Avoid the Should Sharks

As in all things Jesus Christ is our example. He shows us how to Live in Truth and in many instances His example is so profound it brings me to my tears. One of those experiences occurs the night the Savior was taken from the Garden of Gethsemane and tried for being the Son of God. 

Living in Truth means that we deal with the Truth or verity of what confronts us and not with what we think should be happening or what should not be happening. Trying to deal with what should be is like boxing with an invisible opponent. You can swing, curse, kick, jab, and punch, but you are never going to hit anything.

So what has this to do with the night the Savior was tried? That night the Lord went to the Garden to pray and asked three of His closest friends and associates, Peter, James, and John, to watch with Him. Then he walked away, knelt, and prayed. When He returned to His friends instead of watching, they had fallen asleep. Shortly after that a mob of hundreds of soldiers and other men approached and another friend, one of His apostles, betrayed Him with, of all things, a kiss. About this time most of us would have been deep in the Pit of Illusion with thoughts such as, "Peter, James, and John shouldn't be asleep. They should have done what I asked. They are supposed to be helping me." And later, "Judas shouldn't betray me. He's supposed to support and help me. And especially he shouldn't betray me with a token of affection." And beyond that, "These men shouldn't be accusing me of crimes I didn't commit.  Here I am trying to save their eternal lives and they want me dead! They shouldn't be doing this."

If at any time in the history of mankind, should and shouldn't thinking was warranted it was that night. But Jesus never sank into the Pit of Illusion with this kind of thinking. Instead He stayed with the reality or verity of what was happening, and dealt with the Truth. And what is happening? Peter in an impetuous attempt to defend the Savior has cut off the ear of a servant of the High Priest. Not burdened by what should be or what should not be, not worried about Himself or what is about to happen, the Savior sees the need of another and reaches out and compassionately heals the man.

The reason we fall into the Pit of Illusion is because we let what I call the Should Sharks take over our lives. The Savior never did that. He always Lived in Truth. He dealt with verity--the Truth. Likewise we eliminate a great deal of pain--all the Unnecessary Pain--from our lives when we stop letting the Should Sharks prey on us and instead deal with the simple Truth.

Albert Einstein once said, 

"A man should look for what is, 

and not for what he thinks should be" 

That is great advice.

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Before we can discuss how to avoid Unnecessary Pain we need to discuss Truth.

When we read the word Truth in scripture most of us think it is referring to the principles and doctrines taught in the scriptures. But the definition of Truth we find in the scriptures is,

“Truth is knowledge of things as they are, 

and as they were, 

and as they are to come” 

(D&C 93:24). 

This is similar to the Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary which defines Truth as:

(1) The state of being the case. 

(2) The body of real things, events, and facts.

 (3) A transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality. 

Synonyms are: fact, verity, actuality, reality. 

Certainly the principles of the gospel fit this definition; they are what is, was and will be. They are the “body of real things, events, and facts.” But “the state of being the case” in this mortal world also means that war, accidents, death, disease, disappointment, distress, fear, natural disasters and so many other negative things are the truth. They are reality.

Living in Truth, then, means living the principles of the gospel and accepting the fact that in this telestial world there are going to be thorns, thistles, and weeds. Death, disease, accidents, and wars, are going to occur. People are going to say and do things you don’t like. Things are going to happen to you that hurt. That is what is. That is the Truth.

Whenever we are faced with Truth, we have two choices. We can fix it or live with it. If there is something we can do to fix it, we should. We can pull up the weeds or cut off the thorns or we can live with them. If we start to feel victimized because there are weeds in our lives, if we start to think that those weeds shouldn’t be there, we are fighting against Truth and when you fight against Truth you always lose. Thus whenever you find yourself saying things like, “She shouldn’t have said that to me,” or “He should be more considerate of my feelings,” you have left the realm of Truth. When we think about what has happened—the Truth—in terms of should or shouldn’t have we are no longer dealing in Truth--we are dealing with illusion. Remember the truth is what happened—the verity or reality. That reality is what we have to deal with, not what should have happened, and when we stick to the Truth amazing changes happen in our lives.

