Buoyed Not Depressed

This morning I received news that a beautiful baby girl had died after suffering through many operations and medical procedures. Yesterday I received news that a young relative has decided that the path marked “eat, drink, and be merry” is more fun than the path marked righteousness. The day before that I heard about a friend going through a terrible divorce and custody battle. It seems like every day there is some horrible news—some death, disaster, or despair. All this news can easily depress us and drag us down into the depths of sorrow and despair—deep into the Pit. But it doesn't have to.

The word depress means to “press down.” And if we look at these types of situations alone they can press us down. But the secret is to to not look down, but to look up. Overcoming the depression these situations cause comes when we see something different. By refusing to “press down” and instead “push up,” we see a Savior taking the little one in His arms and welcoming her home. We see a Savior beckoning with outstretched hands for the young man to return to His embrace. We see a Savior shedding tears of sorrow for the woman who isn’t even aware that His hand is in hers protectively guiding her through her heartache and sorrow. We see.

By looking up instead of down, we see a life preserver, a floating device, that we can latch onto. We are buoyed instead of depressed. We are lifted and encouraged because we see a bigger picture—a picture that includes the Cure, the Healer, the Solution to the sorrow of the world.

You've Only Got One Thing To Do!

Life can seem so overwhelming, but when you Live in Truth you live in the present. That means that all you have to worry about is now. You can’t change one single thing from the past. It’s over and done. You can’t force one single thing to happen in the future. You can plan and set goals, but sickness, natural disasters or other things can get in the way of your plans. All you actually have control over is this very moment, and, therefore, it is all you need to be concerned with. If you do what is right, right now, everything else will take care of itself.

So instead of fretting over having so much to do, or vexing over what you should have done or not done in the past, simply ask yourself what do I need to do right now and then do it. That is the ONLY thing you have to be concerned with. After it is done, the next thing will present itself.

The beauty of all this is realizing that when you concentrate on doing what is right, right now, you put yourself in a position where Jesus Christ can heal your past and lead you into a beautiful future. He’ll take care of everything if you just take care of now.

So take a deep breath and repeat with me, "I've only got one thing to do--what I'm doing right now."

Down With Worry!

Problems and worries are like a pesky fly that you shake off but it just buzzes around and lands on you again. The buzzing is as annoying as the tickle when it lands, but the point is that no matter how you try to concentrate on something else or to not think about the fly, it is always buzzing. Problems and worries are the same.


But there is a secret that helps get rid of them like a flyswatter gets rid of a fly. Write down your problems. It is a worry swatter. When something keeps running through your mind so that you can’t concentrate on other things and you feel the worry sending its tentacles of fear through you, stop and write down in as much detail as you can what you are feeling and why. Then step back and notice how the worry is now out of you and on the paper. It is a like a Sudoku puzzle just sitting there waiting to be solved. Then go about your day leaving the worry on the paper.

Worrying never brings a solution. Worry only pushes you into the Pit of Illusion. Time and inspiration bring solutions. By writing things down, we get the static worry creates out of our heads. And with the worry gone it is surprising how solutions present themselves to the cleared out mind—the mind that is Living in Truth.

I Am A Creator of Good

In the beginning of the Bible we are told that we are created in the image of God. We are also told that God created us as well as this whole earth and everything in it. From this it is apparent that God is a creator, but there is a “hidden” message here.  If we are created in God’s image and God is a creator, we are creators. It is in our nature to be creators.

On the other hand the adversary is a destroyer. Everything he does is meant to tear down, destroy, abolish, and obliterate. 

Understanding this difference becomes very helpful when assessing our own lives and progress. At any point in a day we can determine who we are following by simply asking, “Am I creating or destroying?” If I find myself gossiping, I’m obliterating good thoughts others may have toward the person I'm gossiping about. If I find myself being critical, I’m tearing down. If I find myself getting angry, I’m destroying.

But if I find myself loving, or serving, or giving the benefit of the doubt, or finding the good in whatever is happening, I’m creating. I’m creating good. As children of God, it is intended that we be creators of good just as our Father in Heaven is.  The power to be creators has been given to us through the Atonement. We just have to choose to do it.

Knowing I have the power, right now I’m going to create a good day. How about you?

Savor the Good

The Savior performed many miracles on the Sabbath day which healed people—made them whole. As I’ve studied these miracles, I’ve come to realize that one of the major purposes of the Sabbath is to heal. It is a day for us to reach out and help heal others—heal their loneliness, their discouragement, their disbelief and other such things. It is also a day for us to do the things that heal us. Obviously things like scripture study and pray and taking the Sacrament all do that, but one we might not think about is counting the good.

The mistakes we make and the sins we commit tend to stick in our minds as if glued there with gorilla glue. They haunt us and drag us down and depress us, but if we’ve repented and desire to do better we need to drop the very thought of those things so they don’t weigh us down. Thinking about anything for too long generates more of that thing whether it’s positive or negative. So filling our minds with positive things not only pushes away the negative, it heals us and motivates us to more good.

Therefore, one of the best things to do on a Sunday to help us heal is to take a few minutes to think back through the past week and identify every good thing we did that week. Savor those things like you’d savor the taste of a good chocolate. Feel the good all over again, and let that good define who you are and where you are going. Good begets more good and centering our thoughts on the good energizes us to do more good.

Get in the habit of doing that every Sunday and watch what happens to your week!

Sabbath Scripture-Doubt Not

In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a spirit!" And they cried out for fear.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, "Be of Good cheer; it is I; be not afraid."

And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water."

And he said, "Come."

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me."

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" (Matthew 14:25-31)

Truth In Tandem

I received the nicest letter this week from a woman who had attended one of my classes at BYU Education Week. She was in the class on “Faith Works by Words” and she came away from the class impressed with “how important it is to be positive.” She had attended with a friend and so they decided to help each other turn negatives into positives. While doing this she discovered some things about herself: “I never realized how many times we were negative in a day. We had to catch ourselves so often and each other and turn our comments around. We could either be frustrated and hot while waiting in lines or we could engage in conversation with those around us! At the end of the day we could be tired or filled with new inspiration.”

She sums up what it means to change the way you think so well I just had to share this. But besides being spot on in her analysis, she is sharing something else that is important. When we want to change and grow one of the best things we can do is enlist the help of a friend who also wants to change and grow.

We get so entrenched in our habits that often we don’t realize how they dictate our days or keep us from being the person we want to become. But when someone is helping us they see things that need to be corrected that we don’t see, and they encourage us when we get it right. Having a helper is a great way to learn to Live in Truth.