The OTHER Promised Land

Here's a little piece of Book of Mormon trivia for you: Of the people who traveled with Lehi toward the Promised Land, which person is (probably) the only one specifically mentioned as not having completed the journey?

If you know who it is, Awesome! If not, go find the answer; It's in first Nephi somewhere, or you could wait until the end of the blog post, and I'll just tell you the answer then.

I was a bit surprised by this when I read it (for the umpteenth time and finally caught this tidbit), not that I was surprised by who it was, but I was surprised that there was a person in Lehi's group that didn't make it to the Promised Land.

Or did they?

The scriptures speak of more than one location which each were called the "Promised Land" by the people who were trying to get there, whom God told of its existence and led there. But there's another place that we only know about because God told us. (Though some people claim to have gone there and come back. Maybe they have. I'm skeptical. Let's not talk about that right now.) This place is also supposed to be really, really good - "choice above all other lands" would be a good way to describe it -  and only really good people can go there. So how do we get there? Just as the Lehites and Israelites, we have to follow God, and God has promised us that if we follow Him, we will eventually be privileged to live in that land.

The land I'm referring to is heaven. Comparing Lehi's Promised Land to heaven provides some great insights into our journey to heaven. First, we have to leave Jerusalem, where people were being sinful. We should try to take others with us as well. We'll need the scriptures and a good moral compass. The journey will be hard, with plenty of toil and suffering along the way. And eventually, we'll get to an ocean, where to finally get to heaven, we'll need to cross over to the other side.

For a more detailed analogy connecting Lehi's journey to our mortal journey, I plan to reread first Nephi (as so many other Mormons have done), but this time, I'll do so with the perspective that Lehi's journey is a parable for our life on earth. I'll see what other insights I can gain out of that.

In the meantime, I'd better tell you the answer to that trivia question. It was Ishmael. He dies in first Nephi 16:34, and they didn't cross the ocean until chapter 18. Though, now that I think about it, it may be that Ishmael reached the "Promised Land" well before any of the others.

A Short, Lame Blog Post About Why This is a Short, Lame Blog Post

It's not that I don't have anything to blog about right now. I do; I started a list. There are a number of things I could blog about. I just don't feel like blogging. I'm not in the right mood. Maybe music will help. Music is good.

The CD I'm listening to right now is Celtic Hymns by Reta Ceol. Very nice music. Calming, inspirational, easy to listen to. It's helping me feel the Spirit, which I guess gets me one step closer to being able to blog.

I wonder why I didn't have the spirit before. I don't think I've done anything that would drive it away. Maybe it's that I haven't really been studying the scriptures as I should. Or praying as much as I should. It's those basic things that always slip through the cracks.

...

This music is probably helping. I also just got some thoughts down on paper, so that's something, I guess. It's just not anything I can post here, and I'm running out of time. Maybe my message should be "having the spirit with you requires consistent effort, even for those who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost." I've probably used that before, but that's okay.

We read the sacramental prayers in our family scripture study, and in that covenant, we're promised that we "may always have [God's] spirit to be with [us]," but only if we "are willing to take upon [us] the name of [His] Son, and always remember Him, and keep his commandments which He hath given [us]." That seems like a lot of upkeep, and maybe it is, but the result, always having His Spirit to be with us, is worth it. I just wish I could remember that just before going to bed and right after I wake up, so I could have daily morning and evening prayer and personal scripture study.

Short Post on Faith - The Man That Pulls the Curtains

Last weekend, I help my dad do the lights for a Brighten (Am I spelling that right?) Ward musical called, The Way. To help me know when to do what, Dad followed the script and kept in touch with me using wireless headsets, but I had it easy - I could see the whole play as I did my part with the lights. There was another person who was also part of our team who didn't have that advantage. His job was to pull the curtains.

Because of the way the curtain controls are situated, you can't adjust the curtains and see them at the same time. To let the curtain guy know when to open or close the curtains how much, Dad kept in touch with him as well via the same walkie-talkie system.

As we did the lights and curtains for this musical, I thought of how much the man pulling the curtains represented each of us. We so often have so little idea of what we're doing. We know we should keep the commandments, but we don't always know why each commandment is given. Sometimes, a certain commandment makes sense to us. We're commanded not to smoke or drink. One look at the results on those who do will tell us why. But other commandments may not be as straight-forward. For those commandments, we're behind the curtains, being asked to pull a certain rope a certain amount, and we don't have a full understanding of why we're being asked to do that. When we're given those kinds of commandments, we have to take the advice with faith, because faith is all we have.

***

I feel like I ought to write more, but that's really all I have to say on this subject/analogy, and my blog posts tend to run pretty long anyway. Maybe that's why I feel this one should be longer. But reading extra-long blog posts takes time that some of my potential readers don't have. Perhaps I ought to write some shorter blog posts, especially when I don't have all that much to say. On the other hand, how can my readers know which posts are mile-long and which ones are bite-size? I suppose including "short" in the post's title would be a good indicator, but I'd have to remember to add it, and there are several past short blog posts that don't have "short" in their title.

I think I'm over-thinking this. Just glance at the post and compare it to how much time you have. If it's short enough (and looks interesting), read it. If it's too long (or boring), skip it. I'm sorry that this'll mean that some of the people who would read my blog won't get to read all my posts, but life is too short to read everything. Sometimes you have to pick and choose. I won't be offended if you choose not to read many of my blog posts. In fact, I'll probably never know.

Fasting and Sacrifice

I've always seen fasting as being a small sacrifice, so I wanted to blog about the connection between those two topics, but I couldn't find anything under the subject of fasting that related to sacrifice or under the subject of sacrifice that related to fasting, so I guess I'm on my own this time.

I've always seen fasting as a small sacrifice God asks us to make occasionally, and since we receive blessings when we fast, I've thought of fasting as an exchange. In fact, looking at it that way, all of the commandments become exchanges. But that's not really in keeping with the spirit of sacrifice. In a true sacrifice, we're giving something up without expecting anything in return. But at the same time, it seems foolish to not expect God to bless us for keeping the commandments, including those that involve making sacrifices, because He has promised that He would. If we make a "sacrifice," knowing that God's going to bless us for it, it's not so much a sacrifice as a trade.

But, hey, maybe it is a trade, and maybe that's okay. It still requires an amount of sacrifice between the time we make the sacrifice and the time we receive the reward. And it requires faith to make the exchange. If the purpose of sacrifice is to strengthen our faith, we can do that, even though it's not really just a sacrifice.

This is kind of confusing, and I'm not sure it's really going to help anyone. I don't know enough about sacrifice to say what it's supposed to be or supposed to do. I know that sometimes fasting feels like a sacrifice, and that God tends to bless people who make sacrifices for Him. I've heard that there are three good reasons to keep the commandments, and the expectation of blessings is one of them. I don't think God would promise blessings to the obedient unless He wanted those promises to motivate us to obey. So, is it still a sacrifice if we expect to get blessings for it? That may be a good question for me to ask next week, when we learn about Sacrifice in Gospel Essentials class.

Fasting Teaches Self-Control

Fasting helps us gain strength of character. When we fast properly, we will learn to control our appetites and passions. We are a little stronger by having proved to ourselves that we have self-control. If we teach our children to fast, they will develop the spiritual strength to overcome greater temptations later in their lives.

I love this paragraph. The logic here makes so much sense. Willfully going without food or drink, which we all have a natural appetite for, for a certain period of time, can increase our will-power to resist other  natural (or unnatural) appetites we may have.

And I love that "We are a little stronger by having proved to ourselves that we have self-control." It's one thing to have the ability to do something. It's another thing to know that you have the ability. That knowledge can give you the confidence you need to actually do what you're capable of. We all know, on some level, that we have the power to resist temptation, but once we prove to ourselves that we have that power, by resisting the temptation to eat something, that knowledge can take a whole other level.

The one thing I would change about the quoted paragraph is that I would have included "us" as a subject in the last sentence. "If we [and] our children... fast, [we] will develop the spiritual strength to overcome greater temptations later in [our] lives." What's true for children is often true for adults as well. Fasting can help all of us gain greater spiritual strength and ability to resist temptation.

