Led by a woman - again

After the temple ceremony, and each time I go, I come away with profound respect for Eve. She got it - she always did. For me, and based on what I see and perceive, Eve was always way ahead of Adam - her role, at least partly, was to help Adam get it. What an amazing woman.

The fact that she is generally vilified among those who don't get it doesn't change her greatness one bit. Her greatness is. It just is. Opinions of those who don't understand doesn't change things. I guess that's another lesson that can be learned here, but it's not the direction I am going today. 

Then we run into Mary, Mother of Christ. Here is a woman whose greatness is generally recognized, but probably for the wrong reasons. Yes, being the mother of the Son of God is no small thing, but Mary isn't just someone else's mother - she is a spiritually deep soul who God the Father picked for a reason. Those reasons are not explored like they could be.

I love how Mary, like Eve, started things off. It came time for Christ's first miracle - turning the water to wine. As you read John 2, and watch the church video on that moment, you get that Mary knew it was time for Christ to begin his ministry. She was the one who understood that it was not just about getting more wine for the wedding attendees, she knew it was the beginning of Christ's ministry and miracles. She gave him the permission, the request, the authorization or the reminder that His time for miracles was now here.

It occurs to me that perhaps the two greatest moments in human history - the choice to leave the garden and the choice to begin Christ's ministry of miracles - was led out by a woman. They just seem to get it better than us males do sometimes. 

Christ was well aware of what was really happening, and his love and admiration for her was evident - even thousands of years later. His response was something like "I'll do whatever you say until my time comes". It shows great love and respect, and it reflects that he knows how things will end for him. 

Mary knew that Christ could and would turn the water into wine, she knew it was within his powers, she knew that he would do it for the guests, and she knew He would do it for both of His Fathers. She knew it was the beginning of a road that would end in pain that no mother could imagine. But she did so faithfully, perhaps even proudly, that it was now time for her Son to be who He is. The fear, the faith, the pride, the love and whatever other emotions she felt at the time can only be imagined. 

In any case, when an insurmountable problem arrived, she knew who to turn to. She did so immediately, and with confidence that He would solve it.

May we show that kind of faith. 

Come Follow Me: Lesson 1

Imagine this: you're a high priest, you're in the temple to do a sacred ceremony, and suddenly you find an angel of God standing to the side of the altar. Pretty cool huh?

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, found himself in just such a spot.

Now to be clear, this is a man that was described as just and good. This is the man that God the Father saved for such an elevated calling. Out of the billions of spirits that have lived on earth, God chose this man to be the father of John the Baptist. I expect that he must have been chosen for this calling because he was more than extraordinary.  How amazing would it be simply to have lived in this place, in this generation, and just see the Savior in the flesh?

So despite of all of that praise, here's Zacharias. Temple, altar, messenger. The messenger tells him that he will be the father to one of the most influential men ever to stand on the earth, and that his aged wife will have that baby. Maybe she's 60ish? 80ish? Who knows? The scripture says she's "stricken" with age.

And how does he respond? It's not in the category of "I'm so humbled and awestruck that I am seeing a messenger from God", and it's not "I can't fathom that I will be the father of such an amazing person", and it's not even "I'm so grateful that my wife, at her age, can be given a child". It was (according to the scripture account) "How can I believe you? She's old!"

Yo - Zacharias. It's God the Father. You know - miracles, all powerful, creator of the universe - that sort of thing.

It's easy to dump on Zacharias. For that moment, he chose doubt rather than faith, and was stricken with the inability to speak. But he was a great man, and if he's that great, where does that leave the rest of us? Will we doubt a spiritual manifestation? Or perhaps a better question is this: how often do we doubt or ignore a spiritual manifestation? And when we do, is our own soul made unable to speak in some way for some period of time?

The same thing with his wife, but perhaps to a lesser degree. The Lord's messenger tells her that she's about to give birth to John the Baptist! Her response? Oh good! Now I'll not be embarrassed about being barren any more!!

It's a bit bigger than that.

How often do we get to buried in our own routine that we fail to make room for divine intervention? How often do we ignore it because it's not part of our schedule?

And the biggie for the Jews - the thing that sent them over the edge, and made them marvel? It was that Zacharias and his wife decided to name their son John. This absolutely broke all rules. None of their ancestors was named John. You can't do that. You just can't. It's a rule - somewhere. This overwhelming break of tradition must have caused them to go full melt down.

