Category Archives: Fundamentals

The Big Box Paradox and the Fable the Labels Enable

19 Friday Aug 2022

Posted by in Book of Mormon, Discernment, Fundamentals, General, Humility, Jesus Christ

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About a year ago, we upgraded the thermostats in our home from the simple little button kind to the fancy Google Home Nest version. They have no buttons, just a sheen face, and look really slick. Supposedly, these were the way to go because you could control every little thing from your phone. The app would allow you to change temperature, schedule the heat or cold during certain times of the day, and certain days of the week. I even got the impression that it could magically sense when you were home, or not, and adjust the temperature accordingly. I was excited.

Until I tried to set it up. I’m not a tech novice, but setting this thing up was not simple. I won’t even tell you how long it took. What’s worse, is that I had to refer to a youtube video to do it, and even then it took way too long. Eventually we got it sort of running.

Fast forward about 2 weeks and the thermostat in our main living area stopped working. No matter what we did, it gave an error message, which sent us to searching online message boards to discover it had no power source. Well, I had no idea how to fix that, so we went without, it wasnt too hot so we let it go.

Fast forward to yesterday, we had a maintenance check on the A/C units and I mentioned to the technician that we had been having this issue for several months, and to see if he could figure out what was wrong. Five minutes later, after running up to the attic, he informed me that a simple cord had been left unplugged, and that he plugged it in, and it should work like a charm.

Six months of summer struggle fixed in 30 seconds by plugging in a cord. Seems about right. I then spent the next 30 minutes re-learning how to program the system on YouTube and we are back to normal. Seems like a lot of extra complication to get back to the way it was before. Sometimes we complicate things that don’t necessarily need to be.

Life can also be complicated. Or, sometimes we can make it that way. Look at the title of this post, for example. There are likely 4,678 other titles that could better articulate my ideas in a much more concise, direct, and appealing way. But, instead, I went with the over-complicated, alliteration-attempting, tongue-twister version that no one can read through without getting a slight headache. I guess I should start listening to my own advise when picking post titles.

One of the most common ways we can overcomplicate our lives (besides upgrading to a Nest home thermostat) is in our quest to figure out exactly who we are. Our identity is inseparably connected to our purpose. And our purpose drives the decisions we make everyday. When we have a clear understanding of who we are, we have a clear purpose, and a clear path to our goals and destinations.

When we are fuzzy about who we are, our decisions, actions, and goals likewise can be complicated, ambiguous, and vague. We all want to fit in, and play our part in a meaningful life story. This aspiration is what drives us to determine who we really are, and where we really belong.

We all share this eagerness to belong. But, if we aren’t mindful, our uber-concentrated efforts to fit in somewhere, or anywhere, can fog our thought process, and overcomplicate our understanding of our most fundamental identity.

Dr Seuss’s Story about the Sneetches is a perfect example of this. When this overcomplication happens in our own lives, we may end up picking and choosing the fancy, or popular labels, identifyers, and metaphorical “stars” to stick on ourselves. These are often meant to help us feel like we belong, but can oftentimes overshadow and hide our true identity.

This leads us to the big question…

What is our purest, most fundamental identity?

What is the biggest “star”, or label we should be placing upon ourselves?

In our church, one of the first songs we learn as kids is a simple answer to this big question…

I Am a Child of God.

That is our truest identity. It is who we are underneath all the extra superficial fan-gear, hats, facepaint, stickers and labels. And, as a child of God, we have unlimited divine worth and potential. That is our shiniest star. That is who we are at our core.

When we understand and accept this identity, it informs and guides our actions. It gives us purpose, and an ultimate divine destination. Understanding and acting upon our true identity can help keep our lives simple, and help us focus on what is lasting and important.

