Sight vs Faith

             Sometimes in life, it seems that we are given challenges that are seemingly beyond our abilities. We’ve all been there—where the task ahead looks greater than what we can do at the moment. It could be a new responsibility, a change of circumstances forcing us out of our comfort zone, or a difficult setback while pursuing a goal. In those times, we need divine aid more than ever, and yet often it can seem like Heavenly Father is hard to reach. I don’t want to claim for a second that I’m any expert in calling down miracles from heaven (that would be awfully presumptuous as well as a complete lie), but I do want to share some scriptural insights that have taught me something about the oft-discussed but oft-misunderstood concept of faith. My hope is that you will learn something new.

              My discussion starts and ends with Romans 8:24-25. It reads as follows:

“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Let’s break this scripture down into a couple of very important concepts that Paul teaches.

                “Hope that is seen is not hope”. Here is a very important distinction: “sight is not hope”. Alma words it a little differently, saying “knowledge is not faith”, but essentially they are saying the same thing: faith/hope cannot exist at the same time as knowledge/sight. This is a concept that is downright scary if you’re ever asked to put it into practice, because it means you can’t have any proof beforehand.

Let’s use an example here to contrast the difference that Paul is explaining, from the greatest TV show currently in existence: Shark Tank. On the show, daring entrepreneurs are brought before some brilliant business people with the goal to convince them to invest in their businesses. One of the things that is often brought up on the show what sales for the company will be in the future. The Sharks (the businesspeople) will only ask about the past sales, and they assume the future sales will be similar. I’ve seen a couple episodes were the entrepreneurs get bold, or perhaps flustered, and throw out a future sales figure fantastically greater than any historical number. They are often met with laughter from the Sharks and those watching. Why? Because such a high figure goes entirely against what we’ve seen. We say “it hasn’t been done before, so there is little chance that they’ll do it now.” We’ll call them overly optimistic or downright foolish, and we’ll tell them to start thinking rationally. That is, after all, what the world would teach us to do. We’d call ourselves ‘realistic’ and completely ignore the idea.

Paul is saying the exact opposite. He is encouraging us to have hope, and then says “look, if you’ve seen it before, then it’s not hope.” Hope (or faith) should challenge our expectations for what can happen. The best example of this are the miracles in the scriptures. We read over these incredible miracles in the scriptures and take for granted what was really going into those situation. Take the incredible events by the Red Sea for an example. In the Shark Tank, the investors would only lose a nominal amount of money if those optimistic sales predictions were wrong. In Exodus, Moses was asking tens of thousands of people to stake their lives, along with the lives of their families, on the idea that they could get away from the Egyptians. Had anyone ever just stopped a sea and turned it to dry land before? I don’t think so. At that point, Moses is exercising true faith; he knows nothing, he has seen nothing. Go re-read that passage in Exodus 14:10-31 again, paying special attention to the timeline of events. The Lord explains to Moses in verse 16 how he will split the sea. But rewind a little and you’ll see that Moses promises deliverance to the Israelites before receiving revelation, back in verses 13 and 14. I might add that he uses the very definitive word “shall” in that promise—not “oh boy, I sure hope the Lord will fight our battles” or “I’m guessing God can get us out of this guys.” Nope, Moses says “the Lord shall fight for you…”  

Here’s the principle—true faith means you just don’t know what is going to happen ahead of time. To the historical-fact based world, this kind of decision making seems absurd. They would ask “How can you do that when it’s never been done before, when you have no idea what you’re doing?” But that’s the wrong question. The better question is “does God have all power or not?” If God controls all of the elements in his hand, then past experience is a moot point—completely irrelevant. Going out into that hazy area by risking ridicule, failure, and loss by simply believing, even without evidences, without any foreknowledge—that’s true faith.

This concept of acting without knowing beforehand seems counter-intuitive to us, who have been raised with the world’s paradigm force-fed to us since birth. Pretty much every decision that we make is determined by what we’ve seen, read, experienced—by what we know. But God challenges us to act from a different paradigm, to make decisions based on what we don’t know, we just really hope is going to happen.

Think about Moses again—at the moment he promises to the Israelites that God will intervene, what does he know? According to the scriptures, not very much. He knows God had previously said that He’d look out for them, and Moses had already seen God’s hand in the plagues that swept Egypt. But up until that point, God hadn’t really made specific mention and said “Hey Moses, here’s what will happen when you happen to get trapped on the beach…” Moses doesn’t know the future any better than you or I can predict what will happen tomorrow. What is he using as the basis of that promise then? He just hopes that God will come through. He has chosen to believe, chosen to think optimistically.

