Stranger Things Have Happened

26 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by Colby Alexander in Agency, Battle, Example, Freedom, General, Obedience, Opposition, Pride, TV

As is well documented on this blog, gospel lessons can come from anywhere. Sometimes they are obvious, and sometimes not so much. Sometimes, while watching a Netflix series about awkward nerds saving the world from the threats of an unknown realm called the Upside Down and its real life monster versions of Dungeons and Dragons bad guys, we can notice character similarities to the Old Testament progression of the Kings of Israel, …or is that just me?

Well, Stranger Things have happened (in best Dad joke voice).

Lucas, Mike, Eleven, and Dustin react to Dad Joke

Everyone loves a good story. They help us connect to each other through the shared experience. The key to good storytelling is to base the conflict on the real struggles of everyday life. This is how we really identify with the characters, and internalize the story. In today’s society, our stories are told not only through books, but movies, and tv shows. Some are good, and some are not so good.

If we can relate to the struggle, or see similarities in our own lived experiences, we are drawn to it, connect to it, and have a vested interest in the resolution. These stories detail how our heroes defy the odds, fight through the turmoil, and overcome the conflict. We all find inspiration, courage and even hope in these stories. Somehow, we want to incorporate our favorite character’s ability to overcome into our own personal struggles. That is what makes us love the stories and the characters within them.

I’m not saying that we often find ourselves caught in a battle with Vecna, the powerful psychokinetic Wizard trying to grow his power to take over the world through thought control. But, we are all caught in a constant back and forth between right and wrong, and good and evil. Sometimes this battle occurs more overtly with our relationship challenges with one another. Sometimes the struggle is internal within the boundaries of our own heart and mind.

This ancient struggle between right and wrong that occurs inside each of us happens in a very specific way. This battle is over which of our human character traits will be in the driver’s seat in control of our everyday actions. Will we overcome our natural selves, and choose to have honesty, integrity and love control us? Or will be falter, and revert back into our base, natural inclination for selfishness, greed, and passive lethargy?

This particular struggle has been at play inside the human heart for a very, very long time.

This is, of course, where the ancient stories of Saul, David, and Solomon, combine with the slightly more contemporary, albeit entirely fictional, Lucas Sinclair to teach us about this character control struggle.

Lucas Sinclair

First, because Lucas does not currently have a book in the Old Testament, we should all get up to speed on his story. He is one of the characters on the Netflix series, Stranger Things. He plays one of several nerdy boys who spend their time playing Dungeons and Dragons in the basement. This series takes place in the 1980’s, so it obviously precedes video games. We find him in seasons 1-3 utilizing his, and his friends’ nerdy D&D skills and knowledge to fight off attacks from Demogorgans, the Shadow Monster, a.k.a. the Mind Flayer, and some Russians who have taken over the local mall. Through their collective efforts, and Eleven’s amazing mind power, victory was secured.

Season 4 is different. Lucas has now “grown up” and is part of the school’s basketball team. He is not a star, far from it actually. He’s a benchwarmer. He is also desperate for approval and acceptance into the cool kids popular crowd. He sees the basketball team as his ticket out of nerddom, and into the cool circles he only dreamed of before.

Through a wild series of events, Lucas finds himself in the very unlikely scenario where he is forced to choose between his basketball team’s championship game, or his friends Dungeons and Dragons championship match. They are held at the same exact time. Lucas chooses basketball, which is devastating to his friends.

Somehow, Lucas manages to not only play in the basketball game, but he makes the game winning shot at the buzzer, instantly rocketing him up the popularity ladder into stardom.

This scene is one of cinematic mastery. Tense music backdrops both the scenes of Lucas’s final shot, and the final roll in the Dungeons and Dragons challenge match. His basketball heroics are painstakingly highlighted through slow motion focus, concurrently and perfectly congruent to the highlights of the nerd’s game. Slow motion scenes cut back and forth as the highlights simultaneously peak in crescendoed victory in both diametrically opposed games of skill.

With that newfound stardom, however, Lucas is forced to abandon his longtime friends in order to join the cool basketball kids, and soon finds himself actively fighting against these friends in the story.

He is torn between where he has been, where he is, and where he wants to be. Ultimately, Lucas’ true character shines through, and he overcomes the temptation and superficial allure of popularity and fame, and he rejoins his longtime friends in their collective fight against their enemy. He chose to let the right character drive his actions. What a story.

Not all stories have such a happy ending. And especially the stories we will talk about today. But we can learn from negative experiences just as easily as we can from positive ones. From our list above, there are three other examples to learn from. This time, lets look at the three successive kings of Israel in the Old Testament.

Saul, David, and Soloman were all kings of Israel. All of them started their lives, and reigns, in much the same way. They were all chosen because they possessed the character needed to be a righteous king. They were humble, full of faith and relied on the God of Israel. Lets take a peek at each one…

Saul

Saul was chosen as the first King of Israel. He was described as, “a choice young man, …and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he…”. He was chosen by God who, “gave him another heart…and the Spirit of God came upon him…” (1 Samuel 10:9,10).

So far, so good.

The prophet Samuel, who anointed Saul to be King, when prophesying of the blessings of obedience, did leave him and the people of Israel some advice. Maybe we could call it foreshadowing?

Samuel warned, “Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.” (1 Samuel 12:25)

Yikes.

So, what happened to Saul? How did this ancient story play out? How did the internal battle for control of his actions end up? Would he rejoice in ultimate victory and celestial bliss?

Well, If we fast forward just a few chapters, we get this…

“…and there was a javelin in Saul’s, hand. And Saul cast the javelin, for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it.” (1 Samuel 18:10,11)

Hmm. That’s not good. Sounds like an Old Testament version of pin the tail on the donkey. Saul degenerated From humble, goodly, faithful beginnings to attempted murder. How did he get there?

Let’s look at two examples that may shed light on the slow methodical nature of Saul’s fall. Neither one may seem all that big of a deal, but together, and likely among a host of other small decisions, it proved enough to change his heart and mind. This change of heart then was enough to alter his actions. These actions then led to a person unrecognizable to his younger self. How did he let the wrong internal Saul take control?

First, let’s glance into the experience he had while waiting for the prophet Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice to the Lord before a battle that was looming. Samuel had instructed Saul, the leader of the army, to wait, and that he would come at a specific time to offer a sacrifice in the army’s behalf.

When Samuel was late, Saul took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice for Samuel. Saul was king, not prophet. He was not authorized to offer sacrifice. By now, he was likely used to being obeyed, and having events revolve around him, and his timeline. He likely would have been pressured by those around him to do it himself. He was a king after all. He was the one that should dictate when and how things should be done.

How far off was his thought process? He just wanted to make sure the Lord was on his side, didn’t he? But, he had overstepped. He had relied less on faith, and trust in God’s prophet, and more on the arm of flesh, or the perceived reality and pressure of the moment.

When confronted by Samuel, Saul explained why he had proceeded on his own, “because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24). He was worried about what other people would think of him. Sounds like a modern problem as well.

Saul had lost his blessing. Later the scriptures elaborate, “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit [which was not of] the Lord troubled him”. (1 Samuel 16:14)

This absence of the spirit of the Lord in Saul’s heart left it to be filled with opposing sentiments. Anger, greed, and jealousy took its place. This doesn’t usually happen overnight, it takes multiple, small, and consistent choices, changes, and allowances to let the natural man to take over. But, once we invite it in, the floodgates open.

Fast forward a little bit. Now Saul, and his newly named successor, David, are returning from battling the Philistines. Saul overheard the women in his city saying, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him…”

Now Saul was really jealous. He couldn’t stand to be disrespected. He was offended that David got more credit than he did. He wanted to be the most revered, the most adored, the biggest and the best. He wanted to be perceived as the most powerful. He now allowed the full natural man, the jealous man, the greedy man to drive his actions. His next act was throwing a javelin at David. The wrong Saul was driving the actions. The internal battle was lost. He spent the rest of his life trying to destroy David. Small, seemingly insignificant choices eventually led to a complete change in character.

David

The aforementioned David is our next example. He was the perfect poster child for early potential. The same Samuel the Prophet who had called and anointed Saul, had called and anointed David to be the next King, after Saul and his line proved unworthy.

We know, of course, of his early days when he used the power of faith in God to slay the Giant Goliath with a sling and stones.

David and Goliath – Bible — Image by © Lebrecht Authors/Lebrecht Music & Arts/Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis

Throughout David’s life he proved again and again to be a capable warrior and King. He became king of all Israel, united its kingdoms under a single banner, and moved the capital to Jerusalem. He even made plans to move the Tabernacle and the ark of the covenant there and wanted to build a permanent temple. David recognized all along who had given him success.

“And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways. and the Lord was with him.”(1 Samuel 18:14), and was “a man after the [Lord’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14)

Until he wasn’t. He slipped and allowed personal gratification with Bathsheba, and the subsequent aftermath with Uriah to ruin it all.

He had allowed a single moment, or a series of lead-up moments, to derail his ultimate potential. What a king he could have been. But, he chose to open himself up to be driven, and influenced by the natural inclination towards selfishness, and instant gratification. Good David lost the internal battle of will to Bad David. And, If it can happen to him, it can happen to any of us. It takes constant, continuous, cognizant, and relentless hard work to fend off temptation, pride, and the natural man. These choices happen every single day. They seem small, but are meaningful.