I'm grateful for a wise Heavenly Father who gave us a way to practice resisting temptation so we could become strong at it. He really has thought of everything. His plan is perfect, though we usually don't fully understand it. I'm grateful for His wisdom, and hope that I can someday learn to completely trust it and follow Him, even through thorny ways and difficult paths. His way is the best way and I wish I really, deeply believed that.

Lesson Prep - Fasting

Since the class I'll be teaching is the Gospel Essentials class, geared toward new members and progressing investigators, I'll need to cover the basics of Fasting before going into anything deep or insightful. The good news is that, for covering the basics, I can read lines straight out of the manual.

Since the time of Adam, God’s people have fasted to help them draw near to Him and to worship Him.

Fasting means to go without food and drink [usually for 24 hours, skipping two meals].

The Savior taught us that purposeful fasting is more than just going without food and drink. We must also concentrate on spiritual matters.

Prayer is a necessary part of fasting. Throughout the scriptures, prayer and fasting are mentioned together. Our fasting should be accompanied by sincere prayer, and we should begin and end our fasting with prayer.

That all should explain pretty well what Fasting is and how we do it. Later sections in this chapter explain why we do it.

We Should Fast with a Purpose

Fasting can have many purposes. We can overcome weaknesses or problems by fasting and praying. Sometimes we may wish to fast and pray for help or guidance for others, such as a family member who is ill and needs a blessing. Through fasting we can come to know the truth of things just as did the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon.

We can fast to help others embrace the truth. Fasting can help comfort us in times of sorrow and mourning. Fasting can help us become humble and feel closer to our Heavenly Father.

Or, in fewer words, we can fast for any special blessing we want, including to simply draw closer to God.

The next section in the manual teaches something that I'll probably teach in reverse. So far, the manual is under the assumption that we can fast anytime we want, and this section teaches that, in addition to our own special fasts, there's a day set each month as a Fast Sunday, when all members who are able are supposed to fast. I'll probably teach it backwards. In addition to our monthly fast on Fast Sunday (including a week from the day I'll be giving the lesson), we can also fast any time we want, whenever we feel the need for special blessings. Though, for health reasons, we probably shouldn't fast more than once a week.

Which leads me pretty smoothly to another point; Some people can't fast. Sometimes, there are health problems that prevent a full fast. At that point, I'll share a story that I thought for sure was posted in a recent edition of the Ensign, but when I found it on LDS.org, the website said the article was published in 1982, which means it was "recently published" before I was born. And I had thought for sure I had read it in an actual paper-and-staples magazine. No matter, I'll share it anyway.

The Spirit of Fasting

I am hypoglycemic, and like a diabetic I cannot go for a lengthy period of time without eating. For almost four years I felt as though I couldn’t fully participate on fast Sunday. From time to time I would try to fast, but would become ill. Yet I ached to obtain the strength one receives as he controls his bodily appetites to receive the things of the Spirit. I felt that it wasn’t fair to be afflicted with this condition; surely I and others with similar problems needed to reap the same blessings as those who were able to fast.

Recently an idea came to me about how I could fast and not go without food. I refrain from partaking of unnecessary food, like potato chips, cookies, or other snack-type items. I partake only of wholesome, life-sustaining food, and I eat only amounts needed to keep me from becoming ill. I have found that this not only gives me a sense of accomplishment, but allows me to feel that I am putting my appetites in subjection to spiritual things.

By following the spirit of the fast this way, I’ve found myself nourished by the Spirit of the Lord.

- Catherine D. Coltharp, Lompoc, California

I've printed up a copy that I can fold up and put with my Gospel Principles manual. Man, the church's website is awesome.

How long is this blog post getting? I should probably wrap this up soon, even though there's another section or two to go in the manual. I'll share the next section really quickly, and I'll blog about the last section tomorrow.

Fast Offerings

When we fast each month, the Lord asks us to help those in need. One way we do this is by giving through the proper priesthood authority the money we would have spent on food for the two meals. We should give as generously as we are able. Through our fast offerings we become partners with the Lord in administering to the needs of our less-fortunate brothers and sisters. [Also, our Fast Offerings stay in the area, in case you were wondering.]

That all should have the basics pretty well covered. The last section is about the blessings we get when we fast, and there's a sub-section in it about increasing self-control. I'll want to share my personal insights on that and bare my testimony about it. ALSO! I totally forgot that the Sacrament Meeting portion of Fast Sunday is a Fast and Testimony meeting! I'll probably want to throw that in some time during the talk.

Thanks so much for helping me prepare for this lesson. It think it's going to go very well. ^^

Nip It In The Bud (Whenever Possible)

"The sooner we reject a tempting thought, the easier it is to do so. The longer we entertain the thought, the more compelling it becomes." - Me, Yesterday (with minor alterations)

Based on prior experience, I think it's true. Then again, this could be a chicken and egg scenario. Is it that temptations are easier to resist only if you resist them quickly, or that weak temptations are easy to get rid of quickly while stronger temptations are more persistent. I have seen a connection between the strength of a temptation and the duration of the period during which I'm tempted. But which is the cause and which the effect?

In a way, it doesn't matter. We know it's better to resist temptation as soon as you know it's happening than to let the temptation linger. Whether the temptation gets stronger as it's allowed to linger or lingers because it's stronger, it doesn't change the fact that, strong or not, we need to fight it. Sure, it'd be nice if all temptations started weak so we could clear them out easily before they take too strong of a hold, but that may not be the case.

Life on earth is a learning experience. From trials and opposition, we're meant to learn self-control, and to test and strengthen our self-control, we're face with temptation. It could be that we have to face strong temptation in order to gain strong will-power. If all the temptations we faced were eliminated quickly, we may become skilled at wiping temptations out before they become hard to resist, but it won't help us gain the strength to resist strong temptations. In light of that logic, that quote I started with may be wrong.

This blog is really good for me. It gets me thinking about things like that. Gospel principles, how to resist temptation, things I need to understand and remember. Speaking of which, I just remembered that I'm teaching a lesson on Fasting in Gospel Essentials class this Sunday. I'd better start studying for that. Perhaps I'll blog about it tomorrow. Man, I'm glad I have a blog.

The Glass of Water

I saw this one Facebook last night, and thought I'd share it here as well as there.

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?" 

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.
She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything." 

Remember to put the glass down. 

Please Share

The unfortunate thing about this story, apart from the concept being true, in my opinion, is that it tells you what the problem is without telling you how to solve it. It tells you to "put the glass down," which I can only guess is symbolic of setting aside the stresses and worries of life, but that may not always be a good idea. Let's say you've got a big test coming up. That would stress you out, right? But don't stress out, though! Just set the stress down, and before long, you'll start to feel a lot better. Yeah, sure, you'll feel better, but you still need to study for that test. That's why I think that instead of setting the water down, unfortunately, we need to drink it.

God throws lots of problems at us. Or, at least, life does, but God created the blueprint for life, so it's still on Him. If a gun blows up in your hand, it's not the gun's fault; its the manufacturer's. But the problems of life aren't there by accident. God meant life to be hard. He meant for us to face challenges and difficulties, and worries and stress. God puts them in our path for a purpose, and not so we can just set them down and avoid them. God wants us to truly overcome our problems.

So, let's go back to the stressful test. Actually, let's call it an exam, because I also want to talk about God "testing" us, and if I use the same word for the exam we have to take and the trial God puts us through to test us, that could get confusing. So, we have to take this exam. Naturally, this is part of God's plan for testing us. The test could be how we handle ourselves in a stressful situation. Do we cheat? Do we break down and give up? How much do we study beforehand? How do we conduct ourselves during the examination? It's all part of the test. In this case, the stress we feel may be a part of the test, specifically, a paralyzing feeling that we need to overcome in order to do well on the examination. Or, the stress may be our own emotional reaction to the examination and/or the test. Either way, we have to deal with the stress before we can move on.

Actually, now that I think about it, setting your stress aside is an appropriate response to this scenario. You can't study effectively or focus on the questions when you're stressing out about the exam. So, you need to set the glass of water down, pick up your No. 2 pencil, and get cracking.

Well, okay. I just talked myself into a circle by bringing up an idea and then breaking it down and disproving it. But that still doesn't solve the problem I had with the story which is that they told us what the problem was, but they didn't tell us how to solve it. How do we "set down" our stress?