Therein lies another very important concept: Faith is a choice. If you haven’t seen a miracle before in your education, in your social life, that doesn’t mean you can’t have faith. Decide right now that you will trust in God’s incredible promise that “If ye have faith…nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:30) Faith isn’t made from experience—that’s knowledge, not faith. No, true faith is springs up from a conscious decision. And make no mistake, that decision is gutsy. It takes a lot to say “don’t worry, God will make it will happen” without anything to visibly back it up. But don’t worry, there are unseen heavenly forces that are ready to stand beside you when you make that kind of faithful commitment.

                I don’t have space left to share my personal experience with this concept, but I could tell you stories of truly miraculous things that I’ve seen when I’ve tried to apply this principle. Let me briefly say that I’ve been in situations where everything seemed completely out of my control, but yet by prayer and by trying to take the same bold attitude as Moses, God stepped in to open doors that seemed locked forever.

                So take heart. If things ever seem beyond your ability, trust in a higher power. True faith can call down the power of God in our righteous causes. If you feel like your faith is lacking because you haven’t seen tons of miracles in your life before, that’s okay—just make the choice to believe. Everybody’s faith had to start with a blind leap into the unknown. My testimony is that God comes through to catch us when we leap into His arms. Choose faith and watch the miracles come for yourself!

A Culture of Struggles

                

               In recent months, I’ve seen a trend that troubles me. Most of these incidents happen in fast and testimony meetings, which in LDS culture is an interesting sounding board from which one can gather many candid opinions on life. The trend that is disturbing me is that everyone seems to talk often of struggles, trials, and challenges in these meetings. I’ve heard many well-intentioned people who want to be realistic about their lives get up and say things like “Look, I know life is hard for you—it’s been hard for me—but the Gospel has helped me through the hardships, and it can help you too.” The theme that I’ve been hearing is this idea that life is a constant struggle, and left unchecked, everyone would be wallowing in sorrow and depression. I am in no way trying to criticize what’s been said over pulpits under the influence of the Spirit. Several of these very testimonies have touched my heart. But there are also a great many times when people have looked over the crowd and said “I know that life is really rough for all of you” where I’ve started to squirm a little in my seat. I’ll ask myself if life is really that hard for me, and I would venture to respond negatively, and I don’t even consider myself that good at being a happy person. Why does “life is hard for everyone” have to be the fundamental premise of these testimonies? I’m starting to think it’s becoming a cultural norm for us here at BYU to assume that it’s normal, natural, and realistic to perpetually be struggling with despair. And that mindset worries me.

                In a verse from 2 Corinthians 4, Paul beautifully teaches a concept I think directly opposes this trend I’ve been seeing: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed but not in despair;” (emphasis mine)

 When I think about these truths that Paul is teaching, I can’t help but be filled with hope. I think that we are meant to be hopeful. In fact, Preach My Gospel explains that through relying upon the Atonement “we can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation.” (PMG, 52). But yet it seems like there is a cultural idea that life will always be difficult, turbulent, and draining. I’m not attempting to say that bad events don’t happen in life—they do and they always will—but I’m saying that if we really understand and believe Paul’s teachings, we ought to think twice before we accept “life is hard” as a fixed truth. What’s wrong with the “life is hard” mentality? I think it boils down to matter of perception.

What is “hard”? What is “easy”? You and I might define the most recent calculus test we took as “hard”, while the genius next to us who hardly studied and aced the test would say it was “easy”. That difference can exist because at root, the words “hard” and “easy” are words based in perception, not in reality. The exact same event can be perceived as life-altering by one person yet be viewed as simply routine from a different viewpoint. It’s all a matter of where you stand. And the beautiful thing is, the perspective we take is largely determined by what we know and how we apply what we know.

This is the essence of that 2^nd Corinthians scripture. Paul is trying to inspire hope by reminding us that because of the glorious reality of the Atonement, the objective events of life don’t have to make us subjectively unhappy. The facts that we got a low score on a test doesn’t mean that we need to be beating ourselves up because of it. We can still be single yet with patience not be despaired because our goal of marriage hasn’t been fulfilled yet. We choose to take an eternal perspective, at which point any bad day, no matter how low, seems rather inconsequential.

