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.

Unity Despite Diversity

Elder Quentin L. Cook spoke of the importance of having our Hearts Knit in Unity and Righteousness, despite our cultural and/or cosmetic diversity. He reminded us that, despite any and all differences, we are all children of God. We are brothers and sisters. Our spiritual unity should be stronger than our earthly differences. He said that unity and diversity can coexist. We don't have to be identical, or even similar, in order to be united. We should look past our earthly and temporal differences and instead see each other as part of the same eternal, spiritual family.

There's a lot of division in the world these days, but there doesn't need to be. We can find a common ground and our shared humanity by focusing on our shared identity as children of God.

Rozlyn's Love

My favorite part of sister Michelle D. Craig's talk, Eyes to See, was the story of Rozlyn and Sister Smith. Sister Smith was at church, without her husband, and possibly without her children as well. She felt alone, and she wanted to be left alone. Yet, Rozlyn could see Sister Smith's pain, and she offered comfort. In Sister Smith's words, Rozlyn "wrapped me in her arms and said, ‘Sister Smith, I can tell today is a bad day for you. I’m so sorry. I love you.’"

What strikes me most about this interaction is that this very well may be the only things Rozlyn said to Sister Smith. She might not have asked her the obvious, personal question of why she was at church alone. She certainly didn't offer any criticism. She might not have even volunteered any unrequested advice. She just offered her love and her sympathy. Sometimes, that's all a person really needs.

I want to follow Rozlyn's example. I want to be there for people when they need me and to not put any more pressure on them than they already feel. I want to comfort people, not make them uncomfortable. I want to be kind and loving and gentle for those who need me to be. I want to follow the promptings of the Spirit n giving people whatever they need, be that advice, sympathy, or just a hug. Some people offer what they call "tough love." I want to offer love like Rozlyn's.

Invisible Aid

Michelle D. Craig began her talk by sharing the story of Elisha and his army of invisible angels. This prompted me to think about how much help we may be getting from God without realizing it. I often don't see God's hand in my life, but I also don't often see evidence of calamities that He prevented or problems that He solved for me before I realized they were problems. God doesn't often act in visible ways, but that doesn't mean that He's not acting. He could be, and probably is, doing a great deal of work for us behind the scenes. We should be grateful for such help, even if we don't always see it.

Christlike in Many Ways

Elder Scott D. Whiting concluded his talk, "Becoming like Him" by saying "I know that becoming like Him through His divine help and strength is achievable step by step. . . . I know this—in part because I see attributes of Him in so many of you." Becoming exactly like Jesus Christ is difficult, nigh impossible to pull off in one lifetime, but becoming somewhat like Jesus Christ is so achievable that, in some ways, most of us have already done it.

Let's take honesty for an example, since Elder Whiting also used honesty as an example of an attribute of Christ. Everyone is at least somewhat honest. No one lies all the time. Just about everyone often, or at least occasionally, tells the truth. Granted few people are always as honest as Jesus is and was, but just about everyone has at least a little bit of honesty in them, so just about everyone is at least a little bit like Jesus Christ, at least in that one way.

Then take charity for example, and kindness, and understanding, and compassion. Take faith and hope for example. Take obedience and diligence and discipline for example. Take virtue for example. Take love for example. Everyone loves someone, even if only themselves. By loving that person, they are at least that much like Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ has a lot of attributes, and all of us have at least a sliver of each of them. All of us have at least some measure of many, most, if not all Christlike attributes. We are more Christlike than we realize. Is it so unthinkable that we might get even better?

All of us are at least a little bit Christlike in at least a few of His attributes, and we can, over time, get even better. Becoming as perfect as Jesus Christ is will take an eternity, but becoming Christlike is so achievable that, in many ways, we've already done it.

Optimizing Our Progress Toward Perfection

In Elder Scott D. Whiting's October 2020 General Conference talk, "Becoming like Him," he gave us the following bit of encouragement, which he called "a brief word of caution":

The commandment to be like Him is not intended to make you feel guilty, unworthy, or unloved. Our entire mortal experience is about progression, trying, failing, and succeeding.

