Post-Holiday Reflections

I was sorry to hear of Elder Joseph Wirthlin's passing on Monday, 2 December. He seemed such a sweet man and his conference talks were always full of wisdom. He will be missed.

I hope that all of you had a happy Thanksgiving. It's a time for family gatherings, but also a time for thinking of all we have to be thankful for, no matter what our present circumstances are.

With Christmas coming soon, I hope we will enjoy sharing and giving, but that we will also ponder what Christmas is all about--the birth of the Christ child and the beginning of the life that would ultimately provide each of us with resurrection and atonement. And that life would provide us with countless teachings and examples to guide us in living our own lives. May we remember with gratitude all that Jesus Christ has done for us.

Politics and economics have been the focus of our news cycles and will continue to be so. It is a good time to read and reflect on the Consitution and the Declaration of Independence. The Federalist Papers also warrant some attention to remind us of the intentions of our Founding Fathers and the direction that America needs to be going in. This country was founded with God in mind and with the idea of developing the gifts He has given us--freedom, liberty, property rights, life, and many others. Let us not throw it all away.

As far as economics is concerned, our prophets have counseled us for years to get out of debt, stay out of debt, make the most of what we have, and save for the future. Let us follow the prophets and, through them, the Lord. No matter how well we are doing, we can always do a little better. Let us not forget to share with those less fortunate, and let us remember that it is important that charity be freely given by individuals and not coerced by the government.

I have concerns about how secular this country and the world have gotten. We should remind ourselves of God and His teachings. Let us not call evil good and good evil. Let us love one another, yet not condone sin. It has become unpopular to say that we need to love the sinner and hate the sin, but that is exactly what we should do. It is God's appoval that we seek, not the world's.

I have touched on only a few things, but I hope that we will reconsider our lives and think carefully about the direction we are traveling through this life. May God bless us all to do the right things. And may we always be full of gratitude for all that God has blessed us with.

Serving

Yesterday I had an opportunity to serve the Lord by performing a small service for my fellowman. Every year our stake sets aside two days, called Days of Thanksgiving, wherein we concentrate on temple work. Everyone who can goes to the temple as often as they can to participate in ordinance work. Needless to say, the temple workers are very busy.

What we do, because our temple is small and has no cafeteria, is prepare and serve meals to the temple workers as they have time to eat. We set up in the waiting room. Caterers who are members of the church donate the wonderfully prepared food and others of us serve the meals and clean up. This gives the temple workers the opportunity to refresh themselves without having to leave the temple, which often they really would not have the time to do. I helped with this last night.

I really appreciate the service the temple workers provide and so to be able to help in a small way with providing them with a needed service makes me feel good. Ultimately, we are all serving the Lord and it's a wonderful feeling to participate in this.

After last night's dinner was finished, we packed up all the leftover food and sent it to a local charity called The Jesus House, which feeds the homeless. That was another way to serve the Lord by serving our fellowman. I was happy to be sending so much nutritious food to them--soups and salad from last night plus an assortment of other good things--as they are feeding those who often don't have much opportunity for healthy eating, or any eating. As I helped pack the food, I thought of those who would be eating it and hoped that it would brighten their spirits as well as help them physically.

There are many ways to serve and many people to serve. Whether it is someone in our family or a neighbor or a stranger, any little thing we can do can help in some way. If we will take opportunities for service as they arise, whatever they might be, we will have a chance to cheer others along their way and brighten their lives a bit. I am sure this pleases the Lord more than we can imagine.

Considering Viewpoints

One of the things I struggle with is compassion and "tough love." As I consider viewpoints on a variety of topics, I come up against wanting to help people and wanting those same people to learn to help themselves. I see ideas that would immediately relieve suffering, but that would cause serious problems down the road. Case in point: welfare.

If we give people food, money, housing, and so forth, it can give them an opportunity to pull themselves together because they aren't totally caught up in wondering where their next meal is coming from or where they are going to live. However, too many people become dependent on welfare and come to expect these things to just be given to them. They aren't using the reprieve from suffering to improve their education and job skills and to look for jobs, or otherwise improve their lives and their prospects.

Immigration is this sort of problem, too. If we grant illegal immigrants all kinds of privileges and perks, we are rewarding their lawbreaking. National security issues enter into this situation also, something we can't ignore in this day and age. Yet most of us do feel compassion for the poor who want to come to America.

