Seasons

The hills are alive with a blaze of color! Maybe it's just that my memory is fuzzy, but I don't think there has ever been such a variety and so much color on the mountains as there is this year. I love it!

We lived for a year in Texas and the thing I missed most was the changing of the seasons. While to some Autumn may seem dreary and dreadful because of the dying out of the vegetation, the days getting shorter and nights longer and colder to me it is a symbol of the highs and lows of life. Yes, we experience some discouraging, dismaying, down right no good experiences. But every fall is followed by a spring.

As the prophet Lehi put it, "There must needs be an opposition in all things." When we think of that we usually think about all good things having an opposite--something negative. But looked at another way it also means that all bad things have an opposite--something positive.

So instead of wallowing in the negative we can think about the positive that is about to follow. There is always a spring and summer after a fall and winter!

Lessons on Chaos

As I’ve been explaining our family chaos this last week it occurred to me that some of you may not know our family situation. So I’ll explain. Mr. J and I have nine daughters and one son. (Yes, he is the last child—the tithing child!) All of them live far away except for D5 who lives nearby. D1 (has six sons) lives in South Carolina, D2 (has three sons and one daughter) lives in California, D3 (has four sons and one daughter) lives in Tennessee, D4 (has four sons) lives in California, D5 (has one son) lives in Orem, Utah!!!! D6 (has one daughter, one son, and another son on the way) lives in California, D7 (has two sons and two daughters) lives in Texas, and D8 (has two sons, one daughter and a baby of unknown gender on the way) has been living in Mauritania, Africa, for the past two years but is now relocating to Seattle, Washington. Our ninth daughter died, and our son (has one son, one daughter, and one baby on the way) live in Utah, but a four hour drive away.

If you were doing the math you know that adds up to 9 children, 9 spouses, and 31 grandchildren. Since most of them live far away, when they come to visit they stay here which means 51 people—thus the chaos. D1 and her six boys didn’t come, but everyone else has been here. It has been fun, but wild! What isn’t broken in the house is dirty, but they will soon all be gone and while we are patching and cleaning up we will miss them. 

The older I get the more I realize what a blessing families are. But the older I get the harder it is to show them how much I love them. This old body just doesn’t do what it used to do. Since Grizelda loud noises literally hurt my head, and this week I am going through another procedure for skin cancer on my face which means I can’t be out in the sun with them. But I’ve managed individual time to snuggle on the couch to read or talk or giggle with each of the grandchildren individually—usually in the mornings before their parents are awake. I love it and will miss that part of the visit.

In short, the past two weeks have expanded my understanding of what Lehi meant when he said, “It must needs be that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11). Every experience, every situation has it’s joy and it’s pain and we just have to choose which we are going to cling to and remember.

Opposition

Just before Lehi dies he calls his family to him and gives them advice and counsel. Part of the counsel to his son Jacob includes this profound statement. “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11). We’ve talked before about how this verse instructs us that opposition is necessary. But there is more taught here.

What did you think when you first read this statement? If you are like most of us, you thought about how opposition means that for every good thing there is a bad thing. That is opposition. However, this statement also means that for every bad thing there is a good thing. This is especially important to realize when thinking about the future. For some reason when we are facing difficult decisions or facing life changes in the future, the fear, the worry, the negative things pop out at us so brightly and loud that we fail to recognize that there is also going to be a positive side because “there is an opposition in all things.”

Therefore, when facing oncoming adversity several of the Truth Tools can help. One is Questioning. When negative thoughts about what might happen pop into our heads we can question it by asking, “Is that true? “ “Will the thing we are fearing really happen?” Yes, it might, but then again it might not. Why let what might not happen destroy our peace? Take it one step at a time. Do what needs to be done. Trust in God. If the thing doesn’t happen—good. You didn’t waste time fearing and worrying. If it comes about God will help you through it when the time comes that you need His help.

Another Truth Tool that helps is one we just talked about—Revision. When fear begins to pull us away from peace, we can Revise the story we are telling ourselves. Refuse to let the story of fear run in our heads and hearts by replacing the story of impending gloom and doom with a story about how Jesus Christ is going to take care of us. That story fills us with peace and joy despite the adversity we are facing. We can also Revise the story by thinking about positive outcomes that could occur or about how family and friends will help us through the trial.

