Random Wanderings

That is the name of a book written by Sheri Dew.

It is one of the most inspiring books of my recent reading. I haven’t finished it yet but it is giving me lots of things to think about.

There is an example she shares in the book about her name badge she was issued when she was in the General Relief Society presidency. Though she carried the badge with her she rarely had to show it. It wasn’t until the day that she was released and therefore the power of the badge became null and void that she discovered how much power the badge really had. She had an early morning speaking assignment and came across a locked door. When she called the security guard to let her in, he told her that all she had to do was hold the badge to the door sensor and it would unlock. All along she had the power with her to unlock the doors to the halls where prophets and apostles walk every day and she didn’t know it until the last day that she had that power.

What she also points out in the book and what I am coming to understand for myself is a similar example of under utilized power available to all baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At that time, by laying on of hands, and with priesthood power and authority is given a gift! The gift of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. We are invited to receive that gift. I think many members carry that gift around with them and rarely ever comprehend or begin to utilize the power that is available to them with that gift. In fact I have known good people who are not members of the church that take more advantage of the temporary gifts of the Spirit. Those gifts that are freely given to all people of the world who ask God (or even their own perception of a higher power).

That gift is only given with the commitment of baptism and the requirements and responsibilities that are a part of that commitment. When those requirements are not met the gift gets harder and harder to access. It also takes practice to use and learn how it is manifest in your life. It is not something you just pick up and have full power and control over.

I have a son who writes a blog called God Speaks to Me. It is a total farce and makes a mockery of sacred things. The really tragic thing is that he does have access to God speaking to him. He just chooses at this time to not meet the requirements and not utilize the gift he has been given.

Some of the potential of this gift:

It is like having a mentor walk by your side on a daily basis and prompt you in the choices that will keep you moving in a progressive direction, giving you confidence and helping to accelerate your growth. It can be a voice of warning to protect you from danger. It can accelerate emotional healing and bring comfort in difficult times. It teaches truth and can help you see through the deceptions of others. It can prompt you in what to say to comfort, inspire, or teach others. It can help you retain learning in school and give you guidance in business and other everyday activities. It can teach you what choices to make to heal physically. It can help you overcome addiction. It can give you hope in seemingly hopeless situations. It can teach you of the mysteries of heaven and earth and testify of the existence of God.

It takes practice to be able to tune into the frequency that your individual soul hears. As you tune in and follow the guidance you are able to hear and recognize easier the promptings and guidance.

For me it is a tremendous blessing in my life and one that I am just starting to really understand the power and potential, though it has been available to me for years and I just didn’t understand how to access the power.

Most who work are willing to submit to their employers will, at least for the time they are at work, with only the promise of a small monetary paycheck. If that employer cares for the person, it is mostly because of the contribution they are making for the company. There are requirements and qualifications and only a few who would be chosen for any particular job.

Yet many are unwilling to submit to God’s will.

God invites us to come and work for Him to help build up his kingdom here on the earth. A choice to work for God and submit our will to his is a choice to submit to someone who knows us completely, loves us immeasurably, and would only ask us to do those things that would be of benefit to us, to those we love, or for the benefit of all mankind.

Even when we make that choice to submit completely to His will, more times than not he gives the choice back to us and tells us to choose what we would like to do, or what we think is appropriate. Yet with benefits: He will warn us if we are starting to head in a damaging direction. When we are heading in a progressive direction he gives us constant confirmation to our minds and hearts that boosts our confidence and takes away our doubts. He will even give us gentle promptings that boost the rate of our progression.

The requirements of the job are possible for every single person to fulfill. They are a willingness to do our best to follow the things he asks us to do. He asks us to have faith in Him that he will only ask those things that will be of benefit to us and all mankind. He also only asks us to do those things that we are capable of doing especially with a little help from him. Another requirement is to remember to turn to Him constantly to seek His guidance.

He gives us lots of help with the job. He provided a perfect trainer ( Jesus Christ) to show us exactly how to do even the most difficult of tasks. He also gives each one of us a personal guide after we sign the contract (baptism), to walk by our side, to warn us, to comfort us, and to teach us.

