Striving Versus Arriving

I shared this image a few days ago on Facebook, but I thought I'd share it here as well, partly because I'm not feeling particularly inspired this evening, and partly so I can emphasize the part of this quote that stands out to me every time I read it.

Why is it that "striving can be more important than arriving?" What is it about striving that makes it worth the effort, even if you never reach the goal that you were striving for. The answer is simple: Striving makes us stronger.

To illustrate this, let's say there are two people, neither of whom are especially affluent. The first of these two works hard and earns some money, some of which he saves and some of which he invests. However, despite his efforts, he hits some bad luck on the stock market, loses his job and has to live on his savings for a while, and ends up being no richer than he was at the start.

Meanwhile, the second guy hasn't been working very hard, hasn't been earning very much, hasn't been saving what he earned, and for the most part, has neither been growing richer or growing poorer. However, at about the same time the first guy's bad luck begins, the second guy hits some good luck, wins the lottery, and spends a portion of his winnings going on an adventure vacation with his rich uncle. On this adventure, they find an ancient, hidden treasure worth millions, but before they make it back, the second guy's uncle contracts an infection which eventually kills him, and in his will, the late adventurer leaves everything to his nephew, including his entire estate and his share of what they found on their vacation. The second guy ends up with millions upon millions of dollars (even after taxes), but here's the question:

Which of those two people do you think knows more about how to properly manage money? Which of them better understands the principles of how to acquire, maintain, and cultivate wealth? If we were to fast-forward another several decades, which of these two would you expect to grow richer than they are at this point in the story, and which one would you expect to grow poorer?

Naturally, it was the first person who learned more and gained more wisdom, which he could use to make wiser investment decisions, and once again make more money. Meanwhile, the second guy, having arrived at wealth without having to strive for it, wouldn't appreciate the value of what he had, and would likely spend a good deal of his wealth on expensive things he doesn't need.

Fortunately for both of them, I like happy endings, so the first guy ends up at the head of a successful investment company, whom the second guy trusted with what remains of his fortune after he became concerned when he saw it dwindling from year to year. The result was that the second guy's fortune stopped shrinking and started growing again, and the first guy's profits and savings grew tremendously as well. But I'm getting off the subject.

Most of us have goals in life. Some of those have been lifelong goals, and some of them may have been made only about a week ago. Regardless of when we set our goals, striving for them can help us grow into stronger, better people, even if we never actually reach our goals. For example, if you set a goal to lose weight,  you could gain greater will-power and personal fitness, even if your weight doesn't change. If you set a goal to improve your relationship with someone, you could learn skills to help you strengthen your other relationships, even if your relationship with that particular person doesn't improve. There are many goals that, even if we don't achieve them, can help us improve by giving us something to strive for.

I have a personal goal that I'm working on, and I hope to reach that goal someday, but this quote reminds me that, even when I suffer setbacks and don't seem to be making any progress toward my goal, as long as I strive for that goal, I'll be making progress in one way or another. And as long as I don't achieve my goal, I'll have something to strive for, which will motivate me to keep becoming better and stronger. I still want to reach my goal as soon as possible, but in light of what I've learned, I'm now okay with it if that takes a while, because now I know that striving to reach a goal can be just as beneficial as actually achieving it.

Compensatory Light

In Elder Stanfill's General Conference talk, he shared the following, encouraging, quote from a speech Elder Neil L. Andersen gave at BYU:

As evil increases in the world, there is a compensatory spiritual power for the righteous. As the world slides from its spiritual moorings, the Lord prepares the way for those who seek Him, offering them greater assurance, greater confirmation, and greater confidence in the spiritual direction they are traveling. The gift of the Holy Ghost becomes a brighter light in the emerging twilight.

In a world that seems to get darker by the day, it's comforting to know that God is granting additional light to those who still strive to follow it.

In D&D, the Dungeon Master usually tailors the difficulty of the adventure to match the abilities of the characters. For example, if the group is a party of 3rd Level characters, the DM will prepare a dungeon with encounters suitable for 3rd Level characters. The encounters in that dungeon would be difficult enough to be interesting for the players, and perhaps even to challenge them, but they wouldn't be likely to overpower them.

In real life, God doesn't adjust the difficulty of life's problems to match our abilities; He helps us improve our abilities so we can meet life's challenges. This means that in a world where it's becoming increasingly difficult to be righteous, God will grant us additional power with which to do so.

I'm grateful for the knowledge that God never gives us anything that we can't handle. Frequently, we need God's help to tackle our challenges, and some times, we'll need more help from Him than at other times, but with His help, there is nothing we'll face that we can't handle, and I find that very reassuring. With the challenges I face and the wisdom and will-power I know I'll need, it's comforting that God will grant me all the help I need. I'll definitely need to ask for it, and I may need to do a few things to prove I'm worthy of it, but I know that when I really need God's help, He will help me, no matter how much of His help I need.

