All-ness

05 Thursday Nov 2015

A few weeks ago I was reading a book where the author made a point using a particular scripture in a context that I had not thought of. This allowed me to see more of it’s full meaning – especially when I compared it with other scriptures (which I will also share). I had read the passage before, but had either forgotten about it or had not understood it fully until it was delivered in the context that it was, which allowed it to finally stick in my mind and more importantly to understand its importance.

D&C 29:34-35

“Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created. Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual.”

I would just like to highlight the absolute-ness of the word ‘all’ as used above. All means all. All means every single thing. It’s opposites (‘neither’ or ‘no’ or ‘not at any time’) are also used to further emphasize the all-ness of it. Here are some related passages:

Moses 6:63

And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.

Alma 30:44

…the scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

2 Ne. 11:4

Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him.

So, let’s recap what we’ve learned so far – all things:

Are spiritual unto God
Have their likeness (can be seen as ‘types’) that bear record of Christ.
Have been created for that express purpose (to bear record of Christ)
Denote or witness (prove) that there is a God
Are the typifying of him (Christ)

At first glance, this list might seem obvious, but let’s not forget exactly what ‘all’ means. It really does mean all. Yes, it means that the more obvious things like attending church and partaking of the sacrament, and reading the scriptures are spiritual and point us to Christ, but it also means that all of our daily activities and even (seemingly) temporal commandments like food storage, debt avoidance, tithing, the word of wisdom, the law of Moses, church ball, and every last one of the programs and commandments and suggestions given by the church, are also spiritual and are ‘the typifying of him’ and have been created to bear record of him (Christ). If we haven’t seen how that is possible, it is because we aren’t looking or we are attempting to place temporal and spiritual things into separate boxes when they should all be in the same (spiritual) box.

But, we aren’t talking about just the commandments; could all things really mean that folding the laundry, washing the dishes, getting dressed each day, mopping the floor, fixing the doorknob that broke, getting the oil changed in my car, driving to work, scrubbing the toilet, or any one of the billion other tasks that we do as humans in this world (at home, at school, at play) can and will testify of and point me to Christ?” Yes.

What about newsworthy issues in the world today? Constant war, crime, terrorism, non-stop litigation, pornography, genocide, increasingly hostile political climates, opinions, or organizations, advertisements on TV, social media, rampant bullying (in person and via social media), and the disintegration of tolerance and the increasing barrage or indifference towards free speech, rights, the constitution, political kindness and the importance and sanctity of the traditional family unit? Yes – these things are all spiritual and are the typifying of him.

If that weren’t enough to open our eyes, we can rest assured that every single commandment (morals laws, remember) that we’ve ever been given (including the ones that we think are just in place to make our temporal or non-church lives easier) ‘are spiritual unto God’. He said so himself. Every single commandment – whether it comes from his mouth or the mouths of his prophets – is a spiritual commandment. Remember that he said “not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal.” That’s pretty absolute.

What this means for all of us, is that ordinary life, and the mostly unglamorous parts of that life that we all live (full of its seemingly unending and often frustrating, repetitive and non-spiritual details), are way more spiritually important than we might have realized. In the abstract, this seems logical and even amazing right? We get to live and participate in the daily happenings of an earth patterned after heaven, all while every single thing we see points to nurturing and teaching some of God’s precious children through various means and amazingly spiritual scenarios. I wonder if in the pre-existence we marveled at this thought, viewed all of the simple yet profound things that we could see on earth and the patterns of commonplace things that are present here (as they were in heaven) and we thought to ourselves “how can we not succeed in that spiritual wonderland”?

However, what happens is we get slapped in the face with real life where things never go exactly as planned, we forgot who we are, where we came from, we have these weird and complex physical bodies that we struggle to master, and in our homes nobody cleans up after themselves, messes seem to appear out of nowhere, homework doesn’t get done, stuff breaks all the time, kids fight, and we get sucked into the realization that some if not all of the tasks (cooking dinner, running kids around, going to work every day, paying bills, being an adult, having responsibilities, etc.) that we thought made up a spiritual wonderland (before we actually experienced them) seem to be the very things that develop the most disruption, and present themselves as the most non-spiritual, time consuming, and energy-draining moments imaginable. Combine those chores with the complexities of the emotional world where God’s other children are given full agency to ‘choose for themselves’ creating a spiderweb of consequences that we didn’t realize add up and weigh heavily on our individual perception of reality. If we are honest, we’d rather not be doing most of these chores at all (I don’t like to sweep the kitchen or do the dishes) – so what possible explanation could there be that these activities and stressful consequences are somehow sacred and spiritual, when they feel like anything but?

I would love to provide that explanation, but the fact is I can’t even answer it – at least not the way I’d like to. You are welcome. But, please thoughtfully consider the question.

I will offer this additional information for your pondering that question: we read in the Bible Dictionary that “only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.” I think part of the explanation has to do with our everyday, repetitive, chore laden homes being that spiritual wonderland that we previewed from heaven despite the chaos, and maybe even because of the chaos, when we remember what it is we do there.

Sometimes we become frustrated when we try to compare our homes to the temple because the only factors we are using for comparison are spot-free cleanliness, white clothing, celestial décor, and the presence of courteous whispers. We try to use like for like comparisons – which may not be appropriate. It says that our homes are the only places that compare with the sacredness of the temple, but it didn’t and doesn’t mention anything about the need for perfect cleanliness, reverent whispers, fancy chandeliers, or white clothing.