Many of the secondary labels we affix to ourselves can be fun. I’ve labeled myself a Utah Ute, a Payson Lion, a wanna-be triathlete, and a Bosa buttermilk-donut-addict among many others. Most of the time, these “stars” we slap on ourselves are harmless. We get together with other similarly starred sneetches that look, think, and believe like us, and cheer for a team, enjoy a hobby, or stuff our faces with sugary scrumptiousness. But all these secondary labels are less important and should not be the determining factor on how we treat, or interact with other people in our families or society.

Not all labels are benign, however. Some Sneetch stars can be a problem. Whenever any label displaces or replaces our most important one, it weakens our clarity, understanding, and eventually the committment to our divine potential.

When these sneaky, popular and flashy stars start to drive our thoughts and actions, we begin to limit ourselves and our eternal growth. These ever-changing and morphing imposter stars supposedly meant to help us feel more included, instead become a hindrance, and a stumbling block in our development.

These labels or stars can overpower our persona. We can end up portraying ourselves as a wholesale representation of the label itself, instead of a person who enjoys that particular trait, hobby, or characteristic. We become the label, rather than the label representing just a small part of a larger, more complete, more comprehensive whole.

This is the Big Box Paradox. Our intent may be to gain acceptance and belonging into a larger community when we label ourselves a certain way. Instead, we end up further isolating ourselves and limiting ourselves into ever shrinking identity boxes. For example, when my primary label is “Yankees fan”, my prospects for making friends barricaded in the Red Sox box tend to get smaller. When my primary label is a “Militant Vegitarian”, it becomes a bit harder to hang out every weekend at the Brazilain Churrascaria with the “Meat Freaks”. It becomes even more intense and tenuous when these pre-packaged, and pre-labeled boxes become political, racial, or centered around many other hot-button cultural or societal issues.

Our society can be a true melting pot of these political, racial, cultural, and even spiritual identifiers, and still live together in mutual respect, love, and understanding. This becomes doable, only if we keep our identifying stars in the correct and proper order. It will work if we are committed to the things we have in common more than we are committed to our inevitable differences. That was the lesson the Sneetches had to learn!

These principles are not new or novel. They have been taught from the beginning.

King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon taught about the best Sneetch star thousands of years ago…

“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and daughters…I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God…” -Mosiah 5:7,8

The Psalmist was also on board…

“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.“ -Psalms 82:6

It continues today, our prophet recently addressed this exact issue in a talk he gave to young adults…

“I am simply saying that no identifer should displace, replace, or take priority over these three enduring designations: child of God, child of the covenant, and disciple of Jesus Christ.”

Are we all there yet? Do we all avoid judging others or stereotyping others based on appearance, or perception? Maybe not. But, if we choose to take an honest new look at how we really perceive the world and the people who live in it, and try to see the value in others that lies underneath whatever stickers and labels they have on display, we can get a bit closer to that ideal.

Our goal should be to see others the same way God does. That is the standard. Nephi describes God’s inviting love for everyone, with all their different stars, in the Book of Mormon…

“…he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.” -2 Nephi 26:33

Let’s try to stop looking at society as if it were a chaotic frenzy of spilled skittles needing to be sorted, labeled, and boxed according to outward appearances, beliefs, activities, actions, skin color, social, or cultural differences. Let’s all try and simplify our lives and focus on our true identity, and let the divine nature inside each of us all shine brightest to steer our thoughts and actions- and be more loving and kind to all the other Sneetches in the process.

Just Breathe

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in Battle, Failure, Fundamentals, General, Journeys, Motivation, Patience, Success, Weakness

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In November of last year, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I decided that I was going to try and do a triathlon. That rash decision was a direct result of me being shown up big time by my little brother Tyson. He had just finished a full Ironman triathlon, and made it look easy.

As has been well documented in this blog, competition among us brothers has always been, and will probably always be, in the forefront of our relationships. Let’s at least try and call it “healthy competition”. We push each other to be better. Or, we push ourselves to try to be as good as the other guy. This triathlon thing though….?