There are many popular ideas. Picture yourself at the ocean, take deep breaths, and put on some calming music. On suggestion that surprised me was physical activity - stretching to deal with immediate stress, walking or yoga to deal with reoccurring stress. Other suggestions for dealing with reoccurring stress included eating right and getting enough sleep. Even more suggestions and possible solutions for overcoming stress can be found online with a quick web-search.

Perhaps the point of the story wasn't to teach us how to deal with stress (set it aside), but to teach us the importance of dealing with the stress before it becomes a problem. We can handle stress for a little while, but the longer it goes untreated, the more it breaks us down. Resolving the stress quickly (using techniques the story probably assumed we already knew) can save us a lot of unnecessary grief.

I wonder if the same thing is true for temptation. The sooner we reject the tempting thought, the easy it is to do so, or the longer we entertain the thought, the more compelling it becomes? Does that sound about right? It sounds pretty good to me. Anyway, it's food for thought. This blog post is probably already long enough without going on a tangent like that. Maybe I'll blog about that, specifically, later.

Dare to be Awesome

You know, I just thought of something a couple of days ago, and now I think it's worth sharing, even if it has nothing at all to do with gospel, scriptures, or anything else you read this blog for. I call the concept Dare to be Awesome.

Picture this: You're going to make an attempt to do something easy, like brushing your teeth. Can you brush your teeth? Can you remember to? Can you manage it? Of course you can. It's easy. Anyone can do that. But what if you can't? What if you forget? What if you lack the strength or will-power to brush your teeth? That's not a good thing. That means that you failed to do something that anybody can do. Successfully brushing your teeth won't give you much of a feeling of accomplishment, because it wasn't really much of an accomplishment, but failing to brush your teeth, once you've decided that you would, can give you a feeling of failure.

Okay, now try this: Try to do something hard. This could be mentally hard, like solving a Rubik's cube, or physically hard, like walking/jogging/running a certain distance, or hard to will yourself to do. Can you do it? Well, maybe. Not just anyone can solve a Rubik's cube or walk/run/jog very far. But that's the point. Try to do something difficult, something that not just anyone can do. If you can do it, that's awesome! You're more skilled in that thing than the average person, or than you were the last time you tried. But if you fail, that's okay. It was a pretty lofty goal. Failing to do something especially difficult isn't something to be ashamed of.

Here are the two scenarios in a nutshell:

Easy + Succeed = Normal. Easy + Fail = Lame.
Hard + Succeed = Awesome. Hard + Fail = Normal.

Here's my point: I have poor self-esteem. I don't have much confidence in myself, so I usually only try to do things that I know I can do, thinking that repeated (easy) success would boost my confidence. However, even with that plan, I sometimes fail, and then I feel even less competent than I felt before. And when I do succeed, it's no big deal. What I was trying to do was easy.

On the other hand, if I really challenge myself, if I try to do things that I'm not sure I can do, I have a better chance of improving my self-image, or at least maintaining the status quo. Because if I fail when I'm trying to do something especially difficult, that's not really too surprising or devastating. But if I succeed in doing something difficult, then that's awesome, and it means I'm awesome, because I can do difficult things.

So, in the future, I'm going to try to challenge myself. I'll set goals for myself that I know I may not reach, because then, if I do reach that goal, I will have done something great, something that I can be proud of. I will have been awesome.

(Sabbath) Appropriate Activities

LDS.org has a part of their websites with tips and encouragement concerning sharing the gospel on one's blog. As their advice was almost certain to apply to me, I thought I'd check it out. One piece of advice that they give that I plan to follow immediately is "share experiences or what you learn at Church or in your family home evening." I don't have any recent experiences or family home evening lessons to share at the moment, but a recent Sunday School lesson is certainly worth repeating.

Yesterday, one gifted sister in our Ward gave a lesson on The Sabbath Day. During the lesson, she had us write down on little cards activities that would be appropriate to do on the Sabbath. Mostly, these were general, "good" things such as giving service to others, spending time connecting with one's family or with those who are lonely. A common thread among almost all of the activities listed was that they invite the Spirit and help as to draw closer to Jesus Christ. And I got to thinking, these are great things to do on the Sabbath, but they're also good things to do any day.

My personal list included things like listening to uplifting music, studying the lessons we'll be learning (or teaching) in church, pondering the meaning of the Atonement and the teachings of Jesus Christ, and praying to have the Spirit with you. In the Gospel Principles manual, we're given the following guidelines with regards to Sabbath-appropriate activities:

Will it uplift and inspire me?
Does it show respect for the Lord?
Does it direct my thoughts to Him?

These are good guidelines to follow and good things to do any day. Doing these things and following these guidelines are ways we can invite the Spirit, which is never a bad idea.

Of course, we can't devote all our time every day solely to Sabbath-appropriate activities. We're not supposed to work on the Sabbath if we can avoid it, but we have to work during the rest of the week. Not all of our activities bring us closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but some of them are necessary anyway. God doesn't expect us to spend all our time, 24/7, worshipping Him. But He does ask for one day of solid devotion per week, with a little time spent in prayer and scripture study daily.

And, really, when He asks us to do these things, it's for our benefit more than His. One might think that God asks for a certain amount of worship each week in return for the blessings He offers us, and even if that is true, we're getting a pretty good deal there, so it's still in our best interest to make the deal. But I think that it's through keeping the commandments, including Sabbath-day observance, that we receive the blessings God has promised.

When people spend time in prayerful meditation, they feel greater peace. When people spend a whole day in prayerful meditation, perhaps that peace they feel can last them through the whole week. I've often felt during the week that I was spiritually malnourished, and I could have used another Sunday. But now I think that I simply haven't been using my Sundays correctly. Perhaps after this lesson I've just learned, I'll be better equipped to take full advantage of the time I'm given to worship God, so that worship can actually do me some good. Considering the time I spend blogging as being somewhat worshipful, I consulted my list to find ways I could make this worship more effective for my soul. After checking my list, I decided to play some very uplifting music (performed by my wonderfully-talented pianist sister, Sariah) while I write this blog post, and as a result, I've felt the Spirit much more deeply this morning than I do most mornings.

I'm grateful for beautiful music, for inspired lessons, and for the time the Lord has set aside for us to connect with the things of the Spirit. And today, I'm especially thankful for the advice I've been given on how I can spend my worship time wisely and make the most of it. It's certainly helped me today.

"Secret" Combinations

In our family scripture study the other night, we came to a part where people again started using the "secret plans" and "secret combinations" that would supposedly allow them to do great wickedness and get away with it. Whenever we read about those "secret" combinations, I just have to chuckle a little bit. How secret could their evil acts really be if we're here, hundreds or thousands of years later, reading about them? Granted, there's a lot of detail that we're missing, so the plans themselves are secret, I guess, but if the point of these secret plans was to keep their wicked deeds secret, I'm afraid they failed.

The first person to use these secret plans was Cain. In Moses 5:29, we read:

And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands.

Well, his father, Adam, may or may not have ever found out about it, but everyone else did. Talking about these secret combinations and their original source, Helaman 6:25-27 reads:

Now behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants which Alma commanded his son should not go forth unto the world, lest they should be a means of bringing down the people unto destruction. 

Now behold, those secret oaths and covenants did not come forth unto Gadianton from the records which were delivered unto Helaman; but behold, they were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit— 

Yea, that same being who did plot with Cain, that if he would murder his brother Abel it should not be known unto the world. And he did plot with Cain and his followers from that time forth.

 There are at least two lessons that we can draw from this; that Satan doesn't keep his promises, and that you can't keep secrets from God. Let's focus on the last one, because that's the one that I've given more thought.

One of my favorite Children's Hymns is If the Savior Stood Beside Me, in which the singer, in self-reflection, wonders if they would still do the things they do or say the things they say if Jesus was nearby, watching them. The last verse reveals that "He is always near me, though I do not see Him there." Something that we sometimes forget down here on Earth is that God is always watching over us. Usually, when we're reminded of that, it's meant to be a comforting thought - that God is mindful of our problems and is never farther than a prayer away, but when we're doing "secret works of darkness," the thought of God watching over us is far from comforting.

Whether we want something to be true or not doesn't change whether or not it's true. If God is always watching over us, that's true whether we're looking for comfort or trying to keep secrets. The truth is that nothing happens on Earth that God doesn't know about. And, for better or worse, He is a god of justice. When you do something good in secret, even if no one else ever knows you did it, God will know, and He will reward you justly. When you do something evil in secret, even if no one else ever finds out you did it, God will know, and He will reward you justly.

