Breather 3 - Obedience does not free us from trials

  Do we wonder at times why obedience seems to bring more trials? Obedience is not a means by which we are spared from trials. The trials of God are a means by which He refines us into a people He can use. They are a tool in His holy hands used to make us humble, teachable, and Christlike. Obedience was never meant to free us from trials, but was meant to bring us the highest quality of growth the Father could give unto his children while they dwelt on the earth.

  If we take that into account then we need not be surprised when our lives seem to get harder as we continuously follow the council of the Lord. We do not know exactly how far the Lord is going to lead us before we are lead out of a particular trial, but He leads us onward through the path of most growth, and most development. However if we let go of His hand and step off the trail he is leading us down, we at times will unknowingly increase the difficulty, pain, and frustration that a trial would have otherwise brought to us. And in so doing we delay the growth that would have come if we had simply remained on the road the Lord was leading us down. Once we step off the path we must first find out way back to the path, or push through pain thorn covered path till we find our way out of the trial. The Lord will follow behind us till we are ready to turn to Him, and ask Him to lead us back to the path He was originally leading us down. Remember that growth is the witness that comes after the trial of our faith. But the duration of that trial is largely on our shoulders, and it is not simply extended by God with Him intending for it to be the length it is. Let us do what we can to not delay the growth He intends for us, nor to lengthen a trial that needed not be lengthened.

  But what happens at those times where we are already doing all in our power to follow Him, and to remain on that path? We need to remember that we do not travel this life alone. Our choices affect others, and their choices affect us. There will always be something trying to push us off the road. Yet all we can do, and the one thing we must do, is hold fast to the hand of Jesus and follow Him down the road He would lead us down.

  As we learn about Him we will learn that He is “meek, and lowly of heart.” Is is because of this that His burden is easy, and that His yoke is light. It is why He is able to help us carry our own. How great would the easiness of the way be if WE learned how to be meek and lowly of heart! How light would that yoke be! (notice those are not questions) If we learn to be submissive, and learn to be meek and lowly of heart we will see that through the growth the Lord would have us do, that our burdens will be easier, and our yokes will be lighter. Hold fast to the hand of Christ, learn of Him, and be like Him. And be easy to be taught by His holy spirit.

Step 7 - Impeding the timing of the Lord

Impeding the timing of the Lord

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  Admittedly it has been a while since my last blog post. The second half of my last semester was particularly busy and stressful, as was my summer. However I have a bit here before my next semester begins. I hope I explain this well enough.

  I have spent some time thinking about the statement: “the timing of the Lord.” How exactly does this apply to us? Those of us who are religiously inclined, at least among the Christian communities use this term in one phrasing or another fairly often. “God's timing,” “Jesus' timing,” so forth, but in the end we do simply mean that we are waiting on the time in which God feels it is best to give a specific blessing, need, or want; we're waiting on the time He knows is best.

  But is it enough to wait? As I have been pondering this I had the idea of a door pop into my head. I call this the “Door of opportunity.” These doors come in several sizes, but for my purposes I'm going to use just three.

  The first is the “gigantic you cannot miss it no matter how hard you may try door.” I think you get the idea. When the Lord is ready to present someone with a specific blessing this is typically what we are looking for, when in reality it is the least often of the methods used by God. These doors are those most ultimate moments of clarity in which we know what to do, in which a question gets answered, in which unmistakable instruction is given from Him to us. These usually come in times when the Lord is truly trying to direct us down a specific path and either a) we have qualified for such a blessing, or b) He has felt a need to deliver such a warning, or intervention.

  The second of these doors, and the second most common, is the kind you may not be looking for but it will get your attention eventually after you've passed it a few times. They may be less clear at first, but become more clear over time. In some instances the instruction from these may in truth be extremely clear.

  The last kind of door, and the one least noticed and the one I wish to spend the most time discussing is the kind which you will only locate when and if you look for it. Noticed I didn't say “and/or” but rather “and/if.” These will be the doors most often used by God to bless us. You may ask “Why, if God is so desirous to bless His children, would He make them look so hard for it?”

  Another thing that makes this particular door scary is you can't always see very far into it, if you can see into it at all. You simply know the Lord wants you to step through it; to step into the darkness and go forward by faith. Where is the faith if you always know exactly what you're getting yourself into? I think this is why I have such a hard time with this particular door, largely I can never see that well into them. But as I begin to walk through it I find little by little I can see more and more as the "light of my understanding" begins to illuminate the room (which the Lord knew would happen if I would just go forward.)

  The Savior said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” In Matther 6 He taught, “Not everyone that sayeth unto me “Lord, Lord,” shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven.” God expects us to keep the commandments that He gives unto us. And I am convinced that not only will we only find these doors if and when we are looking for them, but these are the doors we desperately need to find the most.

  In truth, it is not always as hard as we may think to find these doors. When we have the Holy Ghost with us we are able to find them, because the Spirit can direct us to them. And this is the key to why I have entitled this post “Impeding the timing of the Lord.”