Last time I wrote about this, I described the initial attempts I had made in the swimming pool. These initial forays trying to swim didn’t go smoothly. They instead made me feel more like I was in that Gravity movie with George Clooney and was spinning out of control in a punctured space suit, hurtling and cartwheeling towards the black abyss of outer space. Tyson had warned me about that and kept saying that I would eventually get it. But it wasn’t happening very quickly.

When trying to swim the right way, or trying to emulate the way the real swimmers do it, you have to alternate breathing by turning your head either left or right, while you are pulling your way through the water. All this while your head is probably halfway submerged in the water. The official way to do this is during every third stroke. Thats how they teach it on youtube anyway, and thats where I learn to do everything.

If I wanted to be a good swimmer, I was supposed to take a stroke with my right, left, then quickly inhale a breath while turning my head to the left on the third stroke. I was then supposed to repeat and alternate ad nauseam until I either passed out, drowned, or made it to the other side of the pool. The pros make it look easy, but its not. Its not, because swimming is a very “aerobic” exercise in a very anaerobic (underwater) environment.

For the first several months I made small improvements. I went from an initial limit of around 100 meters, to being able to go to almost 400 meters without stopping to perform life saving measures.  That may seem nice, but when you consider the length of the swim on a “half” ironman triathlon is 1.2 miles or 1,930 meters it puts a damper on your excitement. It makes you feel like you have to clean the entire bathroom with only a toothbrush, and only using your teeth. Not pretty. I started to see myself as being the only one needing to swim with Dora the Explorer arm floaties during the triathlon.

I was pretty discouraged, I couldn’t seem to be able to build up enough endurance to even sniff what I was supposed to be able to do. I would go to the pool almost every single day, and the same thing would happen. I’d swim 450 meters, nearly pass out, get nauseous, and see stars for the next 3 hours while I recovered on the couch (which was not exactly getting me prepared to bike for 3 hours, then run for an hour and a half immediately after I swam).

It was about this time that a timely phone call to Tyson changed everything. We were talking about techniques and things, and he passively mentioned that he took a breath every other stroke, not every third. I decided to try out this super secret, highly advanced technique of breathing more often instead of tempting death and nearly drowning each time I entered the pool. It turned out that breathing more often was a good idea. Funny.  So I guess if you’re suffocating under water, breathing more often is helpful. Why didn’t I think of that?

The next time I went to the pool, I tried it. I took off, and took a nice deep breath every other stroke, and kept going. I passed my old record of 500 meters, and kept going. I passed 750 meters and kept going, then 900, and all the way to 1000 meters. I stopped only because I had to pinch myself and make sure it was real.  It was. I shook my head and wondered again why I hadn’t previously thought of breathing more when I was out of breath. It was just that simple.

The next day, I decided to see just how far I could go, and made it to 2000 meters without stopping. I just laughed at myself to think that such a simple change had made such a drastic improvement in what I was doing. I decided that every “how to swim” video on youtube should have Pearl Jam singing the theme song, “Just Breathe”.

 

As I contemplated this improvement, and as I was swimming for those longer training days in the pool, I kept thinking about how much better my life was now that I had a steady supply of oxygen, or breath. I thought about the similarities of having enough “breath” in all the aspects of my life. I thought about the significance of spending one day a week concentrating as much as possible on the good things in life, my Savior, and the gospel. It reminded me of how Sundays, and everyday really, could be that breath of fresh air.

Sometimes its easy to get caught up in trying to do to much of our everyday stuff, that we seldom take the time to spiritually breathe. We are here on this planet for a purpose. That purpose is not to make the most money, have the best toys, or be the most successful in our chosen field. We are here to learn to be like God.

He puts us here for that reason alone.

As I have been through my daily, weekly and yearly routines, I have been guilty of trying to tough it out for too long without taking a breath. I have struggled to make it even a few hundred meters before I felt like I couldn’t keep going. I was seemingly doing the right things, I just wasn’t “breathing” often enough.