So, I guess, in the end, there really are no secrets. Not from God, anyway. God knows everything that we do and everything that happens in our lives, and in the end, He'll give everyone what they deserve and make everything fair. Whether, in our case, that will mean a final reward or a final punishment, is up to us. We choose what we do, and God rewards every action according to the laws of justice. Some people may do evil things, trusting the lie that "no one will ever know," but unfortunately for them, God knows everything. I wonder how much wickedness would have been prevented if everyone understood that. It certainly would have prevented some of mine.

Old Ideas, New Ideas

So, funny story. I tried to log in to blog, starting about half an hour ago, but the web browser refused to load even a single page. So I quit the program and tried again, with the same results. So I tried another web browser, and it could actually load pages, but it couldn't load this page because it uses Flash or JavaScript or some other special computer thing that that browser couldn't use. At about this point, I started to express my frustration, and Mom suggested restarting the computer. After I did so, my normal web browser started working perfectly again. It's funny how the time-tested, extremely simple solutions often work better than the new ideas do.

I was going to blog about something else this morning, but when fresh material throws itself at you like this, you almost have to use it.

The bible is one of the oldest books in existence, and it contains some of the oldest ideas ever recorded. The core of its teachings, especially of the 2000-year-old New Testament, are very simple. They've been tried and tested by Christians all over the world for centuries, and though we, as Christians, have some black marks in our history, the principles of Faith, Hope, and Charity remain a dependable moral compass that has led many the experience a deep feeling of inner peace.

Alternatively, there are lots of new ideas floating around. I don't want to list any by name, for fear of offending anybody, but there are many recently-developed, yet popular, ideas that seem rather strange to me, and they all seem to be trying to do what the Bible already does: explain the origin of Earth and the universe, illuminate the path to ultimate truth, and give those who apply the ideas to their lives a deep feeling of inner peace.

I hope I'm not offending anyone who believes in and/or lives by these new ideas. They may work. I'm not sure. I haven't tried them. I'm just wondering why they felt the need to find new ideas when the old ideas, the ones in the scriptures, still work.

Maybe it's because the old ideas aren't popular anymore. Maybe it's because they're not as fun. Maybe people think they can better better results, in less time, with less effort, by using the new ideas. And I'll certainly agree with the "less time, less effort" part. Following the old rules isn't easy, and the scriptures admit that it'll take a lifetime, if not longer, to obtain the promised reward, but that reward is a lot greater than anything any other path could lead to.

I suppose which path a person chooses to follow depends on what they really want and how far they're willing to go to get it. I think it's time I did some more self-evaluation to see if I can answer those questions for myself. I know which path I should be following, but I'm not totally sure I'm on it anymore. Maybe I fell in with the "less time, less effort" crowd. And I admit that I'm kind of proud of the new ideas I come up with, which I call new applications of old ideas. Maybe I'd do better re-anchoring myself to the old ideas themselves, without looking for new and exciting ways to trick myself into applying them. Anyhow, I clearly need to think about this some more. I hope that someday I'll figure it out.

The Love of God

In October 2009, President Deiter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk titled The Love of God.





I love this talk because, while all of the talk is good, there are many parts of this talk that are particularly quotable. Here are a few of my favorites:

God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God! 

For what we love determines what we seek. 

What we seek determines what we think and do. 

What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.

Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery from the days of Adam until today, you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things. 

And the greatest of all good things is God.

That's all just from the first half of the talk, and there were plenty more paragraphs in the first half of the talk alone, but I didn't want to end up copying and pasting the whole talk. If you wanted to read the talk, you could just follow the link.

From these few quotes, it seems clear that what we love is a very central and important defining characteristic. When we love good things, we seek good things. We think about and do good things. As a result, we become better people and find joy.

There are other things in this world that promise happiness or a feeling of satisfaction. Some people turn to those things, seeking happiness, but they end up loving those things more than they love the things of God, so they seek those things rather than seeking God, and as a result, the "happiness" that they find fails them, and they're left feeling just as empty as they felt before. Only God can offer true, lasting happiness.

That is why God asks us to love Him and seek Him, not because He needs the comfort of being loved, or because He enjoys having people worship Him, but because that love that we have for Him is what motivates us to be good people. As President Uchtdorf says later in his talk:

His pure love directs and encourages us to become more pure and holy. It inspires us to walk in righteousness—not out of fear or obligation but out of an earnest desire to become even more like Him because we love Him. 

By doing so, we can become “born again … [and] cleansed by blood, even the blood of [the] Only Begotten; that [we] might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory.”
(Moses 6:59)

Though God's actions or inactions don't always make sense to me, I'm coming to understand that everything God does, He does out of love. Because He loves us, He desires what's best for us, and because of His great knowledge and wisdom, He knows what's best for us, even when His plan doesn't  make sense to foolish and ignorant people like us. However, for me this is proving to be a hard lesson to learn. On one level, I know that I'm foolish and that He is much more wise than I am, but at the same time, I want to make my own decisions, which sometimes means going against His advice. Hence the knowledge and admittance of my own foolishness. But even though I know I'm foolish, I'm still allowing myself to make the decisions on whether I follow God's directions or my own. When will I ever learn?

Once Upon A Time - Elizabeth and Mike Gibson

I wanted to re-watch President Deiter F. Uchtdorf's talk, Happily Ever After, but I had forgotten the title, so I did a youtube search for his name and a phrase I know he had used in that talk, and in addition to that talk, I found this:





I just thought I'd share it because it's a really nice song and the video that goes with it is pretty good, too.

I like the message of the song. To me it says that even though we're very much not in heaven anymore, if we have faith and trust in our Heavenly Father, we can still have hope to return and live in heaven again. It's the same thing I've been taught since I was a child, but this song puts it so beautifully, and I find that I can really use frequent reminders like this to help me remember that God has a plan for me. I just need to figure out what His plan is (beyond the basics, which I've already been taught), and find the strength I need to follow it.

We Are ALL Enlisted

I should really reread my blog posts more frequently. This morning, I started with the idea that I wanted to write about the Sword of the Spirit and how we can be more active in our fight against Satan, but I already wrote about the Sword of the Spirit, so I guess I'll just focus on that last part.

I just had a visit by a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses. Their courage in boldly going forth to share their message despite the barking of our large, black dog demonstrates one way we can actively oppose evil: We can share good messages that we know to be true, and we can encourage others to stands firm in their moral principles. Satan is attacking everyone all around the world. He weakens some and misleads others. He would gladly have all good religions fight amongst themselves over individual points of doctrine, when we could instead band together against the world-wide flood of evil. We may disagree about some things, but we can all agree that people shouldn't hurt animals or each other. Maybe we could start with that. I don't think it matters a whole lot what a person thinks God's name is, or whether that person believes in God at all. If they're a good person, they're a good person, and the world's a better place because of them. Sure, a belief in God can help encourage people to be good, and a good religion can teach them how, but when it comes to which specific religion to join, well... There are trillions of people who don't belong to the one true and living church, and I don't think God would shut the door on them just because they're not members of a specific group. The Lord looketh upon the heart.

Semi-political mini-rant aside, each individual person on earth is on the enemy's hit list. If he had his way, he'd destroy us all. His tactics are aggressive and relentless. If we're going to even keep pace with his war efforts, some of us, myself very much included, are going to have to start fighting harder. And it begins on an individual level. If Satan is attacking every person on earth, that means that he's fighting each of us. In order to survive this battle ourselves, and gain the strength we need to help others, we need to (as Chuck Norris did in my favorite Chuck Norris joke) kick the devil's butt and take our souls back.

As Elder Holland said, "You cannot travel down what Lehi called 'forbidden paths' and expect to guide others to the 'strait and narrow' one—it can’t be done." (We Are All Enlisted, General Conference October 2011) We can't help others win unless we are already winning.

Thankfully, there are some of us, including many of our religious leaders, that are winning. That's not to say that they're perfect, because no one is. It just means that they resist temptation, usually successfully, more often than not. My desire of those types of people is that they share their tactics. We all have the same enemy, and he has the same weaknesses and inabilities fighting one person as he does fighting another. Theoretically, the same tactics one person uses to defeat him should also work for someone else. Still, every person is different. A strategy or technique that works for one person may not work as well for another person. Even so, it's good advice, and if a person tries a variety of tactics, each of which have worked for other people in the past, he might find a set of tactics that works for him as well. Then he can pass those tactics on to others, and so forth.

