An Angle I Haven't Realized

You receive news from your medical doctor that your wife has a terminal illness.

Cancer.

She doesn't have long to live. You so much want her to stay. You know you are ready to pass onto the next life at any time, but there is still so much you want to accomplish in this life.

You begin researching for solutions. You are sure that your doctors and the many researchers have missed something, and that you can find it.

Your wife wakes up each morning to you reading science blogs, looking up traditional remedies and emailing around to people about the miracles you've heard they've experienced.

You spend hours on your knees each night, praying for your wife's delivery from this illness.

A similar situation came to a man more than two millennia ago. His illness wasn't terminal but socially unacceptable to the point of severe exclusion in the traditions of his people. It wasn't his wife that was ill, but leprosy had taken hold of himself.

As many women would do in love, Naaman's wife encouraged him to seek counselling. In their time, a prophet of God was heard to reside nearby, and Naaman went to find him.

Naaman met not with the prophet, but with his messenger.

"Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." (2 Kings 5:10)

Why Naaman was furious. He wanted to be healed, and he had his own preconceptions of how it ought to be done. "He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper" he said.

"Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage." (2 Kings 5:11)

I have been like that in life sometimes. I know God has a solution. I know He knows answers. But what He gives me isn't "enough" for me. I find seemingly logical and valid reasons why it's too simple.

To us comes the whispers down the corridors of time of the lesson Naaman and I need to learn. "And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." (Alma 37:7)

I may research the miracles of science, the successes of traditional medicine. But He who has power over the elements - surely it is He who I can trust more than all the knowledge and accomplishments of mankind. Not only does He know all, but He loves more than anyone on earth. Not only that also, but He has a plan for the eternal happiness of all of His children. Why would we not trust Him?

Add to this logic the words of Naaman's cluey servant: "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" (2 Kings 5:13)

"Then [Naaman went] down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." (2 Kings 5:14)

An angle I haven't realized is that the solution presented by the prophet of God was a solution that science doesn't explain. Because it doesn't follow natural, deterministic laws that science searches for.

The angle I haven't considered is that the Lord works like this so many times - He beats the odds because He is in control of the events around us. He creates the outcomes because He is God. Has He not had declared for him that if He desired the earth to move backward from its directed orbit around the sun, that it would do so? Can science explain that? Not yet. Even if it could, the laws of science are that the mercy of Him who is in control of the elements.

Why would I neglect the counsel of God and pursue the riches of science when it is God who established the laws that science is working to discover? This leads us to the spirit of the scripture that says "to be learned is good if [we] hearken unto the counsels of God." (2 Nephi 9:29)

I should make clear that I believe in the importance of both - I love science, and know that God's command for us to gain education is in force for the good of His children. But we should know our priorities.

To the man whose wife is with terminal cancer, I have no words, for I have never been in his shoes. But I would direct him to the experiences recorded in the scriptures. Particularly to One whose beloved John the Baptist was taken - and as One who had power over death, who did not bring His beloved cousin back. But it was all in the wisdom of a bigger picture where happiness and freedom reigns over illness, sadness, loss and despair.

I would suggest to this man that the solution he needs may not be found on the internet at all.

How to Pray

I was going through a tough time. I had some serious questions about life.

For a while, I've wanted to spend so long on my knees, just communicating with God and hearing His voice, and discussing everything with Him. But I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel God's love. I couldn't hear His voice. I couldn't sense the power of prayer as I had for so long in the past, so many times.

But I knew prayer was important.

One morning, I was listening to a Mormon talk, delivered Ted-talk-like. At the time I was in bed watching and listening to this presentation. As I listened, an idea came into my mind that was in the form of a visual. It was of Christ coming into my room right now, and sitting on my bed.

Immediately the imaginary-Aaron began to engage with Him. Immediately, my interaction was honest, meaningful, expressive of myself - even if it was Adam-and-Eve-like, hiding, even though Christ sees all and knows all.

Well, we began conversing, and it was very open. It was very meaningful. It was eye opening. It was heart opening.

It was then that I realized that, dormant within me, was the knowledge of who Christ is. I don't know all there is to know about Him, but I know enough to have faith in Him. I also realize that I shouldn't be content with just knowing about Him and His attributes, but real power comes into my life when I know Him - which is different from knowing about Him.

I realized that one can walk the bridge from knowing of Him to knowing Him through prayer. All my scripture study, my church attendance, my teaching of the gospel could be limiting me to only knowing about Christ, and preaching of Him. Sure, I may have deep gratitude, but Christ's role in my life could be confined to Him being someone I just chat with.

But if I speak with Him in real conversation, and see Him behave and act as I have learned He would in all those years of studying and pondering His life and His words, He comes to life. The Spirit guides in what He would say. I notice that says things that I wouldn't even think of, and I know that that is Spirit-inspired.

