Where Can I Turn for Peace?

My thoughts this week revolve around the construct of relativism. Relativism is the increasingly popular idea that there exists no absolute truth, and that change is the only constant. In its extreme forms, relativism espouses the complete lack of espousal, that is, the lack of standards, which ultimately leads to a universal acceptance of anything as right, as one's judgment is unjustly skewed by bias and other personal experience. I have personally seen the beginnings of relativism in the lives of those around me, and feel sad for a world that neglects some of the most essential life values. My words go out to those who perhaps long ago became disillusioned with the idea of values, who were forced to choose their own without any light to guide them by. My words also go out to those who were raised on relativism, chose their lives, but find themselves in conflict, or without peace and rest in their lives. And finally, my words go out to those who will actually read this--those who have firm value systems, but may know someone or many people who seem to navigate the tumultuous waters alone.

First let me say that God does exist. He is a perfect Being in every way: in body, in mind, and in spirit. He knows each and every one of us personally, even more than we know ourselves. He knows our foibles, and He knows our deepest, darkest secrets that we dare not divulge until our dying day.

But amidst our imperfection, He loves us so dearly and perfectly that He wants us to live in ultimate peace and happiness with Him after we gain experience during our life here on Earth. He has provided many tools for us to use in order for us to accomplish this, the primordial tool being sincere prayer. It is my testimony that we can kneel down, speak to our Heavenly Father, and that He will listen to and answer our humble pleas. God wants us to obey His commandments, and we can show our love to Him through our obedience. Essential to this plan is the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which comprises His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, as well as His suffering and death on the cross at Calvary. Through the Atonement we may be freed from the toils and strife of daily life, and be lifted of the burden that sin brings upon us.

Now, this may be a lot to take in, but let me assure you that believing in God is not a cultural fad, and believing that He plays an active role in our lives is not an easy way to explain coincidence, or any other life events that we do not fully understand. Many may say that God does exist, but that He takes no interest in our day-to-day lives. I assure you that He does care, insomuch that He lets us make our own choices, and He lets us suffer the consequence of those choices. This occurs so that we may turn to Him in humility, looking to then keep His commandments and serve His children.

To help us positively cope with hardship, Heavenly Father has placed us in families, that we may live together, love together, and learn together. He also from the beginning of time has called prophets, special men who receive direct revelation from Him for us. Prophets are like lighthouses, illuminating the path which we should follow. Often the people reject their counsel, for the people often find their counsel difficult to bear. But God will always call another prophet, as He did in the early 1800s, calling Joseph Smith to be the first prophet in the modern era. God has continued to call prophets, Thomas S. Monson being the Lord's servant in actuality.

Prophets testify of Jesus Christ, that He is the literal Son of God and Savior of the whole world. I know this to be true. I know that Christ suffered for our sins that we might repent, come unto to Him, and follow His teachings. Christ taught ultimate truth; it exists, and will ever exist for the eternities. The Savior taught us to love God with all our hearts, and love those around us in that same fashion. This is absolute truth. I know this because I have felt it in my own life. I have felt the Spirit of God testify to me through peace, calm, and through logic that love and obedience are the true pathways to happiness.

Now, it doesn't take perfection to receive this witness for ourselves. In fact, as was earlier noted, Heavenly Father wants us to turn to Him as broken beings. We can feel of His presence through a simple prayer of faith, asking for an answer. It is my testimony that He will not leave us alone if we let Him in.

I could go on forever about this, but suffice it to say that relativism at its core is in opposition of our eternal purpose as children of our Heavenly Father. We all need something to hold onto, something from which to define ourselves. May we seek the Lord in our times of need, and in the times that we feel we don't need Him. May we have faith that God will answer our prayers, and that he will guide us through all the trials that beset us in this earthly experience.

Have a Great Week!

BEST OF ME: Empathy--More than an inkling, more than a feeling

Hello! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday! On this day, let us strive to always remember the Savior, and all that he has done for us. For those of us who are fasting, let may our fast not be in vain, but be counted in Heaven for our good, and for the good of he or she for whom we wish a special blessing.

As a part of my "Best of Me" series, I chose to bring back a post from about 18 months ago on fasting. Enjoy!


EMPATHY--MORE THAN AN INKLING, MORE THAN A FEELING

ORIGINAL POST DATE: SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

I'm Baaack!! Thanks to all those who patiently awaited me getting my act together. It has been a little precarious trying to figure out my Sunday schedule, i.e. when I would take the time to sit down and write a good, thoughtful blog post. I hope that this week does not disappoint; rather, I hope it does the exact opposite, providing direction to those who earnestly seek it.

My thoughts today are a culmination of over two weeks of contemplation, and as such, may seem a bit disjointed, but I will do my best to pull it all together. I want to discuss the doctrine of fasting, but I want to do so in context of the construct of empathy.

The word empathy is derived from the Greek empatheia, which connotes a combination of affection and suffering. It is defined as an intellectual identification with or a vicarious experience of another’s feelings. The definition seems pretty dynamic, but I submit that it has the potential to be even more applicable. Oftentimes empathy can only be reached through learning from personal experience, and then aptly applied to similar situations of others.

Let’s take fasting as an example. From a scholar’s perspective, fasting is going without food or drink for two meals or up to 24 hours, donating the money that would have been used to the needy of the Church, and praying for both personal and impersonal purposes. The scholar perhaps does not see the synergy that these three things produced when righteously combined, but it is invariably unmistakable in the eyes and gait of the true disciple. There’s something about pushing oneself to the edge of their ability, there’s something about putting aside convenience, willingly laying oneself down for a further benefit. This is especially salient when the fast is performed on behalf the welfare of another. This takes faith that one’s own needs will be met as he or she selflessly turns toward someone in greater want, trusting that a loving Heavenly Father will bless others just as the faster has been blessed. He or she who fasts in this vein is overcome with love for God and fellow man, so much that their personal welfare is an afterthought. This is the point at which affection and suffering reach their peak. This is true empathy.