One of Satan's major advantages in this war is that he's been at it for thousands of years. He has lots of experience. He has learned by now what works well and what doesn't. We don't have that experience (or at least, we can't always recall it). Humans, in general, need advice. As we follow the counsel of those who have come before us, and then pass our experience down to those who follow us, we can make a chain linking the wisdom of the ages to the challenges of today.

We're all in this together. Though there are many different churches, there is still only one God and one Adversary. We're all trying to follow the One and reject the other, and though we may try to go about it in different ways, there is really only one way: by following the example and teachings of Jesus Christ. And while we could spend all our time and energy fighting against each other, arguing whose interpretation of scripture is most correct, I think it would be more effective to just try to help each other live by and stand for basic moral principles. If we all try to be good people and encourage others to be good as well, I think that would be a good thing.

Strength

This morning, I poured 52 pounds of dog food into three 5-gallon buckets. This is not normally a difficult feat for me. I'm a strong young man. I carry groceries from Costco into the house all the time. I climb trees. I ride my bike. I'm athletic and reasonably strong. But almost a year ago, I crashed my bike while dodging a garbage bin. In doing so, I fractured one of the bones in my right arm. This caused pain and a loss of mobility. I got the mobility back, but it still hurts sometimes, and I think I know why.

For the months following my accident, I tried to go easy on my arm so it could heal. Then, knowing that my arm would be weaker than it was before, I spent a good deal of time trying not to ask too much of it. Now, I have no idea how strong, or rather how weak, my arm is, because I haven't been testing it. I haven't been putting it to the test. I've lost, and now must regain, most of my strength.

I'm not asking for sympathy here. My weakness is entirely my fault. Yeah, the crash was an accident. I might have been able to prevent it, or it might have been unavoidable. Whether I could have done anything to stop it doesn't matter anymore. It happened. What matters now is what I'm going to do about it, and that's something I can control.

In a quote I copied two days ago, Elder Paul V. Johnson said, "We clearly understand that an athlete who resists rigorous training will never become a world-class athlete." Or, to put it in turns of regular people, those who don't work out won't be as strong as they would be if they did. Elder Johnson related this fact of life to progressing spiritually, and so will I.

Some of us are already strong, and they can become stronger. Some of us are weak. We can become stronger, too. Whether we're weak because of bad choices we made or because life happened to us doesn't matter. It's water under the bridge. What matters now is what we're going to do next. Are we going to keep making bad choices? Are we going to just let life happen to us? There's not much we can do about it. Life's going to happen to us no matter what we do. Why fight it, right? I'll tell you why: Because we were made to be strong.

I once wished that Satan wasn't so evil; that all the he did to work against us, he only did because he knew it would make us strong. I know that that's not true of him, unfortunately. But it may be true of the world.

Life is hard. Life is harder for some people than for others, but there's plenty of hardship for everyone. If we're not making problems for ourselves, someone else is making problems for us, or maybe our problems are nobody's fault. It's just life. And the truth is, life's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be a workout. We're supposed to fight our way through the hardships so that struggle can make us strong.

It's not easy.  Some people find that ignoring problems or running away from them is easier than facing them. But life was never meant to be easy, and God won't let us get away with taking the easy way out forever. Eventually, we'll run out of places to run and then we'll have to face our problems. Eventually, we will need to be strong. I think that's the point.

Satan isn't our personal trainer. But in a similar analogy, our life on Earth may be the "fitness center" of our spiritual progression. This is where God sent us to get experience; to face challenges, to win some battles and lose others, and to learn how to become spiritually strong. I believe that's the purpose of life. So far, I haven't been fulfilling my purpose. I'm one of those people who'd rather not face problems and challenges. But thinking that strength-through-struggle is the purpose of mortal life, or at least my life, encourages me to try.

Flecks of Gold

The video I'm about to share is one that I've seen before, but one that I didn't think have any particular application to my life before. I thought it was about patience, and I didn't think at the time that I had a problem with patience. But now I'm seeing another message one could draw from this video; one that can help me.





The message I see now is Diligence and, surprisingly, Self-Esteem.

I know that I can't do much, and I'm okay with that. I don't have any big, special talents or skills. I'm not "the best" at anything. There are some things I can do. I can be helpful and friendly, nothing too impressive. Flecks, really. But if I do good things consistently, frequently, they can add up. As Elder Ballard said:

Like the small flecks of gold that accumulate over time into a large treasure, our small and simple acts of kindness and service will accumulate into a life filled with love for Heavenly Father, devotion to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a sense of peace and joy...
- Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Finding Joy through Loving Service," General Conference April 2011

It doesn't matter that we are all human. We are all flawed and limited in what we can do. But we can do what we can, and that's all God ever asks of us. He asks us to put our few small flecks in the pouch, and in exchange, He promises us all that He has: an enormous treasure of blessings, including a sense of peace in this life and eternal joy in the life to come.

The young man with the gold pan may be discouraged, working under the hot sun with so little to show for it, but when we do what God asks, whatever the results may be, God will reward our efforts in His own time. We just have to be patient, have faith, and keep collecting the flecks.

What to Learn From Affliction

My search for the purpose of adversity took me all over LDS.org and the standard works, and eventually led me to this talk:





As I thought about adversity yesterday, I thought that God must be trying to teach us something. But what, exactly? Wisdom? Patience? Perseverance? Kindness? Empathy? Maybe He's trying to make us stronger, or prove to us how strong we really are. Maybe it's any or all of the above.

In this talk, Elder Paul V. Johnson says that trials "are vitally important to the process of putting on the divine nature." At the risk of misinterpreting the words of a General Authority, I would say that "putting on the divine nature" sounds like becoming like Jesus Christ.

One thing that I sometimes forget about adversity and affliction is that Christ suffered it, too. In fact, even not counting Gethsemane, He suffered more than most. And if you do count Gethsemane, He literally suffered more pain and affliction than all of us combined.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said:

How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, "Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then, let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!"
-Neal A. Maxwell, "Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds," Ensign, May 1991

God knows, as we mortals often fail to understand, that in order to grow spiritually and become like Jesus Christ, and thus experience true joy, we have to face some opposition first. Elder Paul V. Johnson put it this way:

Sometimes we want to have growth without challenges and to develop strength without any struggle. But growth cannot come by taking the easy way. We clearly understand that an athlete who resists rigorous training will never become a world-class athlete. We must be careful that we don’t resent the very things that help us put on the divine nature.

Yesterday, I admitted a feeling of resentment against my challenges. I thought that all the suffering on earth was meaningless, and the fact that God allowed it to occur anyway revealed that He was secretly cruel. How wrong I was! How little wisdom I had and have! But thanks to the Apostles, I have a little more wisdom now than I did yesterday.

Passing through trials and adversity strengthens us and gives us opportunities to become better and wiser than we were before. If we're given enough of those learning and growing experiences, we can eventually learn and grow to be good and great, just as the Savior is. Some lessons can only be learned the hard way, and some strength can only be gained by pushing it to its limits again and again. God knows this. He knows that struggles and trials are essential to our growth and our ultimate happiness. That's why He put us here. That's why He lets bad things happen, even to good people. That's why He made life so hard. The greater the challenge, the greater the victory.

I'm grateful that God has given me this perspective. I'm grateful that He was patient with me through my period of ingratitude and even antagonism toward Him. I'm lucky He didn't destroy me for calling Him a jerk! But I guess God has thicker skin than that. He's endured suffering before. He's endured being mocked, insulted, and even hated, without retaliating. He's learned how to be a good person, even when it was really hard. That's what He wants me, and the rest of His children, to learn. And unfortunately for all of us, there's only one way to learn that.

Thru Thorny Ways

One of the most touching hymns in the hymnal, in my opinion, is Hymn number 124, Be Still, My Soul. It has an unusual effect the makes you want to cry, but if you're already crying when you start to read or sing it, it'll help you stop. At least, that's my experience with it. For the purpose of this blog post, I would like to highlight the last line or two from the first verse.

Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Lately, I've been getting rather discouraged. I sometimes feel that what God asks of us is too difficult, or that He gives us commandments just so He can boss us around. I know that's a terrible attitude to have, and I know that He isn't just trying to boss us around. He's trying to lead us to the "joyful end," but what I don't get is why we have to pass through the thorns to get there.

The thorns are symbols of adversity. Adversity has different causes. Some adversity is caused by disobedience to God's commandments. These are either natural consequences of certain actions, which God tried to help us avoid by giving us commandments, or they are punishments from God, meant to discourage us from continuing in sin, so we can avoid facing even greater trials down the road. With that kind of adversity, the suffering is either something God tried to prevent, or a device God uses to try to steer us away from even greater suffering. If one is perfectly righteous and obedient all the time, they can avoid this kind of suffering altogether, thus, I don't think it's part of the "thorny ways" we have to go through to get to the "joyful end."

Another kind of adversity is caused by the unrighteous actions of other people. Because God respects the agency even of those who abuse it, He sometimes lets people do bad things to other people. For example, I could punch some random stranger, and I'm pretty sure God wouldn't physically stop me. But I don't think this is part of the essential thorns either. If everyone were following God's plan, we wouldn't be doing that to each other, so we wouldn't have that suffering we would otherwise cause each other. If that kind of adversity is truly essential to our spiritual development, God's perfect plan would require some people not to follow it. I somehow don't think that's the case.

Another kind of adversity isn't anybody's fault, really. This category includes natural disasters, illness, accidents, and general life-being-hard-ness. This kind of adversity happens to everyone, and there seems to be no real reason for it, except that it changes our hearts.

Adversity from any source can cause either of two reactions. Either we can become bitter toward God, blaming Him for our problems, or we can humble ourselves and turn to God for relief.

My adversity has been making me bitter toward God. Even now, as I think of some of the adversity that's "nobody's fault" and all the suffering it causes, knowing that it's all part of God's plan for that suffering to occur, and the appropriate response is to worship God and serve Him, and patiently endure all that He puts us through, I start to get the feeling that God may secretly be a jerk.

I know that's a terrible attitude to have, and I know that it isn't true, and I know who's really responsible for the discouragement I feel and for putting those thoughts in my head, but in my foolish, mortal mind, I wonder if all this adversity is really necessary. What good does it do (or is it supposed to do)? Isn't there another way? Can't people get to a joyful end without having to go through thorns?

I'm going to have to study adversity some more and find out what the benefits are, what the purpose is. Then I might have a better attitude about it. If I find out that all the struggling and suffering we go through in life truly does have a worthwhile purpose, it'll help me to be more patient with it. I'm pretty sure we can't get to the joyful end God has prepared for us without going through some suffering first, but I'd like to know why that suffering is essential. I've got more research to do.

When The Mind Isn't Working...

After watching Conference talks and shorter clips, after reading inspirational quotes from one of our books, even after praying and pondering what it is I'm doing here on earth, I still have no idea what to blog about. I'd better go mow the lawn. When the mind doesn't want to work, give the body something to do. If my mind starts working while my body is mowing the lawn, I may come back with a better blog post than this.

Will Work For Courage

To yesterday's blog post, my mom posted a comment with a link to a website with many inspirational quotes. I searched that website for some good quotes on courage, looking for advice on how to gain more, and I eventually found this quote:

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy"~ Dale Carnegie

Ironically, sitting at home and thinking about it, and looking for advice, is exactly what I've been doing, and it is what has led me to this quote. One of the principles in this quote sounds very familiar. 

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear." -Dale Carnegie.

"Idleness gives room for doubts and fears." -Korsaren, later quoted by J. Richard Clarke

It's nice to know that at least part of Dale Carnegie's quote has been confirmed by a General Authority. In fact, that same General Authority all but confirmed the rest of what Carnegie said when he quoted Korsaren as having said, "No matter what ails you, work. ... Work is the greatest remedy available for both mental and physical afflictions," including, I would assume, a lack of courage.

Great minds think alike.

In any case, I think I've gotten my answer. If I want the courage to do the Lord's will, I should go out and do some work, preferably work that God would want me to do. I don't expect it will be fun or easy, but I've been told that obeying the Lord is worth it. This is a test, right? And part of the test is seeing whether we'll obey God's commandments. If I accomplish nothing else in my life, I want to at least do that.

The Fear of the Feeling of Failure

I once read, or rather listened to a book on CD of, Dale Carnegie's best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's a great book. When I first heard it's title, I thought it was shallow. I don't want to "win" friends. I want to make friends. But the book's not really about that anyway. At least, not the parts that I remember. It mostly had to do with remembering that everyone is human, and we all have the same basic wants. As I was reading, or rather listening to, the book for the first time, the concepts seemed to fit neatly under the same idea: Everyone has pride.

Pride is a fairly universal condition, and it takes many forms. President Ezra Taft Benson's talk, Beware of Pride, listed many possible forms it could take. Carnegie listed others. According to Carnegie, we all want to have a feeling of importance. According to Benson, pride usually involves thinking of self more than others. Both agree that an aspect of pride is the belief that what one wants is at the center of all that matters to them. I believe that we all feel that way, to some degree.

I want to be perceived as a good writer. I think I am a good writer (perhaps that's part of my feelings of pride). When I started this blog, I wasn't trying to impress anyone. In fact, I didn't think there was really anyone to impress. I'd have been surprised if anyone other than a few immediate family members read my blog. But now I know otherwise. I've gotten compliments. Strangers have posted comments and have "liked" my posts. I have an audience now, and I feel an obligation not to disappoint you. I feel like I have to put on a good show.

And right now, I feel like I'm failing at that. You expect something spiritually uplifting, unique, and insightful, as you've said my earlier blog posts have been. But I don't think I can provide that every morning. I didn't do it yesterday, and I can't do it today. I've run out of good ideas.

There is one idea I have, though. Something that popped up in my scripture study. Something that's been on my mind yesterday. Something that I lack the courage to share. I could make the excuse "It's too personal," and since this blog goes out to all the world, that might be a fair thing to say, but the truth is that I just don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. I don't even want to admit that it ever came up in the first place. The truth of the matter is that I am a coward. I know what God wants me to do, but I'm afraid to do it. And that, actually, is what came up in my scripture study.

Mormon 2: 4
And it came to pass that we did come to the city of Angola, and we did take possession of the city, and make preparations to defend ourselves against the Lamanites. And it came to pass that we did fortify the city with our might; but notwithstanding all our fortifications the Lamanites did come upon us and did drive us out of the city.

How, I wondered. How could the Nephites have lost? They had the city and they fortified it "with [their] might." What could have caused them to lose? Were they being wicked? Well, yeah, but when I asked that question and searched for the answer, I didn't see a reference to wickedness. I saw Mormon 2: 3:

And it came to pass that in the three hundred and twenty and seventh year the Lamanites did come upon us with exceedingly great power, insomuch that they did frighten my armies; therefore they would not fight, and they began to retreat towards the north countries.

The Nephites lost because they wouldn't fight, because they were too afraid.  That's where I am right now. But I'm not afraid of dying, like they were. Well, I am, but that's not what's stopping me. I'm afraid of failure. I'm afraid of feeling like a failure. I'd rather run away from the various tests of life than to find out I can't pass them.

I need to gain more courage. We've all heard that we miss 100% of the shots we don't take, so I need to gain the courage to take more shots, even though I know each missed shot's going to hurt me. And by me, I mean my ego. My precious personal pride. I need to let go. I need to humble myself. I need to accept that the pain of failure is a part of life, and that God wants to use it to make me strong. It sounds like a horrible plan to me, but if I trust God, I have to trust His directions. I have to do what He asks me to do, even though I know it's going to hurt, and I don't think it's going to work, and I'm not sure why it matters, and I'd rather do anything else. It's going to take an awful lot of courage. I wonder how I can develop it.

Baptism by Immersion

It occurred to me that I'm close to having written more blog posts in the past six months (February to July) than were posted during the three years that I was on my mission (2009-2011). I suppose that writing a new blog post every day adds up a lot faster than writing home once a week.

The trouble with writing every day is that some days, like today, it's hard to think of things to write about. Theoretically, there are dozens of gospel-related topics one could write about, with several more messages nested under each other. For example, I could talk about ordinances in general, or I could talk about baptism. And under baptism, I could talk about the correct mode of baptism, the baptismal prayer, or why baptism is essential to salvation. Any one of those topics would make for a great blog post.