Our physical bodies need oxygen to survive and function. Our spirits also need constant spiritual oxygen for nourishment. When its continuous, it feeds us in a way that enables us to continue progressing and we become stronger and stronger. We become a smoother swimmer so to speak. We feel more comfortable, excited, and familiar with our purpose on earth. If we go too long without it, we tend to struggle, and sometimes find ourselves on the couch seeing stars.

Every day I should be breathing in the lessons taught in the scriptures, praying, and thinking about my real purpose on this planet,  and taking in big deep breaths with my spirit. It makes a difference. If I  do it daily, as the “professional swimmers” have counseled us to do, I will have plenty of spiritual oxygen for endurance.

Breathing gives us life. It sustains our mortal lives, but the frequent breathing in of spiritual oxygen is just as critical to our spiritual survival and endurance. After all, thats really the hard part, enduring to the end.

“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
–Job 33:4

Satisfaction

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in atonement, Fundamentals, Jesus Christ

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jesus-angel-in-the-garden-960138-wallpaper

I have been at a conference in Milwaukee all week (for work).  This conference has a focus on education, and therefore offers classes, workshops, seminars, and hands-on activities in order to educate and inform all conference attendees catered to the particular industry in which I work.  Throughout each day, there are a wide range of topics and several options for classes that are offered in simultaneous timeslots, which means that the conference attendees can choose 1 of 8 classes for each time slot that classes are offered.  Towards the end of the week – today in fact – I was on the schedule to deliver a presentation.  In this presentation, I was to speak for an entire hour regarding how the use of technology could be helpful in the management of PSM.  To most of you, this seems like the most boring topic ever (or completely irrelevant to life in general), and you’re probably right.  As I have chronicled on this blog before (here), my company offers a software product to help in an area where most people want to ignore, which means that not very many people want help at all, let alone look for it.  So, imagine with me my ever-growing unease with this prospect of giving an hour-long presentation to 80 empty chairs.

As time went on, and this assignment weighed in my mind, I became ever more pessimistic and anxious about it.  Four months ago, I envisioned the room packed full of people (standing room only) chomping at the bit to devour our product with eager haste and begging me to continue despite the time restrictions leaving all other classrooms and speakers with emptiness.  One month ago, I envisioned the room mostly full of attendees taking notes and at least nodding their heads with interest.  Two weeks ago, I envisioned around 40 people there, but then as this week started, I started to reduce my hopes that maybe 10 people would be present.  Until finally, as I spoke with my wonderful wife last night and early this morning, I wondered if even a single person would attend my presentation.  With this dreadful thought in my mind at 2:50 PM, I started the 5-minute walk from our booth (we are also an exhibitor at this conference) to room 103C, and during that time I gave myself the following pep talk.  “Tyson, it is probable that not a single person will be in that room where you are scheduled to speak for an hour, and that’s ok. If that is the case and that room is completely empty, those chairs are going to learn how technology and a centralized system can help their management of PSM.”  I steadied myself and rounded the corner to where there was a sign with my speaking topic, our company logo, and I braced myself for the worst….and then I saw people.

People were there waiting!  People were in their seats before I even got there.  People had read the conference agenda, perused the available topics, and they had (of their own free will and choice) selected my presentation to attend.  How could this be?  I was immediately satisfied.  What’s more, the 3 individuals that I had personally invited to my presentation were all present – satisfied again. Then, as I set up for my presentation, I watched with further satisfaction, as additional people trickled in and sat down.  In the end (as I started my presentation) I estimated that there were between 25 and 30 people who gave their attention to me.1   With this boost in my self confidence and this feeling of satisfaction, I was strengthened and went on to deliver the most amazing PSM related technology presentation that the 3:00 PM time slot of the 2015 RETA conference will ever see.

