be completely deprived of light.

A Day of Rest

For the last several days, I've been working on a report for school. It has been time-consuming and stressful, and I'm not proud of everything I said and did while under the effects of that stress. But this morning, I submitted my report, and I spent the rest of the day relaxing, attending church meetings, watching youtube videos, and resting. It was a nice change of pace. I'm thankful that I was able to spend most of today relaxing and resting. I think it was good for me and for my relationships with other people. I'm thankful that the semester is basically over now and that, for me, today was a day of rest.

Challenging Lessons

Elder Bednar spoke of how challenging 2020 has been and then said "I pray that we as individuals and families are learning the valuable lessons that only challenging experiences can teach us."

In Dungeons & Dragons, characters gain Experience, which helps then grow in skill and ability, only by overcoming challenges. Without challenges, they don't gain experience, and they don't grow.

In both D&D and real life, people need to face challenges in order to grow. It is only by facing challenges that we can learn those lessons and become more capable in those ways.

There are lessons that we need to learn in life, and some of those lessons can only be learned by facing challenges. That part of the reason why there are so many challenges built into mortal life. My hope is that we will be wise enough to learn from those challenges and not resent having to face them.

Mormon Remained

Something that struck me as we read the last few verses of Moroni 8 tonight is that Mormon kept fighting alongside the Nephites, even though he knew that they were basically doomed. He knew that they would be justly destroyed if they didn't repent, and he knew how unlikely it was that they would repent. Yet, he stayed by their side. This suggests to me that he possessed an enormous degree of either of two traits: hope or loyalty.

It's possible that Mormon had a ridiculous amount of hope. He knew that the Nephites weren't likely to repent, but miracles happen. Maybe he was hoping that, against all odds, they might repent.

Or maybe he was willing to die with them anyway. Maybe he had so much love and compassion for his people, sinners though they were, that he was willing to die with them, even though they clearly didn't deserve his help.

Either way, Mormon was quite a person. It's amazing that he was willing to stay with the Nephites, despite everything they were doing and everything that was happening to them. I don't know if I would have stayed by their side that long. Mormon's example of either hope or loyalty is incredible. He must have been quite a man.

I don't know exactly why Mormon remained with the other Nephites as long as he did, but I find it inspiring that he did.

Happy to Help

Today, despite having my own homework to work on and making terribly little progress on it, I spent some time today helping others with their homework, and I'm glad I did. It felt good to be able to help them, even though I could have used that time for myself. I hope to have enough time to get my work done over the next two or three days, but I'm glad that I spent some time today helping others. It felt good to help.

The Extent of Self-Sacrifice

To what extent is self-sacrifice a good thing? Naturally, being selfish is bad, and putting others before oneself is (generally) good, but is there a limit? Is there a point at which self-sacrifice becomes pointless, and perhaps even immoral? I would argue that there is. Self-sacrifice, taken to an extreme, can become self-destructive. Sometimes, people give so much of their time and energy that they end up hurting themselves. Those who spend too much of their time and emotional energy dealing with other people's problems may not have enough time and energy left to deal with their own. It's good to help others, but not to the point of hurting yourself. You are a child of God as much as anyone. Hurting one child of God to help another isn't always a good idea. So, before you sacrifice yourself for the good of someone else, carefully consider how much you're about to sacrifice compared to how much good your sacrifice will do. If the sacrifice is greater than the good that will come of it, perhaps making that sacrifice may not be the wisest decision. If the hurt outweighs the help, it may be best not to engage in that extent of self-sacrifice.

Not All Criminals Are Evil

Adjacent to my thoughts from last night, I wrote an essay today about how I don't think that all criminals are evil. Many of them are motivated by very human needs and emotions, and are often victims (or survivors) of tragedies themselves. I believe that many criminals are more worthy of sympathy than blame. Hurt people hurt people, and I'd rather heal that hurt than hurt them back more. I don't think of criminals as evil people who need to be punished. Criminals are unfortunate people who need help.

Passing Judgment

I spent this afternoon reading the story of Cyntoia Brown and Johnny Allen. In this story, 43-year-old Johnny Allen was shot and killed by Cyntoia Brown. Brown claimed self-defense. Allen's family claimed premeditated murder. Either person could be described as the villain or the victim, depending on what evidence you consider and which witnesses you trust. Brown was convicted of murder, but she was granted clemency before her sentence was completed. Both sides believe that an injustice was done, either by her incarceration or by her release. I don't know what to believe. But just about no matter how you slice it, this story is a tragedy, and I'm glad that I don't have to pass judgment on anyone involved.

I don't envy the Lord. Final Judgment isn't going to be quick, clean, or pretty. There will be countless factors to consider, including the complex motivations of the human hearts. Luckily, the Lord is pretty well equipped to read people's hearts and to judge them. I am neither blessed nor cursed with such insight. I don't know what goes on in other people's minds or hearts. I don't fully know why people do what they do, and I don't even know for sure who did what most of the time. I don't know enough about anyone's situation to pass judgment on them. I can say how things seem to me, using the limited knowledge and judgment I have, but that's not enough to prescribe fair punishments for them. I'd really rather not do that. I don't know enough about Johnny Allen or Cyntoia Brown to pass judgment on either of them, so I won't. So, when it comes to passing moral judgment on people for what they may or may not have done, I'll pass.

Different Tradition, Same Spirit

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is attending and participating in a Messiah Sing-Along concert. For obvious reasons, that's not going to happen this year, but during tonight's First Presidency Christmas Devotional, I took the liberty of joining the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in singing the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel's Messiah, and I realized that I don't have to attend any in-person concert in order to sing along with that sacred music. I can play those songs on Youtube, on my MP3 player, or on CD, and sing along to my heart's content. Preferably, I'd do it at a time and place that wouldn't bother others, but I don't need others to join along. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I can enjoy and join in that music anytime, anywhere.

I hope you find ways to enjoy reflections of your favorite Christmas traditions, despite these extraordinary circumstances. This pandemic has cancelled many things, but it shouldn't cancel our (perhaps individual) celebrations of the birth and life of Christ. Our celebrations may be different this year, but they are no less sacred and important than they have always been. Let us all try to find ways to keep the spirit of Christmas alive this year, even if the traditions by which we celebrate that spirit have to change.

Different Sets of Insights

My family just had the fairly unique experience of reading the same chapter of scripture two nights in a row, and what I find interesting about that is that we found a different set of insights each night. What this tells me is that there are lots of insights to be found in the scriptures, and different insights may stand out to us as we read them, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. God will have different messages for us at different times, even just on different days. We're fortunate God put so many of those messages in the scriptures for us to find at different times.

Feeling the Spirit at Home

Today, I did not visit the Temple. I usually visit the Temple on Fridays because, even while it's closed, I can sit on the Temple grounds and feel the Spirit there. But the truth is, while the Temple is a special, sacred place, it's not the only place at which one can feel the Spirit. I've felt the Spirit today, even just sitting at home, as I've listened to uplifting, faith-inspiring music. While one absolutely should visit the Temple about as often as circumstances allow, it's comforting to know that we can feel the Spirit wherever we are. We can invite the Spirit into our homes and into our hearts, regardless of our physical location. So, while I enjoy going to the Temple most Fridays, I'm glad that I know that I can feel the Spirit, even at home.