There’s a second eternal truth at play here that also backs Paul’s teachings, found in 2 Nephi 2:27. That scripture reads as follows: “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man.” (my emphasis added) Look at that underlined phrase for a second. “All things are given them which are expedient unto man.” Given the scripture given just two verses earlier (2 Nephi 2:25), which explains that “men are that they might have joy”, we ought to understand that joy is something that God finds “expedient”. In other words, we are promised that we will be given circumstances which can lead to our happiness. What Lehi is teaching is that we don’t have to wait for this semester to end before we can be happy, and we don’t have to wait for a terrible day to end before we can feel peace. This verse is a divine promise that at any given moment in time, we will have all of the tools available to us with which to build joy. Conversely, we will also always be given all of the ingredients for misery at any given moment of time. The difference is that we get to choose what we make.

My point is this: there is a very real difference between bad events in life and going through struggles. Thanks to the agency Lehi explains in 2 Nephi 2 and the supplementing power of the Atonement that Paul teaches in 2^nd Corinthians, we can experience setbacks in life and still see life as enjoyable. When we say something like “life is hard for everyone”, we are assuming two things: (1) that everyone has problems, which is true; and (2) that everyone is being brought down to despair by those problems, which doesn’t have to be true. We need to get out of this glass-half-empty mindset and start to rely upon the Savior more so that we can smile more and really enjoy life as we are meant to.   

Perhaps a personal example could illustrate this. Last Monday, I was asked multiple times how my weekend had gone. I could have easily answered:

“Terrible. My intramural basketball team forfeited the rest of our season, I did poorer than expected on several tests at the end of last week, I spent Valentine’s Day very much single and alone, I had to work most of the day Saturday, I came down with a cold, and I really didn’t get to enjoy any of the good weather.”

All of that would have been true. If you look at the facts, all of those events happened. They were bad events. But I subscribe to a simple philosophy: “No problem is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse.” I believe that despite what challenges I ran into last weekend, there were still positives. So I would answer with something like this:

“It was a good weekend. I got to go to a great stake conference, spend some time relaxing, and play basketball for a long time on Monday. It was a really good weekend.”

Friends, there is no need to despair when going through life. There are bad things that happen in life, but that doesn’t mean that life has to be hard. There is joy in every moment of every day if we have the eyes to look for it. There is no need to assume that life will always be difficult. Let’s build each other by talking about the positive more, instead of only sharing the bad in life. Let’s take upon ourselves an attitude of positivity and rejoice as we walk through this life together.     

The Fight Within

To Keep Under the Body

                In 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, Paul writes the following passage: “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” I love this scripture for multiple reasons, and I think it illustrates a great principle regarding self-mastery:

Self-mastery is a spiritual endeavor. Paul equates losing control of his body with becoming “a castaway.” Simply put, without self-mastery, we cannot continue on our course to eternal life. Why? I think to understand, we need to revisit the basic point of the gospel.

The point of the Gospel is to help us throw off imperfections, with the end goal of becoming like our Father in Heaven. Because He is perfect in every aspect, there are many different “lenses” we could look through to describe Him. One way to describe God’s perfection is that He is the perfect master of himself. He has mastered his own desires to the point where He can devote Himself entirely to His children. He has mastered every attribute of perfection and conquered every imperfection. And truly, that’s what the varying commandments of the Gospel point us to. The Law of tithing teaches us to master our budgets. The Law of the Sabbath teaches us to master our time. The Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity teach us to master our physical appetites. In the end, the goal is the same: master our wills entirely so that we can consecrate ourselves to God and love Him “with all [our] soul, strength, and mind” (Luke 10:29) Exercise, eating right, sleeping for enough time, time management, and all of the other facets of self-mastery might not appear like spiritual undertakings on the surface, but even these activities bring us closer to God because as we master our bodies, we become more like Him.

For me, this is a very liberating principle, because it teaches me that on my quest to master myself—even in mundane matters like healthy eating—I’m not alone. Because it’s a spiritual fight (not just a matter of temporal desires, or one of those “either option is good” choices), I’m entitled to divine help. Physical battles alone can at times seem daunting, but nothing looks too hard when you know that the Savior of the world is standing besides you. In other terms, the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers not only the temptation to commit serious sins, but also covers the temptation to eat that extra cookie or the temptation to stay on the couch and be lazy, or any other desire of the natural man. Elder Jorg Klebingat of the Seventy taught this simply in the October 2014 conference:

“Spiritual confidence increases when your spirit, with the help of the Savior, is truly in charge of your natural man.” (Emphasis added)

                So for all of those who like me, find life a constant struggle between the natural man and our spirits—perhaps not over matters that show up on a temple recommend interview, but important lifestyle choices still the same—take heart. All of the incredible promises that the Lord extends to those attempting to keep His commandments also apply here. Realize that such a struggle for self-mastery is a spiritual struggle, and with an all-powerful Savior on our side, all spiritual struggles can be won by turning to Him.

