Working in Truth

There is lots of work to do at our house today. Before Christmas we painted and re-carpeted the downstairs. We are now repainting the upstairs. It will be so nice, but in the meantime, I am once again living in chaos and experimenting with Truth Tools to determine what helps me stay in the Realm of Truth amidst this mess. Mr. J is working hard. I’m working as hard as I can. (I’ve got a head cold I can’t seem to shake!) And we are at the point of the project where things keep getting messier instead of looking better. Clearing out the library to paint is a major undertaking. I have about 3,000 books and then there is the computer with a thousand cords connecting to everywhere! 

I'm using every Truth Tool in my tool box. Right now I’m using music, anchoring, and humor all at the same time to keep me grounded in Truth. If I let my head wander in thoughts about the mess and how long I am going to have to live like this, I slip into the Pit fast. Instead I have to make games out of the situation by using my imagination to think about how intriguing this is—to dwell on the fun of having a legitimate mess. Right now I’m pretending I’m a child coming into this room where everything is stashed and imagining what a delight this would be. Books are stacked everywhere and furniture makes the room into a maze. 

I’m not sure any of this makes sense—kind of like my rooms right now, but I do know I’m staying in Truth and enjoying the now. Whatever it takes!

Hope you are having a holiday full of fun!

Feel the Spirit

If you sit quietly for a moment today and concentrate, you can feel the holiness of the Sabbath. It is very real.

Earthquakes and Truth

Today is the birthday of my number four grandson. He is now eighteen years old and a very fine young man just like our three older grandsons. But his birthday always brings back the memory of the night he was born in California—the night I experienced my first and only earthquake. (I hope it stays only!) It was a big earthquake (As I recall it was a 5.3) but miraculously didn’t do any serious damage. No one was hurt. But the feelings I had that night will never be forgotten.

It is a very strange thing when something as solid and reliable as the earth you are standing on is no longer solid or reliable. The feeling that fills the pit of your stomach when you feel the earth pitch and roll when it has always been stable can’t even be put into words. But it is a perfect example of what it means to Live in Truth. When the earth is rumbling and tumbling the first thought in your head is, “The earth shouldn’t be moving!”  But the Truth is that the earth is moving. You could sit there in that terrified state claiming the earth shouldn’t be doing what it is doing, but that doesn’t help a thing. Instead of dealing with what should be happening, you need to deal with what is happening. That is Truth!

It is easy to see in the case of an earthquake, but with so many other things in life we let the “should be” or “shouldn’t be” things distract us from what is and when that happens we slip into the Pit of Illusion. Living life in the Pit is painful and often, as in the case of the earthquake, it is dangerous. Instead we need to face the facts, deal with the Truth of any situation, and live life to the fullest (and safest!) by living in the Realm of Truth.

I'm On My Soap Box!

Yesterday I had the opportunity of hearing Condoleezza Rice speak at BYU. I was very impressed. She spoke about a lot of things that resonated with me, but one thing she said was how much she didn’t like the self-esteem movement. Oh, yes! Instead of helping our youth learn how to strive for excellence, we’ve taught them that no matter what they do they are excellent. And that just isn’t true. We’ve raised a generation of young people who think they are entitled to everything just because. And that just isn’t true. I had a student from last semester in my office just this week arguing that I should have given her an A just because. She was four points away from an A and she kept saying I should just give her the four points because she had come into my office to talk to me about it. 

As you can probably tell, I’m on my soapbox! This is something that has concerned me for some time and I was delighted to hear Rice acknowledge it as a problem.  We’ve become so concerned with making sure that no one’s feelings get hurt that we no longer teach how to not have hurt feelings. We don’t commend anyone for good things done because that might make someone who didn’t do good things feel bad. That kind of attitude shifts all responsibility for attitudes and feelings to others which just isn’t true. We are all responsible for our own attitudes and feelings.

When we live in Truth we learn to rejoice with others who have accomplished and excelled or are just plain blessed even if they do have more than we have. When we live in Truth we realize that if we want to serve and be accepted by others we need to earn that acceptance not have it handed to us just because. Self esteem comes from inside you and evolves from what you are and do; it is not something that can or should be handed out like chewing gum with someone making sure that everyone gets a piece that is the exact same flavor and size.

Using Good

Life gets so busy and hectic that it is often easy to get so caught up in the routine things that need to be done that we forget about the goodness and power of God that could be helping us. We are taught in the scriptures that all good things come from God (Moroni 7:12). And anything that comes from God is empowering, enriching, and encouraging. In other words, good is more powerful than evil. The supreme example of this is the Atonement which will eventually triumph over all evil.