Let’s think about what we do at the temple, and maybe more importantly, why we do it. Each of the ordinances (steps) performed in the temple prepare us to receive something more – but the temple also teaches us that the only way to receive that something more is by being driven out of the garden of Eden where everything is awesome into a world full of problems – just where we find ourselves these days – and overcome it. And we overcome it by working through it day by day and minute by minute one step at a time.

The crowning ordinance performed in the temple is the creation of an eternal family unit – the sealing of a husband and wife together for all eternity. And by ‘creation’ we mean the starting point. The temple creates a new family unit, and then in our homes every single day during the laborious chores of life (i.e. life outside of the garden of Eden) take us in and out and up and down and all around while that development process is continued, strengthened, tested, and refined over and over and over again. We learn about it in the temple, but we practice it at home.

Our home is the best place to understand that without misery there can be no happiness, and without pain there can be no joy. Our home is also the best place for us to understand how “their journeyings in the land, their sufferings, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy”¹ all fit perfectly into the same sentence. Our home is the only place where we can somehow be satisfied when we see the results of our long, hard and thankless work wiped away by a simple smile, or an innocent giggle from one of our precious children. In that small moment, we can feel and we can somehow understand what sacred really means – and how our home can indeed be the most sacred place of all because of what we are doing and becoming there. Then, we start to feel completely overwhelmed with gratitude that fills our hearts because the Lord allows us such a privilege to help build his kingdom by building its inhabitants.

Perhaps this is what we need to understand; that normal, everyday home life is presenting each of us with a multitude of opportunities to capitalize on the opposition, trials, and learning in the most common of all circumstances. And since God loves us, he gives us a lot of chances to learn and to help us “establish [our own] house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God”²just like his. We just need to look for the smiles that help us remember why – because there is no other way.

As we start to see things “as they really are, and things as they really will be”,⁴ we can start to see the Savior in all things. We will see that Jesus himself worked, walked, clothed, washed, fed, swept, gathered, dried tears, helped, healed, restored, fished, played, talked, and did every other seemingly unspiritual and mundane activity (in this same fallen world we live in) all while teaching his friends the greatest truths, overcoming death, and redeeming all of creation.

Let all of us look for ways in which our homes and daily lives can help us to remember that all things bear record of him, all things are the typifying of him, and that all things are spiritual. That is what Jesus did.

Notes

¹ Alma 28:8

² D&C 88:119

³ Jacob 4:13

Choose your own path

02 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by Tyson Alexander in Agency

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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

Endure to the End!

18 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by Colby Alexander in General, Preparation, Pride, Sports, Strength, Success, Types

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I love college football. This is my favorite time of year. Each year I have renewed hope at what possibilities lie ahead. New players emerge, older players get better, every game counts. It it exciting, thrilling, heartbreaking, and devastating all at the same time.

Sports in general can teach us so much about life, and overcoming obstacles, opposition, and adversity. It is an almost perfect type for our own lives. College football yesterday, gave us that perfect example of a principle I have been thinking about lately. Enduring to the end.

This example, is of a game between bitter rivals. It was a hard fought game between Michigan, and Michigan State. All game it had been a grudge match back and forth, neither team could move the ball very well against the other, both defenses had dominated the opposing offenses, and as time ran down to the last 10 seconds, Michigan found itself ahead by two points with the ball, and just about a minute left. They could almost just take a knee, and let time expire and win the game. Almost.

As time slowly clicked away, Michigan ran the ball to make sure the clock didn’t stop and were able to get time down to just about 10 seconds left. It was 4th down, the ball was on Michigan State’s 48 yard line, and all they had to do was punt the ball away, make one tackle, and the game would be over. They would win the heated rivalry game over their higher ranked bitter enemy. Life was good for Michigan fan. They were basking in the eminent victory. They were on cloud nine. Years of being second fiddle in the state and listening to Michigan State fans trash talk would finally end. The battle was nearly over, and they would be victorious!

Then Michigan snapped the ball. And their 10 second nightmare began.

The punter for Michigan bumbled the snap, the ball fell a few feet in front of him, and in his sudden panic, lunged forward, grabbed the ball, and made a last second heroic effort to kick the ball away. But Michigan State hit him with 3 guys just as the ball left his hand headed towards his foot.

The momentum of the hit sprayed the ball to the right, through the air, and landed perfectly into the hands of a surprised Michigan State player. Upon receiving the miraculous gift of a fumble, he took off, headed towards the end zone 45 yards away. He had a procession of blockers, and only 2 potential tacklers, time seemed to stand still and Michigan fan went from the peak of elation to the depths of despair in mere seconds. Michigan State rolled down the sideline, and lunged into the end zone with no time left to win the game.

Michigan fan could do nothing but stare in disbelief. That actually just happened. One of the most unlikely wins and final plays that could even be conceived. If any of a number of things didn’t go exactly right, or exactly wrong, the game would have ended with Michigan on top. It was unbelievable. The odds of Michigan State winning that game before the final snap were 0.2%. 2 in a thousand! Yet it happened. Michigan State never quit. Michigan State endured to the end. Michigan did not.

