The Priesthood: Access to the Atonement

In the first talk of the Priesthood Session of the April 2018 General Conference, President Douglas D. Holmes, First Counselor of the Young Men General Presidency, paraphrased something that Elder Renlund had taught that I thought would be worth re-repeating: "Elder Dale G. Renlund taught that the purpose of the priesthood is to provide God’s children access to the atoning power of Jesus Christ."

I wonder if that means that all functions of the Priesthood accomplish that purpose. Certainly the ordinances do. Ordinances like baptism and the sacrament grant people almost direct access to the atoning power of Jesus Christ. The healings and other personal blessings do so, too, in a different way. Rather than drawing on Jesus' power to forgive sins, those blessings often draw on His power to heal the wounded and afflicted.

But there are other functions of the Priesthood that are less-obviously linked to the Atonement, such as callings in Priesthood organizations. How do they "provide God’s children access to the atoning power of Jesus Christ"? Perhaps by guiding them to it. That is, after all, the main thing that leaders do: lead. Priesthood leaders guide others to the paths that they must follow in order to gain access to the power of the Atonement. Whether that means repenting of some wrongdoings or simply taking the next step in one's eternal progression, an authorized Priesthood leader can discern what we need to do to make our way back into God's presence, and the atoning power of Jesus Christ is essential to helping us get there.

There may be other things the Priesthood is used for, besides callings, leadership, and ordinances. If there are, I wouldn't be surprised if they also helped people draw on the Atonement, just as the other two uses do. In any case, the Atonement is the most important power in our world, and the Priesthood is exactly the tool we need to help ourselves and others gain access to it.

Rest, Prayer, and Meditation

Countless times over the course of my life, and again earlier today, I've heard advice regarding the importance of rest, meditation, and prayer. I believe that these things are connected in that they all provide some relief from the stresses and worries of life.

These days, people are busy. We so much time keeping busy, doing the things we're supposed to do, that when we get time to rest, we hardly know what to do with it. We fill our spare time with recreational pursuits, thinking that if something is effortless and enjoyable, it must be restful. Maybe I should only speak for myself. I seem to be deluded into thinking that sitting back watching Youtube videos is restful, and maybe it is, physically, but when the rest I need is mental and/or emotional rest, Youtube isn't the best place to get it; meditation is.

I could stand to close my eyes more often instead of constantly looking at a screen. I could stand to listen to my thoughts, the Spirit, and nothing instead of listening to headphones. I could stand to take some time to meditate instead of spending so much time online. I'd like to say that I'm a product of my generation, but I'm also capable of making my own decisions. I can and should meditate, rest, and pray more than I currently habitually do, and perhaps, with technology being so prevalent and taking up so much of so many people's time, I'm not the only one.

Sharing in Person

I have a habit of wearing headphones while I watch Youtube videos. I usually consider this a (common) courtesy to anyone else in the house who doesn't care about Magic news, Dev's latest deck tech, or everything wrong with everything wrong with whatever movie is popular at the moment. I like to enjoy my videos without annoying everyone else. But there are times, including just now, when I take the headphones out. There are times when I consider one particular video or one moment in one video worth sharing. And really, isn't that what most social media posts were designed for, sharing? Many posts actively encourage people to share them far and wide, and I occasionally do, but I find it more enriching to share things with people in person. When I watch a video that I'm sure my brother will enjoy, I often pull my headphones out and share the video with him in person. That way, we can react together and even kind of bond over it. It's a more human connection than I usually get online, and I enjoy it more. I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying social media any more than I think there's anything wrong with watching TV or movies, but all of those activities are even better when you do it with people who are close to you.

The Duration of Conversion

In the D&D adventure an acquaintance and I are running, the adventuring party is hunting down a trio of magical items with minds of their own. So far, both of the items the party has found have been willing to use their magical abilities to the party's benefit, as long as their conditions are met. One of those items is Wave, a magical trident who is only willing to use her powers in behalf of a worshiper of Poseidon, but she is more than willing to accept new converts. All a person has to do is "Praise Poseidon," and Wave will help them. There's just one problem: That's not how conversion works.

Conversion is more than a one-time event, and worship is more than just saying a few prayers. Naturally, we're not spending too much time on the motivations and moral standings of these characters since our game-time is limited, the players are mostly children, and this isn't meant to be a long-term game anyway. If there were fewer, more mature players and we had more time to explore moral and religious nuance, we probably delve deeper into Wave's insistence that someone convert to worshiping Poseidon, or we would simply go without her magical aid, though we need all the help we can get.

In this D&D game, we're not trying to be realistic, but if we were, we wouldn't make "conversion" to Poseidon anywhere near as simple or easy as saying "Yeah, sure, I worship Poseidon now, I guess." Conversion is more personal. It requires more commitment over a longer period of time. Conversion is a process of a lifetime, not something someone can do at the drop of a hat in order to secure some magical power. If someone is "converted" the instant they say they are, who's to say that they won't become "unconverted" just as quickly? Easy come, easy go. Conversion is supposed to last for eternity, which is why, in reality, the process of becoming converted takes a lifetime.

Agony Into Glory

In his April 2018 General Conference talk, Elder Dale G. Renlund quoted the following statement from C. S. Lewis:

[Mortals] say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. … The Blessed will say, "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven."

 I have already seen this effect on a smaller scale. I have had painful experiences and have since forgotten the pain of them, but remembered the lessons I learned from them.

I once stepped on a hornets' nest and gotten bitten what must have been dozens of times. Shortly thereafter, I got a Priesthood Blessing, and now I don't remember having ever even felt pain, but I gained a testimony of the power of the Priesthood.

