The light will be there

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Welfare Session of the October 1982 Conference.

Now that we've all started "Home Church" and the Come Follow Me curriculum, our stake and ward has been talking a lot about it in our meetings. There are lots of people (especially those with young children, it seems like?) that have shared how well it's working for them, and it's good to hear those stories and get ideas for our own family.

When the changes were first announced last October, I thought to myself, "I hope that by next October when we've had time to settle into this, I will be able to say that I've seen some of the blessings they are promising." I thought of that when I read this quote in Elder Victor L. Brown's talk. Elder Brown was quoting a story told by President David O. McKay when the Welfare program had just been introduced in the church:
[An] engineer pulled his train into a station one dark night, and a timid passenger inquired of the engineer if he wasn’t frightened to pull his train out in the dark with 400 or 500 passengers’ lives at stake. The engineer said, pointing up to the bright headlight, ‘I want to tell you one thing: when I pull out of this station I won’t be running in darkness one foot of the way. You see that light a thousand yards ahead? I run my engine just to the edge of the light, and when I get there it will still be on a thousand yards ahead.’ Having said that, President McKay added: ‘I want to tell you something. Through all this dark night of uncertainty, I want to tell you that this Welfare Program will not be running in the dark one foot of the way. You remember it. We can only see the next October as the first circle of light. We have told you what to do six months from now. By the time we get there the light will be on ahead of us, but every step of the way that light will be there. You teach your people to follow the light and they will be safe on Zion’s hill when the destructive forces come in the world.’
I love President McKay's reminder that we don't always have to see "the distant scene!" I like to plan ahead. I like to know how things are going to work, and when I make changes to something, I like to be able to envision what those changes will lead to. So living this principle is quite hard for me. But it is also relieving in a way! It's a reassurance that I don't have to constantly be worrying or trying to anticipate what will come next: "This is working okay now, but what about when THIS happens? We probably can't keep ____ up forever! And how will we keep doing it when THIS changes? And so far we're getting away with ___, but what if the kids do THIS?"

But that is unnecessary. I just have to follow the prophets as completely as I can for the next six months (or whatever time period)—until the next little bit of light and guidance comes—and then I can live and follow that the best I can until the next step is given. I love the idea of using General Conferences as those guideposts or markers. It seems doable to work on pretty much anything for six months, and then when the next Conference comes I can either change my focus or re-commit or make adjustments, as inspired by the counsel the prophets give. And I can trust that even though the future often seems very uncertain, once I get to "the next six months," the light will be on ahead of me again, and I will be able to see what to do next.


Other posts in this series:

https://www.reliefsocietywomen.com/2019/02/24/the-terrifying-reality-of-self-reliance/
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Of Good Cheer in the Unfolding Process

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the October 1982 Conference.
Sometimes as I read these talks from 40 years ago, I am struck by how similar they sound to the talks given today—similar counsel, similar problems being addressed, similar emphases. But other times I am amazed by how literally prophetic they are, speaking of problems that weren't as prevalent back then as they are now, and warning about these problems before they were even on most people's radar.

Elder Marvin J. Ashton and Elder Neal A. Maxwell both gave that kind of prophetic talk in this session, and they were both so good and so pertinent, I almost couldn't believe they weren't being written right now. Elder Ashton talked about dealing with opposition to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says,
It seems to me there has never been a period in history when it has been more important for us to be engaged in pure religion as taught by the Savior. This religion is not to retaliate, or to exchange in kind, evil actions or unkind statements. Pure religion encompasses the ability to cherish, to build up, and to turn the other cheek in place of destroying and tearing down. Blessed are they who strive to serve Him without wasting time faulting Him or those who serve Him
But then he also reminds us (and this is where I so often struggle!) that we shouldn't waste time being mad at those who do "fault Him and those who serve Him!":
The poet Robert Frost once defined education as “the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” Probably we will never be free of those who are openly anti-Mormon. Therefore, we encourage all our members to refuse to become anti-anti-Mormon… 
To keep ourselves unspotted from the world requires taking charge of and ruling our lives from within, accepting responsibility for our own actions, and choosing the role of peacemaker rather than retaliator when those around us are critical or spread false propaganda. 
It seems like such great counsel for these angry, rush-to-judgement times we live in!