The punter had made a huge mistake, but, in the moment, when all the pressure was heaped on him, he actually made it worse by trying to kick the ball again. Had he just fallen on the ball, it would have been downed, and Michigan State would have had to pull off a hail mary pass to win, another unlikely chance. But, in the moment when panic set in, the situation became critical and the decision he made while in that mindset was horribly bad and exactly wrong. And it cost them the game. Had he thought out all the options should anything unplanned happen, the outcome might have been different.

All the hard work, battle, struggle, sweat, and effort for 59 minutes and 50 seconds just went up in smoke. It was kind of like performing a perfect face plant 25 yards from the finish line of a marathon, and never making it to the end. Sometimes we get SOOOOO close!

On the other hand, Michigan State never gave up. They played every last down until the whistle blew, there is ALWAYS a chance that things may bounce your way. But in order to get those bounces, we need to be in the right spot, and playing as hard as we can.

Whether its in a football game, basketball game, baseball game, tennis, running a marathon, or any other competition or challenge, the principle is the same, Never quit! Never stop fighting, clawing, pushing, crawling or clenching towards the finish. Never slow down, never let up. Ever. Our lives are a race, a race to finally get back home, to our Heavenly home, and in the process, be as close to our Savior as we can be, and as much like Him as we can be.

Its never easy, sometimes it seems like its impossible to win, that we might as well just leave, because we are getting our butts handed to us. But thats not why we are here. We are here to compete, to get better, and to endure.

To me, one of the most fascinating parts of the Book of Mormon comes in the final few years of the Nephites just before the coming of Christ to the Americas. At this time, the Nephites and righteous Lamanites actually come together in one body because the Gadianton robbers are so powerful, that they had overtaken nearly the entire country. All the people that followed the prophets gathered together to join forces and preserve their food and protect themselves from invasion. After a long siege, and with the help from God, the Nephites eventually defeated the Gadianton robbers after a massive battle, (the slaughter was the greatest since Lehi had left Jerusalem) and completely eliminated them from the country. God had helped and preserved them according to their faith and trust in Him.

This major battle happened in the 19th year after Christ was born, and lingered until sometime after the 21st year. Christ would begin his ministry halfway around the world in a mere 8 years! So, 600 plus years had passed since Lehi and Nephi left Jerusalem, with countless prophets, wars, contentions, missions, etc. And now, in the 4th quarter, the Nephites had just seemingly defeated the last enemy and could now live in peace until the Lord would visit! Right? They just had to hang on for another few years. And they would celebrate with Christ himself!

After this massive battle, this is the mindset of the Nephites:

”And they did rejoice and cry again with one voice, saying: May the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, protect this people in righteousness, so long as they shall call on the name of their God for protection.

31 And it came to pass that they did break forth, all as one, in singing, and praising their God for the great thing which he had done for them, in preserving them from falling into the hands of their enemies.

32 Yea, they did cry: Hosanna to the Most High God. And they did cry: Blessed be the name of the Lord God Almighty, the Most High God.

33 And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction. (3 Nephi 4:30-33)

The very first verse in chapter 5 says, “Now behold, there was not a living soul among all the people the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets..”

A few verses later, it says,”And there had many things transpired which, in the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous; nevertheless, they cannot all be written in this book; yea, this book cannot contain even a ^ahundredth part of what was done among so many people in the space of twenty and five years;

They seem to be sitting pretty don’t they? Now its down to the final 8 years until the sign of Christ’s death and resurrection. kind of like being up by 2 points with the ball, and only 10 seconds left? All they needed to do was make a decent punt, and make one tackle, and they would be celebrating with the Savior. But, lets watch what happens in just a few very short years…

In the 26th year, they all separated again, and went back home after having lived together as one people.

In chapter 6, it sounds the warning bell, “And now there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually, except they should fall into transgression.” (3 Nephi 6:5)

Kind of like a scouting report that warns about the stone hands of the punter.

Fast forward 3 short years, and this is what you get, “But it came to pass in the twenty and ninth year there began to be some disputings among the people; and some were lifted up unto pride and ^aboastings because of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions; (3 Nephi 6:10)

Uh, oh. The punter just bumbled the snap. Better just land on it, and take your losses, repent, and get right with the Lord.

But, just like the football game, the worst possible thing that could have happened did.

“Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world. (3 Nephi 6:15,)

Now, the opposing player is running towards the end zone, and the game is slipping away.

“And thus in the commencement of this, the thirtieth year, they were in a state of awful wickedness.” (3 Nephi 8:18)

“…and there were but few righteous men among them.” (3 Nephi 7:7)

Year 30. Christ is just beginning his mortal ministry, and will eventually come to visit the Americas in just 3 more years! Thats it! 3 years. After 600 years of preparation, they bumbled it all away at the last moment. They couldn’t quite endure till the end.

We cannot let this happen to us! We need to play every down, every play the best we can. we have to endure, and persevere through the finish line. The tricky part is that we don’t know exactly when the finish line comes, but we cant let ourselves turn into the Nephites who face planted 3 years before the finish line.

Christ was so close! All they had to do was hold on just a little bit longer, and finish strong! He is our end goal! He is why we are here. He is why we can win, and why we even have a chance at all.

Sometimes we can learn lessons from other people’s mistakes. Lets look at the punter for Michigan, and the Nephites, and learn what not to do, so that we can be better prepared to work, and fight, and endure all the way through the finish line!

