Stay Centered

 When we have been wronged, it seems like such a natural response within us to feel the need to rise up and attempt to avenge ourselves. In fact, driven by our pride, it can be incredibly difficult to resist this urge to set things right by force.

It's actually kind of funny to me as I am thinking about this topic to recall all the times that I resorted to setting things right by force as a little kid. My brother Sam and I sure did fight like cats and dogs at times! I know we are not unlike many other pairs of siblings. However, I do think it's interesting to see how even from a young age, many of us feel the need to fight all of our battles and set everything right. 

In The Book of Mormon, we read of the Nephites who just prior to Christ's coming are forced to deal with a group of dissenters who are trying to usurp power over them. These dissenters are robbers who raid the Nephites and subsist off of the labor of the Nephites. After a while of their plundering, the robber leader Giddianhi invites the Nephites to surrender or battle. The Nephites choose not to surrender and ask their leader if they can go up to battle against the robbers--they want to avenge their wrongs!

However, their leader's response surprises them as "Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands" (3 Nephi 3:21).

I think his counsel is incredibly instructive. Rather than respond rashly, the Nephites gathered themselves and remember the Lord. When we are angry, how wise would we be to take a minute to gather ourselves and remember the Lord. I know that learning to curve our tongues can be a hard thing especially when it seems so natural to lash back when we are wronged, but I know this counsel can help us improve! The Lord would have us succeed. I want to do my best to stop and remember Him when I am struggling with this or any other weakness!

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Remember When...

Remember. With all of the millions of things that come across our consciousnesses each day, it is really quite remarkable that we remember anything at all. One of the things I love to do every so often is to try to remember my earliest memories. Some of these early memories are happy such as the one I have of running down a grassy hill with my head just barely above the grass trying to keep up with my brother Sam and cousin Alex in Soda Springs, Idaho. Some of these memories are much less happy such as the time my mom first dropped me off at school, and I realized she had left while I was in a sand box.

Memories are so interesting. While I am certainly no expert on memory, one thing I do know is that our memories do play a role in shaping our current and future behavior.

In The Book of Mormon, we read of the signs that took place in the Americas to signify to the people that Christ had been born in Bethlehem. These signs were amazing to the people! One such sign was that the night that Christ was born, the sun set, but the sky didn't get dark. It stayed light all through the night and remained light as the sun rose the next day. The people were astonished and many came to believe in Christ. However, we read in the very next chapter following these signs that "the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts" (3 Nephi 2:1).

When it comes to our faith, I think that remembering is imperative. Our ability to remember spiritual experiences impacts our current and future decisions spiritually. I believe this dramatic example of the Nephites helps to illustrate this point. When they failed to remember how they felt fully at the time these signs took place, they began to question the validity of these experiences and their subsequent faith. I think we all do this if we are not careful. I think that for this reason, it is important that we either write down how we feel during spiritual experiences shortly after they have occurred or do a thorough job of reminding ourselves frequently.

The main idea for us all this week is simply that we need to make a point to remember. Many of us have had spiritual experiences in our lives but the passage of time can cause us to forget these tender experiences. I would just invite us all to make a point to remember Him who never forgets us. I know that as we make efforts to do so, our Heavenly Father who wants so desperately to be a part of our lives will help us remember Him.

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Opposition: All is Well

This past summer, I finally had the chance to take a break from my normal summer routine. Rather than return to the swamps of southeastern Louisiana to sweat out another summer performing physical labor, I took a chance on an internship in Cincinnati, Ohio. Admittedly, when I first learned that I would be going to Ohio for my internship, I had mixed feelings. My Dad raised me a staunch SEC football fan (Geaux Tigers), and I don't believe this upbringing encouraged a loathing for the BIG 10, yet I still felt a bit of resentment at the idea of being so close to Ohio State. Fortunately though, I found my summer in Ohio to be almost magical, and while I left as single as I arrived (to my parents' disappointment), I had fallen for the "Queen City." The included picture captures my softening heart for the great state of Ohio at a Cincinnati Reds' game.

While I absolutely loved my time in Cincinnati, there were times I liked my experience less (I've come to terms with the Buckeyes as a disclaimer to that statement). Some of these times actually were fairly tough, and some of these times were a little lonely. However, I feel like I learned a lot through the whole experience. At the end of the summer, I was asked to give a talk in the congregation I had attended while in Cincinnati and was given the topic, "Opposition: All is Well." When I first heard this topic, I thought to myself, "Me and Brother Perryman (the guy who assigned me the topic) must experience opposition differently." However, as I studied and pondered on this topic, I discovered that Brother Perryman was onto something with this topic.

In Helaman 3 of The Book of Mormon, we read of a point in time following the Nephite's wars with the Lamanites where the church is prospering. However, the prospering causes some of the members to become prideful to the point of persecuting their more faithful, humble brethren. Verse 35 of Helaman 3 describes the faithful's response as "they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling of their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

I once heard as a missionary for my church the sentiment expressed "we are not humans being, we are humans becoming." Within the LDS faith, we believe that we are all children of God and that He desires for us to become more like He is. However, I have often wondered to myself what exactly it would take for a person to become more like Him. It was in studying verses like this one found in Helaman that it occurred to me that the experiences required for me to become more like God were... well, the very ones I was then experiencing--both the good and the seemingly bad. Sometimes, we can be like those faithful members of the church who are doing our best but yet, bad things or challenges confront us. The truth is God is personally involved in our becoming and accordingly, knows what we personally need to become more like Him. What that means is the opposition we face, is well, tailor made/tailor allowed for us to become like Him.

Even now, I'm sure each of us can think of something in our lives that is a "hard" thing. Yet, I believe the key to opposition is to come to see it not as opposition, but as opportunity. When I think of the great examples in my own life or the people we hear stories of  through Hollywood films, more often than not, these people are considered great not because they got passed opposition but because of who they grew to become through it.

As we face challenges, I would hope that we could see them as opportunities for us to grow. Much like my experience in Cincinnati, life has its goods and its bads. The secret though, is to see them as all good. I know that as I have tried to adopt this perspective that I have felt the Lord helping me grow through hard times. He loves us and knows both what He wants us to become as well as what it will take to help us achieve that vision. While it is not always a joyful experience (growing that is), we are destined to grow into the most joyful beings we can be as we trust the Lord knows what He is doing with us! One last thought along these lines, I think the truth for me is that as long as opposition exists in my life, I know that God has not given up on helping me become something more.