Environmental concerns can cause problems, too. If we rush into solutions that appear to solve the problem in the short term, we may seriously cripple our economy and cause much greater problems in the long run. Yet we do need to be good stewards of this earth.

War also brings into play many considerations and, in the heat of the moment, it is hard to think of long term consequences. Yet we must. Peace--real peace--cannot be bought with the price of genocide and oppression.

Throw into this mix trying to live as God and Jesus Christ would have us to live. We study the scriptures and pray and seek the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Somehow, though, different people come up with different answers as to what is right. My own take on the matter is that while we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, this does not mean giving in to whatever our neighbor wants or allowing our neighbor to lead us astray. There are lines that must be drawn. Waste is waste. Sin is sin. Foolishness is foolishness. These things ought not to be encouraged.

Charity isn't giving things away indiscriminately, but is the judicious use of reasonable help coupled with teaching the recipient how to do better in living their lives. Some would say that it is not our place to tell others how to live. To a point, this is true--each has his own agency and has to make his own decisions. However, you would not buy alcohol for an alcoholic, would you? There are some things that are just wrong and need to not be supported. Truth is not relative. Morality is not relative. And the greatest act of charity that we can perform is to help someone see a better way to live. We cannot force them to choose that way, but we can at least let them know it is there and that they do have a choice.

I also think that in choosing our viewpoints on various topics, we need to be aware that there are those who advocate for one viewpoint or another who have their own agendas. They may be seeking power, fame, or fortune. Be aware of that possibility. It is possible to be led astray by a good speaker/writer. Take the time to do your own research. It seems, too, that it is easy to obsess over some perceived problem to the point where one sees examples of that problem everywhere, even though in reality, the so-called examples are nothing of the kind. We need to use our God-given intelligence, discernment, and judgement in making our decisions about what to believe and what causes to support or disavow.

Ah, judgement. The new bad word. The truth is, though, that we have to use judgement constantly to make decisions. It is true that we should treat people kindly and tactfully, but it is not true that we cannot learn from the mistakes we see others make, and it is not true that we have to embrace wrong things just so we won't hurt someone's feelings. I certainly wouldn't recommend going around criticizing people or being rude, but we do not have to follow their leads.

It is not easy to do the right thing in all situations and to choose the right viewpoints to support, but we have to try. It is how we grow and learn and become better tomorrow than we are today. If we can learn to look down the road and see the consequences of this or that choice, we will be in a better position to make right decisions that won't cause irreparable harm.

Love thy neighbor as thyself is a commandment, but even before that one is to love God with all thy heart, might, mind, and strength. To me, this means to not only love God, but to follow His ways in all things, and to learn what His ways truly are, not just what we want them to be.

Instruments in the Hands of God

Relief Society General Conference was good last night. It inspired me and motivated me to try to do better. In some ways I am charitable, but in other ways it is a struggle. I find it, for example, easy to give money, but when it comes to give time and effort, well, let's just say I need to improve!

I am sure we all struggle with aspects of charity and service. I feel that we should recognize what we do right and that we are improving, rather than just beating ourselves up for not being perfect. That was one thing that was mentioned last night, more than once.

I do have to admit that the theme, "Instruments in the Hands of God," always makes me think of that old, yet famous, sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." I am glad we focus on more positive aspects of the gospel and in encouraging one another, rather than hearing those types of sermons, although it might do us good once in awhile!!

Next week is General Conference. Can't wait!!

The New Year is Here--2005

It is finally here--the new year we've been anticipating lately. I like the year change. It feels like a fresh start. I made a list of resolutions for the new year, but what I would like to do is not get hung up on having to do them all perfectly right away. I think that perhaps the best way is to think in terms of lifestyle change and to work on these things day by day, regardless of whether it is 1 January or not.

I am sad about the tsunami. I plan to donate money to the church's Humanitarian Aid fund tomorrow because I feel the church has good methods in place for distributing aid. I also plan to put something in every month from now on and not wait for a disaster. There are often situations that call for aid and it seems useful for the fund to receive a steady stream of donations. Also, I can budget for it and perhaps give more in the long run than just coming up with an amount in a crisis situation. I have noticed that I tend to donate the same things every month and I need to occasionally evalute how much I am donating as well as to what funds--take a more active role, so to speak. A person's tithes and offerings are a very personal thing to decide about, but if we will think about it and do what we can, I am sure the Lord will be pleased with our efforts to help others.

Best wishes to all for a very Happy New Year!