The Midnight Miracle, which I've blogged about, was a horrendously emotionally painful experience, but while I no longer feel the anguish I once felt about it, I still have the faith I gained from it. I now know that God has a foolproof plan (or a lot of really good backup plans), and I always will.

And when someone stole my bike seat, I'm sure that biking home without a seat was somewhat arduous, but as I thought about that situation and the probable situation of the person who took my seat, I developed a certain amount of sympathy for that person and for other people in desperate situations.

Those three experiences, despite being arguably negative, helped me grow in testimony, faith, and compassion. If I keep those positive traits and forget the negativity (as time has already helped me do), then those experiences will be exclusively positive.

That concept of keeping the good and forgetting the bad might be what prompted C. S. Lewis to say that even our agonies will be turned into glory. Once we've forgotten all the bad parts, glory will be all that's left. Every experience is a learning experience, especially the painful ones, and though the pain fades, the lessons don't have to. Every experience can become a glorious experience, which I suppose means that life itself is glorious, despite its eventually-to-be-forgotten flaws. And once all its faults are behind us, it could be that mortal life starts to seem very much like heaven.

Teaching Anytime

I just read and listened to the April 2018 General Conference talk of President Devin G. Durrant, first counselor in the Sunday School general Presidency. He spoke of teaching the Gospel in the home, and one of the things that stood out to me is how many opportunities we have to teach our family members. Of course, there are the usual things, like family prayer, scripture study, and home evening, but we can also teach the Gospel in our everyday lives, in casual conversations, and by example. We can discuss Gospel principles as they become relevant to current events, the media we consume, and the challenges we face. Honestly, there are gospel lessons in almost everything. We just need to notice them and bring them up, and almost anything can become a teaching opportunity. Teaching the Gospel in the home (and elsewhere) doesn't have to be a formal, prepared lesson, like those we teach and hear in church. Often, the best lessons are the ones that come up naturally and spontaneously, as inspired by the Holy Ghost and the testimony of the teacher. Just keep your eyes and heart open to potential lessons and be ready to open your mouth when you spot them. Opportunities will come, and not just once a week or at particular times of day.

When Help Doesn't Help

It has occurred to me that a few of the things that humans have designed to help us have also become metaphors for things that hold us back.

For example, Band-Aids are great for sealing small, temporary wounds, particularly the ones that will heal on their own, but a "Band-Aid Solution" is a method for putting off the actual healing of a serious problem. Band-Aids are temporary. They are used to prevent small, self-solving problems from becoming worse. But when we apply a Band-Aid or a Band-Aid Solution to a serious problem that will not solve itself, we are basically fooling ourselves into pretending that we don't have to deal with the problem at all. When used in this way, Band-Aids actually prevent healing rather than facilitating it.

Similarly, a crutch is a tool to help a person with some mobility-related disability regain some measure of mobility. If your leg is in a cast and you can't put weight on it, you will likely use a crutch or crutches to retain your ability to walk. Crutches, too, are often temporary. There are some people who use crutches to help them counter permanent disabilities, whereas others use wheelchairs instead, but for many people who have used crutches, the use of those crutches was meant to be temporary, and they often are. However, metaphorical crutches are much less helpful. Metaphorically speaking, crutches are tools that people use to cover a weakness instead of overcoming it. Metaphorical crutches symbolize an over-reliance on something that prevents a person from having to face a problem on their own. Just as real crutches, when over-used, can lead to muscle atrophy, metaphorical crutches can reduce a person's ability to face the problems that the crutches help them avoid.

Used improperly, neither Band-Aids nor crutches help a person achieve actual healing or growth. These things instead let us justify ignoring our problems in hopes that they'll go away. Instead, this often lets our problems grow worse. Getting help when we don't need it and getting less help than we need are both dangerous. Thankfully the main source of all our help knows very well exactly how much help we need and when we need it. As we rely on God for the help we need (or think we need), He can provide us with real solutions, not Band-Aid solutions, and He can wisely revoke our crutches when He knows we no longer need them. With God's help, we can heal and grow properly, but with self-administered help and the help we get from other humans, we should be careful not to rely too much on Band-Aids or crutches.

Gradual Growth

The reason I didn't want to "re-re-recommit" to blogging by noon each day (besides how tacky that sounds) is that I believe that the last re-recommitment still holds. Yes, my track record has been far from perfect, and I haven't been working on it nearly as hard as I should be, but growth is a gradual process. We don't go from imperfect to perfect instantaneously. I will continue to make poor decisions and mistakes time and time again. All that I can hope for is to slip up less and less frequently and to do better and better as time goes by. For instance, I intended to blog before noon today, but I let the morning get away from me, and now I'm a few minutes late. Still, a few minutes after noon is a lot better than half an hour before midnight, so I'd say I'm making progress. As long as I keep making progress, I'll continue to improve until I can consistently keep the commitment I keep remaking. I just have to keep trying and stop thinking that a commitment is permanently broken while I'm still trying to keep it.

When to Recommit

We make a lot of commitments in this church, and through our human weaknesses and imperfections, we frequently end up needing to renew our commitments, like how I clearly need to renew my commitment to blog before noon every day. When the commitments we need to renew are covenants, we renew them by taking the Sacrament during Sacrament Meeting, but every once in a while, because of Stake Conferences or General Conferences or other possible situations, we miss a week here and there. There are some Sundays when we can't take the Sacrament.

However, that doesn't mean that we can't renew our covenants, or at least our commitments. On New Year's Eve, we tend to make resolutions, but any day can the the start of a new year or even a new life. Similarly, we can recommit to our old goals and/or commit to new goals any time we want. If we want to renew the commitments we made at baptism or in the temple, all it takes is a prayer.

