Going from Good to Best

Got to speak in sacrament meeting today. I still get just as nervous as ever. Seriously, I shake so much when I get up to speak. Here is the outline/short hand version of my talk.

“What actual changes did I make because of anything I heard or was asked to do in conference?” (Asked by Elder Holland at our Regional Conference)

·      Did I make any changes?

·      “Do our church meetings do anything?” (Asked by Elder Holland)

“[It is] good to hold a meeting, better to teach a principle, but best to actually improve lives as a result of the meeting.” Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best”

·      It was good that I listened to conference

·      Better that I learned principles

·      But Best would have been to have made actually changes because of what I learned in conference

We see an example of an effective church meeting, the best kind, in the Book of Mormon when King Benjamin gives his final address to his people. After hearing his address, the people of Zarahemla had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mos. 5:2) and that change brought with it the desire to act and “enter into a covenant” (Mos. 5:5).

Each of us can think of a time when we have experienced this same mighty change not only in our desires but also in our actions that comes as a result of a best church meeting, general conference, institute or seminary class, youth conference, or perhaps even a simple personal study of the scriptures. So what can we do to experience these best church meetings more often? We can learn much from the example of King Benjamin’s people.

1.     “The people gather themselves together…that they might go up…to hear the words which…should [be] spoken unto them” (Mos. 2:1).

·      Went up with real intent: Fully intended to do what they committed to do, or to hear the message they had gone up to hear. They didn’t go up for a nice vacation or to see old friends, while these might have been benefits of making the journey. Their true purpose was to hear the words of King Benjamin.

·      We too must go with that same attitude to hear the words that will be spoken unto us. There may be other blessings that we enjoy—such as the association of good friends and family—but we should not let those things that are good distract us from what is best.

2.     “And they pitched their tents round about the temple” (Mos. 2:6).

·      In a modern day revelation, the Lord said, “Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places; And prepare for the revelation which is to come” (D&C 101:22-23).

·      The Lord explained in another verse of scripture how it is that we can “prepare for the revelation which is to come” while standing in these holy places:

Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, from all your lustful desires, from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings (D&C 88:121).

·      Thoughts and conversations about the “things that matter most.”

3.     “And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings” (Mos. 2:3)

·      Thought and Pondered about Christ’s atonement

·      While we may not offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, we do offer the sacrifice of our sins, our weaknesses, and our imperfections when we partake of the sacrament and we make an offering of our will and the best we have within us.

·      We also renew our baptismal covenants and the promise that “[we] may always have his Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20:77)

o   Sometimes, because of today’s society, we overlook the importance of events such as the sacrament. Society teaches us to judges things based on the rarity of its occurrence: the more often something occurs the less valuable it is.

o   At times we adopt this attitude in relation to our church meetings. We value some meetings as more important because they happen less frequently throughout the year; however, the fact that we hold sacrament meeting weekly attests to its importance. What other saving ordinance does every member of the church participate in not only more than once for his or her own self, but also weekly?

o   It is also important to note the order in which things happen during sacrament meeting. Why do we take the sacrament and then listen to talks? Why do we even listen to talks? One possible reason is that right after partaking of the sacrament is one of the moments in which we are best prepared to receive the promptings of the Holy Ghost as we have just renewed the promise to have his constant companionship; and those promptings will come as we hear the words spoken and will show unto us the changes we need to make in our lives to more fully live our covenants that coming week.

To qualify ourselves to receive those precious revelations that will guide us through our next week and help us turn a good meeting into a best meeting, there are some things that we must do. Elder Richard G. Scott, in his talk entitled “How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Life”, stated:

Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation. Such recording of direction of the Spirit should be protected from loss or intrusion by others.

A few simply steps can help us to record and keep sacred this revelation.

1.     Write down the question: “What actually changes will I make because of anything I heard today?”

2.     Answer that question. Form specific answers instead of generalities. "I will attend the Temple weekly or every other week" instead of "I will attend the Temple more often."

3.     Write out how you plan to accomplish those goals you have made for yourself.

4.     Make prayer a part of the process and be accountable.

As you pray personally...seek inspiration on what you should do…. As you follow your plans, pray and ask the Lord for guidance. Have a prayer in your heart throughout the day that the Spirit will help you know where to go, what to do, and what to say. Ask yourself, “What more can I do?” In your prayer at the end of the day, give an accounting of your work.