The Lower Lights

In the October 2012 session of General Conference, President Packer told a story of attempting to cross a dangerous reef by boat in the middle of the raging storm. He explained that a light was set up on a nearby hill, and a second one was to be lit on the beach. When the boat was at the location in which the two lights lined up in a straight line, it could safely cross the reef. President Packer related his experience to that of the hymn, in which is sung:

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy

From his lighthouse evermore,

But to us he gives the keeping

Of the lights along the shore.

Let the lower lights be burning;

Send a gleam across the wave.

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman

You may rescue, you may save.

                The words of this hymn teach a concept that can also be found in 1 Thessalonians 1:6. In this verse, Paul tells that people that “ye became followers of us, and of the Lord.” When we read that verse, it’s not hard for us to understand what Paul is saying when he tells the converts that they have become followers of the Lord. Perhaps what is more surprising is that he acknowledges the fact that these converts have also become followers of Paul. I believe that in this verse, Paul is simply teaching the same concept taught in that hymn: there are two important examples we need in our lives—the “upper light” of Christ, and the “lower light” of human examples.

The “upper light” is obviously the Lord Jesus Christ. President Kimball explained that the reason why we needed a perfect example such a Christ. He terms the word “fixed principles” to explain the perfect qualities that Christ embodied. In President Kimball’s words: “He really does embody all those virtues and attributes the scriptures tell us of. If we don’t accept that truth and that reality, then we will not have the fixed principles or the transcendent truths by which to live out our lives in happiness and in service.” In other words, if our best example had only lived 99% perfect, then we could never shoot for 100%. Knowing that everyone has weakness, it becomes immensely easier to justify what you or I might consider “the 1%”, and excuse weakness or mistakes as an unchangeable part of our nature. The perfect example of Jesus Christ takes away that excuse, because from a position of perfection Christ could command us to be perfect, even as he is. Of that command, President Kimball said “In urging us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, Jesus was not taunting us or teasing us. He was telling us a powerful truth about our possibilities and about our potential.” It’s only through looking at the perfect “upper light” of Jesus Christ that enables us to reach higher within ourselves and find the way to struggle for perfection.

 In His perfect wisdom, Heavenly Father knew that the very perfection of Christ would also open the door for Satan and his lies. Compared with such an incomparable standard, can you or I ever help but occasionally wonder when Satan whispers “You’re not good enough. You’ve already made mistakes, and you’re a lost cause?” It can at times be extremely disheartening and depressing to see our own inadequacies and have to compare them to the bar set by the Savior. That is why we also need “lower lights”—the examples of good men and women, who fight through their imperfections and show us that while they too make mistakes, they also have the potential to do great and amazing works of righteousness. I find such examples invaluable in those moments when it seems I’m too wicked or sinful to ever measure up to the Savior. In those moments, I look around at family, friends, acquaintances, and church leaders, and I take hope from knowing that they have made just as many mistakes as I have, yet still go on to accomplish incredible things.

The question that now lies in front of you and I is simple: will we be a lower light in our light? There are those out there who are waiting for us, who look to us as their second beacon in the night. We have a powerful potential to help out others and draw them closer to the true light of Jesus Christ. I conclude with the words of President Kimball:

Each of us has more opportunities to do good and to be good than we ever use. These opportunities lie all around us. Whatever the size of our present circle of effective influence, if we were to improve… even a little bit, that circle would be enlarged. There are many individuals waiting to be touched and loved if we care enough to improve.

I Will Do Mine Own Work in Mine Own Due Time

A new video put out by the church tells the story of a young man who lost his faith in Christ and his process to regaining it. Of note in the video is the part in which the man is telling of his fall from faith, and how he thought he could rationally prove away the existence of God because of all of the evil and the mistakes in this world. He’s not alone in that argument; there are many who claim that an all-powerful, all-loving God, and they point to the much pain and suffering in our world as proof. Wouldn’t an all-powerful God have the power to change those evils? Wouldn’t an all-loving God feel obligated to help? This logical train of thought can also be extended to talk about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are those who point to flaws in the church’s past decisions, citing things like polygamy and former policy towards blacks and the priesthood as mistakes that the church has made. If the church seems to have made a mistake, how can it be run by God? Wouldn’t God know of the bad mistakes ahead of time? Why wouldn’t He warn the leaders of the church before they made a bad decision?

                I for one feel that those questions are valid and do deserve an answer, but they reflect a misunderstanding of who God is and how He operates. The simple truth for why God doesn’t operate is contained in a telling series of scriptures in 2^nd Nephi 27. In these verses the Lord declares:

“For I will bring [my work] forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work… For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.”

