Be Wise

"O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12)

It seems so simple. So many bad decisions could be avoided if you just asked yourself: "Is this a wise course of action?" How many of the bad decisions in my life have been because I didn't ask myself that.

Now, one could also argue that there are a lot of things that perhaps we feel prompted to do that DON'T seem wise. In fact, they seem downright foolish! (Pioneer trek across the country on foot with handcarts anyone?) However, the wise thing to do is follow God. Always. He will not lead you astray, no matter how nonsensical His directions are. There are many examples in history and scripture that prove this out. So you might say, then, that given His track record, it is WISE to follow God. This leads to another point of wisdom. If it is always wise to follow God, we must know how to follow him. So one decision we might make to be wise would be to learn of Him. Study His plan, and learn especially to recognize the Holy Ghost and the way promptings come to you.

There are times in my life when I've been faced with decisions and not known the wise course of action. I think in those times especially, we need to know how God communicates with us. We need to know what He would have us do. Especially if the promptings we are receiving seem like foolish ideas. Because that creates a little conflict in us: we know it is wise to follow promptings, but the voice of the natural side of us (and maybe some people around us) is screaming "that's not a wise decision". It is easier to feel confident in making one of these kinds of decisions if we KNOW the prompting came from God (because, as I mentioned, we know that following God's promptings is always the wise thing to do).

Probably something that has occurred more frequently is that I knew the wise course of action, but I drowned out that wisdom with my own worldly desires. I think this could mostly be solved if I indeed stopped for a second and really asked myself when I make decisions if they are the wisest decisions I could make.

The best part about this concept is that while it requires a good deal of faith in God, it also allows us to be agents unto ourselves. To act, and not only be acted upon. We can do things confidently in wisdom. Do we need God to tell us every day that the outfit we have picked out is good or not? No. We can be wise with our choices, and dress modestly and appropriately for the activity we will be participating in. Are there times when God might prompt you regarding your clothing/wardrobe choices? Absolutely. You must live in a way that you can receive His promptings, but you can make decisions on your own.

Just be wise about the decisions you make.

Will Ye Bring Forth Evil Fruit?

"For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?" (Jacob 6:7)

I read this verse, and it kind of made me look back and realize the results of my choices. Not to say that I have done any terrible thing, but there are definitely things I don't do that I should. I even gain personal insight during talks, lessons, personal scripture study, and conversation (personal insight = nourished by the good word of God), and sometimes, I turn around and move on with my life without actually implementing the thing I gained insight on (not acting, or acting in an opposing manner = bringing forth evil fruit).

One more reminder that I need to do better. As I gain more and more of a personal conversion, I see more and more things like that.

Conversion Process

"For it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard; wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard; and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard." (Jacob 5:66)

This allegory of the olive tree is meant to represent the House of Israel, and how at some times, they have been righteous and other times they have been wicked. Included in the allegory is how the Lord of the vineyard grafted branches into other places and things. This represents times when there have been branches of the House of Israel sent to different areas of the earth. For example, Lehi, when he took his family out of Jerusalem. His family was one of those branches that were sent off to another land.

Recently, I taught a lesson at church about conversion. We talked about how it is a process, and how you go about always trying to improve yourself. As I read this verse, I realized that the same thing was being discussed. I think that sometimes in my life, I think about all the things I'm doing wrong (or more realistically, all the things I'm not doing right that I should be), and I think "I've got to do better". But the list is too big and would take too much to fix everything, so what happens? I end up doing nothing, or at best, very little.

A better way to go is as the scripture describes with the tree. Essentially, keep doing better and better, little by little, so I don't become overwhelmed, and each time I do something like that, I become more and more converted. Adding little good things bit by bit, and removing negative things bit by bit, it's hard to get overwhelmed with that, and it is a great way to keep moving toward conversion.

This is a much better approach. I have added a couple of those good things in my life, and I hope to trim off a few of the more negative things, and we'll go from there. Onward and definitely upward.

The Lord Labored With the Servant

"...time passed away, and the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: Come, let us go down into the vineyard, that we may labor in the vineyard.

