(I was asked to speak in church yesterday. This is the talk I gave. For those of you that don’t mind pondering your spirituality, as the spirit so powerfully influences one’s health, I thought you might enjoy it)
The huge elk stood in the center of the dirt road. . .
The morning air in the pines had been crisp and clean. The sky was blue, not a cloud present. Other than the chirping of birds, the Alpine Forest was quiet and peaceful. I got up early for a morning run before I was needed at our scout camp. I took off at an easy pace and the ground felt good under my feet.
A mile down the road it happened. I came to a dead stop as I rounded the corner. He stared me down, snorted, then . . . he bugled. The sound pierced my head and chest, I felt it in my soul. He was a majestic beast transformed, standing taller than my horse. His antlered rack fully-formed, he towered over me, standing over 8 feet high . . . the hair at the top of his head darker, and hackled.
We stood face to face only a few yards from each other. He lowered his head and stomped his hoof, when our eyes met, and I instantly felt his temptation to head-butt me off the road down which I had been jogging.
For much of the year, male elk are indistinguishable from the female: bull and doe alike are antler-less. Yet each spring the males regrow their antlers…which in turn are soon covered in velvet.
And, then, finally they come into the “hard horn,” when the velvet is rubbed off from the battles and grind of the year, antlers polished and the bull is ready to mate. Once the rut is over, the bull’s antlers fall off… taking the bulk of the male’s testosterone with them. The bull’s power is in the horn.
This bull, with which I had come face to face had a full rack, the span of his antlers and easy four and a half feet. He towered above me in his grandeur. He was the biggest elk I’d ever seen. And, his doe was just off the road grazing in the pines. He looked at her, she at him, then back at me. I felt a chill from my head to my toes. He owned that road that day, I knew it, and he knew it. I will never forget that moment. This was his path and I was obligated to step aside.
Men Have Lost Power And Momentum
We live in an age when men have become essentially indistinguishable from women. They’ve lost their power, they’ve lost their momentum for life and the path. Men may have their own marks.
Yet, no size of beard, no amount of gym swole, no tattoo, no amount of bravado can hide the fact that man shed his rack–his essential POWER–a long time ago. For anyone with eyes, the truth is plain to see: The antlers have fallen off.
There Is No Safe Path
As I learned on that dirt road years ago, in this life there is no safe path.
Despite what the minions of the world and those of the adversary attempt to convince us of on a regular basis, there is no escape from the consequences of this life. That’s the reason that 1/3rd of the hosts of Heaven decided against receiving a mortal body and coming to this test tube of earth where there is no safe path (Revelation 12:9).
There is a noble path.
There is an honorable path.
But there is no safe path . . . and to be frank, in the premortal existence, you and I didn’t want that anyway. That was Lucifer’s modification to the plan – provide them a safe path and they all will make it back unbruised and unscathed so that he could take the glory (Isaiah 14:13-14).
Yet, civilization and society has created cities and communities of no consequence. Men and women have been deluded into thinking that if they walk into the street, the car will always stop, and the only result will be an angry driver. But, this is a delusion. Ride a motorcycle just once on the streets of Phoenix, and you’ll learn this lesson.
You and I live upon a telestial planet that does not freely offer mercy. When you live upon the land, when mother nature is your neighbor, there can be no mistakes. Despite what the CDC says, nature does not care. The river will freely swallow you if you can’t swim. The snake doesn’t care how much you love your children. And, the wolf has no interest in your dreams. If you fail to beat the current, you will drown. If you get too close, you will be bitten. If you are too weak, you will be eaten. There is no government that can save you. There is no congress that can legislate away the rattlesnake. There is no vaccine that inoculates you from the fangs of the wolf. This is what caused a third of the hosts of heaven to shudder when the plan was presented. This has been Satan’s pick-up line at the watering hole for millennia. The alure of safety is a lie. Yet, here you are. You and I chose to come. You and I got on that bus.
Who are you anyway? You and I, we are warrior stock. Every single one of your ancestors got a body, came to the earth, and kept your genealogical line alive for over 6000 of the historically recorded years to get you here, to this moment, today.
So, what makes you so sure you were built for safety? What makes you so sure that safety is the ultimate goal we should be striving for?
Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?
My childhood hero, John Wayne said, “Have you heard of some fellas who first came over to this country? You know what they found? They found a howling wilderness, with summers too hot, and winters ice cold and freezing. Did they have insurance for their old age, for their crops, for their homes? They did not. They looked at the land and the forest and the rivers, they looked at their wives, their kids and their houses. Then, they looked up at the sky and said, ‘Thanks God, we’ll take it from here.’ They were men!’ you and I, we come from real men and real women.
Coming to this earth was an act of courage. If you want adventure, you tell the truth about reality in your life, then you take action . . . that is the adventure.
Action Toward Goals Starts the Momentum
The very act of seeking out your goals takes courage and sets things in motion, it begins the momentum. Courage implies a risk. It implies a potential for failure or the presence of danger. Courage is measured against danger. The greater the danger, the greater the courage. Running into a burning building is more courageous than telling off your boss. Telling off your boss is more courageous than writing a really mean anonymous letter or reposting a meme on Facebook or Twitter.