Moving Forward

Tonight, I am extremely late blogging. I don't even have a good excuse this time. But rather than make excuses or apologizing, I'm just going to commit to do better next time. That's just about all a person really can do. I can't go back and make better use of the last few hours, but I can move forward and make good use of the time I'll have tomorrow.

"To All People"

One of the special things about the musical program I watched last night was the multicultural nature of it. People from many different countries sang hymns in different languages while depicting scenes from around the world. For me, the highlight of the program was a reading of Luke 2 in multiple languages, driving home the point of the angel, who said to the shepherds that these "good tidings of great joy... shall be to all people."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints isn't just an American church; it's an international church, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses everyone in the world, whether or not they belong to His church or any church at all. Some of the blessings of the Atonement extend to literally everyone in the entire world, not just those who believe or who live in some parts of the world.

I'm glad that God loves all His children enough to bless all His children with gifts such as the Light of Christ and Resurrection and that He extends even greater blessings to everyone who will accept them. God wants to give all His children all the blessings that He can, and while divine law dictates that some blessings be reserved for the righteous, I find it comforting that some of the most precious and important blessings are extended freely "to all people."

Soothing Music

I spent part of this morning so stressed that I considered calling in sick from work, but I eventually managed to cope with it. Then, I spent part of tonight listening to lovely Christmas music presented by the church, and I felt wonderfully relaxed. There are many good ways to relieve stress, and listening to soothing music is one of them. And if that music also invites the Spirit by reminding us of uplifting, encouraging truths, all the better. Next time I'm stressed, I'm going to try to relieve that stress by listening to soothing, uplifting music. I just hope it doesn't backfire if/when I get interrupted. Still, it probably couldn't hurt to try.

Faith to Trust in the Unimaginable

In the final talk of the Saturday Afternoon Session of the most recent General Conference, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke of how God sometimes uses trials and hardships to bring about unimaginable blessings. This is possible because God has a greater perspective than we do. He knows how events are going to play out, and He knows what will ultimately work out best for everyone, even if it seems very bad for a lot of people here and now. Between His "all's well that ends well" attitude and His knowledge that all will, eventually, end well, God can have confidence that everything will be alright, even when that doesn't seem possible to us. Yet, if we have faith in God and in His goodness and miracles and the blessings of eternity, we can have that confidence as well. While we're experiencing trials, it can be difficult to imagine how any good could come from them, but we don't need to be able to imagine it. We just need to trust God and follow His plan for us. His plans can be unfathomable, and they often involve a certain amount of hardship, but He knows that they all work out in the end, and if we trust Him enough, so will we.

Fatal Faithfulness

Tonight, we read Moroni 1, in which Moroni describes why he was hiding. The Lamanites were putting to death every Nephite they could find who would not deny the Christ, and Moroni refused to deny the Christ, so he hid from the Lamanites to save his life.

This is an amazing amount of faithfulness. In theory, it'd be easy enough to lie to the Lamanites so you could continue to live and worship God in secret, but that's really not the best choice, eternally. Survival is almost meaningless. We are mortal beings, who are doomed to die, regardless of our choices, and we are eternal beings, who will live on long after our deaths. Death means almost nothing to us. Meanwhile, dishonesty and unfaithfulness as sins that would stain our immortal souls. When given the choice between death and denying the faith, those with an eternal perspective would choose death.

So, Moroni chose to be faithful rather than to lie to continue living. It was a bold, insightful choice, motivated by an amazing amount of faith. It just goes to show what kind of man Moroni was. He was prepared to be faithful to the end, even if his faithfulness meant his end. He was willing to die rather than deny his faith, and I'm sure that, when he died, he knew that he had made the right decision.

"The Greatest of All Cultures"

I'm currently taking an Intercultural Communications class. In this class, we are taught to avoid the vice of Ethnocentrism, the belief that one's own culture is better than all others. I largely agree with this teaching. There are good and bad parts in nearly all cultures, and with no consensus on which aspects are good and bad, it makes sense to reserve judgment. To each their own. Live and let live. And yet, despite the world's lack of consensus on this subject, there yet remains an objective, moral reality. There are laws of Goodness and Justice that exists, regardless of personal beliefs or cultural standards. And with that objective morality, we can measure the cultures of the world to determine which culture is the best or "most good" culture.

Elder William K. Jackson of the Seventy persuasively contended that "the greatest of all cultures" is The Culture of Christ. Naturally, the culture that is most good is the one that was taught and practiced by The One who is most good. Elder Jackson described various aspects of this culture, citing many of the practices and principles we follow in the Gospel. Essentially, while each person is free to choose how they live, the best way to live is to live like Jesus Christ. Granted, this doesn't mean that we should belittle anyone else. Being judgmental is not an aspect of the culture of Christ. Rather, it means that we should try to incorporate this gospel culture into every aspect of our lives. We should use gospel standards, not to condemn others, but to improve ourselves. I recommend reviewing Elder Jackson's description of the culture of Christ and identifying one aspect of that culture to more fully adopt. Personally, I'm going to work on Faith and Obedience. As Elder Jackson said, the culture of Christ "is a culture of faith and obedience. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of our culture, and obedience to His teachings and commandments is the outcome. These give rise to self-mastery." I would like to master myself and gain the blessings that come through faith and obedience, so these are the principles I'll focus on. I hope you choose one or two principles of gospel culture to work on as well.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an excellent set of standards to live by. No, more than that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best set of standards to live by, and the culture of Christ is the best way to live. I hope that we all choose to more fully follow those standards and to more fully live by the culture of Christ.

Unchangeable Laws

In his talk, The Exquisite Gift of the Son, Elder Matthew S. Holland of the Seventy reminded us of a fact that I find fascinating: even God Himself cannot change the laws of justice. To quote Elder Holland, "at some point the full, excruciating guilt of every sin we commit must be felt. Justice demands it, and God Himself cannot change it."

In my opinion, this has some interesting implications. First of all, God is not actually omnipotent. There are some things that God cannot do. And secondly, if God cannot change the laws of justice, that, to me, suggests that He didn't write them. My guess is that these laws existed long before God did, and are probably immutable, eternal laws of reality. God gained His position partly through His understanding and application of these laws, and He sends us messages through His prophets in order to pass on that understanding, so we can join God in understanding and applying the laws of the universe in the same ways He does.

Granted, a good deal of that is speculation on my part, but it seems rather certain that God cannot change the laws of Justice, and if even God Himself cannot change them, I think it's safe to say that they are utterly unchangeable.

A Good Thanksgiving

Tonight, I just want to say that I'm thankful that we were able to have a small, quiet, good Thanksgiving with my immediate household, with the parade and dog show playing in the background. It was a humbler Thanksgiving this year, but I kind of like that. Things don't have to be grand or great to be Good. Flowers are good, no matter how small they are. Acts of kindness are good, no matter how quiet they are. Something doesn't need to be spectacular in order to be special. A thing doesn't have to be great to be Good. We had a Good Thanksgiving this year, and I'm thankful for that.