 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard, and also the servant, went down into the vineyard to labor" (Jacob 5:15-16)

This passage stood out to me. I was kind of expecting that I would be writing about an olive tree or the way it was nurtured, or the kind of ground they were planted in, etc. But this really jumped out as very pointed to me.

For some context, the Lord of the vineyard was trying to save his favorite tree. He tried a number of things to keep his tree, and keep it bearing good fruit. He was involved in how they would go about saving the tree, and he was involved in doing the actual work.

I think sometimes, we feel like we get instruction from the Lord, and then we go about our way and do our best to follow it. Even the faithful often think of Him as always being there for us, as if He were some sort of moral support person. Through the Holy Ghost, we feel good about decisions we make, or things that we do, when we're choosing the right, but there you have it. WE have to make the decisions and act on them.

While this is true, or else the whole agency part of God's plan would be frustrated, we must realize that more often than we think, the Lord is not just cheering us on, hoping we successfully complete the task that He has given us. No, more often than we realize, He is right there with us, working side by side. I think it's interesting that the way it is written in the allegory in Jacob 5, it sure sounds to me that the Lord of the vineyard went down into the vineyard to labor, and the servant went along. It wasn't the other way around. The Lord of the vineyard didn't just sit there and say "Ok, servant, go out and prune that tree, and dig about it for a while, and I'll come check in with you later", or even "Go, servant! You can do it. You're the best tree pruner I've seen." No, he's saying "Come with me, servant, and we will work together. Both of us will prune, both of us will dig. Both of us." I think that our lives are frequently like this. It's not that the Lord says "Go comfort that sorrowing neighbor and then come back and tell me how it went". No, He goes too.

I'm reminded of the story of the servant of Elisha, when the city was surrounded by their enemies. The servant was afraid, because he didn't see how they were going to get out of this. Elisha tells him: Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them, at which point, the servants eyes were opened and he saw hosts of horses and chariots of fire.

Even though we may not see Him or His work in our lives, He is there, laboring beside us. It makes me want to work harder when I'm working with someone, because I don't want my lack of work to cause someone else more work. This is especially true of the Lord. He will never be the lazy one in a pair. He will never give up. He will always be there, helping us out, and working.

Let's go work with Him.

Looking Beyond the Mark

[Warning: longer post than usual]

"But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble." (Jacob 4:14)

This is a concept that I love about the Gospel: that you can stumble by trying to make it too complicated. I love that God wants His Gospel to be plain and simple.

Sometimes (Ok, a LOT of the time), I make things more complicated than they really are. Some of the most poignant, life-changing experiences I've had in my life stand out to me because it was in those moments that I realized I was indeed "looking beyond the mark". I'd like to share a few examples.

The first one, I think, is less of a singular experience, but rather a description of how I gained a testimony. At certain times in my life, I had decided that I wanted to have an experience, one that I could share with other people as being the pivotal moment in my life where I went from just believing to having a real testimony. I remember on several occasions, kneeling to pray, trying to get an answer to that question. The only real "answer" I've ever gotten in those moments is a very pointed "you already know". In fact, I can't ever remember not knowing. I think I gained a testimony brick by brick, experience by experience, not really realizing it was happening, so that when it came time to ask if it was true, I really did already know. I was looking beyond the mark, wanting a specific experience, when in reality, I had many experiences all leading up to a testimony.

Another experience came toward the end of my junior year in high school. I was part of a performing group, and it was time to audition to be in that group the following year. I really wanted to be part of the group again, but due to a number of circumstances, I didn't know what the right thing to do was. So I prayed about it, and got what seemed like a pretty clear answer: no. I was disappointed, but at the same time, I was ok. I felt like that was the right thing to do. Well, as I watched a number of my friends get prepared to audition, the natural man in me really wanted to audition. So I convinced myself that maybe my first answer wasn't right, when in reality, I knew that it was. I prayed again, this time, with a little more fervor, and I found myself feeling that auditioning would be the right thing to do (this was my desire coming through, not God's will, I'm sure of that now). So the next day, I was talking to one of my friends who knew about my previous decision, and how I had arrived at it, when I told her I had been praying for an answer to this question of whether or not I should audition. Before I could even finish my sentence, she said "Why? Didn't you already get an answer?" I was kind of stunned. She was right! I had already received my answer, but because of my own desire, I was looking beyond the mark, trying to make the question and answer more complicated than it really was, in the hopes that I could get my own way. I'm glad that I had such good friends to help me see the plainness that I had been missing, and I'm glad to report that I did not audition.

