"Beam-ectomy should precede all mote micro-surgery. Just saying." Ginger Conrad paraphrasing Jesus Christ.

Paradigm Shift

“The list of health problems I think it would very hard to live with is SO much longer than the list of foods I previously thought I couldn’t live without,” Merrill Alley.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

who are we really

"Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart." Moroni 7:43 "As we take Christ’s name upon us, it is expected that we strive to emulate His attributes and change our character to become more like Him each day." Ulisses Soares Lorenzo Snow taught, “It is our duty to try to be perfect,...to improve each day, and look upon our course last week and do things better this week; do things better today than we did them yesterday.”11 So the first step to becoming meek is to improve day by day. Each day we need to try to be better than the previous as we move forward through this process. We have our little follies and our weaknesses; we should try to overcome them as fast as possible, and...learn to [behave] properly before Him under all circumstances. If the husband can live with his wife one day without quarrelling or without treating anyone unkindly or without grieving the Spirit of God … ; he is so far perfect. Then let him try to be the same the next day. But supposing he should fail in this his next day’s attempt, that is no reason why he should not succeed in doing so the third day.” Because "we believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law," we sometimes have to obey laws which are wrong. One instance of this is the old South African law that didn't allow blacks and whites to mix. In his talk, Brother Soares told of an instance of meekness obeying this law. "Moses Mahlangu began [his conversion] in 1964, when he received a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was fascinated as he read this book, but it was not until the early ’70s that he saw an LDS Church sign on a building in Johannesburg, South Africa, as he was walking down a street. Brother Mahlangu was intrigued and entered the building to learn more about the Church. He was kindly told that he could not attend the services or be baptized because the country’s laws did not allow it at that time. Brother Mahlangu accepted that decision with meekness, humility, and without resentment, but he continued to have a strong desire to learn more about the Church. He asked the Church leaders if they could leave one of the meetinghouse windows open during the Sunday meetings so he could sit outside and listen to the services. For several years, Brother Mahlangu’s family and friends attended church regularly “through the window.” One day in 1980 they were told that they could attend church and also be baptized." So, I studied this talk this week, when I was physically and emotionally spent from earlier events of the month. No, I couldn't act poorly and make the excuse that I was tired or didn't feel well. Meekness isn't conditional. I want to be like Jesus Christ and stand as His witness at all times and in all things and in all places, even at home even when not feeling too great. That I think is life's greatest challenge, to treat those at home as well as we treat strangers. When our company mask is off, who are we really?