A big lesson for all Christians to learn is that He doesn't expect us to add more into our lives to reach His level. No. He desires to become more a part of our lives so that He can make us more. Real power doesn't come in just knowing about Christ, but in making Him a part of my life, forging a relationship with Him, and then working together in whatever comes.

Loyalty

"I have been asked what I mean by word of honor. I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls—walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground—there is a possibility that in some way or another I may be able to escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No, never! I’d die first!"

- Karl G. Maeser

Forgiveness

Many-a-time in this unbalanced world,

An accident falls due to others.

And most of the time

Without fuss, without whine

I forget and move on like good brothers.

But now and again

I've a challenge within

To forgive for something too great.

An obvious lie!

Or unkindness, and I

begin to be host for my hate.

Hate's easy to please

And is worse than disease

For I'm living at the same time I'm dead.

When all that it takes

Is to accept my mistakes:

No forgiveness is the cause for my dread.

I'm wrong - and I know it

and my heart wouldn't post it:

"I'm wounded and offended!" it shouts.

But the mind calculates

A result of such weights

And in love, builds this sudden redoubt.

"You're angry at loss and

You're paying the cost,

Of this we can both admit freely,

But keep it within

Then you're losing again

Your progress, your freedom, your family.

"How much will you lose

Before you accuse

No one but you for the trouble.

Othello, at end,

Chose his pride to defend:

His houses of love turned to rubble.

Choose ye NOW to see

Only with charity

And follow not ways of the devil.

For cunning is he,

He tricks us, you see,

Into digging our deaths with our shovels.

But Christ, now, you see,

Crucified, but said He

Of the nailers: "they know not what they do."

With those same wounded hands,

Without nails, without bands,

Reached out in love to reformers.

You'll make it to Heaven,

Look over, in shock then

To see your offender embrace you.

"We're here now forever,

Let's be kind 'cause it's over.

Forever's long time to be with you."

Restoration of truth

Built a prophet from who

An example we now bring to light:

Say, “Come on, dear brother,

since war is [now] past,

For friends [as] at first,

are [now] friends [here] at last.”

The Carpenter

In Nazareth, the narrow road,

That tires the feet and steals the breath,

Passes the place where once abode

The Carpenter of Nazareth.

And up and down the dusty way

The village folk would often wend;

And on the bench, beside Him, lay

Their broken things for Him to mend.

The maiden with the doll she broke,

The woman with the broken chair,

The man with broken plough, or yoke,

Said, “Can you mend it, Carpenter?”

And each received the thing he sought,

In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;

The broken thing which each had brought

Returned again a perfect whole.

So, up the hill the long years through,

With heavy step and wistful eye,

The burdened souls their way pursue,

Uttering each the plaintive cry:

“O Carpenter of Nazareth,

This heart, that’s broken past repair,

This life, that’s shattered nigh to death,

Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?”

And by His kind and ready hand,

His own sweet life is woven through

Our broken lives, until they stand

A New Creation—“all things new.”

“The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,

Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,

Mould Thou into the perfect part,

O, Carpenter of Nazareth!”

- George Blair

Prayers in the Lord's Will

“We would always pray for protection, success, and good seas and wind to take us to our destination. Once I asked the Lord to bless us with a good tail wind so we could get to Foa quickly. As we got under way, one of the older men said, ‘Elder Groberg, you need to modify your prayers a little.’

“‘How’s that?’ I replied.

“‘You asked the Lord for a tail wind to take us rapidly to Foa. If you pray for a tail wind to Foa, what about the people who are trying to come from Foa to Pangai? They are good people, and you are praying against them. Just pray for a good wind, not a tail wind.’

“That taught me something important. Sometimes we pray for things that will benefit us but may hurt others. We may pray for a particular type of weather, or to preserve someone’s life, when that answer to our prayer may hurt someone else. That’s why we must always pray in faith, because we can’t have true, God-given faith in something that is not according to His will. If it’s according to His will, all parties will benefit. I learned to pray for a good wind and the ability to get there safely, not necessarily a tail wind.”

John H Groberg, In the Eye of the Storm

The Most Important Principle

"The most important principle I can share: Anchor your life in Jesus Christ, your Redeemer. Make your Eternal Father and His Beloved Son the most important priority in your life--more important than life itself, more important than a beloved companion or children or anyone on earth. Make their will your central desire. Then all that you need for happiness will come to you."

- Elder Richard G Scott

What goes through my mind when I study the scriptures

Here is a recording of how I think when I study and ponder the scriptures. 

A self-improvement I should have is to make commitments as I go. (Hehe, my commitment is to make commitments.) 

