Thursday 19Feb09 – Alma60 – Man, that chapter seems to go on forever: Moroni chastising Pahoran endlessly. A huge rant, all of it heart-felt and deserved. Fotunately for Pahoran, he was still a good guy and Moroni came and helped him.

   I told Dad tonight that I was grateful for his self-control in not killing his children when he was mad with us. I am grateful for his patience because it could have been so easy for him. It’s scary to realize that I have the ability to seriously injure or kill someone I love because I get out of control.

   Trust, faith and total humility are synonymous....I hadn’t thought of them that way, but it’s true. Trust -assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. Faith -belief and trust in and loyalty to God. Humility -not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive. Reliance is based on faith and humility, because how can I trust someone I don’t have faith in? And if I am not humble, I ‘don’t think I need anyone at all’. ßPink Floyd reference. I suppose my problem is that I don’t keep a remembrance of the ability of God to deliver me. Or better said, I remember when I am in trouble. I’d be better served in always remembering His desire to help me, rather than only relying on Him when I need help. It’s one thing to be in constant contact and communion with Him, and another only to call out in my extremity. I’d rather try and do the fist one, that way I increase my protection/faith.

  

 

Alma52 – I think that if I had had possession of a Nephite city or 6, I wouldn’t have chased after Teancum’s decoy army. No, I think I’d’ve stayed there and waited for reinforcements.

   Mosiah 3.19 – ‘For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child: submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord sees fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.’ How old does this ‘child’ need to be? Anyone over 2 isn’t likely to ‘yield’ very well, or submit. Man, that seems really hard- dropping back to a point that I can’t even remember. Not able to take care of myself, total trust because I haven’t learned not to. Spiritually, I am finally realizing that I am unable to take care of myself, and to keep myself out of temptation’s path. But to reach this point of 100% reliance upon God and His Christ...my spirit almost seems to quail from the thought and effort it will take. On the other hand, how nice it would be to know that whatever happened, the Lord would be on my side, and I would trust, whole-heartedly, that whatever happened would be the best for me. I wouldn’t have to be perfect, but I would have to try, every day, to put off the ‘natural man’, the self-sufficient, reliable man.

   And that list! I’m not even close to it. I try to be humble, and not think that I am any better than anyone else, and that I don’t need Help to get through anything. Meekness (enduring injury with patience and without resentment) I have problems with. I am sensitive, and thus easily offended. Boo to me. I’m not too patient. I suppose I am not spoiled and demand instant gratification, but I’m not real patient yet. Full of love, to me, also means charity. I don’t think I’m too charitable either. Submissive/willing to submit – nope, not that either. I’m getting better about seeking spiritual strength and Help, but I don’t submit well.

   Once again, I am a good person, with weaknesses to work on.

   Good thing about me for the day: Culinarily speaking, I am not afraid to try new things.

 

Post #2

Tuesday 10Feb09 – Listening to E’ Bednar’s last conference talk, I realize that prayer has dual obligations: ask, and then do. Joseph Smith didn’t ask which church was true, but rather which church should he join. If I am not willing to do after I ask, I am lost. If I ask for strength to resist temptation, but am not willing to resist it, to exercise my agency by pleading for Help in order to resist or to do those things that will help lead my mind in the proper direction or fill it with righteous principles, what is the point in asking? By not doing, I bring trouble upon myself.

   Pres. Kimball ‘(paraphrase) Spiritual knowledge doesn’t come about merely by prayer. It requires persistence and patience.

   E’ Neuenschwander talked about crowds, and how the woman touched Jesus’ clothes in order to be healed. This brings to mind that there certainly are crowds of people, member and non-member alike, there to be with Jesus: to look at, possibly to mock or to entrap, to be with, but a few are there in order to be healed. They are the ones with the faith and the humility, that take full advantage of what the Lord offers: healing. Am I one of the ones of the ‘crowd’ searching for healing, but not looking with all the power I can?