  We do not know what doors the Lord has, or would have opened for us if we would simply have been aware, and ready. We need to be both aware and ready for these small doors. The Lord, and our Father in Heaven, they desire to open many doors for us to bless our lives. But when we neglect to do the things that invite the presence of the Spirit into our lives, or when we go as far as blatantly chasing it away (for example, when I watch a horror movie it simply leaves. That's all there is too it, and I hate the way it feels when the Spirit of the Lord leaves) we remove ourselves from a position where we are able to recognize the doors the Lord is opening for us. Regular scripture study, regular prayers, regular partaking of the sacrament worthily, doing our part to make these things happen, being where you are supposed to be when you know you are supposed to be there, and choosing to do the things you know you should be doing; when we do these things we literally create opportunities for the Spirit of the Lord to come be with us. And that's the way it is, we make those opportunities. This is because the Lord wants us to show to Him that we understand the value of having the Holy Ghost with us. I have asked myself on many occasions, do I understand the value of having the Holy Ghost with me? I've been praying for my Father to teach me the value of that gift.

  I have said my times that life is the choices we make to a very large extent. So choose to live in such a way that the Spirit of the Lord is ALWAYS with you. Show the Lord you do have an understanding of the value of the Holy Ghost. Any man or woman who understands that value will find themselves automatically beginning to change their habits to create more opportunities to have the Holy Ghost with them, and gradually trying to overcome habits that would cause it to leave.

  When things don't go the way I had hoped or expected, by mind comes back to this now. Am I keeping the Holy Ghost with me, or am I chasing it away? Or am I simply giving it no reason to stay? Doing nothing is the same thing as chasing it away. Having the presence of the Spirit with us is a blessing that is condition based, it comes as a result of keeping the commandments and seeing to our spiritual needs and development. It is in a completely literal sense “invited” by us to be with us. And so, my mind returns to the question: Am I doing nothing, and thereby giving the Holy Ghost no reason to remain, or am I even going as far as chasing it away? In trials it gets exponentially harder to continue my habits such as scripture study and writing in my journals, and I know I begin to turn inward. It becomes real work just to keep up with the basics. But I find that even if I don't get things done every day, the Father sees my fight to have the Spirit with me, and the Spirit does come with me as I do my best to improve and return to consistency in my studies. And I know that as I become able to do more, I am responsible to do more. I have to do all that I can do in order to qualify for certain blessings. But when it comes to having the Holy Ghost with us, all we can do is very largely “be consistent with doing the basics: reading, praying, going to church, don't stay up to late(my main trial largely), and so forth.”

  But when I have the Spirit with me I am able to see those doors the Lord would open for me. And at that point it all boils down to 3 things. 1) Am I scared to enter through that door? Do I have the faith to trust in my Father, and in His Son, that if I go through that door will everything be okay? 2) Do I understand that “everything will be okay” does not equate to “everything will go how you want,” and 3) Even when I'm scared do I have the courage to step through that door?

  If there is one thing I do understand it is this: Doing nothing is the same as going nowhere. It is the same as telling the Lord that I don't need His help, which in reality I truly do. To not step through a door He has opened for me is the same as saying, “I know what I need and when I need it better than you do.” But I step through those doors not matter how I'm feeling because then I know that I can look back with no regrets because I did my best to be faithful to my Father, and to trust Him enough to step through the door He opened for me; I trust that He knows that it's the best time for that door to be opened, and I trust that one way or another I will truly be okay and come out of it having grown.

  Do not impede the timing of the Lord by denying the presence of the Holy Ghost in your lives. Live in such a way that it will always be with you, and understand that it is in having the Holy Ghost with you that you will be able to recognize the doors He has opened for you. And then have the courage to step through it trusting that truly all will be okay one way or another; it will be for your growth and benefit if you will but trust in Him.

  Sorry if the post feels a little scattered. My thoughts have been everywhere the past few months and it seems like only recently I am pulling them all back together.

-Samuel

PS - I think this kind of helps. It's about revelation in general, but my post was largely about recognizing when the Lord places opportunities before us He would have us take/experience. Either way, they will likely come as Elder Bednar describes.

Multiple Parts: http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#patterns-of-light-discerning-light

Step 6 - Fear of Marriage, Fear or Eternity, Fear of the timing or God, Fear of not knowing, Fear of choice.

(Dating) Why do we fear to the promise of eternity? Why do we put it off?

  It is not a goal to saturate my blog with posts on the topic of dating. However it is a source of continual troubles to me, and as such I am able to learn much concerning the topic in my own life.

  In this one I will discuss three things that have continually frustrated me:

  1) I'm not ready to get married yet

  2) I don't know what I'm looking for

  3) Choose your love, love your choice

  What I write is not to convince people what I think they should be looking for, rather I will address both of these from my own point of view and explain what it is I look for, and why I choose those things.

