"No Sinner So Depraved"

In Hymn 197, "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown," the second verse says that no one loses access to the grace of Christ:

        No creature is so lowly, No sinner so depraved,

        But feels thy presence holy, And thru thy love is saved.

        Tho craven friends betray thee, They feel thy love’s embrace;

        The very foes who slay thee, Have access to thy grace.

As I sang and listened to this verse, I was reminded of something Elder Holland had said in his talk on The Laborers in the Vineyard:

        I do not know who in this vast audience today may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent in this parable, but however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.

No one is unforgivable or irredeemable. This is, naturally, a relief for me, because I have felt irredeemable at times, and sometimes think I'm irredeemable even now. But if there is truly "No sinner so depraved, but... thru [Christ's] love is saved," then that means I can still be saved, too. An Apostle of God has testified that "It is not possible for [me] to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."

There is hope for my soul yet, and no matter what mistakes, missteps, and poor choices I make along the way, there always will be.

Guidance and Help

Two of the most useful things a D&D character can do to assist another D&D character with a skill check is to cast the Guidance spell and perform the Help action. The Guidance spell allows the character performing a skill check to add 1d4 to their skill check, which normally is a total of 1d20 plus the character's skill modifier. The Help action allows a character to make the skill check with Advantage, which means that they can roll two d20s and use whichever die rolled higher. What's especially handy is that Guidance and Help are not mutually exclusive. One character can provide both Guidance and Help to another. Alternatively (especially in real life), a character can provide whichever form of assistance is most needed, if either are needed at all.

Sometimes, people have the ability to do something, but lack the knowledge of how to do it, thus needing Guidance. In such cases, the person merely needs some advice. With some instruction, that person can then easily perform the task themselves, without help.

Sometimes, people know how to do something, but lack the ability to do it, thus needing Help. In such cases, the person doesn't need to be told how to perform the task, and they may not even need any helpful advice. They just need a helping hand. Such a person can perform the task with no necessary instructions, provided they have adequate help.

Naturally, there are times when both guidance and help are necessary. If a task is both tricky and difficult, it's not uncommon for both guidance and help to be useful, provided that the person offering the guidance and help have the knowledge and ability necessary to assist with the task.

And there are other times when a person doesn't need guidance or help, and they may be better off being allowed to perform the task on their own.

I find that it's courteous to wait for a person to ask for guidance and/or help, and then to provide them with whichever form of assistance they request, to the best of my knowledge and ability. If someone asks me for advice concerning how to do something, it wouldn't necessarily be helpful to do it for them, and if someone asks for help with something, that may not be the best time to tell them that they're doing it wrong.

Both Guidance and Help have their uses. Sometimes, both are needed. Sometimes, neither are. But sometimes, a person needs one, and not the other, so it's important for each person to know when to give advice but keep their hands off, and when to pitch in but keep their words of wisdom to themselves. God expects us to grow in both knowledge and ability. That happens best when we get the amount and kind of assistance we need, but no more.

A Lecture or a Hug

I just saw a Facebook post that reads "Don't offer a lecture to a person who needs a hug," and that message is surprisingly personal to me. There was a time when I was terribly frustrated and upset, and someone nearby cared more about how I expressed my frustration than about how I felt. That person criticized me, despite (and because of) the fact that I was already terribly frustrated and upset. Eventually, I had to remove myself from the situation entirely, and I'm glad I did that before doing something else I might regret, but this experience taught me a valuable lesson I hope I already knew: “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved” (President Thomas S. Monson, “Finding Joy in the Journey”).

People need love more than lectures, especially when they're struggling with something, especially with their emotions. I hope that I'll be wise enough to give love and hugs to the people who need them when they need them. The lectures (preferably lovingly given) can wait.

"Yet All This Availeth Me Nothing" - Lamenting the Blessings We Lack

In Esther 5, Haman bragged to his friends and family about how he had it all:

And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. - Esther 5:11

Truly, Haman was very richly blessed. "Yet all this availeth me nothing," he went on to say, "so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate [instead of standing to give him reverence]" (Esther 5:13).