He is there waiting for us, coaching us, and rooting for us to succeed. Lets all try just a little bit harder to never let up, never slow down, never give up and never lose hope for the win!

Practice Makes Perfect

06 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by Colby Alexander in Grace

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Grace

Notice anything wrong with his helmet? Close, but not quite…

Have you ever thought that you knew it all? Or, that at least you had it pretty much figured out? I have. But, sometimes, we get a little slice of humble pie, when we least expect it.

A great man I know had a funny experience with this. He was always a very active guy, an avid runner. He would run every day, for years. After he got a little older, his knees eventually wore out and his doctor told him that his running days were over, and that he would have to try something else, like maybe a bike, or soon he would be signing up for knee replacement surgery.

So, needing to get his exercise in, and taking the doctor’s advice, he went out, bought a bike, and a helmet, and was ready to get after it again. It was all new to him, as he had never done any exercise other than running.

One morning, he got up, just as he had always done, put on his helmet, hopped on his bike, and proceeded to bike along the same route where he had run through all those years before. He finished his trek through town, and at the end, decided to run through the drive through at Mcdonald’s. No big deal, he’d done that before, just to grab a quick something before heading home.

When he got back home, his oldest son was there to visit, and kind of looked at him with a confused look, and said, “Where’ve you been?”. He then explained that he’d just been on his bike ride and ran through the drive through on the way home. His son then said, “You went through the drive through with that helmet on?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because, I think you have it on backwards.”

He had ridden his entire route through town, waved at people, smiled, and gone through the drive through at McDonald’s with his bike helmet on backwards! He had thought that the mesh head support were eyeholes! It was all his son could do to not die laughing. It is now a classic story, that we repeat over and over again!

The helmet was right, just used slightly in the wrong way! The basics were good, just needed a little tweak to be perfect.

Something similar happened to me over this last week. Not about bike helmets or humble pie, but in the way I understood the principle of “Grace”.

I always looked at Grace as God’s part in the pie chart of my personal salvation. I would do a certain percentage of “what I could do” and then the remaining balance of the 100% would be filled in by the Savior. I envisioned that my part was a certain set of accomplishments, or “works” or duties fulfilled. And that if I fell short, I would ultimately have to answer for that shortfall. Because, after all, “It is by grace we are saved, after all we can do.” Right?

But I had my helmet on backwards. I was close, but I needed to flip it around to get the right fit.

In Sunday school, We watched part of a talk that perfectly explained grace, and how it is sufficient for everyone (Thanks Gena). As in, everyone everyone. Not just the good guys, or super churchy super spiritual Enoch type people, but everyone. People like me. Grace doesn’t just fill in the gap “after all I can do”, It covered the whole pie. 100%. My works don’t satisfy ANY of the demands of justice, because those demands were already paid for, 2000 years ago.

So, why do I have to do any works at all? Cant I just say, “Sweet! Im saved!” and go about my life as if nothing I did mattered? Plenty of people seem to do just that.

Ultimately it comes down to this- I am here to become the person God wants me to be, not just to do what he wants me to do. Not because I have a checklist that needs to be checked off, but because, through my actions, I am showing appreciation and love, and gratitude for what Jesus Christ did for me. He wants me to be like Him, to follow Him, because that is the only way I can be with Him again. I am willing to change to be more like Him.

It DOES matter what I do, because thats how I pay Him back for what He has already paid for!

My life is not meant to be an accumulation of good acts, or resumé of good things done to earn Heaven, but it is practice to be worthy and comfortable and learn what its like to be in Heaven!

So, instead of asking ourselves the question, “Have I been saved by grace?”, maybe we should instead answer the question that Brad Wilcox asks, “Have you been changed by grace?”

He continues:

“The final judgment it will not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, “Let me stay.” No, he will probably be saying, “Get me out of here!” Knowing Christ’s character, I believe that if anyone is going to be begging on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus begging the unrepentant sinner, “Please, choose to stay. Please, use my Atonement—not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want to stay.”

“The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there.”

This completely changed the way I see the entire purpose of my life. I am here to learn how to be heavenly and bend my will to His, so I will feel comfortable when I go back home! Home, where we all belong, and where our Older Brother wants us to be.

Enjoy!

Satisfaction

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by Tyson Alexander in atonement, Fundamentals, Jesus Christ

≈ 2 Comments

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.¹With 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 Power of Virtue

24 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by Tyson Alexander in General

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

humility, power, virtue

According to LDS topics¹, virtue:

Is a prerequisite to entering the Lord’s holy temples and to receiving the Spirit’s guidance.
Is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards
Encompasses chastity and moral purity
Begins in the heart and in the mind
Is nurtured in the home
Is the accumulation of thousands of small decisions and actions

To coincide with those definitions, the dictionary² defines virtue as follows:

Moral excellence; goodness; righteousness
Conformity of one’s life and conduct to moral and ethical principles
A good or admirable quality or property
Effective force; power or potency

Interestingly, when we hear the word virtue we think of ideals, morals, thoughts, chastity or purity, and it is often included anytime we make a list of good or desirable character traits³ but how often do we think of virtue as an “effective force or power”? Yet, that is exactly what virtue is – effective, potent, and forceful power. I don’t intend those consecutive words to be thought of as synonyms, but as a single and continuous sentence. Virtue is an effective and potent and forceful power. Let’s not limit it to an ideal.