Acts without meaningful consequences require little courage.
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. Satan and his minions have successfully turned our attention away from the promises spoken of in Matthew 13:17, the prophets desiring to see the things that you’ve seen, and hear the things that you’ve heard.
Just because millions of people share the same vices does not make those vices acceptable, the fact that they share so many errors does not make those errors true, and the fact that millions of people share the same psychological pathology does not make these people sane. Much of our society is on spiritual autopilot. . . the problem with autopilot is that you may be on the wrong plane. Many men spend their entire lives fishing without ever knowing that it isn’t really fish they’re after.
Something I’ve learned from my son while mountain-biking is that you hit what you focus on. But, you first must focus. And your focus must be on truth, not upon flawed reality. The very act of seeking truth sets things in motion.
President Nelson defined Momentum in his April Conference talk. Momentum is the motion of a body, equal to the product of the body’s mass and it’s velocity. it can also be defined as the force or energy exhibited by a moving body.” That elk that stared me down, though he was just standing in the road, had momentum. I felt it.
Spiritual Momentum Aids In The Journey Back Home
Momentum is the most powerful physical force you can have helping you or hindering you. Once you are moving, momentum helps you more easily reach the goal. Spiritual momentum aids you in your journey to exaltation and eternal life in our heavenly home. The speed by which you travel the road of life matters not as long as you do not stop.
For those of you who love to geek out on science stuff, Newton’s first law of motion states that every object at rest will remain at rest unless compelled to change its state, while objects in motion will stay in motion.
Simple actions in life are often the cause of momentum. Success often hides within your morning habits. Everything that happens in our lives is based upon a law of the universe and our adherence to or deviance from that law.
Focused attention on your intentions causes you to gain momentum. Thoughts are actually matter attached to energy. Our thoughts are made up of hope and dreams.
Often, the difference between winning and losing is usually ones momentum.
People will pay any price for motion. They will even work for it. Look at bicycles. People walk into a bicycle store and drop five to ten thousand dollars for something that will help them gain motion.
Momentum Is Applied to Faith
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith then is the actual substance of hope. It is a substance to which action or motion can be applied. Much like a boat upon the water, when wind is added to the sails the boat begins to move. Once in motion that boat has momentum.
Joseph Smith tells us that the human mind and body would remain in a state of inactivity or at rest (based on Newton’s First Law of Motion) without action applied to the substance of hope, or without faith.
Benjamin Franklin reminds us to “never confuse motion with action.”
Most of life is routine – dull, grubby and repetitive. However, this routine is what keeps a man moving toward a goal. Routine is actually what creates the perpetual momentum.
Routine becomes hopeless if there are no goals clearly defined by you individually or in your family.
We experience almost all our hope in relationship to our defined goals.
Momentum arises in the routine day to day activities that move one toward desired goals.
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream – CS Lewis
If people are to live together in harmony, there must be some overarching structure that unites you. What else is a family, if it is not an overarching structure that unites you?
Within the family there must be tolerance and even appreciation for necessary individual differences. Obviously there should be. But, that does not mean that there is a higher unity that the entire organization is striving for in some manner. Not just striving for, but pining for or even dying for.
The absence of that sense of incorporating higher structure is a felt sense of catastrophe on the part of members of the family. This is why family is so essential to the growth of the child.
How do you move toward the goal? You break it down into small steps. Steps small enough that even the useless can do them. . . and those steps are placed into a daily routine.
You’ll move toward the goal if you break the steps down small enough so that even a child will do it. This requires a fair bit of humility. The step you are resisting to take today is often so small that you may be embarrassed to admit it to yourself. So, then you don’t take any steps at all.
FIVE STEPS
President Russell M. Nelson, in the April 2022 General Conference, outlined Five Actions that perpetuate momentum.
First, Get On the Covenant Path and stay there – Renew your covenants every week. Don’t be afraid of covenants and or commitments. Do not be afraid of taking on responsibility. It is within that responsibility that you find out what sustains you in your life.
A lot of the things that people regard as traps are actually the means to their lives. Young people are often afraid of commitment because they fear it will prevent them from identifying something more valuable. You will never find something more important in your life than a committed relationship with someone that you love walking the covenant path together that sustains itself across time and in all likelihood produces children. That is life. Do not be afraid to try and fail. That is why we were given the ability to repent.
I have had a fascinating career thus far with up and downs and successes and failures. Yet, the most important thing in my life has been my intimate relationship with my wife and my family. Commitment is the igniter of momentum. Only committing to the “right thing” half way causes stress, fatigue, disease and dead pastures.
Second, Daily Repentance brings joy. Alma taught, “teach nothing but repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Mosiah 18:20). Tell the truth every day of your life. If you do this it will change your life. Stop cheating at whatever game it is you’ve chosen to play.
How will telling the truth change your life? You cannot adapt to reality if you falsify it. You cannot just lie to other people. What you say becomes you. The words you say are recorded by your subconscious and your subconscious then works to create the reality of what you say. What you say becomes you. We build ourselves out of our words whether those words are true or false, as a man thinketh, so is he. Well, if I lie, I can get away with something. NO you don’t.