Although the promise of his exaltation was lost (Doctrine and Covenants 132:39), David did try and reconcile with God for the rest of his life. He continued to worship the God of Israel, and charged his son Solomon to keep the Lord’s commandments when he passed on his throne. “And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest…” (1 Kings 2:3)

Solomon

As David’s son, Soloman also learned from an early age to worship and love God. After he was named king, he remained humble, and relied on the special gifts God had blessed him with. “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as at the sand this is on the sea shore.” (1 Kings 4:29)

Not only was Solomon the smartest guy in the world, he was one of the kindest. He, and Israel were blessed immensely. He built a temple and dedicated it to the Lord. He had not one, but two visions where he saw the Lord in dreams.

In his dedicatory prayer for the newly constructed temple, he admonished his people to, “…know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else. Let you heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.” (1 Kings 8:60,61).

However, Solomon didn’t take his own advise. only a few chapters later, we read, “But king Solomon loved many strange (foreign) women…of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love…And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart… For it came to pass, that when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods:.. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord…” (1 Kings 11:1-6)

He even built high places unto these other gods, and sacrificed unto them. Yikes. I guess he went all in.

To us in 2022, this may seem like an easy thing to avoid. We may think, “well, at least I’m not building a temple to some weird gods named Ashteroth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech. I’m in good shape.”

But, if we look into what those gods represented at that time, and how they were worshipped, it’s not so different from what is “worshipped” today in ever increasing numbers.

Overall, Solomon had allowed himself to be compromised. He had allowed himself to stray too far from the doctrine of God. He spent more and more time concentrating, and validating the beliefs of others than he did feeding his own faith. This allowed the truth to dwindle in his own heart, and fed the natural man and his indulgence.

In time, Solomon’s commitment to truth wavered. Subsequently, the blessings that came because of his commitment to the truth, were taken away. He lost the blessings because he lost sight of the source of the blessings. What a shame.

So what can we learn from these stories? What is the takeaway? How can we be more like the young versions of Saul, David, Solomon, and even Lucas?

The one glaring principle that is taught in flashing neon lights in these stories is one we read in the Doctrine and Covenants…

“We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:39)

So how do we avoid the fates of Saul, David, and Solomon?

We can recognize that we are in a battle. We are fighting everyday for control over our heart and actions. We can recognize that every little decision we make can have lasting, far reaching influence on our own future, or even the future of our family. We can recognize that if we really want to reach our full potential, we have to limit that base, natural man that wants us to succumb to our lesser characteristics.

“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)

We can recognize that we can never relax into a state of comfortable complacency, no matter how strong we are today. We can recognize that fidelity to God and his Gospel strengthens us, and develops the character traits that provide protection against rage and ruin, and provides infinite potential for the world to come.

We can decide now to reject the worldly thoughts, ideas, and temptations that will surely come to us with ever increasing frequency and power. We can look for the modern iterations of the false gods that plagued ancient Israel.

We can recognize that without God, or his blessings, we are nothing. Without God, our intelligence and understanding are limited, our strength is temporary, and our happiness is fleeting.

We can recognize the source of every single blessing we enjoy. We can recognize our own weaknesses and predispositions and actively seek to fortify them. We can decide, and choose which characteristics we will allow to inform, and guide our actions.

We can recognize that we have the power of choice, and we “are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. … I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto this great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit” (2 Nephi 2:27,28)

I hope we all take the time to watch our step, and focus on each small decision we make every day so that we can fight off the natural man, and his pernicious, poisonous pitfalls.

The Gift of Choice

08 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Colby Alexander in Agency, Freedom, General, Obedience

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We have never, since the beginning of time, been compelled to do or be good. We have always been invited to do, or become good. This holds true going all the way back to our the pre-earth life. The essential principle that guides our relationship with God and our progression to be more like him is Agency. It is a divine gift. We will never be compelled to action by God. He invites, inspires, petitions, prompts, nudges, beckons, teaches and leads.

In the Book of Moses we learn more about what happened in the preexistence when this gift that God had already given us, was threatened. Lucifer wanted to force or compel obedience, at the expense of agency, in order to guarantee that, “one soul shall not be lost” (Moses 4:1). We also learn what became of him, at least in part, because of his desire to take away this essential gift.

Stained glass window in St Mary, Hitchin, England

“Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him …. I caused that he should be cast down;”
(Moses 4:3)

So, why is Agency so crucial?

Agency, or our freedom to choose, allows for the growth and development of Godly characteristics. No one is compelling God to be God. His character is who He is. He is pure. He is authentic. He is love, He is charity. He is perfect. Because He is pure and perfect, in order for us to become like him, we must develop his attributes. This simply cannot be forced or compelled.

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure…” (Moroni 7:48)

It’s like when I was a kid, my brothers and I would be caught fighting and smashing each other’s faces in the carpet. When this happened, my mom, following the mom code, broke up the fight, and subsequently compelled us to hug each other and say two good things about the other, inevitably “you’re good”, and “you’re nice”. During those moments, I didn’t really feel sorry. I didn’t really feel that my sibling opponent of the moment was actually good or was actually nice. It wasn’t real. Unfortunately, it was not yet in my character to feel it, or even say it. It wasn’t who I really was to give that hug, and say those things. We were a perfect live example of…

“…for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing. For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness. [if] he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift…If he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.” (Moroni 7:6-9)

It was, however, teaching us how we should be.

We gain greater power, or growth when we freely choose faith, and when we freely choose to believe in and follow God and his plan of happiness. This progression and spiritual growth is stunted and inhibited or even reversed when we are compelled to action. Elder Tad Callister wrote, ”There exists an eternal principle—the greater the agency, the greater the opportunity for growth.” (The Blueprint of Christ’s Church)

This growth begins as a result of a desire or yearning to be with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. To be with them, however, requires us to be more like them. This seedling desire then can steer our daily decisions and influence our actions. Our personal desires to emulate our Savior and His character can effect how we view and treat ourselves, our spouses, our own families, and everyone else around us.

We all know the Book of Mormon story of Nephi and the brass plates. Nephi had exhausted all his options to fulfill the Lord’s commandments to obtain the brass plates from their wicked owner, Laban. One night, while following the promptings of the Spirit, Nephi was led to a drunk Laban lying alone in the street. In that moment, he was prompted to slay Laban. He was faced with an enormously difficult situation. The choice before him was to follow the directive of the spirit and slay Laban, or shrink, and disobey. This Laban also happened to be the same man that had stolen his family’s property, threatened them, and even attempted to have Nephi and his brothers killed in their previous attempts to obtain the brass plates.

I imagine the natural man in Nephi had some strong feelings about Laban at that moment. I imagine he might have struggled to know if the promptings he had felt to kill Laban were actually from the Spirit, or if they might have been his own. Nephi had to decide —to obey the voice of the Spirit, or disobey. He would either slay Laban and obtain the plates, or question, doubt, and shrink. I imagine it would have been enormously difficult to trust the feelings and promptings in his heart.

He took eight full verses to explain these feelings and the honest and difficult conversation he had with the Spirit. Ultimately, he made his choice. He stated, “I did obey the voice of the Spirit” (1 Nephi 4:18)

I imagine this experience with the whisperings of the spirit taught Nephi a great deal bout how to recognize these intimate promptings of the Spirit. I imagine he learned to trust in God more fully. I imagine this experience effected and guided Nephi with his future choices.

If we fast forward just a few more pages in the Book of Mormon, we learn about the time that Nephi broke his bow while his family was traveling in the wilderness. This fine steel bow had been the only means by which his entire family could obtain food. No bow, no hunt, no food. The family dinner situation had just taken a very bad turn. Even his father Lehi, the Prophet, was complaining. So in this terrible situation, how did Nephi’s past experiences guide his decisions?

“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?” (1 Nephi 16:23)

His previous experience had taught him to trust in God. It had helped him build the faith and character that could now trust God enough to fashion a handmade wooden bow, and a single arrow, not a quiver of arrows, but a single arrow, and faithfully and confidently head into the wilderness for food. That is complete trust. Nephi level faith and trust is not built in a day, or built upon desperation or compelled humility. It is built upon consistent righteous choices and experiences over time.

Just like Nephi, our own righteous choices today build the character we need to influence our choices and actions tomorrow.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of agency and its practical influence in our lives, is when we attempt to honor it as parents when raising our children. At what point do we step back and allow our kids to exercise their gift? When are we teaching, inviting, or beckoning, and when are we mandating, compelling, and forcing?

I won’t attempt an answer here, as I am still working on this one. Im also not sure where the mom code section about making fighting kids hug each other fits either. I do know, however, that our Father in Heaven lost 1/3 of his children before they even came to earth. He, a perfect Father, still would not compel his children to obey, even at the expense of losing their opportunity to gain a physical body, partake in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and have a chance at Eternal life.

When we look for an example of a perfect parent, we should look to Him, even when we see our kids choose something other than what we would have them choose. We have to remember that real growth only happens when it is preceded by a free choice.

When we freely choose the right, it means that we have aligned our desire and will to God’s desire and will.

Our choices become a way to test or trigger our own spiritual development.
Our choices become consequences of the character we have developed
Our choices become an outward expression of who we really are, and act as stepping stones in our attempts to develop Godly attributes.

In Hymn number 240 “Know This, That Every Soul Is Free” the lyrics describe this concept perfectly.

Know this, that ev’ry soul is free
To choose his life and what he’ll be;
For this eternal truth is giv’n:
That God will force no man to heav’n.

He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom love and light
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.