This might not be an official recommitment to blogging by noon, since I recommitted and then re-recommitted so recently, by this is an acknowledgement that, if there's something you know you should be doing, and you promised to do, it's never a bad time to once again start keeping that promise. You don't have to wait for the next Sacrament Meeting or New Year's Eve to start being the person you know you should be. You can recommit at any time. Preferably now.

Blessings and the Pride Cycle

Part of my lesson on Gideon included a lesson on the pride cycle and on how God often revokes and withholds blessings from the unrighteous. At the start of the lesson, the Israelites were struggling against the Midianites largely because they had been worshiping Baal instead of God. After they had suffered and repented, the Lord agreed to help them again, but He did so in a way that discouraged the Israelites from becoming prideful about their God-given success against the Midianites. God wants us to be righteous and humble, and the desire is reflected in when and how God blesses us. He's not likely to bless us when we're being unrighteous, and He's not likely to bless us in a way that would promote sins like pride or sloth. There are some who've been blessed with pride-enabling power, like Ammon and David the giant-slayer have been, but those people were generally already humble enough to give credit to God, despite their own miraculous accomplishments. So, if you want blessings, try to be righteous, and try not to let the blessings you hope to get lead you into more sin.

A Basic Lesson Plan

My plan is pretty basic. I'm going to briefly recap the story of Joshua and Jericho, since we kind of sped through it last time and it's somewhat relevant to my lesson, and then I'm going to have the children read the scriptural passages that tell the story of Gideon and the Midianites. The basic story is that the Lord called Gideon to free the Israelites from the Midianites, Gideon got an army together, and the Lord had Gideon reduce the army from 32,000 to 300, so they'd have to rely on the Lord, which they did, and they won miraculously. Of the several lessons we could draw from this story, we'll probably cover the importance of trusting the Lord, despite how different His methods are from ours. We may also want to touch on the importance of avoiding pride, since that's the main, stated reason why God wanted to reduce the Israelitish army.

The only problem I'm seeing with this plan is that it may be a little bit too basic. We're mostly going to be reading the story and discussing the lessons we can learn from it. Considering that I'm teaching a bunch of children, I should probably find a way to make this more engaging. Of course, I can put some showmanship into the reading and use questions to encourage the children to put themselves in Gideon's shoes, but I should do something more. There's an Enrichment Activity in the lesson that looks decent (and isn't just more reading and discussion), so I'll probably do that, but even so, the lesson seems a bit basic.

But what's wrong with that? The story is interesting enough that it can probably carry the students' interest, and if it end up being a simple lesson, so be it. As long as the children learn something, that's all that matters. Lessons don't need to be elaborate to be effective. Yes, they should be memorable, and I will have to try to make the story and the lessons memorable, but a message doesn't need to be complex to accomplish that. In fact, sometimes simplicity helps make a lesson memorable. So, yeah, my lesson this week is pretty basic, but if I teach it right, that might be a good thing.

Ronin and Samurai

I recently watched a video about samurai in which it was explained that the cartoon character Samurai Jack was not actually a samurai. Instead, he was a ronin, the difference being that samurai have masters to whom they owe complete fidelity, whereas ronin are masterless. I wonder which one of them is better. Which of the two would be better for us to be? Which of them is closer to my ideal of a Paladin?

Naturally, the ronin is more tempting. Not having a master gives an individual a great deal of freedom for how they can behave. Of course, there will be consequences; every action has consequences, but at least they don't have to take orders. Ronin cannot be compelled to commit atrocities in the name of their feudal lord, as many samurai have, because they do not have any lord that they are compelled to obey. They are their own masters, free to act as they choose. And as Samurai Jack has proven, a ronin does not need a master to compel him to do good. "Samurai" (Ronin) Jack has shown on many occasions over his show's five-season run that he is more than willing to act with honor and to do good. As a ronin, he is free to do as his conscience directs, regardless of what any feudal lord says.

Yet, we have a Lord, and we're probably better off for it. While mortal lords and kings are invariably imperfect, with some being deeply flawed and arguably evil, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is absolutely perfect, as is His law. Unlike the samurai of feudal Japan, we will never have to choose between doing good and obeying our Lord because what our Lord commands is good. Doing good and obeying God are the same thing. Now, it's somewhat unclear whether good actions are good because God commands them or whether God commands us to perform those actions because those actions are inherently good, and you can argue about the chicken and the egg until the cows come home, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we hearken unto the Lord and do good, which is basically the same thing.

We are not ronin. We are samurai. We have a Lord whom we are honor-bound to obey. Yet, this does not cause for us the same problems that the feudal lords caused for their samurai, because our Lord has never and will never command us to do evil. We will never have to choose between following our conscience and following the Lord because, if our hearts are in the right place, they will both lead to the same destination by the same path. I am thankful that our Lord is a righteous lord and that we don't need to feel any moral reluctance to obey Him. I'm thankful that we can trust that His commands are good. And I'm thankful that, by learning His commandments, we can get a clearer picture of what "good" is. We have a good Lord, and it is good for us to obey Him.

Pride and Accomplishments

Despite God's method of reducing the Israelite army doesn't seem to make much sense, His reason for doing so is spelled out plainly in Judges 7:2, in which the Lord told Gideon "The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." The Lord wanted the Israelites' victory to be truly and undeniably miraculous to help reduce the chances that the Israelites would fall victim to the sin of pride. God didn't want to give them any reason to think that they accomplished this victory themselves because He didn't want them to brag about it. However, while reading this explanation, I could hardly help thinking that one's accomplishments are perhaps the one appropriate cause of pride.