Preach My Gospel, pg. 151

5.     Finally we must follow the promptings that come to act.

·      Heavenly Father will bless us not only with the inspiration of what to do but also with the power to do it.

"The Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

1 Nephi 3:7

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power"

2 Timothy 1:7

You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

We Bought a Zoo

·      Faith is a principle of action and power. First we must act, then the power comes, "something great will come of it," and miracles will happen. The Lord will not put words into our mouth until after we have opened it and he will not part the sea until we have taken the first step and gotten our feet wet.

As we do these things we will move from having meetings that are good, to better, and finally to best. We will experience real change in our lives; even the mighty change of heart and we will make and keep sacred covenants. We will not only receive his image in our countenance, but also have it engraven upon us.

Learning to Act, and Not to be Acted Upon

Ok, so it seems like everything lately that I have posted has just been the more social side of life, so I figure I should have at least one post with the more spiritual things. I have had a lot of poignant thoughts of late and so I thought I would share some of those.

Really everything I have to say today has a common starting point. Back in November of last year Elder Bednar came to our mission. I think that was one of the most influential moments in my mission and has caused great changes in me and my way of seeing the gospel ever since. If you pay ever take the time to read Elder Bednar's talks, you will notice that without fail, he mentions acting and not be acted upon, referring to 2 Nephi 2:14. He will explain that we have been created to act, making us agents. We are not to be objects that are simply acted upon. That simple preface has greatly changed my way of seeing myself and the gospel. Here are three of the ways I have seen that I turn myself into an object hoping to be acted upon rather than becoming an agent and acting for myself.

Prayer

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

 Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21

During our conference with Elder Bednar, he talked to us about praying with faith. He gave an explain of a prayer that each of us has heard: the member prays and asks Heavenly Father "to bless those who aren't here today that they will be here next week." Elder Bednar said, "That is a sincere prayer, but faithless." He explained that a true prayer of faith requires action on our part. He explained that Heavenly Father wouldn't magically make those people come back, wouldn't send His angels to bring those people back, when He a congregation full of people who have covenanted to do exactly that. He continued by explaining that a prayer of faith would be to tell Heavenly Father that we recognized many of our brothers and sisters weren't there, and that we were going to leave right then to go and get them--that WE were going to do everything to make sure they were with us the next week, even bring them with us. Elder Bednar said that they only we would ask in such a prayer is that Heavenly Father inspires us that "we don't all visit the same person." That, he told us, was a prayer of faith.

My mission president talked with us about that some time later as well. Talked about how we pray before leaving every single day that we can find people prepared to hear the gospel; and then we go through the entire day without talking to anyone and we wonder why we didn't find anyone. Or we say it is because Heavenly Father didn't answer our prayer or that it just wasn't the day to find someone. He then continued on to talk about how great it would be if instead of our families and friends praying that we find those that are prepared to hear the gospel, that they pray that we might be obedient, so that we can have the company of the Holy Ghost and be lead to those who are ready.

Yesterday when my mom said the prayer before dinner, she said something that I say daily, but it just kind of clicked finally. She asked Heavenly Father that He lead and guide us. And I realized something. Why would Heavenly Father not lead and guide us? Why do I always ask Him to lead and guide me as if He weren't going to? I realized that a much better petition would be to ask His help that I might recognize His guiding hand and the voice of the Holy Ghost--that I might have to the courage to follow the course which He is charting for me. I suddenly started to better understand the scripture quoted above. I feel that sometimes we--and especially myself--worry too much about the blessing when we pray and not enough about our own part. We ask Heavenly Father to bless us as though He wouldn't otherwise. And I do feel like we should ask those blessings. But I feel that more important than asking the blessing is that we ask that blessing as a consequence to our "obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." I feel it more important that we pray to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost rather than ask that we be guided.