During the earthly ministry of the Savior, he continued to honor the principle of Agency. He never mandated compliance with his Gospel. He taught and lead by perfect example. He loved, taught, then invited…

“Wherefore, Hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people…”
(Doctrine and Covenants 38:22)

To the rich young man he beckoned, “…If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
(Mathew 19:21)

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mathew 16:24)

If we choose to follow the Savior, his Gospel, and his law, He will receive us, heal us, and bless us.

He demonstrated this with the 5,000 who would eventually experience the miracle of the bread and fishes…

“And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.” (Luke 9:11)

In this same way, and still honoring the gift of agency, we are all invited to follow the Savior even today through the teachings of living prophets and apostles. Living Prophets have encouraged the people to exercise their divine gifts of agency and make the choice to follow God from the very beginning…

The Prophet Enoch was instructed to tell the people …

“Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.” (Moses 6:33)

Joshua famously encouraged, “…Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Today we are experiencing an extension of this same timeless invitation. We have been encouraged to Come unto Christ and come to know him primarily in the safety and security of our own homes. Through his prophet the Lord is inviting us, once again, to…

Come unto Him, to “Learn of [Him] and listen to [his] words, to walk in the meekness of [His] Spirit,… [that we] shall have peace in [Him].” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:23)

The name of the program we now have to study is perfectly named. Our Savior still, as he did in days long ago, opens his arms and invites all of us to “Come, and Follow Me” (Mathew 19:21) and it now becomes our choice, our decision to either follow, or not.

I hope that we all, as individuals, make the choice to accept the Savior’s invitation to follow Him, to learn of Him, and find the peace that only He can bring. As our own testimonies grow, our responsibility is then to strengthen our own families and our own homes. We can make them sanctuaries of peace in an ever more chaotic world. As we ourselves, and as families, choose to be more committed and converted to Jesus Christ and His gospel, we then have the responsibility to invite, encourage, beckon, and lead others along their path towards Him.

Freely choosing to follow and be with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, and to ultimately become like them is the goal.

I hope that we all choose this day to accept the invitation, and follow Him.

When the Wheels Fall Off

18 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by Colby Alexander in Agency, Failure, Faith, General, Trials

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One year ago, I attempted my first triathlon. I had a great time, and didn’t die, so I figured I would give it another try this year. While I have been training, its been hard to avoid learning a lot. My lessons haven’t been just about how to swim and not drown, or bike up hills, or run more efficiently, but Ive learned a lot about everyday life. I guess you have a lot of time to think and ponder life’s meaning while your head is under water. Exhalation bubbles can be very therapeutic.

This last Saturday, I learned another valuable lesson. This particular learning opportunity happened about 3 minutes into the bike route. I had just exited the transition and had turned and was heading up a big hill climb. I was pedaling my little heart out, but because of the grade, wasn’t going very fast. The only issue I was having had to do with my race bib. I had in the modesty position on a belt in the front, and It was crinkling and crackling each time I would pedal and was driving me crazy. So, I sat up just a little bit, and leaned over to twist my belt so the bib would be on my backside.

That little shift in weight was all it took. My back wheel came completely off the frame. As it came off, the bike seized up, and the wheels skidded to a halt. I instantly went from full speed to no speed, and was going down. My catlike speed and reflexes were apparently taking a cat nap, and so I was only able to unclip one foot, my left one- which was largely unhelpful of course, because the bike tipped over to the right-The side of my still clipped in foot.

I went down. I was a mass of legs, arms, hands, and bike. I was going so slow, it took what seemed like a full minute to actually hit the ground. Of course my first instinct was to look around and see just how many witnesses there were to my pathetic dismount. I could deal with broken bones, but my pride was also at risk. There weren’t any. This, of course, proved that sometimes amid our most trying times, small miracles do happen.

So, I spent the next 5 minutes, untangling myself, smacking wheels back into alignment, flipping the bike upside down, re-attaching the wheel, and tightening, then retightening it to prevent any repeats of my not-so-finest hour.

After hopping back on and resuming my ride, It only took another 10 seconds and I was over the top of the hill. Another 5 seconds, and I was screaming down the other side at over 30 miles an hour. Quite a different scenario. After another moment, I found myself praying and thanking my lucky stars that my wheel had fallen off when it did. Had the timing been different, this story might have been written with me in a body cast writing through a straw like Stephen Hawking. Timing is everything.

All that day I thought about what had happened, and how it relates to all of us. This is the lesson I was meant to learn that day. We sometimes look at the times in our life that are really hard as if we are being picked on. As if God is withholding his protective blessings from us even though we are trying as hard as we can to do what is right. We feel we deserve some downhill time. We cannot possibly take another problem, another pitfall, another trial, another difficulty. We feel that all too often when we are struggling the most, our wheels fall off, and we tip over, alone, on the side of the road.

The hard moments in our lives give us a choice. We can choose to be angry with God because he allowed our wheel to fly off right in the most difficult climbs, or we can try and see things as He does. We can accept that He loves us unconditionally and that He is aware of every little pain, feeling, insecurity, disappointment, and struggle that we deal with. Or, we can ignore it. We can choose to believe that He loves us, and will be watching out for us every step of the way, every climb, every spill, every failure, or we can choose to pretend we are on our own.

When we choose to accept our lives as something our Heavenly Father has orchestrated for our benefit, and that He is intimitely aware of what we need, and when we need it, we can feel peace. We can feel peace in the tough times as well as in the good times. He understands timing perfectly. I learned that lesson even more last Saturday, as I was the beneficiary of some extraordinarily good timing. Even though that “timing” meant my wheels had to fall off.

“God’s promises are not always fulfilled as quickly as or in the way we might hope; they come according to His timing and in His ways. … The promises of the Lord, if perhaps not always swift, are always certain.”
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

When the Wheels Fall off

Many times I find myself amid an earthly race,
Furiously peddling just to finish in last place.
I think and hope that life should have some easy times as well,
And not just be survival- grinding, winding up a hill.

Like, shouldn’t there be downhills too? And not just uphill climbs?
A time to stop my pedaling- to rest, and clear my mind?
Its only fair that someone else would get that bitter pill,
And why would God then pick on me who’s struggling up a hill?

And then, just at the top, when I can see relief ahead,
The climb is ending, and at last, I’ll cruise downhill instead.
All the work, and all the struggle going up will soon pay off
Its then, exactly then sometimes, when all the wheels fall off.

To add insult to injury, my graceless fall ensues,
My arms and legs, and body parts go up, and down, then through
A windmill somersault, that leaves me staring at the sky
And on my back, I can’t help wonder why I even try.

It seems no matter what I do, I fall just short again,
disheartened, and convinced that I will never, ever win.
But now, somehow I get back up, untangle one more time,
tighten up the wheel that slipped and stopped my uphill climb.

I somehow manage to replace the wheel onto the frame,
and tighten, then re-tighten, and hop back into the game.
I shake my head and wonder why I didn’t check before
I won’t be making that mistake for race prep anymore.

But something happens in my heart and mind when I think back,
And realize the timing of the wheel-slip off the track.
Although untimely- to eat dust, and fall back in the race,
My turtle-pace of uphill speed had surely saved my face!

For now, just seconds after I enjoyed my awkward spill,
I find myself, now flying fast, at full speed down the hill.
I also think, through whistling winds, and blurry lines that pass,
“Oh, man! I’ll lose my skin if I go down right now and crash!”

I might have been the winner on a “Race Fails” YouTube clip,
Or slid a mile and scraped three feet of skin clean off my hip
I see the scary, and unpleasant fate that I escaped,
had just been traded for an unseen, tiny, little scrape.

I then thank God for waiting until just the perfect time,
To pick on me, kick off my wheel, right then- back on my climb.
My graceless, awkward, low speed fall, that barely marked my shirt
Had been a blessing in disguise! My crash had helped, not hurt.

And through this new perspective I look back, and I can see,
That timing, isn’t always what we think initially
We have a Heavenly Father who is watchful and aware
Who sometimes kicks the wheels off of your bike- because he cares!

Entropy

29 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by Colby Alexander in Agency, atonement, Faith, General, Humility, Jesus Christ, Pride, Strength

≈ 1 Comment

It can get really hot in Arizona. Especially in the summertime. Not really news to anyone, just a basic fact, but somehow living in this desert gives you a better appreciation for how draining this hot can be. In the Arizona summer, as we open a door to go outside, it can literally become indistinguishable from opening up the oven to take a nice up-close look at baking cookies. No sane person would ever consider actually living in an oven, even with delicious cookies. So, for good reason, not a lot of outdoor activities are done here in the months of June-September. There is a reason why summer golf in Phoenix is so cheap.

Because of this temperature challenge, my stay-in-shape training has taken a back seat. I had been on a pretty good regimen while training to get ready for some simple triathlons over this last year. It was nice, almost perfect all throughout the winter, and up until my last race in St. George, Utah last May. After that, it got hot. Really hot. Arizona hot. I remember texting a picture of the dashboard temperature gauge to Riley one afternoon when it read 126℉. I nearly suffered 2nd degree burns just by putting my hands on the steering wheel that afternoon.

The problem with summers here, is that no matter what time of day or night, it feels like the inside of a toaster. “Why don’t you just swim in the pool during the summer?” you might ask. Well, that is a great idea right up until you jump in the pool, and instead of instant coolness, refreshment, and bliss, it feels like an overheated hot tub under a fast-food heat lamp. Instead of achieving solace from the scorching rays while floating through the water, it feels more like you are a piece of meat slow roasting in the crock pot. You don’t last too long swimming when the mist coming off the pool isn’t really mist, its more like steam arising from a pot of boiling water.