I'm not sure where the "caution" comes in. This looks like a comfort to me. Maybe he's trying to caution us against feeling "guilty, unworthy, or unloved"? If anything, I think the following lines are more of a "brief word of caution":

You are good enough, you are loved, but that does not mean that you are yet complete. There is work to be done in this life and the next.

Progression is a tricky thing, partly because it's difficult to know our standing before God, how we should feel about ourselves, and how quickly we should try to progress. For instance, we're far from perfect, but we have the potential to become perfect. Feeling like we're so bad that we can never become perfect, is wrongful thinking, but so is celebrating ourselves for our potential to become perfect, but not actually taking the steps toward achieving that potential. We should not allow ourselves to grow overwhelmed or to grow lax.

We have to keep progressing toward perfection, though the pace itself can also prove challenging. If we try too hard, we'll burn ourselves out. If we don't try hard enough, we won't be progressing as quickly as we could. We need to try to find a balance. If you're burning yourself out, slow down, but don't stop. If you're comfortable at your current pace, try to speed up a bit and see if you can still handle it. If we regularly adjust our rate of attempted progress, we can optimize our progress to our ever-changing capabilities and circumstances.

We have a lofty goal ahead of us, and it will take an eternity an multiple miracles to reach it, but we can find a balance between loving ourselves and improving ourselves, and we can find the optimal rate of progress (or something close to it) for us in our present circumstances. We can become like Jesus Christ. It'll just take us a decent amount of work and a decent amount of time to do it.

I Can't Share What's on My Mind

I sometimes wonder whether it's a good idea to maintain my blog. Many of the thoughts that occupy my mind are too personal and/or too controversial to share. For example, I've been thinking a lot about my relationship with God, but I'm not exactly eager to tell the whole world about it. This blog is too public to share anything private. Granted, that hasn't stopped me much in the past, but still, I have thoughts that I don't want to broadcast on the Internet, even if they are, as Facebook says "what's on [my] mind." Some thoughts are better kept private. I can't share what's on my mind right now. I hope you understand.

God Knows the Reasons

When tragedy strikes, we sometimes wonder why. Why did this happen to us? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is God doing this to me? It's very tempting to dwell on such questions. We think that, if only we knew why this trial had to happen, we might endure it better. But Elder David A. Bednar spoke of someone with a different attitude.

He forthrightly declared that he personally did not understand the reasons or timing for such an event. But I always will remember this good man also declaring that he knew God knew the reasons and timing for the passing of his child—and that was good enough for him.

We don't need to know the reasons why bad things happen. We just need to know that God has His reasons, and trust that God's reasons are good ones. Personally, I like to know the reasons for things, particularly for commandments, but if I trust God enough, I really shouldn't need to. I don't need to know why God gives us certain trials and commandments, so long as I remember that God has our best interest at heart and trust that, so long as we follow Him, He'll make sure everything will work out.

Sometimes, only God knows why things are the way things are, but as long as we trust God, we can learn to be okay with not knowing the reasons why.

How to Gain Faith and Trust in God and Jesus

In his October 2020 General Conference talk, Elder David A. Bednar said, "Faithfulness is not foolishness or fanaticism. Rather, it is trusting and placing our confidence in Jesus Christ as our Savior, on His name, and in His promises."

Some people question the wisdom of having faith. Some people think that it's foolish to believe in and swear allegiance to a being whom we haven't met. Yet, we can know of the existence of God and Jesus Christ just as surely as know of the existence of anyone else we've read about and whose influence we've seen in the world, and we can grow to trust Their teachings and form a relationship with Them just as we can come to trust and form a relationship with anyone whose book we've read and with whom we've talked on the phone. One of my favorite teachings of this church is how relatable and approachable God and Jesus Christ are. We can talk with them as easily as we can talk to anyone else in earshot, and we can learn to trust Them the same way we learn to trust in anyone else.

Though we cannot meet Jesus Christ in person in this life, we can come to know Him and to trust His promises, and we can do it in roughly the same way we would for anyone else. Just as we can read about, call, and prove anyone else in real life, we can do those same things with God and Jesus Christ. Ultimately, it can become wise to trust Them more than we trust anyone else whom we may have heard about or seen on the news.The evidence for their existence is overwhelming, we can talk to Them in prayer, and we can learn through study, testimonials, and experience that when we keep our promises, They also keep Theirs. We can trust Them, and we can learn to trust Them the same way we can learn to trust in anyone else.