(2 Nephi 27:21, 23, emphasis added)

                In these verses the Lord specifies that there are two conditions that must be fulfilled before He steps into a situation; the intervention must be in line with his purpose, and it must follow man’s faith. 

a)      The first condition is contained in the words “in mine own due time.” This means that God waits to act until a specific time condition has been met, which by implication means that God has a purpose and a reasoning for acting every time He does, and a reason for why in certain circumstances He chooses not to act.

b)      The second condition is clearly shown by the phrase “I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.” What is interesting to note is how forceful this statement becomes when it’s put in the negative. The Lord could have said “I work among the children of men according to their faith”, which in modern terms means “I’ll act when people have faith”. Contrast that somewhat ambiguous statement to the modern rendition of what He really said: “I will not do anything until people have faith.” The Lord is making it very obvious that he works with and through men. Men who, by definition, are flawed and imperfect.

When we understand these two conditions, suddenly the explanation of these puzzling questions about blacks and the priesthood or polygamy make much more sense. The Lord says himself that He will only operate through the faith of men: no faith; no blessing. Likewise, in looking through the history of gospel dispensations we see that the Lord has pulled his ordained servants off the earth to avoid condemning rebellious groups of people with knowledge of the gospel. No obedience (an outward expression of faith); no knowledge (a blessing).  

                The story of Acts chapter 10 provides an instructive glimpse into the way the Lord operates. The Savior had always planned for the gospel to go forth to everyone. 600 years before Peter even knew what the gospel was, Christ had declared to Nephi that “all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile”. (2 Nephi 26:33) In his parting words to the apostles, Christ commanded them to “go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” (Matthew 28:20, emphasis added) God’s purpose was clear; He wanted everyone to hear about the good news of Christ. Yet somehow the church was still operating under a preach-only-to-the-Jews policy. So what had happened?

                First off, we could claim that Peter was uninspired, like many claim about Joseph Smith and the polygamy question. In Peter’s case, I would hesitate to say that he was simply being disobedient. Look at the facts in the story; once he received his revelation, he acted faithfully and immediately. I’m pretty sure he would’ve done so had he received that revelation at any point in the timeline of events.

                No, much more likely is the fact that the Lord didn’t have the faith necessary to implement his plan. The people weren’t ready for this new step. Preaching to gentiles went against their culture background, and with still fledging testimonies and incomplete conversions, such a move would probably have driven them out of the church. Look at what happened after Peter made this declaration; immediately “they of the circumcision contended with him.” This move causes a rift in the church among the more orthodox Jews-turned-Christians who couldn’t seem to give up on their traditions. These people weren’t ready for God’s purpose, and so God had to wait until they had sufficient faith before giving them their next commandments.

                This story proves the point made by Jeffery R. Holland when he said:

“Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work.” (Lord, I Believe, April 2013)

So why is there evil in the world? Because people choose evil over good sometimes. Why does it appear that the church occasionally makes mistakes? Because it’s run by people who have flaws. Yet none of this disproves the divinity of God; He is perfect and His plan is just. But because he honors agency, he’ll wait until we have faith before He acts. To all who struggle with those tough questions like the man in the video, I would advise you to hold on. God is real, and if you put your faith in Him, you’ll see a real-life manifestation of the divine principle you seek to understand.

Without Knowing Beforehand

I think at root I am strategist. I love nothing more than walking into a situation where I should be disadvantaged, yet end up succeeding because of my plans and strategies. I like to try to maximize the resources that I’ve been given to achieve something that I shouldn’t be able to do. This way of thinking involves always having a plan, and making sure that all of my actions are deliberate; that I know what I’m doing, how to do it, and that I have a good reason for why I’m doing so.

                Consequently, there are few things that can throw me out of my comfort zone like acting without any sort of vision or plan. That’s not easy to do. As we read in the New Testament this week in my religion class, we talked about the example of Phillip, who does exactly that. I found his story and the insights we discussed together very inspiring to help me in those times in which I don’t hold all the answers.

                In the story of Acts 8, Phillip is preaching to the people of Samaria, and having great success. He’s baptizing and I’m sure enjoying himself. In the midst of this awesome experience, he is called to go into the desert, with absolutely no details of what he is supposed to do or why the Lord would take him out of the place in which he is doing a lot of good. At this point, all of his plans have been ruined, and if I were Phillip, I would probably be a little upset by the command.