And that’s not all.

You may think, “Well, if you cant run or swim outside during the summer, maybe the bike would be better?”. “Maybe the wind blowing over you as you pick up speed would cool you down as you ride?” Yes, that would be a great idea, and, yes, there is a nice wind that is created, but it feels more like a industrial sized blowdryer set right at your face. So, needless to say doing any physical activity outside of scrambling from one air conditioned building to the next, is almost out of the question.

So, long story short, I took a bit of a break. The funny, not so funny part of that break, is that after the temperature “cooled” down to around 90℉ at 10:00 pm, and I started to try and train again, I noticed that because of my self-imposed break to wait out the summer fires of Hades, I had become out of shape. It was the consequence of inactivity.

Instead of running several miles and feeling great, I was lucky not to quit after just 1. It was almost like I had to start over. All the benefits of the months, and months of training had seemingly melted away just like an ice cube on Arizona asphalt. I felt like I had reverted all the way back to square one. I guess walking from Splash Mountain to Pirates of the Caribbean isn’t adequate triathlon training.

This has been a painful reminder that our fitness or “in-shapeness” really is something that is constantly changing, for better or worse. It never really is static. Just when we get comfortable, content, and happy with where, or how we are, we relax. And this little relaxation is when we start to slip. It requires constant, consistent, and repeated work to maintain ourselves with where we want to be. If you aren’t going forward, you’re going backward. And that is exactly what had happened with me.

As I was further contemplating my physical regression after just a few weeks, I realized that I was living out a vocabulary word that I had recently rediscovered in a Sunday School class. The word was “Entropy”.

This word is a shortened idea of a more sophisticated physics law known as the 2nd law of thermodynamics. I wont even pretend to be a physics guru, or attempt to explain the intricate details of closed and open systems, energy, or its predecessor the 1st law of thermodynamics. But, it has a simple definition. The one that fits the best in this case is….

“a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder”.

That is just a fancy way of saying that everything is constantly wearing down. Its kind of like rusting. Everything is becoming less orderly, and unless we put energy into reversing that natural process, it will take its toll, and we will digress, regress, and lose all the progress and order that we have achieved.

So, my “in-shapeness” had degraded, devolved, and definitely trended towards disorder. In even simpler more personal terms…

Unless I keep training to stay in shape, I become more out of shape.

Unless I put energy into improving, I get worse.

Unless I continue learning, I forget what I had learned.

The process is universal, and applies to all sorts of things. This concept may even be the most valid in a spiritual sense. This degradation can happen to each of us in our lives. There are times when we are in great spiritual shape, and we have been “training” hard, working on getting better every single day. During these times, we continuously work to build up endurance, feel strong, and healthy. Then, inevitably, there are the other times when we take some time off to rest a bit, and then, before we know it, we are feeling like are running around with a plastic bag over our heads.

King Benjamin knew all about this concept of spiritual entropy. He simply described it using different words. He understood that each of us needed to work continuously to become more like our Father in Heaven. It was something that doesn’t just happen naturally. In fact, it was the “natural” part that we had to fight. It is human nature to oppose God. It is human nature to only think of ourselves, and to drift constantly away from God, his plan, and his laws. It is human nature to be selfish, greedy, and secular. King Benjamin described this condition perfectly in the Book of Mosiah…

“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” -Mosiah 3:19

But, just as I needed to get back into shape by working constantly, continuously, and repeatedly, King Benjamin explains exactly how we can fight the natural man, or spiritual entropy and stay in spiritual shape. He specifically singled out several words or phrases that can act as our workout list.

First, he said we must “..yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit…” This is tough in todays world. We need to listen. Not just hear. My wife has been trying to teach me this concept for 18 years. I must be a very natural man, because she still has to constantly remind me of this. Yielding means to allow the Spirit to work in us, to allow someone else to drive, to let the spirit guide us rather than depend on our own supposed knowledge. We don’t always have to be in charge, or know everything because, “His thoughts are higher than our thoughts” -Isaiah 55:9

Second, King Benjamin teaches that we need to become a “Saint”. Becoming a Saint is to be associated with, and bear upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. This entails, or necessitates, using the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is only through his atonement that we can become something “unnatural” or improved. It is by utilizing his atonement that we become something better than we thought we could be. And, the only way that this is even possible, is to work on developing the character traits that King Benjamin lists in the same verse. These required traits are, “becoming as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient”, and being “full of love”. -Mosiah 3:19

These traits do not occur naturally. They must be developed. They need to be practiced. Just like running a marathon, or swimming 2 miles in the ocean, or riding a bike for 6 hours straight. We are not born with these traits. We cant just decide to be an ironman on Monday and race in the Kona World Championships on Sunday. They must be learned. They must be developed. We all have the potential to do these things, or become these things, but we need to work at them constantly and continuously. We need to practice, and we need the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Each of us needs to fight this entropy all day, everyday. There is a perfect phrase used in the Doctrine and Covenants that teaches us the best way to start, and keep going in our own spiritual exercise regimen.

“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;” -Doctrine and Covenants 58:27

As we try our best to be anxiously engaged to do good around us, to be happy, to be kind, to look at people in a more loving, forgiving way, to look at life through a gospel lens, we will slowly be changing our character. We will be slowly getting in better spiritual shape. We will be fighting the “natural man”, and spiritual entropy. If we combine these efforts with a steady dose of the cleansing and enabling power of the Atonement of the Savior, we can be who we want to be, and stand on the highest podium at the end of our mortal race.

Nature’s Entropy

Our hearts and minds continually,
Are pulled by nature’s entropy,
Unfocused, dimmed, erroneously,
To earth, and not to Heav’n.

But, if we struggle faithfully,
And look up, kneeling, pleadingly,
And seek forgiveness constantly,
Our flaws can be forgiv’n.

And if we then walk steadily,
And try to live more righteously-
More loving, and more honestly,
A spark of Faith begins-

In Him, who suffered willfully,
So we can look up hopefully,
To see his hands spread willingly,
to bring us home again.

Felonies and Bended Knees

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by Colby Alexander in Agency, Cars, Failure, General, Journeys, Obedience

≈ 1 Comment

Disclaimer #1: The statute of limitations has long expired for any and all misdeeds explicitly expressed in, and/or eluded to, in the following post.

Disclaimer #2: To the owner of the car subject to the aforementioned misdeeds in disclaimer #1 and subsequent subject in the following story…yeah, sorry about that.

This story is one of those that stays hidden for many years because of fear. The fear of a swift kick in the butt from your Dad, or punishment in a juvenile delinquent facility if the truth ever squeaked out. I can talk about it now, because, as is clearly stated in disclaimer #1, the statute of limitations has expired. And, I don’t live close enough for my Dad to kick my butt anymore. It’s actually kind of funny now, but it sure wasn’t at the time.

This crazy event took place 22 years ago, back when I was 15 and knew everything. I couldn’t drive yet, but I was getting close. I was kind of in that weird teenage time when you are annoyed that you can’t do whatever you want, whenever you want. That was me. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I remember feeling pretty dang smart. It had been a while since my last slice of humble pie.

The incident occurred on a Friday or Saturday night. As was the tradition in those days, myself and my merry band of buddies had just spent most of the night hanging out playing pool (billiards). That was our traditional go to hang out event. We had a good friend (we will call her Cassie to protect her identity) who generously allowed us to utilize the pool table in her basement. This was probably against her better judgment, but being the thoughtful friends that we were, we invited ourselves over all the time. The girls would watch movies, while we boys would have intense pool tournaments, and pretend we were awesome.

This is kind of what we were going for, minus the doogies.

We were all good kids, and had good parents, so, naturally, we all had curfews. We all had the same one- 12 midnight. All of us. However, we were all only 15 and no one had a car, or a driver’s license. This usually meant that one of our parents had to come pick us all up, and systematically drop us all off, all at around 1145 at night. This isn’t exactly cool if you are 15. But, this night would prove to be different.

Whatever possessed us (the boys) that night to decide to walk home is beyond me (the girls were too smart for that). I guess it must have been the cumulative lack of brain power in our 15 year old underdeveloped brains. We were at least smart enough to know that we had to leave before midnight to give ourselves a shot at walking the 7 miles from Santaquin to Payson in order to be home by our curfew. Brilliant idea. Lets walk home, all 7 miles, in the pitch dark, orchard lined back streets with no street lights. What could go wrong? We were awesome like that.

When I say we, I mean there were 7 of us (as far as I remember). Again, to protect the identities of my friends, let’s just call them Brad, Mark, Mo, Blake, Sterling, and Anthony. Anthony only lived a short few blocks away, so he was spared from any culpability or involvement, not that he wouldn’t have been right there with us if given the chance.

That left 6 of us walking home. After a few blocks, myself and “Brad” decided that 7 miles would take longer to walk than we thought. So, we decided we would run home. By running, we would be home early, or at least on time, and by so doing, avoid a royal butt kicking. So we took off, leaving the other 4 guys behind. They were on their own. Remember, this was before cell phones, so calling for a ride after we left “Cassie’s” house wasn’t an option.