With that contract we make the commitment to do our best to do the job. He gives us a chance every single week to review and renew that contract and re commit ourselves. (sacrament)

But the best thing of all is the paycheck. Besides all the opportunities and bonuses such as; joy, blessings, power, increased freedom, love, knowledge, peace, confidence, etc. that we get during the work time …….. the promised payment is that we will receive all that He has. No worldly wealth compares to that. In fact, it is beyond comprehension to even imagine all that entails.

So how about it! Do you want to work for the perfect employer? The invitation is open to all and there is room for everyone.

My husband and I are missionaries for the addiction recovery program for our church. The program is based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our topic for tonight is step 2. The one word that describes that topic is HOPE. The step is very much about getting to know who God really is. Most addicts and addicts families have a distorted view of God. Many have turned away from God in their life because of those distortions. In step one you realize how powerless you are to control the addiction and that it has taken away your freedom and put you in bondage. The only way you can find any HOPE of recovery is in trusting in a power greater than yourself. That trust is step 3. First you’ve got to know who you are going
to trust in. So who is God?

I believe that who to trust is Christ. The gospel of Christ. Gospel means good news. Many believe that God is controlling. I think that is a distortion. None of us like to be controlled. How can that be good news? Many get those distortions from how their parents treated them and from the culture. I think just the opposite is true of God. Rather than being controlling the most valuable gift he gives to us, is the gift of agency. We are free to choose. Men abuse that agency and try to control each other, which brings tremendous pain into the world. God will not stop them because of the value of that gift. Even in the most controlling circumstances brought about by men there are choices. There is always the choice of how to react and what attitude we will have.

If God isn’t controlling, then what about all those commandments he has?

I believe those commandments are from a loving father teaching us how not to abuse each other, but rather how to love each other more completely and bring more love into our own lives. They are a gift to us to show us the way in a very confusing and truth distorted world.

One of the distortions that I grew up with is: Even though I know God loves us, I didn’t feel like I could ever be perfect enough to make it to Gods kingdom. No matter how good I was able to be, I could never be good enough.

That is called perfectionism and it is a lie. By believing that, I was completely rejecting the whole reason Christ came to this earth. The gift of the atonement that makes it possible for each one of us imperfect people to be made whole and receive all that God the Father has to offer.

The truth is that my best will be good enough and all that I fall short of Christ will take care of. I can trust him to pick up the pieces of my life that I am incapable of fixing. As I continually turn to him for guidance he will show me a way out of the bondage from my addictive and compulsive behaviors. Not only that, but as I try to live the commandments in order to bring more love into my life and to other people, he will help me fine tune the general commandments so they are more specific to my individual circumstance.

Then on top of that he will also show me the way to find powers and peace even beyond what I could imagine or dream of. Even in a mixed up, distorted, chaotic, unpeaceful world.

I say that is HOPE!

The father called his children together and told them, “I want to help you continue in your growth and progress towards becoming like me and having all that I have, all power, all knowledge, and eternal life. To do that you need to have a physical body like me. It is time to create a world to grow those bodies. First let’s visualize this world and create all things spiritually before we create them physically. We need to have a plan so that every soul has an opportunity to experience the situations perfectly suited to their learning and growth. Physical learning is hard and we will also need many things to bring joy and gladness to the soul in the process.”

And so they each took part in creating this vision, each intelligence contributing what they thought they would need for their own growth and desires for joy. They had lots of input by the Father who had been there before and knew what they would need.

When they had finished their plan, the Father looked at it and said “It is good!”

Then the Father explained what it would be like living with a body and on this earth. There would be many choices for every given situation. The danger would be that some of those choices could block (dam) their progress. Down on earth many would not be able to discern the way or even be able to imagine what is possible unless it was seen or done physically. Some one must show the way.

With all the distractions, it would be very hard to remember what the best choices would be. In fact all would make a mistake at least somewhere along the way.

“Therefore” he said, “I will give you lots of help”. “I will provide guides in every dispensation of time to teach you and show you the way and help you to remember.”

“Because all will make mistakes and thus make it impossible for any to continue their progress, there needs be one who navigates every situation perfectly and who is willing to stand in for, and take the consequences for, all those mistakes in order to fulfill the law of justice. That will put into effect the law of mercy and make it possible for all to continue their progress.