                But Phillip is a much better man than I, because the next verse begins with five very powerful words:

                                “And he arose and went”

                This story demonstrates is that most of the time, the Lord doesn’t give us all of the details. Doing so would inhibit our agency; think of how much Phillip must have learned by trying to figure out what he was supposed to do down in the desert. It was also a great test of his faith because the Lord didn’t reveal to him why he was being sent down there. But Phillip didn’t complain and didn’t delay. He immediately did as the Lord had asked and was able to see success by helping a very influential Ethiopian get baptized.

                In our lives there will be times when you and I will not know all of the details, and the plans that we make will be irrelevant. We will be asked to do something without knowing exactly how to do so or why we ought to. The story of Phillip stands as a beacon to us in those times to remember that when we put out trust in the Lord things will inevitably turn out alright as we patiently follow him. The Lord called Phillip to the middle of the desert, and it just happened to be the place where he could do the most good in baptizing the Ethiopian. When he calls you and I into our own spiritual “deserts”, the result will be just as wonderful. So keep your faith in Him and trust that His commands have a purpose.         

"What Shall I Do?"

               I love the account in Acts chapter 2 of the sermon preached by Peter. The account has numerous passages that I find inspiring, such as the miracle of the speaking in several languages at the same time Peter’s bold declaration of truth, and the wonderful result of seeing nearly three thousand converts in one day. All of these accounts spark my faith and help me to understand that miracles are indeed possible if we put enough faith in the Lord, as Peter did.

                But perhaps the most touching part of this chapter is the response of the multitude. The account states that after hearing Peter’s message, they were “pricked in their heart” and then asked the following question:

“What shall we do?”

                When I read this verse, I get another call to humility. As a missionary, I used to study this chapter and search for a way I could teach like Peter and invoke such a response for my investigators. I knew that if I found someone who would ask that simple question—“what should I do?”—I had found someone who was ready for the blessings of the gospel. But much more important than whether or not I can get someone else to ask God for direction is whether or not I can find the necessary humility to plead for advice in such a simple way. When one asks Heavenly Father for such simple direction, it is a huge demonstration of faith and trust in His plan. It is a sign of humility, a sign that we genuinely want to do what He asks, and thus implies we are becoming converted. It’s a question we all ought to be asking on a daily basis, because the answer holds all of the secrets for our lasting peace, happiness, and eternal salvation. I’m determined to try better to have the humble attitude of these men and regularly ask “what shall I do?” from my Heavenly Father. I encourage all of you to do the same.

Is Happiness a Choice?

                I’ve thought a lot about the question “is happiness a choice?” a lot over the course of this semester, and I’ve come to the conclusion that happiness isn’t necessarily a choice, in a sense that one can look at the window and say: “Wow, today is a miserable day, but I’m going to choose to be happy” and have that work. I’ve tried multiple times throughout the semester to do so, but it hasn’t really worked out in making me suddenly happy with no further thought or effort. Through my own personal experience, I realize much more clearly that outside influences do play a HUGE role in happiness; environmental and biological factors are very real and do very much influence the way that we feel in our daily lives.

                That being said, I do feel like there are certain factors that remain under our control, independent of outside factors. My personal interpretation of the concept of agency as taught in the scriptures requires a certain realm of inner control. But that inner control isn’t just a switch that toggles between “happy” and “sad”. If such a switch did exists, we would rightfully call ourselves mental midgets whenever we felt a little blue, and we would say those with depression are simply choosing to feel sad. No, such a switch doesn’t exist. But our minds do have the power to take on certain attitudes and actions which I feel can bring joy in most situations. Having an attitude of gratitude is one such conscience choice that can make a huge difference in our mindset. Accepting and applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ is another. Willingly serving others is also a great way to minimize pessimistic thinking. To be blunt, I believe that living the gospel of Jesus Christ has the most power to make one happy.

Yet even the gospel doesn’t directly equate to happiness. There is no guarantee that doing all those things will automatically result in pure joy, or an instant increase of emotions. It’s not a guaranteed formula that gospel living means a perfect life free of sorrow. It’s simply the best formula I know that can get you within striking distance. I think that’s all the control anyone ever has: you can sure get pretty dang close to happiness through exercising your agency, but in the end, happiness isn’t a choice, because there is that outside 1% that isn’t under your control. Without the proper use of agency, there is a very slim chance that you will be happy. With the proper use of agency, you’re much more likely to be happy, but it’s still no guarantee. So keep striving to do the right, and if sometimes you feel disappointed because happiness seems out of reach, don’t give up; the gospel method works, but it never promises not to give you the ups and downs of life. Experiencing both the good and the bad is just another beautiful aspect of what it means to be alive.

