Just Talk

After Alma recounts the events of his conversion to his son Helaman, he goes on to give him advice on how to conduct his life. As part of this advice he says, "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord: yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever" (Alma 37:36).

I love that verse and feel like it sums up everything there is to know about conducting our lives. If we love the Lord constantly, and direct all of our thoughts to Him, we can't go wrong. In other words, if we just talk to Him all day long we will be in good shape.

Simple? Yes, but powerful.

God Knows the Way

Yesterday when my son told his three-year-old son that their new baby was going to be a girl, my grandson broke out in tears. He wanted a brother, not another sister. But after talking through the situation with his dad, my grandson is now happy that he will have two little sisters to love and protect.

When my son first told me of this I laughed. It was cute, but the more I’ve thought about it the more I realize that I’ve cried about a lot of situations in my life that later turn out to be not only right, but the very best, right thing for me. As a matter of fact, some of the times when I thought God had forgotten all about me have turned out, down the road a few years, to be actual answers to my prayers. 

This has taught me to trust more. God knows where I am supposed to be doing better than I do, and if I relax and trust in Him, I’ll get there a lot faster and with a great deal less pain and vexation.

My Air Traffic Controller

Good morning! Isn't it amazing what a good night's sleep can do for a person!

While traveling yesterday I kept thinking about the methaphors in air travel. As we took off in SLC I could see the air tower and thought about how the air controllers being in that tower and above the ground have a perspective that the pilot does not have. As a matter of fact, the pilot's vision is very limited. But by being connected to the tower the pilot can be warned if there is danger ahead or behind. By listening he can know exactly what to do and when to do it so that the place is able to take off safely. But that isn't all the help the pilot has. He has instruments that give warning and direction and there is a ground grew that signals him where to turn and what to do.

As I watched us take off and land I thought about how I am the pilot of this body and how I have an "air traffic controller," my Heavenly Father who has a perspective I don't have. If I follow His instructions I can be warned and guided. And on the "ground" I have prophets and teachers who are constantly teaching and directing me as to what to do. And like the plane's instruments, I have scriptures that also teach me what to do. But if for some reason I choose to go my own way and refuse the insruction given by either source, I put myself in a dangerous position.

It is so much easier and safer to follow the Air Traffic Controller than it is to try and decide where and how to fly on your own.

He Knows

As the semester begins I face the task of memorizing over 200 students’ names. I’m not very good at verbatim memorization so this is a daunting task for me. But I realize how important it is, so I pray for help and spend hours reviewing flash cards. What makes it even more difficult is that I’ll associate a name with a feature such as his or her hair and then get to class only to discover that he or she has cut or colored their hair. Or I’ll get the name down and the person drops the class. (I think there should be a rule that if the teacher knows your name you have to stay in the class!)

But I’m not just complaining here. All this work at memorizing has made me think about how our Father in Heaven knows each one of us by name. Not only that, He knows what is bothering us and what brings us joy. He knows where our weaknesses are, but most of all He knows what we need in order to overcome and transcend the weaknesses that hold us back and keep us far from Him. I don’t know how He does it, but I appreciate it more and more as I struggle to simply learn a few names.

Our Father in Heaven knows us. He loves us. And He will guide and nurture us if we just trust in Him and let Him love us.

Knowing God

Have you ever wondered what God is really like—I mean personality wise? 

Too often He’s portrayed as stern and stoic, a task master who commands and drives his children. But that never felt right to me. Then I found a quote by Heber C. Kimball that felt very right. 

Elder Kimball says, “I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively and good-natured when I have His Spirit.  That is one reason why I know; and another is—the Lord said through Joseph Smith, ‘I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance’ (D&C 59: 15).  That arises from the perfection of His attributes; He is a jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man” (JD 4:222).

When we pay attention to the characteristics that manifest themselves in us when the Spirit is with us, we learn what God is like. That delights me not only because of what it teaches me about God but what it teaches me about myself. I’ve grown up to be very much like my mortal mother and father and as a daughter of God I can “grow up” to be like my Parents in Heaven.