I find it almost astonishing that Haman could have so many blessings and so much privilege and honor and still be upset about one man failing to respect him. With so many blessings as he had, why would he get hung up on one blessing that he didn't have?

Of course, this isn't really all that astonishing, since we do basically the same thing.

We all have many blessings. Granted, some have more than others, but still, we all have plenty to be thankful for. When the hymn encourages us to "Count Your Many Blessings," we could go about that process for a very long time. Yet, we are also acutely aware of our afflictions and of the blessings we lack.

Case in point, I keep a plastic comb in my pocket. I'm overdue for a haircut, and having a comb on hand is useful for keeping my hair under control. Yet, when I took my keys out of my pocket last night, my comb accidentally came out with them, landing somewhere between our driveway and our front porch. At some point in the evening, I noticed that my comb was missing, and I went out to look for it, only to find that our dog, who likes chewing on plastic objects, had found the comb before I did. There were several toothmarks on the comb. Some of the comb's teeth were missing, some were bent out of place. I was frustrated that my comb had been damaged by the dog.

But really, that's not a big deal, and I shouldn't make a big deal out of it, any more than Haman should have made a big deal about not being honored by Mordecai. I have other combs, and I don't really need to carry a comb on my person anyway. I have many other material and immaterial blessings that haven't been damaged or destroyed by dogs or anything else. Even without this one, cheap, plastic pocket comb, I have plenty of blessings to be grateful for. I shouldn't waste time mourning this one small blessing I've lost. 

Haman shouldn't have gotten all twisted up about one guy who didn't honor him, I shouldn't get myself all bent out of shape just because my comb was. Even without those blessings, we still have plenty of others. For our own sakes, we should spend more time praising God for the blessings we have rather than lamenting the blessings we lack.

Taking Responsibility

While walking home from the bus stop today, I passed a school. This school, like a few others in the area, has put dozens of plastic squares in their chain link fences, acting as pixels to form words like "Integrity" and "Perseverance." Today, however, I noticed that some of the plastic pieces had fallen out from one of the words. Partly to be a good neighbor, and partly for the puzzle of finding out where the pieces should go, I put the fallen pieces back on their places. I then, out of curiosity, checked to see what word I had just put back together: Responsibility.

I thought about responsibility during the rest of my walk home. When a person has a responsibility to do something, that means that they have a moral obligation to do it. Such a person is expected to take responsibility for that thing they're supposed to do. They are supposed to do it, or at least to see to it that it gets done. Having a responsibility means we're supposed to do something, and taking responsibility means we actually.

In my case, I didn't have a responsibility to help, but I took responsibility anyway. It wasn't my responsibility to put those plastic pieces back in the fence. I wasn't the person who put the pieces up in the first place. I wasn't the one who knocked the pieces out. I had nothing to do with those pieces of plastic, where they were, or where they were supposed to be. Yet, I chose to help out anyway. I cleaned up the "littering" of those few plastic pieces, and I fixed the sign by putting the pieces where they belonged. That was a good thing. I didn't have to help, but I chose to help anyway. I didn't have a responsibility, but I took responsibility,and now that sign is fixed.

We should all take responsibility, at least for the responsibilities of ours, and it's good to also take the responsibility to help others with theirs.

Kinship Helped

I felt very bad a short while ago. I was so frustrated and exhausted, I could hardly decide whether to sob, yell, or collapse on the floor. Thankfully, I got over it, partly by talking to my brother, partly by drinking hot chocolate, and partly by relaxing and watching amusing YouTube videos. The rest and laughter helped. The chocolate helped. But mostly, the kinship helped. Being able to talk with someone who cared what I was experiencing and how I felt was a great comfort to me. I'm grateful for those in my life to whom I know I can turn. It's nice to know that, even when life is at its most challenging, I don't have to face it alone.

