Its Lowest Point

While I was looking up the word "oscillate" to make sure I was spelling it correctly (I wasn't), I came across an example of using the word "oscillate" in a sentence: "a pendulum oscillates about its lowest point." And boy, does it.

Sometimes, I give in to temptation. I relax a little, maybe a little too much, and I let myself have a little fun, and it actually feels good... for a while. But then the pendulum swings the other way, and sometimes it swings back hard enough that I actually make some spiritual progress, and that feels good too, in a different way. But that doesn't last, either. Eventually, the spiritual high ends, and I swing back down, oscillating, as always, about my lowest point, the point that's farthest away from either kind of happiness.

That's kind of where I am right now. I don't currently feel the joy of the gospel, and I don't currently feel the fun of sin. Sometimes, I wish I could pick one end of the pendulum's arc and just stay there. But gravity won't let me. Neither will God nor Satan nor my conscience nor my weak will. No matter where I am in that pendulum's arc, I will always feel the pull in the other direction, and every time I oscillate, I will spend some amount of time at my lowest point.

That's life, I guess. This pattern of oscillating highs and lows is part of the human condition. I will never stop facing temptation, and I will never stop regretting giving in. Until I learn to resist the pull of temptation, I'll have to learn to live with the fact that I will frequently spend time at my lowest point.

The Joy of Service

Yesterday, I helped a friend help his grandmother deal with a lot of garbage that had piled up behind her shed. Much of it was heavy and filthy and gross, and we ended up taking two loads and a total of around 1600 pounds of garbage to the dump. It was hard word, and parts of it were rather unpleasant, but it was satisfying. It felt good to help my friend help his grandma. I plan to return to give them more help soon.

This is a feeling I had almost forgotten. I used to love helping people, but other time, helping others grew to feel more and more like a chore. I had lost the joy of service. But as I helped my friend and his grandmother, I felt some of that joy come back. I look forward to helping them more and feeling more of that joy. I want that joy to be part of my life and personality again. I hope that, as I help others voluntarily, I'll grow to get that joy back.

How Much Is Eternity Worth?

On the flipside of selling eternity to get a toy, I wonder how much it would be worth to buy eternity. Granted, eternity can't be purchased. No amount of money will foot the bill. Still, in an abstract sense, the question stands. How much should someone be willing to give up in order to gain Celestial Glory? How much should one be willing to sacrifice in exchange for Eternity? How much should one be willing to "Pay"?

My estimate is "just about anything," but for me, personally, I don't think I'd take that deal. I don't think I'd be willing to sacrifice everything to gain the Celestial Kingdom. I could hope I would be, but, knowing me, I doubt it. Heck, I don't think I'd even be as willing to sacrifice as Martin Harris was. He, perhaps reluctantly, mortgaged his property to pay for the publication of The Book of Mormon, hoping to make the money back by selling copies of the book. When that failed, he ended up selling most of his property to pay his debt. Ultimately, he sold almost everything he had for the sake of God's Kingdom. I don't think I could have done that.

No one can buy their way into the Celestial Kingdom, and even if one could, I don't think I could. The blessings of the Celestial Kingdom are worth more than all the treasures of the Earth. But, compared to my willingness and ability to pay, the actual cost of getting those blessings may still be too great.

"Who... Sells Eternity to Get a Toy?"

Tonight, in our Family Scripture Study, we read and listened to a talk by Elder Dale G. Renlund in which he quoted William Shakespeare:

What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?

A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week, 

Or sells eternity to get a toy?

Of course, it's completely ludicrous to "sell eternity to get a toy," but it's not all that uncommon for people to at least occasionally be that short-sighted. We mortal beings sometimes lose sight of the eternal blessings that God offers us. It's easier to see the toys right in front of us than the eternity waiting a lifetime away.

Yet, Elder Renlund offered hope:

If we have lost sight of eternity for the sake of a toy, we can choose to repent. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we have another chance. Metaphorically, we can exchange the toy we so ill-advisedly purchased in the first place and receive again the hope of eternity.