Which, interestingly enough, brings me to a scripture passage that I have read several times and have recently been thinking about – related to satisfaction.  It is part of Abinidi’s message to king Noah and his wicked priests.  For a quick background,2 the people had captured and imprisoned Abinidi for preaching against them and their leadership and in a deliberate attempt “to cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to accuse him” he was brought before king Noah and his priests where they began to question him.   As Abinidi withstood all of their words, and continued his detailed outlining of their wickedness in a frank and matter-of-fact way, the bad guys got angrier.  This led to them attempting to “lay their hands on him” and take him away, but he wasn’t finished with his message.  He “said unto them: Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver.”  Then, Abinidi’s “face shone with exceeding luster”, and “he spake with power and authority from God.”  It is during this powerful and authoritative luster faced message that I quote Abinidi:

“When his soul has been made an offering for sin [speaking of Christ’s suffering during the grueling and agonizing atonement hours] he shall see his seed.”3 “He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”4

I don’t have a good personal example to relate to that concept, but the closest thing I can relate is a mother experiencing intense labor that gets to hear her precious newborn baby cry for the very first time.  She is (and has been for several months) in the midst of a grueling and agonizing life creating pregnancy and painful delivery, which can absolutely be termed a “travail”, and all at once – in an instant even – is satisfied when that crying baby is placed in her arms and is therefore willing and able to continue on with the labor process, and indeed discount the months of pain as a satisfactory tradeoff for joy.  I have seen the pain and anguish of difficult labor displaced immediately by tears of joy on my wife’s face (more than once).  I can’t understand how it feels – yet somehow I can understand why it feels.

With that tender concept of satisfaction during our Lord’s anguishing travail in mind, I would like to add to our understanding of the passage delivered by Abinidi (and Isaiah) in his moments of shining glory with a verse recorded by Luke (referencing the exact same tender, crucial, amazing, grueling moment of travail). It is found in Luke 22:43 which reads “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.”

Could it be that this angel which appeared to the savior in the garden during his most pressing and agonizing hours – to strengthen him – somehow made it possible for the Lord to “see his seed” and “see the travail of his soul”, and therefore “be satisfied”?  Could it be that the strengthening agent that the Lord needed during his intense suffering was to hear the crying voice of a newborn baby like you and me?  Could it be that all in an instant, that anguish and hurt brought upon him by the pain and weight of the world (a necessary part of the life giving process) was immediately swept away by the visual image of his children that he loved so much?  I think so.  I think that gave him strength, just like it gave my wife strength, and just like it gives so many others strength.  That is the power of families, and that is the power of relationships, and that is the power of love and that is the power of life.  That idea could also be strengthened by the scriptural phrases of “perfect love casteth out all fear” (Moroni 8:16)

Now, I am not one to compare a lowly trade show presentation to the precious hours of the atonement, or even the childbearing process which both give life to the world, yet I did feel satisfaction in seeing a few bodies in the chairs that was equal to my anxiety – and therefore satisfied my heart.  Imagine then, the amount of joy and love that our savior feels with each of us – if the sound of our voice or the image of our faces in his mind allowed him to be satisfied in the most grueling moment imaginable during those garden hours.  Satisfaction equal to his anxiety, or as Alma put it “nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were [his] pains… that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was [his] joy.”5

The Savior loves us deeply, more deeply than we can understand.  Let us all try and feel that love by allowing his sacrifice to be felt more deeply in our hearts.

Notes

1 For reference, I have presented a similar topic at a similar (much larger) conference once before (by invitation even) and the number of attendees was in the single digits (like 6 or 7), which no doubt led to my trepidation, but that’s just a side note for context.

2 This background can be read in Mosiah chapters 12 and 13

3 Mosiah 15:10 (please note this is the reference from footnote b in Mosiah 14:10, where Abinidi is quoting Isaiah.  These verses are nearly identical.  Also, please note that Abinidi also asks and answers the question: who is ‘his seed’? in the natural flow of this same amazing discourse (see Mosiah 15:10-13).  See also Mosiah 5:7.