One final experience about this topic. Just before I left on my mission, I had been dating this girl. We mutually agreed that we didn't want to have any of this "waiting" business, so we said our goodbyes and I went on my way to proclaim the Gospel. She was a great support and friend for my whole mission, writing me, and encouraging me. Toward the end of my mission, she was still (to my surprise and delight) single. I had thought about the prospect of marriage in general, especially after my mission president's final interview where he told me that marriage should be one of the very highest things on my priority list after my mission. I also thought about what it would be like to be married to her. It actually sounded great. At the same time, it had been 2 years since we had been dating and that seemed like a long time, and that a lot could change in that time. I had this thought in the back of my mind that if I started dating her, we might even end up married, and while I thought that sounded awesome, it also sounded scary! I kept thinking that maybe I should just date several different people to get back into the dating scene before calling her and going out with her. This "seemed" like something important that I should do at the time, but honestly, every time I thought about going on a date with anyone else, my thoughts went back to her and the fact that I would rather go with her instead. I don't know how she put up with me, because I didn't call her or anything for over a month! At some point, though, I had this epiphany (more like a "spritual 2x4" hit me over the head) that I had been trying to make it WAY more complicated than it should be. I was looking beyond the mark, when the whole time, I knew that I would rather spend my time with her. Humbled by that realization, I called her, we went out, and sure enough, we ended up married, and I can honestly say that I have not regretted that decision EVER. She is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me.

The concept of "looking beyond the mark" hits the nail on the head. It really is something we have to be careful about in life. We can take anything too far, make anything too complicated. I think sometimes we as LDS people do this. We can delve into what has been called "deep doctrine" and try to understand all the theories or obscure quotes from earlier prophets, but what it really comes down to is this: are we living the Gospel? Do we have Faith in Christ? Are we repenting? Have we been baptized and are we keeping our baptismal covenants? Do we continue to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost into our lives through all of our thoughts and actions? Are we faithfully, valiantly enduring to the end? That is the Gospel. If we can honestly answer "yes" to each of those questions, then we are doing what we should. This is what is meant by "plain and simple truths". They are easy enough to understand that when I was young, I understood enough to gain a real, personal testimony of these truths, and continue to learn when I seek it.

I know that this simple, plain, yet wonderful Gospel is really God's plan for us. That we can be together with Him forever if we live it. And as hard as it is as natural, weak mortals, the truth is, it's still plain and simple.

Why all that work?

"2 But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers—

 3 Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents." (Jacob 4:2-3)

Jacob describes the reasoning behind the effort of engraving all that they did on the plates. I think that although as of yet I haven't done anything terribly noteworthy in my life, it's nice to think that my children and their children might know something about me and my life. It gives me pause for reflection, thinking about what information there might be about me that they could read. This is a good argument for keeping a journal, continuing on with this kind of blog, and things like that. In future generations, are my great-grandkids going to learn about us by what we posted and liked on Facebook, what we tweeted, and what we pictures we Instagram'd? That certainly could be. Would I want them to? That's another question.

The other aspect to this is that if my life were exposed to my future generations, what about it would I be glad that they knew? Or wish they didn't know. There is a lot to consider there. I definitely could be better. Thus the attempt to restart this blog. I kind of got away from the practice, giving myself excuses about how busy I am and things, but I think that taking just the short amount of extra time it takes to write a post on here, it helps me to ponder the scriptures more than just read them, and since I am looking for things to comment about, I'm likening the words to my life and trying to see how it fits, so here's for another go.

I want to put the spiritual things in a more prominent place in my life. I want to be a better example of those things, and every little thing that I can to do bring myself closer to that person I want to be only gets me closer.