The problem is that we get impatient. We don’t wait long enough. We nicely ask our children or spouse or others to do something and when they don’t do it in the time frame we want, we lose our patience and resort to tactics such as yelling, manipulating or other bad practices to get what we want. 

I love the story of how President John Taylor once used the Truth Tool of music to help good conquer evil. Two men came into his office while he was President of the Quorum of the Twelve who wanted him to settle a bitter quarrel they were having. President Taylor invited them to sit down and then told them he would be happy to help them, but first he wanted them all to sing a hymn. The three men sang, and when they were finished President Taylor said that singing inspired him so that he couldn’t just sing one hymn he wanted to sing another. And so they did—and then they sang another and another until the men were melted to tears, shook hands, and left without ever telling President Taylor what the problem had been.

Just as President Taylor did, there are many ways we can use good to solve our problems if we just remember that good will always triumph over evil if we are patient and persistent in using good.

The Soul's Desire

The Good News! today is about prayer, and I’d like to share one of my very favorite quotes on prayer with you. This came from Elder John A. Widtsoe, who was an apostle from 1921 to 1952. Every sentence is packed with meaning and instruction. He says, “Prayer is a request for further light, protection or whatever else is desired. Prayer is the first and greatest means of reading God's messages, for by intense prayer man gradually places himself in tune with the infinite so far as his request is concerned. Those who do not ask, naturally do not establish an understanding relationship with the unseen world, and no message appears. The Being of higher intelligence, to whom the request is directed, may or may not grant the prayer, but some answer will be given. Prayer has been said to be ‘the soul's sincere desire.’ Only when it is such will the fullest answer be obtained, and it is doubtful if such a prayer is ever refused. No prayer is unheard. The place and time of prayer are of less importance. Morning, noon and night, prayer is always fitting. However, it is well to be orderly, and to beget habits of prayer, and certain hours of the day should therefore be set aside for prayer, both in private and in the family. Frequent and regular prayer helps to remind man of his dependence on a Being of higher intelligence in accomplishing the great work of his heart. A man should pray always; his heart should be full of prayer; he should walk in prayer. Answers will then be heard as God pleases. Seldom is a man greater than his private prayers.”

“To become properly tuned with the guiding intelligent Being, one must not pray in a stereotyped way. A man must give himself to the matter devotedly desired in the form of prayer, and then support it with all his works. Prayer is active and not passive. If a thing is wanted a man must try to secure it. Then, as a man devotes all of himself to the subject of the prayer, his attitude becomes such as to make him susceptible to the answer when it shall be sent. Prayer may be said to be the soul's whole desire.”

(A Rational Theology [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1915], 76‑77.)

The Process of Revelation

In the account of the Jaredites we read of the time that the brother of Jared was building barges to take he and his people to the Promised Land. It is a story we are all familiar with, but one that has been misinterpreted often. In the account we are told that the Brother of Jared encountered two problems with these barges that he didn’t know how to solve. When this is taught it is too often explained that the lesson of the story is that we should think things through and then take our plans to the Lord for approval.

But that is not what happens here. The Brother of Jared recognizes that there are two problems. The barges are so air tight that the inhabitants will not have enough air, and they are dark inside. So he goes to the Lord and asks how to solve the problems. The Lord immediately tells him how to fix the air problem. He tells the Brother of Jared to make holes with coverings in the floor and in the ceiling of the barge then when they need air they can open the top hole to let air in and if water gets in with the air they can open the bottom hole and push it out. Air problem solved.

The Lord then asks the Bother of Jared how he would like to solve the light problem. But even then He tells the Brother of Jared that windows won’t work and neither will fire. With these qualifications in mind and with the invitation from the Lord given to come up with a solution, the Brother of Jared then determines that if the Lord will touch 16 stones he has molten out of rock, it will solve the problem. He makes the stones, takes them to the mountain top, and asks the Lord to touch them. The Lord obliges and the stones provide light for the journey.

The important thing to note here is that the experience does not begin with the Brother of Jared thinking everything through and solving the problems. It begins and ends with prayer. The Brother of Jared takes his concerns to the Lord and is given one answer and told to think through the other problem. While it is good for us to use our own intellect and try to work out our own problems, every step of that process needs to be accompanied by prayer. If we are truly yoked with the Lord, He will be part of every thought and every solution, not just someone we turn to at the end for the stamp of approval.