These days, people take pride in many things. Some people take pride in their nationality and/or heritage. Some people take pride in their race. Some people take pride in their gender and/or sexual orientation. However, if you ask me, I'd say that it's foolish to take pride in things like these, things over which the potentially-proud person has absolutely no control. It doesn't make sense for a person to be proud of the circumstances of their birth or of their genetic traits because they didn't earn any of those things. When a person actually accomplishes something, they have good reason to be proud of that, but when a trait is brought about by luck or by something someone else did, the person who inherited that trait has no legitimate reason to be proud of it.

So, since the Lord was saving the Israelites from the Midianites, and the Israelites weren't really earning that victory, it is not justified for the Israelites to take pride in that victory. They hadn't (and probably could not have) earned it, even with the 32,000 soldiers Gideon started with. The Midianites were described as being innumerable, so any Israelite victory against them could only have been miraculous. Yet, if the Israelites were only outnumbered 2-to-1 or even 5-to-1 or 10-to-1, they could have plausibly (and arrogantly) assumed that their victory was earned and boasted of it. Now, if the Israelites actually had earned that victory, a little bit of boasting might have been justified, but God wanted to make it clear that they hadn't and it wasn't.

Pride is a fairly serious sin, and many people fall into it by taking pride in things that they had little to do with. The Israelites didn't defeat the Midianites; God did. Similarly, a combination God, genetics, and luck determines each person's nationality, heritage, race, sex, gender, and sexual orientation, so it makes little sense for any person to take pride in theirs. Instead, let's make sure we give credit where credit is actually due, rather than taking credit for things we haven't earned, and when we do take pride in anything, let's make sure that it's something that we actually accomplished.

Faith to Trust God's Plan

This Sunday, I'll be teaching a lesson about Gideon (from the Old Testament, not the Book of Mormon). I don't imagine that this will be very difficult because the story is interesting and the message is clear: Trust the Lord. God may use bizarre, counter-intuitive methods sometimes, but His ideas work about as often as they're tried. If God tells you to reduce your army based on how they drink their water, humor Him; odds are, He has a plan.

Unfortunately, that level of trust is hard to come by. When I receive a commandment, I won't to know why that commandment makes sense before I commit to keeping it. For example, I was once asked to serve as an Eleven-Year-Old-Scout Leader. I had served in that position before, and I knew that the Eleven-Year-Olds have a difficult place in the church's Scouting program. They had grown out of the Cub Scouts, but they didn't meet with the other Boy Scouts, either. These boys were stuck in a sort of limbo between two functioning programs, and I'm not sure why that was. So, when I was asked to be our ward's Eleven-Year-Old-Scout leader, I declined. It was the only calling I ever rejected, and I rejected it because I had no idea why that position and that practice existed. For the record, I still don't know why the Eleven-Year-Old-Scouts are kept separate from the other Scouts. It still seems like a terrible idea to me, and I hope we don't implement it again with the new program we use after we officially part ways with the Boy Scouts of America (or Scouting BSA, or whatever it is now). But if we do continue that practice, and if I am once again asked to mentor those ostracized boys, will I have enough faith to trust that God has a good reason for all of this?

I'm not sure. I would hope that I would trust that God's ridiculous-, counter-productive-, and foolish-seeming plans and practices actually have good logic behind them, but I'm not sure that I actually would trust that until I saw the logic for myself. I like to know the reasons for things. If a course of action doesn't make sense to me, I'm not likely to follow it. I'm not sure what I would have done if God had asked me to lead the Israelite army and deliberately reduce its numbers in such an arbitrary way. I'm not sure that I would have gone along with it. I don't think that I have the kind of faith that Gideon seemed to have. Perhaps I should try to develop it.

Of course, I know that God knows more about these situations than we do. I know that He knows the best course of action. God's ways are always the best ways, even when they don't seem to make sense to us. I should trust God and His unconventional ideas more than I currently do, like Gideon did. Theoretically, I shouldn't need to know why God wants something done in a certain way. I should be able to just take it on faith and trust that God has a logical plan.

Service for Family

We often discredit the service we do for family. Somehow, we think it doesn't count, that we're only doing our duty. However, I believe that it does still count as service, especially when it's difficult. Being related to someone doesn't make serving them any less kind. The good we do for our family is still good done. So when we serve our families, let's acknowledge that we did a good thing and give ourselves some credit for it. It matters far more that we do service than it matters whom we do service for.

Casual Shepherd

In the Saturday Afternoon Session of the April 2018 General Conference, Elder Taniela B. Wakolo of the Seventy gave a talk titled "Saving Ordinances Will Bring Us Marvelous Light" in which he shared the following passage:

The many distractions and temptations of life are like “ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15). It is the true shepherd who will prepare, protect, and warn the sheep and the flock when these wolves are approaching (see John 10:11–12). As undershepherds who seek to emulate the perfect life of the Good Shepherd, aren’t we shepherds of our own soul as well as of others? With the counsel of prophets, seers, and revelators, whom we just sustained, and with the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, we can see the wolves coming if we are watchful and prepared. In contrast, when we are casual shepherds of our own soul and others’ souls, casualties are likely. Casualness leads to casualties. I invite each of us to be a faithful shepherd.

This paragraph struck a chord with me. More than one, in fact. I, far too often, fall prey to the "distractions and temptations of life," largely because I am one of the "casual shepherds" Elder Wakolo warned us not to be. I sometimes let my heart and mind wander too far afield, when what I should do is guide my thoughts and desires toward God.

This, of course, takes constant effort, which is why I regularly fail to do it. I am far too casual in my governance over my heart and soul. Were I a mere steward of those things, I wouldn't be surprised or unfairly treated if that stewardship were revoked.