When we just ask the blessing, we turn ourselves into objects to be acted upon. We ask Heavenly to make us an object and drag us through the right path. What He wants is that we be agents, and consciously act and choose to follow the path. Of course He will guide us, but it is more of Him telling us where to step, rather than forcing us to step there. I think that we often don't realize that that is what we are asking Him to do in our prayers--that we ask Him to remove all opportunity for growth. We subconsciously seek for the plan that Lucifer introduced and that we all rejected. It is quite the irony.

Fear and Weaknesses

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Ether 12:27

This is another scripture that has taken on new life for me recently. I think many times we turn ourselves into objects (we don't act) because we fear failure. We fear that our weaknesses will inhibit our ability to achieve success. I know that has been a big factor in my own life. Throughout my mission and even more so in just the last few weeks I came to better understand not only this verse, but also this entire passage of scripture that must be examined in its whole to understand that single verse.

As we examine this passage we can see that it is Moroni relating his personal experience of writing the plates. First he expressed his fear that comes because of his weakness in writing. He fears that the Gentiles will mock him and not accept this record that would become so important to their salvation. The Lord promises that the meek will accept his weakness. Moroni is comforted and recognizes that the Lord works according to our faith--which Joseph Smith called a principle of action and power--and prays that the Gentiles will have charity. That Lord responds that it matters not if they have charity for he--Moroni--has been faithful.

Application time. So many times we have something we need to do. A prompting to follow. Maybe it is to share the gospel with someone. Maybe to call a friend. Maybe to stand up for our beliefs. The possibilities are limitless. And what is the first thing we do? We start justifying why we can't complete that task. We fear the Gentiles will not accept us because of our weakness in writing. Or in other words, that they will mock us. We fear that person we will share the gospel with wont accept. We fear our friend will think it weird that we called or be annoyed. We fear that we will be mocked because of the things in which we believe. We let our fears paralyze us. Sometimes we fear that we won't be successful sharing the gospel, that we won't know what to say, or that we are just one in a sea of many. At any rate, we let fear act upon us and turn us into objects rather than being agents.

But that is why what the Lord says before promising that we will make our weaknesses strong so important. In verse 26 the Lord responds to Moroni's fear saying, "Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness." The fools will mock us. Some people won't accept our message. Some will make fun of us because of those things in which we believe. But more importantly, the meek will not take advantage of us because of our weakness. They will accept our humble offering. And they will be blessed. And while today the fools may mock us, one day they will mourn that decision.

And this is what life is really about: learning to overcome our weaknesses through faith in Christ. And that requires that we act. That we step outside our comfort zone. That we do hard things. Or things that are hard to us. And sometimes it may not all work out the way we want it to. But we will be able to say that "[we have] been faithful; wherefore [our] garments shall be made clean" (verse 37).

Complacency

“The purpose of the gospel is … to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature.”

President David O. McKay

in Conference Report, Apr. 1954, 26

This is the final way that has really been on my mind lately of how we turn ourselves into objects rather than acting as agents. Something I have noticed in life is how easy it is to become complacent--to become content to be where we are. It is in many ways similar to what I just wrote about; but this time instead of fear paralyzing us and keeping us from acting, we keep ourselves from acting. Again, we don't want to step outside our comfort zone. I think many times we see the power of the Atonement as being relevant to sin. It helps us repent. It helps us fix what we broke. It helps us to become clean again. In other words, it helps "to make bad men good...." But I think sometimes we think that that is as far as we need to go. Sometimes I think that we think that is the extent of the Atonement's power. Or that that is its most power function.

However, the Atonement requires us to step much further than just becoming good. It requires us to become better. It is not enough simply to have "no more disposition to evil," but we must have the disposition "to do good continually." I feel that the greatest power of the atonement isn't to make us clean from sin. That is absolutely necessary, however it would be meaningless if it were not for the Atonement's power to make us perfect. The true power of the Atonement lies in its ability to change human nature. But that change cannot be partial. It cannot simply include the abandoning of sin, but must be composed of the abandoning of sin combined with the adopting of righteous habits and characteristics. And the Atonement helps us to make those part of our life as well. It requires action, or faith. But through its power we can find ourselves becoming more Christlike.

So those have been my recent gospel thoughts. I hope that you were blessed with some inspiration for putting up with my lengthy rambling and jumble of thoughts.