  First, I want to discuss the concept of eternity. I think a large portion of people's hesitations in dating comes from a lack of understanding regarding this principle. The “magic” we seek in relationships stands to appease the here and now. It fulfills a more immediate desire for gratification in regards to our own emotional standing. When we feel it mutually we call the magic “falling in love” with one another. As I have gotten older I've spent a lot of time thinking of President Monson's words, “Choose your love, love your choice.” As I have let them bounce around in my head I began to examine the relationships and marriages of people I know and am familiar with. In the marriages I have noticed a consistent fact from one to another: marriage is work. Above all, loving your spouse is work. The concept of “falling out of love” is false, rather it is in fact “I choose to not work to love you anymore.” I will admit people may not grasp that concept, but it's true. (I want to note I'm speaking about formerly healthy relationships where the love seems to fade away. I am aware there are more strenuous relationships where there are other factors that come into play where it is far less likely it'll work out even if both did choose to work at it. But I firmly believe that choice is the beginning of everything.)

  If we then wake up one day and discover the magic has faded, how then do we love? By choice. You chose to let yourself fall in love with that person, you chose to marry them, and now you have to choose to continue to love them and they you. And in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint we covenant to make this choice for all time and eternity within the walls of the temple of God.

  Eternity, such a misunderstood word. Forever, such a uncomprehended concept. Have you ever looked up at the stars at night and thought how that is simply the beginning of eternity? Have you ever looked at your friends and thought to yourself about how those relationships could perpetuate forever? Time is an illusion.       

  When we entered this life a veil was placed over our eyes which blinded us to the fact we lived with God before being born into this world. Yet we know we did. We know our end goal is to return to live with him again for all eternity. We, then, began with Him and will persist with Him. We exist as eternal beings ourselves. That means the purpose of this life was 1) For us to experience the limiting aspects of the illusion of time, and 2) To give us a time frame to choose to follow God. For no man can spend eternity with the Father unless he meets the conditions placed forward by the Father. That was the purpose of the earth, to “See if we would do all things which the Lord our God would command us.” (Abraham 3) And so the veil was placed and the illusion of time began so that the work of God could go forward, and this temporal school for the preparation of continuing to exist as an eternal being began for all those who chose to take advantage of it. Think about it, you exist within a circle, but outside that circle exists a time and space that extends from all eternity to all eternity and has no end. And one day that circle will be removed, and you will see exactly what eternity is.

  Thinking about this I have set out to understand eternity, and while I cannot say I do, I know I do more than others may think I do, and this because I'm asking my Father to teach me regarding it. And as I study the scriptures and listen to the teachings of His Prophets and Apostles I find my mind being opened up to the concept little by little. Very much little by little, but opened all the same. An existence with no end, no beginning, but endless as the Gods themselves. To exist forever. I cannot take that concept lightly, I cannot toy with it, but I have a responsibility to prepare for it and to work for it to the best of my abilities. (Much of the above is not taught as doctrine of the LDS church, it's simply my understanding of the things I study and am taught. And it tastes right to me.) I don't really want to touch on eternity more than that, but if that gets you thinking about the depth and seriousness of eternity then it has served it's purpose.

  So then number one:

  1) I am not ready to get married yet.

  This is a common thing I hear people say. It's not something I understand as it was never a thought that once entered my mind. I remember wanting to find an eternal companion since before I even served my mission, and feeling ready to enter into that stage of my life. So when I hear people say this, I can only ask myself, “Why?”

  If we understand the severity of eternity then we wouldn't let our fears regarding marriage plague us as often as we do I think. Largely the problem is that we fear, or more exactly our fear of the unknown and fear of making an eternal commitment, and the fear of whether or not one may be ready to do such a thing. But much of the fears we entertain in our lives serve only to steer us away from the blessing that our Father in heaven intends for us to receive. In many cases at the time He would have us receive them. (I'm not talking strictly marriage regarding fear, but any blessing He would give us.) His timing is not our timing. We know this. Yet we do not understand it. Too often we apply the meaning to those words, “It's not meant to happen now because God means for it to happen later.” But we forget that it could just as easily be, “God means for me to do this now, much earlier than I had planned, and I don't feel ready at all, but He means for it to be now.”

  Sooner or later are the Lord's call, not ours. For example, I'm going on 27, and while it's not that old I have been ready to find my wife since I was 19. Yet for reasons only known to the Lord for me this is proving to be a “later” thing than I had planned. His timing for this is later. I have a sister who got married at 19. She never planned on that. She had hoped to do other things before she got married, but the Lord's timing was not her timing, and He let her know that, and my sister had the courage to listen. For her it was sooner. I know other people that fall into both categories. I have other family who married younger than I am, and older than I presently am. We simply cannot know on our own. We just push forward patiently.

  But what I would like to be understood regards the opportunity the Lord may place before us. If we by our own fear close the door to such an opportunity, we limit God's willingness and readdress to bless us. Largely we do this when He would have us do something sooner than we feel ready for, but rarely do we consider that our own apprehension is us choosing to not listen to the Lord telling us that this event, which is earlier than we had planned, is His timing. We just look for the later. We may say, “I am not ready to be married yet,” but the result of such words could be as devastating as, “Father, I know you've sent me this person who would be a wonderful spouse for me, but I'm not ready even though your timing is now. I can't do this.”    