That's what Living in Truth is all about.

Caged No More

    "Fighting Truth"© by Patrea Johnson Heath

Years ago D8 sculpted this statue for me. I love it and keep it in a place where I see it often. It is a constant reminder of the vexation that makes life so miserable and how easy it is to avoid unnecessary pain by Living in Truth. In her sculpture the Pit of Illusion is portrayed as a jail cell, and the person inside is desperately fighting against the bars of the prison trying to get out while behind him the door to the cell is wide open.

Those of you who have read Good News! for awhile already know what this is about. When we fall into the Pit of Illusion life closes in on us and we feel as if we are in a cage that we desperately try to break out of. We bang against the cage bars (fight against Truth!) until we are bruised and broken. We shout for help, but hear no one coming to help us. In those claustrophobic times, life seems so dismal, but the problem is not the cage. The problem is that we are fighting against iron bars (Truth) that do not and will not bend. But if instead of spending our time trying to bend iron bars, we step back and accept the fact that the unbendable bars are there, and focus on what we can do inside those bars,
 everything changes.

If we take a step back, take a deep breath, and ask, “Is it true that this cage is ruining my life or is my pain coming because I’m fighting against this cage?” we begin to realize there are a lot of good options available to us. We can sing. We can dance. We can breathe in the wonderful aromas that waft through the cage. We can even reach through the bars and touch others. We can. . . well you get the picture. Despite the cage, the Truth is that there is still so much to enjoy and to do.

But the most amazing thing about accepting Truth is that when I step back
 and concentrate on finding ways to “enjoy” the situation in the cage instead of fighting against it,
I suddenly notice that Someone has been standing there all along holding open the door.
All I needed to do was stop fighting against the Truth,
turn around, and walk through the door.

I hope you find cage doors open today!

Living in Truth in a Nutshell

I think it’s time to review the basics. I haven’t done that for awhile.

Living in Truth means accepting what is, was, or will be and dealing with it in the best possible way. When you spill a glass of milk, instead of fighting against it by saying you are so clumsy and it shouldn’t have happened and getting upset that your good glass broke, you simply ask yourself “What is the truth?”

The truth is that there is a broken glass and spilled milk on the floor. That’s all you have to deal with. No “What ifs?” or “Shouldn’t haves” or beating yourself up for doing it will change a single thing. It happened. It is truth. Now deal with it.

So the question to ask is, “Can I fix it, or do I live with it?” Spilled milk seems to be an obvious “fix it!” it only takes a few minutes. And while you are doing it have some fun with it. Make it into a game to see how fast you can do it. Or go slow and enjoy the feel of the sticky milk on your fingers and the sound as you wring out the cloth and the milk drips into the sink. Sing along!

Other times the answer is that you must live with the situation. Accept it and find a way to love it.

That’s Living in Truth in a nutshell. Simple. Easy. And so rewarding!

The Unencumbered Path

In chapter three of the book of Matthew, John the Baptist explains to the people that he is the forerunner who has been sent to prepare the way for the Lord. To make his point he quotes from a prophecy of Isaiah saying that he, John, is “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

As we read that we tend to think that the phrase “make his paths straight” means “free from curves, bends, angles, or irregularities.” There is some meaning in that but it is the Lord’s path. Isn’t His path already straight? How can we make His path straight?

When we understand this statement in a cultural context it takes on more meaning. The people listening to John knew that whenever royalty traveled anyplace a forerunner would be sent before the procession to do two things. (1) To loudly proclaim the coming of royalty. (2) To clear the path of any debris or obstacles so the party could travel safely and speedily. Thus as John spoke they would have envisioned such a messenger shouting and clearing the way.