The other prophetic counsel was from Elder Maxwell, and I was so struck by his prophetic words about what I think of as the twin plagues of our times, Depression and Anxiety. He says:
The coming decades will be times of despair. Why? Because, as Moroni said, despair comes of iniquity…The more iniquity, the more despair. And unless there is widespread repentance, despair will both deepen and spread… 
Alas, brothers and sisters, we likewise live in a time when the love of many will wax cold.  Fear will therefore increase. Why? Because when men fear, it is because we are not perfect in love. The less love, the more fear—as well as the more war!
I think Elder Maxwell meant this as more of a pronouncement about society than about individuals—these plagues of our time are influenced by cultural climate, the choices of others, societal and familial decay, and so forth. But his talk gives so much great counsel on how to combat that despair and fear that Satan wants us to feel!
To be cheerful when others are in despair, to keep the faith when others falter, to be true even when we feel forsaken—all of these are deeply desired outcomes during the deliberate, divine tutorials which God gives to us—because He loves us…These learning experiences must not be misread as divine indifference. Instead, such tutorials are a part of the divine unfolding.
And my favorite part of the talk:
Jesus calls upon us to have a deliberate trust in God’s unfolding purposes, not only for all humankind but for us individually. And we are to be of good cheer in the unfolding process.
Sometimes it's so much easier to believe in God's plan for "all humankind." But I falter all the time in trusting his plan for me. Waiting to understand what I am to do and how I am to do it; waiting to know the things I want to know—those things are SO hard for me! After waiting a little while, I think I have learned patience, and then I realize as I continue to wait that I still need to develop MORE patience, and the whole cycle seems very slow and frustrating! So I have a great need for this reminder to not only trust that things ARE unfolding for my good—but also to be grateful and happy AS the unfolding happens, and for however long it takes!

Other posts in this series:

• http://www.jrganymede.com/2019/02/19/be-of-good-cheer
• https://www.reliefsocietywomen.com/2019/02/17/can-we-really-feel-gospel-gladness/
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This winter seems very long but here are some things we did anyway.


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Faith by asking

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Morning Session of the October 1982 Conference.
I really dislike the semi-flippant term "adulting" you hear people tossing around these days, as if it's so commendable for a person to do something responsible. So it was refreshing to hear Elder Derek A. Cuthbert's talk about some childlike qualities we should seek for, and some "grown-up" qualities we should seek for. It was an interesting concept for a talk, and I liked it. It was great to hear someone speak seriously about traits like leadership, wisdom, dependability, accountability, and self-mastery. I particularly loved this insight:
However, it is not being accountable that brings maturity. It is realizing that we are accountable, acting accordingly, and being prepared to give an accounting to those in authority over us and eventually to the Lord himself.
My favorite part of this talk, though, was tucked into a paragraph about faith:
It has always been a source of happiness to my wife and me when one of our children has shown faith by asking for a blessing of health or of comfort and counsel.
I don't know if that seems revolutionary to you, but it does to me. All my life I have heard about asking for things "in faith," and so when I ask for something (either asking God for it in a prayer, or asking for a blessing as in Elder Cuthbert's example), I am usually concerned that I might not be doing it with enough faith. Everyone knows that we can't always expect God to give us what we ask for, but there's also the variable of "maybe he wanted to give it to me, but I didn't ask with enough faith."

But this paragraph just says that we show faith BY ASKING. The act of asking IS an act of faith. That seems amazing to me!

I'm sure there is still something valuable about striving to ask with MORE faith, and I know that asking isn't the ONLY thing we do to show faith (we have to act on previous answers, and be patient, and ask the right kinds of questions, and so forth)—but I still think this is a pretty cool thing to know: when I'm brave enough, or humble enough, or determined enough to just ask, in that moment, I am showing faith.

Other posts in this series:

http://www.jrganymede.com/2019/02/10/22588/

https://www.reliefsocietywomen.com/2019/02/11/of-rites-and-privileges/
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Threads of gold

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the October 1982 Conference.
Here's the quote I've been thinking about this week. Elder H. Burke Peterson said:
Faultfinding is easy. It takes a true disciple of the Master to look beyond the weaknesses we all have and find the threads of gold that are always there.… 
A boy needs a father who will correct him when necessary, but beyond that, one who will love him, and like him, and accept him regardless of his performance: a father who may treat a teenager like an adult, but not expect him to act like one. It takes quite a dad to look beyond the actions of boyhood and see the potential of manhood—and even more important, for him to get a glimpse of eternity.
"Treat a teenager like an adult, but not expect him to act like one." That's an interesting line to walk. Maybe I'll get better at seeing it when I've been through a few more teenagers?

I also love the reminder to find the "threads of gold" rather than finding fault with the people around me.

Other posts in this series:


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