It is, of course, extremely foolish to sell eternity to get a toy, but thankfully, through the mercy of Christ and the power of His Atonement, we can get a refund. If we give up the "toy" and repent quickly enough, we can get the hope of eternity back.

Toys are fun, but they don't last forever. Let us try to be wise enough to hold on to eternity, even if it means having to live without a few fun toys. 

A Strong Spiritual Foundation

In construction, it's important to start with a strong foundation. That's why construction workers dig deep, usually until they hit solid rock, then lay a foundation made of something strong, like concrete, usually reinforced with some kind of metal, then let it set before they try to build anything on top of it. Without a good foundation, you can't build much of anything and expect it to stay standing for long.

Similarly, we need to make sure our spiritual foundation is secure before we try to build on it. That's why we "dig deep" until we hit solid principles, like God is Our Loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is Our Savior and Redeemer. Then we can lay a foundation on those principles. That foundation might be something like faith or trust or core beliefs, and we should make sure that we reinforce that foundation with the iron rod (i.e. God's words). Then we need to let our foundation set over time and become firm and solid before we can build more on top of it.

I feel like I'm still working on my spiritual foundation. There are some cracks in it that I need to repair so I can get my spiritual house in order. Digging deep and laying a sure foundation is somewhat difficult, and it can take a lot of work, but it's important to help ensure that whatever we build on that foundation may be able to stand. I hope we all put in the effort to dig deep to our most firmly held beliefs and lay our foundations solidly upon them, reinforced with the scriptures. Then we can build our other beliefs and practices on top of that.

I want all of me beliefs and habits to be solid and sturdy. To accomplish that, I need to make sure I build them on a solid spiritual foundation.

To Avoid Suffering

D&C 19:16-18 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; 

But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;  

Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

As a person who would like to avoid suffering as much as possible, I feel like this is an important set of scriptures to remember. Life is hard, and life is especially hard when we hold ourselves to high standards and try to be righteous. I sometimes wonder whether the struggle is even worth it. Yet, if this righteous struggle for the few short decades we spend in mortality help us to avoid the kind of suffering Christ experienced, I think I can learn to put up with it.

I don't want to struggle or suffer any more than I have to, and I certainly don't want to suffer as much as Christ did. If I can avoid eternal torment by enduring the struggle of trying to be righteous, then that's probably worth it.

Undeserved Mercy

Earlier today, I was thinking about mercy, and on of the conclusions I came to is that we should show mercy even to those who don't practice it. At first, this seems unreasonable. After all, those who don't practice mercy give up their right to receive it, don't they? But if you only show mercy to those who deserve mercy, I think that misses the point of what mercy is. Mercy is, by most definitions, unearned. If they deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. It would be justice. So, instead of being just as kind and merciful to others as they are, let's try to be a little nicer. Let's show the mercy and grace we hope God shows us.

Some people don't deserve mercy/ Strictly speaking, we don't either. Let's show mercy and kindness anyway and hope God does the same.

Everyone, Repent

D&C 18:6 Behold, the world is ripening in iniquity; and it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto repentance, both the Gentiles and also the house of Israel.

It was true in 1829, and it's true in 2021. More and more, we see evil being tolerated and even proclaimed as good, while good is being ridiculed and proclaimed as evil. The sword of justice hangs over the world, and unless we want the world to end, we need to make sure there's enough righteousness in the world to delay God's judgement. 

Naturally, that means reaching out and preaching repentance, just as in 1829, but it also means practicing what we preach. We, too, need to regularly repent and make sure that we are righteous enough to tip the scales of justice in Earth's favor. More people outside the church need to repent, and people inside the church need to repent more than they already do. Both the Gentiles and the house of Israel need to be stirred up unto repentance. Because, if we, as a human race, fail to repent sufficiently, what comes next isn't going to go well for most of us.

Too Forgiving?