We have traditions too. We have assumptions about how things should be. We have a prophet that's changing things, and indicating to us that just because something has been the routine, that doesn't mean it's eternal truth.

There are things to learn here: first is to listen for divine guidance, and then do what we're told, when we're told it. Right now. Even if it's un-routine or uncomfortable. In other words, if the message comes from God, that trumps all other factors. Even if it might be awkward to do it.

The second is that we don't know as much as we think we do. Traditions, assumptions, and general "knowledge" are not necessarily eternal truth - they're just traditions. We have to learn to separate out procedures from principles. That's hard - it requires us to be close to the Lord so we can know the difference.

May we grow within ourselves so we can have those divine messenger moments. May we gain the companionship of the Lord and his messengers on this side of the veil, as well as after this life. I can testify that it's worth it.

Where prophets are

I remember on my mission hearing more than one of my companions stating that there is only one prophet on the earth at once. That's true - kinda.

Right now, with the advantage of the internet, radio, TV, etc, a prophet's voice can reach any corner of the world. When that's true, how many prophets does the Lord need? One. And that's how many he will have.

Actually that's not true either, because there are 13 who are sustained as prophets, seers, etc. The quorum of the 12 are all sustained as prophets, among other titles. I guess it's safe to say that the Lord needs all 13 of them to get the work done and spread the word. And then He needs more than that - the quorums of the 70, as well as stake presidents, mission presidents, missionaries, bishops, and yes - the home teachers. I know it's ministers, but I'm so comfortable calling them home teachers that it's pretty hard to let it go.

But I digress.

So back in the day, let's say Book of Mormon times, how many prophets were there? Two that we know of. There was one at any given time (except during apostasy) in Jerusalem, and one in the American continent. When the Jaredites were there, and while they allowed a prophet, they had one too.

In 2 Nephi 29, the Lord defends himself against those who grumble that they want there to be only one book that has His word. "8 wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another..."

And do you remember that the Lord said he had many sheep to visit after He visited the Nephites? Check out verses 11 and 12. He mentions his flock in the east, west, north and south, and in the islands. In verse 12, he mentions the Jews, the Nephites, the other tribes of the house of Israel, and then he says "I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it."

I guess that covers it. All nations. The people in Iceland? Check. Zambia? Yep. Samoa? Absolutely. By the way, if there were a reincarnation, I'd totally want to come back as a Polynesian. Polynesians rock.

"And they shall write the words which I shall speak to them, for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world".

But to me, the debate (I use the word loosely because there kinda isn't one) isn't about how many prophets there are. That's a pretty intellectual and therefore meaningless argument. What's important is that the Lord loves all of us, and He will provide a means for all of us to have access to truth. If I live in Micronesia, and it's 1829, and if I'm looking for truth, and if my government allows truth to be told, and if I'm open to that truth, there will be as much truth out there as the Lord can pour in the jar.

Once again, it's not that the Lord is not filling our cup - it's that we have a lid on the cup.

May we do more than acknowledge the Lord's word, whether it be the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or whether it be the inspired words of those who love us. May we prayerfully and intentionally remove the lid and allow the Lord to fill our souls. May we acknowledge the Lord's yearning to fill our cups and enlarge our souls, and allow him to do it by removing the blocks we've placed on this side of the pipe.

I've had days in my life when I knew the blocks were partly removed, and my soul was enlarged. I've had the other kinds of days too. Being filled is better. Let's all stretch for that.

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

credit: www.medium.com

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

What it means to be powerful

 In your mind, picture that guy who is abusing his wife. Trailer house, wife beater shirt, beer bottles on the floor in and out. Starving dogs in their own filth outside the trailer. That guy. Who wants to be that guy? Absolutely none of us. Does he think he's "better than" because he can beat his wife any time at all? Probably. Is he powerful? He is not more powerful than the stuff his dogs are leaving in his yard.

That's what I've been working on lately: what is a powerful man? What is a powerful person? What is real power? Obviously our friend above is not powerful - he's a despicable waste of potential. What about others? Is a rich person powerful? I suspect it depends. If he's using his money to throw his weight around and prove he can get what he wants, he's no different than the trailer trash man. Money doesn't make you powerful - it's something else that causes real power.

What about the politician? The senator or the president? I have never personally met a president of a country, but I have lived through a number of their administrations. The most recent ones are men whose personalities and character I loathe. I wouldn't let them in my home. No matter the party, these men are nothing I'd want to be like. Are they powerful? Not in any way that I respect. Yes, they have the ability to throw their weight around and get what they want.