 

Study Journal Recording:

On occasion, I am tempted to be upset over something that doesn't go my way. I have expectations that aren't met. I think of an ideal that I want more than I want to accept things how they are. In another expression, I feel tempted to feel entitled.

The adversary loves whispering these lies:

• Didn't Heavenly Father say that if you keep His commandments, you will receive this and this blessing? Where is it?
• Sure, Jesus Christ performed the Atonement, and He can apply it in your life. But, will He?
• You've got the full picture, you understand the full situation. Why don't you hold to your ground? You are sticking up for the truth by doing so.

The one who gave the first lie here on earth has not ceased to speak lies.

“The greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement” (Dale G Renlund).

As I pondered this principle, a vision opened in my mind, of what it means to have Christ close to me. Thinking about it now, the following scripture popped into my mind:

“…let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good…” (Alma 37:36-37).

Do I feel what He feels about my situation?

Am I thinking what He is thinking in each circumstance?

I don’t ask Him my every question. I can counsel with Him. There is a difference.

It supports my view that covenants are all about relationships. It also, though, expands my view, in how the gospel is all about relationships.

And I’m seeing it everywhere. For example, in order to rid myself or procrastination in any area of my life, I’ve worked to plan it and to work for its accomplishment.

However, Alma demonstrates another approach.

“I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance; but that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and…” (Alma 13:27-28).

Do you see it? The process Alma illustrated in teaching the people of Ammonihah consisted of first approaching God. He was effectively teaching that to improve one’s life, you seek to improve your relationship with God.

1. Humble yourselves before the Lord: we hear often of the first step of repentance being to acknowledge sins and mistakes. That is a step of humility. Also in this step is the acknowledgement of God’s love, power, mercy and justice.
   
2. Call on His name.
   
3. Watch and pray continually: it’s a mindset of watching out for things that keep you from obtaining your righteous goal. It’s approaching your plan as a team with God.
   
4. Be led by the Holy Spirit: The Holy Ghost interacts with us in multiple ways. Ways noticeable and unnoticeable.

I also notice in these verses, that to become humble, you need to humble yourself. Isn’t that strange? To me it is, having distanced myself from God for a while.

“But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord… and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble…”

I guess the lesson to be taken is, in order to demonstrate humility, you don’t need to have the attribute of humility.

And I think that’s what agency is about. God gave me the gift of agency, and with it I can choose my destiny. I can choose who I will become. I choose “who” I become by making choices that that “who” would make. This is the reason why we hear so many motivational sayings such as:

• Fake it till you make it.
•  “We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.” – Elder Scott
• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

So, we don’t have the excuse to say “but I’m not a kind person!” Or “I’m not very smart!” Or "That's just how I am!"

Well, go and do a kind deed every day, and soon enough you will become kind. Go and study everyday in consistency, and you will have learned hundreds of things over time. Go and do something everytday that you've never done before, and you will change.

“Rectitude is a perpetual victory, celebrated not by cries of joy but by serenity, which is joy fixed or habitual.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Talk on the Atonement - Applications in Our Lives

On the 26th of June, I fulfilled an assignment to talk on "The Power of the Atonement."

I am especially fond of the experiences I shared. I seek to have more experiences where the Atonement helps me grow in places I am not personally able, and strengthen areas of my life where I need it.

Below are four areas of my life where the Atonement has influenced me. I had shared these experiences in my talk.

Mentality

Regarding the mindset we have in life, we all have ideas and we all have our personal way we see the world. We understand things in our own unique way. Some more common than rare. Others completely strange. Not all of these ideas and perspectives are wrong, but neither are they all right. This is a condition inherited from the fall, and it is part of the will of God that we not only receive the wrong ideas, but learn what is right.

A while ago, I became ascetic in my associations with others. Someone being ascetic means that they are characterized by severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons (Google Dictionary).

During my younger years in high school, I had bad language. My tongue still remembers the taste of soap. My mother would’ve thought, “if it worked on President Gordon B Hinckley, it must work on my son.”

It wasn’t the soap that led me to stop my bad language – it only stopped my bad language in front of my mother and at home. The soap only works if the soul wants to accept it. To me, that soap in my youth was symbolic of the Holy Ghost not being able to apply the Atonement in my life. Nephi said, “when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men. But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them.” (2 Nephi 33:1-2).

I was one who had hardened his heart against accepting that there is such thing as bad language, and that I had it. I was comfortable with it.

Then I experienced my conversion. I realized that my language was not acceptable before God and I wanted to change.

So, I turned ascetic. I severely disciplined myself against my bad language, and even began distancing myself from friends who engaged in such conversation. I remember making a tally every time I said something inappropriate.

This led to me learning to accept to be alone at school. I would be with some good friends, but I would notice how we slowly drifted apart.