Week One of Summer

Wow, has a whole week already gone by? It seems like it has gone way to fast. Many times throughout the day I think of something I should write a blog post about, but it doesn't ever seem to happen. Just too much going on right now. However today I have a bit of chill time before heading over to institute, so the quick rap up of my first week of summer and who knows what other random thoughts will accompany this post.

My summer couldn't have had a better start as I went and played volleyball last wednesday. I know I always talk about volleyball, but I seriously can't even begin to tell you how much I love it. It has probably been my best experience since getting home from the mission and I have gotten to know lots of new people.

Which already brings me to one of my random thoughts from the last few days. And weeks I guess. I don't know why, but it is so much easier now for me to make new friends. Well, I should say that differently. I know why it is easier: because of the mission. But I mean it is easier for me to make new friends that keep the friendships going from before. I just feel like there is this huge gap that exists between my high school life and my post mission life. I find it fairly easy now to take to new people. But I struggle immensely to carry on a conversation with people I have known and been friends with for years. In a lot of ways I also don't really want anything to do with my "former life." I wish I could keep all my friends but just start those friendships over. Of course there are a lot of memories I would love to keep, but also so many that I would love to get rid of. I guess that is one of the reasons I really like making new friends: I get to start off with a clean slate. It is something that has really helped me understand Pres. Uchtdorf's talk a lot better. Because seriously, the more I feel like this the more I realize how important it is that I let things go and treat others how I would want to be treated and just forget some things.

Work has been going great. We actually already starting talking calls last wednesday and I made a sale that first day. I have made a couple sales since which has been sweet. It is really tough at first but you start getting the hang of it. It is hard to learn all the sales process and the products and remember all that while talking to a customer, but it is starting to come. Today was a bit of a frustrating call. Right now we only spend a few hours on the phone and I didn't get a sale on any of the first five calls I took. And some were just fluke things which makes it even more frustrating. But I finally managed to get a sale on my last call that I took today which was a little moral booster.

Last week was really a pretty quiet one. Saturday was a crazy day though. Got up and did a lot of work in the yard because we were doing a mother's day bbq with my siblings. That was lots of fun to get the family together. After I went and met up with Ali Lindsey for a little and it was really good to see her again. Highlight of the day was heading over to the temple and spending a little time there. It had already been almost three weeks since the last I had gone. It really is just so relaxing to be at the temple. I didn't do baptisms saturday, however I do think that baptisms are my favorite to go and do. After we have been through the temple we seem to forget that we can still do them, but i really think baptisms are my favorite and when I feel the most peace. Yes the celestial room is great, but that doesn't mean the rest of the temple isn't.

Watched Midnight in Paris with my mom on saturday night. Loved all the random people they throw into that movie. I just kept laughing everytime a new author got introduced.

Sunday. Great day as always. Went to Anthony's homecoming. Forgot to mention I visited him on thursday not long after he got home. Oh yeah, and friday went to the reception for one of my best friends. I should add one of the pictures from that. But so sunday. Homecoming. My own ward. Ward prayer. Game night. Not much else to say. Spiritual and social. Can you ask for more?

Monday. Just work and then an awesome fhe activity. Went to the park and played some random games then played ultimate frisbee. It has been a long time since I played. It was great to once again be running up and down the field after that flying disc, jumping over people and diving to catch it.

Other random thoughts. Girls. Yes, girls. So I know all of you girls rant about us guys. Don't deny. I have listened to many of you as you rant about us. So here are a couple of my recent frustrations. And just know that I am totally laughing as I talk about all these things. While they may be frustrating and leave me exasperated, I find them totally ridiculous and worth having a good laugh about.

First. If you are going to talk to me, please, talk to me. I realize that a guy like me--that strong and silent type that is so completely average, not that great looking, balding, and with no sense of style--can be really intimidating to talk to. So I will do you a favor and do everything I can to carry on the conversation if you come and talk to me. I am a lot better at it now than I used to be. But please, don't come and say "hi" to me only to then not say anything, give me one word answers, and just act totally uninterested in the conversation. That you started. By coming up to me. You didn't have to come and talk to me. So don't act like you don't want to talk to me.