Elaine S. Dalton indicated that “the Latin root word virtus means strength.” She continued “Virtuous women and men possess a quiet dignity and inner strength. They are confident because they are worthy to receive and be guided by the Holy Ghost.”⁴ But, in case we think that our inner strength or virtue is something that is limited to our own use, let’s remember that virtue is an “effective” force. Or in other words, it is a goodness and a forceful and motivating power that can be – and should be – given away.

Recall with me, the “certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse”. When she heard of Jesus, she “came in the press behind and touched his garment.” She had faith to be healed just by touching his clothes, yet Mark records the following: “And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, tuned him about in the press, and said, who touched my clothes”?⁵ If that’s not clear enough, in Luke’s record he actually quoted the Savior (after the same event) saying “somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.”⁶

On another occasion, “a great multitude of people” came (from Judaea and Jersualem) to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases (which they were), and Luke recorded that “the whole multitude sought to touch him; for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”⁷

Now, before we limit this fine tuned ability – the ability to perceive that some or much virtue has gone out of you – to Christ himself or to only the amazing prophets, we should evaluate or ponder if maybe once or twice (or many times), we have ourselves been able to perceive that virtue has gone out of us. For example; how many times after going to church, which is only a 3-hour block, have we returned home absolutely famished and completely exhausted? Sometimes we get to the point where you just need to eat the first thing that you see when you walk in the door for fear of actual starvation. I think some of us feel like we just completed an Ironman after sitting still for 3 hours. How about after an especially intense spiritual experience and you find your physical frame a bit “weaker”? Ask Nephi or Lehi or Alma or Ammon or king Lamoni about that. In Ammon’s particular case the record states that he “sunk” with joy⁸. We usually think of joy as uplifting and strictly energizing, but in many cases we feel the spirit so strongly that we can’t help but cry (and we may start to feel less physical strength) and start to ‘sink down’ in order to just let the spirit envelop us. This is perhaps a time when spiritual ‘virtue’ is being shared or transferred and the mortal frame is just not quite on the same level (yet).

I think that if we are honest with ourselves, we can all point to a time or two when we’ve felt virtue go out of us (whether we identified it then or not). These times are most likely special times when we are purposefully trying to lift someone else’s burdens (seen or unseen), or to help and serve with completely pure intentions, and the spirit can “sink us down” with joy as it goes out of us. No doubt we all recognize the dual benefit of giving away this virtue to others⁹ since when we act like the savior, we can feel like the savior and when we serve others, we are in fact serving him.¹⁰

Joseph Smith was once asked by Jedediah M. Grant about an incident in which he turned pale and lost strength after administering to (blessing) some children. He referred to the same scripture passage quoted above (Luke 8) and indicated that “the virtue referred to is the spirit of life¹¹; and a man who exercises great faith in administering to the sick, blessing little children, or confirming, is liable to become weakened.”¹²

This idea has been on my mind recently, as I have identified the use of ‘virtue’ in various places that help me understand it’s effective power more than its lofty character traits. One is found in the very first sentence of The Living Christ.¹³ I quote fifteen of the most amazing men to ever live by saying “we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of his great atoning sacrifice”. Of all the words in the English language that could have been used in that sentence, they used “virtue”.

Another reference is found in Alma 31:5 (a classic reference) which reads “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. Of all the words that could have been used in that sentence, he used “virtue”.

The last reference (for this post) is found in the absolutely timeless passage of D&C 121. This section can be “likened” unto parenting, fatherhood, motherhood¹⁴, general leadership, or any other worthy cause since it is worth studying over and over and over again. The verse that I’d like to include is verse 41 “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.” We could spend years understanding that one verse and all that it means for us.

I have read the advice that “to be a good leader, we need to be a good follower,”¹⁵ and “to be a righteous father, we need to be a righteous son.”¹⁶ This (and logic) leads me to think that for us to be able to have “virtue go out from us” we need to have virtue “within us”. This means we need to “receive” virtue in abundance. Lucky for us, the apostles and prophets have testified (as quoted above) of the “infinite virtue” that is available through Christ and his “great atoning sacrifice.” That means that it won’t run out – no matter what. As often as we want to receive it, and qualify for it, and ask for it, and search for it, and seek it, and plead for it, and cry for it – it will be given. In the amount that “is expedient for us”¹⁷ to have and in the dosage that “we are willing to receive.”¹⁸

Therefore, let virtue begin in our hearts and in our minds. Let that “virtue garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly”¹⁹ so that it can become a consistent pattern of thought and behavior, while being nurtured in our homes. Then, by the accumulation of thousands of small decisions and actions, our lives can become an effective and strong and powerful force for good in the world.

I will end with a question, but not one that I ask. One that someone much smarter than me asked exactly 35 years ago. It’s a long question (since it’s more than one), but it’s a question that deserves much reflection.