Today, I watched a video that posed the question "Is America too forgiving?" The video argued that we give too many people a free pass for bad behavior, and doing so degrades the country's standards for morality. Personally, I worry that we may have to opposite problem. People tend to be too unforgiving of actions and behavior they consider to be immoral. However, I think the question is mostly moot anyway, for two reasons. First, we are commanded to forgive everyone, so no, we are not being too forgiving. And second, forgiving someone does not necessarily mean tolerating their behavior or allowing it to continue. We may (and must) forgive someone who has committed a murder, but that doesn't mean that we would stand back and watch them do it. It is possible to hate the sin while still loving the sinner. We can forgive wrong behavior without condoning it. In fact, by divine mandate, we must forgive the behavior, but we must not condone it.

So, to answer the video, no, we are not too forgiving. We're just forgiving (and condemning) in the wrong ways.

Share the Work

This evening, I had the opportunity to help clean the church building. Originally, it had been my job to organize and direct volunteers in cleaning the building. Under the lightened restrictions, where we could meet together, but with strict limitations, I did the cleaning myself. It didn't seem to make sense to ask for volunteers to help me clean the handful of rooms we were using. This evening landed somewhere between those two extremes. I wasn't just directing volunteers to do the cleaning, and I wasn't just doing all the cleaning myself. This evening, there were volunteers who, despite having other matters to attend to, also made time to share the work of cleaning.

I sometimes wonder how much of the work of our own salvation God expects us to do. I know we can't to it all on our own. That's just impossible. But we also can't just sit back and wait for God to save us. We are required to put in some effort. I just don't know exactly how much. Maybe it's different depending on the individual and their circumstances. Regardless, it seems clear to me that God wants us to share the work of salvation. He can't or won't do it for us, and we can't do it alone. We need to share the work.

The Blessing and Stewardship of Bodies

This evening, as part of our family gospel study, we listened to a talk titled Thanks Be to God by then-Elder Russel M. Nelson. In this talk, Elder Nelson spoke of our many physical and spiritual gifts, including the marvelous gift of our own bodies. Our bodies, imperfect as they are, are nonetheless incredible. They allow us to interact with the physical world in ways that no other spiritual beings can. Even just by being born with bodies, we have been richly blessed.

Yet, as with just about everything with which God has blessed us, He expects us to exercise wise stewardship over our bodies. He wants us to take care of them to the best of our abilities. This means not poisoning them, polluting them,or defacing them. It means giving them good food and exercise. It means getting medicine and medical attention when such remedies are needed. Our bodies are special blessings, but we must be sure to take care of them. As part of that care, we should give our bodies a decent amount of rest, which I will endeavor to do now.

I am thankful for my body, and I plan to show my thankfulness for my body by trying to take decent care of it.

"Fragile" Blessings

Not long ago, I was upset at God for His blessings being "fragile," easy to lose at the slightest misstep. I even wondered whether God's blessings were worth seeking at all, if they were so easy to lose. It's not necessarily wise to spend a fortune on fragile, glass ornaments that are just going to break on you. However, I've learned since then that that wasn't the problem.

The problem wasn't that God's blessings were fragile. The problem was that I wasn't living faithfully enough to earn them. I find it oddly difficult to maintain a habit of prayer and scripture study (despite my apparent ability a habit of blogging). I sometimes allow myself to entertain less-than-holy thoughts an emotions, such as complaints about the apparent fragility of blessings. I won't air all my dirty laundry online, but let it suffice to say that God had good reason to withhold His blessings.

The problem was not that God's blessings were too "fragile." The problem was that I broke His rules.

Forced Conversion

I may be jumping the gun a bit, since we're not scheduled to read Acts 4 and 5 of The Merchant of Venice until next week, but I read them today, and something happened in Act 4 that I really need to blog about. The antagonist of the play, Shylock, is Jewish, and as part of his comeuppance once his arguably villainous plot is foiled is that he must, on pain of death, convert to Christianity. 