How to Withstand Calamities

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, spoke of the seven years of plenty and famine in Egypt, reminding us that, because the Pharaoh heeded the prophetic warning, even when the famine came, "There Was Bread." Naturally, Bishop Waddell's main message was that we should do the same. As we read in the Book of Ether this week, we read about King Coriantumr, who failed to heed a prophetic warning, and subsequently watched all his people get killed in a terrible war, leaving himself the sole survivor of his entire civilization. Blessings follow when we listen ot the prophets and heed their teachings, and curses follow when we don't. This is because God speaks to us through His prophets to tell us how we can obtain blessings and avoid curses. As in Pharaoh's case, God knows when calamities will befall, and He knows what we must do to prepare for them.

Calamities are a natural, necessary, unavoidable aspect of mortality, but while we can't avoid such calamities, we can mitigate their effects, and we do that best by heeding the warnings of the Prophets. Coriantumr didn't, and his people were slaughtered. Pharaoh did, and his people thrived. I know which example I would rather follow.

Not Too Early

Today, while I did some computering, I listened to Handel's Messiah. It was nice to listen to such lovely, seasonal music, even if it is a few days early. There's a nice spirit in that music, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to listen to it. I know it's not after Thanksgiving yet, but I don't think it's too early to start getting into the spirit of Christmas.

Temporal Losses, Eternal Gains

Elder Gerrit W. Gong spoke of a family who, because of their religion, were having trouble making positive connections in their neighborhood. "One night," Elder Gong said, "the family felt their prayers were answered, though in a very unexpected way. Their house caught fire and burned to the ground. But something else happened. The fire softened their neighbors’ hearts." Elder Gong went on to say that blessings are often manifest in trials.

Truly, for those with faithful hearts and eyes to see, the Lord’s tender mercies are manifest amidst life’s challenges. Faithfully met challenges and sacrifice do bring the blessings of heaven. In this mortality, we may lose or wait for some things for a time, but in the end we will find what matters most. That is His promise.

I'm grateful to know that God always gives us something better than what He takes from us. The losses are temporal; the gains are eternal. Thanks to that family's housefire, they were able to make deep and lasting connections to their neighbors, blessing both the family and their neighbors. Was losing their house worth it? It's hard to say, but I can say this: God is always more than fair with His children. If He asks us to give up anything, it's only ever so He can offer us something greater. So, when we face trials and challenges, we should look for the blessings that God is trying to offer us and perhaps console ourselves with the knowledge that God's eternal blessings are worth far more than that which is temporally lost. 

Hoping vs Having Hope

Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

I find this verse interesting because of the way it uses the word "Hope." Usually, hope is considered a flighty thing, like "I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow" or "I hope my favorite candidate and/or marble racing team wins the next election and/or marble race," but that's not the way the scriptures use hope. In the scriptures, hope isn't something someone does; it's something someone has. For example, I have hope that everything will work out alright in the end. Having hope in something is far more certain than hoping for it is. In scripture, hope is sure and steadfast and strong enough to anchor us to the truth of the gospel. I don't hope that everything will be okay. I have hope that it will.

The Surest Way to Find Joy

In his talk, Finding Joy in Christ, President Steven J. Lund, the Young Men General President, taught us something remarkable: The surest way to find joy. He said, "[T]he surest way to find joy in this life is to join Christ in helping others."

This is an incredible truth. People have been searching for the secret to true happiness for ages, yet here it is: Help Others. It hardly seems possible that something so profound as the surest way to find joy could be something so simple, yet it rings true.

When we join Christ in helping others, God blesses us with joy, so if we want joy (and who doesn't?), the surest way to get it is to join Christ in serving others.

A Long or Good Life

In his talk, Sustainable Societies, Elder D. Todd Christofferson quoted Wall Street Journal Editor-at-large Gerard Baker, who wrote, "While we may all want to know the secret to a long life, I often feel we’d be better off devoting more time to figuring out what makes a good life, whatever span we’re allotted."

None of us really know how long we have. Anyone could die at any time for a myriad of medical and/or accident-related reasons, no matter how healthy they are or try to be. Besides, even if we could guarantee a long life, what would we do with it? The amount of time we have may not be as important (eternally, at least) as how we spend it. A person who only lives 20 years, but who spends most of those years in service to others probably lives a more fulfilling life than someone who lives a hundred years, but lives only for themselves. A long life would be nice, but all mortals die eventually anyway. Ensuring that our lives are long isn't as important as ensuring that our lives are good.

So, whether I live for centuries or die within days, I'm going to try to spend my remaining time doing and being good. I don't necessarily want to live a long life; I want to live a good one. Granted, one can have both, which is definitely preferable, but given the choice of a long or good life, I'd rather live a good life than a long one.

Infinite Knowledge and Love

I am slowly coming to realize that this month is about two-thirds over, and I haven't blogged about this month's Conference talks yet. I should get on that, but right now, I'm just way too tired to do that. In the meantime, I just want to share a note I took during Gerrit W. Gong's talk: "Sometimes, in our darkest moments, we learn that God knows and loves us better than we know and love ourselves."

I don't know if he said that, or if I inferred it from stuff he said, or if I just made it up, and I'm too tired to look it up right now, but I think it's true. He has a more full perspective than we do, and He has more love than we do. I fully believe that God knows and loves everyone more than they know and/or love themselves. No one has more knowledge or love than God does.

In a way, that's kind of comforting. I'm glad that God knows us better than anyone, and loves us better than anyone anyway. It's good to know that someone can have a perfect knowledge of us and still have an infinite amount of love for us. I'm thankful for that. 

Growing Good

I have been assigned the task of writing a paper about "the world's nicest prison," a prison that seeks to reform prisoners, not by punishing the evil out of them, but by teaching them how to be good. I think that's extremely wholesome. The world needs more good in it, and not just less evil. Merely destroying evil is positive in some ways, but negative in others. It's also good to promote and nurture that which is good.

No person is pure evil. There is some good in everyone. I admire those who seek to find the good in people and who help that good to grow.

Seeking and Seeing Signs

After the brother of Jared saw the finger of the Lord, he made a rather bold request. The Lord asked the brother of Jared if he saw any more than His finger, "And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me." Ether 3:10

I don't know if I'd have the guts to make a request like that. I know that the Lord grants blessings and can do miracles, but He rarely shows people signs, especially not a sign like that. Usually, the Lord requires us to walk by faith, so He doesn't give us clear, obvious signs.

Yet, the brother of Jared was a special case. He already had great faith, and he had shown his faith by being able to see the Lord's finger. And, once he had seen the Lord's finger, that was already about as clear a sign as seeing the Lord Himself.

So, the Lord gave the brother of Jared about as clear a sign as He has ever given anyone, but only after the brother of Jared had seen such a sign by proving that he didn't need to see a sign at all.

So, if I want to see a sign from God, I should follow the example of the brother of Jared and exercise enough faith to demonstrate that I don't need to see a sign. Probably the best way to get a sign is to show the Lord that you don't need one.

Share Joy

I didn't accomplish a whole lot today, but, at one point, I made someone smile, and I think that counts for something. Whatever else you do today, try to help someone feel happier. It feels good to make someone feel better. In a world where social media makes it easy to share anger and misery, try to share joy instead. It's better.

The Jaredites' Journey, and Ours

The lesson manual for this week suggests that we "may find spiritual insights if [we] compare the Jaredites’ voyage across the ocean to [our] journey through mortality," but in my experience, those insights may be a mix of encouraging and disheartening. From what I've read, the Jaredites had a pretty rough journey. Their water-tight barges were buried under mountain waves, attacked by whales and sea monsters, and driven by terrible tempests and fierce winds. Yet, whenever they were buried under the waves, the Lord brought them forth out of the water again; the sea monsters and whales couldn't break them; and the fierce winds continually blew them to the Promised Land, which they eventually reached, safe and sound. It was a rough journey, but they were delivered, protected, continually comforted by the light of the Lord, and eventually carried over into the Promised Land. Their journey was rough, but it ended well. Ours will be and can be, too.

We, too, will have to endure a rough crossing, but if we follow the example of the Jaredites in praising the Lord and putting our faith in Him, we, too, will be led to our Promised Land, the Celestial Kingdom.

I'm not sure I'm thrilled about the prospect of experiencing a journey like that of the Jaredites, but it's a little too late to decide that now. We're already in the barges, and there's nothing but mountain waves and sea monsters in every direction. The only questions now are whether we'll seek the Lord's protection from the mountain waves and sea monsters and where we'll end up when we finally hit land. I want to land in a good place, and I want to get there safely. To that end, I will sing the Lord's praises and let His fierce winds drive me toward the Promised Land.

"Who Am I?" - A Child of God

This afternoon, as I was cleaning the church, I listened to 89.7 KLOVE. The songs on that radio channel aren't all doctrinally sound, but they are often uplifting. As I was cleaning the bathrooms, one song in particularly stood out to me, with a refrain of "Who am I to be loved by You?" And what I loved most about this song was that I have an answer to that question. We are children of God. He loves us, in spite of everything, because we are His children.

The song mentions "bad decisions" and how God knows us, perhaps a little too well: "You see the best and the worst in me." But even after seeing us at our worst and bearing the brunt of our "bad decisions," God loves us. As the song says, "somehow you really love who I really am," but from what I know, the "somehow" is pretty clear, because "who [we] really [are]" is children of God.

Just as earthly parents can love their children, despite everything, so too can our Heavenly Father love us, despite everything. We may sometimes feel like "no one should ever love [us] like [God does]," but God does love us, and He will always love us, no matter what, because we are His children.

Talking and Listening

This afternoon, for a few moments, I managed to have a conversation with God. This wasn't a situation where I said a prayer and then got a response, and that was it. This was a full, back-and-forth conversation. When it happened, I noted that it had been a while since the last time it happened, and I realized that, up until that moment, there had been a lot of noise in my life. Physical sounds can be distracting, as can mental and emotional noise. I find that I hear God best when I'm somewhere quiet and relatively at peace. I should try to cultivate those moments more frequently so I can connect with God more often. I don't want to feel like I'm talking into a void, and I don't want His messages to me to fall on deaf ears. I want to have more moments like this afternoon, where I can both talk and listen to God.

Good Thoughts

Ether 4:12 And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me....

I find this fact reassuring. I sometimes wonder which of my thoughts and impressions are inspired and which of my thoughts and impressions are just my own thoughts and ideas, but maybe I don't need to worry about that. Maybe I don't need to know whether an idea came from God or from my own mind. If it's a good idea, then it's a good idea. Besides, if the idea is to do something that is good, then, according to Ether 4:12, the thought must have come from God, or at least from someone who's starting to take on one or two of the attributes of God.

I don't need to wonder where my thoughts and impressions come from. If they're good thoughts, or if they're impressions to do good, they're from God.

Grateful to Everyone

I'm not sure it's possible to feel an appropriate amount of gratitude. There's a lot of what I love about my life that I owe to people I'll never know. From the freedom and protection that I enjoy to the modern conveniences, like electricity and the internet. There are countless people who work, or who have worked, to created and maintain many of the blessings in my life. I don't know who invented the bicycle, and I don't know who manufactured my bicycle, but I feel blessed for owning it, and I'm grateful to those who made that possible. Similarly, I don't know everyone who fought, or who are fighting, to secure and defend my freedom, but I'm grateful to them. I owe debts of gratitude to an unknowable number of people. No amount of gratitude could be enough.

The Oracle's Example

About a week ago, I shared a picture of a house built in a lake.

With this image, I included the following, fictional story:

Everyone had thought that the oracle just had an over-inflated ego and had his house built on stilts so he could look down on everyone else. The oracle had thought that his foresight and example would have been enough to convince the other settlers to follow suit.

Thing is, the oracle's example should have been enough. Jesus Christ led my His teachings, but also by example, and His servants try to do the same. We should follow their teachings, of course. But if we want to be extra wise, we should try to follow their example as well.

Shifting Away from a Temporal Perspective

More than once today, I got a reminder to look at the big picture and not sweat the small stuff. Case in point, I have a very temporal perspective. I tend to focus far too much on the here and now. Yet, God focuses on eternity. While I struggle to deal with my day-to-day problems, God is trying to help me look beyond them into a future I can't yet see. I need to learn how to minimize my focus on the present, trust God, and look ahead. The present isn't as important as eternity. I need to stop worrying about the little things and instead shift my focus toward the things that matter most.

Time and Attention

This afternoon, I watched a video which addressed, among other things, the common habit of praying before we go to bed. The speaker, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, said that, while it's always a good idea to pray, it's an especially good idea while we're still awake enough to give God a decent portion of our time and attention, instead of mumbling a few thoughts in His direction before falling asleep.

To help us focus our thoughts, we are encouraged to kneel (if we can), fold our arms, bow our heads, close our eyes, and actually say the words of our prayers, or at least mouth them, if we still want to be silent. Doing this can help us give God our full attention during the time we devote to praying and doing nothing else.

God deserves more of our time and attention, especially when we're praying to Him, so tonight, I'm going to spend more than my normal amount of time praying to God, and I'm going to do it on my knees, with my arms folded and head bowed and everything, and I'm going to give God my undivided attention. It's a sign of respect and purity of intent, and I think God deserves that.

David and D&D Math - The Miracle of a Single Sling Stone

In the latest, Fifth Edition of Dungeon & Dragons (D&D 5e), the weakest creature that has the "Giant" creature type is the Half-Ogre, with a mere 30hp on average. I wonder, is it possible for a character to deal 30 damage with a single sling stone? For some characters, yes. For David, no.

A sling normally deals 1d4 damage, meaning that you roll a four-sided die (a d4), getting a random number between 1 and 4. Let's assume that David rolled maximum damage. So, we have 4 so far.

With all attacks, the attacker adds either their Strength or Dexterity Modifier to the damage roll. Since the sling is a ranged weapon, David would use his Dexterity modifier. If we assume that David has the maximum possible Dexterity modifier, that'll give us +5 for a running total of 9 damage.

