Unheralded stalwarts

In 1953, when I was about 10 years old, we were a young family living in LaVerkin, Utah, a farming community of about 150 people. We had little money (my father was a schoolteacher/farmer) but I look back on that time as one of the best of my young life. I roamed the hills and orchards with my great friend, Leon Duncan; we had no television, no video games, no IPODs, no cell phones (we did have a 4-party line phone), and the movies were 5 miles away in Hurricane in a small building with a pot-bellied stove for heat. I had no idea that I was deprived of the finer things in life, and indeed, I was not.

The Stoneman summer

Recently, the back page of the Church News had an article titled “The Sanctity of Labor.” President Eyring told a story about his father, who after working all day hoeing weeds at the church farm, was informed that the weeds he hoed had all been sprayed and would have died anyway. President Eyring said:

"Dad just roared," …. "He thought it was a great joke on himself." Asked later how he could have taken the matter so pleasantly, he replied to his son, "Hal, I wasn't there for the weeds." (Henry B. Eyring, "Waiting Upon the Lord," a speech given at BYU on Sept. 30, 1990.)

I think that same statement could have come from my father. His father, also Henry, taught him the value of work and the need for productive work in his life. Dad expanded on his father’s philosophy in every way imaginable. Rarely a day went by that he wasn’t working for something. I think that he loved physical labor.

Feeble knees

In four places in the scriptures a highly descriptive metaphor for weakness of spirit is used to create an image of those in need of help from others.

Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.(Job 4:3-4)

Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. (Isaiah 35:3)

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; (Hebrews 12:12)

Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees. (D&C 81:5)

“Feeble knees” is an apt description of the doubts and fears that beset each of us as we pass through mortality. We all have “feeble knees” at some time in our lives. Probably every one of us can point to someone (perhaps unaware of their influence) who strengthened us at just the time when it was needed most, possibly even as we were praying for someone or something that would give us the strength to go on. Although I never watched the show on TV, this quote from the television show My So-Called Life explains this well:

Doubters, scoffers, and naysayers

See Elder Holland's very powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon from the October 2009 General Conference concerning this subject in my links section.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moroni 10:3-4)

There is a whole cadre of people out there, members of the Church and others, who feel the need to delve into history, journals, newspapers, and oppositionist rants to try to find incidents and events that they consider damaging to the reputation of early leaders of the Church. They almost gleefully include the prophets, especially Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, in their search. When they find some small foible or mistake, documented or not, they write learned papers about the damage their “revelation” does to the Church and the restoration, and then offer their solutions to the dilemma. Usually, they include a restructuring of doctrine and a re-examination of the direction of the Church to accommodate or mitigate the perceived flaw. They see themselves as the saviors of the Church in the great crisis caused by their discovery.

Measuring real success

Whether things seem to be going fairly smoothly for us at the moment or not, I think we can be sure that our trials in this life are not yet over. I think we can be sure that the Lord does love us, knows each of us by name, sorrows at our sadnesses, and rejoices with us when we are successful. He knows of our progress toward our eternal goal. He cheers us when we move upward, and mourns when we fail. He is pleased when we take advantage of His transcendent atonement and repent, because He has already suffered for all our sins and trials. He knows that we can achieve the eternal goal, and when we have done all we can do, His grace is sufficient for us( 2 Nephi 25:23).

At times of trial we tend to withdraw within ourselves. We tend to forget that others are eager to support and help us. We tend to forget that the Savior will always be close if we will let him. We worry about our life and try to decide if we have been a success or a failure, and we always come down hard on ourselves about bad decisions in our professional, personal, family, and spiritual lives.

First principles

The fourth Article of Faith explains:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This statement of basic principles of the gospel orders them sequentially. They are the required steps for membership in the Church and define the process of preparation for working out our own salvation.

Annoying the adversary

What annoys the adversary? What causes him to be angry and frustrated? Satan has a tremendous hold on the world at large in this day and age. His efforts are aimed at destroying individual souls because he knows -- what for him is the awful truth -- he cannot frustrate the “Great Plan of the Eternal God” (GPEG) (Alma 34:9). He is pleased when we deviate, even in small ways, from the path the Lord has set for us. He is pleased when we commit even the smallest sin. He is exultant when we commit serious sin. Conversely, he is angry and frustrated when we repent and seek to obey our Father-in Heaven and accept His gospel in our lives.

Something important

Some weeks ago in priesthood meeting, a young deacon gave the opening prayer. His prayer was short but sincere, and he closed with these words: “Help us that we can all learn something important today.” What a profound request he made of the Lord. There is always something important to be learned in our Sunday meetings. There is always wisdom; there is always some new concept; there is always some virtue to be embraced; there is always knowledge to be gained and faith to be strengthened.

Knowing that we know

When sweet beautiful children stand up in a Fast and Testimony Meeting and say something like, “I know the gospel is true”, they are expressing the tender feelings of their young hearts. They speak with all the innocence of youth, nothing doubting. They do not doubt because they have complete trust and faith in the words of their fathers and mothers, their loving teachers, and even the Prophet himself. They base their simple testimony on the faith of others. They set the example for us. The Savior said:

“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them (Mark 10:14-16).

Wars and rumors of wars

Since Book of Mormon times, the Lord, through his prophets has told his people that one of the predictors of major events in the Great Plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9) would be wars and rumors of wars. In Mormon 8:30, Moroni, who is finishing the record of his father, prophesies of our day:

"Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands; And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places. Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, …and all manner of abominations …"

If God seems far away, who do you think moved?

   When I was young, I loved to read comic books. Superman, Batman and Robin, Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, and many others fascinated me. The comics were 10 cents each in those days, and I bought as many as I could afford. On the back pages of these comics, advertisements often appeared offering opportunities to sell various things – salve that would cure everything, signs with various sayings on them, magazines, and so forth. I got my parents to bankroll me, and sent off for the signs to sell. I went door to door selling them for 35 cents each, and actually made two or three dollars, as I recall.