This, I believe, is an atrocity. I am not a supporter of any "Convert or Perish" mentality, no matter who's trying to convert whom, first because it's barbaric, and second because I don't think it even works.

God judges people's hearts as well as their actions. If someone is compelled, on pain of death, to perform an action, but their heart very much is not in it, I'm not sure how much that action will count for or against them at Final Judgement. 

One could argue that one should rather die than betray one's faith, and if one converts instead of dying, they would have done better to be a martyr, but I find it hard to make that kind of judgement call. Far be it from me to judge the actions of anyone under any circumstances, much less those in mortal peril. Were I God, judging one betraying the true faith to save their own life, I would hope I would show a little leniency, owing to the desperation of their circumstances. I might not even count them as "converted" at all.

Of course, each individual's case is unique, and it could be argued that Shylock has worst sins to worry about than converting to Christianity against his will. As in many instances, I am glad that God is the judge, and I am not. However, I personally doubt that forced conversions hold much weight in God's eyes. I would guess that conversion under compulsion is not counted as a true conversion at all. Perhaps it depends on their actions afterwards, but if Shylock is a Christian only because he'd be killed for not being so, I would guess that God still counts him as a Jew.

Controversial Characters

So, we're reading The Merchant of Venice for my Shakespeare class, and there are some controversial issues with a character named Shylock. 

To a modern audience, he starts off sympathetic. He's an antagonist, but only because a protagonist, Antonio, has been a jerk to him for basically no reason. Towards the middle of the play, however, he starts to enact revenge, and he seems to cross a line there. 

In Shakespeare's time, he was considered a villain, so the actor playing him would have emphasized his villainy, whereas to modern audience, he doesn't seem villainous at all, at least not at first, so a modern actor might tone down his villainy, and perhaps even make him the unofficial hero of the play. 

My take on it is that neither Shylock nor Antonio are fully villainous nor fully heroic. Actors can minimize or emphasize certain points to tip the scales, but I'd say that they're both human. Antonio shouldn't have been such a jerk to Shylock, and Shylock shouldn't try to kill Antonio. Their nationalities and religions have nothing to do with it. 

I'm interested in (and a little worried about) seeing how the play ends and hopefully seeing multiple different productions of it, so I can get multiple different takes on these characters. But ultimately, I'd say that it's important to judge people by their actions, not pre-judge them by their demographics or by what role they play in the story. 

Not all protagonists are paragons, and not all antagonists are villains. Most characters, and all people, fall somewhere in between.

So, Lord, Art Thou to Me - As a Guide through Narrow Pathways

There's a song I like that I've heard the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sing. It's title, forgettably, is "As The Bridegroom to His Chosen," but I would have named it after its refrain: "So, Lord, Art Thou to Me." This hymn is chock full of analogies and parables, each illustrating an aspect of the relationship of the Lord to the singer. Of these analogies, "As the Bridegroom to His Chosen" is the first. Many of these analogies make a lot of sense, including "As the King unto His Realm" and "As the Shepherd to His Lambs," but there are some that could use a bit more explaining, like "As the Sand unto the Sea" and "As the Sparrow in the Nest." Maybe the idea of the sand is that it encompasses the sea, without restricting it too much? I have no idea about the Sparrow analogy. Anyhow, since each verse is literally just a list of six relational analogies (with the correct number of syllables each), only two of which need to rhyme with each other, followed by the refrain "So, Lord, Art Thou to Me," I figure it wouldn't be too hard to for me to write my own verse to this song. Let me see what I can come up with.

As a Guide through Narrow Pathways,
As a Wise Man to a Fool,
As a Bridle to a Stallion,
As a Halter to a Mule,
As a Sword of Righteous Judgement,
As a Balm of Unearned Grace,
So, Lord, Art Thou to Me.

I think I could learn a lot about my current relationship with God (or my current understanding of my relationship with God) by studying these lines.

