To Strengthen Your Relationship With God

On the last page of the current Ensign, you'll find this quote by President Uchtdorf, "To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him." The quote goes on to say more than that, and so does the talk this quote came from, but this is the part I wanted to focus on.

To strengthen our relationship with God,

We all have a relationship with God. We are His children. However, just as children can become distant from their mortal parents by not communicating with them or listening to them, we can become distant from God by not communicating with, or listening to, Him. We can communicate with Him through prayer. He communicates to us through scriptures, the words of prophets, and through the thoughts in our hearts. The more we communicate with God and listen to His messages to us, the stronger our relationship will be.

We need some meaningful time

Let's place some emphasis on the word meaningful. As we've all been taught before. It's not enough to just say our prayers read the scriptures. We need to pray to God fervently and study the scriptures diligently. The quote I cut short continues with:

Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study, always aiming to be worthy of a current temple recommend - these will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to out Heavenly Father.

And these aren't the only things we can do to spend meaningful time with God. There are many things that can draw us closer to Him. For example, the image in the Ensign that goes with this quote shows us a pleasant-looking grove. I'd say that spending time in nature is a good way to bring oneself closer to God. But we have to have God in our hearts so we can really connect with Him. Otherwise, we'll just be taking a nice walk in the woods.

Alone with Him.

This phrase reminds me of a fact that I very frequently forget - We are never alone. God, through His angels, is always watching over us. He is mindful of every thought, every action, every event in our lives. Yet strangely, though He is always close to us, we don't always feel close to Him. Sin can cause feelings of separation from our Heavenly Father, and this includes sins of omission, such as not praying and studying the scriptures. To regain that closeness we once had, we have to put sincere effort into trying to bring our hearts closer to God. Prayer and scripture study are essential for this, but there are other things we can do as well. Anything that you do that makes you feel closer to God will probably help you to become more like Him.

I wonder if President Uchtdorf meant to imply that being alone (as defined as being away from other people) is a requirement. Certainly, it helps. When I'm at church and want to feel especially close to God, I try to find an empty room where I can pray and, if I can find an empty room with a piano in it, play a few hymns. Being alone with God is nice.

But you can't always be alone and I'm not sure you have to. In the Celestial Room, only one person per session has the room to themselves, and they only have that solitude for a few seconds (unless they wait until every other patron leaves - then they can have the room to themselves for quite some time). But despite there almost always being another handful of people in the room with you, the Celestial Room is one of those special places where a person can feel close to God. You don't have to be alone with God to be with God. But do you have to be alone with God to strengthen your relationship with Him, as President Uchtdorf's quote suggests? Can you be "alone with God" even when you're not literally alone? I don't know. I don't want to misinterpret prophetic counsel. Maybe we should, schedules permitting, set aside time when we can be, literally, alone with God every so often, just to play it safe.

Conclusion

What I mostly take away from this quote is that God is a lot like everyone else in that if you want to have a good relationship with Him, you've got to spend some quality time together. Do things you both enjoy, like going for walks in nature or playing nice music. Become better acquainted with Him by learning about His traits through those who know Him well. Bond with Him by talking with Him honestly, openly, and frequently. I promise that as you follow any of these suggestions, especially those suggested by President Uchtdorf, your relationship with God will improve.

The Pride Cycle

Last night, as we were reading from 3 Nephi 7, it struck Mom and I as odd how frequently the Nephites went from being righteous to being wicked in a short space of time. It seems like every time the Nephites become righteous and start to get blessings for being righteous, they forget God and start being wicked again. Helman 12: 1-3 reads:

And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. 

Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity. 

And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.

This is unfortunately true. And, come to think of it, it may be part of the reason why bad things sometimes happen to good people - to keep them good. Of course, that's just a wild guess. I'm probably wrong. But, sticking to what I know, people do tend to forget how much God is helping them when they find out that they're doing well. I believe I recently posted about a time when the Nephites boasted of their own strength when they were winning battles, so God left them to their own strength, and they started losing again. It's an example of the Pride Cycle that we hear of from time to time:

People are righteous, and God blesses them.
Because of their blessings and, as Helaman put it, "because of their ease," they begin to forget God.
The People grow wicked and God starts withholding His blessings from them.
People struggle without God's blessings, and they eventually turn to God for help.
As people repent and become righteous again, God blesses them again, and the cycle continues.

If you continue reading from Helaman 12, Helaman goes on to lament how foolish people are to not obey God, even when God is blessing them, and I frequently feel like lamenting that with him. It seems that too many people are stuck in the same endless cycle; being blessed, then forgetting where those blessings came from, ignoring God, losing the blessings, struggling, and maybe, if they ever wise up, turning to God again with a renewed effort to be righteous.

