"Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives"

This morning I reread the conference talk given by President Russell M Nelson last April: Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives. In preparation for this talk, he performed a focused study of all of the references to Christ in the topical guide, which is a reference guide printed at the end of Mormon versions of the King James bible. It lists scriptural references for lots of different topics to aide personal study.

In this talk, he emphasized the importance of completely centering our faith and worship on the Savior:

Under the Father’s great eternal plan, it is the Savior who suffered. It is the Savior who broke the bands of death. It is the Savior who paid the price for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death.

There is no amorphous entity called “the Atonement” upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source. Sacred terms such as Atonement and Resurrection describe what the Savior did, according to the Father’s plan, so that we may live with hope in this life and gain eternal life in the world to come. The Savior’s atoning sacrifice—the central act of all human history—is best understood and appreciated when we expressly and clearly connect it to Him.

Some might say that some of the difference here is semantics, but we cannot understate the importance of remembering that Christ is our living God who loves us and wants to help us. We can develop a relationship with Him through prayer. The language we use in discussing our Savior and His mission should reflect and center the idea that He lives and works to be personally involved in our lives. President Nelson points us towards this near the end of his talk:

The gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with His power, which is available to every earnestly seeking daughter or son of God. It is my testimony that when we draw His power into our lives, both He and we will rejoice.

I add my testimony that it is possible to feel His power in life every day. He loves us. As I accept Him in my life, I'm able to feel His peace.

DACA And The Rule of Law

We've all probably heard about DACA by now: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is a program Barack Obama introduced that basically promises that if you were brought to the US as a child and don't have legal immigration status, you won't get deported*. On top of that, it allows you to gain a work permit so that you work legally (and pay taxes). It's a program that has done a lot of good aside from the obvious: allowing you to stay in the country you call home, which is in many cases the only country you have ever known. Despite what some say, there is no evidence that it negatively impacts other Americans' ability to get a job, and there's a significant amount of evidence that it actually benefits the economy overall, as while as increasing the quality of life for the families of those eligible, many of whom are US citizens who will wind up using welfare and similar services if DACA is repealed.

At any rate, Trump has announced that he will end DACA in six months, sort of. He's actually being very ambiguous, asked Congress to implement a law that does something similar, and said he'll "revisit the issue" if Congress doesn't act. It's fairly murky, and I'm really hoping that Congress will do something, but I'm not very optimistic because most of the members of our Congress are so content grand-standing and bickering that they have a hard time even passing budgets.

The Rule of Law
One of the most frequent arguments I've heard people use for ending DACA is that these people are law-breakers and we have to uphold the rule of law; I've also heard this argument made as a reason to split up families by deporting one of more parents of US citizen children. For me, this argument doesn't hold water because it's a naive view of the law. In reality, plea deals and pardons exist. The government selectively enforces things for it's own benefit all of the time. In some criminal cases, it's to catch the drug lord instead of the pusher; in others, it's to avoid a length trial that will cost lots of taxpayer dollars. With the IRS, it's regular practice to accept less than 100% of back taxes owed in order to collect some of them.

Why is it that the law is only sanctimonious when we're enforcing it against children and families, but not against criminals, draft-dodgers, tax-evaders, and many others? The law isn't practiced that way in the real world, and I feel that arguments like upholding the law / Constitution are cop-outs for people who don't want to confront the realities of immigration law. Deporting DACA recipients will orphan many children and leave others with only one parent; will that strengthen our society? For those that aren't deported, they will be left here without legal avenues for work. That reduces the taxes collected and the wages for these families. As I stated above, that will likely increase participation in welfare as it reduces the income of many who are US citizens. This isn't righteous justice that restores our legal system to some pristine state, it's is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

*It's a two-year renewable delay of any proceedings against you related to your immigration status.

What I Would Tell New Parent Me

For the past couple weeks, I've been thinking back on when my oldest daughter was born, and I remember it being completely overwhelming. Fatherhood, waking up in the middle of the night, not being able to just go places whenever, and having to plan around a tiny person's schedule changed a lot of things. We had to become a lot more organized to really be able to get anything done. Without a doubt, even with the stress it was wonderful time. Watching a new baby discover the world is magical in ways that I haven't found elsewhere, so there's no way I would trade it. I have, however, thought of a few things I would tell myself, if I could speak with the new parent version of myself.

You Will Have Energy Again, I Promise
I remember feeling so exhausted as I adjusted to being disturbed regularly at night that even basic things like walking upstairs or turning around while backing a car up felt very tiring. I felt so tired for so long that I wondered for a while if I was just starting to get old and I would only get less and less energy as life continued.

When I think about when my second child was born, I didn't feel the same level of exhaustion, even though there were now two children and our oldest was still shy of 3. Obviously, not everyone who has a first child will even have a second, and mileage may vary on energy levels with the second kid, but I know that the energy does return, even though I'm almost 7 years older than I was when my oldest was born.

Reach Out To Your Spouse
One thing I wish I'd thought of more frequently is that my wife was in most cases as tired or more than I was. (In our case, she was probably mostly more tired because she got up more often in the night than I did.) As a general rule, when you feel challenged, your spouse probably feels it too, and trying to make sure she or he is always taken care of is a very good idea. I feel like new parent me should've done better in this regard. I know that it would've helped my wife, and it would've helped me as well: it's been my experience that reaching out to others is a great way to feel better about what's happening in your own life.

Focus On The Good
This is the more cliché of my advise to myself, but if this ever happens, since I'll be conversing with a future version of myself, hopefully new parent me will still listen. There are plenty of negative things that can distract you from the pure joy of helping a baby grow. It's amazing to look down at those bright eyes, see love staring back at you, and realize how much this tiny human depends on you. There's also the absolute serenity of a child sleeping in mommy or daddy's arms. Don't forget to soak those moments in.