"It Was Good"

There are a lot of lessons to learn from the creation account we find in Genesis. But one of the most important is how God teaches us the concept of process. Life is meant to be a process-not an incident.

In the beginning God organized the world by doing one thing at a time. When He was finished separating the water from the land, He didn’t get discouraged because He didn’t have plants or animals or a finished world yet. He stepped back, enjoyed the work of the day, and said, “It is good.” He rejoiced in what He had accomplished.

There is a lot we have to learn from this. Instead of going to bed each night frustrated over what didn’t get accomplished or upset at ourselves for things we said or did wrong, or feeling like there is still so much growth we need to make that we will never be the person we want to be, we need to make it a practice to each night look at what went right that day, what we accomplished, what we learned and rejoice in the growth. Sometimes the very days that we did or said things wrong are our best learning days. Instead of fretting over what went wrong, we should concentrate on the lessons and rejoice in them, but then move on to what we did right. The best way to grow is to take what is right and build on it. When we wallow in the Pit of Illusion because we are concentrating on all we did wrong, we don’t grow.

Like God, we need to see the progress in each day, then step back and rejoice because, “It was good."

Living in Truth at Home Evening

I sometimes get email that I love to share with the rest of you. And I received one of those emails last week that I just have to share. Kristen wrote to tell me how she had taught Living in Truth (specifically the Pit of Illusion) to her children during Family Home Evening.

She wrote, “My family home evening last night went really well. I actually put a couple of Barbies in a decorative birdcage with the door open in the back and we talked about the Pit of Illusion. Then I shared with them the story of Nephi staying out of the pit on the boat. We also did some role playing with situations in our family about staying out of the pit. My children are 10, 7, and 4, but I think they really got it!”

She went on to say that she explained to her children that she struggles with staying out of the Pit just like they do, and I think that may have been the most powerful part of the lesson for her children.

Learning that the struggle to Live in Truth is a life long struggle and that we all encounter the Pit from time to time, is not only freeing, but it helps us understand others. It also helps us be more loving. Instead of thinking thoughts like, “That jerk!” we think, “That poor person is struggling in the Pit. I know how that feels. Maybe I can help love them out of the Pit.”

The beauty is that the more we help others stay out of the Pit, the easier it gets for us to stay out of the Pit.

Thanks, Kristen!

Sabbath Scripture -- Living in Truth

Wait on the Lord:

be of good courage,

and he shall strengthen thine heart:

wait, I say, on the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

Power Under Control

Marianne Williamson in her book Return to Love, says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.” I love this quote and what it teaches me.

For one thing, it is about humility. Too often we have a false notion that humility is putting ourselves down—being small. Jesus Christ is the perfection of all good traits and he never put himself down. Instead He proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). What this teaches us is that an essential ingredient in humility is honesty.

One of my favorite definitions of humility is “Power under control.” What that means to me is that we acknowledge the power we have but we don’t misuse or abuse that power. If we have the power to play beautiful music we acknowledge that gift and use it whenever appropriate to bless the lives of others and to make ourselves happy, but we never flaunt it or put others down because they can’t make the same music we can make. Especially we don’t go around saying we don’t make beautiful music just because we think that is being humble.

If we are going to become heavenly beings, we need to recognize the powers that are ours and use them, share them, and thank God for them, but never diminish or deny them.

Poor Advice

Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of mine and Mr. J’s first date. It was a blind date that I didn’t want to go on and so I got unready thinking I was being spiteful to the friend who was making me go. Needless to say, the friend didn’t suffer in the least. But I came home that night and cried because I was sure he’d never ask me out again. However, miracles happen (that’s a whole different story!) and he asked me out the next day and the next and the next and before I knew it I was engaged and everyone was giving me marital advice.

The advice I got the most often sounded profound at the time: “Don’t ever go to bed on an argument.” So when we got married, and had disagreements we remembered the advice and tried to work out our problems before we went to bed. What a MISTAKE! Both Mr. J and I get grumpy and ornery when we are tired and trying to solve problems late at night when we were grumpy and ornery and tired was disastrous. We’d be up half the night and never come to anything close to resolution.

After several years we got wise, (I know I’m a slow learner!) disregarded the terrible advice, and just went to bed when we were upset. Miraculously 90% of the time the next morning we found the problem had somehow disappeared while we slept. The other 10% of the time we were able to solve the problem quickly because our minds were clear and alert.

The amazing thing to me is that a few years later I found this very principle taught by Nephi. After Nephi has the beautiful vision of the Tree of Life, he returns to the family camp and finds his brothers fighting. He knows he needs to help solve the problem, but he is exhausted from the experience he has just had. So instead of trying to jump in and solve the problem in his tired state, he tells us “after I had received strength I spake unto my brethren” (1 Nephi 15:6).

Now that’s the advice I should have been given. Trying to solve problems with children or spouses or anyone when you are tired or hungry or out of sorts doesn’t work. Like Nephi we need to wait until we have the strength to deal with the problem. That isn’t always possible, but when it is—do it!

Gaining Wisdom

At the BYU Forum address on Tuesday Mark DeMoss, an evangelical who founded the DeMoss group which is a public relations firm serving Christian organizations, gave a wonderful talk on how incivility and Christianity are not compatible. That’s a basic feature of Living in Truth. When you are uncivil to anyone you immediately cast yourself into the Pit. As I said it is a wonderful talk and if you’d like to read it or hear it for yourself, go here.

In the course of the talk, Mr. DeMoss spoke about wisdom and said something that I really liked. He said that every day he reads a chapter from the book of Proverbs—one of the books of wisdom literature found in the Old Testament. There are 31 books in Proverbs and so if it is the sixth day of the month he reads the sixth chapter or on the tenth day the tenth chapter of Proverbs. By doing this he has read the words of wisdom found in Proverbs every month since he began the reading.

So I decided to try it. I won’t do it all my life, but for a month or two at least I’m going to read Proverbs as he does. I know the value of repetition. I’ve experienced that before when I studied King Benjamin’s great sermon found in Mosiah 2-5 every day for four months. That’s what led to the writing of my book Spiritually Centered Motherhood. It was surprising how much I learned from that experience, and so I am excited to read Proverbs the next few months.

But it also made me think about how valuable it would be to define 31 of the great sermons in the scriptures, the sermons that really speak to my own heart and then read those sermons one a day each day of the month. It would be another great way to learn and study. Maybe I’ll try that next!

Journey of Faith

You can find the movie here

Last night I showed my students the documentary, Journey of Faith. I watch it every semester with my students so I’ve seen it over twenty times and I still am amazed by it. We all know the deprivations and adversity the modern pioneers encountered as they traveled from Nauvoo to what is now Utah. But we aren’t as familiar with what Lehi and Sariah and their family endured as they traveled eight years in the wilderness until they finally reached the land of Bountiful. Even then the journey wasn’t over. Nephi was told to build a ship and then sail it across an ocean. What a test of faith. I'm not sure I'd get in a boat built by anyone I know much less sail across the ocean in it.

Watching the movie makes me appreciate the Book of Mormon so much more. Seeing the places the Arabian Desert they traveled through boggles my mind. How could anyone survive? That would tax even modern survivalist adventurers, and yet they were bearing children and caring for young families in that environment.

The most amazing part of the movie is seeing how the Lord directed them to the one very small fertile place where they could stop to build a ship in order to continue on their way to the Promised Land. It makes me think about the desert periods in my life and the oases the Lord has provided for me along my way. It seems that just when I know I can’t take any more desert, an oasis appears.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you need to. It will make you think and appreciate the Book of Mormon more, and help you see the workings of the Lord in your own life.