But I am more than a steward. I am the owner, guardian, and master of my soul, and it is ultimately my responsibility to protect my soul from spiritual harm. I need to take that responsibility more seriously. I often pray for God to help me resist temptation, but perhaps I ought to adjust my wording slightly. Perhaps, instead of asking for God's help, I should ask for enough strength to resist temptation on my own.

The difference is slight. In fact, it's so slight, I almost put "on my own" in quotation marks. Whether I ask for help or strength, the blessing mostly amounts to the same thing. God often helps people by granting them the strength to help themselves. Receiving extra strength is just one of the many ways to receive help.

However, while slight, the difference is significant because asking for help indicates a certain amount of reliance on God, while asking for strength puts the responsibility back on my shoulders. God may grant me the strength to resist temptation, but then it still falls to me to actually do so.

Additionally, the boon of strength may be granted more gradually and more permanently. If I ask for help, God may help me many times, but I doubt that He will continue to help me in that way for all eternity. He likely expects me to learn how to do this on my own. Thus, He might, over time, help me develop the inner strength to resist temptation on my own, without the constant need of additional assistance.

But however God helps me guard my soul, I need to make sure that I'm doing my part. I am my own soul's last line of defense, and I am the one who stands the most to lose if I don't guard it well, so I can't afford to let my guard down. I am the shepherd who must keep the "ravening wolves" from consuming my soul, and while that is a duty I currently share with God, that won't be true forever. I have to learn how to defend my soul on my own. This is a great responsibility, perhaps too great for me to currently bear alone, but even as I seek God's help with this responsibility, I can't afford to treat it casually.

"I'm Here If You Need Me."

This afternoon, I saw what I consider to be a near-ideal example of supportive parenting. A girl was tasked with doing something of some degree of difficulty: giving a talk in front of her peers. The girl's father followed her up to the podium and sat on the stand behind her with the comforting words "I'm here if you need me." And, indeed, he did have to pitch in once or twice, but I think that his help went far beyond the few times he actually lent a hand. I imagine that his mere presence and the assurance that any needed help would be provided could have given the girl the comfort and the confidence she needed to give that talk.

What's especially comforting to me about this experience I witnessed is the thought of how closely it might resemble God's relationship to us. We're standing at the podium; we're the one giving the talk, but we know that our Heavenly Father is waiting nearby, ready to help us, if we need Him to. I find a great deal of comfort in that.

I find comfort in knowing that God trusts us enough to let us face our challenges ourselves. He's not hovering over our shoulders, whispering in our ears (at least, not most of the time. There are some of us who occasionally could use that much help). Most of the time, He hangs back, letting us gain the experience of trying and succeeding on our own.

But I also find comfort in knowing that, if it seems that we're not likely to succeed, we have a helper who has our backs. If we ever get stuck on a part of life that we find especially difficult, if we ever really need God's help (and when do we not?), He'll be there to help us as soon as we ask.

This, I think, is just about the perfect amount of support. It's enough to help us succeed when we otherwise wouldn't, and it's enough to serve as a sort of safety net, giving us the confidence to even try, but it's not so much support that it takes away the validity of success. If we can succeed on our own, God lets us. If we need His help, He gives us only as much help as we both need and ask for. And as long as we're willing to accept His help, He is standing by, willing to grant it.

I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is kind enough and wise enough to give us the support we need when we ask for it. It's comforting to know that, while God lets us make our own choices, including our own mistakes, and lets us succeed or fail on our own, if we want to, He also stays as close as we let Him stay and He is willing to offer us help if we both want and need it. The amount of love and trust and support God has for us is immeasurable. I find it a great comfort to know that, when I struggle (and I frequently struggle), God is always there if and when I need Him.

Desires and Choices

One of the most important questions we will ever have to answer is "What do you want?" Our desires play an essential and decisive role in our eternal progression. Ultimately, our desires determine who we are and who we will become. God lets us choose which path we follow, and our choices reflect our desires. If we really want to follow God, we will, even when it's difficult to do so, but if we don't want it badly enough, if there are other things we want more than that, then we will end up making other choices and following other paths instead.

It is important for us to examine and evaluate our desires and, when necessary, to seek out ways to change our desires, because if Eternal Life isn't the one thing we want more than anything else, we probably aren't going to get it. I think that God ultimately lets us have whatever we desire most, because if we really want something, we're likely to follow the path that leads to that thing instead of any other path. This is a good thing, if what we want is exaltation. But if there's anything we want more than exaltation, if there's any other path we'd rather choose, it can become very difficult to make the right decisions. Our choices are shaped by our desires, so we should cultivate our desires to choose the right.

Healing Without Being Cured

Last night, I found an insight in the Wikipedia. On a whim, I looked up Healing, and the first paragraph of the article reads: "Healing (literally meaning to make whole) is the process of the restoration of health from an unbalanced, diseased or damaged organism. The result of healing can be a cure to a health challenge, but one can heal without being cured." I want to emphasize that last line, "one can heal without being cured," because I think that it explains a large part of the human experience and the role of the gospel within that experience.

We came to Earth mainly so we could face opposition and challenges. We are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world, and that condition will continue for as long as we live. We can't be "cured" of imperfection until there is a major change to the Earth or ourselves or both. But that's okay. The challenges and imperfections we struggle with in life serve an essential function. They help us learn and grow and become more Christlike. We have to face and experience imperfection. It is essential to our eternal progression.

However, there is some pain involved in this experience that is not essential to our eternal wellbeing. Some of the suffering we face in mortality can be cut short or avoided altogether without interfering with God's eternal plan for us. There are some afflictions of which we can be healed.