  And ultimately it shows a lack of trust and faith on our parts. This is true not simply of marriage but of anything the Lord would instruct us to do before we feel adequately prepared for the task. My invitation would be to analyze yourselves and ask if you are not taking advantage of something the Lord placed in your life in His timing, because you do not recognize it is His timing, and you are afraid. Think about that, you may find that's exactly the case and that He has other plans for you than you have for yourself, or He may very likely keep directing you down the path you are traveling. But don't limit His timing only to “later” because it could just as easily be “sooner.”

  2) I don't know what I am looking for.

  Each of us is responsible for choosing the spouse we feel would fit us best. There will be times when the promptings will come from the Lord telling us of a worthwhile match and we won't recognize it as such. I would attributes much of my dating troubles to those I choose to seek after aren't sure what it is they do want in a companion. Again, it's not my place to tell them what they ought to want either. That is a matter between them and God.

  I can tell you what I am looking for and why though. I am looking for this: 1) A woman who loves God with all her heart, might, mind and strength. 2) She has a testimony of Him, His son Jesus Christ, and of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the reality of the calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and 3) she is willing to keep the commandments of the Father.

  These three things are the governing factors in my mind as I seek my eternal companion. Before I make any judgment calls of any kind on personality, behavior, how I feel they think, and so forth, I first consider whether these three things are met. If they are, I begin to look further at other things, if not I don't. For me the best way to do this is to befriend the person. While I am physically attracted to lots of girls around this campus, the physical attraction that I feel does little for me except possibly giving me a point in one direction or another for starting to develop friendships. As I befriend the young ladies, and as I get to know them and what they are like that is where true attraction for me begins to form. I will wait out an infatuation entirely as I do not want the infatuation clouding my thoughts. I want to know that when I choose to allow myself to love someone it will be exactly that, I choose to love them. And when I find my wife, I will have knowingly chosen to love her. The concept of falling in love does not work for me. Falling relates to an involuntary action that we experience only the consequences of at first, and have to choose to accept the consequences of after an event that happened beyond our own power and outside of choice. And many people do treat love in this way. But that's not how it was meant to be treated. Love is meant to be a choice, thought out and accepted by both individuals involved. Not simply “fallen” into.

  One I know it's by my own choice to love someone, and for me to do so the above factors would be met, I continue to look for things I like about them. For me a very attractive quality is how a young lady applies the things she is learning in her life; if she is applying them to work to better herself I find that very attracting and it pulls my attention really well. If she does nothing with the things she learns to better herself then I find that to be an extreme turn off. For what good is the acquisition of knowledge if it is not applied to better ourselves? This is especially true of things pertaining to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When I see a woman working to live the Gospel of Christ, that is attractive, when I see she doesn't get it or doesn't care, I do not find that attractive. Once I've established whether or not the woman tries to apply the things she learns to better herself, I begin to look at other things like personal habits, tastes, things I like and don't like in those areas. I have never expected any woman I take an interest in to be perfect, for I am not perfect myself. But the questions I ask myself is this: If I, knowing her faults, can I still choose to lover her because of all the good I have learned about her? Remember, love is a choice. If you can still choose to love someone after you begin to learn their faults, that is a good sign in regards to the genuine quality of your feelings for them.

  I will admit I try to take care of myself and my own body. I want a woman who is confident and cares for herself the same way, at least initially. I understand there will be factors like pregnancy which can minimally to drastically change the way my wife's body will distribute fat and other nutrients. She may end up putting on weight that won't come off. But I choose her for the person she is now, knowing the type of person she will grow to be, and valuing it to be of more worth than her physical appearance over the temporal extended life of our marriage. But it's important to me that she takes care of herself now, that I am attracted to her for all above reasons, and that I feel our personalities are compatible.

3) Choose your love, love your choice.

  These words by President Thomas S. Monson have always been in my mind since I heard them. The more I think of them the more I understand that that is how is should be from the very beginning. As I mentioned about about how I choose to love someone, I feel it should be that way for everyone. The importance of doing it this way is in the fact that it is a continual choice, an unending choice if we want that love to survive. Love is the fruit of work. We work to make that love survive and thrive together, not alone. We should go into a marriage fully comprehending the fact that one day we will wake up and the easy days of early marriage will be at an end, and an eternity of working together to create a love that lasts will begin. I am of firm belief that we can establish a pattern of habits and working as a married couple so that when the man and his wife reach eternity, they will have already developed a self perpetuating pattern of love because they have learned to work together and it has become part of their very natures.

  Choosing our love does not mean “choosing to accept the consequences of “falling” in love with someone,” rather it means “knowingly choosing to love someone because you have reason to make the choice, it feels like a wise and correct choice to you. You choose to love them because of the type of person they choose to work to be.” If we make an honest effort choose wisely and in the correct manner we can be certain that God will honor that decision, and let us know so. We can also be certain he will be there to uphold and support that decision right there with us if we do all in our powers as a man and wife to work for the survival of the love within that marriage. Marriage is work, and God's pattern is a pattern of work, but of a work that results in eternal reward of happiness.