And again we see that despite their position, these people are not that much different than trailer trash guy.

Rock stars! Are they powerful? Thousands or millions of adoring fans. Drugs, sex and rock and roll. Wasted bodies, no purpose, turn the page.

So what does it mean to be a powerful person? I was reading in Mosiah 11 today. This is where the priests were changed out to suit a king's wishes. What had been God's chosen leaders were changed to suit the political needs of a community that wanted more politically correct (corrupt) men.

And then they started building stuff. Towers, thrones, gold laced chairs, elegant and spacious stuff. Elevated positions. Did the new priests need these symbols of power to support them because they knew that the power didn't come from inside them? I realize that a prophet doesn't need a golden throne to be a prophet - he needs well worn sandals. Or in today's case, shoes. He doesn't need a tower, he needs power that comes from inside himself. From God.

It occurs to me that a person who uses props to pronounce his power (a lambo, expensive furniture, a thoroughly beaten or demoralized wife, stories of their own awesomeness, trophies from 20 years ago, expensive clothing, etc) probably is not and never has been powerful. That person may be miles behind the average Joe that you meet on the street randomly. Power? I don't think so. Surrounded by props? That's true - but it's not power.

I could throw in one more. Knowledge about pro sports. Knowing who should have drafted who in which round, and how it would have been affected by available spending caps is interesting, but it doesn't make a man a real man. It's a prop too.

So if all of the typical signs of power are not powerful, then what does it mean to be a powerful man? Or powerful woman? The answer may be about the most powerful man the universe has ever known: our Creator.

He didn't need props. From my understanding of the bible, he didn't use any. No expensive chairs, no beaten wives, and the crown they placed on his head was placed against his will. His props were the moments when he served others by teaching them and washing their feet.

So what does power mean? Where does it come from? I believe that real power comes only from the inside. From having cleansed the inner vessel to the point that Christ can work with you to lead others. That powerful person can't be recognized by their car, but if your soul is open to them, they can be recognized by the spirit. When you find them, learn from them and support them. Gain from them. Find someone who can lift you - that person is powerful in a real way.

To be clear, it's not money that's the problem. It's how the money is used. If the rich person uses their money to support abused women, that's power. If the money is used to abuse, that's a prop.

May we all search for real power in ourselves, and surround ourselves by others who have real power in themselves. May we fill our souls with real power, then dedicate our lives to sharing that gift we have received.

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

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".

credit: veterinaryitsupport.com

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.

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

Light and good stuff

Navigating the scriptures can be hard. I remember reading the scriptures for the first time as an 8th grader. I started my first seminary class and we were all challenged to read the book of Mormon all the way though. Three pages a day. "Shouldn't be hard" the teacher said. Yeah, right! I think by the time we were supposed to be done, I was somewhere in Alma - about 40% finished. Reading scriptures is boring if you're an uninspired teen. It's not like reading Harry Potter.  How could others find it so much easier to read than I found it to be?

Navigating the scriptures can be a task for many. If you don't know what you're looking for and just trying to read the scriptures like a novel, it can be labor. But lately (and this is why I started this blog), I read it looking for easter eggs. Gems. Little shining truths that expand my understanding and allow me to feel like I can see one more star in the sky. One way to look for those is to look for markers. For me, no word makes a better easter egg marker than the word "and". 

It's such an unassuming word - and that's why it's awesome in its use as a marker.

I was in priesthood meeting yesterday, and the lesson was on the general conference talk by Taniela Wakolo. Our teacher was my former home teaching partner, when it was really home teaching. A stellar man. The dude has a few years on him, and every one of those years must have been spent well. He serves when nobody is looking, and his soul runs deep. I admire him much.

So he was teaching, and had a question that seemed to drop off a cliff. He was asking about light and knowledge. He was referencing this talk, and quoted one of our church leaders about light and knowledge. "Why light and knowledge" he asked. Nobody had an answer. I asked a question back to him - what is light and knowledge? He didn't know. Nobody else in the room did either apparently. The conversation went elsewhere then, but I was stuck. He had wanted to consider knowledge and light to be interchangeable, but I knew the Lord doesn't do that. The Lord's language is extremely precise, and if he used both words, then both words were different and important. I knew that here lies an easter egg, and it was up to me to find it. 

What's the difference between light and knowledge? Light and truth? The title of this conference references light and protection. I suspect that a discussion on light and truth goes infinitely deep. I can venture down that hole, but I could never go too far. That one is so deep, it's a personal thing. That's one egg we all have to find ourselves, nobody can or should hand it to you - including and especially me.