Perfect Eventually, Imperfect Now

For our family gospel study tonight, we revisited one of Elder Holland's previous talks, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect - Eventually", and like most Holland talks, it's a good one. He speaks, with some measure of hopeful realism, about the imperfection of mankind and about our need to keep striving for righteousness, despite the inevitability of our imperfection, and our need to seek God's aid in eventually overcoming our imperfection.

This talk, which is well worth revisiting, has reminded me that, while I can never become perfect in one lifetime, by my own merits, I can improve, and during the eternities, with God's help, I can become perfect. I would like to shake off my imperfections, but I accept that that may not happen in this life, so instead, I will do what I can, rely on God's mercy, and try to make an acceptable amount of progress. I won't become perfect any time soon, but I can get better, and that may well be good enough for now.

A Powerful Assurance

In his Conference-opening talk, President Russell M. Nelson spoke of the pandemic, the natural disasters, and other ills facing the world today, and then said "Through it all, our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ love us. They care for us. They and Their holy angels are watching over us. I know that is true."

What a powerful assurance! Because of this prophet's testimony, we can be certain that we are never alone, that God and His angels are watching over you, and that God and Jesus Christ love you and care about you more than you can know. Even in times of great trial, we can have the comfort of knowing that God and Jesus Christ know what we're going through and that They are willing to help us get through it. Whatever our challenges, we can face them with the Lord of our side. And with the Lord on our side, we cannot fail.

The tempest will not sink the boat on which the Savior rides, and as long as we're on that boat with Him, the storm won't sink us, either.

Take Advantage of This Pandemic

I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that many of the Conference talks of today and yesterday spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic. Nor should it be surprising what they said about it. But I think it's worth remembering that all of our challenges give up experience and teach us lessons that we couldn't have learned in other ways. So, let's take advantage of this pandemic and learn as many spiritual lessons from it as we can. It seems like it's going to linger a little while longer, so we might as well use it to help us grow, spiritually. Any of our afflictions can help us draw closer to God, and this pandemic is no exception. Let's help make sure this pandemic has a positive effect on our spiritual welfare by using it and the lessons it teaches us to draw ever closer to God.

"Okay"

Before Conference, I was going to blog about how, no matter what happens, it's going to be "okay." It's not going to be great, but it's not going to be terrible. It'll be "okay." And that's okay! We can learn to be content with moderately acceptable outcomes, even in ourselves. Sure, we're not perfect yet, but we're not too bad, either. We're "okay," and that's okay. That's what I would have blogged about.

But then Dieter F. Uchtdorf said something about how the future isn't just going to be "alright." It'll be unimaginable. It's going to be so much better than "okay," (after a period of time that'll be much worse than "okay").

But still, until then, we're going to have to deal with a lot of mediocrity, including in ourselves. We will ultimately become perfect, but until we do, we're going to have to learn to live with imperfections. Life won't stay "okay" forever, but until life changes again, it'll be okay.

A Recommitment to Blog About Conference

Previously, I had used my blog to review the previous General Conference. I'd have each session line up with a month, and each month, I'd blog about each General Conference talk in that session. Occasionally, I'd skip a talk, but generally, I'd end up blogging about all of them.

That didn't happen for the last six months, but it will happen for the next five. Right now, I am recommitting to the practice of blogging about Conference. For the next five-six months, I'm going to make an effort to blog about each October 2020 General Conference talk. I hope that that'll help the messages sink in and have a positive impact on me and my life. Given that this year hasn't been the greatest, I feel like I could use some of that "positive impact" to wrap it up and get the next year off to a good start.

Consistently Impressive Forgiveness

I find God's forgiveness consistently impressive. No matter how many times I learn this lesson, it always astounds me that God can forgive anyone who repents, and He wants to. No matter what a person does or has done, God never stops loving them, and if they repent and return to God, He'll welcome them back with open arms.

Granted, that's not a free pass to sin now and repent later. God wants us to actually, consistently change. But if we do sincerely repent, with regret for our past actions and a commitment to never repeat them, God will forgive us, no matter what we did.

That truth amazes me, no matter how many times I hear it.