Sabbath Musings

I have been contemplating many things recently, from how to get food to magically appear in my kitchen without any preparation or trips to the grocery store (unlikely), to how to get enough sleep and still do all the things that need doing (near impossible), to the remarkable change that takes place in my heart when I serve someone for years on end (astonishing), to the ways my testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel has grown through the experiences of the past twelve months (profound).

I was thinking in Relief Society today as we talked about exaltation - what it is, how to obtain it, and why it is so important to focus on it - about a conversation I had with a colleague of mine a year or so ago. We had been discussing another employee. Who or why is irrelevant to the story (mostly because I don't remember). She contested that no matter what I invested in this person, it would do no good because "people can't change". I don't recall my direct answer to her then, but I knew as well then as I know now that she and I believe entirely differently on that point.

The foundational principle of the Gospel in which I believe is that people can change - and that they do, every day. King Benjamin's people were not just saying some trite, meaningless phrases when they responded to his teachings with the expression "we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more desire to do evil, but to do good continually." Truly, their hearts had been changed. Their tendency to act in ways that violated God's commandments had been replaced with a burning desire to do good. I'm not talking about murder and covetousness and adultery here, although the desire for those things died, too. This experience also changed the tendency for a man to get upset with his neighbor because he felt taken advantage of; his secret desire for the failure of his colleague who was implementing a bad idea; the self-pitying nobody-appreciates-me-itis that made hard workers disgruntled; and the judgmental conversations about others wherein ignorance met speculation.

If the Gospel is true (and it is), then when the Atonement of Jesus Christ is efficacious in our lives, it provides a way for us to change not just our behaviors, but our very natures. We learn to give even when others don't give equally back; we learn to support our leaders even when we disagree with their ideas, and then pray fervently for their success; we learn that gratitude for God's blessings overcomes all forms of -itis; we learn that withholding judgment is sometimes the best choice, for only One knows the desires of our hearts and can truly judge righteously.

God, our Father, who gives us all, is so anxious to bless us that He gave us blessings in anticipation of our obedience! He gave us life, breath, this world and all its beauty. Then, every time we obey, He pours out blessings upon our heads - more than I feel I merit, at times - and yet, He does so willingly, lovingly, and without expectation: further obedience does not settle the account, you see. He continues to bless us abundantly each time we obey. It is not about keeping score. If it were, I'd be losing. Every day.

Perhaps this is part of what it means to become like God - to learn to bless and give willingly, abundantly, and generously, regardless of response. To forgive those who (literally or figuratively) wound us, as Jesus forgave those who pierced His hands and feet and side. To love those who may never thank us for all we gave on their behalf. To give, and give, and then give some more, without demanding anything in return, because it is how we express our love and our confidence in the one to whom we give.

Such a description rings true of parenthood. Fatherhood. Motherhood. Godhood. Exaltation.

I have experienced this kind of fundamental change in my own life. I am by no means perfect, but my Father has, in His wonderful, loving, omnipotent way, taught me a little bit about how to love like this. He has filled my heart with feelings that must be akin to His: great yearnings for the happiness of His children; desires for them to know Him as I know Him, that they might see His hand in their lives as I see His hand in mine. These yearnings fill my soul some minutes, and leave me wondering how to share that which I know with those I love in such a way that it will penetrate into their hearts - the part that is prepared to receive His love.

I don't have all the answers, nor do I profess to, but I am confident that when I join forces with the most powerful being in the Universe, we'll figure it out together. And it is that confidence that tied together a lesson on exaltation, a lesson on the book of the Revelation of St. John, three beautiful talks on compassion, a thought on our everlasting sphere of influence, and the prayer of a loving bishop in tithing settlement into one great message: the message of Christmas, of Christ, of Love.