This damage can be increased further if we assume that the sling is magical. A normal magic weapon can grant a bonus to attack and damage rolls up to a maximum of +3. That's 12 so far.

But not only can the weapon be magical, the ammunition can be magical, too. If we assume that David was using magical sling bullets instead of regular river stones, we can add another +3, for a running total of 15. We're halfway there.

And then, of course, the attack could have been a crit. If a character rolls the maximum result of 20 on an Attack roll to see whether their attack hits, they score a Critical Hit, which deals more damage. However, the normal rules for critical hits only increases (in fact, doubles) the number of dice used in the attack, giving us another d4, for a maximum addition of +4 damage, bringing us to 19.

The only way we can go higher from here is to add use class features or additional magic. Class features that increase damage include Barbarian Rage, Paladin Smites, and Rogue Sneak Attacks. But David was not a Barbarian, Paladin, or Rogue.

Alternatively, we can add more magic. Spells like Hex and Hunter's Mark can increase damage (but David wasn't a spell-caster), and certain magical weapons deal additional damage. For example, there's a magical, flaming sword that deals an extra 2d6 Fire damage. There could, theoretically, be a magical, forceful sling that deals an extra 2d6 Force damage.

But David's sling wasn't a magical, forceful sling. It wasn't any kind of magical, and his ammunition wasn't magical, either. And, frankly, it's even a bit ridiculous to say that David had a +5 Dexterity Modifier. In my opinion, he was probably closer to +2.

If we're being realistic, the most damage David could have hoped for from a single sling bullet was 10. That's 4 from the d4 of the regular damage, +4 from a second d4 from it being a Critical Hit, and +2 from a more realistic Dexterity modifier. That would only take away one third of the weakest giant's hit points, and even then, the odds of David dealing that much damage are 1 in 320.

The bottom line is that, while a sufficiently magical character could theoretically have done it, there is no way David could have slain a giant like Goliath with a single sling stone. It had to have been a miracle.

Challenge and Change

In doing my research for a paper I'm writing for school, I noticed something interesting about the word "Challenge." If you take the middle three letters out of the word, leaving only the first three letters and the last three letters, the word becomes "Cha___nge," or "Change."

I think there's a connection between challenge and change, beside just a fun, letter-removing trick. Challenges necessarily change people. I don't think there's anyone who's ever experienced a real challenge and not been changed by that experience. Similarly, change is hard, or at least, the good ones are. Perhaps the only way to make positive change is through facing some kind of challenge. The two may not necessarily go together all the time, but they do seem to be somewhat linked.

So, when we faces challenges, let's be mindful of how they might change us, and let's try to make sure they change us for the better. And when we want to make positive changes in our lives, let's be aware of the challenges we may have to face to do so, and let's prepare to face them. We all will face challenges, and we all will change. Let's be aware of how change and challenges come together, and let's use both our changes and our challenges to become better people.

Second Chances Don't Come Cheap

One of the songs I like to listen to occasionally includes the line "second chances don't come cheap," and they really don't. One thing that I love and hate about the Gospel is that we get as many second chances as we need, but Jesus Christ had to pay for all of them. We can repent as many times as we need to and come back with a clean slate each time, but Jesus Christ still paid the price for all the sins we've ever committed, whether we've repented of them or not. We get second chances, but they didn't come cheap.

I wish they did. I wish our sins didn't cause Jesus suffering. I wish we could let go of our past mistakes without Jesus having to take them unto His own shoulders. But that's not how the world works. Every sinful decision causes Him pain, and He accepted that pain willingly in order to give us second and third and four-hundredth chances, because He knew we'd need them. So, I'm glad that we get second chances, but I'm less happy about how we got them.

So, let's not waste them. Sure, we can get as many second chances as we need, but the fewer we need, the fewer He had to pay for. Let's try not to need many second chances. They didn't come cheap.

Judgement is the Lord's

Mormon 8:19 For behold, the same that judgeth rashly shall be judged rashly again; for according to his works shall his wages be; therefore, he that smiteth shall be smitten again, of the Lord.

At first glance, this looks like the standard "an eye for an eye" type of verse, but then we get to the last three words of the verse. This scripture says "he that smiteth shall be smitten again, of the Lord." It's not our job to smite people. In fact, the next verse so fairly explicitly:

Mormon 8:20 Behold what the scripture says—man shall not smite, neither shall he judge; for judgment is mine, saith the Lord, and vengeance is mine also, and I will repay.

There may be some moral truth behind "an eye for an eye" style of justice, but it's not our place to go around plucking out eyes. It's not for us to judge, and it's our job to smite those who have done wrong. We can and should protect ourselves and each other, especially from those who have shown a willingness to cause harm, but it's not our place to harm them in return. We are not the ones who should seek vengeance. Let's let God take care of all that.

While we shouldn't let evildoers continue to do evil, it's not our place to judge or punish those who have done evil. That's God's job. So, when we are smitten, don't smite back. Just step back, take a deep breath, and let God handle it. God will see to it that justice is done.

Lights Through the Darkness

Riding a bike at night can be scary. When you're virtually invisible to motorists, and you can't see the obstacles around you and in front of you, biking at night can be vary dangerous. But that wasn't my experience tonight. I had powerful lights to see and to be seen with, and I had a reflector vest and other reflectors to make myself and the road in front of me as visible as possible. It was actually a lot of fun.

Life can be like that, sometimes. It's dark and dangerous and scary. But if our lights are strong enough, or rather, if we carry strong lights with us, we can be safe. Heaven's light can illuminate enough of our path to let us navigate safely, and is we have enough light around us, we can be fairly protected from the dangers around us.

Granted, we won't be able to see everything, and we won't be completely impervious to the world around us, but having enough light with us can help see us through any darkness, even if we don't make it through unscathed. I was fortunate enough to make it through my bike ride unscathed, and that was on'y possible because I had strong lights with me.

Working Through The Wicked

Mormon 8: 7-8 And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites.

And behold, it is the hand of the Lord which hath done it. ...

When God does His work, He usually does it through those who are already physically on the Earth. He sends messages through His living Prophets. He has us do service for others, for Him. In many instances, we are His hands. But, interestingly enough, so were the Lamanites. As it turns out, one doesn't necessary have to be righteous to do the Lord's work. God works with the tools He has. This often means that He uses imperfect (and sometimes immoral) people to do His perfect work, but He manages, often surprisingly well.

God works in mysterious ways, and that includes working through imperfect, mortal people. And apparently, it also sometimes includes working through the kind of people who normally seem unlikely to be on the Lord's errand.

Quick to Observe

In Mormon 1:2, Mormon is describe by Ammaron as "a sober child, and art quick to observe." Taylor, from Book of Mormon Central, had an interesting insight about that last phrase, "quick to observe." He said that, in addition to the clear meaning of being observant, it could also have a second meaning of being obedient. He notes that, most times it's used in scripture, the verb "observe" is used with the commandments, saying that someone observed the commandments or that they observed to keep the commandments. Thus, Mormon's being "quick to observe" could have meant being quick to obey the commandments of God.