I am grateful for the repentance process and the application of the Atonement in both cleansing me from my bad language, and changing me into someone who doesn’t swear anymore. The soap had reached my soul. However, I still had another lesson to learn.

This lesson was touched upon by Elder Talmage in the same book I quoted from earlier. Regarding Jesus’ miracle at the wedding, he said:

“The presence of Jesus at the marriage, and His contribution to the successful conduct of the feast, set the seal of His approval upon the matrimonial relationship and upon the propriety of social entertainment. He was neither a recluse nor an ascetic; He moved among men, eating and drinking, as a natural, normal Being” (Jesus The Christ, Talmage, p 146).

Unlike Jesus who befriended people from all walks of life, while I was in high school, I had distanced myself from people who I could have had a positive impact on. Since my homecoming from my mission, I have come into contact with several high school friends. The interaction was friendly and positive, but lacking in depth. That depth could have been developed during the years of high school.

I have changed my mindset now.

On my mission, one of my zone leaders showed me a picture of Christ rescuing a child from a river of water. He said, paraphrased, “Christ did not go down into the water. We shouldn’t be disobedient like those we may be with. However, in safe and appropriate ways, we can be there for them.”

I allowed the Atonement to change me, again. I could not accept that I had to subject myself to the influences of others who had attributes that were not desirable. But Christ had spent his life with sinners, correcting Pharisees and healing the physically, emotionally and spiritually sick. Through much prayer and focusing on correct principles, the Atonement again brought about a transformation in me.

Flaws

Another area of life I have had the Atonement apply in my life is in weaknesses – my own and others’ weaknesses.

Although we may all be flawed in different ways, it is not God’s purpose to have us perfect in this life. He has other things in mind.

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

I am one of the individuals who could not come to accept that my weaknesses do not define me. I know now that what defines me is that I am a child of God, and He loves me. Me seeing more of my weaknesses, and accepting that I have them, implies that I am taking steps towards him, and just have to finish the process of humbling myself to His will, exercising faith in Him, and allowing Him to make them strong in His way, and His time.

On my mission, I had a treasured companion who had anxiety and depression. It was my very first time assisting someone with anxiety and depression, and I had much to learn.

I made many mistakes in learning to help him. I learned how not to help him. I learned that little things I do are magnified in his mind and his heart.

Every now and then, he would comment and say, “thank you for doing this and this, it helped me.” That would humble me.

I learned that the weaknesses of others, when viewed with the lens of love and an eternal perspective, gives an opportunity to grow stronger relationships and grow in ways not otherwise possible.

Emotions

Now a story on how the Atonement has influenced my emotions.

One late night, I sat at a train station, waiting for a train. It would arrive in a few minutes, so I whipped my phone out to explore my Facebook feed.

After some exploration on Facebook, I looked up and found that the next train would be coming in 28 minutes. I had missed the train.

Well, I felt very, very silly. In fact, so silly, that I became angry with myself. “How could I have missed the train, it would’ve been right in front of me!” I said to myself. I expressed a little frustration with God that He had allowed me to miss a train, and have to wait another 28 minutes.

Looking back now, I know that I was very childish. At the time, it was hard to handle. I could hardly calm myself down, no matter how hard I tried.

So, I sat down at that station platform and began to pray. As I prayed, I noticed my negative feelings being lifted from me. I felt the burden of anger and frustration lifted from my soul, and I felt the Spirit. As I stopped praying, I noticed the negative feelings begin to return.

So, I kept praying, and felt much better.

If it is true that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,” and many other positive emotions, then inviting Him into our daily lives through prayer and the Spirit can help us overcome negativity.

Sociality

Now a story from my social life.

I once had the opportunity to ask a YSA woman to a ball. In excitement, I informed this woman of the ball and invited her to be my date. She accepted.

Arriving home that afternoon, I informed my mother of the ball and my date. However, my mother did not feel right about it, and after talking it over with me, she suggested I pray about it.

In my mind, I did not accept that the Lord would not want me to go to this ball. However, upon entering my room, I closed my door and opened my heart to a behaviour of reverence to prepare myself to pray. I knelt down and offered a prayer to God, sharing my feelings about the ball, then asking for His will.

All of a sudden, I felt a warmth that was centered in my heart, and spread throughout my body. It brought me to tears. Repeating in my mind was the answer, “no.”

The next time I met this YSA woman, I told her of the prayer and the answer I received, and she was surprised that I had prayed about it. I didn’t tell her that I too was surprised that I had prayed about it. I still don’t know it, but maybe the Lord said no because this YSA woman didn’t want to go with me.

Regardless, the event came and passed, and I did not attend it. Within about a week after it passed, this YSA woman told me that her friends had gone to the ball, and those friends had found the ball boring.

So, apparently, Christ can save us from boredom – we can keep that in mind when we’re waiting in the shopping centre.