Then, I get even more options when I think about one gospel topic from the perspective of another. I could look at fasting from the perspective of obedience, sacrifice, gaining a testimony, the availability (and the prerequisite costs) of heavenly help, and so on.

That's literally more than a week's worth of possible blog post topics that I could write about, just off the top of my head. But in order to write about any of them, I'd need to have something to say, and it helps a lot to have a scripture, Conference talk, or Mormon Message video to back up what I say. That takes research. Research requires knowledge of what you're trying to research. Basically, before I even think about writing about something, I need to know what I want to write about. And I usually don't.

Sometimes, some scriptural topic has been on my mind for a few days or at least a few hours, and I can blog about that. Sometimes something shows up in my scripture study or reading of the Ensign, that I feel I can share. Sometimes not. Sometimes, the things I learn in my personal scripture study are things that I don't feel like I can share. But I still need to blog about something.

Okay. Baptism. What did I say up there? The correct mode of baptism. Here we go.

The baptism of Jesus Christ is the most famous account of any baptism ever recorded (which is saying something because (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think) all baptisms are recorded). The record is found in (and I'm already stuck doing research): Matthew 3: 13-17, Mark 1: 9-11, Luke 3: 21-22 and John 1: 29-34. And possibly other places, but the Four Gospels was the first place I thought to look.

According to the various records, Jesus went from Nazareth (Mark 1:9) to Bethabara (John 1:28) to be baptized of John the Baptist in the River Jordan.

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3: 16-17

To some, the records seem to say that Jesus was immersed in the water, or was at least standing in the water, at the time of His baptism. I agree, not because I feel the scriptural accounts make it obvious (which I don't), but because modern revelation confirms that theory.

Baptism is to be administered in the following manner unto all those who repent— 

The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
D&C 20: 72-74

The immersion is symbolic of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (D&C 76: 21). In a personal way, it's supposed to represent a death of our old lives, and a rebirth into our new lives as Christians. The only good reason I can think of for being baptized in the first place is to follow Christ's teachings and example, so we're already following Jesus Christ by being baptized, and when we're baptized, we pledge ourselves to continue to follow Him (Mosiah 18: 13). For almost everyone, this would mean a change of lifestyle - an end of one way of living, and a beginning of living after the manner of Christ.

Much more could be said about baptism, specifically about the baptismal covenants, the need for the regular renewal of those covenants through the Sacrament, the need for proper authority in order to perform those ordinances, and other sub-topics that I'll probably think of as soon as I publish this post.

So, in theory, I should never be at a loss for things to blog about, yet I sometimes am. Sometimes, I'm just not thinking about spiritual things. I think I should probably change that. I've heard it said that we're not mortal beings having a spiritual experience - we're spiritual beings having a mortal experience. This seems to imply that all this spiritual stuff is pretty important. I could probably stand to focus more on spiritual matters than I do on... other things. It'd probably be better for me in the long run (and by "the long run," I mean "the eternities"). Good thing I have a blog to force me to think about these things.

A Beautiful Video About Jesus

I wasn't looking for faith this morning. I don't know what I was looking for, but this is what I found: Faith and Hope. I don't know if I've shared this video before, but it's worth sharing more than once.





This is a wonderful video with a beautiful message. I felt very uplifted as I watched this video. These men are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. They were chosen by Him to teach the world about Him. In this video, they share a few of the precious truths of His gospel. This message was meant to be shared with the entire world, and with good reason. This video can brighten a person's day. More than that, it could change a person's life. With President Thomas S. Monson, I pray that the world may know, and live by the knowledge, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, our Redeemer, and the Son of God.

Drawing Closer to the Spirit Through Fasting and the Sacrament

Today, I only have a vague idea of what I want to blog about. I want to blog about something like "drawing closer to the spirit by fasting and partaking of the sacrament," but I don't have enough of the right kind of material for that. I can talk about how fasting increases our spiritual power, since there's a small section in the Gospel Principles manual that talks about that, and then I could link that to how the sacrament is supposed to help us to "always have His spirit to be with [us]." I guess that the underlying message that I'm going for here is that there are certain, special things we can do, which we already do regularly, in addition to prayer, scripture study, and righteous living, that can help us to have the spirit more. And we're doing two of them today.

Fasting is a way we draw closer to God by putting our physical desires into subjection to the will of the Lord. It's a way we can make a small sacrifice for Him, and learn greater self-control. For this, the Lord blesses us with a portion of His spirit, especially when we distract ourselves from our physical hunger by thinking of spiritual things. And since we gain greater self-control by fasting, it makes us less likely to drive the spirit away by yielding to temptation.

Another way God has given us to help of focus our thoughts on spiritual matters is through the sacrament. We take the sacrament each week in remembrance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. During the sacrament, we promise to "always remember Him [Jesus Christ],"  and in return, we are promised that we will "have His spirit to be with [us]." This may be a natural cause-and-effect. The more we think of the Savior, the more we feel His spirit.

In reality, God has given us many. many ways to draw closer to Him and feel His spirit more fully. These methods include praying to Him, reading the scriptures, bearing our testimonies, following Christ's example, being kind to one another and serving one another, and the list goes on. All of these things can generally be summed up in "doing what He asks," or in other words, keeping His commandments. Many of these things, we can do, and are indeed asked to do, every day.

But there are also things that draw us closer to the spirit that we're only asked to do once a week or once a month (we can fast more often than once a month, but we're only asked, or required, to do it once a month). These are special opportunities to put our hearts in tune with God's. As Latter-Day Saints, and especially for those of us who have been members for a long time, there can be a tendency to become used to fasting once a month and partaking of the sacrament once a week. If we're not careful to think about why God asks us to do it, we may begin to take these things for granted as something we do every so often. I think that's why God asks us to fast with purpose and to pray as we fast (which I too often forget to do).

God really, really loves us. He desires our happiness and our ultimate success. And luckily for us, He has achieved great happiness and success, and He invites us to obtain it also by drawing closer to Him by following His path. God wants to bless us with every blessing He enjoys, and to that end, He invites us to come unto Him through fasting, prayer, partaking of the sacrament, and keeping His other commandments. I'm grateful that God has shown us the way to live on earth so we can live in heaven with Him. I hope that we all will remember to follow the path He has shown us.

The Power of Hymns

The current Ensign has an article about singing hymns throughout the week. In fact, Singing Throughout the Week is the title of the article. In this article, a few Latter-Day Saints shared their experiences with singing hymns as a part of everyday life. There was a young man whose LDS step-mother was forbidden to teach him the gospel, so she sang hymns with him instead. Later in life, that man attended a church meeting and recognized the hymns they sang there and was converted. Another LDS woman had a daily chore that she disliked, so she sang hymns to herself to take her mind off the drudgery. This became a habit of hers, and eventually she came to enjoy the time she spends worshipping the Lord through music, even while doing her least favorite chore.

Hymns can have a powerful affect on the hearts and minds of the people who hear them, and the affect is even more powerful for the people who sing them. Hymns can lift spirits, inspire righteous actions, and draw us closer to God.

Some of the greatest sermons are preached by the singing of hymns. Hymns move us to repentance and good works, build testimony and faith, comfort the weary, console the mourning, and inspire us to endure to the end. ... 

Hymns can lift our spirits, give us courage, and move us to righteous action. They can fill our souls with heavenly thoughts and bring us a spirit of peace. 

- First Presidency Preface, HYMNS, 1985

I've always loved hymns. I love the idea of connecting beautiful messages with beautiful music. They're very uplifting. If you have hymnbook in your home, I'd recommend taking a moment to open it to a favorite hymn, or a random one, and let the message enter your heart. I just did that, and the book opened up to hymn 236, Lord, Accept Into Thy Kingdom. It's a hymn about baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. I like the second verse:

Know ye not that he was holy? Yet he witnessed unto men
That the way is straight and narrow Leading unto God again.
Hark, glad tidings of salvation. Hear his word, "Come, follow me
Unto glory in my kingdom, Unto life eternally."

I'm grateful for a Savior who opened up the way, taught us the way, and showed us the way by His example, and I'm grateful for hymns to remind us of the glorious truths of the gospel in a way that they can linger in our hearts.