  I feel this is enough to say on the topic at this time. It is how I feel regarding those 3 statements. I believe that if the people of this world, and in this church, placed less trust in and took less council from their fears, and exercise more faith in and trust in the timing of God, then we would be a happier people and less fearful people, ready to accept the timing and challenges the Lord is ready to place into our lives, because He feels we are ready and capable of accepting them.

-Samuel

Step 5 - The Sabbath and the daily value of the Holy Ghost in my life

  As I thought about what to post on today I decided to post on the topic of the sabbath, and what it means to me and why.

  We know to the children of Israel God gave the command “Keep the sabbath day holy.” But do we understand what it means to keep a day holy? Exactly how does one do that? And for what reason are we given that instruction?

  For me the way to keep the sabbath day holy is to create and environment where the Spirit of the Lord may be invited and maintained. But that's the thing, I have to “create” that environment. It doesn't simply exist on it's own. If it existed on it's own there would be no need for the command to “keep” the day holy. The Gospel of Jesus Christ exists to teach us how to be closer to Him and be more as He is.

  It is not enough to simply keep one day holy, but that command is to teach us the value of the habit of keeping all of our days holy.

  The Lord is aware we stand at different points in our lives. He does not expect us to be on our knees every moment of every day. His purposes for our coming to this earth involved getting a family, and a spouse, and providing for them, learning as much as we can both to develop ourselves and to teach our families, and to learn more about Him and to grow closer to Him.

  There are many things that, while spiritually non-conductive, are not exactly harmful either. Harmless entertainment which we are free to enjoy. I for one like rock music, and while much of it is inappropriate there is a lot of that is clean and can also be motivating or uplifting, and it's the cleaner stuff I stick to. Spiritually non-conductive things do not necessarily chase the Spirit away if they are clean. They just won't built it up any more. However, you do have to feed the Spirit. If you overindulge in things of no spiritual value the presence of the Spirit will stagnate and dissipate till you are left alone. And clearly avoid the things that are of absolutely no spiritual worth that flat out chase the Spirit away.

  The Lord does not expect us to be doing Gospel things 24/7, our lives are busy and we live in a world full of secular things. We are instructed to live in this world but to not be of the world. We are required to become familiar with the world we live in and the worthy things it teachers, and we are free to study our own interests. By giving us agency the Lord allows us to seek after what we will. The only governing factor being what Joseph Smith taught, “I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves.”

  As time passes I am losing my desire to play video games. It's simply fading. So is my interest in the majority of the music I would listen to. But it's not the result of nothing. It's the result of application. A man's nature will change on it's own as a man applies the doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in his life. If you know that you are craving or entertaining yourself with things you really ought not to, then spend more time not simply studying the scripture and lessons, and talks you hear at church and in Conference, but spend time dwelling on them and pondering them, and figuring out how you can apply those things in your life. As you apply them, and work to change how you are you will find your desires will start changing on their own. The natural desires will begin to be replaced by a more spiritual set of desires. Your mind will become Spiritual in it's own nature. Your entire nature will gradually shift to one that is Spiritual.

  To get back on the topic of the sabbath: One cannot become more spiritual without also feeling an increased desire to have the presence of the Spirit, and an understanding of the value of His presence. The Lord knew this would happen, and thus is one of the reasons the commandments of God have been given to us. So that we may become more Spiritual in nature, and seek the presence of the Spirit. To go from making one day Holy before the Lord, to making all of the Holy by our own will and choice because we desire and want it to be so so that we may feel the presence of the Spirit, and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ultimately the love and presence of the Father.

  As I work to become more like Jesus Christ I find one of the most important things to me is whether or not I can maintain the Spirit of the Lord in my lift constantly and daily. I find myself making choices solely on whether or not the result will increase or decrease the presence of the Holy Ghost with me. I find myself growing far more unwilling to decrease that presence, and unwilling to compromise in decisions I make that would cause it to decrease despite what people may think about the choice in question. I'm fine with that though: I would rather maintain my honor, in knowing I kept my integrity before God and valued and appreciated the Spirit He has placed in my life, and that I chose to choose to keep it with me.

    -Samuel

Breather 2 - Fear

Breather 2

  I did not plan to post another “breather” so soon, well.... I guess that works as I said before the breathers aren't planned posts anyways.

  I gave my talk today and enjoyed doing so. I was told my message was clear and understandable. I am grateful for that.

  

  I have had the words of one of our beloved Prophets of this dispensation, Gordon B. Hinckley, stuck in my head. “I challenge every one of you who can hear me to rise to the divinity within you. Do we really realize what it means to be a child of God, to have within us something of the divine nature?” (Oct 2002)

  I've been playing this over and over in my head. Especially his question, do I comprehend what it means to be a child of God? Do I comprehend I do have within me something of His divine nature?

  This brings to my mind another question: what am I allowing in my life to hold that nature back.

  I am only twenty-six, and less than a month away from my twenty-seventh birthday. Yet in my relatively short life-span I have learned a great and important truth. That age means little to those who learn to seek council from the Father using the means He has established. And so, while my years are few, I am comfortable in knowing I am learning to feel the spirit of God, and learn from it the will of my Father. I am comfortable knowing that I am learning how to be led by that Spirit, in my accepting the council it gives me so that I may live a happy life.