But I feel like Light and Knowledge are something I can explore. For me, using your brain to learn spiritual truth is like trying to use your eyes to hear a song. Not the right tool. Like trying to hear someone touching you. 

So light and knowledge? What if knowledge is what we know - it's truths we already have. It's super data. It's some combination of experience, study, and what we've already received from above. It might even be described as the sum total of what we have achieved thus far in life. No matter where that is, it is probably not enough to move forward in life without further guidance from on high.

So that's what light might be. Light is our ability to be guided into tomorrow. Not our present skill set. We might have a huge tool box, but be completely unaware that there is such a thing as a drill, a table saw, or an allen wrench. We might not know because, to date, we've never needed them or been able to use them. 

This is where light comes in. The Lord sees that I really need an allen wrench. Nothing else in my tool box works. He tries to give it to me as I need it, and if I'm open to receiving it, I've got the allen wrench I need. 

Light is like access to the library, or to google. It's access to knowledge much more infinite than I can ever use. It's my Heavenly Father being there, lighting my way, and placing the allen wrench in my pathway, moments before I need it. I still need to be open to seeing it, bend down, pick it up, carry it and use it. Most importantly, I must not reject it.

There is much more to this subject, but as always, this is about as far as I can go. It's a subject that certainly goes a mile deep. I can get to the first two millimeters.

Light and knowledge? Very different. Huge.  

May we read the scriptures looking for gems, may we find our own sign posts indicating where the gems are for us. May we use all the tools that the Lord provided for us as we search for truth. And may we seek earnestly for them.

Lesson 33: Sharing the Gospel

I don't remember when or where it was, but I heard a church leader say something like "The church must be true - if it wasn't, the missionaries would have killed it long ago".

I get that. As a missionary nearly 40 years ago, I saw that some of the missionaries there considered themselves to be on a two year vacation away from mom and dad. The damage they did was regrettable. Even a well meaning missionary, and I'm speaking of myself here, can cause damage. The language in Guatemala is Spanish. I walked past an outdoor preacher once and said in English "Is that so?" Now that alone was definitely not Christ like, but how it got interpreted was worse. He didn't speak english. He spoke spanish and thought I said "Sonso", which means he thought I was calling him an idiot. There was no recovering - I kept moving on. Damage - done.

So there is a little bit of understanding for Jonah. He was definitely a man, and like all of us, was much less of a tool for the Lord than the Lord would have him be. First, he tries to avoid a mission call by leaving the city. Apparently he didn't understand that the Lord was the Lord of more than just that city. The bigger picture was lost on this man - at least in that category.

Next, I find the story interesting. It looks like there is a chiasm in this story, but that's a subject for a different blog. All my life I had heard that a whale swallowed him up and blew him out right next to Ninevah. Not so. The old testament says it was a fish, and it vomited him, 3 days away.  It may have been a whale, but the bible just says it was a fish. The whale thing is "common knowledge", but it's also inaccurate.

So like so many of us, when we get a title, we think we're awesome. We're powerful. We are to be obeyed and feared. And whatever we say goes, because why? We have a title. In his case, he was a messenger of the Lord. To him, that meant that whatever came to his head, and whatever he said, must be backed up by the Lord. It wasn't about relaying the Lord's word to the people, it was about him being powerful. In a way, he misunderstood his role - he considered himself to be the Lord, and figured that if he said it (he had a title, right?) then the Lord had an obligation to make it so.

Credit: Garth Knox - Longroom.com

Now, the purpose of this discussion is not to just beat up on Jonah. It's to get all of us to look at ourselves, and decide how much we fail to understand our roles. Do we expect the Lord to back us when we don't listen to his guidance? Do we let a title of the Lord's trust make us proud? When we get a title, do we then humbly work to enlarge our pipeline with the Lord? Or do we consider it no longer necessary because now we have the title?

This passage is in the scriptures not because Jonah was a problem, but because we all are.

We all have leadership positions. Husband, wife, father, quorum presidency, manager, executive, bishop, nursery leader. It doesn't matter what the position of trust is. What matters is that we must rely on the Lord to guide us. What can't we rely on? We can't rely on ourselves, our intellect, our social circles, philosophical books, social trends, or "common knowledge". And we can't rely on our titles. We must develop that pipeline with the Lord, and do what He commands. And when we really wanted those tens of thousands of people to die so that we could be "right"? When it ruins our day that the Lord doesn't do what we command him to do? That's when we need to check our own souls.