   This life is short, deceptively so. I tend to think that my tomorrow will be much like my today is and has been. I like to put off what I can until tomorrow, because I am of a lazy bent. But, repentance isn’t one of the things that can or should be put off. Life is too short to put that off, or in putting off forgiving someone else. Indeed, repentance and forgiving others are pretty much the only requirements that we have in this life.

   Alma 51 – Amalickiah takes over many Nephite cities because of the dissensions of the king-men inside the Nephite nation. – Stupid dissenters. Why they gotta be that way? Supposedly they thought that they should get to be kings because of their ‘high’ and ‘noble’ birth. This shows to me what happens when people forget that it doesn’t matter who my forebears were, either kings or pioneers in the Church, it matters more what sort of a person I am now, and whether I am keeping the commandments, forgiving others and repenting.

   Jacob4.10 – ‘Wherefore, bretheren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from His hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that He counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all His works.’ The workbook says to write, in the form of a question, something that has been bothering me, and to put it to the Lord, and to write down my answer/His counsel. Here is my question: why am I so quick to forget the good things You have done for me, and why do I so easily give in to temptations and my appetites? The only answer I can feel is that I am not good at praying, and so I easily forget the Lord. By not praying, I am not reminded of the things He has done for me. I pray, but usually only in my times of need. Therefore, I am not consistent in my prayer. So, how can He therefore help keep me in remembrance of His goodness?

   Helpful/good thing – Thanks to the talent that God has given me, I can sing well. Not perfectly, but I can harmonize and sing parts.

 

I miss the 'Muppet Show'...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/02/10/mf.muppet.favorites.stories/index.html

  

Really, I do. I think I’m going to have to find the whole show on DVD, even before I get Deep Space 9 or any other DVDs. Favorite episodes I remember are when John Denver was on, and ‘the Jabberwocky’. Those were fun.

An interesting article...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/02/09/muslims.america/index.html

 

   Basically, the article talks about a university group that goes along through the US, checking out the reactions of people to Muslims. Mostly, the reactions of people seemed to be positive, not full of bigotry and animosity, like I thought it would be.

   I think this is a very good idea, yet I am still saddened that there is still so much hatred-most of it blind. The question they said they were asked ‘Do Muslims love their children’ just makes me shake my head in despair. Of course they love their children. Do you really even need to ask that question?

   The problem with Islam is that the scriptures have been wrested/twisted from their true meaning, allowing fanatics and extremists to do terrible things in the name of their faith. Those few do not represent the overwhelming majority of the faith’s adherents, but most people forget that. Possibly the other problem that Islam has (and I am not an expert on the religion, this is only my speculation) is that it isn’t a centralized religion: there is no one ‘leader’ to receive current instruction to then pass on to the faithful, or to discipline members. It seems to be very decentralized. Mecca is the spiritual center, but no one can receive revelation in order to counter incorrect doctrine.

  This made me realize just how blessed I am to know that God speaks to me today, through His chosen prophet. There is no ambiguity in the scriptures, and questions can get real, current answers. I am not bound to the past, but can live in the present secure in the knowledge that God directs His servants.

 

   The reason I thought that this was a good article is because it seemed to show that the level of intolerance towards Muslims has dropped, and that people are more accepting of others. This is a good thing. I think it is so easy for people, myself included, to harshly judge others, and be uncharitable, because others of the same faith do horrible things.

   Judging, I think, is an almost universal sin. We get caught up in our differences, and start to justify our own shortcomings: ‘Well, I may have problems/sins/hang-ups/whatever-it-is, but I’m not as bad as that person over there.’ What I forget is that the sins/problems/hang-ups/whatever-it-is I have, keep me just as in need of the Atonement as their problems do. I am not better off than they are. I am just as far from God as they are, just as fallen, just as in need of Help and Guidance as they are. In a lot of ways, we/I may be worse off because we have the true Gospel, and fail to live valiantly, are lazy, shirk our duties, and/or fail to fully repent. I have no room to judge, because we are all, as God’s children here on Earth, equal.