Remote Team Meeting

                The Globetrotters team used the program Asana to remotely coordinate our work together. It was quite an experience. Asana is a program that is designed for group projects like ours, and we used the free trial to create accounts for everyone on our team. Once inside the program, we could chat, assign and accept tasks, create deadlines, and see how everyone’s progress was doing.

                One of the things that was nice about Asana was how frequently it reminded me about the project. I was getting email blasts daily, reminding me that I was expected to complete part of my project within the next day. After so many reminders though, it was more stressful and annoying than helpful.

                Overall, I learned a lot about collaboration without face-to-face encounters from this meeting. I learned that it is really important to be clear in those types of communications, because emails to send clarification questions and answers sure add up quickly. If I was able to express my point simply in one email, then everyone would be spared constant messages back and forth. I also learned the importance of being timely—at one point our team got a little behind our project deadlines and it made things pretty stressful. At one point, I was assigned to do data analysis on data that wasn’t collected yet, and I was stressing out because I felt pressure to perform on time, yet there was no way to get my piece done without the prior work. All in all, I feel that working remotely, although more convenient, isn’t as effective as meeting face to face.

Shout-out

This is a great post about how to find satisfaction in small and simple improvements. I found it really inspiring. Check it out here:

https://ajnevarez.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/life-on-the-margin/

Living Deliberately

                Today I had an intramural basketball game. I’ll try to keep a long story short, but we won, largely due to the effort of one of my teammates in playing terrific defense and shutting down our opponent’s best player. After the game, I was thinking about this friend of mine, and the lifestyle that he embodies. You see, he’s not especially tall, not especially strong, and doesn’t have the build of someone who looks like they should be an incredible athlete. To be blunt, he drew the short straw in the genetic lottery for athletic genes.

                But the thing about this friend of mine is how well he has managed his best resource: his willpower. At some point in his life, he decided that he wanted to be good at sports, and so he put in the time and effort to get into good shape. And on the court, he knows he’s not the most talented, nor the most athletic, yet he makes himself absolutely invaluable because he will work harder than anyone else on the court. He leverages his athleticism to the maximum and runs circles around everyone else, winning crucial hustle-plays, and as proved tonight, making him a crucial cog on a winning team. He’s a terror to play against and the best ally one could ever ask for in the sporting arena.

               

                I want to be him. I love the way in which this friend has decided what he wanted, and done it. His formula is that simple; decide and then do, but yet the way in which he executes his plans is masterful. It gives me hope to watch him flying around the basketball court. For me, he embodies my hope that the mind really can win over the protests of a lazy body, that deliberate change is possible, and that I can achieve my goals.

                After reflecting on the show that Ethan put on tonight, I’ve been changed. There is a higher level of living. It is possible to pivot course in a second, deliberately decide to move in a different life direction and be forever changed. How can you and I settle for anything less than greatness, when we know that such greatness is inside of us? I’m going out to live deliberately, starting now. That’s where true joy and true inner satisfaction is.  

Moderation

This week I’ve learned the value of moderation. Before school started, I was practically dying of boredom. At that time, I wanted nothing more than to have homework to do, because at least it was something to break the monotony of long summer days. Then school started, and all of the sudden my wish seemed rash. Suddenly life was all about trying to minimize the amount of homework I was doing, and trying to keep from over scheduling so that I had that elusive idea we call “free time”. Well, this past week school was out, and I traveled with my family down to St. George to enjoy the sunshine and a homework-free environment. And suddenly the boredom was back.

                This experience of constantly waffling back and forth between two opinions has got me thinking. It would be so easy to pin my happiness on the accomplishment of one or the other objectives. I could easily say “once school ends, then I’ll be happy because I’ll have time to do what I want to do.” I could also say the opposite once the summertime blues sinks in. I believe the key to happiness is not constantly dreaming about the future,  but rather enjoying the moment by handling all things in moderation. Vacation activities are awesome, but only if they are deserved because of hard work. I have a mission friend who once said: "Doing nothing is the hardest work of all, because one can never stop to rest. Without work, rest and relaxation have no meaning.” I love his train of thought. Only through moderation can we truly enjoy life to it’s fullest. I’m determined to continue to work hard when it’s time to work, and to play hard when it comes time to play. 

ToDoist

I thought that there were many outstanding presentations during our class conference the last two weeks. Most of them focused on how to help me as I entered the business environment in the future, but one that I found could be super applicable right now was the presentation about ToDoist. O One thing that I have been working on recently is trying to budget my time more effectively. I schedule myself around my assigned homework and work schedule, and at the current moment, I simply use the “Notes” feature of my computer to put all of my activities on a digital sticky note on my desktop. Its simplicity has been working for me so far, but I still feel like if I was a little more organized, I could achieve much more of my potential. Too often I catch myself wasting time with activities that don’t bring happiness or help me be more productive, when I could be either doing some happiness-building or productive activity. I think I’m going to try out ToDoist and see if it can help take my life organization to a higher plane. 