Sharing Light

In Elder Stern P. Stanfill's talk, Choose the Light, he shared an experience he had biking with a small group of friends and family members. They knew their ride would take them through a dark tunnel, so they had prepared themselves with lights. However, many of their lights proved inadequate, so they stayed close to each other, relying on the combined power of their lights and on the particularly strong light of one of their members to get them safely through the tunnel.

This, I believe, is one of the main functions of the church. We gather together each Sunday in part to share our light and to gain light from each other. When we stand together, sharing our insights and ideas, we all see more clearly.

My blog is somewhat similar. Yesterday, I had many questions, but since I posted my concerns yesterday, two of the most spiritual people I know shared their beliefs on the matter, and my life has been enriched by their wisdom. Every day, I post something vaguely spiritual on my blog. Every once in a while, someone comments that a blog post of mine was interesting or insightful. By coming here to share our thoughts with each other, we all gain greater light together.

By banding together, we can help each other grow in the gospel, increase in wisdom, and become more like Jesus Christ. I think I blogged recently that parents can help their children by sharing lessons learned from their life experiences. We can all help each other the same way. No matter how little light we may individually have, we can use what light we have to increase the collective light of the group. By sharing our light with each other, we all have more.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to reach out and share what light I have with you each day, and I'm more grateful for those of you who reach back and share your light with me. I've learned far more from this blog than I've ever taught, and I've gained more light than I've been able to emit. I look forward to continue sharing the light that gathers here. By sharing our light with each other, we each have become blessings to us all.

How Far is Two Miles?

Elder Hugo Montoya's General Conference talk, Tested and Tempted -- But Helped, mostly focussed on how we can help each other overcome our trials and temptations. Much of what he says is, I believe, good advice. However, his first suggestion, go the extra mile, has me feeling a bit concerned.

What does it mean to go the extra mile for someone? Elder Montoya quoted the Lord: "The Savior said, 'Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.'" Does that mean that, to be good Christians, we need to do everything that is asked of us, and then some? What if (and this is purely hypothetical, of course) a person has a relative, friend, or acquaintance who asks a good deal of them - perhaps even more than they can provide? Is a person morally obligated to provide twice as much service as is asked of them? There are people who would be in very serious trouble if that were true.

There are many people who, out of either a need or a want of help, "compel [others] to go a mile." Are all those others obligated to not only answer their every call to service, but to exceed even their benefactors' great expectations? I doubt it. Just as there are limits to what a person can do, there are limits to what God expects us to do. I'm sure God doesn't expect us to provide twice as much help as anyone ever asks of us. Some people ask too much for that to be practical. But then, what does God expect from us? How much service is considered the first mile, and how much is considered the second? If there are people asking you to do the service-equivalent of going four or five miles, is it still counted as "going the extra mile" when you do only a fraction of what they asked? "The Savior said, 'Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain,'" but what does that really mean for us?

Naturally, it means that we need to do service for others. God expects us to love and serve each other, to help each other bear our burdens, and so on. But where do you draw the line? When can a person say, with a clear conscience, "I know that you need help, but you're asking too much of me"? When does a person gain the moral right to say "no" to a request for service? Does a person need to be pushed to their physical or emotional limit before they can say that, or is God more practical and merciful than to expect that much of us? How much service does God expect us to do?

I wish I had the answers to these questions. I wish I knew how much God expects of me and how great His expectations are compared to that which is asked of me. I'm happy to serve others most of the time, but at a certain point, I have to say that enough is enough. I just wish I knew how much service, in God's eyes, counts as "enough."

Sharing Experience

In Elder Bradley D. Foster's October 2015 General Conference talk, It's Never Too Early and It's Never Too Late, he shares a story about a young man name Pablo. When Pablo was nine, his father pulled him aside and told him,

Pablo, I was nine once too. Here are some things you may come across. You’ll see people cheating in school. You might be around people who swear. You’ll probably have days when you don’t want to go to church. Now, when these things happen—or anything else that troubles you—I want you to come and talk to me, and I’ll help you get through them.

 When Elder Foster met Pablo and heard what Pablo's father had said, he went home and arranged to meet with his children, some of whom had grown up and had children of their own. He told them something similar:

Your mother and I want you to know that we were your age once. We were 31, with a small family. We have an idea of what you might encounter. It might be a financial or health challenge. It may be a crisis of faith. You may just get overwhelmed with life. When these things happen, we want you to come and talk to us. We’ll help you get through them. Now, we don’t want to be in your business all the time, but we want you to know that we are always in your corner.

One way parents can teach their children is by sharing their life experience and by being able to relate to their children's problems and feelings. Parents don't need to know everything to be good parents, they just have to be willing to share what they've learned.

Elder Foster concluded with his testimony of Jesus Christ, who lived a mortal life so He could say "I’ve been where you are, I know what comes next, and I’ll help you through it." I add my testimony that I know that Jesus knows exactly what we're going through and how we feel. He has experienced it all Himself in the garden of Gethsemane. Our Savior knows what we're going through because He's been through it Himself, and we can always turn to Him for help and to learn from His experience.