Apart from boredom, Christ can also bring about an improvement of social skills and the quality of our interaction with others.

John Bytheway was asked to write an article to be titled “I have no friends” for the New Era magazine. He said the following:

“One of the hard lessons to learn in life is that there are some things you can control and some things you can’t. If you want a short recipe for being frustrated and miserable, this is it: focus on things you can’t control. While you may not be able to “make” someone like you, it is possible to make yourself more “likable.” The way to do that is to focus on what you can control. Here are three things you can do, even when you feel like there isn’t a friend in sight. You can be curious, you can be clean, and you can be Christlike.”

He then goes on to elaborate on those three focuses: curiosity, cleanliness and a Christlike character.

A Poem on Prayer

I know not by what methods rare,

But this I know, God answers prayer.

I know that He has given His Word,

Which tells me prayer is always heard,

And will be answered, soon or late.

And so I pray and calmly wait.

I know not if the blessing sought

Will come in just the way I thought;

But leave my prayers with Him alone,

Whose will is wiser than my own,

Assured that He will grant my quest,

Or send some answer far more blest.

- Eliza M.Hickok

Driving Home

I am an impatient driver.

I confess to it.

Yes, I know it is wrong to think evil of others on the road. Yes, it is wrong to get upset with someone not travelling the maximum legal speed as they slow me down. Yes, it is wrong to feel upset over things occur contrary to my expectations on the road.

But I do these things. Not that I'm happy about it. It is a weakness of mine. It's time I get into praying about it, and working on it more than just thinking about it.

Often, I would have the reason for this impatience in my mind: "I just want to get home."

From a beloved location in the Blue Mountains I visit often, it takes me fifty minutes to arrive home.

Well, one time late at night, I decided to drive 10 km/hr faster than I normally drive (I am so evil - don't do it. Speed cameras only take photos of 10 km/hr above the speed limit).

As I drove, I did some math in my head... average speed on the way home is... 75km/hr?
The time it takes is 50 minutes,
so the new time is the new average speed times the old time it takes to get home, divided by the old average speed.

50 min x 75 (km/hr) / 85 (km/hr) = 44 minutes.

It would shave off approximately 6 minutes by driving 10 km/hr faster than usual.

Now, driving 10 km/hr faster makes a big difference in many ways. Firstly, I can feel the pressure of cameras and police cars that could catch me. I also feel guilt for not following the law.

But, in the long run, for all of that trouble, I shave off approximately 6 minutes. 6 minutes? Is that worth it? Unless I really did need those 6 minutes for something, then I could take the chance.

I'm better off travelling the normal speed, and avoiding any feelings of guilt and worries of getting caught.

On another night driving home, I pondered about the parallels between driving home and making it to our Heavenly Home.

Lehi taught,

"And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him" (2 Nephi 2:10).

Intercession means to intercede, or to be involved in a way that alters consequences and/or events. Christ interceded for us, so that we completely avoid death and complete separation from God, among other things.

So, we all "come unto God... to be judged."

Did you read that? All of us will meet with God again, regardless of how bad we've been or who we are. We are all His children, equally. we are all of equal worth to Him.

Now, one way I calm myself down while driving home is by saying "Aaron, you will make it home when you will make it home." That usually works.

But on this other night as I pondered about the parallels between driving home and making it to our Heavenly Home, I thought, "I don't need to get Home quickly, I just need to work on becoming a good driver."

Brad Wilcox says it this way: "Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly" (His Grace is Sufficient, BYU Speech).

In the same speech, he also says, "We are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven."

If I keep speeding, the day may come when I arrive home, and find fines in the mail that become a reason for my grave disappointmenet and high level of being upset.

Worse than that, if I don't work on the most important things in this life - my relationship with God, and my Christlike character (relationship with myself and others), then I will arrive at the presence of God unprepared. I will have the eternal fine of being uncomfortable in the presence of God, and won't want to live there.

Heaven won't be heaven if I haven't learned to become Heavenly in the chances I have been given on earth.

Fortunately, there is a way, no matter how hard it may seem. and God doesn't care about how good we are - He cares that we are genuinely trying, and trusting in Him, relying on His Atonement.

May we be safe drivers to our earthly homes, and our Heavenly Homes.

Feast vs Nibble

“For some Church members the Book of Mormon remains unread. Others use it occasionally as if it were merely a handy book of quotations. Still others accept and read it but do not really explore and ponder it. The book is to be feasted upon, not nibbled.”

Neal A Maxwell, But for a Small Moment, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1986, p. 28.

Alma's Faithful Story

Speaking of his own father's (Alma the Elder) conversion story, Alma the Younger said:

Alma 5:12
“And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.”