Adding these notes will make the blog post late, but I want to elaborate a bit on these lines. 

I thought the Stallion line gave me too much credit, and the Mule line maybe too little, so I thought I'd include them both to balance each other out, especially given the rhyme with the Fool line. 

Of course, a Fool could learn a lot from a Wise Man, but the Fool is usually too Foolish to listen, hence the necessary Sword of Righteous Judgement and the Balm of Unearned Grace.

And the Guide line... What could I say about it that isn't obvious? God is the only good Guide I have, but the Pathway is too Narrow for my taste. I wasn't kidding about being the kind of beast that needs a Bridle or a Halter.

I want freedom. I want more freedom than is good for me. I need God's firm but gentle hand. Sometimes, I feel like I need God to drag me, grumbling and groaning, down the road to salvation. 

But He doesn't do that sort of thing. God's not going to force me to do anything or go anywhere I don't want to do or go. And that's my problem. God lets me make my own decisions, and I make too many wrong ones.

I sometimes wish God would bridle or halter me, but having a beast to drag along is not why people bridle stallions and halter mules. Stallions are supposed to bear riders (or stud foals, but let's not go there), and mules are supposed to bear burdens. If I'm not carrying my own weight and at least a little bit of someone else's, why should the Guide bother to bring me along? And if He would have to drag me down those Narrow Pathways, wouldn't He be better off without me?

I need to learn to be less willful and more willing to follow the Wise Man and Guide and to unbegrudgingly bear a burden while doing so. That's a tall order for a Foolish "Stallion" like me, but maybe I'll figure it out one of these days.

Anyhow, I've rambled long enough. This blog post is late, and I should get to bed. I just hope that God has a lot of patience and a lot of Balm.

Fight Like Heaven

Yesterday, I heard the phrase "fight like hell" more times than I wanted to. The repetition of the phrase led me to wonder what it means to fight "like hell," and what it might mean to "fight the heaven."

Hell is sneaky and brazen. Heaven is straightforward and bold.

Hell focuses on attacking people. Heaven focuses on defending and healing people.

Hell is merciless. Heaven is merciful.

Hell is motivated by anger and jealousy. Heaven is motivated by love.

Hell wants to hurt everyone. Heaven wants to help everyone.

Hell is doomed to lose. Heaven is destined to win.

If I had to chose between the two, I'd rather fight like heaven, mostly because I'd rather not fight at all. I would defend those who need defending and heal those who need healing and fight to preserve freedom and peace, if any fighting is needed at all.

There are too many people who have decided to and told others to fight "like hell." We need more people who would choose to and would encourage other to fight "like heaven."

"I Am Where I Chose to Be"

This afternoon, at the Temple, I had an opportunity to help some missionaries shovel dirt out of the back of a pickup truck to help repair some landscaping damage that had been caused by a recent storm. As I tried to make myself useful, I tried to get close to where the work was, but that put me in a place where one of the missionaries could possibly, accidentally get dirt on me. He didn't, but he apologized in advance in case he did. I told him not to worry about it, saying "I am where I chose to be."

I didn't have to be standing in that exact spot. I could have stood further back, where I was of less use to the group. I didn't have to be with the group at all. I could have seen the missionaries working, said "huh, that's nice," and went about the rest of my day. I chose to help the missionaries, even at the risk of getting my clothes dirty.

That statement was true, physically, but it's true spiritually as well. I am where I choose to be when I choose to stay in holy places or less holy ones. I am where I choose to be, spiritually, when I choose what kind of person I am and want to be. Every choice I make is leading me to where I will ultimately be, and when I get there, I will be where I will have chosen to be.

And the same is true for all of us. Our decisions are our decisions, and they will lead us to the place where we will ultimately end up. There are many degrees of glory, and there are degrees within degrees. When we get there, we will see how our actions led us to that point, and we will be able to say "I am where I chose to be."

My hope is that we will make good choices, and that those choices will lead us to good places.

