Hey all!
Hope you're doing well. We've been busy down here this transfer and seen the Lord's hand in all kinds of ways. The weather's finally warmed up a little and I've been getting some serious Oceanside vibes from the breezy 70° days. Plus, the trees and flowers blooming everywhere brighten my day every time I see them. The big trees with the pretty white blossoms smell bad, but that's alright.
Seeing as how the concept of time just flies out the window on a mission, it takes some effort to stay anchored to reality here. Clocks and calendars are useless when you live in warp speed, so we Southern missionaries turn to Inception totems and primitive measurement systems like moon cycles, armadillo populations, and how many pages we have left in our journal before we can bust out the new one Mom sent for Christmas.
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This transfer, God's been teaching me patience. I've been in a lot of contentious situations lately, and in those situations lies the choice to be externally reactive or internally steady in the storms.
With that, I'll get to my point: the Gospel of Jesus Christ guarantees ultimate freedom. From who? From what? All kinds of things, but namely yourself.
Wow, Elder Rigby, how very Buddhist of you. Well...
Mosiah 3:19:
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Surrendering the natural man means surrendering pride, vanity, and anger to the will of the Lord. As in most cases with God, the more you give up to Him, the lighter your burdens will begin to feel.
"If you are serious about helping to gather Israel and about building relationships that will last throughout the eternities, now is the time to lay aside bitterness. Now is the time to cease insisting that it is your way or no way. Now is the time to stop doing things that make others walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting you. Now is the time to bury your weapons of war. If your verbal arsenal is filled with insults and accusations, now is the time to put them away. You will arise as a spiritually strong man or woman of Christ."
- Russell M. Nelson, "Peacemakers Needed"
Every time I've been in a contentious argument, there has been no winner. The game is rigged.
Why? Here's Jesus's answer:
3 Nephi 11:29-30:
"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away."
So yeah, that's what I'm working on. When I petulantly "kick against the pricks" like good old Saul, life stinks. When I drop my weapon, kick it away, sincerely repent, and cheerfully submit to Heavely Father's will... boy, is it liberating.
Christ is the ultimate example of freedom because He is the one true example of unconditional surrender to our Father. His perfect submission gives Him a perfectly clear conscience and a perfect fulness of joy. What's more, His Atonement enables us to have that same freedom upon conditions of faith in Him and joyful daily repentance.
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I read an article about Scandinavia's humane prison/rehabilitation system a few years ago—random tangent, I know, but bear with me—and the way they treat the convicts there really interested me. If I remember right, their prisons are all geared towards recovery and reintegration with society as opposed to just incarceration. Rather than being punished and kicked to the curb, prisoners were treated humanely and shown love, care, and support as they prepared to give life in a dark world another try. There's a lot of parallels to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in that, but I'm out of room and time, so I'll end with a note a prisoner there left for another upon his release:
"To love is to give without asking for anything back," his note reads. "Loving makes you free. Free from yourself, my friend."
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Song of the week: "Piano Black" by Seatbelts
“Brightness of Hope” by Neal A. Maxwell: https://www.
Peacemakers Needed by Russell M. Nelson: https://www.
Love,
Elder Rigby
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