4 Mosiah 14:11

5 Alma 36:21

The Absolutely Critical Necessity of Basic Fundamental Core Essentials for Increased Improvement of Progression and Betterment

30 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by in Fundamentals, Opposition, Sports

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If the title was a bit dramatic – I apologize, but I tried to create a feeling of real dependency – one that in this case I feel cannot be overemphasized.   I also apologize for having another post with reference and illustrations from sporting events – I just can’t help myself.

There are many athletes with nicknames, and some of them are awesome.  Some of them are also horrible – and some of them are not even worth considering because they either aren’t nicknames (T-Rod, A-Rod, etc. are not nicknames – they are just shortened versions of their real names) or these supposed nicknames were as Jim Rome puts it ‘self glossed’ which is jungle way of saying ‘you can’t give yourself a nickname – that’s just not how it works’.    Some of the great nicknames throughout history are known – and some not so much.  But there is one nickname that might be the best of all – ‘The Big Fundamental’.  I don’t know where or when Timothy Theodore Duncan was first called ‘the big fundamental’ but it fits and he’s seen some awesome results.  He is a five-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and was the NBA rookie of the year.  He is a 14-time NBA All-Star, and the only player to be selected to both the All-NBA and the All-Defensive teams during each of his first 13 seasons – and I’m not aware of a single endorsement deal of his. Let that sink in.

Part of why I like his nickname so much is that it so complimentary.  Others (especially those who have given themselves nicknames) probably think his nickname is ‘lame’ and highlights his lack of flash or show – which is precisely why it’s such a compliment – especially to him.  I guarantee you he loves this nickname.  He’ll probably never tell you as much or even bring it up – but he loves it.  He loves it because that he knows the value of and has seen the result of hard work continually centered in the basic fundamental core essentials.  He probably spends 95% of his time working on the ‘plain and simple’ things like footwork, positioning, dribbling, outlet passes, rebounding, etc. instead of the ‘strong and mighty’ things like dunking, crossovers, taunting gestures or cute hand signals to be practiced each time a relatively good play is made.  In short – he paid attention to, saw the benefit of, and grew to love the ‘weak and simple things’ of the basketball world that ‘brought great things to pass’ and ‘confounded the wise’ or in Tim’s case – the other teams.  They cannot figure out how and why the Spurs keep winning – despite their small market status, their lack of a flashy star, and their consistent use of ‘small and simple things’ like the old fashioned pick and roll.  I realize Greg Popovich has a lot do to with this – but his nickname isn’t the big fundamental so he isn’t the focus here.

You’d think in the NBA that most people would have a pretty good handle the fundamentals by now – and most of them do okay, but Tim Duncan has mastered the basics.  He doesn’t keep going ‘back to the basics’ when things get crazy or when they lose a few games – he just doesn’t stray from them.  They are who he is.  They are what he is.  They have become his identity and his purpose and his love.  So much so that they have started to exude from his person.  He sweats fundamentals.  He sneezes and fundamental drills come out.  He cries footwork drills.  He dreams about the three-man weave while mapping out his next bank shot.  He loves them because he knows that they are the foundation of greater things and that nothing great can last without a solid foundation.

If we think of his nickname in a spiritual sense (likening basketball to spirituality and eternal progression in real life) – what things can we work on, and how can we think in order to become like ‘the big fundamental’?  The answer is the same for all of us – it’s an unwavering allegiance to, understanding of, and consistent practice in the gospel basic fundamental core essentials.  These are the core doctrines and principles that we learn when we are young but tend to overlook (or assume we know all about) when we get older.  If we learned everything about basketball fundamentals while we were in Jr. Jazz – we might be in trouble.  And if we are relying on our primary aged recollection of the fundamentals –  we might be in trouble.