Flynn and Skyler, Don't Read This.

Seriously. Don't.

Flynn and Skyler are the two guys I play D&D with, and this morning, I'd like to blog about D&D. This blog post will contain spoilers for the adventure we're currently playing, which is why I don't want them to read it.

If it wasn't important to make sure Flynn and Skyler don't read this blog post, or even to find out what I'm actually blogging about, this blog post would have a different title: Free Resurrection.

In D&D, there are spells that can bring people back from the dead. However, for whatever reason, spells like these always require expensive materials to perform the spell. For example, to cast Reincarnate, the caster must treat the body (or what's left of it) with "rare oils and unguents worth at least 1000gp, which the spell consumes." The cheapest life-restoring spell is Revivify, which can revive a creature that died no more than a minute ago by channelling magical energy through "diamonds worth 300gp, which the spell consumes." 300gp is a lot of money, especially to anyone who isn't a noble, an adventurer, or a remarkably successful merchant. In most cases, resurrection spells are prohibitively expensive.

However, I believe I've found a one-time-only loophole that could allow a person to cast a certain resurrection spell for free. If Flynn and Skyler search a certain area, they may find a Scroll of Revivify. In D&D, scrolls are used to store spells for later use. If you find a scroll hidden in a chest or book somewhere, you can try to read it. "If the spell is on your class's spell list, you can use an action to read the scroll and cast its spell without having to provide any of the spell's components." That means you don't have to provide the spell's material component(s), which means that casting the spell from the scroll is free. The material cost of the spell still needs to be paid, but it's paid by whomever makes the scroll when they make it. Essentially, the maker of the scroll casts the spell (providing all of its components to do so), but instead of having the spell take effect immediately, it goes into the scroll, to be withdrawn later, perhaps by another caster.

In real life, resurrection works in a strangely similar way. Jesus Christ paid the cost of resurrection by completing the Atonement with His own resurrection, which made resurrection free for all of us. We don't need to provide hundreds or thousands of gold pieces worth of oils or diamonds to be resurrected. Jesus already paid the cost. Everyone, from the wealthiest noble to the poorest commoner, will be resurrected for free.

I'm grateful for Christ's Atonement and Resurrection, which makes it possible for us to have a better life and to be restored to life when we die. I'm thankful that Jesus paid the price, not just for my resurrection, but for my sins as well. The blessings He offers us are incredible, and far beyond our ability to repay Him, but He doesn't ask for repayment. At least, not in the traditional sense. What He wants in return for these blessings isn't oils or diamonds, but our hearts. He wants us to serve Him and each other, to love Him and one another, and to be righteous.

But even if we're not righteous, even if we curse God and everyone we meet, even if we sin as badly as we possibly can, we will still be resurrected. Resurrection is a free gift from Jesus. We don't need to earn it. We don't need to pay for it. No matter what we do or what we've done, Jesus Christ will grant each of us the gift of resurrection for free. I don't know about you, but that sounds like an incredibly good deal to me.

The Similarities Between Christmas and New Years'

This blog post is for yesterday. Even after posting this one, I'll owe you another for today.

I was thinking yesterday of the similarities between the first Christmas and New Year's Eve. Obviously, New Year's Eve marks the end of one year and the beginning of another. If nothing else, that means everyone has to update their calendars. The same thing happened in response to Jesus' birth. I'm not sure when the decision was made or by whom, but some time after Jesus was born, we started using the year of His birth to count what year it is. The year is 2016 because 2,016 years have passed since Jesus Christ was born. The change from B.C. to A.D.is a bigger change than that from one year to another, but they're roughly of the same kind.

The birth of Christ and the start of a new year are events that were and are looked forward to with excitement and anticipation. I joined millions of others in counting down the seconds to the new year last night. While only a few people were there for the birth of Jesus Christ, there were many who looked forward to it. The prophesies of Jesus' birth date back to the days of Adam and were spoken and read by prophets and kings in every age of the earth since then. The birth of Christ was a quiet event, but a great number of people were excited about it.

The most important way in which Christmas and New Years' is similar is in how they both represent a chance to start over. On New Years', people make resolutions to improve their lives. The birth and atonement of Jesus Christ make that possible. Because of Jesus Christ, we can repent of our sins, overcome our faults, and begin again whenever we make mistakes. Christmas and New Years' mean that we can change, not just our calendars, but our lives. We can break old habits and form new ones. In many ways, we can become new ourselves.

I'm looking forward to continuing to grow and change in 2016. I know I have a lot of changes to make in my life before I can reach my ultimate goals, and that most of those changes can come only after months and years of trying to change. A person can't change overnight, even if that night is December 31st, but because of the child whose birth is celebrated on December 25th, anything can change.