Thus to make the Lord’s paths straight is to proclaim that he is coming, but it isn’t about making His path free of curves or bends, it is about clearing away obstacles that the adversary puts on the path. The dictionary confirms this when it tells us that another definition of the word straight is “free from extraneous matter.” Thus when Alma praised the people of Gideon saying, “Yea, I perceive that ye are making his paths straight” (Alma 7:19), and when Nephi prayed to the Lord saying, “Wilt thou make my path straight before me!” (2 Nephi 4:33), they are talking about clearing the path of obstacles that would hinder their journey. Obviously this means clearing the sin off the path, but it also is about ridding our path of anything that isn’t Truth. When we Live in Truth we are free to travel the Lord’s path with no obstacles to hinder our journey.

The Stolen Axe

There are some wonderful Taoist stories that illustrate what happens when we tell stories that send us into the Pit of Illusion. This story brings back a lot of memories of myself before I learned to Live in Truth.

A man went out to the wood pile one morning to chop wood, but could not find his axe.  He searched frantically in every place he normally left it, but it was in none of those places. As he searched he noticed his neighbor’s son lurking lazily about the neighbor’s well.  “Ah ha!” said the man. “Surely this young man has taken my axe.  Look at the way he shifts from foot to foot as if he is afraid I will know. And the guilty look on his face. Surely he has taken my axe. But he will not get away with this. I will make him pay for his thievery.”

All the rest of that day the man fumed and plotted what he would do to the boy, and he slept little that night as he thought about his terrible neighbor who had raised a son to be a thief.

The next morning, still vexed with thought, the man went out to his garden to pick some vegetables and there by his shed found the missing axe and remembered that he had left it there.

As he began chopping wood, he again saw the neighbor’s son walking about the well. “My how the boy has changed,” said the man to himself. “The guilty look has completely left his face.”

Ways to Find "Whatsoever is True"

I love the King James Bible, which is celebrating its 400^th birthday this year. But I also learn a lot by comparing the KJV translations with modern translations. My favorite is the New International Version, but there are many other good ones out there. My two favorite web sites to find other translations are Biblestudytools.com and Studylight.org. On both sites you can type in a scripture and then pick which version of the Bible you want to look at and it will bring the verse up.

This morning in my personal study I read these verses from the KJV and then looked them up in the NIV. 

KJV Philippians 4:8: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,  whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” 

NIV Philippians 4:8: “You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”  

From there I went to the 13^th Article of Faith and read, “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

While the KJV is clear and beautiful, reading it in modern language solidifies and deepens the meaning for me. It helps me see things in new light, and by pondering on all of these I learn more about what it means to 

Live in Truth.

P.S.   HAPPY 85TH BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL MOM! 

(I don't think she ever gets on here, but just in case!)

My Super Power

I overheard my grandson, Eli, talking one day about his super power. I think he had been watching one of the super hero movies and had decided that he, too, had secret powers. Shortly after that my grown children were talking about what super power they would like if they could have one. One wanted to be invisible. One wanted to fly. One wanted super strength. They all had their reasons and laughed their way through a delightful conversation. But having super power, isn’t too very far from the Truth when you understand the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The dictionary defines grace as “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” In my own “earthy words” that means God gives us power to change so that we can return to him even though we don’t deserve it. Technically grace is God’s power, but lovingly He gives it to us if we want it and seek after it.

We learn more about grace in the definition found in the Bible Dictionary, it says that grace “is an enabling power.” Often, in today’s world, we only talk about enabling in a negative way when we describe spouses or parents or friends enabling negative behavior. But enable means “to provide with the means or opportunity” and that is what God does for us in a very positive way. He provides us with the means and opportunity to become like Him. But that isn’t all. He provides us with the power to do what needs to be done right here and right now (whatever that is!). Now that is Super Power—not fantasy but real life Superpower that is available to anyone who follows the path of righteousness.

It's My Natal Day!

I was born in a storm and Grandfather used to tell me that what is born in a storm ends in sunshine. (I hope it also means that what is born in freezing cold weather ends in warmth!) Today the world is celebrating my birth with another cold storm. This week the ground reappeared, but today snow once again covers the earth and the sky is the same color as the ground. So I'm having a white celebration.