And second. If you are going to act like I don't exist, I am going to make it really easy for you. If you want to pretend you don't know me, I won't try and convince you otherwise. If you don't want to acknowledge my presence, I won't try and force myself upon you. But don't act like I don't exist expecting me to try harder. And don't act like I don't exist and then pretend it never happened and be totally fake with me about it later. Seriously. Just be honest. I won't get my feelings hurt.

Anything else on my mind recently? I am sure lots of things but that is everything that really stick outs right now. I am really looking forward to this week. It is already going to be another busy one. Volleyball tomorrow. Thursday is temple day for stake conference. Friday I already have one reception to go to plus anything else that goes on that night. Saturday there is a session of conference to go to. And sunday stake conference itself. And of course, all the other adventures sure to happen in between. Needless to say, I am looking forward to this week.

100 Days of Summer

So tonight at institute, Sister Nelson talked to us about our "100 Days of Summer" and what we were going to do with them. While of course this was focused around more spiritual things I think for most of us, it actually got me decided on doing something I wanted to do anyway: making a summer bucket list. I want to make this a break out summer like what Sister Nelson talked about not only in respect to my spiritual growth and this summer being the summer i really started becoming the person i wanted to be, but also in making it the funnest and most memorable possible. So for that, I want to enlist your help my awesome friends. What should I add to my summer bucket list to make this the most memorable summer ever? I am open to any and all suggestions (although that doesn't mean I will accept them haha). But seriously, I would love to hear what you all think would make this summer memorable. My 100 Days of Summer will begin tomorrow.

Update about the weekend. So awesome. I mean really. Went to the RSL game saturday. It was everything I was hoping it would be and more. Lots of fun. Lots of yelling. Lots of awesomeness. I have made a few friends at volleyball, the Kelseys, and I went with them and a few of their friends which was cool. It is kinda weird because they are all older. I mean really it isn't weird at all, until I think about it. Hanging out with them feels normal. It is only when I stop to think about the fact that they are all a few years older that it kinda weirds me out.

Sunday was great just like every Sunday. The fireside with Elder Jensen was especially espectacular. I never knew we could learn so much from trees. Also hit some game nights which was a good way to finish the night

Yesterday=First day at work!!! Wahoo! I don't know I ever mentioned I got the job with clearlink (or that I was interviewing for that matter) but I did! It is a call center that takes inbound sells calls. So right now I am just going through their three week training process. Yesterday was all right. We also had a great FHE last night. Did a BBQ at the park. Can I just tell you I love summer.

Today was day two at work. Highlight of the day? Watching the bed intruder news report and song. It is fun to see the things you missed on out while in a foreign country. Also as you figured out went to institute. That was excellent too. So there is my life in a nutshell. Peace out until another day.

Avengers!!!!

You know that age old question of DC or Marvel? Well my mind got made up last night. Move over Justice League (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, and quite a few others), I am now a fan of the Avengers. That movie was incredible. I came out of the theatre wanting to jump off things and do some crazy flips while pretend fighting some bad guys. Seriously. What an adrenaline rush. All that stored up energy from just being at home doing nothing this week was really wanting to get out.

It has been a pretty sweet week so far. We had a legit picture scavenger hunt for FHE. And we found a real, living buffalo to take a picture with. It may have been a baby, but still a sweet find.

Wednesday night continues to be a stunner. Oh how I love volleyball. Especially when I am starting to play well. I got some sick blocks and that really made the night for me. I also am starting to get some good spikes and serves as well. After we made a wendys run and ate at a park. Also awesome.

Last night. Avengers. Oh my goodness. So fantastic. I haven't seen Iron Man 2, Captain America, or Thor, but after seeing Avengers last night I am really wanting to watch those. Anyone want to have a movie night?

Today. Well, right now I am listening to the Rio soundtrack and that Samba beat is bringing back that excess of energy I was feeling last night. Maybe the lyrics of the music down in Brasil are terrible, but man do I miss the beat. I really need to get out and do something.

Tomorrow. Might go to the Real game. Hopin' everything works out. That will be the perfect way to let out all this energy. Nothing like yellin' and screamin' for 90 minutes.