Vashti Did Nothing Wrong

In the VeggieTales version of the story of Esther, Vashti, the queen of Persia, was divorced by her husband, the king, because she refused to make him a sandwich. I assumed, by the ridiculous and anachronistic nature of the situation, that the actual story was rather more serious, and perhaps more "adult," than the VeggieTales version. That, or it was left completely unexplained, forcing the VeggieTales writers to invent an explanation.

As it turns out, I was right the first time. In Esther 1, we read that Ahasuerus, king of Persia and Media, was holding a feast, and he commanded his chamberlains "to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on" (Esther 1:11). Essentially, he wanted to show her off. Naturally, she refused to be objectified in such a manner, and for that, she was replaced as queen.

Part of the reason Ahasuerus put her away was that the princes warned him that she was setting a dangerous precedent:

For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.

Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. Esther 1:17-18

The "contempt and wrath" that the princes feared was that their wives would no longer obey their whims. And, granted, legitimate legal authorities should be granted a certain amount of obedience and respect, in that their just laws should be obeyed. But in the context of wives and husbands, Vashti did nothing wrong.

Wives should not be subject to the orders of their husbands. If husbands are to rule in their households, they must rule as all rulers should: fairly, justly, and with the consent of the governed. Granted, any sufficiently large group must have some form of government. Someone has to be "in charge." But the individual members of those groups should, at least in most cases, retain the freedom to "opt out" of group activities, especially those that are arguably sexual in nature, such as being presented for others to ogle at. It was not wrong for Vashti to refuse her husband's order. It is not inherently wrong for any woman to refuse her husband's demands.

People do not own each other. No one person is or ought to be any other person's slave. Nobody has or should have absolute authority over anybody else. It was absolutely within Vashti's right to disobey her husband's command, be he king or not. Granted, it was also likely within Ahasuerus's right to have a no-fault divorce, since a marriage, while a commitment, must remain a mutually voluntary one. Ahasuerus likely had as much of a moral right to divorce Vashti as Vashti had had to disobey Ahasuerus. Of course, that's not to say that she gave him any valid reason to divorce her. In my opinion, she did not.

I will admit to not being fully familiar with the situation. There are likely dozens of important details that I don't know. But from what I've read, in my modern opinion, Vashti did absolutely nothing wrong.

A Tool in God's Hands

This week, for Come, Follow Me, we're learning about Esther, and part of the manual says how she was a tool in God's hands to save many lives. There was a time in my life that I wanted to become such a tool. I was willing to let God direct my choices directly, using me about the same way one my use a hammer or a screwdriver. I was willing to fully give my agency to God. Since then, I've learned how important agency is and how important it is to retain it. We are not supposed to become tools in God's hands (except perhaps metaphorically). We aren't inanimate objects to be controlled by God's will. We are children and servants of God who do His will willingly. God doesn't want us to surrender our agency, but to use it.

I intend to use the wisdom and agency God gave me, to behave as righteously as I know how, not a mere tool in God's hands, but as a child of God who must learn to act for himself.

Beautiful True Love

This evening, I attended a wedding reception, and it was really nice. One particularly touching moment was the first dance, when the bride and groom danced for the first time, and the dance ended with a kiss. When I saw that, I thought that there was nothing more beautiful than true love. 

Of course, love doesn't need to be romantic in order to be true and beautiful. The love of family and the love of God can be just as beautiful and touching. Whatever kinds of love we have, love is the most wonderful feeling in the world and one of the greatest experiences we can have in this life. 

We should all cherish the love we feel from others, and we should all make sure our loved ones feel the love we have for them. Such love is beautiful, and we should cherish it and share it.

