Upward Thought

 Someone asked me: "[What do you] do on the sabbath day that make it meaningful to you?" It is my present understanding that we ought to be constantly occupied in whatever leads to the greatest benefit, all the time. What that is, exactly, is obviously specific to a person, due to variance in capability and understanding. Sundays are no different in purpose, but for most people, the things they do that day may be different in practice because of relaxation of day-to-day requirements. The sabbath is a gift from God because we get to focus for more time on the things that the necessity of earning one's daily bread forces us to limit during the week. Each day, from when I get up until when I go to sleep, I prioritize my actions to do the greatest good I know of, subject to the limits of my mortal body.  Every day I wake up as early as I can. I spend the time until 6:30 writing, studying, praying, and lifting weights inasmuch as it helps me focus my mind. At 6:30, I spend thi

Someone asked me: Why do we worship God? Why not the gospel, or the power of God? Isn't God using the power to create us and everything else? If that's the case, why worship Him and not the power? Our understanding is something that is capable of eternal progression. It is capable of reaching the understanding of God, but it does not start developed to that degree. The truth scales infinitely. God presents it in an individually adapted way. He reveals truth to the degree the individual is prepared to perceive, accurately value, and live according to it. To reveal more than that would cause harm rather than benefit.  In what might be the clearest description of ideal human behavior in scripture, we read: 13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. 15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know goo

I know a man in his latter years who has searched for companionship his whole life.  Companionship is a myth. Those who think they have it are sure to be violently surprised at some future date when they are accosted with incontrovertible evidence that the person they thought was their companion is either vastly better or vastly worse than they thought. Why is companionship a myth? Well, let's first make our language more accurate. When most people say "companionship," they mean parity. They mean a reciprocal relationship, where they receive from someone exactly what they give to them.  God's definition of companionship is different. When the Holy Ghost is referred to as your companion, do you think you give it what it gives you? Of course not. You are nothing--completely insignificant--compared to the gift of the Holy Ghost. The relationship is of the same form between any two people, though the degree of difference varies. Whenever there are two people, one is great

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. 6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. 9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the

I know of two sisters who got into a bad car accident. The one sister came away with only emotional trauma, while the other sister came away with a shattered limb. She had emergency surgery where here mutilated limb was reconstructed with many pins. Residual damage will be permanent, as will be the scarring left by the bone fragments that punctured her skin. She said to her sister, "I'm glad it was me and not you, because I can handle this better than you can." The rulers of the Gentiles seek power in order to be comfortable. The nobles of God's house seek to suffer in order to maximize the comfort of others. Finding themselves in the midst of others who are weaker than they are, they offer their backs to the whips of mortality in humble acknowledgement that they can handle it better than others can.  The rulers of the Gentiles seek to feel good without paying the price of being good. The nobles of God's house submit to truth wherever it is found, no matter how fo

1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he

 This morning I wrote the following as a part of a book on faith I've been writing for some time: "We are steeped, within and without, by incessant invitations for improvement. From without, we are surrounded by evidences that something better than what we have and are exists. We hear songs of deep love that we recognize is beyond what we possess or give. We see movies that portray heroism and sacrifice beyond what we would give. We see and smell and feel beauty in nature that exceeds what we create and enjoy in our daily lives. From within, an echoing message is provided by a still, small voice that paradoxically whispers with the strength to shake us, suggesting to our deepest core that we can live up to and become whatever good we become aware of. These ubiquitous signals can easily be ignored, but never silenced. They are the voice of God, relentlessly calling us towards improvement. This voice is deliberately woven into the very fabric of our lives, being in and through a