We ran straight through and never walked over the next 6.5 miles. And we were on top of the world with how brilliant we were. We were nearly home. But, as fate would have it. Our night was really just beginning. It was at that moment that we discovered what would become the source of our absolute fear for the next several months. We passed an abandoned car, or at least that is what we, in our brilliant 15 year old minds, thought. Never mind the fact that it was parked in cleared away area right by the freeway entrance that most people would recognize as a car pool parking lot. But, oft times, the connection between a 15 year old boy’s eyes and his small underdeveloped brain is blocked by an oversized ego.

Most people with any sense would have walked right by this car, without a second thought. We certainly should have, because we were only about another 3 minutes from being home. But, we were 15, and far from having any sense at all, so, we decided to see if the doors were locked. That’s what any reasonable person would do if they walked past a car that wasn’t theirs night? Nope, we weren’t reasonable. So we checked, and, sure enough, the doors were open. Well, might as well check for keys, right? Yep, lets check. Wow, the keys were in it! So, whats next? Try to start it obviously. So, I tried and tried and tried. But, it wouldn’t start, so I gave up hope. Hope for what I still have no idea. But, then “Brad” tried to start it, and he, actually knowing what a clutch was, was able to get it going. It was obviously a miracle.

So now you have two 15 year olds, without drivers licenses, sitting in a running car at 11:50 at night. So we did what any 15 year old would do in that situation. In our infinite teenage wisdom, and displaying our excellent decision making skills, came up with the most beneficent plan ever conceived. We would serve our fellow man, namely our 4 other walking friends in need, by driving back to them, and giving them a ride back to the spot where we “found” this poor abandoned car.

How thoughtful of us. Then, “Brad” and I (having obviously suffered simultaneous teenage brain infarcts) pulled out of the spot, and proceeded to drive the several miles back to the road where our friends would be, whooping, hollering, and laughing all the way. Life was good. They would be so happy.

Life was good, for another 4 minutes. Then life was not good. Not good at all. We realized about 4 minutes too late that the car we had just borrowed was out of gas. Way out of gas. It stalled in the road about 100 yards from our friends. Great just what we needed. Witnesses. 15 year old boy witnesses.

“Brad” then let the car coast to the side of the road, where we tried desperately and hopelessly to get it started again. We tried for another several minutes, before we realized we would be spending the rest of our lives in a jail cell. Both the brain cells in our heads started firing and wondering what life would be like in juvenile detention.

At that moment our friends walked up and we got hooted out. Sterling especially had a hay day. Anyone that knows him will attest that he can laugh AT someone better than anyone in the whole world. Its a special skill, it’s a gift really. A talent unmatched by anyone in the history of mankind. And he did not disappoint that night. He cackled relentlessly, endlessly, loudly, unrepentantly, and uncontrollably for what seemed like an eternity. We were toast.

Then our brains had to snap back to reality. We then frantically put two and two together and realized that this car was not going to be where the owners left it, when they eventually came back for it. That meant that the cops would be called to help find it. That meant that they would be looking for who took it. That meant that we were in deep do-do. We had to destroy the evidence. So, the brilliant young budding felons that we were, we took our t-shirts and rubbed everywhere we had touched! We had to get rid of our fingerprints! You should have seen us. 6 15 year old kids rubbing every square inch of every handle, door, dash, steering wheel, and fender!

I remember being convinced that the police department had my prints on file because of that one time in cub scouts when we went to the police station and the policeman taught us how they recorded the fingerprints of the criminals as they came in. I was certain that they kept a file of my 9 year old prints just in case. I knew it was only a matter of time. I could run, but I couldn’t hide. I would be making license plates for the rest of my life.

As if becoming a felon guilty of grand theft auto wasn’t enough, this whole incident had taken time. Not only time we didn’t have, but now we were back to almost where we began, now 5 miles from home, and well after our curfew. It was bad. By the time I got back home I fully expected to be strung up, skinned, and left as just a memory and a skid mark in the driveway. I was really late. And I remember getting an earful. Quite an earful. But what could I say? “Sorry Mom and Dad, we would have been back home in time, but instead, we decided to steal a car and drove it back towards Santaquin until it ran out of gas, so we had to abandon it, and then had to run another 5 miles back home.” Yeah right.

So, “Brad” and I waited. We waited for the moment when the cops would knock on our doors, ask for us by name, and read us our miranda rights, and haul us away in cuffs. I remember being scared to death each and every time the doorbell rang, or there was a knock on the door for at least 2 months. No kidding. It wasn’t fun. I lived in continuous fear and anxiety. There was also the very real threat of one of our 4 other friends (witnesses) blabbing all over town with the funniest story ever. Which, would inevitably lead to our arrest and conviction. Thanks guys.

But, it never came. Thankfully, the police record of my 9 year old prints had been misplaced. And we were spared a life scarred by years spent in jail. But, a lesson was learned that night. A lesson that has sunk in over the last 22 years, and still teaches me even today. It was not fun living like that. Worrying constantly about the repercussions of my decision that night. I didn’t want to do anything like that ever again. I couldn’t take it.

As I look back on that story of that night, and all the things I learned from it, I can see similarities to a lot of our lives. Its almost like that 2 hour saga is an abridgment of a life story that has taken a wrong turn. Lets look a little closer at what happened and phrase it only slightly differently. Looking back, this is how I could describe it. Remember, there are lessons, even gospel lessons, in every aspect of our lives. Even when we “borrow” a car without asking.

Listen to it again, this way…

After a great night, I started on the path back home just as I was supposed to. I even decided to hurry to make sure I was home on time. I was pointed in the right direction, committed, determined, and headed to where I should have been. I had traveled 99% of the way on the correct and straight path, without even a slight variation. But, at the last minute, I saw something slightly off the correct course. I knew it was off course, I knew better, but I was curious. So I ignored my better judgment. I decided to just take a moment to check it out. I would be home in just a minute anyway. No harm in checking.

But then the distraction sucked me in. I was hooked. I traded the security of being home on time, for the temporary thrill of the new and exciting. I had ignored the whisperings of my conscience. And before I even realized what had really happened, I was speeding backwards in exactly the wrong direction. And the forces that pulled me in that wrong direction abandoned me, and dumped me far from home.

That temporary, fleeting, and false excitement had deceived me. I fell for it. And it made for a long, even painful road back home. I made it, and we all can make it, even if we mess up, and the lessons we learn the hard way, sometimes stick better in our minds. But, it would have been so much easier if I had just finished that last 1% without even thinking about that distraction on the side of the road. And that is the lesson I keep learning even today. I don’t want to learn any more lessons the hard way.

We are constantly being distracted, and pulled away from who we want to be, and where we want to go. The appeal of the car on the side of the road is different for all of us. For some, it may be drugs or alcohol, pornography, movies, books, or music. For others it may be seemingly harmless hobbies, or social media that just take away so much of our time. It may be small things that distract us, or it could be even bigger faith shaking things that start as a curiosity, but soon lead us to speeding in the opposite direction of the home we were headed towards.

Regardless of what it is, the lesson is the same. We just need to finish, keeping our eyes focused ahead towards our heavenly home. And take it one step at a time. We will also need to take very frequent breaks to kneel down.

When we are committed and determined to make it back to our Father in Heaven, we can finally feel the peace that comes with the journey. The freedom we achieve by following the Savior, and becoming more like him, is not so much a physical place, but a feeling, or a state of mind. Its a freedom from guilt, from torment, and shame. Its a freedom from anxiety for what potential penalty awaits us right around the corner. Its the avoidance of waiting for the cops to come haul us away!

We feel at peace when we follow our Savior. His spirit and his love fills our lives when we make the everyday choices to follow him. We will never be truly at peace if we chase after the temporary thrills of the distractions on the side of the road. Ive been there. If we want to live our lives free of fear, doubt, and anxiety we simply need to walk towards him, and not stop until we get there.

This hymn sums it up perfectly….

I will not doubt, I will not fear;
God’s love and strength are always near.
His promised gift helps me to find
An inner strength and peace of mind.

I give the Father willingly
My trust, my prayers, humility.
His Spirit guides; his love assures
That fear departs when faith endures.

-Hymn 158 “When Faith Endures”

Laban Strikes Out

27 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by Colby Alexander in Agency, Faith, General, Holy Ghost, Obedience, Pride, Prophets, Testimony

≈ Leave a comment

Remember that old poem “Casey at the bat”? It tells of the mighty Casey, the greatest hitter in baseball who famously, and heroically came to bat at the end of a game and had so much confidence, that he let the first two pitches go by without even a second thought to even swing. Then, on the dramatic third pitch in a cloud of dust, he whiffed on the third and final pitch, striking out, and ending the game. He had let two perfect opportunities go by, and when crunch time came, he blew it. The mighty Casey had struck out.

Amazingly, a very similar story took place in real life about 2600 years ago in a little town called Jerusalem. Instead of the mighty Casey, the man was Laban. Lets check out the drama that unfolded.

Laban was an important man in the community, and was known to be kind of a big deal among the Elders of the Jews. He was likely very wealthy, and had in his possession the plates of Brass, which included the Law of the Jews, as well as the record of his entire genealogy down from the first prophets, through Joseph, and all the way to him. These Brass plates would basically be the prize that would go to the winner in the epic “at bat” that took place all those years ago. The mighty Laban at the plate and the humble Lehi as the starter on the mound.