Listen and Consider

I recently watched a video response of a YouTuber I follow responding to an organization with which they disagree. At first, I was worried that the response was going to be one of mockery, lambasting the organization (and others of the same political opinion) for having the "wrong opinions." I was pleasantly surprised, then, that the YouTuber actually listened to what the organization had to say and gave their message some thoughtful consideration. Naturally, they still disagreed on many points, but they also agreed on some points, and the YouTuber acknowledged that and reminded their audience that this is a matter of personal opinion and that no one was completely right or completely wrong.

I found it refreshing that, even in this political climate, some people are still able to listen to others and consider what they say. We all need to do that, both with people with whom we generally agree and with people with whom we generally disagree. Those we usually agree with can be wrong sometimes, and those we usually disagree with can sometimes be right. And, naturally, we ourselves are right about some things and wrong about other things, and it can be difficult to tell what we're right or wrong about, since few people continue to hold beliefs and opinions that they themselves believe are wrong. We all think we're right, because we're not aware of any of our beliefs or opinions being wrong. That's why we should carefully consider our own beliefs and opinions as well as those of others, so we can continually seek for that which is true and good.

No one person is completely right, and no one person is completely wrong. That's why it's important to listen to and consider the beliefs and opinions of others and of our own hearts. If we truly listen, we can gain a greater and hopefully more true understanding of the world, even from people whom we had assumed were wrong.

For They Know Not What They Do

Some of the last few words that Jesus Christ spoke in mortality were "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It occurs to me that those words could apply toward a lot of people, perhaps everyone.

Many people are ignorant of the suffering they cause others. People's actions or inactions can cause hardships and harm to the people around them and also to people whom they may never meet. Particularly on my mind are the people who vote. Every time we vote for or against any law, measure, proposition, or politician, we are voting for or against someone or something that either may cause or may have prevented harm to countless others. We can't avoid it. No matter what people do, they will end up inadvertently hurting people.

So, we should try not to cause any more harm than we have to, we should accept the fact that our actions harm others without our knowledge or intent, and we should be patient toward those who harm us, especially when they didn't mean to.

Many people don't know how their actions affect others, and many of them would act differently if they did. Many people are ignorant, and therefore morally innocent, of the harm that they cause others, so we should forgive those whose actions (especially the unwitting ones) harm us.

To Mock a Political Figure

I tend to overthink things, but I often feel that my overthinking is valid. Case in point, I questioned the moral justifiability of mocking a particular political figure.

In general, mocking people is wrong, largely because it hurts people's feelings. However, in this case, I'm confident (to near certainty) that this political figure would not have known whether I had mocked them or not, and what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.

I also acknowledge that the rules of etiquette can change under different circumstances. One would expect different levels of respect for table manners at a fast food place than at a formal dinner party. Perhaps the same could be said for political etiquette as well. While one should generally always treat other human beings with basic respect and dignity, there are exceptions, including social gatherings where "roasting" is the expected, accepted practice. One could arguably classify all of social media as such a "gathering."

Still, I believe that it's wrong to practice immoral behavior, even in specific circumstances where such actions are justified, if only to avoid making a habit of it. It is better to practice compassion than ridicule, if only because it is better to be compassionate than ridiculous.

Yet, I want to stress my opinion that, even when mockery is immoral, it must always, always remain legal. Our ability to criticize public figures is an essential element of public discourse. There are times when it is necessary and good to illustrate other's faults, and perhaps even reflect on them humorously. Mockery must remain legal, even when immoral, in order to retain our ability to properly evaluate our public figures.

So, where does all of that leave me? I'm not sure. I believe that it should be legal for people to mock public figures, but I'm not sure whether I may justifiably join them in doing so. Yet, even if and when the mockery of others is morally acceptable, I'd like to think that I'd abstain from the practice and practice compassion and rational thinking instead. There are other, better (in my opinion), forms of entertainment, and when the faults of others must be discussed, I can discuss them rationally rather than ribbingly.

So, it may be fine for people to mock political figures, and it certainly must remain legal to, but I'd like to think that I'd choose not to.