I think this is how Alma the Elder knew to preach the goodness of God, and not force his son into righteousness (which can't be done anyway, yet some parents try).

Alma knew that He could pray for his son to have opportunities to exercise faith. He himself was rebellious, and he himself was not forced into righteousness. He was convinced that his lifestyle was wrong by a prophet of God. This was his opportunity to exercise faith. And exercise it he did!

Alma removed himself from, and removed from himself all that was evil. He continually hid from harm that would restrict him from his freedom to serve God.

These days, I am to learn from Alma's example by removing myself from anything that would restrict my spirituality, thus causing me danger in unpreparedness when Satan unleashes his mighty winds (Helaman 5:12).

He not only lived right, but encouraged and invited others to do so.

The faith of one man to run from captivity and evil had led to the saving of his life - spiritual and probably temporal; the church that was restored through him; the family he raised; generations down the centuries and millenia that read his story and are inspired by his example.

Alma changed his life from being in the vain, selfish lifestyle living under a selfish King Noah, to a lifestyle of love, faith and spirituality.

His struggles did not end. They just changed. As he mastered one aspect of the gospel, he was tested, tried and grew in another.

He lived the rest of his life in service to God. It is a lifestyle that is the rest pf God in this life – rest, because his heart was at peace, and his soul was secured in eternal bliss forevermore.

So, I guess a moral of the story is, when God gives you an opportunity to exercise faith, take it! Do His will. If you don't feel like doing it, then pray for a change of heart.

In my experience, when I have continually prayed for a change of heart – never giving up on praying for a change of heart – He has always granted it to me. Always. So I guess it's not fully about whether I can accomplish all things. It's whether I trust His ways and His power in me to help me do what I cannot do. It's whether I will continue trusting Him till the end, for me to be able to accomplish all things.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.”

Loyalty

Elder Holland said that "the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty" (The First and Greatest Commandment).

Alma the Elder (not yet titled as Elder) and his people demonstrated a loyal love for the Lord. Here, read it.

Mosiah 24:15-16

15 ...they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

To me, these verses show the external appearance of their internal prayers, remembering that Amulon had forbidden praying with the penalty of death.

To me, their internal prayers sound as such:

"Heavenly Father, these burdens are heavy and sore, both upon our bodies and our souls. But we will accept anything you inflict upon us with cheerfulness. We desire to be freed, but are content with what we have. We want you to know our desires, but more than that, desire what you want more. We will do what we can for what's right, but the blessing is yours to give, or yours to make available for our efforts.

"We will serve you throughout it all. We will be loving, understanding, submissive and humble. But no matter what comes our way, be it trial, infliction, suffering, or even death, we will be loyal to Thee, we will serve Thee, and we will love Thee forever."

This is the type of prayer that has saved me so many times in life.

Nephi said, "for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning" (1 Nephi 19:23). So I shall relate it to us.

In the prayer I suggested, instead of desiring freedom, we may desire a job, a true friend, help, improvement, talents, etc. All good things. Working for them is a worthy pursuit (under the guidance of the Spirit and counsel of our priesthood leaders, the foremost being the worthy patriarch of your home), yet, they are God's gifts, and His timing and His ways must be submitted to. Cheerfully. Like a trusting child, with trusting eyes and a trusting heart, accepting and submitting to a father saying "no."

I spoke of Alma the Elder. Brace yourself for a long quotation of verses about his son, Alma the Younger:

Alma 29
1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

4 I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

5 Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.

6 Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?

7 Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?

8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.

For the practical purposes of learning from the above quotation, and about loyalty, we can take the definition of sin to be anything that separates us from God.

Alma said that he sins in his wish: "for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me."

Alma had a desire, but knew that he should not place that desire – even though it was such a great, grand and giving-to-God desire – he should not place that desire above the desires of God. And if it was the desire of God also, then great!

Alma stayed loyal to his Heavenly Father.

New Discoveries

As we read and re-read The Book of Mormon over and over, we can keep discovering new things. One of my companions said that his grandfather (or great uncle or some relative) has read The Book of Mormon ninety something times, and said that he still learns new things.

That's awesome!

Well, I had one this morning:

Mosiah 24:6
But they taught them that they should keep their record, and that they might write one to another.

I have never noticed this before! Or I forgot that I noticed it, and didn't remember. Since when did the Lamanites keep a record?!

Well... I guess since at least 145BC.

Good on them.

Eternal Perspective

I don't have a perfect eternal perspective, but this much I do know: an eternal perspective includes believing that the blessings of the future are infinitely better than whatever we go through on the way there.

Fight Like Lions

My beloved fiancé explained to me the difference between rambling and ranting.

Ranting is continuous speaking on a topic with passion.

Rambling is continuous speaking just because you can.

And so, again, I post a ranting of mine – which is also a personal goal for improvement for both my current family and my future family.

