Sunday, October 7, 2012

And the Winner is...

We as a society speak in terms of winners and losers. If I were to ask you to describe to me what a loser is, certain people would come to your mind. Maybe even yourself. Words associated with losers are criminal, team, misfit, failure or bad. A loser is someone who consistently proves they are not worthy of respect. But when you think to yourself, "I'm such a loser," what you're really saying is that you have somehow failed at life. You are consistently proving to yourself your ineptitude at this game we call Being Human. 

Ok, so you are a loser. What does that mean? Even the loser gets to play. But that's not really what you want to hear, is it? What you want to hear is, "No! You're not a loser!" Ok, so you're not a loser. Do you feel better? No? Why not? I told you what you wanted to hear. In that case, let's try something else.

What does it mean to Be Human? In order to figure that out we have to go back a little bit. Rewind to before we were born. We all lived with Heavenly Father together. Chances are we've met before. Hello again. Anyways, we were presented with a choice. Heavenly Father's plan involved coming to earth, learning how to be like Him and one day return to Him to receive of the glory which we choose. Lucifer (who, by the way, was every bit our brother as Christ was) decided he didn't like that plan. He didn't want to see any of us perish because of bad choices. And he also wanted all the glory to himself. Maybe more so the latter. In any case, Lucifer proposed his plan, and maybe it sounded pretty good. None of us would be lost, what did we care who the glory went to? There was just one flaw in Lucifer's plan. You can't take glory away from the Father. It can only be given. So when he demanded the glory go to him, he set his will in defiance with the Father's. We took sides, and the mere fact that you are sitting in that chair with that rather stunned look on your face means that you chose not to follow Satan's plan. Congratulations, you won a free body! Unfortunately, bodies come with all sorts of things that Spirits don't. Like livers and pancreases. And hearts and brains. And hearts and brains develop very differently than our Spirit versions do. They are susceptible to decay, disease and malformation. And our emotions, which are tied to pretty much everything we do, came right along with this wonderful body. Isn't it great? Now, raise your hand if you have complete control over your emotions. Put your hand down. Even the "best" of us are prone to emotional hijackings. Some of you are wondering what "best" means. Well, that depends on you. So, think about that for a minute. Got the idea in your head? Great, now throw it out the window. Because who in the world are you to decide what's "best" as far as people go? Now I admit that the Avengers are the best at what they do. But they have superpowers. If you haven't got superpowers, forget it. Given the chance, we could all come up with a list of the "best" people we know of, historical or otherwise. Names like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King would crop up quite a bit, probably. But they were only the best at being Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. Some of you are laughing right about now, shaking your heads and saying, "Well duh!" But if they could only be the best at themselves, why do you have to be better than everyone you know, and even some people you don't? Because that's what being a loser means. It is a word that implies competition. Because if you're are a loser, somewhere out there is a winner. Which, as you can hopefully now see, is preposterous. The only way you can lose at being an imperfect human is if you stopped being human. And barring any zombie apocalypse, that ain't going to happen. So just be yourself. You, my friend (and I do not use that term lightly) are NOT a loser. You wish you were different? Change. Not tomorrow, not next Friday. Right now. That doesn't mean that everyone else will see the change tomorrow. But you will know, and so will God. Change takes practice. But if I can learn how to do multivariable calculus and quantum mechanics, you can do this. You can learn to not think of yourself as a loser. And that is the most important change you can possibly make, because it is the most self-fulfilling prophecy on the planet. In other words, if you think you're a loser, you will be. If you think you're a child of a loving Heavenly Father who expects nothing more than His imperfect human child can offer, then you will feel that, too. You'll feel love. Perfect love.

Ready? Go!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Sacrament Prayers Part 6

And now we come to the promise that is made to us if we promise to remember Him and keep His commandments. When I was a kid, I used to think this was a raw deal. We have to do all that and then all we get is one thing back? But what my underdeveloped sense of God's love could not comprehend was the import of the promise that we will always have His Spirit to be with us.

Other names for the Spirit are Comforter, Holy Ghost, Conscience and Spirit of Truth. Christ Himself said that the Holy Ghost would "teach [us] all things." The Holy Ghost was promised to His followers shortly before His death, because He wanted to assure them that He would still be with them, if not in body. I think about what that must have been like for His disciples, to have Jesus there with them to teach them and wrap them in His arms, and then to have Him tell them He would not always be there. How devastating that must have been! But what a comfort the Holy Ghost must truly have been, to fill the void left by Christ's departure. The Holy Ghost comforts as Christ did, teaches as Christ taught, guides as Christ guided. It is not in God's plan to have Christ on the earth right now, so He gave us Someone to help us feel His love for us now. In essence, the Holy Ghost is our access to God. It is through Him that inspiration is received, love is felt, sins are forgiven, direction perceived and a relationship with God is cultivated. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead, along with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. God wants to grant us the companionship of a member of the Godhead. Think about what that means for you.

Our relationship with God is based on positive feedback. When we keep the commandments, we receive the Holy Ghost, who helps us make correct choices and continue keeping the commandments. After which, we receive greater witness of our good standing with God and we feel His presence more strongly, through the Holy Ghost. And I testify that the more we feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, the happier we are and the less we feel inclined to berate ourselves or others. We want to be happy, we want to repent of our sins, we want to feel love and the clearer we see the world around us. God directs us in all aspects of our lives. Socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, academically. When we allow the Holy Ghost to direct our lives, there is not a moment that He cannot help us, not a sadness He does not experience with us and no triumph He does not celebrate on our behalf. That is what it means to have the Holy Ghost with you. It means everything.