Improvement

I've read somewhere that the whole idea of mormonism is improvement. I think I'd go a step further and say that that's the whole idea of being human. No human is perfect. Everyone has room for improvement. I believe that that's kind of the point. If we didn't have room for improvement, why would we even still need to be here? I think that striving for improvement is one of the main purposes of our lives, if not the main purpose. We're here to improve. So, as arduous and slow as my progress is and has been, I will keep trying to improve.

Compassion

One of the most important traits a person can have is compassion. The ability and willingness to consider things from others' perspectives and to act with kindness toward them can be a great blessing to them. I'm grateful for all those who show compassion for me, and I hope that I can learn to show more compassion for others. Everyone faces more and greater challenges than anyone else knows, so it's good to practice thoughtfulness, patience, and kindness toward others.

We all need compassion, which is why it's so important for all of us to show it.

Keeping My Word

I'm really tired. I need to go to bed. But I need to blog first, because I said I would. Keeping my word is more important than meeting my physical and psychological needs. Is that blogworthy? Is it even true? Probably not. It's probably an exaggeration. Still, it's important for people to keep their promises. That's both true and blogworthy. And, now I've blogged about that, I can finally go to bed.

Good Need Not Be Great

My brother has a good habit. Specifically, he always does at least one push up per day. Granted, one push up isn't much, but that's kind of the point. The goal is easy enough that he can consistently do it, and he often does a few more push ups while he's at it, just because he can. Naturally, it's still not very many, but it's better than none. Good acts don't need to be great ones. They don't need to be big, grand affairs. Any amount of good is good. And when a small amount of good leads to slightly more good, all the better. Over time, those small good habits can lead to great results. My brother is gaining a small amount of arm strength, but he's also gaining confidence, self-discipline, and satisfaction, and I think that's great.

Good acts do not need to be Great in order to be good, because good acts, even small ones, can have great results.

Just Listen

I saw this on Facebook a short while ago, and I can testify to how truthful it is. In case something goes wrong with the image, it reads, "Just Listen. The most powerful way to heal someone is to listen. Don't think or judge. Just listen. People start to heal the moment they feel heard. You can't be a healer if you refuse to step outside of your own emotions and view things entirely from the perspective of the other person."

I know that this is true. I have healed people just by listening to them, and I have been healed just by being heard. Naturally, I've also had experiences where I've actively tried to heal people or other people have actively tried to heal me (figuratively), only to have it backfire because we were doing it wrong. At least some times, the best way to heal someone is to do nothing but listen, maybe offer some sympathy, and mostly just try to understand.

Maybe that's what makes God such a good healer. He's a good listener. He doesn't respond much. He doesn't judge. He listens. We should follow His example by listening to others, too. Often, that's all it takes.

The People Who Love Me

I am grateful for the people in my life who express kindness and love and emotional support toward me. Life gets hard sometimes, but it's nice to know that there are people looking out for me, caring about me, and trying to help me. I could wish that there were more people like that, or that more of the people I know or know of were like that, but really, who am I to complain? I have people in my life who make me feel loved and understood, and I am content with that. I just hope that I can show the same love toward them as they show toward me. They certainly deserve it.

Why Life Isn't Easy

As a Dungeon Master, I have to wrangle multiple conflicting desires. Players want their characters to be powerful and awesome. They want to deal a lot of damage, cast powerful spells, and make decisions that reshape the world around them. But as a DM, I wan to provide a challenge for my players, so their victories feel satisfying, sometimes narrow, and well-earned. These desires come into conflict in combat scenarios, where the players do their best to destroy every monster I throw at them as quickly and as devastatingly as possible, while I try to keep the monsters alive long enough to use some of their cool abilities and to help the players feel like they've overcome a real challenge. The players try to make their combats easier to the point of effortlessness, and I try to make the combats harder to the point of being challenging. These conflicting desires lead to an interesting dynamic, one that may be mirrored in real life.

I'd like life to be easy. I don't want to face challenges and difficulties. I hate losing, especially when there are real stakes, like eternity. I want to be able to reach the Celestial Kingdom without having to stretch or struggle for it. But that's not how that works. God ensures that life is sufficiently challenging, not just to make my victories more satisfying, but to force me to develop the strength and wisdom I'll need to face my future challenges more successfully. God isn't trying to make sure I have a fun, easy life; He's trying to help me grow. Growth requires challenges. If I'm not truly being challenged, I won't be able to grow.

I'd like life to be easier, but God knows why it has to be difficult, and now, to some extent, so do I.

Slow Day

I had a pretty slow day today. I didn't have any tutoring appointments. I didn't do anything particularly interesting. It was mostly just laundry and picking a few things up from the library. That said, I suppose there's nothing wrong with having slow days. In fact, they may be important. People need rest, and not just when they're sleeping. Sundays are supposed to be days of rest, but given that I'm introverted, meeting up with so many people at church and at family gatherings afterward can be draining rather than restful. Having a rest day or two in the middle of the week can be very helpful and refreshing, giving me the energy I need to help me tackle the rest of the week.

Life takes energy, and resting helps us get that energy back, so it's a good and important idea to occasionally take a slow day and recharge your energy. Today was a slow day for me, but thankfully, it was a restful one.

Excited for D&D and Life

I'm excited for my next D&D session. I'm excited to throw a certain scenario at a group of imaginative friends and see how they respond to it. I'm excited to find out what'll happen. I'm excited to share that experience with my friends, whatever that experience ends up being.

I realize that I can approach life with the same kind of energy. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I know that it'll be the result of the collaborative efforts of me and those closest to me, responding to random events and the scenarios presented to us by God. The whole world is a role-playing game. My friends and family members are my party. Every day is a new session, and I'm excited to see what happens in the next one.

The Morality of Hurt Feelings

I have long believed that the ultimate good is found in increasing human happiness and joy. After all, happiness is the object and design of our existence. Fulfilling that purpose and helping others to do the same is part of our purpose in life. Then, I imagine that the inverse would also be true. Causing suffering is evil. This also aligns well with my moral intuition. It's wrong to hurt people, physically or emotionally.

Yet, I've run into a complication: People have some control over their emotions. People can choose, at least to some extent, not to get upset by things. Sure, others may cause bad feelings, but the individual in whom those bad feelings are caused can choose, with some effort, to let go of those bad feelings or to prevent them from landing their mark in the first place.

Then, what is to be said about the moral implications of these hurt feelings? Is it evil to hold on to harmful emotions, even those caused by other people? Insofar as doing so causes or prolongs suffering, I would say yes. Then, does the afflicted person's ability to let go of negative emotions absolve the responsibility of the individual who caused them? I don't think so. Each individual is responsible for the suffering they cause, even if another person manages to relieve that suffering.

The rule is deceptively simple: Try make people happy and try to avoid making people unhappy. Yet, this simple rule can have some interesting applications. I'll have to think more on this when I'm not out of time or dead tired.

Giving Meaning

Earlier today, I watched a show that reminded me of the show called LOST. Both shows started with interesting mysteries, but ultimately left the viewer with far more unanswered questions than answered ones. At the end, I was left wondering what the point was, if there ever even was one. But ultimately, that may be up to each individual to decide.

Life is a series of countless seemingly random events. Sometimes, we can discern some kind of meaning from the events in our lives, but at other times, the meaning of our life events seem unclear. At those times, it may be necessary to find whatever meaning we can, even if none was intended. There are always lessons to be learned from everything that happens. All we have to decide is what lessons we want to learn from our experiences and then try to apply them.

I'm confident that God has a hand in guiding our destinies, but even if I wasn't, I'd still be sure that life has meaning, even if we have to give it meaning ourselves.