It's not about the title - it never was. The prophets have long said that judgment day won't be about what title we had, it will be about how we lived. For me, that means it's about how well I've developed that pipeline to the Lord. May we seek that relationship. From what little I know about it, it's absolutely worth developing.

Lesson 32: Trials and our Redeemer

It was on facebook just a couple of days ago. I love the latter day saint type pages because members of the church from all over the world can discuss. It's kind of awesome to see how a member of the church in Ghana or Finland sees things, and how the rest of us help people get past the differences between culture and religion.

So the facebook post went something like this: Why does God allow bad people to do bad things to good people? The idea sounds to me something like this: wouldn't a loving God protect his people? Why be good if bad is still going to happen to you? 

I don't know if it was intended to be an introduction to this week's sunday school lesson, but it very much was. 

Now, full disclosure. I live a very blessed life. My health is good, I have time to pursue my passions and try to be a light house to others. My wife is awesome, and my relationship with her is an 11 on a scale of 10. My job is good because I'm my own boss, and I make enough. Recently, when I don't make enough, my wife's income is more than enough to compensate. She out earns my best months lately. My children mostly live close, and they are all moving forward in their lives. I'm not being tested. Everyone around me is though.

For some, it's continuous horrible physical pain and no job.  For some, it's a continuous lack of money and a resulting depression & inadequacy. For some, it's loneliness, or a feeling of never being able to fit in. Or it is a lifelong history of abuse: sexual, verbal, physical - all of it. I know people who fit in all of these categories. For my dad, until he passed a couple of months ago, it was day in and day out loneliness. For years, he went to bed having done nothing, and in the morning he had nothing to do. We did our best, but you can't make a burden like that go away completely. 

Why does life have to be so hard? For everybody but me, at least. 

And the lesson this week is Job. He had it all back in his day: sheep, camel, all of it. He was the rich guy. Did it make him vain? Nope - I heard a phrase once that money doesn't make you evil, it just magnifies whatever you are. Job was a man of God. He knew what he was, and who he believed in. He had a relationship with his redeemer. This wasn't a matter of convenience because professing religion got him "in" with the religious leaders. It wasn't because he liked the other members of the congregation. It didn't assist him in his deal making as he was trading sheep for goats. He loved the Lord because he knew the Lord. Like Abraham, he knew the voice of the Lord because he had heard and followed that voice many times.

This is not a man who was afraid of judgment day, this is a man who knew that when he met his Redeemer, he would run to him and embrace him.

I'm not sure that the way the old testament reads is completely correct. As it is translated, it sounds like God and Satan were playing a game of chess, using Job as the pawn. To me it's a bit different than that. I believe that when we are born, Christ puts a protective ring around us. A full circle ring that prevents us from being jabbed by Satan in areas where we are unprepared and vulnerable. Then, little by little, line upon line, he removes some part of our protections, and allows us to battle the adversary and build our own protections. Our own testimony, our own wisdom, our own strength, our own relationship with the Savior. This is why we were sent here.

The Lord knew Job would pass his tests, which is why he allowed Job to be so tested. He knows we can pass our tests, which is why he allows us to have them. Job's loss of his herds, his family and his health were not curses from God. They were extremely unpleasant, and none of his tests were something I'd want to wish on myself, but they were gifts. They allowed Job to exhibit his greatness. They allowed him to go from being a really good man that lived among the sagebrush thousands of years ago, who would be forgotten a generation later, to a biblical light house. A beacon of strength to all of us who struggle. He was a foreshadow to a greater man who would give His all as well. That man is our Redeemer. My Redeemer. 

I have experienced pain in my life. My own choices brought me more pain than I can describe. Years upon years of pain, and the pain will never end while I'm alive. But it did help me get to know my Redeemer - he took my poor choices upon himself, and I willingly gave them to him. They are His now, and as a whole, my life is happier than anyone else I know. 

May we trust God, take our difficulties in a trusting way, and rely on Him to get through them. Greatness comes from asking Him to help us as we grow ourselves toward being more like him. 

Well, that's different

It's hard to keep up a good habit. When you're coasting along life, doing nothing to stand out, I would imagine you probably minimize the criticism you receive. By contrast, when you reach, when you lift your eyes from the bottom of the pail, there may be those who want to remind you that the bucket is all there is, and it's wrong for anyone to consider anything otherwise.

Bucking the trend is hard. People ask you why you think you're different or better than. The fact is that we're all different and better than, and it's up to all of us to find out what variety of different we are. Yes, we are all better than in some category - we all have gifts that make us different/better than in some category. It's not reason for pride, it's a responsibility. We are expected to use our gifts and skills to climb out of the bucket, and then help others.

So today I'll differ with myself. Up until today, this has been about reading scriptures, and then writing about what I learned. There are no pre-set rules that bind me to that. I can consider, use the gifts I have, receive guidance from the eternal, and write about that. I guess it may not be about where I start, but how I am guided, and to where.

So I'm looking at notes I took while at the feet of a friend and guru, we'll call him Nathan. This is a sub-sub section of training about teaching, listening and responding. My notes have a heading of Connection when working with someone I'm trying to listen to. 

So here's the scenario - one we've all seen before. The angry teenager, spouse, boss, or co worker. The difficult church member. The arguing client. Angry and/or difficult people are anywhere. They are impossible to avoid.

So. Connection. There are three parts to that - connection to them, connection to me, and connection to God. Nathan didn't elaborate on that, that's up to me for now. 

Let's say I have an angry client. I do home inspections, so let's say I miss something. Let's say the roof leaked the day they moved in, and let's say that I didn't warn them about it.

So first, building a connection with them? I probably had their trust in the beginning, and then lost it all when the roof leaked on their twin babies. How does one restore that connection? How does one even get a part of it back? I can't just throw in the towel because these people are angry. From their point of view, they have every right to be angry. They paid me to advise them on the roof, the roof leaked, and their babies got soaked. They think they're correct, and to them, they are. 

Everyone thinks they're right. Nobody has ever walked up to anyone and said, "you know, I realize I'm wrong about this, but here's what I think". 

So. Are they right? do you only have to try to connect with them when they're right? Nope. Their correctness or lack of it is irrelevant. My correctness or lack of it is irrelevant. This is a time for connection, not correctness.

That in mind, a listening ear may be huge. To thoroughly and completely understand what they believe the facts to be. To feel their frustration. To learn that one of their babies has an allergy to being wet. To feel their fear and frustrations To try to feel their pain as deeply and in as much detail as they feel it.

That's hard. I am horrible at that. 

Then, connection with myself. I have to know who I am and what I represent. If their roof leaked, and I'm at fault, will I automatically use words and actions that protect my bank account, or my soul? Which is more important to me? Being in contact with my soul isn't something I can just do in 5 minutes, like I would try to do with a client. Aligning myself with my eternal side takes a lifetime to do, and even then I'd guess that without great personal effort, it will never happen. And if/when it happens to some degree? That would be a gift from above. Big. Huge. Kind of like that scene in "Pretty Woman". 

And then the third category: aligning myself with God. I guess it's fair to say that if I've aligned with myself, I'm well along the path of aligning myself with God. Still, there may be some difference.

Let's say that "Me, Inc" has decided that my brand will be known for extraordinary customer service. Would a company with that brand do more than listen and build connection? Would it go back out? Would it do everything in its power? Obviously, a home inspection company would go broke in no time flat if it paid out resolution money for everything it missed - everyone misses something every time, no matter how experienced, detailed and thorough you are. So it's not about writing checks. It's about being exceptional. 

And from the Lord's perspective? Connection with God helps me to see that client as God sees them. He may not share with me their concerns about their mother's dementia, or their concerns about their baby's possible deafness, or their own fears of losing a job, or their fears about the spouse leaving, or their fears about having to speak or sing. He may not share those details with me, but he may share with me how much he loves them. I can get that when I am sufficiently aligned with God.

All three of these are hard. Mucho super hard. To connect with everyone, whether they are happy with you or not. That one by itself is a superhuman feat, and only God can help us do that with more people. That would be an awesome gift. 

To connect with ourselves. To really know who we are, and to be committed to living our principles, even when it's really hard. To know what honesty and integrity mean, and to live that way even when we want to skip it for a minute.

To connect with God. Few things are more awesome than that. Again, this will be a matter of line upon line, and a million steps or grades, but to know our Savior? To look forward to the day when we meet him at the judgment bar? To yearn for the time when I can embrace him? To make this life a chunk of heaven, because we have access to his presence, just like I hope to have after I die? 

If heaven means living in God's presence, there's no reason that can't happen now. As I've written before in this blog, he's waiting for us. Not the other way around. 

May we connect. With others, with ourselves, and with our God. It sounds like that would be pretty awesome.