My talk from the other week

My life has been an adventure full of ups and downs and loopty loops but one swell ride. I intended to be an architect. I dreamed of buildings that would inspire people and help them live their lives better. When I was ten I built a suspension bridge out of legos that spanned 5 feet and held 20 lbs. But an unfortunate skiing accident involving my uncle Archie a big cliff and a concussion derailed those plans. I remember the moment as I walked out of the Wilkinson center my freshmen year when a still small voice whispered, “ You will study history.” I proceeded to fully comprehend it as a revelation from the Lord then completely ignore it. As I sat in my dorm room while I was on a study abroad in England two summers ago. Long after my revelation was received, tears blurred the lines of my last rejection letter for the program I needed to pursue my dreams, the voice came again. “Would you sacrifice anything for me?” My response of coarse! “Would you give up your dreams for me?” I was stunned, I had heard of the martyrs of the faith laying down their lives but that seemed easy compared to the jewel I was being asked to hand over. The voice came again, “I need you to study History.” Don’t get me wrong, I love history but majoring in it wasn’t something I had considered. As I wrestled before the Lord that night where I was completely alone yet perfectly connected I pondered the manner in which we make our priorities our realities.  

Drawing from the scriptures, my assigned talk given by Elder Nelson in Conference last October and personal experiences I will attempt to describe the doctrines principles and practices that we need to understand in this season of our lives to accurately make decisions both big and small.

First principle: Our Bodies.

Elder Nelson taught that rather than our bodies are a hindrance to our spiritual growth and development it is a necessary and beautiful addition to our lives. They are not necessary evils but gifts of immense worth to help us progress through the plan of salvation. We are to care and develop our bodies, including talents and abilities.

With your body being such a vital part of God’s eternal plan, it is little wonder that the Apostle Paul described it as a “temple of God.”14 Each time you look in the mirror, see your body as your temple. That truth—refreshed gratefully each day—can positively influence your decisions about how you will care for your body and how you will use it. And those decisions will determine your destiny. How could this be? Because your body is the temple for your spirit. And how you use your body affects your spirit.

Our bodies are the key ingredient in our access to agency in this life. With a body our ability to act far surpasses our status as things that are acted upon. How well our body works is irrelevant because of its eventual breakdown in death.

“the aging process is a gift from god.” Why so? Because the closer we are to death the closer we are to returning home. The aches and pains that we are feeling more and more and a gentle reminder of the gift that God as given us in a body.

Second Principle: Understanding Addiction

It is my belief that the Word of Wisdom is generally misunderstood and under applied. Apart from the big 5 temple recommend questions that we need to have control over before making covenants our work is not done. The one aspect of the Word of Wisdom is this, freeing our selves from earthly snares will allow smoother and us to float upwards faster. What holds us to the cares and worries of the world? Addictions. Any addiction is contrary to the word of wisdom. Any habit, substance, sensation or activity that repeatedly draws our time and energy from things that we actually want to be doing is an addiction. We all have them, and we need to defeat them just as much as the poor soul struggling with cigarettes needs to fight nicotine.

So why do we all have this universal urge to watch Netflix when we really should be studying or going shopping when we should be saving our money? Elder nelson explains.

It is not surprising, then, that most temptations to stray from God’s plan of happiness come through the misuse of those essential, God-given appetites. Controlling our appetites is not always easy. Not one of us manages them perfectly.24 Mistakes happen. Errors are made. Sins are committed. What can we do then? We can learn from them. And we can truly repent.

Notice how he describes our appetites as essential and God given.

Why the need for self-mastery? God implanted strong appetites within us for nourishment and love, vital for the human family to be perpetuated.22 

We are given appetites, in who’s fulfillment we find joy. The well read scripture from the book of Mormon as Alma counsels his righteous son shiblon is so powerful in this context. “bridle your passions that ye may be filled with love.” To bridle a horse doesn’t mean to shoot it or let it starve, it is to tame and train. Our greatest weaknesses are our greatest strengths that have been misdirected through temptation.