Building On God's Design

There's something I've been thinking about lately. We are the way God made us, and God doesn't make mistakes, so it could be said that we are the way we are supposed to be, so maybe we shouldn't change. Yet, change is nigh unavoidable, especially since growth of any kind requires change. So, perhaps God mad us the way we're supposed to be at the start, but He expects us to learn, grow, develop, and change over the course of our lives and beyond. If that's the case, then instead of being content to remain the way God made us, we should think about how God wants us to build on the foundation He gave us and perhaps even improve upon it.

Perhaps this is part of our Creation training. God took "matter unorganized" and shaped it into the world. Perhaps He expects us to take ourselves, the way we are now, and shape it into the best possible version of ourselves that we can imagine.

We are already God's ultimate creation, the ultimate life forms, but when we apply our creative efforts to the foundation He gave us, we can (with His guidance and assistance) make ourselves even better.

A Rush to Judgment

So, last night, we read 2 Kings 5, which includes the story of the leprous general name Naaman, who was cured by bathing seven times in the Jordan river after Elisha (through a messenger) told him to. That much of the story is well known, but I don't remember having previously heard how this story ended. According to the chapter heading, "Elisha refuses to accept a reward—Gehazi [Elishas's servant] accepts a gift from Naaman and is cursed with leprosy."

Upon first reading this, I thought it best to reserve judgement. I didn't think "Oh, Gehazi was cursed, so he must have had it coming," just like those 42 youths "had it coming" for insulting Elisha's baldness. I also thought that there's nothing wrong with accepting gifts or donations. Bishops accept donations all the time. Sure, the money is used to build up the church and care for the needy rather than to line the Bishop's pockets, but Elisha could have done that. And even if Elisha or Gehazi kept the gift, what's wrong with that? If you bake the Bishop a plate of cookies, is he supposed to turn them away? I see nothing wrong with the voluntary giving and accepting of gifts. Elisha didn't ask for a gift. He didn't demand a gift. He didn't expect a gift. But I personally would have seen nothing wrong with him accepting a gift, especially if he used it to help others.

But there was something wrong with what Gehazi did. He didn't "accept" a gift that was offered to him. He went and asked for one. He lied to Naaman about having been sent to ask for it. He lied about why he wanted it. And when he returned with the "gift" that he gained under false pretenses, he also lied to Elisha about having gone anywhere at all. Sure, leprosy is a harsh punishment for lying and effectively stealing something that the theft victim was more than willing to simply give away, but I agree that Gehazi probably deserved some kind of punishment.

That's why I think it's important to reserve judgement, both judgments of guilt and judgments of innocence. I didn't know enough about Gehazi's part of the story to say whether his punishment was warranted. I still may not. I wasn't too quick to assume that Gehazi deserved to be punished, but I may have been too quick to judge that he probably didn't deserve it. Granted, the way the chapter heading is phrased, the punishment sounds ridiculously extreme, but the chapter heading (surprise, surprise) doesn't tell the whole story. With the benefit of greater context, I've come to the conclusion that, yes, Gehazi did indeed have some form of punishment coming. Maybe not leprosy, but who am I to judge?

In the United States, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Perhaps I carried that virtuous practice a bit too far. Unless we know all the facts, and we never do, perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to judge the guilt or innocence of anyone.

Try to Enjoy Life

I was in a very bad mood recently, and that fact almost spoiled my brother's attempt to cheer me up. Thankfully, once I realized that my negative attitude was causing me to interpret my brother's story negatively, I was able to make a conscious effort to do the opposite. I consciously chose to look for ways to find the story funny rather than depressing, and it actually worked. I deliberately saw the good in the story, and it actually cheered me up, whereas it had nearly done the opposite.

In life, we encounter many experiences, most of which can be considered good or bad, uplifting or deflating, depending on how we look at them. Let's choose to look at them with positive attitudes and make a conscious decision to enjoy life.

Little Miracles

Tonight, in family scripture study, we read 2 Kings Chapter 4, in which Elisha performs many little miracles. He blesses an elderly couple to have a child, and he raises the child from the dead when he dies, he also multiplies oil for one person and food for another. These miracles were performed for a relatively small number of people, especially compared to the more public, flashy miracles, like parting bodies of water or calling fire down from heaven. Rather, these "little miracles" were meant mostly for specific individuals.