Pray Earlier

Just now, at 11:48 pm, I prayed for guidance to know what to blog about. However, I realized that I was only praying out of desperation, when I really should have prayed much sooner, perhaps even as early as this morning. Too often, I turn to God only in emergency situations, when I really need God's help, but I know that it would be much wiser to instead pray for guidance to preemptively avoid or at least mitigate those situations before going into them and learning how dire the need is. Had I prayed and paid attention earlier, it's entirely possible that I could have blogged about something I saw, read, or experienced today, but because I didn't pray as early as I should have and because I wasn't paying enough attention earlier today, I am left to blog about why I don't have any better insights to blog about today. This is a mistake I don't intend to repeat tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will pray earlier and pay more attention during the day.

We shouldn't pray only when we desperately need help. We should pray for and follow God's guidance in order to avoid the sorts of situations for which fools wait to pray.

Other Kinds of Sacrifices

Ever since Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses, the practice of animal sacrifices has been done away (some aspects of this week's Come, Follow Me lesson suggest that such sacrifices may make a return someday, however briefly). Still, even without animal sacrifices, that doesn't mean that the Law of Sacrifice has been repealed. Mostly, what's changed is the nature of what we're sacrificing. 

Instead of sacrificing animals, we sacrifice our time and efforts toward establishing the cause of Zion. We sacrifice certain recreational options and a handful of meals periodically. We sacrifice 10% of our income, plus additional offerings, to help provide for the poor and the needy and to keep the church running. But more importantly, we sacrifice whatever character flaws and sins we can, for the sake of becoming better, more Christlike people.

So, we no longer make animal sacrifices, but there are other kinds of sacrifices we are asked to make, and they have basically the same goal. These sacrifices are intended to point us toward the Savior and help us along the path of becoming like Him. So, we don't sacrifice animals anymore, but we still make many other kinds of sacrifices to help us become like Jesus Christ.

Invisible Piggy Banks

When I first started playing D&D, I wanted to keep track of every single copper piece that passed through my character's hands. I wanted to track how many days he had spent travelling, so I could know how many rations he had used up. I wanted to know how many hours he had been in the cave, so I would know how many pints of lantern oil he had left.I wanted to keep meticulous track of every little thing, and it almost annoyed me that the playgroup I was with didn't care to track such things. I thought it was unrealistic that our characters never had to track their mundane expenses. But then I got an idea that I call "The Invisible Piggy Bank." 

The idea is that the adventurers get money that the DM doesn't tell the players about, and that money goes into the invisible piggy bank, until it goes toward paying the expenses that the DM says the player doesn't need to track. For example, if the adventurer gets paid for slaying giant rats, the DM could tell the player that the adventurer earned 5 gold coins, when the adventurer actually earned 6 gold, or 5 gold and 7 silver, or whatever. That extra 1 gold, or 7 silver, or however much it is, goes into the invisible piggy bank, and when the adventurer needs to buy a few more arrows or another length of rope, and the DM tells the player not to worry about it, the adventurer buys that rope or those arrows with the money they have stored up in their invisible piggy banks.

Essentially, the adventurers get resources they might not even know about that goes toward solving problems that they don't ultimately have to worry about. And so do we.

We have spiritual invisible piggy banks, in which we store up goodwill by doing countless, tiny, good deeds, that we think are hardly worth noticing. Every time we speak kindly or help someone else, every time we do our duty, or at least try to, every time we keep any commandment, even just the commandment to repent, we build up little bits of goodwill. And that goodwill is stored in our spiritual invisible piggy banks until they go toward tiny blessings and little miracles that we hardly seem to notice. Every time we see something beautiful, every time the Spirit touches our hearts, those blessings come by the grace of God, perhaps partly to repay out tiny acts of goodwill.