Of course, the introspective question to ask here is "how quick are we to obey the commandments"? Most of us come around to keeping most of the commandments eventually, but how soon after we receive a commandment are we willing to keep it? How quickly after getting a prompting are we willing to follow it? Apparently, Mormon was pretty quick at that. We should try to be, too.

Tenets of Devotion

In D&D, the Paladins are expected to abide by certain tenets, depending on the Oaths they swear. Of these, probably my favorites are the Paladins who swear Oaths of Devotion, and thus are expected to live the Tenets of Devotion, which are listed on page 86 of the Player's Handbook:

Honesty. Don't lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise.

Courage. Never fear to act, though caution is wise.

Compassion. Aid others, protect the weak, and punish those who threaten them. Show mercy to your foes, but temper it with wisdom.

Honor. Treat others with fairness, and let your honorable deeds be an example to them. Do as much good as possible while causing the least amount of harm.

Duty. Be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, and obey those who have just authority over you.

These are fairly decent rules to live by, and they're among the main reasons I like to play a Paladin. I like playing characters with built-in reasons to be good. Granted, any player can just choose to have their character be Good, but I like having a clear, in-game reasons to be Good. This is a large part of the reason why I play a Paladin, particularly a Devotion Paladin, when I get the chance. These tenets are principles that I want to live by, both inside and outside the game. I play a Paladin when I can because I want to live by these standards in real life, and playing a Paladin will hopefully help be do better at being like one in real life.

Asking "Will You" Instead of "Please"

I normally say "please" when I ask for something, especially when the person I'm asking is God. It only makes sense to make it a polite request. But this morning, I tried something different. I asked "will you help me," instead of "please help me."

There are several semantic differences at play here, all adding their own connotative interpretations of what was said. For one thing, it gives God more of an "out," if the answer is "no." "Please help me" is a request that would be rude to refuse, but "will you help me" can be a simple question of fact, akin to asking "will it rain tomorrow," to which a "no" answer is a mere statement of fact, with no moral judgement placed on anyone.

On the other hand, a "yes" answer represents more of a commitment with "will you" than with "please." If someone asks God "will you help me," and God answers "yes," that is a commitment which, we can be certain, God will keep.

There were other reasons I liked "will you" over "please," but it's difficult to think of them right now because I'm tired.

Now, this doesn't mean that I will only as "will you" and never "please" from now on. Both are useful in certain situations. And it may be that "please" still makes more sense than "will you" more often than not. But occasionally, it makes more sense to ask God "will you help me" than "please help me," so I'll probably do it again.

Struggling Without Calling Upon God

In Mormon 5:2, we are told that the Nephites, now deeply entrenched in iniquity, and at war with the Lamanites, "did struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them."

This strikes me as being incredibly foolish, but not much more foolish than we are when we also "struggle . . . without calling upon [God]." Sure, God's miracles are either few and far between or so subtle as to remain unseen, but hey, it couldn't hurt to ask, right?

In life, we have to struggle. That's just a given. Everyone has to struggle. But we don't always have to struggle alone. God will, sometimes, perhaps often, come to help us, but only when asked. No matter how much we struggle, no matter how much He wants to help us, God will, respectfully, wait for us to ask for His help.

Granted, there are times when we are better off without His help, and He lets us move forward on our own, usually either to help us gain strength or to let us prove to ourselves how strong we already are, but at those times when we really need His help, and it's important that we get it, He will help us, if, and only if, we ask Him to.

Let us never be so foolish that we forget to ask for God's help. True, we don't always get it, even when we ask, but it doesn't hurt to ask. It can only hold us back it we don't. I don't want to struggle, but I especially don't want to be foolish enough to struggle without calling upon God.

Searching for Inspiration - Spiritual Eyes

I just spent half an hour or so looking for inspiration, and then I realized my problem. I only started looking for inspiration when I needed one I could blog about. Up until then, I was focusing on my other responsibilities, like writing my essay, tutoring, and doing other work. I wasn't really listening for the Spirit or looking for inspiration until the last minute.

I know that life gets crazy, and it seems like we have a dozen things to do each day, which is why I'm not going to say that we should "make time" for spiritual matters. Sometimes, that's not really a viable option. Instead, I'm going to say that we should look for the Spirit in even secular things.

For example, I tutored a student working on a paper about slavery. God has compassion for the suffering of others, and so should we. I'm working on a paper about lifetime appointments for federal judges. General Authorities also serve for life, as should we. I helped tie a load of stuff into a trailer. The commandments also "tie us down," but only to help us get where we're trying to go. Those are three examples of spiritual thoughts that I could have had and blogged about way earlier today, except that I wasn't thinking about that.

I used to be really good at seeing spiritual messages in mundane objects and events. I think I've let myself get distracted "in the thick of thin things," one might say. It would be good for me to learn to see with spiritual eyes again, and not just for blogging purposes, either. I want to connect with the Spirit more, if only for my personal and spiritual well-being.

Inspiration is out there. It's not something one needs to actively search for, but one does need to be looking with one's spiritual eyes to see it.

Steps in the Right Direction

Navigation is, perhaps, not as hard as it is sometimes made out to be. For example, I don't know exactly where Mt Rushmore is, but given enough time, I'm confident that I could get myself there. This is because I know the general direction of Mt Rushmore (East Northeast, I assume), so I know the general direction to head in, and I'm confident that local maps and signs can give me more precise directions once I get closer. I can't pinpoint Mt Rushmore on a map, and I can't give anyone detailed directions, but I know its location well enough that I can start taking steps in the right direction, and I can figure it out from there.

Similarly, I may not know Jesus Christ well enough to emulate His behavior perfectly, but I know enough about His attributes to see places where I can improve. I can't follow in His footsteps exactly, but I can take steps in the right direction. None of us are perfect, and I daresay none of us know how to be perfect, but we each know at least a handful of ways in which we can be better, so we all know enough to enable us to take steps toward perfection, even if we don't know precisely what perfection looks like yet.

I'm sure that I couldn't find the Celestial Kingdom on a map (unless that map is really a diagram), but I know its location well enough to take steps in the right direction.

The Shame Cycle

You know about the Pride Cycle. It's all over the Book of Mormon. A person or group is blessed, they prosper, they get proud, God withholds His blessings, the person or group falls, then they repent and are blessed and prospered again. It happens countless times over the generations.

What I want to talk about is similar, probably in name only, and probably only because I named it that way. It's something I call the Shame Cycle.

Every once in a while, someone feels down. Life gets people down sometimes. That happens. But when that happens, people generally try to cheer themselves up, and, depending on how down they were and how long they were down, they might try something desperate and or foolish, in hopes it cheers them up. Sometimes it's drugs or alcohol. Sometimes it's sinful behavior. Sometimes it's venting negative emotions. Whatever their chosen form of relief is, it's not good for them, but it actually works, in the short term. For a little while, they feel better. They may even feel okay for a while. But then the consequences of their actions kick in, and those consequences make them feel even worse than before. They feel down again. And they remember what they did last time that (sorta) cheered them up again. They do the same thing they did last time, it sorta works again, but then they crash again, and so it goes. Bad feeling, bad behavior, "good" feeling, bad feeling, bad behavior. Ad infinitum.