The first pitch from Lehi occurred after he was shown a vision of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. It would be destroyed if its people would not repent. He then went about the city preaching. This first pitch was not received well. The scriptures explain, “And it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them¹”

Now, Laban and all his Jerusalem buddies, the Jews, had decided to mock Lehi, instead of listen. But that wasn’t all, the scripture continues, “And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away².” Well, the mighty Laban, as well as his friends, decided that they didn’t quite like that first pitch from Lehi, and decided to let that go, and instead opted for attempted murder and death threats. Lehi’s fastball right down the middle, his call to repent and be saved? The mighty Laban decided to pass. Strike 1.

For the second pitch, Nephi took over on the mound, with a fresh arm, and he and his brothers traveled back to Jerusalem from their wilderness hideout. They decided on an even more direct approach, to just go ahead and ask Laban for the plates. Besides, its not like he was actually reading the scriptures or following their teachings right? Worth a try. So, the next pitch was another straight fastball right down the middle. “Hey, Laban, can we just go ahead and have the brass plates?” How’d that go? “And it came to pass that Laban was angry, and thrust him out from his presence; and he would not that he should have the records. Wherefore, he said unto him: Behold thou art a robber, and I will slay thee³.” So, after the second middle of the plate fastball, and perfect chance #2, Laban not only watched it go by, but also threw out a false accusation of robbery, and dished out death threats. Strike 2.

Now, the mighty Laban seemingly was oblivious to the dire situation he found himself in, he had not only rejected the words of the prophets, but he had also threatened to kill them, and falsely accused them of robbery. Both big no-no’s in Jewish law at the time. But, we will get into that later.

The third pitch delivered by Nephi was an even slower, perfectly straight softball floating beach ball pitch. Nephi and his brothers went back to their place, gathered up all their gold and silver in an effort to buy, or trade for the plates of brass. What a deal right? Lehi was likely a very wealthy man, and had a lot of precious things. So the 4 brothers headed in to see Laban again, this time loaded with their treasure, and what happened?… ”[Laban] did alust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property4” Nice. So another 4 counts of attempted murder, and armed robbery. Or, in other words, Strike 3.

Laban probably didn’t even realize he was up to bat. He didn’t even swing. The Lord handed him 3 perfect opportunities to do it the easy way, the way that would have left him alive with his head still attached, but he was blinded by lust. Lust for power, and for money.

The story and life of Laban ended a few hours later that night when Nephi was led by the spirit to the street where Laban was passed out drunk. Nephi was constrained to slay him. He shrunk, but eventually did slay Laban by cutting off his head with his own sword, disguised himself in his clothes, and obtained the brass plates for his posterity and fulfilled the commandments of the Lord.

Nephi was commanded to kill Laban. To some, this may seem strange. A righteous prophet commanded to slay another man while he lay drunk in the street? Was that necessary? Lets look at it through 2600 year old eyes.

In 600 B.C. Jerusalem, the laws were a bit different than they are here in the USA in 2015. The “Law” was the law of Moses as it was written in the old testament. And Laban over the months and especially the last few days of his life was certainly breaking many of those laws.

Laban’s first problem was that he was likely among the “Jews” who mocked Lehi, and sought to take away his life. Not exactly living up to “thou shalt not kill”

Laban’s second problem was that he had falsely accused Laman of robbery. Robbery at that time was a capitol offense, or punishable by death. Also, in Deuteronomy 19:18 the law regarding false testimony is spelled out. “And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother” Wow, so if you falsely accused someone of a capitol crime, guess what? Congratulations, you were guilty of a capitol crime!

Laban’s third problem was a combination of his 1st problem and his second problem. He actually had committed robbery, and actually had tried to kill Nephi and his brothers. Capitol offense, capitol offense. This is starting to be like OJ driving away in a white bronco.

So, in many ways, Nephi, who did not want to kill Laban, as was demonstrated by his entering into the city unarmed, and shrinking when the spirit constrained him to do it, was, in essence, carrying out the legal punishment for Laban’s crimes, even though he didn’t necessarily want to.

This story is a perfect example of how the Lord is in perfect control of every aspect of his plan for his children. He gave Laban plenty of chances to play nice, but he didnt. It also demonstrates how the Lord will always prepare a way for his children to succeed if they rely on him. The Lord provided the way for the brass plates to come into the possession of Lehi’s family, and did it in a perfectly planned out and fair way. God bless Nephi for following the promptings of the spirit even when it was very difficult to do.

I hope each of us can develop the amount of confidence in the Lord, and in ourselves to follow the spiritual promptings we are given. If we do, we never know what hidden blessings are in store for us or our family further down the line..

1 1 nephi 1:19

2 1 nephi 1:20

3 1 nephi 3:13

4 1 nephi 3:25

Choose your own path

02 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by Tyson Alexander in Agency

≈ 1 Comment

A long time ago, when we were just “intelligences that were organized before the world was,”¹ God said “we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”²He (God) knew that the best way for us to learn and “to progress toward perfection”³ was to go to a place far away – called earth – “to obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience”.⁴ His method for us to progress towards perfection? By letting us be enticed by two opposite forces, and then allowing us to choose for ourselves.

The lord has told us (more than once) “thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee,”⁵ and even indicated the principal reason that Satan was cast down was that he “sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him”⁶. Agency, or the ability to choose⁷, is a pretty big deal “therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves.”⁸ And in case we don’t really know if that’s true, let’s add some reinforcements: “men are free to choose,”⁹ “ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves”¹⁰ and “Let every man choose for himself”.¹¹The scriptures repeatedly teach us that we are indeed free to choose.

We – as human beings – are therefore in a class all by ourselves. We are moral agents, meaning we can choose to act all on our own. We’ve heard this a million times, but do we fully understand what it means?

For us to be held morally accountable for any of our actions, there must be two conditions present:

We must have (or had) the law to know it is moral
We must have the ability to freely choose

We reviewed item number two above by citing five different scripture passages indicating that we are indeed free to choose, or that we have the ability to choose (given by God), but do we have the law or the knowledge to do so? Let’s read the rest of Hel. 14:30-31, which answers our question “behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose.” In a single sentence, we are informed (twice) that both conditions are satisfied – which means we are absolutely moral agents unto ourselves. And if that weren’t enough, we could also include more of 2 Ne. 2:26-27 which states that “they (us) have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not be acted upon… wherefore, men are free according to the flesh, and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose”. But for good measure, let’s add one more (again from a passage already cited) in Moses 7:32 “behold these thy brethren (us); they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them… gave I unto man his agency”. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the very scriptures that indicate that we have agency, also outline that we have the law, meaning both conditions are met.

So, we may be thinking to ourselves, “I get it, we know the law and we can choose”, but what is it that we can choose? Is it just a choice between good and evil or right and wrong or any other opposite? To understand the answer to that question, we need to go back and look at our first required condition above: moral law.

We have the ability to choose (moral agency) according to right and wrong, not just once or when it happens to be a big decision, but within the entire set of moral laws, which by the way is not short. This list of moral laws is all of the “thou shalts” and the “thou shalt not’s” – yes, all of them (that includes all of the ‘shoulds’ and ‘should nots’ the, ‘please do’ and ‘please don’ts’ given by prophets and leaders through the years). Just run through your mind quickly all the various times the Lord (or his leaders) have given us guidance on things we ‘should’ or ‘should not do’. There’s only about 5 million of them sprinkled throughout the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, 185 sessions of General Conference, a bazillion issues of the Ensign, endless devotionals, talks, speeches, books, lds.org, and all of those things are on the list. It’s not a short list, but these things make up the entire set of moral law.

Let’s start with an example; “thou shalt not kill”. In order for us to be truly moral agents, we must 1) know that this is the law, and 2) have the ability to freely choose to obey or disobey it. So far so good right? Now, let’s review one of the most classic scriptures in all of the Book of Mormon “I know that the Lord giveth no commandments (moral laws) unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”¹² Further; God “did provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he commanded them”¹³ and the Lord himself said “I will provide means whereby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee.”¹⁴ That’s three confidence bolstering reaffirmations that we have the capability (or the way will be prepared) to complete each and every one of the ‘should’ or ‘should not’s’ on the moral law list. All of them.

Despite the gentle and loving enticements from the Savior for all of us to choose good, and despite the preparatory means that are ever present helping us to make good choices, we have sadly seen the downside (or the necessary opposite) of this truth in our society throughout all of history. Because the precious gift of agency (moral choice) has been extended to all mankind, it is not and will not nor can it be denied to all mankind.¹⁵ Some people choose to “not” kill, while some people choose to kill. It is just part of the deal. For agency to be agency, and for it to be available for everyone – it has to be this way. Once cannot say, I will give you free agency unless you try and make a bad choice – then I won’t allow it. That’s not agency – that’s coercion and lack of true moral agency (see condition number 2 above). That kind of thinking is exactly what got Satan kicked out of heaven. Let that thought kick through your mind the next time you ask “Why does God allow stuff like this to happen”? It’s because he is the most loving and kind and gracious (and perfectly trustworthy and just) God who has given us the gift of agency and will not rescind that gift even if there are some who abuse it. He will allow men to choose for themselves – even when it’s a gruesome and horrific choice to follow evil. If he didn’t allow this none of us would have the chance to be truly free. He even allowed Lucifer to use his God given agency to try and take away the very gift of agency from all of us. That is someone who sticks to a true principle no matter what.