“Parents are ‘called,’ but are they ‘chosen’ by their children to be an influence in their lives? How can parents convey the kind of love our Heavenly Father offers? Are parents prepared to rely entirely on their increasing virtue and righteousness to elicit loyalty, cooperation, and harmony among their children? What a challenge, to qualify to influence only through relationship! Yet only then can parents establish an ‘everlasting dominion’ or eternal family that can function and will endure ‘without compulsory means,’ as our Eternal Father has done. What we find so very difficult to do within our own homes, God has brought to full fruition among the innumerable hosts of heaven.²⁰

Notes

¹ lds.org/topics=virtue. These are given verbatim by Elaine S. Dalton (in paragraph form) in her talk “A Return to Virtue” given in the October 2008 Conference. She also references “Preach My Gospel (2004) pg. 118 in her explanation of number 2.

² Dictionary.reference.com/virtue

³ See the Articles of Faith 1:13, and many scripture lists (for a few see Philip 4:8, 2 Pet. 1:5-8, D&C 4:6, D&C 88:40, and D&C 121:41-45) not to mention it is an element (value) in the Young Women personal progress program. See also D&C 107:30 for an awesome list and use of virtue in a context not often thought of.

⁴ “A Return to Virtue” – October 2008 Conference

⁵ This account is found in Mark 5:25-30.

⁶ This account is found in Luke 8:41-48

⁷ Luke 6:17-19

⁸ See Alma 19:6-14

⁹ This idea seems especially true in the context of the scripture stories previously shared. For example, when the Lord helped the woman with the issue of blood (by his virtue), he wanted to know who it was so that he could help her even further. He recognized her faith to be healed physically, and wanted to heal her spiritually – and thus both were joyful. See Mark 5:31-34

¹⁰Mosiah 2:17

¹¹ Somehow a note for (a) seemed better than another number. This reference “the spirit of life” is also very interesting and worth addressing during a topical study. Because I haven’t done this, my note will be brief. I did find it intriguing (today) that after a search for that exact phrase – I was only able to find 2 scriptural references in which it is used. Each reference is rather powerful and it would be worth your time to discover those two passages and what doctrines they address. Especially if the virtue referred to [in Luke 8, and by extension this blog post] is ‘the spirit of life’” as the prophet said.

¹²Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, pg. 280-281

¹³ The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a document prepared and signed by the first presidency and the quorum of the twelve apostles dated January 1, 2000.

¹⁴ See “Women and the Priesthood” by Sheri Dew, particularly chapter 7. Her quote (see note 5 of that chapter) as it pertains to this post is “It is an interesting exercise to read D&C 121:40-46 and contemplate how those verses might apply to women with respect to the doctrine of motherhood.” See also “Righteous Influence” by Lee Tom Perry, who indicates “the lessons of leadership (not specific to groups, classes, genders, or types) found in D&C 121 apply to everyone who is attempting to lead in righteousness.”

¹⁵ See “Righteous Influence” by Lee Tom Perry

¹⁶ I couldn’t find the specific reference for this, so I cannot be certain where I read it, but I did read it somewhere.

¹⁷ See 2 Ne. 2:27

¹⁸ See D&C 88:32-33

¹⁹ D&C 121:45

²⁰ This question came from an article in the September 1980 issue of the Ensign titled “The Name ‘Melchizedek’ some thoughts on its meaning and the priesthood it represents”. The entire article is fantastic and I encourage all to read it.

Treasure In Earthen Vessels

20 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Colby Alexander in General, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, Light, Love, Motivation, Opposition, Poems, Strength, Trials, Weakness

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Sometimes we don’t see our own worth in the eyes of God. We are his children, and he knows and loves each one of us perfectly. We mean everything to Him. He knows us, our problems, our fears, our apprehensions, our insecurities, our weaknesses, our doubts, our reservations, everything. He knows how we feel, how we think, how we are afraid to open up to our problems, and admit them even to ourselves. He knows! And He understands. And yet, He still loves us unconditionally! Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves of our true worth in His eyes, not our own, or anyone else’s. Just His.

For our Sunday School lesson this week, part of the scripture reading was in 2 Corinthians Chapter 4. As I was skimming through those verses, I read this which beautifully explained this principle to me. This is Paul speaking…

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

I loved these words of encouragement. Paul and all the Saints and apostles and disciples were being persecuted for what they believed. But, in their sadness, pain, and worry, they had solace in Jesus Christ and in the comfort that He gives. The closer to the Comforter we get, the greater our resilience to pain, and suffering becomes, and the closer we get to our Savior.

Lets all look at our difficult times as opportunities to become closer to the Comforter, and to Jesus Christ who sends Him to us.

A Humble Prayer

My God! Through vessel weak and frail,
Wherein thy treasure hides,
I beg thy light, through darkened veil,
reveal my worth inside,

And when dark hours with me abide,
And I, alone, can’t see
help me perceive thy treasure’s light,
Thou hiddest deep in me!

Foolish Imaginations

12 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by Tyson Alexander in General

≈ 1 Comment

Because Nephi is awesome (all around full fledged awesome) – and because he teaches us such amazing lessons in his writings – I am going to write (again) about some of the things he teaches us. But in this particular case (this blog post) I am also going to thank his older and murmur-ier brothers for providing Nephi (and us, since Nephi recorded it for us) with excellent insight into “things as they really are”.