I've written about Concordance and how we're probably lucky that God doesn't keep track of how much we owe Him vs how little He owes us, but I think I might have been wrong to say that. It could be true that God doesn't track that stuff, or it could be true that God does track our good deeds and blessings, but also forgives our debts and gives us more blessings than we've actually earned. Just be we don't have to keep track of it, that doesn't mean God doesn't. We may not be able to "buy" blessings with Concordance, but I'm sure God "pays" us for every speck of goodwill we put in our invisible piggy banks, even if we fail to notice it.

Repent and Forgive Completely

At the beginning of Act 5, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, a courtier named Cleomenes tells King Leontes that he surely has repented enough at this point, and he really ought to "Do as the heavens have done: forget your evil; / with them forgive yourself." While one could attempt to weigh the wrongs done by King Leontes (including false accusation, blasphemy, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of manslaughter) against the amount of penitence offered afterward (roughly 16 years of evidently daily repentance), attempting such calculations would completely miss the point. God wants us to repent and to forgive, and both our repentance and our forgiveness (even of ourselves) should be complete.

Naturally, the repentance and the forgiveness will not always progress at the same rate, but I propose it as my opinion that the latter need not be predicated on the former. The Lord will forgive whom He will forgive, but of us, it is required to forgive everyone, even ourselves, even if we still have repenting to do.

In light of that admittedly modern doctrine, I concur with the counsel of Cleontes. King Leontes should forgive himself for his wrongdoings, even as he continues to fully repent of them. Granted, I think he already had repented as fully as he needed to, but that's not for me to say. Such a matter is between the sinner and the Lord. Still, whether Leontes had completely repented or not, he should have at least begun to forgive himself. We need to repent completely, and we need to forgive completely, but I give it as my opinion that the order doesn't matter, at least not as much as King Leontes thought it did.

Trust In That Spirit

D&C 11:12 And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

This, to me, is a comforting assurance. I often can't tell whether a thought is inspired by God or whether it's just one of my own thoughts. I'm not good at distinguishing between what God is actually saying and what I merely imagine Him saying. However, one lesson I take away from this verse is that, under some circumstances, the difference doesn't matter. If an impression or voice or spirit "leadeth to do good," trust it. If a voice in your head suggests doing a good thing, then it's probably a good idea to listen. Sometimes, this means trusting God and the Holy Ghost, and sometimes, this means trusting ourselves to make good decisions. Either way, we will, more often than not, be trusting in a spirit that leadeth to do good.

And while there is an important distinction to make there, and we should make that distinction when we can, the difference between God's Spirit and our own should get smaller and smaller and less and less important. As we become better, more Christlike people, the voice of our spirits will come to sound more and more like the voice of the Holy Ghost, because they'll be saying similar things and granting similar feelings of peace. The ultimate goal is for our own hearts, consciences, and spirits to give us guidance that's just as good as that which we get from the Spirit of God Himself. It would be great to have our hearts so in-tune with the Spirit that they're not just in harmony with each other, but playing the same note.

I want to be able to hear and recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit, but I also want my own Spirit to be just as good of a guiding influence in my life. Right now, I struggle to distinguish between these spirits because I lack discernment. As I improve, I hope that it remains difficult to distinguish between the two spirits because they both lead me to do good. In the meantime, I'm going to try to worry less about which spirit is saying what and instead focus on trusting whichever spirit is leading me to do good.

Filled With the Spirit and With Joy

D&C 11:13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;

I was blessed to get a taste of this over the last few days, when I biked out to the temple and took the opportunity to help a friend in need. I felt the Spirit as I drew closer to the Lord and as I served one of His children, and through that Spirit, I felt more joy than I've felt in quite a while. My hope is that, as I do more things that attract the Spirit, I will continue to experience the joy that motivates me to do those things, and I have faith that I will.

A Real Life Adventure

Today did not go as planned. I had hoped to play D&D with a friend today, but he had car trouble, so instead of having a pretend adventure, we had a small, real adventure getting his car's battery removed, recharged, restored to working order, and reinstalled. And, frankly, I think we had more fun getting his car working again than we would have had playing D&D. Granted, I enjoy D&D a good deal, but I also enjoyed overcoming obstacles and gaining new experiences in real life, especially since I was able to do it with a friend. We both kept our spirits up, and we both had a pretty good time. I'm more than happy to go on pretend adventures when I can, but I also love the fact that life can be an adventure, when we choose to see it as one.