The good news is that we can, theoretically, break the cycle by choosing to remain righteous even when we're blessed. And the trick to breaking the cycle may be Gratitude. If we thank God for our many blessings, we may be able to remind ourselves that all our blessings came from Him. And if we remember that, we may feel an increased desire to thank God by keeping His commandments. If we continue to keep His commandments, He'll continue to bless us, and we can thank Him for the continued blessings by continuing to keep the commandments. And that cycle can also be endless.

The Blessings of the Temple

This afternoon, Mom and I are going to the temple. This is nothing new. She's goes every Wednesday and I often go with her. But this morning, as I was browsing the videos on the Mormon Channel, I thought it would be fitting to share a message about the temple, and I was blessed to find this:





In this video, Elder Russell M. Nelson and several other members share their thoughts about the temple and why it's special to them.

I think my favorite part of the video is when Elder Nelson said, "No unclean thing can enter His hallowed house. Yet anyone is welcome, who prepares well." Then we heard from a woman who couldn't enter the temple yet, but she still went to the temple, just to be near it. She said, "I always felt a sense of peace there."

I tend to feel a sense of peace there, too. I don't go to the temple as often as I should. More regular attendance would probably help to fill in the gaps where I feel that I'm lacking, especially in regards to spiritual matters such as faith and will-power. I'm not as strong as I'd like to be in some areas, and I think that going to the temple more often will make me stronger. I'm glad I'm going today.

If you haven't gone to the temple recently, think about the blessings that these members have experienced in the temple, including a sense of peace, a better relationship with your Heavenly Father, and an abundance of the Spirit, and consider whether having those blessings in your life would be worth taking the time to go. If you get the chance, I would recommend that you go soon. I highly doubt that you'll regret it.

Shall the Lawful Captive be Delivered?

In our family scripture study, the Nephites just finished having another war, but this time, it wasn't against the Lamanites. This time, they and the Lamanites were fighting against a separate group called the Gadianton Robbers. After a tremendous battle and a handful of smaller ones, the Nephites and Lamanites defeated the Gadianton Robbers.

And now it came to pass that when they had taken all the robbers prisoners, insomuch that none did escape who were not slain, they did cast their prisoners into prison, and did cause the word of God to be preached unto them; and as many as would repent of their sins and enter into a covenant that they would murder no more were set at liberty.
3 Nephi 5: 4

This verse stuck out to me, not because they preached the gospel to their prisoners (they've done that before), but because they then let the prisoners go.

A reoccurring theme throughout the Book of Mormon is Deliverance. The good guys frequently escape bondage and/or destruction in the Book of Mormon, but this time, the shoe is on the other foot. This time, it's the good guys letting the former bad guys go after they've promised not to repeat the offense. This didn't sound very wise to me, but it did sound familiar.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
Isaiah 49: 24

 God is, in some ways, a gatekeeper. He judges between the righteous and the wicked, and the righteous go where the righteous belong and the wicked go where the wicked belong. It's totally just and fair. In that case, we who have sinned would become lawful captives. We broke the law. We go to jail. End of Story. Or is it?

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 

But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
Isaiah 49: 24-25

God is always fair and just, but He's also merciful. Even though we have sinned, and we deserve whatever punishment He sets out for us, He doesn't want us to suffer. He'd much rather that we learn from our mistakes, accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, repent, and enter into a covenant to keep the commandments. Then, even though we don't deserve it, He will set us free.

God is good. And He wants His people to be good. He wants us to seek His forgiveness and to grant our forgiveness to whomever needs it, whether they deserve it or not. It probably wasn't easy for the Nephites to let the former robbers go. I'd probably hold a grudge against them, but that isn't God's way. God's message to all is repentance, and forgiveness for all who repent. I'm thankful for that.  I'm grateful that I believe in a God who believes in deliverance.

Dissensions Among the Nephites

In church yesterday, the instructor in Elder's Quorum shared Matthew 6:24: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

This scripture is almost always used to illustrate the concept that, since you can only do one thing at a time, you can only serve one person at a time (unless there's one thing that you can do that would serve multiple people). Since there's no one thing you can do that would serve both God and Satan, you cannot serve them both at the same time.

But this got me thinking - You can only fight one person at a time, too.

Of the many times that the Nephites were losing in their fights against the Lamanites, a few of those times, it was because they were too busy fighting amongst themselves. They couldn't fight themselves and their enemies at the same time, and still expect to defeat their enemies.

Similarly, we can't expect to defeat our enemy, Satan, if we're busy fighting ourselves. Every negative thought we have about ourselves redirects our attention away from our real enemy, and since we're fighting the wrong target,  we're not going to win.

Worship Through Music

I spent a good portion of this morning listening to hymns performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love those hymns. They lift my heart and raise my spirits, no matter how joyful or miserable I felt when I started to listen.

In his talk, Worship Through Music, Elder Dalin H. Oaks said, "The singing of hymns is one of the best ways to put ourselves in tune with the Spirit of the Lord. ... Music is an effective way to worship our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. We should use hymns when we need spiritual strength and inspiration."