I usually celebrate all month--string it out all I can. After all, getting to this age has not been easy. Twice I've had life threatening experiences and more than that I've had experiences I wished I wasn't around for. We all have a little of both kinds of experiences in this mortal life. But I survived and am glad I did. The Truth is that as difficult as life is, it is good--very good. Yesterday I began the celebrating with a very dear friend by going out to breakfast. In the afternoon a delivery man brought me flowers from D4 and then Mr. C and I went to the temple. After we got home, we watched the movie Amish Grace and while watching, Mr. C gave me a foot message (my favorite thing!).

Another Truth--it's the simple things that make life so wonderful and we make our Father in Heaven happy when we appreciate them.

Even though you aren't here to celebrate with me, I hope you'll do something simple yet wonderful to celebrate my day. Leave a comment and tell me what you did. That would make me very happy.

What it Means to Live in Truth

For those of you who are new to Good News!, I thought I'd do a little review of what it means to Live in Truth. Most of us think of truth as the principles and doctrines taught in the scriptures. But the definition of truth we find in the scriptures is, “Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (D&C 93:24). This is similar to the Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary which defines truth as: (1) The state of being the case. (2) The body of real things, events, and facts. (3) A transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality. Synonyms are: fact, verity, actuality, reality. Certainly the principles of the gospel fit this definition; they are what is, was and will be. They are the “body of real things, events, and facts.” But “the state of being the case” in this mortal world also means that war, accidents, death, disease, disappointment, distress, fear, natural disasters and so many other negative things are the truth. They are reality.

Living in Truth, then, means living the principles of the gospel and accepting the fact that in this telestial world there are going to be thorns, thistles, and weeds. Death, disease, accidents, and wars, are going to occur. People are going to say and do things you don’t like. Things are going to happen to you that hurt. That is the truth.

Whenever we are faced with Truth, we have two choices. We can fix it or live with it. If there is something we can do to fix it, we should. We can pull up the weeds or cut off the thorns or we can live with them. If we start to feel victimized because there are weeds in our lives, if we start to think that those weeds shouldn’t be there, we are fighting against truth and when you fight against truth you always lose. Thus whenever you find yourself saying things like, “She shouldn’t have said that to me,” or “He should be more considerate of my feelings,” you have left the realm of Truth. When we think about what has happened—the truth—in terms of should or shouldn’t have we are no longer dealing in truth. Remember the truth is what happened—the verity or reality. That reality is what we have to deal with, not what should have happened.

When we leave the realm of Truth we fall into the Pit of Illusion where only pain—unnecessary pain—and misery exist. And that’s what we’ll talk about tomorrow—the vexing Pit of Illusion.

Families Aren’t Meant To Be Perfect

At church meetings and other places that encourage and support the family, we hear about how important the home and family are. We learn that the home is a sacred place like a temple. We learn that it is a refuge from the world where good is taught and evil shunned. This teaching is important and true, but when we focus only on these holy aspects of family life we often create an incorrect perception—a perception that is discouraging and unrealistic.

Yes, home is a sacred place and a refuge from the outside world, but at the same time it is a laboratory for learning. This means that not everything that happens within the walls of a home is going to be a sacred, perfect, wonderful experience. A laboratory is a place where people experiment to find the right ways to do things—the best ways. This takes practice. A laboratory is a place where trial and error is one of the greatest teaching tools. Mistakes are often made but learned from. A laboratory is a place where basic truths are accepted and then applied in order to expand knowledge and learn new and better ways. All of this implies that there will be mistakes and times of chaos and starting over and lots of activity. But in a laboratory this is considered a type of delightful chaos as new things discoveries mean growth. Thomas Edison used his laboratory to experiment with thousands of different filaments before he found materials that would glow for long periods of time. But he accepted that as a purpose of a laboratory and didn’t get discouraged because the first materials he tried didn’t work. He just kept experimenting until he found what worked.