But that doesn't mean that we'll be fully healed or that we'll never have to face afflictions of that type again. Affliction is a necessary condition of mortality. We have to experience hardship. God can offer us some comfort and relief, but, for our eternal benefit, we need to endure these experiences and learn from them, no matter how painful they are.

Some say that a loving God wouldn't allow there to be any suffering, and I personally don't think that He allows there to be much more suffering than is absolutely necessary for the greater good, but some suffering is necessary, and while God can alleviate the pain of that suffering to some extent, it's in our own best interest that He not fully cure us of it. Mortality is a life-long condition that involves a fair amount of scarring and pain, but though God can't, won't, or shouldn't cure us of mortality before our time comes, He can offer us a good deal of comfort, relief, and healing even while we remain not-yet-cured.

An Off Day

I could have blogged earlier today. I had the opportunity. I had the reminder. I don't know why I didn't blog before noon today. I guess I just wasn't in the mood today. I've had kind of an off day. Those happen from time to time. There are times when we just don't feel like we're at our best. Today might have been one of those days for me. I don't know what the best thing to do is in this situation. I should probably analyze my day to figure out what went wrong and why, and I intend to, but if I don't find out why today was an off day, I plan to just shrug it off and move forward. Very soon, today will be in the past. I can still learn from it, but there's no point in dwelling on it or letting it hold me back. Tomorrow's another day, and whatever was off about today probably won't still be off tomorrow, so I'm going to try to start tomorrow with a clean slate and not think about whatever it was that made today an off day.

Easy Omens

At one point in my D&D game tonight, we players weren't quite sure whether an encounter was meant to be a plot hook that our characters should follow or whether it was just a random encounter that our characters were supposed to overcome quickly on their way to accomplishing a greater goal. To give the DM a way to answer this question in-game, I had my character suggest that they ask the goddess whom they worshiped for some divine guidance, which she readily gave, granting obvious omens to two of the main characters very shortly after they asked.

Divine guidance is wonderful, and often essential, but it's not usually that quick, that easy to obtain, or that clear. Usually, revelation comes gradually as we continually seek it out and study the matter upon which we are asking for guidance. Of course, revelation can come quickly and clearly, but usually only in times of great and urgent need.

There was no urgent need for our characters to know the DM's intent for that encounter, and the request for guidance only took a few minutes for the characters and a few seconds for the players, so, in my opinion, our characters got off easy.

Of course, I can see why the DM took the opportunity to steer our characters toward the next story moment instead of leaving it up to the characters to decide if and when they plan to follow the plot, but in real life, it's hard enough to get answers on what the plot even is. God lets us struggle to get revelation and occasionally just stumble along without it because He knows that such struggles strengthen our characters and help us grow toward the point at which we have become so wise that we no longer need God's guidance because our own moral compasses tell us the same things God would.

Naturally, that time is pretty far off, and in the meantime, we frequently need God's guidance; however, despite our need, we shouldn't expect God to give us divine guidance quickly, clearly, or easily. We have to work for it and wait for it at least a lot longer than my D&D character did.

Choosing Super-Powers

When the writers at Pixar decided which power(s) each of The Incredibles should have, they considered those characters' personality traits, age, and role in the family. Bob Parr, aka Mr. Incredible, is the typical, all-American dad, and dads have traditionally been known (at least by their kids) for their strength, so Mr. Incredible's strength makes sense for his character. Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl, is her husband's counterpart, the all-American mom, who bends over backwards and stretches herself for the good of her family, which explains her elastic powers. Violet is a teenager who mostly wants to be left alone, as shown by her powers of generating force fields and turning invisible, and Dash is a hyperactive boy whose boundless energy is shown in his super-speed. But the character I really want to blog about is JackJack.

JackJack is the infant of the family. At the beginning of the movie, his powers have not yet manifested, leaving him as a blank slate and perhaps suggesting that many of his traits have yet to develop; however, by the end of the movie, he demonstrates several powers, including turning himself into a fireball, a hunk of metal, and a raging monster. These shape-shifting powers hint at JackJack's potential to become practically anything he wants to become. What's interesting is that we all have that potential.

We all start life with perhaps a few innate traits, but with many of our traits yet to develop. As we grow up, we gradually decide what kinds of people we will be, choosing from a nearly-infinite myriad of options. Our experiences and our choices shape our personalities. Our studies and practice determines our skills. As time passes, it becomes clearer and clearer who we are and who we are not.

I hope the writers at Pixar show some of this "deciding who you are" as part of JackJack's growth and development. The trailers of Incredibes 2 show that JackJack still has a wide variety of powers, which makes sense, as Incredibles 2 immediately follows the first Incredibles movie, and Incredibles 2 might not focus on JackJack's character or span enough time for him to experience real character growth. But if we ever see the person JackJack grows up to be, I hope either that he settles in to one or two specific powers or that his variety of powers is reflected in his personality, perhaps with him becoming a "Jack of All Trades" (pun very much intended), both with his powers and in his other pursuits.

As people develop, they have to make decisions, and these decisions shape who they are and what they're good at. We are all born with the potential to become good at practically anything, but in order to fully realize that potential, we have to practice literally everything, which just isn't practical. We all have to choose our super-powers by choosing which skills we practice, and we all have to choose whether we become heroes or villains by choosing how we use our skills. JackJack may have many powers now, but if I were making decisions for his character, I would say that he could only keep and develop the abilities he actually practices, just like any of us.

