HOLD THY WAY
I would like to liken a scripture unto myself (D&C 122:7-9)
“7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of
murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be
cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if
fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the
elements combine to hedge up the way; (or if you continue to sin over and over and over again, or if someone
at church offends you, or if you are sick or crippled or have addictions or
financial failure or a wayward child) and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall
gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things
shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
8 The Son of
Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?
9 Therefore, hold on
thy way, and the
priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set,
they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be
numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be
with you forever and ever.”
I am finding
that the term endure to the end is not a mere saying that we hear. Life can be
hard at times, we make mistakes, others make mistakes that affect us, tragedy
sometimes visits us and when life gets hard sometimes we want to give up.
Why do we
jump from the Old Ship Zion (as Elder Ballard says)? And how can we prevent
ourselves from jumping? I don’t think that we just decide to jump in one day. I
believe that it is a slow process that takes many years.
I believe
that people jump ship for a simple basic reason…..they lose the spirit in their
lives. The Holy Ghost no longer directs them and their actions. I think that
sometimes we think that if we do anything wrong we feel that we are on our own
spiritually. That having the spirit with us is either all or nothing. While I
think that we can lose the spirit in our lives, I also believe that there is
spiritual help and assistance for us in varying degrees and that we need to
continually strive to do what we can to have the spirit with us.
I believe
that many times we sin and find our lives incongruent with our beliefs. When
this happens we must internally reconcile this in order to emotionally survive.
This means that we either have to adjust our lives or our belief systems and without
a portion of the spirit in our lives we are left to kick against the pricks or
come up with a solution on our own.
The
preventative measures are…
STUDY THE SCRIPTURES
– ESPECIALLY THE BOOK OF MORMON - President Nelson has said “My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you
prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day….
I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be
immunized against the evils of the day”
PRAY – Do
not give up on prayer. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father and
continually ask for His help. Have personal prayer and family prayer each day
night and morning. Pray with your spouse, if you have one.
There is
something about getting on your knees before God. It is a commandment. There is
great opportunity to communicate with our Father when we pray and feel of his
spirit, BUT even if we only say a brief prayer that may not feel reaches past
the ceiling, I know that the Lord blesses our efforts. He has told us that when
we keep his commandments he will bless us.
PARTAKE OF
THE SACRAMENT EACH WEEK – I love that Bishop takes time in Sacrament meeting to
remind us to prepare for the sacrament and contemplate our Saviors sacrifice
for us.
Why is
partaking of the sacrament so important?
-
It
is a weekly reminder to do all we can to Obey His commandments so that we can
have His spirit to be with us.
-
It
is part of the repentance process. (I have an old friend that, when he was called
as Bishop he mentioned in his testimony after being sustained that some of his
best spiritual experiences were leaving his Bishops office after confessing his
sins.) Repentance is a cleansing and healing process that can help us to
constantly have the a portion of the Lords spirit
-
Sometimes some of us may be offended because of
something another member may do or say. I hope that I have not been guilty of
my sins (and saying something rude or insensitive could indeed be a sin) giving
license for someone to jump ship. Whether you would leave the church because
you witnessed me being a thief or because I said something rude, those could be
my sins and I would hope they would not give you a reason to jump. If any of us
are ever offended by another member, I would hope that we would say to
ourselves that this person has their sins and I have mine. The church is a shop
for the sinner and not a museum for the saints.
-
An old story that has been used in 100’s of
talks refers to a man that was interviewing new drivers for his transportation
company. The route was very dangerous and went along several steep cliffs
through a mountain pass. The interviewer asked each man how close he could
safely drive near the edge of the cliff. The first man responded, “I could
drive within six inches of the edge.” The second man responded, “I could
drive within two inches of the edge.” The third man responded, “I would
stay as far away from the edge of the cliff as I possibly could.” The
third man got the job.
-
Sometimes I think we are don’t want to be too
good or conversely, we think how bad can I be and get away with it. Once soon
after my mission I was asked to be on a dating panel for some Young Men and
Women. They submitted questions and the panel would answer them. One question
asked “How far is too far?” I was a little annoyed that someone would ask that
question and simply said CHANDLER is too far! I think that this can represent
our attitudes sometimes instead of simply trying to be our best selves. If I
were asked that question today, I don’t think that I would be as impatient and
snarky. My response would simply be “When you the Holy Ghost leaves”
-
Laman and Lemuel were usually obedient
eventually. In a modern day, they would probably have been active in the
Priesthood Quorums and come to church, but only because mom and dad made them. Remember,
they went back for the plates, for the Ishmaels family, helped Nephi build a
boat, and sailed to the promised land. However they had not developed their own
sense of why they were doing these things. They had not developed their own
relationships with their Heavenly Father and as soon as mom and dad were gone
they jumped ship.
Several
years ago while McKayla and David were younger, we traveled to Taos, New Mexico
to go River Rafting. We went over with the Connolly’s. It was a beautiful area. Because we had some
smaller children we decided to break up the trip into an easy rafting trip and
then one for the big boys. The first trip was the childs trip, so I figured it
would be relaxing and fairly uneventful for a thrill seeker like myself. The
kids would love it, but the big boy trip was the next day, so this would be
easy peasy. We got all geared up and the
guide gave us instructions
#1- stay in
the boat!
#2 - always
wear your life jacket!#3 - always hold on with both hands!
He also told
us if you do go in the water, float with your legs out and upright. As we
floated along a particularly calm part of the river the boat turned slightly,
so that my back was toward the direction that the boat was floating. Suddenly,
the raft hit a rock just below the surface right at the edge of the boat where
I was sitting and just like that I was in the River. It was cold and what
appeared nice and calm on the surface was moving swiftly underneath the
surface. I quickly became separated from the boat and began floating as I had
been instructed, upright and legs out. Bam! A Rock! Bam! another rock. This
hurt and there was no way to prepare for the next collision, because I could
not see the rocks below the surface to know when the next one was coming! I
eventually made it to a shoreline and was picked up by the boat and we
continued on down the river. I was cold and wet and hanging on much tighter
than I had been previously.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly--He knows you
as you really are. And He loves you--today and always!”
After going into the River that day I was especially cautions and
careful the next day. If the calm little kids river could hurt as badly as it
did, I was pretty certain that I did not want to go for a swim on the big boy
day. I hung on TIGHT. I didn’t take chances like the young un’s did. I had a
blast and stayed in the boat.
Here are some talks and articles I read to prepare to write my talk.