In 1 Ne. 17:8 the Lord tells Nephi “thou shalt construct a ship”, for the express purpose of taking his entire family (his parents, the whole family of Ishmael, his other siblings and their spouses and children, Zoram and his family, and his own wife and children) across the Sea Irreantum (a.k.a. “many waters” a.k.a “the ocean”). He’d never done that before, and in all reality, building a giant boat to cross the ocean was pretty much crazy. Not crazy in a cuckoo or mental sort of way, but crazy in a “that is a crazy huge task” sort of way.

Nevertheless, Nephi gets started on this task right away (without a complaint). He starts by making a fire, and then finding ore so that he can then melt that ore out of the rock so that he can make tools – all before he even starts on the lumber or the actual boat. Did I mention this was a crazy huge task? And sometimes we complain about our home teaching assignment…

At this point – while Nephi is laying the groundwork, and “preparing every needful thing” for this crazy task, he asks his older brothers for some help – or as Nephi terms it “labor”. They, in true form, “did complain against [Nephi] and were desirous that they might not labor.” I could very well side with Laman and Lemuel on this one, since I don’t know that I would necessarily enjoy “laboring” to build a boat either, but I don’t think that was the reason for their complaining. Nephi records that the reason they wanted to withhold their labor was because “they did not believe that he could build a ship, neither would they believe that he was instructed of the Lord” to do so. They didn’t want to help Nephi because they thought he was completely nuts. They’d already been dragged for 8 years through the wilderness and were tired of all this “journeying”. They were completely fine with the idea of staying on the beach where there was plenty of food and comfortable lounging.

This answer (no) makes Nephi “exceedingly sorrowful” It is important to note that he is not saddened because they don’t want to help, but because of the reasons why they don’t want to help. He is sorrowful because they don’t see the vision and feel the motivation and want to be obedient to the Lord and have the spirit guide them; not because he ever doubted his own ability or confidence in actually building a boat (even if he would have had to do it mostly on his own).

When Laman and Lemuel “saw that [Nephi] began to be sorrowful they were glad in their hearts, (obviously not understanding the real source of his sadness) insomuch that they did rejoice over [him] saying: ‘We knew that ye could not construct a ship, for we knew that ye were lacking in judgment, wherefore, thou canst not accomplish so great a work.’”

Nephi recorded that solid gold for us as his readers. Laman and Lemuel are more than happy to tell Nephi what he can’t do and how foolish he is for ever thinking that he could “accomplish so great a work.” How’s that for supportive brothers?¹

Let’s pause here to recognize why that comment (thou canst not accomplish so great a work) is false. It is false because it is not true (write that one down). This is one of the tools of the adversary and is often repeated by those who comfortable lounging on the beach while commenting to each other about how foolish other people are. They make these statements because he [they] don’t like it when somebody tells them they should start helping with the boat construction so that they can sail towards the promised land (code for living the right way or honestly trying to – even if it means undertaking monster changes in their lives) or when they just see you working on a great task without even asking them for help. I bet just watching Nephi get up early every day, study and pray and work hard to map out and plan to build the Titanic probably made them feel feel uncomfortable in their shade tent (this may have even been helped by others in the party who were more than willing to help). People working hard to accomplish great things makes them feel bad, it makes them feel angry and perhaps even a bit guilty. So, they start to tell other people (and anyone else that will listen) that they can’t do such great things or that they are foolish for even trying.

So, naturally, Laman and Lemuel go to the all to familiar “you are crazy” insults. They declare: “thou art like our father (and the other silly prophets), led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart”…Behold, these many years (8) we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy.” They (and others like them) are perfectly happy in their comfort zone and not building boats or accomplishing great works.

So, on the one hand we have Laman and Lemuel (code for the adversary) telling us that we “canst not accomplish so great a work” and on the other hand we have the Lord commanding us to do so – and to do that great task as perfectly as we possibly can (remember when he told us be charitable and kind and everything else, and as if it weren’t enough he then he also said “be ye therefore perfect”)? He also tells us that we can “do all things through Christ which strenghteneth [us]” (Philippians 4:13). I’m pretty sure the word ‘all’ includes big, great, and even crazy huge.

One side says you can’t, the other side says you can.

The bad guys claim that we are led about by the “foolish imaginations” of our hearts. But, I think we can remember that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:24), and that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 Cor. 1:27) and take their claims of our great “foolishness” as a tender compliment and say “guilty as charged”, and oh my how my heart burns for that foolishness. So thank you Laman and Lemuel for recognizing my weakness and foolishness in your eyes, it proves that I am on the right path.

Notes

¹ I wish I could say that I’ve never acted like this with my brothers, but I have so I can’t. I have been all to eager to tell my brother what he could not (or should not) do.

A Light to End All Darkness

06 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Colby Alexander in Faith, General, Joseph Smith, Poems

≈ 1 Comment

In this post, I think I should explain why it is that I write a lot of my thoughts down in poems. I never really thought I would ever do that, its just something that kind of happened. But, to me, poetry has an ability to enhance the visualization of the words on the page, or a way to better describe what it is I am trying to say. It elevates the sentiment. Im not saying that I am the next Edgar Allen Poe, or anyone special, but I do enjoy thinking, and visualizing these thoughts into verses that do those thoughts more justice than they would otherwise receive. Poetic words, in a way, almost paint a picture in my mind. I think that poetry or lyrics compromise at least half of the power of music. Take away the sounds of good music, and with just words, the power remains.