Opposition works for us as much as it works against us. Opposition in all things means that for every bad thing there is also going to be a good. Cling to that thought of good.

The Marvelous Law of Opposition

As Lehi is about to die, he gives his son Jacob some wonderful counsel. One of the many gems of wisdom he shares is this: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Ne 2:11). Every time I’ve heard this I’ve started on the positive side of the equation and thought of the bad thing as the opposition. For example, the opposite of health is sickness. The opposite of wealth is poverty. For some reason opposition always went from good to bad for me.

But what I’m learning now is that opposition also means that dire, negative circumstances have a positive to them. When I was growing up my father used to tell me a story about a boy who wanted a pony for Christmas. Christmas morning he awoke all excited but instead of a pony he found a room full of manure. His parents braced themselves for what they thought would be terrible disappointment, but instead the boy grabbed a shovel and began digging.

“What are you doing?” his father asked.

Without stopping the boy replied excitedly, “With all this manure, there has got to be a pony in here somewhere.”

I’ve got manure right now. Lots of it. But the surprising thing is not the stink. The surprising thing is that because of this wonderful law of opposition, tied to each negative occurrence, event or finding there is a beautiful positive. I’m beginning to find myself anticipating (just like the boy shoveling the manure) the good.

Take last night for example. Yesterday for the first time I began to experience pain in my eye. It is a sharp, biting sensation that shoots through the eye as if someone had stuck a needle in it. But yesterday I also received a marvelous gift. We had tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. As we walked to the Conference Center the beautiful lights on Temple Square were brighter, livelier, richer than ever before. They shot a sensation of absolute delight through my soul that warmed and elated me. I can still feel the joy these many hours later!

Then during the concert, the choir sang “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and as they sang the thought coursed through me that one of the reasons Jesus Christ performed the Atonement was so that he would then be available to me at a time like this. Tears streamed down my cheeks as the full realization hit me. He didn't just suffer for my sins. He didn't just overcome physical death. He suffered, so that he could now succor me.

Jesus Christ is helping me every step of the way and for that I am very grateful.

"The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him." Nahum 1:7

Positive Power

Shortly before Lehi dies he teaches his son Jacob a beautiful lesson on justice and agency. (see 2 Nephi 2) One of the important things Lehi tells Jacob is that "It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass" (2 Nephi 2:11). We often hear the first part about opposition in everything being necessary and focus on the fact that this world contains many negative elements. But the next phrase is important and we don't often hear it or stop to contemplate its meaning—that if there were no opposition there could be no righteousness.

There are several things implied here, but one is the fact that it is through opposites that we have the power to dispel evil. And what do I mean by that? Well, too often in life when trying to overcome a bad habit or repent of a sin we focus on what we don't want to happen. For example, when trying to lose weight we say to ourselves, "Don't eat." But that only puts the mental picture of eating in our heads. The mind can't imagine don't. The mind can only imagine do. A friend once told me never to say to a new teenage driver as she backs out of the driveway, "Don't hit the mailbox" because as soon as you say it, the picture of hitting the mailbox is in her head and the next thing you know a dented car hovers over a fallen mailbox while you try to console the hysterical child.

These opposities, the negatives and the positives of life, are powerful. But the most important thing to realize is that the positives have power over the negatives. When we learn to think in positives, act in positives, and deal with others in positives we bring about righteousness and avoid much pain and suffering in life. "Drive straight out the driveway!" is a positive that avoids the mental picture of hitting the mailbox. "I eat healthy," helps a dieter stay on track. Affirmative thinking is powerful.

But there is more. The only way to overcome negatives is to replace them with positives. The only way to make darkness go away is to replace it with light. It does no good to fight the dark or even say, "Go away dark." Instead you simply let in the light. Opposition can bring about righteousness if instead of fighting against the negatives of life, we ignore them, identify their opposite, and fill our lives with the positives.

The statement that there is opposition in all things means that for every bad thing there is something good. Look for it! Dwell on it! Enjoy!