Why America is Great

There is a popular quote attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, though some people doubt whether the quote actually came from him or not. But I believe that if something is true, it's true no matter who did or did not say it.

"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

This quote rings true to me because it sounds so similar to various quotes from the Book of Mormon, about this land being a land of promise, and "Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence." -2 Nephi 1: 20

The protection of the Lord is a blessing that this country has always enjoyed, probably because the founding fathers had moral principles in mind when they wrote our laws. In a sense, America is a paladin. As long as we obey God's laws, we receive divine protection. In my opinion, it's because of that divine protection that we have never lost a war, and only rarely had to fight one on our own land. Paladins are given extra strength and protection because they are righteous. If a paladin stops being righteous, he or she loses those blessings and becomes just like everyone else.

I know I've shared the story of Helaman Chapter 4, with the Nephites losing, then winning back, much of their lands when they were wicked, then righteous, respectively. It'd be really scary if that sort of thing happened here. I think America, as a people, have been fairly righteous throughout our history. There had always been a number of bad people living here, but there have always been good people here, too, and we've been pretty blessed.

But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them.
2 Nephi 1: 10

I don't want that to happen, and unless I'm mistaken, the only way to prevent it is for us, as a people, to become more righteous. We just had a holiday to celebrate our country, and it truly is a great country. We're blessed to live here. But if we want to maintain that blessing, we're going to have to proven that we're still worthy of it. Otherwise, this country will stop being so great, or some group of people who are more worthy than we are will be given this land instead.

America has had a miraculous amount of peace and prosperity. If we want to keep that up, we're going to have to at least acknowledge where those blessings came from.

Every Act a Self-Portrait

You know, I think it worked (no pun intended). I did some good work yesterday and this morning, and now I feel pretty good. Sweaty (already), but still good.

As I was looking at (Bishop?) Clarke's talk the other day, there was another quote that stood out to me that I didn't share yesterday: "Every piece of work we do is a portrait of the one who produced it."

He goes on to say that many workers produce low-quality work because they can get away with it and still get paid in full. Maybe they save themselves time, money, or energy that way, but it's not entirely honest. Even if they meet the required standard, intentionally doing poorer work than they could have done means that they're cheating themselves and their customers, and it casts a poor reflection on their overall character.

Do you remember several days ago when I randomly complimented Josh Groban before going on to talk about something completely unrelated? That morning, I had just heard several songs by Josh Groban on Youtube. One of them was Remember Me. In that song, he sings the line: "I'm with you whenever you tell my story, for I am all I've done." (Emphasis Added)

This thought, that our works are a reflection of who we are, lends credibility to a thought I explored while blogging about identity: I am the kind of person that does the things I do, meaning that if I read books in my free time, then I'm the kind of person who spends their free time reading books.

I believe that our actions, including both work and recreation, are reflections of who we really are. If a person produces high-quality work, even though he's not being paid extra for the higher-quality, then it may be that he's just a higher-quality person. Perhaps I should keep track of what I do and how well I try to do it, and why I do it, etc. because perhaps that will help me to have a better understanding of what kind of person I am.

Also, this method could be helpful in reverse. If I want to be a certain kind of person, such as a paladin or a disciple of Christ, all I have to do is think of what that kind of person would do, or try to do, then do my best to follow that example. If I do it consistently enough that it becomes a personal habit, than it can probably be said that I have become the kind of person that I set out to be. To be a disciple of Christ, I should do what a disciple of Christ would do, which is what Christ would do, which is what He did. So, if I follow His example faithfully, I will become a disciple of Christ. That's pretty cool.

Clarke Quotes Korsaren

In April 1982, J. Richard Clarke, then Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, gave a talk titled The Value of Work, in which we quoted Korsaren, whoever/whatever Korsaren is/was. According to the Wikipedia, Korsaren is/was "a Norwegian satirical magazine" but for some reason, I don't think a person would quote that in General Conference. Anyhow, the quote (after any applicable translations) went something like this:

If you are poor, work. … If you are happy, work. Idleness gives room for doubts and fears. If disappointments come, keep right on working. If sorrow overwhelms you, … work. … When faith falters and reason fails, just work. When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead, work. Work as if your life were in peril. It really is. No matter what ails you, work. Work faithfully. … Work is the greatest remedy available for both mental and physical afflictions.

According to Korsaren, and apparently J. Richard Clarke, work is somewhat of a panacea. I don't know how much of this is true (not by personal experience, anyway), but I intend to try and find out. The part of it that I can personally testify of is "Idleness gives room for doubts and fears." I have many doubts and fears and I have been mostly idle. I'd like to change both of those things, and if they're connected, maybe I can change them both at once. Anyway, I'd like to find out. And the best way I can think of to try to kill those two birds with one stone is to test the Korsaren's suggestion. I'm going to go out and do some work before it gets too hot. Let's see how it goes.

Self-Image With the Spirit

In Gospel Essentials class last Sunday, we learned about the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and we talked about the blessings we receive when the Holy Ghost is with us. One of the class members said that he didn't feel like himself unless the Holy Ghost was with him. He said that this was probably because the Holy Ghost testifies of truth - the truth about God, Jesus Christ, and perhaps even ourselves. When we're inspired by the Holy Ghost, we can see ourselves as we really are.

I often don't see myself the way Heavenly Father must see me. I have poor self-esteem. I don't feel like I have great potential, even though I know that, technically, everyone has the potential to become like Him. I know that I have potential, and that God must be able to see it in me, but I can't see it in myself.

But maybe that's not what the class-member meant when he said that he doesn't feel like himself without the Spirit. I've thought of another way one could interpret that phrase. What if he does have a good self-image? Maybe he sees himself as a righteous person that tries to keep the commandments, that tries to follow the influence of the Spirit, and thus always has the influence of the Spirit to guide him. Maybe having the Spirit with him has become such a part of his daily life that it's part of how he sees himself. So, if he loses the Spirit (temporarily, I'm sure), that contradicts with his self image so much that he doesn't feel like himself.

That'd be a good self-image to have, in my opinion, as long as he's not self-righteous about it. I'd like to feel that way about myself. I'd like to be more righteous than I am and have the Spirit with me more, so much so that having the Spirit with me becomes part of who I am and how I see myself.

Willing Obedience

This morning, I'd like to write about Obedience, partly because it's one of the basic elements of the gospel, and partly because we learned about Obedience yesterday afternoon in Teachings For Our Times. But as I read through the chapter on Obedience in the  Gospel Principles manual, I'm seeing that there are too many facets to the principle of Obedience to cover them all in one blog post, so I'll just cover one aspect of Obedience, namely being willing to obey.





Sometimes, God asks us to do things that seem difficult, or that we don't fully understand, but those who obey the will of the Lord will be on the right path, even if everyone in the world (perhaps including themselves), thinks they're wrong. God knows better than we do, always.

In my Political Ramblings yesterday, I came across a problem. We can't force righteousness on society, and even if we could, it would be the wrong thing to do. At the same time, it's also a bad idea to permit wickedness to exist in society. Personally, I think that people should be mostly free to make their own choices, even if that means they're free to make bad choices. Laws should protect people from each other, but perhaps not from themselves. My personal stance on this issue is that people should be free to live their own lives, as long as they're not hurting anybody. But God knows better than I do.

Nephi's personal stance on a certain moral issue was "Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not kill." But he knew it was the will of God for him to get the plates from Laban somehow. So, first he just asked for them, and that didn't work. And then he tried to buy them, and that didn't work. Then, acting under the direction of the holy spirit, Nephi was given an opportunity to kill Laban and steal the plates. Nephi knew this was morally wrong, and Nephi told God that. If it were just up to him (Nephi), he would have tried to find another way. But God understood things better than Nephi did (and than most of us do now).

Normally, yes, killing and stealing are absolutely totally wrong. But in this case, God knew otherwise.

Normally, we're supposed to vote according to our conscience, and normally, my conscience says to live and let live. But in this case, God knows better.

"When God speaks, and man obeys, that man will always be right."

Sometimes, God asks us to do things that are difficult, that are unpopular, or that don't seem to make any sense. When that happens, will we be like Laman and Lemuel, and trust in our own wisdom (or foolishness) rather than trusting in God? Or will we, like Nephi, obey the voice of the Lord in the things He commands us to do?