Parley P. Pratt (author of several hymns) wrote of a time when he was jailed together with Joseph in the Richmond Jail. Parley described their jailers as men “of the most noisy, foul-mouthed, vulgar, disgraceful rabble that ever defiled the earth”. He describes the event like this…

“In one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep till the hour of midnight had passed, and our ears and hearts bad been pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our guards, Colonel Price at their head, as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had committed among the “Mormons” while at Far West and vicinity. They even boasted of defiling by force wives, daughters and virgins, and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women and children.
I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards; but had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:

SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!

He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.

I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath, in the Courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.

I love the picture in my head that comes as Parley describes the dignity of Joseph Smith.

Words can be so much more than just words. They can move us to feelings of loyalty, honor, indignation, courage, love, or reverence. Even better when those words describe something amazing.

To me, one of the most important events in the history of the world is the story of Joseph Smith and the first vision. It contains an immense inherent power that I feel each and every time I hear it, present it, think about it, or hear songs about it. It happened. There is no question.

So, I have written a few words to try and express my testimony of this event and of this man. I want my testimony to be public, on the record, etched in stone, so that there is no doubt as to where I stand. I want my kids to be able to look back at these words when I am gone, and draw strength from them. I look forward to the day that I can stand shoulder to shoulder with Joseph Smith, embrace him, and thank him for his immense personal sacrifice so that I, with my family, could enjoy the fullness of the blessings of God. I love him. I honor him, and I will praise him forever. God bless Brother Joseph.

A Light to End all Darkness

A blinding mist obscured the light that shone above the clouds,
While God withheld His lightning strike that soon would split the shroud-
A blanket o’er the world of man, no light therein allowed-
To see God’s purity and truth through apostatic cloud.

False men with lightless eyes proclaimed to own inspired sight,
while boasting truth within them lay interpretations right,
and damning those not joined with them to suffer hellish plight,
The snake had hissed his blinding mist that shaded God’s pure light.

But stifling darkness o’er the land could not disrupt the Mighty’s hand,
Inspired by whisp’ring spirit voice, a boy, obscure, was meant to stand.
The hosts of angels in the clouds of Heav’n knew the plan.
For God himself would bring the truth- restore to lightless land!

A darkened path seemed naught to be the will of loving God,
Whose prophets taught to follow him- to tread as He had trod,
While preaching mouths did honor Him, inside- their hearts lay flawed,
For bitterness and strife there dwelt, not fertile gospel sod.

This humble boy, confused by all the animosity,
Then read a verse in bible text, that promised he could see,
E’en for himself the truth unknown, if asked in faithful plea,
So on his knees, petition sent, in sacred grove of trees.

And as his mouth to heaven sent that soft and secret prayer,
The serpent came in power to arrest and bind him there,
With deepest black of darkest night, with fear beyond compare,
It overcame that humble boy now filled with deep despair.

His tongue was bound by serpent chains, and could not force a sound,
The overwhelming darkness held him prisoner on the ground
His soul, now on the precipice, black emptiness around,
Almost succumbed to evil’s grip, and helplessness profound.

But, in that very moment of his ultimate despair,
A light of magnitude n’er seen, descended from the air,
And settled on his feeble form, dispersed like lightning’s flare,
A brilliant beam of Heaven’s love and light beyond compare!

All black dispersed, with shrieking wail, in deferential flight,
as every creviced inch of earth was bathed in brilliant white!
And gone were feelings borne of him who’s mist obscured clear sight,
Replaced with overwhelming love- midday replaced the night!

All life then bowed before Creator of the Earth and skies!
Descending in pure majesty- The Father at his side!
The God of all the Universe! Perfected! Glorified!
Restoring revelation’s pow’r, the veil cleared from men’s eyes!

That young and humble, faithful boy, with trembling, shaking hands,
Had just beheld majestic glory of the Son of Man!
And now would rise as Prophet to restore the gospel plan,
To share! Declare! that truth returned to promised cov’nant lands!

The prophet Joseph then subjected to the serpent’s ire,
Would feel the whip, and feathered tar as wicked men conspired,
To snuff the light within him lit, and douse the gospel fire
With violent rage of blinded men, now minions of the liar!

Refined through lonely hours in prison, cold and suffering,
Illegalities unchecked, compounded winter’s sting,
His prayers sent up in sorrow’s bane did heav’nly comfort bring,
As Joseph’s faith through wind and fire became his offering.

Then willingly, to Carthage, midst the snarling mob of hell,
Who’s violent hate, and lawlessness had prov’n intent to quell,
The tidal wave of light o’reflowing from prophetic well,
That fed the flood that o’er the thirsting earth began to swell!

Now musket ball would end the hallowed life of that great man,
Fired from the coward’s rifle, by corrupted evil hands,
His brother Hyrum’s martyred blood would also stain that land,
And cry aloud for vengeance, while their testimonies stand!

This light to end all darkness, true revelations power,
was saved to come to Earth through him in designated hour,
And serve as beacon, to us all- all darkness to devour,
This light to end all darkness, meant to feed the gospel flower.

This mighty man, the prophet dear, My Prophet still, he stands!
and mingles with the Gods above, yet still, for me, he plans,
And I shall know and see his face, embrace, and clasp his hands!
And I shall honor and revere- SHOUT praise to that great man!

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A Humble Prayer

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A Light to End all Darkness

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