“I will do it father,” said the oldest son. “I will show the way and make what ever sacrifice is necessary so that my brothers and sisters all have a chance to continue their progress.”

“Because of your willingness to take on this great sacrifice for your brothers and sisters, I will make you as their father. You will get to judge them worthy of your sacrifice and set up whatever requirements you feel fair in order to earn the privilege you are making possible for them.”

“I only require that they do the best they can in following my example and love and help each other as much as possible.”

“It is decided then. Each of you will get a turn in adding your part of creation to the world. Now go yonder and gather the matter to create this world physically. My oldest son, I will put you in charge because I know you will follow my instructions precisely. To create a world that will grow and sustain physical bodies is a very precise creation. There can be no mistakes.”

After a time the first body was ready to be inhabited by a soul and the father chose a son to go first and directed the process. Then they prepared a second body and the father chose a daughter so that the creation of bodies could continue.

to be continued

This post is prompted by these words from Jaspenelles post:

http://www.michaelandjaspenelle.com/archive/2007/04/26/workplace-musings-the-million-dollar-question

Personal I do not think even the “gods” know it all. Even Yahweh did not foresee Eve’s curiosity regarding the apple, nor the snake goading her on. He did not see Adam partake in it. Yahweh only realized what they had done upon seeing them clothed, he realized it through the power of reason; which is a phenomenal thing, but not all-powerful. I use to have my own theory about the snake in the garden. What if God was the snake and He wanted Adam and Eve to be more like him (after all they were supposable made in his image, so wouldn’t he want them to reason things out?) Then kicked them out of the garden to learn? Maybe the bible has it wrong and Adam and Eve left because they sought knowledge. Of course if we are going to go down that road, we could start with Satan. It is said that greatest trick Satan ever pulled was convincing us he did not exist, but perhaps his greatest trick was convincing us he was God. Maybe God (who we currently see as Satan) wants us to be individuals, where as Satan (who we currently see as God) wants us to be sheep following him. It makes more sense to me that way. So much for my salvation.

I think the role of Adam and Eve in the garden is misunderstood.  They were given the choice to partake of the fruit(symbolic) of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  They were also told of the consequences. I think God knew exactly what would happen.  God would not be the God of Love that I know had he imposed on us the type of learning that can only come through experience & opposition which means pain. Yet He also knew that the only way we could continue to progress in our knowledge and gain more intelligence was through that same type of learning.  Think of the difference in knowledge and understanding that comes by experience rather than just book learning. It is a whole nother realm.  God could only provide the opportunity for us to make that choice ourself.  I think Eve was specifically chosen to take on the role she did, because God, in his infinite wisdom, knew, with her courage and valiancy that she would make that choice. The choice between the innocent neverending pleasures of a type of paradise but no real opportunity for growth or progress or the opportunity to continue progressing in knowledge and intellegence by experience which could only happen with opposition and opening the door to death and pain.  She opened the door to Satan, to death, & pain, but most importantly she opened the door for us to be able to continue our progress and learning by our own experience to know for ourselves the difference between what is good and what is bad.

Okay, so if God already knew the answers why did he ask the questions?

For our sake!  One of the most effective teaching methods there is - is that of asking questions. So that we will reason it out in our minds and come up with our own answers. So that we can understand for ourselves just what we do know and what we don’t know. So that we will in turn ask questions once we realise what we don’t know and it motivates us to seek learning.

On God and Satan:

The God I believe in, is one that sees us as individuals.  He also loves us enough, that having given us the opportunity to learn in this world by our own experience with the obsticles that opposition places in our paths, he also gives us the continuing guidance we need so that our progress won’t be stopped (or damned) by those same obsticles. Following those guidelines brings us more freedom, more choice, and continued knowledge.

On the other hand Satan wants us all to be in his power. He entices us in those things that will stop our progress and bring us in bondage by making it seem pleasurable. We don’t always recognise those things that will bring us into bondage or damn our progress. For instance, think of an alcoholic. When he took that first drink it was to get some momentary pleasure. He never realised that down the road he would be in bondage to that alcohol and it would toss him around to and fro like a puppet on a string making him do things he never in his right mind would think of doing. That is not freedom.

Those are the kind of things God warns us against and also the type of bondage that only he in his infinite wisdom is capable of leading us out of.