Dissipating a Dark Cloud

This blog post is also going to be a bit late, but at least I have a good reason for that this time: I was doing service. This morning, I didn't really feel like doing service. I felt a bit overwhelmed and even a bit used, cynically saying to myself that the church is little more than a scheme to guilt people into performing free labor. But, of course, it's more than that. As I served (bitterly and reluctantly at first), I began to sing the second verse of "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet," starting with "When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us, and threaten our peace to destroy, there is hope smiling brightly before us, and we know that deliverance is nigh."

Prior to my decisions to give service and to sing, there was a dark cloud hanging over me, not a cloud of trouble, but a cloud of bitterness and frustration. However, after following what must have been a prompting of the Spirit, and after a little bit of encouragement from both the lyrics and the listeners, I felt that dark cloud dissipate, and I now realize that that is also one of the purposes of the church. It's not just a cheap labor scheme or a way to manipulate people into thinking and behaving in certain ways. It's a source of comfort and support for those who need it. It's a source of hope and help for those over whom dark clouds hang.

In short, I'm feeling a lot better now, and while I would have said that I had the church and God to blame for me feeling bad in the first place, I also have them to thank for making me feel better again. God may be putting us through hell with this whole mortal experience, but that's only because He's trying to get us somewhere special, and this is the only way to get us there. It's rough, but it'll be worth it, and there are little moments of comfort and support along the way, if we ask for them. There are plenty of dark clouds in life, and it sometimes seems as though God is responsible for some of them, but God will also help us get through them. These dark clouds will dissipate, especially as we turn to God, the source of all things, including song, prayer, and hope.

A Better Time to Blog on Sundays

I can't blog before noon on Sundays because I have church from nine to noon, but I should learn to blog right after I get home from church, before the relatives arrive for Sunday dinner. Otherwise, I'm bound to stay up later than I probably should, blogging after I do dishes after everybody goes home. It's better to blog right after church than it is to blog at the end of a long day. Maybe I'll remember that next week. Maybe I should write myself another note. Maybe I should just go to bed.

Discernment

One of the most important blessings the Holy Ghost can give us these days is the gift of discernment. Discerning right from wrong is vital to our mortal journey, and while most people can tell what's right and what's wrong in most cases, there are some cases, like the Trolley Problem, where the morality might be a lot more difficult to figure out.

Similarly, it can be difficult to discern the true from the false. I just watched a video is which a lady at a book store ranted about them not having a particular book, but as it turns out, while the woman literally did rant in the book store, she was only acting, playing the role of a fictional character who was obsessed with a fictional book series written by a fictional author. The woman was not actually crazy, even though video evidence depicted her as being a bit mad. This, plus several falsified and misleading images I've seen online, have contributed to my belief that I can't really trust anything. However, I know that I can trust the Holy Ghost to help me discern the true from the false, assuming that I can trust my interpretations of the Holy Ghost's promptings.

The Holy Ghost can also help us discern the important from the unimportant. For example, it doesn't really matter to me whether that woman was crazy or not. I don't know her personally, I have never encountered her, and as long as I never encounter her, my perception of her is entirely irrelevant. Perhaps my knowledge that she was only acting might have affected my decision not to share the video that depicted her as acting crazy, but I don't think I was going to share that video anyway. Even if she was crazy, that's not really important to me.

What is important is to know what's right and wrong and to know the truth about things that actually are important, and the Holy Ghost can help us discern what is important, what is true, and what is right.

Having discernment from the Holy Ghost may be more important now than ever before, because we now have access to more information than ever before. Some of the information is true, and some of it is false. Some of it is important, but much of it is unimportant. And now virtually everyone can get involved in moral discussions, if they choose to. So, when we join the discussions on the internet, we should try to make sure that our contributions and interpretations are lead by the guidance and discernment of the Holy Ghost.

The Hardest Lever to Pull

I've been thinking about the Trolley Problem, a moral dilemma in which one has to decide whether or not they'll sacrifice one person or group to save another person or group. It's usually a tough decision, but sometimes it seems like a no-brainer. If you have to sacrifice one person to save millions, that's what you do.

But perhaps it's not as easy as the math would make it seem. Maybe when it comes down to the moment of making that sacrifice, of pulling that lever, knowing that the trolley will kill the person I thought I'd be willing to sacrifice, I don't know if I would actually have the guts to pull that lever. I'd like to think that I would try to save as many people as possible, even if that meant directly killing someone, but that decision may prove to be, not just difficult, but impossible to make. I can imagine myself with my hand on that lever, knowing that pulling the lever is, statistically, the right thing to do, but finding myself unable or just unwilling to pull it.

So, while one or two sacrifices may have saved millions, I suppose I shouldn't judge those who chose not to pull the level. If I were them, I'm not sure I could have done it either, even if I, unlike them, thought it was the right thing to do.

Unnoticeably Slow Progress

A few days ago, I said that I should make myself a visible reminder to "blog before noon." However, I didn't do that right away, and the thought soon slipped my mind. As a result, today's blog post is about ten hours late, simply because I failed to take my own advice. I had hoped that this blog would help me become a better person, and maybe it is, gradually, but the progress comes so slowly that it's practically imperceptible, and it's interspersed with so many setbacks that I wonder if I'm making any progress at all. It can be hard for a mortal being to measure the kind of progress that usually takes place over an eternity, but still, I should try to make enough progress that I can notice that progress is being made. And that starts with holding myself accountable. I have now written that note and attached it to my computer. Now let's see if I can heed that reminder long enough to make a notable difference in my blogging habits.

A Finite and Infinite Number of Days

In his General Conference talk, One More Day, Elder Taylor G. Godoy asked, 

I wonder what it would mean, what effect it would have in my life to know that I had only one more day to live. How would I treat my wife, my children, and others? How patient and polite would I be? How would I take care of my body? How fervently would I pray and search the scriptures? I think that, in one way or another, we all at some point will have a “one more day” realization—a realization that we must use wisely the time we have.

