Yup. Either enjoy or wait until we get into the "Fun With Pictures" blog posts that are forthcoming.
Still, this is worthwhile reading to maybe understand something about where I am coming from, you know, to round out the overall picture of who I am.
This is the text from my most recent talk, “All these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good.”
10 spiritual lessons I have learned from experiences in my physical life:
1. The Lord will shape a path for us. It may not be clear to us in the moment. This is especially true when those moments are moments we would rather not see ourselves in. If we “learn [our] duty, and to act in in the office in which [we are] appointed, in all diligence,” we will see the fruits of our labor as we reflect on it down the road. I have shared this before in testimonies that I have borne, but as I look back on my life, I see the Lord's hand leading and guiding me to where I am now. Experiences that I had a bad attitude about in the moment, thinking, “I wish I were not here right now,” are sometimes those I am the most thankful for now. This is also what leads me to lesson number 2.
2. God loves me. God loves all of us.
3. “The worst they can tell me is 'no'”. I love baseball. There, I said it. When I was younger, I played, just like most other boys my age. I loved baseball, and I was not great at it. I was not a 5 skill player. In fact, I wasn't even a one skill player. During my freshman year of High School, a former teammate of mine asked if I was planning on trying out for the high school team. I told him that after some thought, I decided I would. My rationale was this: If I try out and make the team, I would be ecstatic, if I don't try out for the team, the answer was already “no.” So, I tried out. I was out there, and I was in a league of my own. Not in a good way. But, after the week of tryouts, the coach gathered us together, and said, “well, there are 24 spots on this team, and since there are 24 of you that have stayed for tryouts all week, there will be no cuts, you're all on the team.” I rode the pine for 3 years of High School baseball and loved every minute of it. But, I never would have had that opportunity had I not been willing to face rejection.
4. Nothing of value in life comes easily. A while back, someone asked me what my 3 proudest achievements were. After answering the question, I noticed that all 3 had something in common. These were all things that had required a lot of hard work and time.
5. The importance of family. One December, when I was 10 years old, I developed a pain in my lower right side one day. This pain was so intense that I was not able to sleep that entire night. The next day, my mom took me to the doctor who diagnosed it as appendicitis. After the surgery began, they recognized it as something much more complicated than a routine surgery. They removed the perfectly fine appendix (we might as well get what we were paying for, right?) and rushed me from Richfield to Primary Children's in Salt Lake City. There they removed a shriveled kidney and a ureter bloated by a blockage that had built up. Being in the hospital as a kid around Christmas time is about the best time to be in the hospital. People are already in the consumer mindset, so, I was regaled with gifts from family, many major merchants came through the hospital and gave the children presents – Fred Meyer literally gave me a 5 foot tall stalking chock full of toys. That was awesome. What wasn't awesome, however, was that after 2 surgeries that required literally opening me up, essentially splitting me in half, I was pretty bedridden for the best part of a week. My recovery was going along as planned, but, by December 23rd, I was still only marginally mobile. The reality soon hit me: I may not be able to go to Nana's house for the big Christmas family celebration. This is where we would all get together, 4 generations of family, and spend Christmas eve together. Just imagine 4 generations of people who are all jokesters and storytellers in the same vein as I am. This is seriously good times. That day, the doctor came in, and we asked him if he thought it would be possible to release me in time to spend Christmas eve with my family. He said that I was progressing nicely, but, that he would not release me until I had shown signs that I was healed. He said that if I could walk from my room to the end of the hall and back with no help, he would release me. I was determined in that moment to walk down to the end of the hall and back by the next day. So, I got up and got more active. Moving was a pain. Literally and figuratively. But, at 7 o'clock on December 24th, I walked down that hall, knowing in my mind if I could walk to the end of the hall and back, I would get to spend Christmas Eve with my family. Nothing could have stopped me that day. I wanted nothing more than to be with my family that night at Nana's house. I didn't care about the toys anymore, I didn't care about the pain in my side, all I wanted to do was be there among the people I loved and celebrate Christmas with them. That got me down the hall and back, just in the nick of time. I made it to Nana's, and had a wonderful Christmas that year. This is the promise the Lord gives us, if we can walk down the hall and back, though hard it may be, we will get to return to our families.
6. No matter how many times I fall, the Lord will pick me up and forgive me.
7. Revelation is real. I never knew this until I had the opportunity to exercise the priesthood and lay my hands upon another's head and have my mind filled with concepts that needed to be shared with the person receiving the blessing.
8. The Book of Mormon is true. I have read it. I have studied it in my heart. I have prayed fervently to my Father in Heaven to ask him about the truthfulness of the book. I have followed the promise given to us throughout the scriptures that God will give us the answer if we seek it diligently. I prayed until I had a sincerity of heart and a true desire to know the answer to such a pivotal question in my life. I received that answer. I now know, have known since, and will always know that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be.
9. Man's epistemology is not God's epistemology. In other words, the scientific method will come up short for man when trying to gain a true knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The two paradigms (as the primary source for knowledge) are fundamentally in opposition. The first principle of the scientific method is to base conclusions on observed outcomes. The first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ is faith. Faith, as Paul and Moroni tell us, are things hoped for and not seen. Using reason to understand spiritual principles is akin to using a hammer to undo a nut from a bolt. This is not to say that the hammer of reason is not a useful tool. However, to undo the mysteries of God, one must use the spiritual wrench of faith. The understanding of this fundamental distinction underlies the reason one will fail at gaining a testimony of celestial principles using any kind of logic, reason, philosophy, or scientific method. Man today would build a tower of babel using the bricks of reason to reach the heavens. This folly is as punctuated as much today as it was thousands of years ago; to climb to great heights, you must hit your knees.
10. There is no happiness like the happiness I feel when living the principles of the gospel. My mind is never as clear as it is when I'm living the principles of the gospel. My patience is never so great as it is when I'm living the principles of the gospel. As Lehi states in the first chapter of 2 Nephi, “And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land.”
