How could you forget?

Nephi asked his people "have your forgotten your God?" and the answer is that of course they had. But looking back at it, why would we forget priority one? Why make priority 99 more important than priority 1? 

It's a crazy time. Fires to the west, tornadoes to the east. Earthquakes local. And then there's the covid thing. Yeah - that's happening too. 

There's a coin shortage for some reason. People live for the opportunity to cut someone down to size. To be right on facebook by taking someone else out is the ultimate proof of internet man card. Snark rules. There's no church, and when there is church, you see only some of the people you know and love for a minute - and they're behind a mask. There is no embracing, no handshaking, no connection. There is no "us", only "me" and 'you". 

I've fell victim to buying into the gloom too. It feels like the covid thing is a warmup for whatever is coming next. It is the end times after all. It has felt like doom is impending, like the black cloud is moving overhead, and once it's completely covering us, it will come down, wrap itself around us and become our world. 

It has felt like that.

But external stuff is never who we are. I'm learning that what I focus on is who I am. When I focused on the black cloud, my life got more black. Then, and thank goodness for this blog and those who recommended it to me, I helped me changed my focus to the light. 

Now, I feel more light. 

In this week's reading in Helaman 7:17, Nephi has a quote that stops me in my tracks. "Why will ye die?" That's powerful to me. Why would any of us choose to die? Yet all of us do. Some more completely than others, but all of us do. When we, like the Nephites of this time choose to focus on stuff, and shift our focus away from Christ and our relationship with him, we die just a bit more spiritually. 

Same verse and the next: "Why has he forsaken you? Because you have hardened your hearts". And then to paraphrase the rest, we won't hear his voice, and make him angry.

In other words, He doesn't forsake us - we turn away from him. He's always ready to embrace us, but we can't see that because we have distanced ourselves so much from him that he seems too far away. 

"Why will ye die?"

The Come Follow Me lesson manual mentions that many individuals have received "many revelations daily". That can happen - I know it can happen. But instead, I allow myself to die a bit spiritually, and then it doesn't happen. Playing ultimate frisbee becomes more important than scripture reading, what I call "using my time well" means focusing on making money at the expense of filling my soul with light. Catching up on facebook, and delivering that awesome zinger becomes a greater quest than finding someone to serve and lift. 

Nephi used some graphic language in verse 19. "And behold instead of gathering you...he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts". Sometimes when we're that separated from God, we feel like we have no purpose. Like we're walking meat. Meaningless, purposeless, just breathing air for nothing. 

That's exactly what the adversary wants.

This blog is written primarily to me. I have to remember that there is time, and that I must create the time, to fill my soul. To brighten my light. To remember that I'm the Lord's light house. It's still the Lord's light, but to reflect it, I have to first let it in.