Musings on "Good"

It is difficult to think of the creation account without the words “and it was good” popping into your mind. Just four verses into Genesis, we encounter the word good for the first time in the Bible. In addition, in that first chapter God declares things to be good six more times. Since good is one of those words we’ve known the meaning of since we began to speak English, we don’t stop to think much more about it. Good is good. Right? Well not quite.

The Random House Webster’s College Dictionary 1996 lists 49 definitions for the word good and tells us good can be used as an adjective, adverb, or noun. The adjective good means “of a favorable character or tendency” and intensifies the word it modifies as does the adverb good. When used as a noun good has more insightful definitions that include “something conforming to the moral order of the universe,” “something useful or beneficial,” or “advancement of prosperity or well-being.”

I’m not sure it is possible to understand the meaning of the concept good by isolating any one of these definitions. Instead the meaning becomes clearer as we explore them all. Certainly when our Father in Heaven acknowledged the world as good it was because it was pleasant and benign, but it was much more than that–it was all that is good. It conformed to the moral order of the universe and was not only useful but necessary for us to achieve prosperity, happiness, and well being.
When thought of in these ways, the pronouncement “it is good” takes on whole new meaning. When created, the earth was benign. It didn’t heave its waters onto the land to flood and destroy. It didn’t rumble and quake its sure foundation so that cities fell in ruin and valleys pushed to unattainable heights. In the beginning, the earth was benign. All it produced and did was to benefit mankind. It protected and promoted the welfare of all that God created and thus it was good.

While the Genesis account underscores the fact that all God made is good. Mormon turns it around to explain that “All things which are good cometh of God” (Moroni 7:12). Just as there are many definitions of the word good, there are endless good things in this world. The choices we have for participating in good are limitless. No matter what a person likes to do, there is plenty of good to choose from. As a matter of fact, there is so much good that every person on earth can find something to satisfy his or her own interests within the realm of good. All that matters is that we are part of that vast array of the good God has created–that we contribute to the prosperity, happiness, and well being of God’s children. If we do this, one day God will say to us, “Well done thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

Just Checking In

It has been a very busy day of meetings, responsibilities, and family gatherings. I am physically tired, but happy. I'm too tired to write anything tonight, but I promise to post something tomorrow.

Thanks for your encouragement and support. I've received some great stories on the Truth Tools and Living in Truth. Keep them coming! It really helps me.

My New Baby!

After a grueling week of reading the typeset copy of my book Gospel Insights for Everyday Living on my computer, I feel like my brain is fried. But I am excited! I’ll read it one more time tomorrow looking for typos we haven’t caught before and then it should go to press on Monday.

Writing a book is a lot like having a baby. The gestation period is long and lonely. But I get attached to it even before it is “born,” and can’t wait to see what it will look like once it is finished. I struggle with the changes editors want to make, and when things are cut, I feel the labor pains intensely! But once the book is done and on the shelves of book stores, I know I’ll forget the pain and only be excited. Soon!

I’ll keep you posted as to when it will be in stores. If you like the book, by all means tell me. If you don’t, please keep it a secret. Remember it is my baby you’re talking about!

Using the Key

A key is "a means of gaining entrance, possession, or control." We all have keys to our homes and cars. But the most important keys aren't always metal--they're mental. The key to living in Truth is to be constantly aware of how the thoughts we are thinking are affecting us. Are those thoughts taking us closer to God or further away? Are they positive and full of hope or negative and discouraging? Do they express a reliance on Jesus Christ, or reflect the idea that we’ve got to do it all ourselves?

Actions flow from our thoughts. Therefore if we control our thoughts, our actions will always be appropriate. But if we let any thought that happens to land there wander around in our head and then try controlling the actions that come from those thoughts, we will constantly be making mistakes and having problems.

But the worst part of not controlling our thoughts is that bad thoughts cause us pain—usually unnecessary pain. “Fret not thyself” (Psalm 37:1) is good advice. Keeping our thoughts full of hope and trust in Jesus Christ allows us to avoid the pit of Illusion and live in Truth.

What a blessing this key can be in our lives, if we just remember to use it.

Anniversary!!!

Today my husband and I are celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversary. How well I remember that day. He picked me up at 6:00 in the morning and we drove the three hours to the Manti Temple where we were married in the Blue Room. My parents, his mother, and a few other people attended. It was simple and yet oh so beautiful. Heaven was with us and has been ever since. And I don't mean that everything since then has been wonderful and glorious. We've argued, worried, cried, struggled, and hurt together, but heaven was our goal and so somehow we worked it all out.

But we've also dreamed, rejoiced, danced, celebrated, and prayed together. Then heaven was with us. It's been a lot of work, but it has been worth it. I've come to realize through it all that love isn't something you fall in or out of. Love is something you make happen.

Writing Truth

I learned a lot last week while teaching my two classes, especially the Truth Shall Make You Free class. I’ve been studying these things for several years now and working hard to incorporate them into my life. But when I learn things, it is seldom in words. Feelings come to me that teach me and then I struggle to put the feelings into the right words. Teaching forces me to articulate what I have learned, but it always brings me face to face with the things I’m not articulating well or have failed to articulate at all.

With Education Week behind me, I will be going back through the book and adding what I learned by teaching, and stripping out the extraneous things that don’t need to be there, and then I’ll submit it. If you’ve had experiences with the Truth Tools, Truth Test, storytelling, necessary and/or unnecessary pain, or with moving from the Pit of Illusion to the Realm of Truth or any of the other principles we’ve talked about in the past on this blog or in my classes, now is the time to share them. I’d love more real-life experiences to use in the book. I can change names and circumstances so that no one will recognize you—if you want. But the stories of how the Truth Tools and Living in Truth work are so much more powerful than me just describing it. So if you care to share, and don’t want to go public by leaving your stories here as a comment, then email me your story: smillsjo at gmail dot com.

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Charity and Fear

Mormon says something very interesting in one of his letters to his son Moroni. He says, “Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear” (Moroni 8:16).

Mormon is at war and has watched his people being slaughtered by the hundreds. He knows the torture, the cruelty, the horrors that wicked men can inflict on others. And yet he says he is not afraid because perfect love casts out fear. I pondered on this a long time trying to understand. Does he mean that because he loves those inflicting the cruelty with a perfect love, he isn’t afraid of what they will do? Or does he mean that loving God with a perfect love, which we call charity, casts away fear so much that no matter what they do to us, we aren’t afraid?

I think the meaning lies within the latter. Having perfect love isn’t about forcing ourselves to love our enemies. It is about loving God and receiving the gift of charity from Him so that love fills us and expels all negative feelings and thoughts. It is so contrary to the natural man that it is difficult to image. But to a man like Mormon, it comes naturally. Perfect love fills him so that he cannot feel fear.

Perfect love or charity is God’s love—a love he shares with us when we seek it with all our heart, might, mind, and soul. And because it is His, it never fails us even in the face of grave danger.