It's called the Shame Cycle because the "bad feeling," after the first few cycles at least, is almost always shame. People feel ashamed of what they had done, and they feel miserable about it, but they turn to the same bad behavior to dull the pain of their shame.

The good news is that I've found a way to break the cycle. The bad news is that it isn't easy. We need to learn to turn to Good behavior, even (and especially) when we're feeling bad, so we can get our "good feeling" from good sources. Doing exercise and giving service are great for this, as are playing and/or singing hymns. Really, any good thing you can do can invite the Spirit into your heart, which is one of the best Good Feelings of all.

It's tempting to turn to bad behavior for "good feelings," but that perpetuates the shame cycle, which only leaves people feeling worse. But if we turn toward good behavior for our good feelings, we can break the Shame Cycle and get good feelings that last longer and won't ultimately let us down.

For the Beauty of the Earth

As anyone who follows me on Facebook probably knows, I like mountains. I love their beauty and majesty. I marvel at their scale. And I especially appreciate their symbolism as daunting challenges, lofty ambitions, glorious achievements, and our striving to draw closer to God. Mountains are awesome. And if I appreciate nothing else about God, I at least have to appreciate His artistic craftsmanship in creating them. It's amazing that God made every mountain, forest, coastline, and all other beautiful landscapes. He's an incredible artist, and He created a marvelous world for us. I'm glad that I get to live in it and look at it. It truly is a wonderful creation.

Reciprocal Happiness

I recently discovered something that seems, to me, pretty revolutionary. At the time, I called it The Secret to Happiness, but it's not the only secret to happiness, and it's probably not even a secret. Right now, I'm calling it Reciprocal Happiness.

Last night, I was in a bit of a funk. A friend I was chatting with was pretty bummed out that I was in a funk, and he wanted to help me feel better, but I actually only felt worse. I felt bad for making him feel bad about me feeling bad. And, of course, me feeling worse made him feel worse, which made me feel worse, and so it went until something miraculous happened. Perhaps to break the tension, or to try to lighten the mood, my friend joked about something. Hearing my friend kinda joke about something made me feel a little bit better, and that's when I realized what was going on.

We had created a positive feedback loop. Now, the "positive" part of "positive feedback loop" can be misleading. It doesn't mean anything positive is happening. It mainly means that it's a self-reinforcing cycle. Like, if your rolling dice, and you get another die every time you roll a six, rolling more dice means you're more likely to roll sixes, which will get you more dice, which will make it so more sixes get rolled more often, so you end up rolling more and more dice and more and more sixes. That's a positive feedback loop. The feedback loop is "positive" because it compounds upon itself.

The beauty of this epiphany was realizing that this positive feedback loop could be reversed.

When my friend kinda laughed a little, knowing that he wasn't completely miserable made me feel a little better, and then, knowing that my mood had lightened, his mood lightened a little more as well. Meanwhile, I had this epiphany and almost deliberately got excited about it, knowing that my excitement would rub off on my friend. He felt happy that I had learned something that made me happy, and knowing he was happy made me happier, which made him happier, and so on.

Using both the misery and the happiness as examples, I would guess that many emotions are contagious and they can spread back and forth between people, growing over time. This can have the undesirable effect of making each other miserable, or it can have a desirable effect, like making each other happy. Naturally, I chose to focus on the happiness. We can increase our own happiness and the happiness of others by making other people happy and by cultivating and sharing our own happiness.

Granted, this doesn't always work. You can't always get someone out of a slump by joking with them or directly trying to "cheer them up." People, and their emotions, can be pretty complicated. So, take this general life advice with a grain of salt, I guess. Still, it's good to be happy, and to express happiness, especially if there's any chance that happiness might spread to others and also bounce back to us.

Suffering alone probably isn't good for one's mental health, so another grain of salt for this life advice, but if all I was going to accomplish by sharing my unhappiness was to make other people unhappy too, I'd rather share some light and happiness, too, especially in hopes that some of it spreads out to others and radiates back to me. As long as emotions are contagious and self-reinforcing, I'd rather focus on spreading the good ones.

Wickedness = Unhappiness

4 Nephi 1:16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

I don't think that's a coincidence. Wickedness never was happiness. No person, and no people, can be very wicked and also very happy, not in terms of true happiness, anyway. So, it stands to reason that the less wickedness there is, the less there'll be to hold people back from being happy. Granted, there can still be sorrows and afflictions. There always are. But in addition to sorrows and afflictions, wickedness also brings unhappiness. If there's ever a time with no wickedness, unhappiness would also hit an all-time low. That's why the people in this verse were so happy, because there was so little stopping them from being happy.

Carrying Capacity

In D&D 5e, a character's carrying capacity is calculated as 15 times their Strength Score. That means that a character with an average Strength Score, 10, can carry up to 150 pounds of armor and equipment without any penalties. Characters can also lift, push, or drag up to 30 times their Strength Score (300 pounds for an average person), but their speed is reduced to 5ft per round, or about 0.5 miles per hour while they do so. On top of this system, some Dungeon Masters use the variant Encumbrance rule, which introduces two new conditions (encumbered and heavily encumbered) which characters get if they carry a certain amount of weight (5 times their Strength Score and 10 times their Strength Score, respectively). Under the variant Encumbrance system, if a character with an average Strength Score carries 50-100 pounds of weight, their speed is reduced by 10ft per round or 1 mph, and if they carry 100-150 pounds, their speed is instead reduced by 20ft per round or 2 mph and they have disadvantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. Essentially, in D&D, the more stuff a person carries, the harder it is for that person to function.

The same is true in real life, with all kinds of burdens, physical and otherwise. We, theoretically, can carry a good deal of weight and still function to one degree or another, but the more we carry, the harder it is to carry it.

However, it should be noted that not everyone has the same Strength Score, some people carry heavier burdens than others, and some of these burdens are invisible. Some people can carry more than others can, some people carry more than others do, and some of those burdens aren't clearly apparent to others.

For these reasons, and others, we should be patient with people, including ourselves, as we all try to carry our burdens and help other people carry theirs. We can each only carry so much before we need to slow down, so if we ever find ourselves overburdened, we may do well to slow down and not try to push ourselves to go faster than we can manage. Each person has a different carrying capacity, and each person has different burdens to carry, so let's all try to be compassionate with each other. You never know how much weight is on someone else's shoulders or how much it weighs them down.

Three Tips to Help Us Endure

Sometimes, life can be difficult enough just to endure. Life can be can be frustrating, challenging, exhausting, and painful. Sometimes, it's hard just to keep moving forward. But thankfully, even in times like those, we have a few things going for us.

For one thing, God is always going to be as close to us as we let Him be. If we immerse ourselves in hymns and scriptures and other such, God will immerse us in His love, which often includes comfort and/or guidance.