In our lives, we also experience little miracles. We receive countless blessings, which we may barely notice, some of which we don't even recognize as miracles because we take them for granted or chalk them up to luck. But whether we notice them or not, these miracles enrich our lives greatly, and I'm grateful to God for caring enough to bless us individually, often in ways so subtle that we don't even notice them to think to thank Him for them. So, when I pray tonight, I'm going to thank God for all the little miracles He put in my life today, especially the ones that were too small to even notice.

Praise the Pow'r

Yesterday, in Sacrament Meeting, we sang The Star-Spangled Banner, including the third verse, which includes the line: "Blest with vict'ry and peace, May the heav'n rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation." This line hit me especially hard this time. You see, I've been struggling for ages with a certain personal challenge, which has recently abated to a certain degree. I have gained a form of victory in my personal battle, and that victory has granted me a measure of peace. It's not absolute, but I'm in a much better place, both spiritually and emotionally, than I was a few years ago. Rather than continually hoping for a more complete victory and a more absolute peace, I should "Praise the Pow'r" that has given me the victory and peace I am currently enjoying, to say nothing of the other blessings I've been given.

I am grateful for the many blessings I have, including the people I love, the growth I've experienced, the lessons I've learned, and the peace I enjoy, and when I think about all the blessings I have now, I can hardly help but Praise the Pow'r that brought them into my life.

Context Missing?

Okay, we've got to be missing something. For our family scripture study tonight, we just read about Elisha and how he sicced two she bears on forty-two little children (or "youths") because they made fun of his bald head. There has to be more to this story, because there's no way God was okay with killing so many people whose only crime was mocking the prophet for being bald. Mockery is not, and should never be, a capital offense, especially since Elijah mocked the priests of Baal in our readings last week. There has to be something we're missing, some element that explains this, because otherwise, this makes no sense. We know that lives are sacred, not to be casually tossed aside in response to some insults. It's a shame we don't have more context for this and other Bible stories, because taken on its own, at face value, it just doesn't make much sense.

Keep America Free

Ether 2:12 Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

It worries me that we might lose this promise. As our laws become more draconian, more people are brought into bondage and captivity, even while the nation extols the virtues of liberty and freedom. I believe that we should maintain individual liberty and personal freedom, including religious freedom. People should be free to make their own personal, moral, and religious decisions, even if that means letting people make decisions we disagree with. For any nation to be free, its freedoms must apply to everyone, and for the sake of our nation, I hope they always do.

Love = Time

In October 2010, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, said that "In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time." Apparently, he may have been quoting, or at least paraphrasing other thinkers like Zig Ziglar, Mac Anderson, and Lance Wubbels, who said "To a child love is spelled T-I-M-E," but I've found that this is true for more than just children, and it's true for more than just our families.

Everyone needs love, and that love is often expressed through our use of time. When we serve others, we spend time serving others. When we give others gifts, we spend time buying, making, or preparing those gifts, after having spent time earning the money to pay for the gift or the materials to make it. And of course, when we spend time with others, we are spending time to be there for them.

Unfortunately, while our love for others may be abundant, our time sometimes is not. We only have so much time in any given day, so there's only so much time we can spend loving others. This can be a challenge when people need and/or deserve more love than we currently have time to give them. When this happens, all we can really do is try to determine who needs our love and time the most at that moment and do the best we can to give those who need our love as much love as we have time to give them. That may not be as much love as they need or deserve, but it's the best we can do, so it'll have to be good enough.

It's unfortunate that love takes time, and our time is limited, thus limiting the amount of love we can give. It is my hope and prayer that we can learn to spend or time wisely and that God will magnify our efforts to give others the love they need in whatever time we have. We may not always have the amount of time we want, but God can help us use it to express a great deal of love.