With this in mind, these fundamentals are often looked at or even referred to (by others) as ‘weak and simple things’, and nobody likes to think of him or herself as weak and simple, and certainly nobody likes to be ‘complimented’ in a way that highlights or ‘reinforces’ their weak and simple characteristics or their repeated use of and reliance upon them.  But if we can get to the point where we really love the fundamentals, we can love that nickname or that ‘compliment’ as it’s applied to us.  We can truly relish the basics and start to see the ‘weak things become strong’ even if our opponents and seemingly all the other players around us are focused on more advanced topics or have seemingly moved on to ‘gospel calculus’ instead of ‘gospel addition and subtraction’.

This is especially true when we realize how much work still needs to be done, how hard and long that work will be, how slowly we seem to be progressing towards the ultimate goal, how daunting our opponent is, and how quickly and repeatedly he claims his powers and ability as ‘great’.  We all like to think we are ‘strong and mighty’ and I emphatically include myself in this category – since I need to remember this as evidenced by the topics I’ve chosen to write on in my last few posts (offense vs. defense, competition, power, etc.) – but the fact is that the answers (to all the questions that matter) are ‘always in the doctrines and principles of the gospel’ (See Elder Bednar’s Increase in Learning book).

Perhaps we often overlook the fundamentals and the ‘weak and simple things’ because we live in the age of instant gratification and quick results.  We tend to believe in and rely on results – and when the results aren’t amazing and mammoth-sized after 16 seconds – we give up or move on to the next promise of results because we don’t think we have time to develop patience or work to help ‘weak things to become strong’ (See Ether 12:27).  But it may also because we tend to believe way too much in our perception, what our mortal eyes are able to see, or what our mortal brains process based on the outward appearance of strength instead of strength ‘as it really is’ (See Jacob 4).

The point I am trying to make is that true power and true strength (real greatness) often do not come dressed up the way most people think they do.  They come disguised as weakness and are further developed and solidified by the repeated performance of very simple things – or in other words, they come dressed up as basic fundamentals.   This process (the repeated performance of weak and simple things, or the very nature of weak and simple things themselves) in many cases turns out to be very irritating to the wise and powerful people, groups, and organizations that claim to have all the answers.   It has always been this way, and it will always be this way, because God said it more than once (in 3 different books by way of 3 different prophets).  He said in Alma 37:6, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise”.  He said in 1 Cor. 1:27 “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”, and in the D&C he has said “I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit” (D&C 35:13), and “The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones” (D&C 1:19).

So what are the weak and simple things (fundamentals) that confound the wise?  How about some things that are so weak and simple (often termed as ‘old fashioned’ or ‘out of style’ that even our primary aged kids (4 and 5 and 6 year olds) understand but the ‘wise’ (as termed by the world) in large part throw aside as unnecessary, childish, or as a certain someone termed them ‘lame’.  Things like prayer being a very real communication with God and that the habit of praying regularly builds strength.  Things like reading scriptures to grow in spirituality.  Things like 14-year-old boys with no formal education being used to restore the greatest kingdom ever.  Things like getting out of debt and staying out of debt. Things like food storage.  Things like simple obedience.  Things like serving other people before us.  Things like going to church and worshiping on Sunday instead of seeking for entertainment.  Things like home teaching.  Things like genealogy.  Things like temple attendance.  Things like living prophets.  Things like faith.  Things live love.  Things like self-control and discipline.  Things like tithing.  Things like being nice and thoughtful and patient and kind – even when nobody else seems to be.  Things like assisting other people and helping them reach their goals instead of spending so much time and effort in what we ourselves want.  Things like placing more value in people that in things.  Weak and Simple things like that.

Before we think of this as counter-intuitive and contrary to reality (weak and simple things being true power) let’s remind ourselves that Tim Duncan and his Spurs are five-time champs AND “there are many called, but few are chosen…(they are not chosen) because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson…that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness…when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved…he is left unto himself…to fight against God” (good luck in that fight)….”no power or influence can or ought to be maintained…only by [note the weak and simple things that are listed] persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile…let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men…and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, then shall they confidence wax strong in the presence of God”.  That might be the epitome of using weak and simple fundamentals to bring great and mighty things to pass.