  My life is a happy one. I cannot deny that. Yet it is not free of stress and worry, nor is it free of doubts a fears. These things, while contrary to the nature of happiness, enable us to be educated in our lives by allowing us to know the things we dislike in our lives, so that we can know happiness and joy when they are placed before us. I go to bed at night thankful for the blessings of the day, knowing even if I do not recognize them that they have been given. I arise each morning knowing that it's going to be a happy day entirely because I live, and I have my Father's spirit with me. Let what worries and doubts, fears and frustrations come that will, I will endure them as I must and give thanks to my Father for the lessons learned through them, and by them.

  I keep thinking about the words I've heard, but I don't remember who spoke them: “Don't take council from your fears.” Such a simple yet profound little statement. The Lord did not send us here to give into our fears and reason away the opportunities He would place before us. Yet we do this so naturally without realizing that we are. I know I've done far too much of this myself. Yet we were made to be creatures that learn so that we could learn to take advantage of the opportunities God would place into our lives. I'm still not really sure how well I am able to do this yet I know I am trying.

  Elder M. Russel Ballard taught, “Faith is one of the greatest powers that you and I have in this sojourn of mortality. Fear is one of those principles that the devil uses. He likes to seed in your minds and in mine doubt and questions. He’s the father of all lies; he lies to us, and he can confuse us if we allow ourselves to be caught up in fear. So replace any fear or apprehension you have now with faith—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in your fathers and your mothers. Stay close to them.”(Sept 2011)

  If I knowing that fear is a tool of the devil and I make use of it in my life, then what does that tell the Lord of my faith? What does it tell myself of my faith? President Hinckley taught, “We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness(disobedience).” (Oct 2005)

  That line, “We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments.” Do we get it? Any reason that keeps us from following the councils of God, any of these reasons we choose to entertain, deny us the blessings of the Father He himself intended for us to receive. Many of these blessings are granted later as we learn to obey, but how much happier would we be if we had pushed away our fears and doubts and had learned to listen to the Lord the first time He intended to give us certain blessings.

  Let us not be afraid to do good, let us not be afraid to seek happiness and be aware of the blessings of the Lord. And let us not be afraid to choose to follow the councils of the Father to us so that we do not deny ourselves the blessings He seeks to give us.

Step 4 - Standing when we fall

Step 4

The Strength to Stand Again

  Often in our lives we will have moments, sometimes very long day, week, or longer type moments, which we will feel we have fallen flat on our face or back. The results of our lives will fail to go in the planned or even desired direction. Feelings of confusion and that we have lost our place will fill our minds. We will find fault and be stressed out by the actions of others where they have done nothing wrong or stressful, but we have changed the place we stand and become agitated by actions that would otherwise have been harmless or welcomed. Friends can turn into unwanted companionship, and friendships themselves can deteriorate because we avoid caring for them because the weight of our present burden overshadows the value of everything else that is truly good in our lives. I don't think anyone will argue with me if we simply label this as “trials” in our lives.

  What happens that causes us to lose our way? Have we fallen so far down that we can't recover? Have others pushed us so far back it hurts to move forward again? In reality, we haven't really moved that far at all. We hurt because we fall, and we radiate that pain outwards subconsciously, not necessarily because we want others to hurt like we do, but in large case because the experience we are enduring is foreign to us in it's present state. There may be aspects we are familiar, but most experiences, even repeated ones, bring with them a new set of aspects that are foreign to us. When this happens we begin to either bottle everything inside or turn it all outward, depending on the personality of the individual, and we share it with others. This sharing could be blatant and implied, or subtle and unintentional, or a mix of both. But the truth is as I said: When we fall, we haven't really moved that far at all, if we have moved at all.

  Image in you would looking up at the ceiling. It's really not that far. Most of us can reach up to it and either touch it, or if you're a little shorter like myself have your fingertips get a handful of inches from it. Now imagine laying down on your back on the floor right where you had been standing and reaching up towards the same ceiling. Lets say your eyes are roughly ten inches off the ground. That means you have the entire distance of your height between you and the ceiling now and it looks considerably further away. And while it's true it may be further from your eyes or the tip of your hand, where you are, your position, is still in the same spot. This is what happens when we arrive at a trial in our life that knocks us flat out our backs. We look back up at it, but it feels so much further away and so much more overbearing and it seems like all we can do to look up at it and ask ourselves, “How will I recover from this one? How do I get back up and go forward again?”

  It reminds me of a poem I read once quoted by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland,

“It darkens. I have lost the ford.

There is a change on all things made.

