Ponderize - For Purpose, Protection, and Power

"I promise you will not regret writing a verse of scripture on your mind and heart each week. You will experience a feeling of perpetual spiritual purpose, protection, and power." - President Devin G. Durrant, "My Heart Pondereth Them Continually", October 2015

Finally, a promised blessing I actually want.

In this General Conference talk, President Durrant, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, invited us to "ponderize" one verse of scripture each week. This means to ponder and reflect on a selected verse, and ultimately memorize it over the course of the week. If we do that, President Durrant promised, we "will experience a feeling of perpetual spiritual purpose, protection, and power." That, to me, sounds like a prize worth fighting for.

This week, I will ponderize Ephesians 6:10, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." It's the verse right before Paul tells the Ephesians about the Armor of God, which is on brand for me. And I hope that ponderizing this verse about God's power will help me gain the power I need in my life.

"Less Than the Dust of the Earth"

Helaman 12:7 O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.

And yet, we are Children of God, of infinite worth and potential. We have value beyond estimation. So, then, how are we "less than the dust of the earth"?

Helaman 12:8 For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.

We are "less than the dust of the earth" because the dust obeys God, and we often don't. We are "less than the dust of the earth" because the dust is willing to "[divide itself] asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God," and we usually aren't. We are "less than the dust of the earth" because the dust neither exercises nor even has agency, and we do.

We make our own choices. The dust lets God make all its decisions for it. And that's what makes us "less than the dust of the earth."

I'm not buying it. Not for one second.

Agency is important. Agency is so important that we fought a war to keep it. God wants us to exercise our agency. God does not want us to be dust.

Yes, God wants us to obey Him, and it would be wise for us to do so, but God wants it to be our decision. God wants us to choose to follow Him, not because we have no choice, but because we trust that it's the best choice. God wants us to want to follow Him.

God gave us agency. He wants us to use it, and to use it wisely.

Remembering God, in Good Times and Bad

Helaman 7:20 O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you?

Unfortunately, forgetting God in the day that He delivers us is all too common. It's easy to turn to God for help when we need it, but it's harder to remember to turn to God in thanks when things seem okay. Even shortly after we get relief from a problem, it's easy to sit back and enjoy the relief instead of thanking the One who made it possible.

Perhaps that's part of why it's important to pray daily, in good times and bad. That way, we stay in regular communication with God, whether we need His help at that moment or not. When we need special blessings, we can pray for them in our daily prayers, and when we're doing alright, we can thank God for that in our daily prayers.

It's important that we don't only turn to God when we need Him. It's important to Him that we remember Him, thank Him, and turn to Him every day, on good days as well as bad ones. We need daily reminders to maintain a close relationship with God, even when we're doing alright. That's the lesson the Nephites seemed to keep forgetting. Let's hope that we'll be wise enough to remember it.

One Can't, But...

About six and a half years ago, only about a year into my practice of blogging daily, I set myself an Analogy Challenge, in which I would try to find some Gospel-related message in any random object or idea I could think of. At that time, in my bedroom, there was a shape of paint near my bed that somewhat resembled a toucan, so I set myself the challenge of blogging about toucans. I failed. I could not think of anything blogworthy about toucans.

Last night, I realized where I had gone wrong. I was trying to blog about toucans, the creature. I should have blogged about toucan, the word. Or rather, two words. Two can.

We all face challenges. Some of us face very serious challenges. Yet, many people hope that they can overcome their challenges on their own or that if they wait long enough and pray hard enough, God will take away their challenges. Both of these approaches are flawed. While we may have some challenges that we can overcome on our own, some challenges prove to be too great for us. And while God is happy to help us in any way He can, He will not help us in any way that would actually hinder our growth. God won't solve all our problems for us, and we can't solve all our problems on our own. The only way for us to solve all our problems is to work together with God.

That's true for me as much as it is for anyone else. As much as I'd love to be able to solve all my problems on my own, I'm not quite at that level yet, and as much as I'd like God to some my problems for me, that wouldn't help me grow. God can't do it for me, and I can't do it alone. Either one of us on our own can't, but working together, we two can.

I know that's incredibly corny, and I know it's six and a half years late, but I'm glad I was finally able to squeeze a blog post out of "toucan," the word, not the bird. But you know, I think I had help with this. Specifically, I think I had God's help with this. God didn't write this blog post, but He probably inspired it, and then, with that inspiration, I was able to write this blog post. God helped me write this blog post. We did it together. With this Analogy Challenge, as with may of my challenges, I don't think that God or I would or could have done it alone.

Many Revelations Daily

Helaman 11:23 And in the seventy and ninth year there began to be much strife. But it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi, and many of their brethren who knew concerning the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, therefore they did preach unto the people, insomuch that they did put an end to their strife in that same year.

At first, it struck me as odd that Lehi and Nephi had "many revelations daily," but perhaps it's not quite as extreme as it sounds. We who have been baptized and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost can have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, who can grant us inspiration, if not revelation, on a regular, if not constant basis. If we listen carefully for the voice of the Spirit, getting "many revelations daily" isn't that much of a stretch. We can receive countless messages from God each day, if we listen for them, and apparently, Nephi and Lehi did.

It's remarkable that Nephi and Lehi had many revelations daily, and it's even more remarkable that we can, too.

Blessed for Effort, not Success

Helaman 10:4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

It didn't matter that not everyone believed in his prophecies or his prophetic calling. It didn't matter that hardly anybody listened when he told them to repent. It didn't matter that Nephi's results were less than stellar. Nephi was blessed because he made the effort. He did his best, and that's all that God can ever ask of anyone.

Our success or failure is outside of our control. What we can control is whether and how hard we try. God blesses us for our efforts, regardless of our level of success. So, let's make the effort, and then, let's try not to stress about whether we're successful or not. Success doesn't matter. What matters is that we continue to make the effort.

Prophet or Not

Helaman 10:1 And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them.

There were many different reactions to Nephis prophecies. Some (rightly) thought he was a prophet. Some thought he was a god. Some thought he was a quack. And some thought he was a conspirator to a murder. I hope that, when we hear prophecies, and especially when we begin to see those prophecies being fulfilled, we will see the prophets for what they are: prophets. Not gods, not frauds, and not lucky guessers. There are those who receive information from God and share it with the rest of the world, and if we, too, seek information from God, He can help us identify the true prophets as the prophets they are.