Let us remember that those who choose to kill (or violate any law) are agents unto themselves, because they have the knowledge of the law, and the ability to choose it – meaning both conditions are satisfied which negates any and all claims that there is an uncontrollable force, basic human nature, environmental factors, or any other number of (supposedly good) reasons for choosing poorly because the fact of the matter is that we all have the God given ability to choose the right. We (that’s every last one of us) cannot excuse ourselves from the commandment (law) on the grounds that we are unable, or that the opposing feelings are too strong, or that boundaries set by the Lord are unrealistic (or too stringent). If we start to feel that way, please remember the scriptures listed above that god prepares a way for all of us to obey any commandment (law) given. Why would he ask us to do something we can’t do? He wouldn’t and he doesn’t. That doesn’t mean he won’t ask us to do hard things – because he will, but he will never ask us to do something that we cannot do. So, the next time we are tempted to say, “I can’t do that”, let’s understand that what we are really saying is “I choose not to do that”, or maybe even “I choose not to even try, because that would be really hard and uncomfortable.”

That example (thou shalt not kill) was pretty straightforward and easy for most of us. I don’t think I’ve ever really struggled with that one (knock on wood). But what about some of the moral laws that we’ve been given that we may not even think about being moral laws? Such moral laws that we may have considered optional recommendations or encouragements – like good feelings? “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another”¹⁶ or feelings of persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, kindness, and love unfeigned.¹⁷ The scriptures also condemn feelings of anger: “Can ye be angry and not sin? Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,”¹⁸ or other emotions of a similar quality: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.”¹⁹ This idea indicates that our emotions (not just anger, but all of them) must be matters of agency, otherwise how could we “choose” to give them up and/or choose to change how we feel to obey the law? All of those things that we ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ do are on the moral law list – all of them.

Some of us who are used to the idea that emotions (or feelings) are just characteristics of our personality that we were born with, or our feelings are just products of our environment may be troubled by this, yet the scriptures only condemn a person’s [present] condition, not the person, and the scriptures simply reject emotions of a certain quality encouraging us to ‘make a choice’ using our agency. Emotions are symptoms of our spiritual condition at any given moment, not some unchangeable feature of our personality or inescapable characteristic of our ‘human nature’.²⁰

With that understanding, can we then understand the implications of the full range of our agency and ability to choose? It’s not just a choice between killing or not killing someone. It’s not just choosing to obey a commandment or not. It is a very real choice of every single emotion, act, intention, and thought as we navigate this earthbound experience to which we are subjected. It’s also never “someone else’s” fault how we feel.

Now that we are sufficiently buried under the monumental heap of moral expectations, let’s add the weight of the bazillion things on ‘the moral law list’, which as we’ve learned includes how I feel about the list and how I react to other people’s emotions, and the myriad of stressful situations and people that we interact with all day long. Then we start to feel discouraged about the list, only to realize that by becoming discouraged or anxious or unfriendly I am ‘choosing’ an unhelpful emotion and am therefore ‘choosing’ things I ‘should not’ and….. oh man (set this cycle on repeat).

Let’s take a deep breath, count to ten, gather ourselves, and then re-read Colby’s recent post on grace. Because without a correct understanding of it (grace) – there is no way that anyone can reconcile themselves with their performance (choosing) of items on ‘the list’ without getting buried. We’ve all been there and the moment that you reach your breaking point with an exasperated groan – you’ve made it. You’ve maxed out and you’ve failed at being perfect. Welcome to the “tried really hard but failed to be perfect” club. Please note that this club is populated by amazing people like Joseph Smith, Gordon B. Hinckley, Peter, Nephi, Moroni, and everybody else you’ve ever met in the whole world.

So what are we going to do?

First, let’s all realize that we have arrived in the exact place where the Lord wants us – non-perfection (also called mortality and many other things). He wants us to have a ‘broken heart’ and a ‘contrite spirit’, so that we can look to him, admire him and be super impressed by his perfect life and example, and then partner with him by helping someone else who has found themselves in the same non-perfect place that we are in. Second, we should remember (while we are in this state) the crucial difference between means and ends because ‘the moral law list’ is not the ends, it’s only the means to the best ends.²¹ Third, lets remember that the lord told us that “his yoke is easy and his burden is light”²² and that if we choose to yoke ourselves with the savior, it will come to pass, that “[he] will ease the burdens which are put upon [our] shoulders, that even [we] cannot feel them upon [our] backs… and this will [he] do that [we] may stand as witnesses for [him] hereafter, and that [we] may know of a surety that [he], the Lord God, does visit [his] people in their afflictions.”²³

Perhaps the primary reason that constant opposition is so necessary and welcomed is because of how quickly and deeply the saviors succoring can be felt in our hearts during those times – if we “choose” to welcome him, and because he desires to spend so much quality time with us, that he keeps knocking on the door asking for us to let him in.

Notes

¹ Abr. 3:22

² Abr. 3:25

³ The Family a Proclamation to the World, paragraph 3.

⁴ Ibid. (paragraph 3).

⁵ Moses 3:17

⁶ Moses 4:3, see also Moses 7:32

⁷ Agency is described in ‘The Guide to the Scriptures’ as “the ability and privilege God gives people to choose and to act for themselves.” I also like Richard G. Scott’s definition of agency; which is “our ability to make decisions and to become accountable for those decisions”. (See his conference address from October 2014 “Make the Exercise of Faith your First Priority”). See also the entirety of D. Todd Christofferson’s talk “Free Forever, to Act for Themselves” from the October 2014 general conference. In each of these two citations, it is clear that an inseparable companion to the gift of agency is the responsibility and/or accountability of the consequences or results that inevitably follow our choices.

⁸ 2 Ne. 10:23

⁹ 2 Ne. 2:27

¹⁰ Hel. 14:30

¹¹ D&C 37:4

¹² 1 Ne. 3:7

¹³ 1 Ne. 17:3

¹⁴ D&C 5:34

¹⁵ I don’t mean that rights and privileges and freedoms (true agency) can’t be taken away, because they can, but this loss of agency is usually the penalty for a previous choice (IE murder, theft, drug use, etc. result in incarceration or imprisonment) and in that sense can be termed a ‘consequence’ of their previous choice – and that they have “chosen” to limit their agency all on their own. See note 9 above.

¹⁶ Eph. 4:32

¹⁷ See D&C 121:41-42

¹⁸ JST Eph. 4:36

¹⁹ Eph. 4:31, see also JST Matt. 5:24

²⁰ The idea in these two paragraphs (related to emotions as a moral choice) come from chapter 4, “Chastity and Fidelity in Marriage and Family Relationships” by Terrance D. Olson found in the Strengthening our Families, and In-Depth Look at the Proclamation on the Family.

²¹ The numerous things on the list can and should be seen as “the means”, or “the load” as Elder Bednar explains so well in “Bear up Their Burdens with Ease” from April 2014 General Conference.

²² Matt. 11:29-30

²³ Mosiah 24:14, see also 1 Ne. 20:10

Sweet to thy taste

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by Tyson Alexander in Agency, Food

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agency, food

Most of us understand the the basic process of food digestion. We eat something, our body converts it to energy, and then whatever is left over is disposed of. Since it is interesting, let’s quickly recap the details of this digestive process.

The digestive system is a group of organs working together to convert food into energy and basic nutrients to feed the entire body (which the body uses for energy, growth, and cell repair). This process begins with the mouth, – more specifically the act of chewing (breaking food into smaller pieces) – essentially breaking it down into a manageable form/size that our body can absorb and use. This food goes down our throats, through the esophagus and into the stomach. The stomach holds the food, mixes the food, grinds the food, secretes enzymes that continue to break it down. It passes from the stomach into the small intestine where the food is further broken down and the nutrients contained in the food are absorbed into the body. From the small intestine, the food is handed over to the large intestine, or the colon where what is left (mainly food debris and bacteria) starts to accumulate and solidify. From there, the food (unused remnants) eventually passes the rest of the way through the body and is discarded.¹

The most interesting part of this process to me is the timing. According to the Mayo clinic; after we eat it takes approximately 6-8 hours for food to pass through the stomach and small intestine. Then, it takes another 40 hours to pass through the large intestine and bowels. That’s a total of about 48 hours of transit time from eating to disposal.

Now, that timeline may not seem like a big deal, but think about the the reasons that most of us decide what to eat or what not to eat. If we are honest, the primary driver for most of our eating is how something tastes. Therefore, we base an entire 48-hour digestive process in which our bodies will slowly and methodically break down and pull nutrients from food and give our bodies the energy they need to sustain life on the tiniest period of time that we will actually taste the food. Even in conservative terms, if the process of actually chewing food takes a total of 5 minutes (I’ve never chewed food for that long), that’s only .17% of the process time. That’s less than 1/5^th of 1%. But, for reference, if we want to include the entire period that we sit down to eat a meal (let’s say a half-hour), that still only adds up to 1.04% of the digestive process timeline.

If we are basing our food choices solely on how something tastes (good or bad) without any thought to how my body will react to the food, how many nutrients my body will be able to break down and absorb, or that foods potential effect on my body as a whole, we are missing something, in fact, we are missing 99% of something. With this information, we should be able to evaluate our foods overall effect on our bodies before making a choice about eating it or not eating it. Our body may in fact vote to overrule our taste buds quite frequently – if not constantly – because in reality our stomach and intestines have the job of breaking down and absorbing any nutrients found in those M&Ms for 47 hours, not 47 seconds, so it should get a 99% (and overwhelming majority) vote on the matter.

