Where You Are

Once upon a time, I watched a movie. A very minor character struck a chord with me. She was strong, smart and confident. And she had the best line of the whole movie. A long time later, I saw a commercial for a TV show. The name of the actress who played the main character struck a memory. I looked it up, and indeed, it was my once upon a time heroine. So, I started watching from the beginning. I hate coming in in the middle. Well, I loved it. And not just because it was my favorite person. She was playing a completely different heroine. But the new character became my new heroine. Or rather, was added to my list of heroines. Then something happened to my newest heroine that was very similar to my own life right then. And I made decision to better my life based on her good decision. She is not perfect, but she made a perfect decision at the perfect time.

What startled me was that once upon a time I was inspired by a character, committed the actress's name to memory and recalled it when I really needed it. Was that movie made just for me? I doubt it. Was that casting director inspired to cast that particular actress, in either the movie or TV show? Maybe. Is it a coincidence that any of this happened? Absolutely not. I looked up the other movies this actress has been in. Most of them are Rated R, except for that one that I saw.

God speaks to us in our own language. And not necessarily our spoken language. Some of you have heard of the Five Love Languages. Some of us speak Book, Movie, Music or Sports. God speaks to all of us in a language we can hear. So even if He can't physically be by our side, He can speak to us. We just have to listen - everywhere.

Forgiveness

Imagine that your friend comes to you, in dire straits. He needs $600,000.00 tomorrow but the bank won't loan him the money. You agree to help him because you love him, so you head to the bank. You take out the loan in your name and hand over the check, while he assures you that he will pay you in full before the due date. You know him well and don't doubt him. The loan comes due and you have seen hide nor hair of him since you gave him the money. The bank contacts you and requests a meeting. When you go to the meeting, the bank reveals that they have conducted an investigation and found your situation. Knowing this, they are forgiving the debt, because even if they confiscated all your assets, the debt would not even be half paid. Rather than go through all that, they are willing to simply let it go-let you out of your contract. And so you are free-but not completely. Your friend, whom you loved, put you in an extremely difficult situation, and that is not easy to forget. It sits in your heart, eats you up inside. Then one day the doorbell rings. Your big brother has brought your friend to you. He looks terrible. His clothes are dirty, his face smeared with black and no shoes on his feet. While you were forgiven your debt, your friend has been hiding from you out of fear. He has slept in the deepest, darkest holes and wept the bitterest tears. Your brother has brought him to you to show you how remorseful he is, and encourages you to forgive him. But that's not so easy. How do you know that your friend won't do it again? But then your brother points out that the debt has been forgiven, whether you forgive your friend or not. The only pain is coming from the clench in your heart that you won't let go. And so, you let it go. You cry tears of pain and relief. You embrace your friend and bring him into your home, to relieve his pain and wipe his tears. He tells you his story. He invested the money with a man he thought would take him as far as he could go. But the man lied. He took all your friend's money and ran, reveling later in the misery he had caused. When your friend realized what had happened, he ran. He had tried several times to make contact with you, but you hadn't recognized him. It wasn't until your brother found him that he found the courage to confront you. And suddenly you are very glad he did, because you have not felt so happy in so long a time.

You are yourself in this story. Your friend is Sinner You, or the Natural Man, as King Benjamin would put it. The bank manager who so generously forgives your debt is your Heavenly Father, who loves you so much. Your brother is Jesus Christ, who works to reconcile your sins with God. When we sin, we put ourselves in debt with God, but He readily forgives us when we seek it. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. Knowing that God forgives us isn't enough, we have to know in ourselves that we forgive us. It isn't until we do so that we achieve true peace. Of that I testify, in Christ's name.

The War on Agency

Satan's original plan to eliminate agency is still his main agenda. Addiction is so rampant in our society that there is hardly a person or family who is not afflicted in some way. Civil and social norms lean more towards entitlement than personal responsibility. But perhaps the most damaging of all is the view that our actions have no bearing on our personal worthiness. If there is no consequence for our actions, then the law is rendered inert. Without law, there can be no blessings for obeying it. Without blessings, there is no God to grant them. Without God, there is no purpose in this life. (2 Ne 2:13) Thus, agency becomes meaningless and Satan's plan to eliminate it has succeeded. Satan wants to take away our ability to choose, and he will do it any way he can, even if it means getting us to do it ourselves. The minute we discount the meaning of good works and consequence for sin, we play right into the adversary's hands. We have to be ever-conscious of our standing before God, obtained directly from Him, if we are to make any headway in this war for the souls of men.

The Best Defense

Armor is practically useless unless you plan to fight back in the first place. The best warriors need very little armor because they know how to defend themselves with their sword. We cannot idly sit by and expect the enemy to leave us alone. If we are not fighting, we are vulnerable. Fighting means actively seeking to keep the commandments. The minute we become idle and let our guard down, the adversary will have us in his sights. And recovering your wits from an ambush is hard. It's not impossible, but it is always better to pay attention and protect ourselves from any situation where an ambush is possible. But if we are standing in holy places and keeping the commandments, they can't touch us. Because when we are doing those things, we are not fighting alone. The Savior fights for us.

What's it Worth?

Everything we do in life exacts something of us. Either our time, our money or any number of things. In the book of Genesis, we find a story about two brothers. One legally held the birthright. This meant that everything that was his father's would one day become his. But he sold it. He sold his legal birthright, something that was his simply because he was born first, for a mess of pottage, or something of no value. Similarly, Judas Iscariot sold the Savior's life for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. What we are willing to pay, or give up to obtain something else, is an indication of what it means to us. In contrast, Christ gave up His life, everything He was and is, for us. He suffered the greatest pain any being has ever known, for us. We have been purchased with His blood. That's what we are worth to Him. So, now it is our turn. What is He worth to you? What would you give up the Celestial Kingdom for?

Our Choice

Our ability to choose started before this life began. We chose whether we wanted to follow our Heavenly Father's plan or Lucifer's plan. We chose how hard we wanted to fight for what we believed in. Regardless, we know that because we are here, we chose Jesus Christ as our Savior and accepted life here with the ability to choose. Because of that one choice, we have been faced with countless others. And no matter what happens, we cannot blame anyone else for our own choices. Bad things happen, but we get to choose how we respond to them. If we want to reach the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom, we make that choice. We make it every day. The little choices that we make culminate in that big choice. We get to choose whether we are happy, whether we pray every day and how much time we spend allowing Heavenly Father to talk to us through the Scriptures. So when you choose to read your scriptures or serve your neighbor, you're not just reading or serving. You're choosing the Celestial Kingdom.

Introduction

Chainmail is a lightweight armor used to protect vital parts of the body during battle. It's strength comes from the links that make it up, because each link is connected to all the links around it. Everything we do in life affects our armor. We are told to put on the armor of God, but how are we taking care of our armor? Each act strengthens it or weakens it. These weak places could be chinks, or places where the integrity of the armor has been compromised by a hit from an enemy or unwise maneuvering on our part. It doesn't take very many chinks to weaken us to the point of vulnerability. But the more links we add, the stronger the mail. Attending church, partaking of the Sacrament, fulfilling our callings, home or visiting teaching...the list goes on. So each time you do anything, ask yourself, Is this a chink or a link in my spiritual armor? You might be surprised by the answer.