"Bespeaketh"

There is an interesting verse in the Doctrine and Covenants that’s meaning has escaped me until recently when I finally stopped to look up a word in it. The verse is D&C 60:4, “For I, the Lord, rule in the heavens above, and among the armies of the earth; and in the day when I shall make up my jewels, all men shall know what it is that bespeaketh the power of God.” Always before I had assumed that the word bespeaketh meant speaks, but this time I realized that “what it is that speaks the power of God” didn’t make much sense. So as I instruct my students to do, I went to my dictionary and looked up bespeaketh. A definition about speak (to speak to with formality) is the second definition of the word, but the first definition is “to hire, engage, or claim beforehand.” The third definition is “to request” and the last definition is “to indicate; signify.”

The two definitions that fit best here are the first and last. So the phrase can be read as “what it is that engages the power of God” or “what it is that signifies the power of God.” Both of these make sense and give us beautiful insights as to what is to come. When the Lord gathers His righteous people—His jewels—all people will know that righteousness engages the power of God and all people will know that righteousness signifies the power of God. There will be such an obvious connection that no one will be left wondering how one obtains the power of God.

This is a beautiful promise. Right now so many people deny the power of God, but some day not only will no one deny the power of God, but they will all know what it is that brings the power of God into a person’s life. I can’t wait for the day!

Living Dexterously

Nearly 2,000 years ago Epictetus, a former slave turned philosopher, said, “It is my business to manage carefully and dexterously whatever happens.” Now that is a philosopher worth listening to. On a practical level, what that means is that when the milk spills instead of falling into the dark Pit of Illusion, simply ask, “How can I dexterously deal with this spilled milk?” Of course, to do that we first need to know what dexterous means. A close synonym is the word clever, and it means “showing skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness.”

The beauty of this approach is that as you approach the spill you find yourself excited about the challenge rather than whining from deep in the Pit something like, “Poor me! I’m a scullery maid who has to clean up everyone’s messes!”
With the mentally dexterous mind-set that Epictetus advises, you approach the spill in your most sophisticated Sherlock Holmes manner. “Let’s see,” you say to yourself. “How can I have the most fun with what has happened?” And then you look for possibilities like Sherlock looked for clues. You could bring in a few cats to lick it up. You and the children would have fun watching. You could make a game out of it—set a stop watch and see how fast you can clean it up, or give everyone a rag and a bowl and see who can mop up the most milk and squeeze it into their bowl. You could play in the milk for awhile—take off your shoes and squish the milk between your toes. You could float a rubber ducky on the puddle. You could splash in it. You could sing as you mop it up letting the sound of swish and drip be percussion to your song.

Remember Living in Truth is all about dealing with what is. While pouring the milk, it is fine to admonish yourself, “I should be careful and not spill the milk.” But if a mistake happens and the milk spills, the simple Truth is that it is spilled. That’s what you now have to deal with. No amount of “I should have been more careful,” or “What a waste” or “I am so stupid” or “Why did I do that?” or any other negative thought is going to undo what has been done. All you do with those thoughts is make yourself miserable; you create unnecessary pain. But if you manage the situation dexterously, you can have a lot of fun. You create joy in the present moment and that joy feeds your soul with sheer delight.

Staying Out of the Pit

We’ve talked a lot about Shoulds and Should-Nots on this blog. These are the thoughts that lead us away from Living in Truth and cause us to wallow in the Pit of Illusion. There is always pain in the Pit of Illusion and there is always peace when Living in Truth. One of the great places to see this exemplified in the scriptures is the beautiful Psalm of Nephi (2 Nephi 4:17-35).

Nephi is recounting the death of his beloved father and the anger and resentment of his brothers. As he records these things you can tell they have pierced his heart and he begins to think about all the things he should or shouldn’t have done and falls into the painful Pit of Illusion. He says of this, “my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities . . . my heart groaneth because of my sins.” While Nephi doesn’t use the words should or shouldn’t, he is obviously thinking them. He shouldn’t have been weak, he shouldn’t have iniquities and sins. But the truth is we all do, and while it is good to feel the pain and hurt for those things until we repent, after repenting we need to trust in the Atonement and move on. And that’s exactly what Nephi does. At this point he reminds himself that he has trusted in God (4:19), which means that despite his sins and mistakes Jesus Christ will heal and help him.

But as he reminds himself of all the Savior has done for him, he again begins to think about his failings and this time he says, “Why should I yield to sin . . . why should I give way to temptations . . . why am I angry?” (4:27). Again Nephi realizes that this type of thinking is sin itself and immediately commands himself, “Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.” Then to counter this negative thinking, he commands himself, “Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul” (4:28).