This applies to foods that we do eat (but maybe shouldn’t) and to food that that we don’t eat (but maybe should). After all, how many of us will gladly eat a handful of jelly beans because they taste delicious for 3 minutes, yet don’t eat asparagus² because it tastes gross for 3 seconds? By doing this, we subject our bodies (and 99% of the digestive process) to the grueling and fruitless attempt of trying to absorb phantom nutrition from jelly beans because we wanted a few seconds of tickling taste buds, or in other words we decide that how we feel right this minute is more important than how we feel for the next 48 hours.

We are constantly making important decisions, yet we fall into the forgetful trap of basing those choices on how we feel during the smallest moment in time (i.e. tasting food), forgetting the affect that choice will have on the much longer (and more important) process (digestion), since that is where the nutrients are absorbed by the body. Then, we complain about our bodies not providing us with ‘energy’ to “run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.”³

We also may fall into the forgetful trap of basing how we feel about a food we are served (trials, difficult times, struggles, emotions, challenges, etc.) during that same small moment of time – considering them to be gross or unwanted because they are not delicious to us in the moment of chewing. While our brains may be saying “this is gross, spit it out” our body and our spirit (the 99%) are likely shouting for joy at the prospect of the long and meticulous opportunity to process some “real” food saying “finally, something we can work with; just wait and see how much nutrition and energy this will give you in the next 48 hours.”

Let us remember that often times – if not all the time – the foods that are the most beneficial to us might taste a bit bland, bitter, or even kind of gross – at least at first. Yet, if we can make it through the 5-minute chewing process, those foods which are nutrient dense and very beneficial, can spend the next 48 hours traveling through our digestive systems giving us valuable energy, vitamins, strength, and life, which in turn start to become and feel delicious to us. Then, we can make a more informed and conscience decision about how we feel, and choose to enjoy the process of selecting and preparing⁴ and enjoying the food that we know will do us the most good – and we start to understand that food is about much more than our taste buds.

The Lord has been preparing food for a long time.⁵ He is the master of all master chefs. He prepares food that is highly beneficial for each of us on an individual basis, and we can rest assured that our bodies and sprits are pleading with our brains to get on board with the process of digestion by seeing the food which has been prepared for us, and then choosing to chew on it. That chewing starts the process of digestion and allows the rest of the long process of nutrient absorption to commence. Let us all take a second look at the broccoli and the asparagus on our plates (and in our lives) and realize that 10 seconds of chewing will be well worth the 48 hours of life that it gives. Let us choose to eat the best foods, and be “willing to receive” that which He gives us. “For what doth it profit a man if [food] is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the [food]? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the [food].”⁶

Notes

¹ The majority of the information in this paragraph is taken from WebMD.com.

² I chose asparagus, but you could insert any number of vegetables here that are healthy for our bodies but that may not taste as good as M&Ms.

³ D&C 89:20, Isa. 40:31

⁴ Although the preparation of food is not addressed in detail here, the process of preparing food (planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc.) is very much a part of the overall process, and in all reality should be as much a consideration in our choice as anything else. This can be viewed as adding an additional few hours into the process (lowering the time spent chewing to an even smaller percentage), and raising the overall timeline of digestion and food processing. Here you may ask the question: “If I spend the necessary time planning, preparing, and actually eating the best foods all the time, my whole day would be spent revolving around food and eating.” Yes, it might. It would certainly take a bit more time that it currently does – and perhaps this thought gives added weight to the instructive phrase “the need for constant nourishment” that we hear (and take upon our hearts) in the holiest of all places. Let us see the parallels in food that are continuously all around us. See also D&C 29:34-35 for important context in this post and in our thoughts about food and how it affects us.

⁵ See JST Matthew 6:27, Psalms 136:25, and D&C 59:18-19

⁶ D&C 88:32-33

⁷ The title to this blog post “Sweet to thy taste” is taken from Proverbs 24:13

Wedgies and the Personal Choice

22 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Riley Alexander in Agency, Wedgies

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As a little kid I had a chronic case of what could be diagnosed as “little brother syndrome”. It’s a condition in human males that seems to be recessive in females that makes little brothers blind to their lack of size, strength, or mental abilities in comparison to their older brother(s). The “gene” is carried through both parents and intensifies with each consecutive son. As the youngest of 4 consecutive sons my case was very prevalent. I noticed my attitude, big mouth, constant habitual teasing, yet runt like size growing up didn’t translate well for me. I didn’t realize or more truthfully simply didn’t want to realize that all my brothers were all bigger, older, stronger, faster, smarter, and wiser than myself. When an argument or wrestling match broke out I didn’t stand a chance… yet for some reason I couldn’t help but feel like I had the upper hand.

For example: One day Tyson was dishing out my just reward for something I had said and/or done and he hung me by my underwear on the doorknob in his room… and yes, this is a true story. I made all sorts of threats of what I would do once I got loose. However, with my feet not able to touch the ground and hands not able to reach the walls for leverage I struggled and struggled in vain. The harder I tried and struggled the worse the wedgy became. Yet even holding still the wedgy was constant due to my own body weight and gravity. I was like a fox caught in a trap whose only chance at freedom was to gnaw its own leg off… but in my case my “leg” was my underwear and to “gnaw it off” meant to struggle so hard that I would eventually tear through my own underwear which would take courage and inflict much pain but would eventually grant me my freedom. I actually remember contemplating that last option, but thankfully I decided against it and thus walk without a limp today. So, after fighting it way longer than I should have, I finally gave up and realized I had been completely neutralized by the dreaded “quicksand wedgy”. Tyson had created the equivalent to a plastic prison for Magneto (other nerds will understand) and I was powerless to escape. My words and threats were now exposed for what they truly were, empty and without force because I had not the ability to act them out nor could I force Tyson to budge on words alone. His strength had rendered me powerless and I had no power over him. Tyson’s strength had voided all my abilities to affect him or harm him. Eventually of course Tyson’s heart was softened and I was granted release. It’s also seems that time has since cured my “little brother syndrome”.

My intention today is not to speak of wardrobe malfunctions elicited by a third party but to speak of the lesson that can be learned from this. We have been told that God granted the adversary power to “bruise our heels” yet we retain power to “crush his head”. Think about that… that is a massive, huge, vast, gaping canyon of power difference between us! So how is it that we always seem to be on the defensive and so often we falter, and even falter continuously? I think it’s more complicated than a simple answer. Part of it is because we are not perfect. Part of it is likely because we choose to fail. We have been sent here to be tried and tested. We have been sent to prove how faithful we are, how strong we are, and to show our Father in Heaven essentially “what we’re made of”. We know that it will be an uphill battle as we constantly have to fight against not only the adversary but ourselves as we are all by nature “natural men”! The adversary is relentless, and refuses to yield, to stop or to give in. He has an army with him and is always recruiting to strengthen his side. He relishes in our demise and defeat. He salivates at our destruction and failure. In other words the little brother to our perfect Elder brother has the worst case of “little brother syndrome” eternity has ever or will ever see! His case is so prevalent and advanced that no amount of time or “quicksand wedgies” will ever or could ever cure it! With that against us can we succeed? If so, how do we succeed? How do we get to the point that we are truly seeing his tactics and influence for what they really are? How do we render him powerless?

I think the first thing to realize is that we are not perfect. We can’t hang our heads when we make a mistake. It’s why Christ sacrificed for us, and why the Atonement is so incredible. At the same time, we must realize the Atonement is there to use, not abuse. It’s also interesting to realize that it’s us, and only us who give him power. He can’t take anything we don’t give to him. If we give an inch, he will take 100 miles. With the power we are told he has vs. the power we know we have, not to mention the help and support we are given when we earn it… it seems we all at one point had him hung by his undies on the doorknob. Yet, when we entertain his words, start to listen, or believe his words, or think “just this once”, it seems the more and more power he seems to gain over us. He doesn’t care about us, he will do anything he can to influence us, he just wants off the doorknob!

I’m not trying to imply that this life is easy, that living perfectly is easy, or that I’m perfect. I’m simply saying with God it can become easier than we now find it. I say this because for every method, every tool and for every ability the adversary has, God has more than an answer. We have so much at our disposal for good! We have God and Jesus Christ! We have a living prophet who through God knows the adversaries playbook on each of us. We have the Holy Ghost and angels to help lead us, inspire us and influence us. In a nutshell we have been given, told, and warned of the adversary’s plan which he now employs or plans soon to employ. We are warned on what to watch out for. We are counseled on ways to prevent physical and spiritual harm to ourselves and our family. We essentially are allowed to see the bigger picture and the end of the book before it comes to be! We have so much more than those who oppose us! Or, in other words “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” To take that one step further I would even say “Those who are with us are more powerful than those who are with them”. We have been told from the beginning that we will be victorious… and we will there’s no doubt! With God we cannot fail! What I believe it comes down to is us individually. No matter how strong or weak we are, God can make us stronger. He can help us overcome all. He will give us power to withstand all that is placed before us because we know with our effort, our determination, and our own diligence to his word he will help us withstand the adversary. The most important thing is we have to want it, and do what is necessary to earn the help and protection of Heaven in our behalf.

Here are two scriptures I like on this.

1 Nephi 15:24

Corinthians 10:13

4 brothers blog

Category Archives: Agency

Stranger Things Have Happened

The Gift of Choice

When the Wheels Fall Off

When the Wheels Fall off

Entropy

Nature’s Entropy

Felonies and Bended Knees

Laban Strikes Out

Choose your own path

Sweet to thy taste

Wedgies and the Personal Choice

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