What I am saying is that perfection is not what the family unit is all about. Family is meant to be our laboratory for immortality. It is the place where we experiment and learn how we can be like Jesus Christ. So when things go wrong in the home, when experiments as to how to handle situations fail, when others don’t understand the experiment and seem to be sabotaging our efforts, or when any other problems occur, don’t get discouraged. Instead, like Edison, just recognize that you’ve learned one more thing that doesn’t work and then go on to try something else. My bet is that within your family—whatever its composition—you have all the variables necessary for you to learn everything you need to know about how to be a good Christian. So move on and happy experimenting!

Flint and Steel

Once long ago I watched my Boy Scout brother in the back yard attempting to make sparks with flint and steel. He had gathered a small pile of dead leaves and twigs and was determined to burn them. I watched as he laboriously struck the flint against the steel. At first he’d strike and nothing would happen. But after a great deal of effort he began to get the hang of it and small, fleeting sparks appeared. The next challenge was to get the elusive sparks to catch the leaves and twigs on fire. That too, took awhile, but finally the little pile of refuse burst into flame then immediately died out leaving nothing but a drizzle of smoke.

I think of that incident every time I read Isaiah 50:11. In that verse the Lord warns, “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” If you’ve ever been without electricity on a stormy, dark night and tried to navigate by the light of a single candle, this verse will mean more to you. A single candle doesn’t give off much light and a spark gives off even less. Going through the dark, stormy circumstances of life with only the sparks I can kindle seems terrifying. On the other hand, the Savior promised, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The choice is mine; Walk by the light of my own puny sparks or walk in the noon-bright light of Jesus Christ.

But it isn’t just the amount of light that this verse is talking about. Trying to generate my own sparks takes an enormous amount of effort. I learned that from watching my brother. But to walk in the light of Jesus Christ only requires my submission to Him which means more light with less effort!

On a practical level, what Isaiah has taught me in this verse is that if I am feeling overwhelmed or stressed or over-anxious, I stop and examine what I am doing and invariably I find I am trying to make my own light. On those occasions, I drop the flint and steel, take a deep breath, and let in The Light. When I let God take over, things work out. Walking in His Light is so much easier than trying to produce my own light.

The Prince of Peace

The more you study the scriptures, the more you find startling things that at first don’t seem right. You have to stop and ponder them awhile in order to understand them. One of these is the Savior’s statement in Matthew: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. (Matt 10:34). Now, this is the man we called the Prince of Peace! What is going on here? The Prince of Peace declares that He has come with a sword?

If we back up a little this begins to make more sense. Jesus is giving his apostles instructions before he sends them out to preach the gospel and he is warning them that they are going to encounter persecution. “Expect it!” He is saying.

We see this still today. Where ever the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, the adversary fights it in any way he can. He causes parents to refuse to let their children join the Church or children to turn against parents who have decided to join. While the Savior knows that His gospel is peace, He also knows that the acceptance of that gospel is going to cause havoc. Therefore, the gospel is a sword that divides truth from error, good from evil, and light from dark. But it also can separate families, separate us from our comfort zone, or separate us from the material things we love in the world. Sometimes our peace needs to be disturbed so that we can grow!

Sometimes we mistakenly think that if we are doing what we should be doing everything will just work out happily ever after. But often when we are pursuing righteousness, the adversary will do all in his power to thwart us and we will experience times of trouble. We will feel the sword cutting into our lives. But if we hang on to truth, eventually things will work out. Truth will triumph. Peace will triumph. Jesus Christ will triumph.

Phantom

I am now in Hanford, California, just south of Fresno. Instead of lemon trees in the yard, Talena has orange trees. It is like being in a foreign land! I love it.

On the way down here we watched the movie Phantom of the Opera and I was struck anew with the symbolism of light and dark. The theme is the same as what we have been discussing--Living in Truth. So much pain in life is unnecessary pain that comes about because we choose it. It is so sad that we suffer so much when all we need to do is let go of the pain and live in truth.

What other plays or artistic works have inspired you that use this theme of light vs.dark or truth vs. illusion? Without thinking too hard, I can come up with several. It is a major theme in literature and art. How have these works touched or inspired you?