Most of us realize we shouldn’t criticize others. But once we have done something wrong, we need to repent and move on and not criticize ourselves. Like Nephi when we are tempted with negative thinking concerning our own behavior that we have repented of, we need to turn our thoughts to Jesus Christ and rejoice that there is someone who can erase our sins. If we instead constantly wallow in the fact that we are sinners, we add more sin, cause ourselves unnecessary pain, and deny the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So rejoice! The Savior lives and we need to shout out with joy, “Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God” (4:35).

Fall

Friday I spent most of the day wandering the mountains enjoying the autumn leaves. For part of the day, I took two of my grandsons to Cascade Springs. The drive there was magnificent. The rich colors were so vibrant they seemed unreal. No words can begin to describe the valley just before Cascade Springs. From the lookout you can see for hundreds of miles and all you can see are gorgeous patches of brilliant red, orange, mauve, peach, yellow and every shade of green.

As I looked out over the beautiful world God has created, it made me think a lot about the fact that the beauty I was seeing was created by Him with no help from me or any other human being. I think that my own life would be a lot more beautiful and happier if I didn’t try to interfere with what God is doing. Instead I should relax, accept, and move forward knowing that He knows what is best for me. He does good work and if I try to fight it, I only mess things up. I want my life to be like that valley. But in saying that, I have to remember that a few years ago a massive fire destroyed a great deal of that valley. We went up to see it later and instead of the beautiful scenery, there were gigantic black patches. There are still small traced of dead and blackened trees, but overall it is healed and the destruction fertilized and made way for beautiful new growth. It is now more beautiful that it has ever been. Life is like that.

(I'll post the picture of it later.)

Leaving the Ball

The music had ended, but the heart of the young princess still danced with delight as the memories of the beautiful ball swirled within her. The music, her dress, the flattering compliments, the food, the company, the laughter, everything had been perfect. Not wanting the evening to end, she lingered in the ballroom watching the servants clean away the last morsels of tasty delights and carefully put the silver back into the cloth pouches. Humming and watching, she didn’t notice the King approach until He stood beside her.

“You had a good evening,” He said.

“Oh, yes! The best possible evening!” she answered.

“Now it is time to go. You must move on.”

“But why? Isn't this everything you promised! It is so beautiful here. The music may have stopped, but I can still hear it. Listen!”

He smiled down at her. “That is good. Then you can take it with you, But if you are someday to be a queen, you must know all the rooms of the palace. Come. It is time to go.”

Reluctantly she followed, but as he opened the large iron door, she gasped. All that presented itself was darkness—a thick, uninviting blackness so heavy it even smelled of darkness. “But you promised me a kingdom!” the princess exclaimed.

“I did. But you must trust me. You must pass through the Dark Hall to get there.”

“But that can’t be so! You told me that there would be a prince and children and joy and laughter. You told me that peace and happiness were to be my lot. That’s what was here in the ballroom tonight! All I want is right here. But that hall holds none of those things. It holds nothing but terror and fear.”

“This room is not the kingdom. This is only the ballroom. All I can do is tell you the way to the Kingdom and help you to get there. You must decide if you are going to trust my advice or not. Will you enter? Or do you want to stay and relive the memories as you watch the servants continue to clear away the decorations from the ball?”

It was a difficult decision, but slowly the princess forced one foot forward and entered the dark unknown.

The moral of the story? If we want to be Queens or Kings, we must remember that “The goodness of God endureth continually” (Ps. 52:1), even while we are traversing the dark halls that seem to be void of all He has promised. God knows where He is taking us and He knows which halls will lead us there.

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.

Bask In Love

As mortals we crave love. All of us want to feel accepted and loved and cherished. The strange thing is that the very thing we crave—love—is being offered to us moment by moment by Jesus Christ. He loves us and wants us to feel accepted, loved and cherished, but while He offers the very thing we are craving, we often turn our backs on Him and instead try to appease our longing with self-love or love from others. It is like thirsting and at the same time refusing the pure, clear water being offered us because we don’t like the cup it is in.

As the Savior once said, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (John 15:9). Notice he admonishes US to continue in His love. He never withdraws it. To lose it, we must turn away from it.

So how do we continue in His love? Stop right now and feel it. Soak it in. If you can’t feel it, ask to feel it. Stay quiet and observant until you feel it. Then bask in it for a moment so that you can remember the feeling. Memorize it. Pay attention so that you can return to this state any time you want and in any place you want. Come back any time you are tempted by feelings that you are unloved. The more you practice this, the easier it is to feel it. This is the safest place in the world, and the invitation from Jesus Christ Himself is to continue there. He loves you!