Our time on Earth is limited, and before we know it, we will find ourselves with only "one more day" left, if that. When that time comes, we will either wish we had lived well or be grateful that we had. I agree with Elder Godoy that the realization that time is short can prompt us to live better. Then, I wonder what becomes of eternity.

After our last day on Earth, our spirits will go to the Spirit World to await resurrection. After we are resurrected, we will live forever in whichever level of heaven we deserve. At that point, we will be immortal. We will have an infinite number of days to live. On Earth, our days are numbered. In heaven, no matter what day it is, it will never be our last. So, if having a finite amount of time to live on Earth might affect how we live on Earth, how might having an infinite amount of time to do whatever we want affect how we live in Heaven? Hopefully, not much. Hopefully, by then, we will have developed an amount of integrity that will help us do the right things, no matter how late we can get away with delaying it.

But that's not really important. How we spend immortality is a question for our immortal selves. in the meantime, it's important that we spend our time on Earth well. We're not immortal yet. We only have a certain number of days to do everything we want to do in mortality. And that deadline (pun intended) is the most important one we will face in our entire lives, so it makes sense to spend much of our limited time preparing for it. It makes sense to prepare for death and judgment by living the way we will wish we had lived. Our mortal days are numbered; we would be wise to spend them well.

Preparation

Even with a reminder, I knew I wasn't going to get much of a chance to blog before noon today because I have plans that will take up most of my morning. Fortunately, I prepared for this event by writing this blog post last night, saving it as a draft, ans then posting it this morning. This is good practice for me because preparation is one of the key defenses against evil. When Captain Moroni took command of the Nephite armies, he didn't just react well to the Lamanite attacks, he anticipated them. He built up defenses around cities well before they were assaulted, and he built up greater defenses around cities that had previously been considered weak because he predicted (correctly) that the Lamanites would try to attack the previously weaker cities first.

However, anticipating needs isn't always easy. I knew I'd want to have a blog post written by noon today, so I preemptively met that need by writing it last night, but what can we do about needs that aren't as easy to anticipate? Say you're going camping. What do you pack? Of course, you'll bring the basic essentials, including everything you think you'll want or need, but if you fail to anticipate a need for insect repellent, sunscreen, or a rain fly, you could end up in serious trouble, despite any other preparations you might have made. In order to effectively prepare for needs, including the need for strong spiritual defenses, we need to be able to predict what our needs will be and what tools will help us meet those needs.

Preparation requires foresight, and the secret to foresight is hindsight. We can look to the past for examples of how things work, and we can use those examples to help us make predictions for the future. Captain Moroni knew that the Lamanites preferred to attack weak targets, so he made sure the cities that had previously been weak were now quite defensible. Similarly, I knew, from past experience, that I wouldn't have time to blog this morning, so I made sure to write this blog post when I did have time.

Anticipating spiritual needs is a bit trickier. Our spiritual battles aren't visible, so it can be difficult to know what strategies are being used against us and what we can do to fight those strategies. That may be why so many wise people encourage those who are struggling with something to write down clear details of the moments, hours, and sometimes days that led up the spiritual conflict. Careful analysis can help us identify our weaknesses and develop plans for how to fortify them.

This preparation can be essential. In our spiritual battles, any advantage we can give ourselves can be a Godsend, and it's important to build those fortifications well before we need them. Just as defensive walls must be built around a city before it's attacked, our spiritual defenses also need to be built up before they are tested, and I sometimes need to write blog posts twelve hours before they're due. Merely reacting to needs isn't the best strategy.  If we want our needs to be met, our blog posts to be submitted in time, and our spiritual defenses to hold, we would do well to do what we can to practice preparation.

Forgotten Promises and the Need for Visible Reminders

Goals are harder to meet when you keep forgetting you set them. This blog post was almost late, and is going to be rushed, mostly because I forgot that I had moved the deadline. Perhaps I ought to put reminders of my goals somewhere where they'll be visible, so I won't keep forgetting what I had set out to do. Even just a sticky note with the words "Blog Before Noon" would probably do the trick. Maybe that's part of the reason we wear CTR rings and sacred garments and why we take the Sacrament each and hang pictures of Jesus Christ and temples in our houses. We need frequent, visible reminders of the covenants and promises we have made or we might break those covenants and promises by accident, just because they slipped our minds and we didn't remember them until it was too late. I got lucky this time, remembering the new deadline in time to type out a quick paragraph, but I should make a physical reminder of the new deadline to make sure I don't nearly mistakingly miss it again.

The Ultimate Commandment

When teaching about the Ten Commandments, I made sure to include the fact that all ten commandments (and all the other commandments) can be summed up in only two basic rules.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22: 37-40

Those two commandments, Love God and Love Thy Neighbor, incorporate every other commandment ever given. And they, together, show that all of our actions should be motivated by one guiding principle: Love. Every commandment is an invitation to show love, and if we truly feel a strong love for God and our fellowman, that love will motivate us to keep those other commandments.

But while I might describe love as the ultimate commandment in that it includes all other commandments, it's still important to learn what those other commandments are. We may have the general idea of the Gospel down, but we still need to understand the details to make sure we apply that idea appropriately. We can't pretend that we only need to keep one or two of the commandments and interpret them however we want. It is essential to learn and keep all of the commandments, even though there are countless of them and all of them hang on the first two.

But still, while we attempt to learn and master all of the commandments God has given us, we can try to apply their core guiding principle in our daily lives. Love can be our axiom. We must try to keep all the commandments, but that task becomes easier when we realize that they all branch out from the core principle of love.