Elevator Pitches

As a general rule, I hate talking about myself. I’ve seen firsthand too many examples of people craving attention and the bragging, showing off, trash-talking, and talking oneself up that always accompanies it. I find it childish to see other people doing so, and I hate it when I find myself bragging. For whatever reason, I just never have really had a very strong desire for recognition. When I do well, I’m comfortable enough to know in my heart that I did well, and it doesn’t really matter to me who celebrates alongside me.  

In my self-centered worldview, I consider this aversion to bragging a positive thing, but when it comes down to interview time, this trait of mine really stabs me in the back. I feel awkward and uncomfortable when I am sitting in front of someone trying to play up all of my strengths. Because it’s so unnatural for me, I often end up saying a lot of dumb things in front of the very people I’m trying to impress.

As I was listening to the class presentation about elevator speeches, I was really intrigued. I've obviously heard references to elevator pitches before, but I was never really given an in-depth discussion about how useful they can be. What I heard in class has got me thinking about how useful such a pitch could be in helping me overcome my interviewing weakness. I’m determined to make sure that I plan ahead and prepare an elevator pitch so that when circumstances force me to turn the limelight on myself, I won’t be caught off guard and will be able to deliver key information about myself in a non-threatening, non-bragging way.

Perspective

There is something about injuries that seems to provoke reflection and thought. Perhaps it is the view of our own vulnerability, or perhaps it is the constant re-living of the moment and the “what if’s” that inevitably get asked. Regardless, a near-injury experience has been the lesson that highlighted my education this week.

The circumstances weren’t too surprising: I was playing a late night intramural flag football game, in some very cold weather. My team was losing really badly to a team of superior athletes. Pride injured, tempers were starting to get as sour as the weather. Against this backdrop, I was lined up on the defensive side of the ball, poised to rush the opposing quarterback. Despite the fact that the score was somewhere around 60-0, our opponents ran a trick play, in which they sent a player running sideways across the field before the play started, and then threw the ball to him to start the play, giving him the massive advantage of already being at full-speed before anyone else moved. Something about the play infuriated me: why were they still trying so hard when the game had already been decided at least 20 minutes ago? It wasn’t really a rational reason to be upset, but I was determined to show these guys that they couldn’t just run all over us at will. I was going to shut down the play.

So I took off after the quarterback. There was no blockers between him and me, just a footrace to determine a simple question: could I catch him before he threw the ball downfield? I tore across the field as fast as my feet would allow, but he wasn’t slow either, and we were close to the sideline when I was finally approaching him. His eyes were up-field, scanning to see where he should throw the ball, and I was behind him, completely out of sight. As I neared, I started to see him tense up, and bring his arm behind him, ready to throw. I was well too far behind him to simply grab the flags, but my rage propelled me onwards, hoping against hope that somehow I could salvage the play. In a last-ditch effort, I decided to dive straight for him. I threw myself forward, body completely parallel to the ground, hands outstretched and desperately reaching for the elusive flag hanging behind the quarterback

If you remember from the last general conference, Elder Christofferson made a passing reference to gravity, saying that “Resenting the law of gravity won’t keep a person from falling.” Well, I learned firsthand the truthfulness of that statement. Desperately wishing gravity would make an exception doesn’t change all that much either. My hands came about half a foot short of those flags, the ball released cleanly from the quarterback’s arm, and I found myself plummeting to the ground to land face-first. I skinned my knees, my hands, and only barely avoided marring up my face.

Three days later, I can still can’t walk without a little limp as a direct result of that play. I’ve had to forego playing basketball, my favorite activity, and I got absolutely slaughtered in an important tennis match due to a lack of mobility. The thing that keeps striking me as I reflect on the incident is the how utterly wasteful my actions were. The game was decided by that point, and I was only playing out of anger and a wounded pride. I had allowed myself to be offended over the fact that the other team was still trying hard—something that was never intended to be offensive—and as such I suffered some pretty bad consequences.

I learned that we should always put things into perspective. What is one play at the end of a football game worth? In hindsight, it certainly wasn’t worth my tennis match, the pain, and the opportunity to play other sports. Had the injury been worse, the costs would’ve piled up as doctors got involved. All of that cost was completely avoidable had I just kept a level head and not made such a reckless attempt. Going forward, I’m going to try to be better at keeping all things in perspective. One play at the end of a blow-out is never worth a serious injury.