And may I point out that we could always use more spiritual strength and inspiration.

This is going to be a short blog post because I spent so much time listening to music and I need to take a shower soon and get ready for church, but if you've checked this blog hoping to feel the spirit, I'd advise you to repeat in your mind the words and/or the music of the first hymn that comes to your mind. I wouldn't be surprised at all if you feel the spirit quickly by doing that.

Your Happily Ever After

I feel good today. Last night, I babysat my sister's kids and had a lot of fun, and I borrowed my niece's Disney Pixie rubics cube, which I eventually managed to solve. (It was hard getting all their faces just right!) Then I slept well and slept in. (It's Saturday, so I can get away with that.) And this morning, I made a partly, if not mostly, inspired system for turning something important (and unfortunately too personal to share details) into something fun. Basically, through righteousness, I earn XP, which eventually translates into Skill Points, which I can use to increase my "Stats." Since I just started this system (and back-dated it to start last Monday), I only have a few XP, but I'm excited to earn more so I can earn my first Skill Point. I'm probably going to put it into my Magic Stat for versatility, or into my Defense Stat for endurance. It's a tough choice (even though it doesn't actually change anything), but I've got another week to think about it. (I don't want to "earn" XP or Skill Points too quickly or they wouldn't mean anything. Then again, they literally don't mean anything anyway. But anyway, I want to really earn them, and that should take time and effort.)

My new system is based off of fantasy-style, pencil and paper role-playing games, and it's got me thinking about knights and heroes and magic, and stuff like that. That leads me to a talk from President Deiter F. Uchtdorf, which I have actually never heard since it was given in a General Young Women Meeting, but I've wanted to share on my blog since the day I learned of its existence: Your Happily Ever After.

“Once upon a time” promises something: a story of adventure and romance, a story of princesses and princes. It may include tales of courage, hope, and everlasting love. In many of these stories, nice overcomes mean and good overcomes evil. But perhaps most of all, I love it when we turn to the last page and our eyes reach the final lines and we see the enchanting words “And they lived happily ever after.”

Isn’t that what we all desire: to be the heroes and heroines of our own stories; to triumph over adversity; to experience life in all its beauty; and, in the end, to live happily ever after?

It certainly has great appeal to me! I would love to have more courage, greater hope, and a deeper feeling of love, and I especially want good to ultimately triumph over evil. Thankfully, these are all blessings that God has promised to the righteous.

And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.”

But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift.

The next section of President Uchtdorf's talk talks about trials, both in stories and in real life. He recalls a few classic fairy tale characters, then says, "Sandwiched between their 'once upon a time' and 'happily ever after,' they all had to experience great adversity." "Cinderella [had] to endure her wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters." "In 'Beauty and the Beast,' Belle [became] a captive to a frightful-looking beast in order to save her father." In "Sleeping Beauty," Princess Aurora was taken away from the home she'd grown up in and was enchanted with a powerful curse, while Prince Philip was captured by goblins and had to battle a sorceress/dragon.

And these are people living in fantasy worlds! When someone in real life is "living in a fantasy world," we imagine that they think that everything is wonderful and that it'll all work out in the end, but if we pay closer attention to the middles of those classic stories, we'll find that fantasy worlds aren't always as wonderful as we think. In that way, they're a lot like real life.

In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy.

          ...

My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

One of my least favorite of the truths that we learn in church is that some lessons can only be learned the hard way, that there has to be adversity and opposition. And, even worse, just suffering through affliction is not enough.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.

Enduring adversity is not the only thing you must do to experience a happy life. Let me repeat: how you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own “happily ever after.”

So, we have to not only endure the trials of life, but we have to endure them well. This is starting to get depressing. Let's go back to the good news.

We all search for happiness, and we all try to find our own “happily ever after.” The truth is, God knows how to get there! And He has created a map for you; He knows the way. He is your beloved Heavenly Father, who seeks your good, your happiness. He desires with all the love of a perfect and pure Father that you reach your supernal destination. The map is available to all. It gives explicit directions of what to do and where to go to everyone who is striving to come unto Christ and “stand as [a witness] of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.” All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan.

          ...

I understand that, at times, some may wonder why they attend Church meetings or why it is so important to read the scriptures regularly or pray to our Heavenly Father daily. Here is my answer: You do these things because they are part of God’s path for you. And that path will take you to your “happily ever after” destination. 

“Happily ever after” is not something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father’s map.

I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father that has such a glorious future planned for His children, and I'm grateful He shows us the way to achieve it. I'm very much looking forward to the "happily ever after" after all the struggles and conflicts of life are over. In the meantime, I'm grateful that Heavenly Father is always there to help us endure the storms of life and reach our divine potential. I'm thankful there's a "happily ever after" waiting for us all.