We should all have the goal to reach the point of true empathy, but also understand that we will never fully reach it unless we fully turn to the source of true empathy:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
--Isaiah 53:4-5


That fount of every blessing (including empathy), of course, is Jesus the Christ. His empathic understanding transcends experience on intellectual or vicarious grounds, for He experienced everything, as is evident in Alma 7:11-12 and D & C 19:16-18:


And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

I know that the prophecies in the former scripture were fulfilled, and I know that the words in the latter are the honest, literal words of the Savior through a modern prophet. I am grateful to have a source for my striving, to have a reason to give up my own will, and seek the welfare of others. I hope that one day I will be able to have that type of empathy that only requires love, and nothing else. But for all of us, purification process is necessary. Let us all be able to willingly walk that path. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Liahona, 1999) said the following:

Revealed truths reassure us that we are enclosed in divine empathy. As Enoch witnessed, we worship a God who wept over needless human misery and wickedness (see Moses 7:28–29, 33, 37). Jesus’ perfect empathy was ensured when, along with His Atonement for our sins, He took upon Himself our sicknesses, sorrows, griefs, and infirmities and came to know these “according to the flesh” (Alma 7:11–12).

He did this in order that He might be filled with perfect, personal mercy and empathy and thereby know how to succor us in our infirmities. He thus fully comprehends human suffering. Truly Christ “descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things” (D&C 88:6).

I echo his testimony with my own. May we all continue to emulate the Savior in all that we do! Have a Great Week!

Check out this link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhDhiojBPA

I think these words are very salient for us right now. No wonder President Monson is the Prophet!

Patience: It's About Time

This week I would like to focus on the doctrine of patience. What does it mean to be truly patient in a Gospel sense? Then, after figuring out that, how can it be applied?

I would first like to introduce the concept of necessary trial, hardship, and persecution. This concept is not new to this blog, and I think it's for good reason as dealing with hardship seems ever salient. In the context of patience, time is introduced. Take the revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Doctrine & Covenants Section 98:

Now, I speak unto you concerning your families—if men will smite you, or your families, once, and ye bear it patiently and revile not against them, neither seek revenge, ye shall be rewarded;
But if ye bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being meted out as a just measure unto you.
And again, if your enemy shall smite you the second time, and you revile not against your enemy, and bear it patiently, your reward shall be an hundredfold.
And again, if he shall smite you the third time, and ye bear it patiently, your reward shall be doubled unto you four-fold;
And these three testimonies shall stand against your enemy if he repent not, and shall not be blotted out.

For [I] will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.
(98:23-27, 12)

So, how can we over time be counted among those given line upon line, and not have our trials counted against us as righteous judgment? Looking at these verses, it seems to me that there are four characteristics that describe the inpatient, and I think it's good to know what the low standard is in this case, that we may know when our patience is lacking. Here they are:

• Reviling
• Seeking Revenge
• Not recognizing the purpose of trials
• Not considering the Lord's timing

The first two can be easily picked out of verse 23, as being two measures of inpatience. But what exactly do these two descriptors mean? In the general context, it seems to me that reviling is analagous to asking Why Me, and it seems that "seeking revenge" can be related to deflecting personal responsibility, and thus blaming others. These two constructs are inwardly focused, taking into consideration only the individual, and nothing else.

the latter two constructs are also inwardly focused. I thought of them as I contemplated inpatience, and feel that they too deserve consideration. To be counted among them who are given line upon line, we must first understand that a perfect God has a perfect understanding of each of us, and also has a perfect individualized plan to help us become more, if we so desire. This is directly related to the perfect timeline set for our improvement, therefore the inclusion of the last construct.

Understanding what not to do, however, is just the beginning. The "line upon line" feels like daily striving to do the Lord's will, to serve others, and hope that future blessings will be ortogated unto us. We have to be nurturing of our selves and our faith, as was expressed by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in his talk "The Way of the Disciple" in the last April General Conference:

Too often we approach the gospel like a farmer who places a seed in the ground in the morning and expects corn on the cob by the afternoon. When Alma compared the word of God to a seed, he explained that the seed grows into a fruit-bearing tree gradually, as a result of our “faith, and [our] diligence, and patience, and long-suffering.” It’s true that some blessings come right away: soon after we plant the seed in our hearts, it begins to swell and sprout and grow, and by this we know that the seed is good. From the very moment we set foot upon the pathway of discipleship, seen and unseen blessings from God begin to attend us.
But we cannot receive the fulness of those blessings if we “neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment.”

Knowing that the seed is good is not enough. We must “nourish it with great care, that it may get root.”Only then can we partake of the fruit that is “sweet above all that is sweet, and … pure above all that is pure” and “feast upon this fruit even until [we] are filled, that [we] hunger not, neither shall [we] thirst.”

Discipleship is a journey. We need the refining lessons of the journey to craft our character and purify our hearts. By patiently walking in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our faith and our willingness to accept God’s will rather than ours.

May we act when Heavenly Father deems it time for us to act, and may we be able to recognize the call when it comes, after vigilantly waiting for blessings to arrive. Invariably we will end up like Naaman, who expected Elisha to visit to clean his leprosy, and who upon hearing that he should wash seven times in the River Jordan, thought that there were cleaner rivers in which he could possibly be cleansed. It is my prayer that we all can put the Lord's will and timing before our own, and learn to take those steps that will bring us happiness in the long run, as Naaman ultimately did. Have a great week!