“...But they fought for their lives, and for their wives, and for their children; therefore they exerted themselves and like dragons did they fight.”
- Mosiah 20:11

Think of your family. How much love exists therein? Does everyone feel the Spirit through you? Do you feel the Spirit through them?

The organization of The Church, “namely apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers,  evangelists and so forth” (AoF 1:6) will not be needed when we make it to the Celestial Kingdom.

We won't need prophets – we will live in God's presence.

We won't need apostles, for we ourselves will be witnesses of Christ.

We won't need bishops, or, judges in Israel, for the eternal judgment would have already been laid out upon all.

We won't have the church structure forever.

The family structure, however, will last forever. And our family units can last forever!

I've heard it said somewhere that families can be the source of the greatest happiness, but also the source of our greatest sorrows.

I would like to speak of the sorrows that we can avoid. Life has enough pressures and challenges that try to pull us down, closer and closer to misery.

Here I again quote the scripture above:

“...But they fought for their lives, and for their wives, and for their children; therefore they exerted themselves and like dragons did they fight.”
- Mosiah 20:11

“They fought for their lives...”

You may be familiar with the emergency instructions given when you board planes to fly. One of them, was interesting to me. In it I found a gospel parallel.

A website explains it better than I can.

“When you fly on an airplane, the flight attendant instructs you to put your oxygen mask on first, before helping others.  Why is this an important rule for ensuring survival?  Because if you run out of oxygen, you can’t help anyone else with their oxygen mask.

“This is an important metaphor for those of you who run around taking care of everything and everyone else except yourself.

“If you don’t take care of yourself, you can experience burnout, stress, fatigue, reduced mental effectiveness, health problems, anxiety, frustration, inability to sleep, (and even death).  Are you experiencing any of these symptoms?”

- http://www.donnaschilder.com/articles/life-coaching-articles/put-your-oxygen-mask-on-first/

Spiritually, this is also true. How can I comfort someone if I am not comforted? How can I help someone with a lack of knowledge if I myself lack knowledge? How can I help someone develop their faith if I don't have faith?

On the mission, the Lord ensures that His missionaries have morning scripture study and other pursuits that prepare them well for the rigors and adventures of the day.

Our Sabbath day observance acts like a spiritual petrol station for us, in providing a most important meeting with an ordinance to renew all covenants you've made with God.

“God... created all things... spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth.”

My mission president, President Lon Henderson who I love and am grateful for in my life, taught us to do the same: each night, we would prepare for the next day spiritually – planning out our goals and plans, praying for divine guidance.

We would sleep on it through the night, allowing our thoughts (which doesn't stop while we sleep) to process our plans for the next day. (And believe me when I say, that most of the time, that's all I ever thought about at night.) It allows Heavenly Father to guide our thoughts as we slept. We would wake up in the morning with fresh ideas on occasion.

We learned to be spiritual planners and preparers, walking in the footsteps of our God.

Back to my main point after tangential ranting: if I am to protect my family, I must first protect myself. That is why the first line in the verse is “They fought for their lives...”

Next, “they fought... for their wives...”

Jeffrey R Holland said, “second only to your membership in the Church, your “membership in a marriage” is the most important association you will have in time and eternity...”

I may not be married. But I can fight for my [future] wife by being the worthy, righteous, godly man I can be. I fight evil away from my life. I prepare for my future family by learning how to bring the Spirit into the home of my current family.

Satan has many methods of attacking the family unit – they range from tempting us to doubt, to fear, to be unkind, to think that the other person meant evil of us (which, even if they did, you would not make the situation better by getting bitter about it).

He tempts us to place financial struggles before our relationship struggles. He tempts us to think that work, study, sport, or other pursuits are more important than the family.

Satan can also make great headway into our families by having us believe that the teachings at church, at mutual, at Institute, etc. are sufficient enough for the salvation of a child. No way Hosea.

We are already VERY aware of rape, murder, adultery, gender "equality" (when really, it takes the equality out of the genders), the belief that marriage is foolish, or that having children is foolish... they are all products of those being deceived and led by the adversary of men's souls.

Against all the above things listed, we must fight – it is not a physical fight. No, we aren't intending to start a war. We intend to bring peace to the souls of men. We mean to fight for what's right in appropriate ways. Elder Holland used the words “courage and courtesy” when once he was instructing us to defend our faith.

Keep the commandments, and assist others in doing the same.

I usually find that Satan attacks families from both the inside and the outside.

Regarding attacks from the inside, Elder Holland (yes, we can't get enough of him) said:

“Love is a fragile thing, and some elements in life can try to break it. Much damage can be done if we are not in tender hands, caring hands. To give ourselves totally to another person, as we do in marriage, is the most trusting step we take in any human relationship. It is a real act of faith—faith all of us must be willing to exercise. If we do it right, we end up sharing everything—all our hopes, all our fears, all our dreams, all our weaknesses, and all our joys—with another person.

