Resiliency

We moved about 2 years ago and our new place had some flowers in the back that were overrun by weeds. I have never been as dedicated of a gardener / yard caretaker as I would like to be, but I'm really trying to do better at this house than I was at the last one, so I tried to weed around these flowers to see if they would come back to life. This week, they bloomed, and I believe they are bearded irises:

Plants often remind me of how resilient things can be; they seem to be able to make all kinds of things work and don't really seem to take a hint when you want them to go away, especially not weeds. In the Book of Mormon, Alma teaches that nature testifies of God:

all things denote there is a God; yea, even the ^bearth, and ^call things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its ^dmotion, yea, and also all the ^eplanets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

As these blossomed, I've been studying that same Alma the Younger's dramatic repentance as part of the Come, Follow Me reading for the week. In thinking about the flowers and the reading, I wondered how many people have given up on themselves as followers of Christ due to problems that are much easier to solve than Alma the Younger's sins. In order to repent completely, Alma would have to publicly repudiate everything he'd done in the past; he would have to admit he was wrong and or lying to people for years, and he'd have to become a completely different person. Sometimes we may have messed up badly, and we may need to greatly humble ourselves to repent, but even if our sins are worse than Alma's the Savior suffered specifically to be able to correct these wrongs.

I am so grateful that Alma was resilient enough to believe Christ could help him change. I pray that we all can exercise faith in the same principle as we try to overcome our own sins, big and small. People bloom more beautifully than flowers.

Hearing Him Part Three: Journal Writing

If you're interested in reading more about Hearing Him, here are links to part one and part two. This entry is about journal writing; I find that writing in a personal journal is very helpful for recognizing the voice of the Lord in my life.

I often write about experiences where I believe I have been inspired; this helps me clarify my thoughts about what I've received, and in many cases I have received additional details about revelatory experiences while writing them down. The act of writing forces me to further consider what happened, and in many cases this focuses my mind in a way that allows the Lord to speak to me. He taught:

I will ^atell you in your mind and in your ^bheart, by the ^cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

I find that quiet reflection on these experiences - in this case brought on by writing in my journal - prepares my mind and my heart for further clarity from the Holy Ghost.

I will also often write about how I recognized the voice of the Lord; it doesn't always happen in exactly the same way, and it is almost always subtle. Sometimes I don't immediately recognize it, and sometimes I don't recognize the experience until after the opportunity to act on it has passed. However, even in these cases the Spirit will sometimes help me realize what I could have done differently to more completely recognize inspiration. Writing about how I've received revelation naturally causes me to think more about that process, and over time I improve in understanding.

Writing about these experiences also helps me value them, and helps me demonstrate the same to the Lord. I have learned that honoring the things the Lord has told me to do today makes it more likely that I will further understand His will for me tomorrow.

Last, I do read my journals from time to time. When I do so, I'm often seeking to better understand or remember something that happened, and I am very grateful for having written something. I often learn more when re-reading these experiences; I have now had several experiences that seem to teach me more each year rather than fading from memory. I am grateful for every word I've written about them.

Hearing Him Part Two: Real Intent

One of the scriptures that teaches clearly about revelation is Moroni 10:4-5:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things.

I love these verses because they concisely teach truths about receiving answers from God. These verses are part of what is often referred to as Moroni's promise; Moroni is engraving the last few words in the Book of Mormon, and he knew that many people would later read it. He offered us a test for how we might know the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the process for receiving that answer from God is the same as receiving any answer from Him.

I want to focus on these phrases: "with a sincere heart, with real intent." I think their meaning is plain enough: we have to truly want to know the answer, and be willing to act on the answer that we receive. To quote President Ezra Taft Benson: "Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word." If we are not willing to follow the will of God, He will not always reveal it to us. (This is merciful, by the way, because in this scenario He is not giving us commandments and knowledge that He would then have to judge us by when He knows we will not live up to them.) When we pray to know truth, we must be willing to follow that truth. If we are making a decision and we ask for guidance, we must be willing to follow His guidance. If we've already made a decision and will do our own will no matter what, then we are not asking with real intent nor with a sincere heart. Perhaps we are asking out of habit or only because we want the Lord's blessing to do what we've already decided to do. This does not please the Lord and is not a path towards communing with Him.

Would we meet with a financial planner with no intention of listening to her advice on how we manage our money? Do we consult doctors so that we can throw away the medicine they prescribe? Perhaps we know some people that do these things to one degree or another, but hopefully we know that this isn't normally wise. Even financial planners and doctors are human and fallible, where God is omniscient and omnipotent, and He sees the beginning from the end. He is not relying on statistical probabilities or best practices to guide us, but teaches based on a perfect understanding of where we are and the best way to help us be prepared for our eternal destiny.

Naturally, it is very difficult to set aside your own will when making decisions; the more important the decision, the harder it is to truly be willing to follow the Lord's words, whatever they may be. For me, cultivating a knowledge of His character and attempting to control my own pride have been two keys to success along this path. I know that many of the better decisions I've made were changed after praying, and some extremely important decisions I've made were only confirmed after I was willing to follow the Lord's will even though He did not want me to change my mind.