Secondly, God never asks more of us than we can give. Now, there's two sides of this. The first side is that, if God expects us to handle something, then we can. We have the strength to face any challenge He expects us to face. On the flip-side, if life throws us a challenge that we can't handle, don't worry, God doesn't expect us to. God doesn't expect us to do any more than we're capable of, even if He asks it of pretty much everyone else. To just give one example, God asks pretty much everyone to participate in a monthly fast. But not everyone can fast. God doesn't think any less of those who, for whatever reason, cannot fast. God gives us the power to do everything He wants us to do, and He doesn't expect us to do anything that we lack the power to do.

And finally, no matter what is going on, there is help and healing available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Granted, that help and healing may not be immediately available. We may have to wait a long time for it. We may have to wait a lifetime for it. But everything that seems unfair about life will ultimately be made right through the power of the Atonement. Whatever you're enduring right now, God can heal you of it, and if you stay close to Him, eventually, He will.

We can endure because we know that our afflictions will not last forever, that our afflictions will never be greater than we can endure, and that God will be with us every step of the way. Sometimes, it's difficult to remember that. But as long as we can remember any one of those truths, they can help us endure just about anything.

"Love Your [Political] Enemies"

The core of President Dallin H. Oaks's message at the end of the Saturday Morning Session of this last General Conference is embedded in it's title: "Love Your Enemies." However, I might go a bit more specific than that. More to the heart of President Oaks's message is the adjuration to "Love Your [Political] Enemies."

He said that "We live in a time of anger and hatred in political relationships and policies. ... However, as followers of Christ we must forgo the anger and hatred with which political choices are debated or denounced in many settings." As we discuss our differences of political preference and opinion, we must never fall into the trap of anger or lose sight of the inherent humanity of all people, ever the worst of our political opponents. No matter whom we vote for our against, no matter which policies we support or oppose, we are all children of God, and God want His children to try to get along.

Of course, we can still disagree. In fact, such disagreements may be unavoidable. President Oaks said that "In a democratic government we will always have differences over proposed candidates and policies" (emphasis added). Such differences help create the diversity [of opinion] that helps us recognize many different perspectives and opinions and helps us develop greater sympathy and more robust problem-solving. When we work with each other, instead of against each other, we can do great things and make the world and better place.

We know that we can love other people, despite our physical (and mostly cosmetic) differences. Right now, we need to learn that we can love each other, despite our political differences as well.

What Do You Want?

At the beginning of 3 Nephi 28, Jesus asks His disciples what they want. This, I feel, is an important question to consider, and not just for people who are receiving special boons from the Savior. All of us should consider what we really want in life and whether or not we're on a path that leads to it. Maybe we are, and we should stay the course, and maybe we're not, and we should alter course. Either way, we should base our choices on what we really want, because our choices shape our outcomes. If we really want a certain outcome, our actions should reflect that. So, I'm going to try to find out what I really want, from God and from life, and I'm going to take actions that will get me closer to getting it.

A Simple Formula for Salvation

3 Nephi 27:6 And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day.

This is a clear and shockingly simple formula for salvation, especially when you consider that "enduring to the end" basically just means staying the course. However, the first part of this formula is deceptively deep. Taking Christ's name upon ourselves means more than just calling ourselves Christians. It means being like Jesus Christ. That means taking on His attributes and repenting when we (perpetually) fall short. Becoming like Jesus Christ is an eternal undertaking in every sense of the word Eternal.

Yet, it's still impressively simple. Instead of having a list of hundreds of commandments to memorize and follow, we can focus on a single Role-model and attempt to become like Him. The question "what would Jesus do?" can be of some help to us here. All we need to do is try to determine what kind of person Jesus was and is, and follow that. If we do as He did, we will be saved.

We can easily over-complicate the gospel, if we want to. We can focus on all the rules and principles individually. Or, alternatively, we can focus on Jesus Christ. And as long as we focus on Jesus and stay the course, we will reach the same destination He did. It doesn't get simpler than that.

The Blessings of Temple Worthiness

In Elder Ronald A. Rasband's most recent General Conference talk, Recommended to the Lord, he spoke about how, because of COVID-19 concerns and restrictions, temple operations have been temporarily suspended, but temple standards haven't been: "Let me emphasize, whether you have access to a temple or not, you need a current temple recommend to stay firmly on the covenant path." 

I believe that this is because blessings follow those who live worthily of temple recommends, blessings entirely separate from those we get within the temple itself. As Elder Rasband said, "Being worthy to hold a current temple recommend is both a protection from the adversary, because you have made a firm commitment to the Lord about your life, and a promise that the Spirit will be with you." 

I hold that this is true, whether we can physically enter the temple or not. There are blessings that we get from worshiping in the temple, including blessings that we can only get by worshiping in the temple, but there are also blessings that come from living righteously enough to be worthy to enter the temple, whether our temples are open or not. 

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, we have been cut off from some of the blessings of the temple, like being able to actually enter them, but apart from the ability to actually enter the temple, we have not been cut off from any of the blessings of temple worthiness.

Refiners' Fire

Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

Tonight, we read 3 Nephi 24, in which Jesus recites the above verse, referring to Himself and His own Second Coming. I'm not well studied on what "fullers' soap" is, but I understand refining well enough. Essentially, you get a metal hot enough, and it'll melt, and all the impurities in it will either float to the top of the molten metal, sink to the bottom, or simply burn away. If we don't want to be among the impurities that get skimmed off, sink, or burn away, we need to perform this purifying process ourselves and clear out the impurities in our lives. Essentially, we need to repent, or before too awfully long, we'll be in trouble.

Whether we live long enough to see Jesus come again or whether we die and go to Him, we are going to stand before Him at some point. At that day, our ability to abide in His presence will depend entirely on how much we've already been refined and how much refining we still need. Let's get that process going sooner rather than later. We don't want to get caught unrefined when that day comes.

By Name, Not By Number

I'm currently writing a paper about the crime statistics regarding the felonious law enforcement officer deaths of 2013. Riveting, I know, but this particular year is actually pretty interesting. Out of the years 2004-2018 (the years for which I could readily find such statistics), 2013 was the year in which the fewest felonious law enforcement officer deaths occurred. There were only 27 of them, compared to the others ranging from the low 40s to the upper 60s (one year, 2011, even hit 72!). In fact, all other years within that time period had between 1.5 and 2.7 times as many deaths as 2013 had. Because of this, I wrote that 2013 was a relatively good year. And it was... for everyone except those 27 officers and those close to them.

Life isn't about statistics. Life is about people. Each person has a unique story. And for those 27 officers who were feloniously killed in 2013, those stories ended in tragedy. As I read the summaries of how they died, I felt sympathy for them and their loved ones, sympathy that I didn't feel by looking at their numbers on a spreadsheet. As I read about them, they became more than numbers to me, and I know that they're already more than numbers to God.

God knows and loves everyone, not as statistical data points, but as His children. He knows the names of every law enforcement officer killed in 2013, and more than that, He knows their whole lives. He knows their hopes and fears, their greatest moments and their deepest regrets. He knows and loves each and every person who ever lived, by name, not by number.

To God, everyone matters individually, not statistically. We, too, should try to see people as people, and not just as statistics.