“No serious courtship or engagement or marriage is worth the name if we do not fully invest all that we have in it and in so doing trust ourselves totally to the one we love. You cannot succeed in love if you keep one foot out on the bank for safety’s sake. The very nature of the endeavor requires that you hold on to each other as tightly as you can and jump in the pool together. In that spirit, and in the spirit of Mormon’s plea for pure love, I want to impress upon you the vulnerability and delicacy of your partner’s future as it is placed in your hands for safekeeping—male and female, it works both ways.”

May we fight righteously, like spiritual lions to defend those things which can last for all eternity.

Laws

Man did not make it to the moon while saying "gravity does not apply to me!"

Man cannot make it to happiness while believing and saying "God's laws don't apply to me!"

Your Confirmation of Truth

When the prophets speak, when our parents speak, when our bishop, stake president, family, friends, anyone speaks, when I speak (and in our case, when I type and publish a spiritual thought), the moral obligation should not be towards me for typing, or to the prophet for preaching, or for the bishop for correcting. The moral obligation is towards God, to receive revelation that confirms truth – and everyone is entitled to confirmation of truth and the identification of falsehoods through revelation.

Brigham Young stated: “I do not wish any Latter Day Saint in this world, nor in heaven, to be satisfied with anything I do, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ,—the spirit of revelation, makes them satisfied. I wish them to know for themselves and understand for themselves.”

(Brigham Young, “Sermon,” Deseret News, Oct. 31, 1855, 267)

So I hope, for every post I make, for every sermon in sacrament, for every lesson in the gospel and every talk in general conference, you are exercising your right, your opportunity and your responsibility to find truth's confirming witness for yourself.

How Do You Preach?

"...preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people."
- Mosiah 18:20

The Guide to the Scriptures defines "Preach" as such:

"To give a message that provides a better understanding of a gospel principle or doctrine."

On my mission, there would be an emphasis on the presentation, the behaviour, the speech, and the countenance of the missionary. Such an emphasis was summed up with this coined saying: "the messenger is the message."

It is a spirit of, "how you speak, how you behave, and how you look, gives a message of who you are.

An extreme case can illustrate this principle.

How would we all feel if a prophet stood at the pulpit in General Conference, dressed in board shorts and a singlet, rapping and dancing to us?

As borderline inappropriate as a hypothetical consideration it may be, all people can vary in the integrity of appearance, conversation and behaviour towards their devotion to God.

Thus, in this scripture, I would like to focus on speech.

Now, the scripture says "preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord..."

Why only faith and repentance?

Well, consider disobeying this rule, and preaching otherwise.

What is otherwise?

If otherwise from faith and repentance, then it is not faith, or not repentance.

To preach things not of faithfulness, but to preach not faith, or against faith, is to preach against its definition.

Faith is a belief in the true things which are unseen and not witnessed. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

Thus, to preach against faith is to preach in not having assurances, in not believing, in not hoping, or having the false, worldly hope that leads to disappointment in the inability to choose how life will go.

Granted, we do have times of temptation to doubt, sometimes feeling heavier than we can bear. Like in all things, God is pleased with any progression, and is patient over the time we reach for perfection.

Even the world's sciences and psychology has enough evidence to accept that faith in general has a vital role in life's success. Similarly, a faith that brings about divine results must be a faith in God, who is the source of all things divine for us.

Repentance is "A change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general. Repentance implies that a person turns away from evil and turns his heart and will to God, submitting to God’s commandments and desires and forsaking sin" (Guide to the Scriptures).

To not preach repentance is to, in every word, have a heart turned to God. It is a positive and faithful outlook on life, understanding how the Atonement works in one's every moment of life.

Thus, faith in Christ feeds an attitude of repentance.

In our speech, we ought to communicate a message and emotion of our belief that Christ lives, that we love Him, and that we have a testimony of God.

The Currant Bush

One of my favourite stories of spiritual lessons is of the currant bush - because I have been in need of its lesson throughout my life.

You may be familiar with the Mormon Message on it - it is a shortened version, with graphics and audio that invite the Spirit very strongly.



I love reading the full story as related to us by Elder Hugh B Brown himself.

I have copied the story down - if I had remembered this talk, I would have shared it in my talk last Sunday.

Regardless, I pray I take from it, again at this period of time in my life, the lesson that is to be learned.

Here are his original words:


You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.

I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”

Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British Army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.

I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.

Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.

I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.

And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:

“But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.”
(Hymns, no. 270)

I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.

Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings. 

https://www.lds.org/new-era/2001/04/the-currant-bush?lang=eng