As Joseph Smith taught, “if men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves” (TPJS, p. 343). 

He also said that, “Our heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive” (TPJS, 257).

As we come to know God, it is so much easier to trust in Him and love Him.

All Things Work For Good

I am more and more amazed at the beauties of Living in Truth. As I’ve explained before, necessary pain is going to come into our lives. That is just part of a mortal experience. And some of that pain is absolutely devastating and makes no sense. Like the righteous women who aren't married or who can’t have children. That pain is deep and real and is impossible to attach a meaning to. All we can do is trust in God.

But as we do learn how to trust in God even in the face of pain that has no meaning or reason to it, the wondrous thing is to discover how close we can be to our Father in Heaven despite the pain. When we Live in Truth there is no mental chatter to keep us from hearing and feeling the presence of God. Despite the pain, we know there is Someone nearby cradling us in His arms and comforting us with the thoughts that while we don’t understand, He does and that He is going to make it all right.

I love the verse in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Living in Truth allows us to trust in this statement and to know without a doubt that “all things work together for good” even if we can’t see at the moment how that could ever happen.

Happy Father's Day

It's a Sabbath to honor our fathers

and The Father of us all. 

Enjoy and remember 

all that both have done for you.

Making Music

Long ago I was a piano teacher to 35 young people. I enjoyed it, and was amazed at how much my students taught me. One of the things that constantly baffled me was that my students wanted to play the piano, and I knew how to play, but they didn’t always want to follow my instruction. They thought there should be easier ways or that I was trying to make piano playing more difficult for them. For example, they could see the value of learning the notes and would do that, but few of them could see the value in learning timing and would refuse to count. Yet playing the right timing is just as important as playing the right notes.

You’ve all heard someone play a scale. You’ve heard the step, step, step of the inclining or declining notes and know that scales don’t sound much like music. But change the timing on a declining scale and you have, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come.” The exact same notes, but the timing changes the mundane scale into a beautiful Christmas hymn.

From these experiences with students I began to wonder how often I do the same thing to my Father in Heaven. He knows where I need to be and what I need to learn and is directing me. I can’t always see the value or benefit of what I am learning and may even fight against it or refuse to do what I need to do, just as some of my piano students did. If I resist and insist on doing it my own way, I run the risk of living a life with mundane scales repeated over and over. But if I submit and follow Him, He will teach me everything I need to know to make beautiful music in my life.

Heritage

I’ll never forget the day several years ago when I was working in the kitchen doing all the normal things you do like wiping down the cupboards and cleaning out the microwave when suddenly while wringing out the dishcloth in the sink a shock went through me. The hands wringing water out of the cloth weren’t mine! They were my mother’s. How had her hands become attached to the end of my arms? It was a strange moment of discovery that I was aging, but more than that it was a moment of realization that I was becoming my mother. Genetically I had been programmed to have her hands.

Since that day I can’t look at my hands without thinking about my mother which means that I think about her about a hundred times a day. (Try to count how many times a day you see your hands!)And whenever I see her hands, I know what mine will be like in 20 years.

It is easy for most of us to look in a mirror and see the things about us that we inherited from our parents. But what isn’t as easy is identifying what we inherited from our Heavenly Parents. For some reason we let a false sense of humility keep us from acknowledging traits we inherited from Them. But that isn’t humility at all.
As Christmas approaches, I challenge you to identify at least two characteristics you inherited from your Heavenly Father and then to concentrate on those two things throughout the month. Of course, they won't be perfected like His traits are, but you will have those traits in a lesser form. Make it your Christmas gift to God to enhance them and to be grateful for them.

I’m in the middle of parents and children now, and I also know how delightful it is to notice myself in my children—especially my good qualities. Seeing your good characteristics in them is a true source of joy, and I’m sure that our Father in Heaven also experiences joy when we recognize and acknowledge ways we are like Him. After all He gave us those traits and as He said, “What doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive [acknowledges] not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift” (D&C 88:33).