The Reasons for the Rules

Our dog doesn't seem to realize that crossing the street can be dangerous. I frequently take the family dog to the park down the block, and whenever we need to cross the street, she seems eager to do it right away, regardless of whether a car's coming or not. So, when we get to an intersection, I generally need to reel her in and keep her on a short leash until the danger is past.

I sometimes wonder if God does something similar with us. I don't fully see the purposes behind all of God's commandments. Sometimes, I think life would be simpler without those commandments, but perhaps that's merely my lack of experience talking. I may not understand the reasons behind God's rules any more than our dog knows why it's important to stop at intersections, but there are reasons, and they're almost certainly good ones.

Perhaps, rather than asking for the reasoning behind all of God's commandments, I can trust that God knows more than I do and is wiser than I am, so I can trust that His rules are worth following. Whether it's avoiding unseen dangers, securing beneficial natural consequences, or getting any other blessings from God, I'm sure that obeying the commandments always results in blessings, in this life and/or the next.

I don't always know why God's rules are so strict, but I know that He has His reasons, so I figure that that should be good enough for me.

More is More

When Jesus Christ came to Earth, fulfilled the Law of Moses, and gave us the teachings, parables, and sermons that later became The New Testament, He wasn't erasing The Old Testament. The New Testament didn't replace The Old Testament. Rather, The New Testament was just an addition of new scripture. It didn't take anything away from the scripture we had. It just gave us more.

The same thing happened with The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon didn't replace The Bible any more than The New Testament replaced The Old Testament. It's just more scripture. It doesn't take anything away; it just gives us more. More perspective, more answers, more teachings, all to be added to what we can learn from The Bible.

Furthermore (pun intended), there are scriptures out there that we don't have yet, and even some that haven't been written yet. When we get those scriptures, they won't replace The Bible or The Book of Mormon. The new scriptures won't render the old scriptures obsolete. They'll just teach us new things, clarify some points we still have questions about, and give us a stronger grasp of the truths that have been true since the dawn of time. Our current collection of scriptures won't become obsolete; it'll grow.

I'm glad we have as many scriptures as we have, and I look forward to getting more of them. Scriptures are good, and it'll be even more good to get more of them.

Leontes' Mistake

The first three acts of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale seems to be a cautionary tale about the danger of being too quick to judge harshly. King Leontes, falsely suspecting his wife of infidelity, commits a series of injustices which bring ruin down on his whole household. Had he been more cautious and gathered evidence first, he would have seen that no wrongdoing was actually being done, and he could have saved quite a bit of heartache and several lives.

Let's not make Leontes' mistake. Let's not be quick to judge people of wrongdoing or to punish them for it. Rather, let us be careful, understanding, and if necessary, forgiving. It's generally not our place to judge others, much less punish them. If any sort of judgement and justice are necessary, let God and His appointed delegates handle it. As for the rest of us, we should be wise and forgiving.

King Leontes ruined his own life and several others by being too quick to judge. I hope that we won't make the same mistake.

"One Good Deed, Dying Tongueless"

In Act One, Scene Two of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Queen Hermione of Sicilia said something that makes me want to practice gratitude more often: "One good deed, dying toungueless // slaughters a thousand waiting upon that."

While I don't know how well that stands up as a universal truth, I can see why it would be true in many circumstances, to one degree or another. People liked to be recognized and praised for doing good things. If there's no or very little recognition, they're likely to be tempted to ask what the point is. Without that recognition, some people would stop. For want of appreciation, they would do fewer good deeds, and the world would be all the worse off for it.

Many people deserve more thanks for the good they do. I hope that all of us make an effort to remember to thank them.