The rocks have evil faces, Lord,

And I am [sore] afraid“

(Joseph Hilaire Belloc, “The Prophet Lost in the Hills at Evening,” in Lord David Cecil, ed.,The Oxford Book of Christian Verse (1940), 520. )

  Immediately following that quote Elder Holland stated, “No, it is not without a recognition of life’s tempests but fully and directly because of them that I testify of God’s love and the Savior’s power to calm the storm. Always remember in that biblical story that He was out there on the water also, that He faced the worst of it right along with the newest and youngest and most fearful. Only one who has fought against those ominous waves is justified in telling us—as well as the sea—to “be still.” He points out something we need to remember, Christ is on the water with us. When we fall, He is sitting there next to us. He has experienced that fall, and because of that He is able to patch us up till we are able to stand on our feet again. He is able to protect us from the predators who would take advantage of us in our weakness and fend them off. He will guard us and then He will help us stand and go forward again. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “I have often pondered, Why is it that the Son of God and His holy prophets and all the faithful Saints have trials and tribulations, even when they are trying to do Heavenly Father’s will? Why is it so hard, especially for them? I think about Joseph Smith, who suffered illness as a boy and persecution throughout his life. Like the Savior, he cried out, “O God, where art thou?” Yet even when he was seemingly alone, he exercised his agency to wait upon the Lord and carry out his Heavenly Father’s will.“ Again, he comments how the son of God was there with us, as were His prophets, and had trials and tribulations in the same manner. And for the same purposes, to lift us closer to God.

  Elder Oaks also stated, “Too often we pray to have patience, but we want it right now!” It's true though, we tell the Lord “Thy will be done in thy time,” but we want it to be in our time. I guess that's why it's a test of our patience. It's to see how long we will maintain that “Thy will be done” state of mind, so that when He is truly ready, will we do His will or not? “Such was the submission of our Savior to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. He implored His disciples, “Watch with me,” yet three times He returned to them to find their eyes heavy with sleep. Without the companionship of these disciples and ultimately without the presence of His Father, the Savior chose to suffer our “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind.” With an angel sent to strengthen Him, He “shrank not to drink the bitter cup.” He waited upon His Father, saying, “Thy will be done,” and He humbly trod the winepress alone.” (Elder Oaks, Oct 2011 General Conference)

  Knowing I follow Christ, I do not find it surprising there will be times I will feel I trod the winepress alone. How can I be expected to not be free of trials the Master himself was not spared from? But that is the big difference. He trod it alone, and while I may feel alone, I am not. He will trod the winepress with me. He will not sleep while we suffer and endure our trials, nor will He simply “watch with us” while we endure them, but He will lift us up, He will support us and help us go forward if we will but turn and go to Him with all we can muster.

  Trust in the Lord as you endure your trials and He will carry you forward. I know this because He has carried me forward.

  A note: Be aware of your interactions with others and don't take out your stresses on others, subconsciously or otherwise. And when the Lord sends people in to your life to help you through those things, thank Him for those people and don't push them away. They were not sent from Him to burden you or stress you out, they were sent from Him because He knew they would love you and care for you, and they are a means from Him to help you through those hard times. And you never know, perhaps you were sent to them to help them while they help you. The Lord sends people into our lives. But we need to remember, while we are enduring something, they are enduring something of their own. And they may more may not be having a harder time than we are. So let us help each other through life rather than pushing each other away. Let us follow the example of Christ.

-Samuel

Breather 1 - Spirit and Letter of the Law

Talk I'm giving in church tomorrow. I don't count this as a Step blog post, but a breather between steps. That's because I didn't intend for this to be a blog post right off the bat, but still wanted to share it. The ones I plan to do are the steps.

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Since we have been talking about the various sections of “For the Strength of Youth,” I am speaking on the Spirit of the Law, and the Letter of the Law, and how we apply them in our lives.

For the Strength of Young on LDS.org

For my talk I will actually be discussing three things: The Spirit of the Law, the Letter of the Law, and the “The Interpretation of the Law.”

So then what is the Spirit of the law? It consists of at least three parts, and they work in a pattern. The first is the Spirit of the Law is the reason for which our Father has given us the law. The laws He gives us are meant to bring us closer to Him, and to help us exercise faith in the atonement of His son, Jesus Christ by keeping them. As a result of our acting in faith we are cleansed from our impurities, and we learn to gradually take upon us the qualities of Christ.

The second is our intent for keeping the law. Why do you keep it? Or do you choose to keep it? Do you know what the laws are? These are questions we should all be asking ourselves regularly. In order to gain a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the restoration of the Gospel, we had to do just that, we had to ask questions, and we had to take them to the Lord so that He could teach us through His Spirit that these things were indeed true. That testimony does not automatically grant us a testimony for every piece of doctrine we will go on to learn from that point forward. Yes, at times we will hear things that we do know are true immediately and we accept it as such. But there will also be times where you will be taught something, and you will wonder why that law is given, or what that piece of doctrine is what it is.

In order to properly understand it, you must study it out, and take it to the Lord. Line upon line, precept upon precept He will reveal the purposes of His laws unto you, the reason He has given them to us, and how to best apply them in our individual lives. That testimony of His laws that we gain little by little will fill us with desire, it will fill us with the right intent for seeking to follow Him, and will give us the strength to keep His laws.

