Who's the Master?

I have to admit that I struggle sometimes. I see people who rely on what they believe to be superior intelligence, who have managed to baffle themselves so completely with their perceived intelligence that an angel of God couldn't convince them otherwise.

Part of why it's hard for me is that it feels like I'm arguing for not using your brain. Of course that would be wrong - everything we're given is expected to be used beneficially for ourselves and for others around us. But an over-reliance on any one gift, to the detriment of other gifts, can steer us very wrong.

I see this as I'm reading in Nephi today. It's 1 Nephi chapter 15, verse 3 especially. Here's Nephi who gets it. His dad had a vision, so what did Nephi do? He went to the Lord to get confirmation. What did his brothers do? They argued about the meaning of what Lehi told them. He said the explanation their father Lehi gave them was "hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord".

Simple enough. If you don't understand, go the Lord first, then to your brain second. Not your brain first, and the Lord never. He continues "and they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought".

I remember my mom saying once "We're all inactive, it's just a matter of degree". I've requoted her and remembered that for many decades. It never seems to hit home as much to anyone else as it does me. I'm thinking we're all "hard in our hearts" to some degree. We'd all rather decide for ourselves about whatever issue is at hand. And after we decide? Who needs the Lord? We have our decision made.

I have a painting in my home that I really appreciate. It's a Greg Olsen, titled woman at the well. Here is a woman that is listening intently to her Redeemer and Savior. She's not telling him her opinion, she's not formulating a witty response to what he's saying. She's listening intently. Her goal is to swallow up all of his words without missing anything. She is expressing love to her Master by listening humbly and completely to every word of his. Any of her previous opinions are irrelevant right now - she's listening to the Master.

May we rely on our Master more, and on our own limited skills less, as we navigate life. And perhaps this is true too: as soon as we think we've got it? That's when we know we've probably lost it.

#lds #mormon #Jesus #Christ #love #spirit #faith #sharegoodness #lighttheworld #ldsshare #giftsandguides #thechurchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints

I will go and do

Sometimes in life we find ourselves stopped. Trapped. The battles have been waged and lost. You sit there feeling the pain of the loss and wondering perhaps where God is. Isn't he supposed to help you always?

So I opened to Alma Chapter 52 today. These are the war chapters of the Book of Mormon. These are sometimes criticized for being interesting, but not necessarily spiritually uplifting. The thing is - the Lord knows why they're in there. These of course are not just interesting war stories. There is wisdom in them.

So I was reading through the chapter, and while I enjoyed the story, I knew that I wasn't getting much in the spiritual strength category. I thought "I haven't found those easter eggs I'm looking for yet", when the thought occurred to me that I'd probably already passed two or three of them. Didn't catch them. I did find at least one though.

So the Nephites just lost a battle for some of their biggest and most important cities. The cities are well walled, the Nephites made sure of that. They made sure that a small army and the city defenses could hold off a much bigger Lamanite army, and now the city was in the hands of the Lamanites. Can you get that back? Nope.

But if the Lord needs you to get it back, you get it back. You find another way. You consult with the Lord, and use your resources, and you get it back.

And if the Lord needs you to keep podcasting, or writing, or if he needs you to be a better sunday school teacher despite the abuse you may have taken from students, parents, etc, then that's what you do. If your spouse doesn't support your wishes to raise the kids in a certain way - you find another way. It's about relentless dedication to doing what you know you should be doing. Not that I'd be an expert in that, but Teancum, Moroni and Lehi (the ones in the book of Alma) were.

To be clear, it's not about enforcing a person's personal will. It's about making the Lord's will happen. Big difference. Huge. Doing the first makes a person very unpopular and difficult to live or work with. It also results in a person being truthfully and properly called some very unpleasant names. The second makes a

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person a follower of God. The methods of doing these tasks will be very different as well. One will feel like force, while the other feels like love. One feels like "my way or the highway", while the other probably feels like relentless dedication.

So what did they do? These important and lost cities were critical to both sides, they were very well defended from a military perspective, and they were inhabited by a large army of very unpleasant soldiers. It would seem to be a very lost cause.

So does a person give up? If you're doing your own will and it's not working very well, perhaps so. You might be doing something that doesn't need to be done - or shouldn't be done. If you're following the Lord and it's not done yet? Find another way. The Lord doesn't make getting his work done easy - he just makes it do-able.

Teancum followed his leaders, and through military strategy, won an unwinnable battle. It's kind of in the same category as Nephi saying "I will go and do".

If it's the Lord's will, it will happen. The Lord will make it happen, but only if we surrender our will to his. Only if you and I do what the Lord needs us to do to get there. For whatever reason, he won't snap his fingers and make things work while we sit on our lawnchairs. I think I know why that's the case, but that's a topic for another day.

May we "go and do", even when the battle seems lost to us. To quote Yoda, there is no try.

#lds #mormon #Jesus #Christ #love #spirit #faith #sharegoodness #lighttheworld #ldsshare #giftsandguides #thechurchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints