Lessons from the School of Hard Knocks

While it's a little too early to be talking about Mother's Day, one of my favorite memories surrounding the holiday is one that my mom has shared with me. Apparently, the local paper was trying to do a piece for the upcoming Mother's Day that would include children's thoughts on why they loved their moms. I don't recall how they got my thoughts, but I apparently told them (either by writing in or being interviewed) that "I love my mom because she brings me pretzels while I watch Thunder Cats." I still love my mom for that!

Among the shows other than Thunder Cats that I would watch while snacking on pretzels brought to me by my mom was SpongeBob. In one of my favorite episodes, SpongeBob and his friend Patrick Star try to construct a stable for SpongeBob's sea horse Mystery. Mystery is eventually released back into the wild and the episode ends with Patrick repeatedly banging his head against the entrance of a hat store due the board nailed to his head. It has made me laugh nearly every time I have seen it. However, as I've aged and laughed about his stupidity, I have realized that while I haven't literally nailed a board to my head, I have figuratively found myself banging my head due to metaphorical boards at various points in my life!

There is an old adage that goes "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." Sometimes in life, I have found myself truly frustrated by the lack of progress that I have been making! In a feeble attempt to get things going again, I just try to do what I have been doing--but with more zeal. The problem with this, though, is there are still figurative boards attached to my head!

These figurative boards can be any number of things--sin, not getting enough sleep, not accepting personal responsibility, and etc. However, its interesting as we bang our heads as a result of these things, the natural tendency, at least for me is to just keep smacking my head rather than taking the board off at first! These times can be extremely painful and can leave us feeling hurt, bewildered, and a little bit lonely as we contemplate why we are suffering so much. If any of you are like me, you may find yourself sadly looking for excuses or places to lay the blame while continuing to smack your head. However, not surprisingly, there is something we can do to relieve this pain.

In Alma 60, we read a letter from Moroni (captain of the Nephite armies) to Pahoran (Chief Judge over the Nephites). For a little context, the Nephites have been fighting with the Lamanites and have been slowly regaining land back they lost earlier. Just when they seem to be doing well, though, the Lamanites overrun some of the recaptured Nephite cities. Moroni is irate because the army has received little help from the government and He also knows that many of the Nephites are bothered by the lack of progress the Nephite front is making. Moroni writes, "Do ye suppose God will look upon you as guiltless while sit still and behold these things? ... begin to be up and doing" (Alma 60:23-24).

I think at times, the Lord looks down and sees us smacking our heads and has to think "man, that probably hurts." However, He wants us to become and while learning this way can be painful, it is sometimes the only way we seem to learn! Moroni seems to have caught hold of this truth and while it would seem the Nephites certainly did hit their heads, Moroni's timely counsel helped them change and allowed them to go onto very quickly win back their lands. It is at times like these that we may do well to remember to be "up and doing" regarding those things we have control over!

I know the Lord loves us and wants us to succeed. I also know that a lot of times, we can be our worst enemies and not even realize it. I know that as we seek to do all that is within our power to reevaluate our lives and make changes that will allow us to progress, the Lord will help us. I know we can get where we want to go as we stop and take minute to get the boards off of our heads!

Image credit: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wGowUsdFHcs/hqdefault.jpg

What Does Dad Know...

When I was young, my parents had a saying that use to drive me insane (the picture attached I think portrays my best "insane" look with my dad)! When something needed to be done in a time sensitive manner or when they were just particularly stressed going into an activity, my parents would turn to us kids and say, "Now when I say jump, you say 'how high'." They would then proceed to clarify what that statement did not mean (i.e. no asking why, when, or any other form of questioning). As a youngster, I thought this request for blind obedience was annoying--after all, how was it that they could really know what was best for me in a moment.

However, now as time has progressed on, I have come to really appreciate the wisdom Mark Twain once expressed in the statement, "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." There were times when I was young that my parents would give me "command" me to do things that I honestly could not see the value in doing. However, as is always the case with hindsight, I have learned they were more often than not right. Funny how much we learn over a few years!

In Alma 36, we read of father Alma's counsel to his oldest son Helaman following a mission trip they went on together. Alma teaches him many things, but one message he teaches early on in his counsel stood out to me as I read it this week. In Alma 36:2, Alma reminds his son of the captivity of their not too distant ancestors and says "for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he surely did deliver them in their afflictions." Alma continues on to share his personal experience of having to endure bondage of a spiritual nature and how it was only the Lord who could deliver him.

I think the message here for me is that it can seem during tough times as though God is not listening or maybe even punishing us. I have found myself terribly impatient with Him during points like these in my life. However, it has occurred to me again this week that perhaps in 70 years or so when I meet up with Him again, I will be, to steal Twain's word, "astonished" at how much God has learned over this time.  Alma and his father's generation went through tough experiences--the kind of experiences that could leave a person asking "if God loves His children, why would He let them pass through this?" I think the truth is that God intends for us to not just get through but grow through these experiences--we just can't see it at the time.

As we deal with tough situations and wonder where the Lord is, I hope that we can remember to see where the Lord is leading us. I hope that we can learn to see opposition as opportunity and trust that as He leads us through deep waters, that He is making better swimmers of us. So if any of ya'll are like me and find yourself asking the Lord questions such as "why" or "when will you help", I just would invite you to ask this week, "How high."

Jump!

I think this warm weather we're experiencing has got me a little excited for summer! Any of my roommates will attest to this as I think they feel as though I started wearing shorts long before it was warm enough! Anyhow, as I have mused upon summer the last few days while sitting in class, swimming has crossed my mind. Memories have come back as I have thought about swimming. These have included remembering taking swim lessons in Luling, Dad forcing me to stick with Willowdale swim team, and swimming with the fellas in the Bogue Falya. However, the memory of swim lessons has really stood out to me.

As a little guy, I can remember that the last part of swim lessons was always jumping off the diving board into the deep end. I was always really excited to do it, but was at first way too scared to jump. I can remember making it to the end of the board, looking over the edge at the expectant life guard waiting to catch me, and then feeling suddenly overcome by the urge to use the bathroom (aka not jump)! Each day, the lifeguard would gently reassure me that he would catch me, but I just wasn't quite ready to believe him. I can remember my mind running through all the various ways that he could miss catching me--resulting in my drowning. However one day, I just decided to trust him and jump! It was exhilarating as I fell from the board, still very uncertain that I would live more than the next few seconds, but then he caught me!

In Alma 32 we read of the story of the poor of Zarahemla learning about faith from Alma. These people had endeavored to build their own synagogues alongside the more affluent members of their society but upon completion, these indigent people were denied access to these very synagogues. It was during this time that Alma came to teach them the true gospel. In his discourse on faith Alma teaches, that a major part of faith is being willing to "awake and arouse your faculties, even to experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith" (Alma 32:27). He goes on to say that by so doing, the people would begin to feel that what they had learned was true and their faith would grow.

This means a lot to me because recently, I feel as though the Lord has been encouraging me to act but I have been scared to--much like on the diving board, I have allowed myself to be immobilized by fear. However, as I have read this and pondered this idea, it has occurred to me that God is even more likely than some minimum-wage paid lifeguard teaching swim lessons to catch me when I act on His counsel. By finally jumping as a boy in swim lessons, I learned to trust that lifeguard, and I think the principle is the same with God. If we want to trust/have faith in Him, we must jump first.

I will just say that I intend to make a jump in my life now, and I hope that for any of you who are feeling as though they may be suppressing a prompting to act, that you will decide to jump as well. God loves us. He wants us to become more than we currently are. However, I do not think we can gain faith in either of those statements without first trying a little on our end. So in the words of Edward Van Halen's band, "might as well jump"!

"All We Need is a Little Patience"

While on my mission in Alaska, I heard a couple wise sayings that made me laugh but have stuck with me. Both of these sayings dealt with patience. The first was "I really want patience... but I want it now." The second saying was simply more of a prayer to God that He would "help me learn quickly what I am suppose to from this challenge so that it is no longer a challenge."

I think I really appreciated these sayings while on my mission because being a missionary often involved both waiting and challenges. Both of these aspects of missionary work left me feeling at times extremely impatient.

Since being home, I have found that trying to develop patience and conquering challenges seem to have come home with me--imagine that! Recently, I have found myself confronting these same issues. In the past months, I have been trying to make many life decisions with my graduation approaching here in April and have felt as though the Lord has been slow to answer my prayers. This has left me feeling fairly discouraged. The Lord has also at times answered me, but in a way my father would of approve of--by "answering the question that should have been asked rather than the one that was."

As I read from the scriptures this week, though, I came across the story of the sons' of King Mosiah (king over the Lamanites) mission to the Lamanites (enemies to King Mosiah's people). One of the brothers has immense initial success whereas the other brothers are met with serious tribulation. After a while, the successful brother Ammon finds his brothers in prison and it is recorded in Alma 20: 29, "And when Ammon did meet them he was exceedingly sorrowful, for behold they were naked, and their skins were worn exceedingly because of being bound with strong cords. And they also had suffered hunger, thirst, and all kinds of afflictions; nevertheless they were patient in all their sufferings."

This verse touched me because what these imprisoned brothers didn't know was the success that would shortly befall them. One brother in particular would go on to help convert the king of the Lamanite nation! Yet for a time, these brothers suffered immensely in prison. I have to think that at times, they must have been tempted to wonder what the Lord was doing or what was taking Him so long to help them. However, they endured and as He always does, the Lord came through.

I think at times, the Lord has us make sacrifices that seem tough or puts us through trying times. It is during these times that we seem to become painfully aware of time and can become impatient. However, I think it is because we fail to understand the Lord's workings. I think the key to developing patience is faith. In Samuel we read, "them that honour me I will honour" (1 Sam. 2:30). The imprisoned sons of Mosiah waited patiently on God, and I believe they were able to do so because they had faith Him and His timing. He knows what we need and when we need it. I will wait patiently because I believe that.

For those of you who may feel as though you are waiting on the Lord as well, wait on! Don't give up on Him. I don't know what will befall us in every situation, but I do know that when we patiently wait on Him, it will be His will!