The third part of the Spirit of the Law is the pattern I mentioned. When we seek to have the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, who testifies of the truth of our Father's laws, the Holy Ghost then brings us to the law. Then we have the option to choose to keep the law. As we choose to keep the law, and do so to the best of our abilities, we open a door in our lives that allows us to receive more guidance through the Spirit or the Lord, and to also receive a greater portion of His Spirit in our lives. The Spirit teaches us new things about the law, and about ourselves. Line upon line. And as we are taught, the Spirit then brings us back to the law. This process of receiving the spirit, keeping the law, learning from the spirit, and being brought back to the law is one we will spend the rest of our lives working. But that's a good thing, because as I said, it opens the door in our live for us to be taught by the Spirit.

The Letter of the Law:

We know the letter of the law to be the actual laws God has given us. You could even call it simply the literal wording. I think too often in the church we get into the pattern of thinking that “Spirit of the Law” is good, “Letter of the law” is less good. But that is not the case at all. The Lord has said in DC 1:38, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice of by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” We know that in some cases, we can take the word “word” as in this verse, and the word law applies to it. It would then read, “and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my law shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.” In Abraham 3:17 we read, “...and there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in His heart to do but what he will do it.”

We can be sure then of this: The Lord does not give us laws without expecting us to keep them. The keeping of the laws of God is one of the very reasons we are here, as stated in Abraham 3:25 where it reads, “We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”

Think of your baptismal covenants. And for those of you who are endowed your temple covenants. Each of you entered into those with the intent to keep the laws associated with that ordinance, you entered into a covenant to keep them. Think of the sacramental prayer which has that line, “That they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember Him, and keep his commandments which He has given them, that they may have thy Spirit to be with them.” How can the Lord place His name upon us unless we do His works, and keep His laws? How can we have the Spirit with us unless we keep the laws we have been given, and open the door for the Spirit to enter into our lives? Our goal as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is to become as He, and our Father in heaven are. That is not something that should leave our lips lightly. Think about that and what it means. In order to accomplish such a monumental task, a great deal of effort must be done on our part. But the instruction to fulfill that comes little by little. And it starts simply with this: With observing the things the Lord has already given us so that we can learn more through His spirit. It begins with the basics, and the Lord begins to enlighten our minds and our understanding from there. And as we observe this, the letter of the law, the Spirit of the law becomes the driving force of our lives. The Spirit of the Law is the instruction and guidance that comes to us from our Heavenly Father, through His spirit, as we keep the letter of the law. For no blessing can come unless the law it is predicated upon is first kept: and the receiving of the Spirit in our lives is such a blessing.

I will now speak on the third type of law observance I mentioned:

“Interpretation of the Law”

I have heard often from members of this church, “I am more of a Spirit of the law type of person.” And there is nothing wrong with this if it is in the manner I have spoken on. But it is regularly applied in peoples' lives differently. Often it is applied as a means of justifying ourselves so that we do not have to keep the laws which have been given in the way the Lord has given them to us, usually because

a) The law itself feels unclear to us,

b) We don't understand the law as well as we need to.

As I thought about an example to give concerning this I decided to use the commandment, “Keep the Sabbath day holy.” Ponder that for a bit: How do we in fact keep something Holy? For myself the answer is this: by creating an atmosphere in which the Spirit of the Lord may be freely maintained, and is welcomed.” If we then go home after church and begin to do things that immediately chase the Spirit away, then I would ask of you, is the day still a Holy one? But again that is how I keep this law. It can be hard, because if you simply take the words of the law which simply state, “Keep the sabbath day holy,” then it really does feel unclear and leaves room for interpretation.

The letter of the law can be summed up briefly as this: Do not shop or go out to eat on Sundays, avoid worldly things, spend time with family, go home or visiting teaching, that Sunday is from 12am to 12am the next morning, and so forth. And that is also something I try to do, but one of the very things Christ was trying to teach the Jews during His own ministry was the deadness of the law if it was kept without doing so to make use of the atonement of Christ, and the need for believing on the Son of God. To Nicodemus the Lord taught in John 3, “He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Evil here does not simply mean evil, it means worldly. It means choosing the things of the ways of the world over the way God has asked us to do things.

If we want to Spirit to testify to our Father that we do indeed love Him, we need to keep the laws which He has given us, and observe them in the manner He meant for us to observe them. The letter of the law was always meant to be observed, but in the way God meant for us to observe them, and not as man meant for us to observe them.

To the Samaritan lady Jesus taught: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him... and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Brothers and Sisters, let us remember to keep the truth of the law, or the letter of the law, that we may receive the Spirit and keep the Spirit of the law. And let us not interpret the laws to our own condemnation. Think about your habits, and your lives, and what you can do to change to better choose to be a follower of Christ, and to maintain His spirit always in your lives. Cut out the things you need to, and add to your lives the things you need to. If the Father seeketh such to worship Him, then let us choose – to – be such a people. So think about these things, and think about the “For the Strength of Youth” talks which have been given, and about the Honor Code which you have agreed to, and do those things so the Lord can guide you and give you His Spirit, and do them in the Lords way.

I know that as I have worked to keep the commandments of God in my life that I have felt His spirit, and He teaches me how to better keep His laws and be as He is. I know I have felt an increased presence of His spirit in my life as I have learned, and continue to learn how to follow Him. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that if we do these things, we shall draw closer to Him.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.