Good intentions are not enough

So I have to admit, I've fallen out of the routine, and I feel less guided lately. It's entirely possible that one has much to do with the other - I don't know. I tried to get back into clearing my pipeline yesterday with some reading in the Doctrine and Covenants. It didn't inspire me and I found nothing to write about. This is a time to return to home. For me, that's the Book of Mormon. I've said it before many times, but its simplicity and straightforward spiritualness (is that a thing?) make it a good place for me to come back home to.

So I'm reading in Mosiah today. I started at the top of the page, then worked backwards, each time looking for more background story. I saw in verse 18 where Zeniff, the pioneer and first king of the group, wrote at the end of his life that his people's problems were caused by Laman, the king of the lamanites whose land he pioneered. He said Laman caused all those problems "by his cunning, and lying craftiness, and his fair promises".

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It struck me funny. I'm sure Laman was all those things and more, but this looked to me like a guy that was perhaps not taking responsibility. "That guy over there made my life miserable!" We all hear it, we've all felt it, and we've all wanted to be the person pointing the finger.

Really, I suspect that nobody can force us to be miserable. Only we can make our own lives miserable, or we can allow others into our vulnerable places enough to allow them to make us miserable. Either way, we caused or allowed the misery. It's not them, it's us.

But this guy is a writer in the Book of Mormon, right? He's a prophet? And he doesn't get the concept of personal responsibility? My first thought again, is yes. Men are prophets. Prophets are men. The Lord has to work with the tools he has available, and we're all messed up - one way or the other. It has to be a pretty messy business from the Lord's perspective - using people who are guaranteed to be imperfect while running your organization on earth.

So then I went back some more in the chapter. Was Zeniff a prophet? Turns out no. He was a good hearted man who was a Nephite spy. While spying he found Lamanite lifestyles that warmed his heart. There were families, there was love, there was certainly kindness. He wanted to believe that the Lamanites were misunderstood by the Nephites.  To prove that, he resolved to take a group of Nephites into Lamanite land to live with them in peace, happiness and prosperity. Kumbaya would reign.

So he did just that. They did OK for a while, then things go badly, and Zeniff goes back to blaming Laman for being cunning and evil.

There's a problem in all this. The problem is not that Zeniff wasn't a prophet - he was a well intentioned, good man. He called himself overzealous in verse 9.

Here's the point: Zeal alone, or good intentions, or kind heartedness, or whatever its name may be, is no replacement for learning and following the will of the Lord. Zeniff had no directive from the Lord to do what he did. It didn't come from any prophet or leader, and it didn't come from personal inspiration. It came from a belief system he developed while working as a spy for the Nephites.

Was he a member of the church? Probably. Did his membership alone make his decisions divinely inspired? Nope. Did he choose to rely only on his own intellect? Sadly, yes. Membership alone in the Lord's church doesn't make us correct in our decisions - we have to know that our decisions came from the Lord. As a result of Zeniff's well meaning personal decision, generations of his followers suffered and died.

I guess it's also fair to say that they can't blame Zeniff. They chose to follow him, because his idea sounded great. They didn't bother to check in with the Lord to make sure the Lord thought the idea was OK.

At the risk of straying from the subject, it kinda reminds me of politics. People get drawn to ideas that sound great, but are known to fail. Even after the idea shows itself to be a failure, they still cling to the idea because it still sounds great.

How does this apply to us? Sometimes we see a need: That homeless person on the corner wants money, or the neighbor across the street needs whatever, or the wayward grandson needs a place to live (I could tell you so many meth stories). These are all conditions that tug at our hearts, but rather than simply give, we must check in first with the Lord. Will we be further ruining that person's life by handing him money for the next fix? Will the neighbor use our kindness as a way to avoid looking for a job? Will the grandson move in and contaminate the home? As a former meth home remediator, I can say you lose everything. Everything. It all goes to the landfill. Then grandma and grandpa get to start over. and the meth head moves on to the next good hearted victim.

So we need to check in with the Lord. He knows if that beggar is hungry, or if he's going to feed his addiction. The Lord knows, and he is all too willing to provide us with that guidance. We have to keep our end of the pipeline clear.

From personal experience lately, I know that's not easy. But I do remember that it's worth it.

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