When we master our appetites within the bounds of God’s laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy.

If I might suggest another analogy would be to compare our passions to a tree. A tree grows straight and healthy if propery tended to and cared for. Watered occasionally trimmed and fertilized. It takes time but the result of many years of patience and care is our reward

That is in my opinion the key to living a life of joy and purpose. Break our addictions from running wild, then let our passions take us to unimaginable vistas and far away lands. How do we break our passions? Through the cleansing Atonement of Jesus Christ.

A pivotal spiritual attribute is that of self-mastery—the strength to place reason over appetite. Self-mastery builds a strong conscience. And your conscience determines your moral responses in difficult, tempting, and trying situations.

A strong human spirit with control over appetites of the flesh is master over emotions and passions and not a slave to them. That kind of freedom is as vital to the spirit as oxygen is to the body! Freedom from self-slavery is true liberation!

I too have felt the miniature wild horses pull my hand and click “watch next episode” on a Netflix binge despite my protesting, but when we are the servants, even in the inconsequential things like Netflix then we are not allowing ourselves to feel as happy as we might.

Principle number 3: Live the law of chastity.

As bishiop so artfully taught in our previous meeting, Chastity is not a series of rules. It is a guiding principle designed to create the central feature of God’s plan for his children, eternal families. From the traditional menace to society joke to the scriptural, “It is not meet that man should be alone.” It is very clear that we are human beings are not designed nor purposed to live single lives.

Plato envisioned the origins of the human race as fearful creatures with 4 legs and 4 arms and two heads that were so powerful that Zeus feared they would overpower him. So he cut them in two and cursed them to look for their other half. When we find our other half we have the power to dethrone the god’s of this world just as Zeus feared.

Consider library with no books, a chalkboard with no chalk, a guitar with no strings, a computer but no software. These items are not broken or in disrepair, but utterly useless because they are not “complete.” They need a partner to work in its intended function. I have a beautiful HD pasma tv sitting on my desk which I use for work and not netflix. But for the longest time I had no remote to change the input to use it at all. it was stuck in a unusable mode. It wasn’t broken, it could turn on and would show a blue screen unbelievably clear words reading NO SIGNAL but there was so much unrealized potential with what it could do. When I acquired the nessesary hardware now it functions as it should.

I am proposing that none of us who are not married and progressed toward having a family have actually realized what it is like to be alive and hold true purpose. In Plato’s words again our function and power is like shadows on a wall in a cave. Fleeting glimpses of what may be.

To live the law of chastity we need to be actively looking for our other halves to gain the powers God wishes to give to us. It may be in the next life but we are never to give up seeking the measure of our creation.

Principle Number 4: No Regrets

I recently felt inspired to make a list of things that if I had the chance I would redo in my life. It was a useful exercise as it helped me see patterns in my behavior which then projected future problems allowing me to prepare ahead of time. As I finished my list I was astonished, every single one started with the word Not. Not playing for the basketball team in highschool, not dropping by my grandmothers the day before she passed on, not inviting a friend to church. I didn’t have a single thing that I regretted doing, only things that I didn’t do. We must do the little things.

I also reflected on what I never regretted.

Never regretted following the Holy Ghost.

Never regretted being kind to someone

Never regretted doing something courageous

Never regretted spending the time each day to read the scriptures and have meaningful prayers.

In short I have never regretted keeping the commandments and living the gospel. I have regretted not doing so.

Elder Nelson’s words are mine at this juncture and I close with them. notice he makes no mention of grades, social status or employment.

My dear brothers and sisters, each day is a day of decision, and our decisions determine our destiny. One day each of us will stand before the Lord in judgment.41 We will each have a personal interview with Jesus Christ.42 We will account for decisions that we made about our bodies, our spiritual attributes, and how we honored God’s pattern for marriage and family. That we may choose wisely each day’s decisions for eternity is my earnest prayer in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.