In all of my clinical practice, I have never every seen anyone get away with anything, even once. You think the chickens won’t come home to roost? All that means is you are too stupid to see the cost of your lies, too blind or too self-deceptive. You just don’t see it. You don’t get away with anything. Nothing. It’s terrifying when we actually understand that. What if you can’t get away with anything? Well, that the old idea of a judgmental God. It’s an old idea for a reason.
Do you think you are someone who can warp the structure of reality with your words and get away with it? There may be those that say, well I’ve lied and got away with things. But look at yourself, is everything right in your life right now? Is everything just as you want it to be?
People eventually figure out who you are and you have to come clean or move on. No long term relationships can be formed, no love, no trust, no brotherly affection, no friends. No financial success, not in the real sense. Or maybe your are just too dim to see the consequences. Take it from someone who sees this on a daily basis. You can’t try to warp the structure of reality and get away with it. You don’t mess with reality. Eventually you have to pay the piper. It kills you. And, it may torture you quite a lot before doing that if you are particularity unlucky.
Again, this is why 1/3rd of the hosts of heaven didn’t even want to get onto the bus down here to this earth life. You violate your conscience and you will pay. That is hell.
Daily repentance, then is what fills the sails with positive momentum.
How do you start? Clean up your room. Attend sacrament meeting. Tell the truth. Applying just that little bit of advice changes your life. Don’t substitute the false for the real. The trouble is, you think you have time. Talk to your parents. Talk to your spouse. Talk to your bishop.
Third, Learn About God and How He Works. Learn to distinguish between the truth of God and the counterfeits of Satan.
“Pray always . . . that we may conquer Satan and escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.” (D&C 10:5).
Learning about God is how you learn about yourself.
I see men ages 20-35 that are desperate for a discussion about responsibility, and fair play, noble being, God and working properly in the world. They are desperate actually hear the idea that their lives actually matter. That if they straighten themselves up and fly right that they’ll have a beneficial effect on themselves and their families and their communities.
The world is starving for those conversations. Our young men and our young women are starving for that knowledge as individuals. You in this room have that knowledge. Share it with them. Faith cannot be effectively exercised enough to move one on to life and salvation, or have the momentum to do so, without three specific things:
- The idea that God actually exists
- A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes
- A knowledge that the course in life you are pursing is according to God’s will.
Learn about God and your relationship to him and you will be amazed at the momentum it provides you. That will move you on to the fourth action.
Fourth, Seek and Expect Miracles. God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is. . . The second is the source of peace and happiness.
Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith.
Few things will give you more momentum than the knowledge that God is helping you move a mountain in your life.
Chose to believe something good can happen. Expecting it to happen energizes your goal and actually gives it momentum.
Are you fully committed to your goal? Very few Americans are truly committed to a lifestyle. They don’t want to be called a fanatic. Are you all in? If you’re not all in, why are you surprised you haven’t had results or seen the hand of the Lord in your life?
My daughter has just returned from Missouri on her mission. I lived there while attending medical school. It was there that my wife and I were fascinated by fireflies. If God can make a bug’s bottom light up in the night sky, think of what He can do for you and me.
Fifth, End the Conflicts in Your Life. Matthew 6:14 – For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. See what’s getting in your way. Rectify the things in your life that need to be fixed. Look at yourself first to fix the problem. Listen to the other person. Unhappy is the man or woman who never faces adversity. For he or she are never permitted to truly prove themselves.
Seek the Top of the Mountain
You seek the top of the mountain. You’ve felt this longing for years.
There is a trail that leads to the top, but the path is long and narrow, it is perilous and often very hard.
You yearn for easy transport, for the helicopter to take you directly to the peak.
You search for the silver bullet, the magic formula, the push-button solution that will wipe your old life away and replace it with something far removed… something utterly transformed.
But, in your heart you know the truth: The fulfillment you seek comes not from tricks, hacks, or shortcuts, but from taking one step after the other until you stand there, at last, on the roof of the world, on the top of the mountain.
The fulfillment you seek comes from becoming the man or woman who climbs, the one who’s trodden the path, climbed the mountain.
So, do not ask for the helicopter. Do not ask to be taken out of yourself.
Live your life, instead, in such a way that your mind is transformed, that the miracle happens, so that the thought of traveling the path that fills other men with dread, fills you with soulful excitement.
Live your life in such a way that the utterly spent exhaustion of childhood comes back to you and you feel like a 12-year-old again.
Live your life in such a way that all traces of action-crippling ambivalence are seared away, that you may climb the mountain with joy.
The blinding thicket, the burning wind and lactic burn will never go away. It’s all still there.
Only now, those pains do not stop you, for you have chosen to be dauntless, lionhearted and valiant.
And what would seem arduous and unbearable to others who are not lifted from within, as you are, seems instead to you a privilege, an honor, and the greatest of adventures.
Because you are filled with hope, you are driven with honor, you have the momentum of the Spirit of God.
Be the one who waits at the bottom of the hill and holds the coats . . . or be the man or woman who climbs to meet the Sage on the mountain, who meets the Master.
There is one who already showed you the way. The choice is yours.