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That Gateway We Call Death

I’ve spent the majority of my professional life in the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom and skill to treat illness and help heal disease.  I’ve spent almost 30 years in the practice and application of that wisdom.  That’s nearly 100,000 hours of my life, dedicated to health and healing of my patients. 

My greatest foes over the years are and have been ignorance, disease, distress, anxiety, depression, disability, apathy and ultimately, death.  I come in contact daily with those who are seriously ill facing the very real prospect of death.  Of necessity, I have come to look upon death as a formidable foe to be fought.  For all conscientious doctors, death’s gateway from life threatens us as the prospect of individual defeat.

I attended the funeral of a friend today who was only a few years older than me.  His life was cut short.  His passing has been weighing upon my mind, as similar events occurred in the life of my brother-in-law last year, my sister a few years ago and my father before that.  I find myself re-reading the words and passages I wrote a number of years ago at the time of my father’s death. I re-post them again, partially for myself, but also for any who may be pondering the gateway we call death. 

The famed scientist Madame Marie Curie returned to her home the night of the funeral of her husband, Pierre Curie, who was killed in an accident in the streets of Paris.  She made this entry in her diary:

Madame Marie Curie

“They filled the grave and put sheaves of flowers on it. Everything is over. Pierre is sleeping his last sleep beneath the earth. It is the end of everything, everything, everything.”

BUT IS IT?

What is this thing that men call death,

This quiet passing in the night?

Tis not the end, But Genesis

Of better worlds and greater light.

O God, touch though my aching heart,

And calm my troubled, haunting fears.

Let hope and faith, transcendent pure,

Give strength and peace beyond my tears.

There is not death, but only change

With recompense for won;

The gift of Him who loved all men,

The Son of God, the Holy One.

(G. B. Hinckley)

This blog is intended to help those struggling with their health, in particular, weight gain, diabetes and the diseases of civilization.  One of those diseases frequently affecting weight is the depression and fear that accompanies the death of a loved one.  Often, the answers science offers are only cold and empty, and we are required to rely upon our faith.  I share some of that with you here.Every patient of every doctor, if followed long enough will pass away. 
The first rule I learned in surgery is that “all bleeding stops eventually.” The inescapable rule of life is that no matter how good your treatments are, all patient’s will meet the undertaker, eventually.  None of us get out of this alive. 

When this happens, and it happens to all of us, a sense of sadness naturally prevails regardless of the age or nature of the deceased.

If death is to happen to all of us, then why do we feel sadness at the death of a friend or loved one?

This sadness is caused by the feeling of loss tied to three age-old unanswered questions:

  1. Did you and I exist before we were born, and if so, where were we?
  2. Why are we here together and what is the purpose of this life?
  3. Where do we go when we die?

Are there answers to these questions?

When science does not have the answers, I have found great hope and answers in hidden within the teachings of my faith. I share them with you, not to preach, but in hopes that you might find peace and solace in your life as I have in mine.

The spiritual leader Wilford Woodruff said “that if the people knew what was behind the veil, they would try by every means . . . that they might get there, but the Lord in his wisdom has implanted the fear of death in every person that they might cling to life and thus accomplish the designs of their creator.” (The Gateway We Call Death, Russell M. Nelson, p.96)

The Lord explained to Moses, “For this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39)

This work and glory is referred to by a number of names including The Plan of Salvation, The Plan of Redemption, The Plan of Eternal Progression, The Plan of Happiness and others.

I often speak with people that say to me, “I just want to be happy.” Or they question me asking, “Will I ever really be happy?”

Happiness is the object and design of our existence . . . and well be the end thereof if we pursue the path that leads to it.  Along this path lies virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness and keeping the commands of our Creator.  So how does this help us find happiness in the face of the death of a friend or loved one?

The answers are found in contemplation of the the three age-old questions.  First, where were we before we were born?

The Old Testament prophet Job, one of the more ancient writers of the Bible, gives us some insight. The Lord asked him the same question: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where was thou when I laid the foundation of the earth . . . when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:2-7)

You and I must have been somewhere – the Lord asked us where we were. And, who were all the “sons of God shouting for joy?” Why were they shouting? Where were they?

The apostle, Luke, in the New Testament answers those questions years later as he lays out the genealogy of the human family.  He starts at Christ and then names each subsequent father leading up to ” . . . Enos, which is the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” (Luke 3:38)

The apostle, John, must have had some idea of a pre-mortal existence because of the way they phrased the question to Jesus Christ about the man who was born blind, “Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) The question was not “could he have sinned before he was born?” but instead, “who did sin?” Christ’s answer implied that both were possible, but neither was the case in this situation.

Paul writes to the Hebrews, “Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of our Spirits, and live?” (Hebrews 12:9) We are also given instruction to open our prayers with a phrase like, “Our Father in Heaven.” Hence, He is the Father of our Spirits, our Heavenly Father, our spiritual Father.

We then are brothers & sisters in the spiritual sense, and Jesus Christ is our elder brother, being the firstborn spirit child of God.  If this is the case, then all of us, including you and I, were among the sons and daughters of God who shouted for joy along with Adam.

The Lord explained to Moses, “I have created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth . . . for in heaven created I them.” (Moses 3:5) In addition to this, we learn from Moses that a council was held in heaven in which you and I were present. At this grand council, the plan to create this earth, including the fall of Adam, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ was presented and accepted.

There was, however, someone who opposed this plan. Lucifer rebelled and was cast out of heaven with those who chose to follow him.

If all this is true, then it means you and I accepted this plan and here we are. Accepting this plan as described by the prophet Abraham is defined as accepting our First Estate.

So, the first question is where did we come from? We came from the presence of God, the pre-mortal spirit world, in the company of all our spirit brothers and sisters.

Second question, why are we here? Trying to wrap the whole of this question into a nutshell gives us the following answer.

First, on the eternal perspective, progression requires that we each have our own physical mortal body that has the capacity of becoming refined, immortalized or glorified through the process of death and subsequently resurrection.

Second, we had to be sent somewhere outside of the presence and powerful righteous influence of God our Father to prove ourselves, to exercise our own agency, and determine in this life the nature of our life to come – the life after death. One of the prophets, Jacob, tells us that Adam & Eve were expelled out of the Garden of Eden into a “lone and dreary world” and on a probation of sorts, where a person could chose from a myriad of different things that were either good or evil. It is necessary for man to taste the bitter to enable him to appreciate the good, is one way to explain it.

The ancient prophet Alma calls this a probationary state, a time to repent, to grow, to learn responsibility, and to prepare for the next life. (Alma 12:24, 42:4)

Said the Lord, “And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man in the days of his probation – that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe.” (Doctrine & Covenants 29:43)

Obtain a Body . . . Prove Ourselves . . . Get Experience . . . this is your first estate.

Some of us live 80 years, some of us live 50 years, some of us live 39 years, and some live only a brief few years on this earth. Will you and I be given as much time? There are laws to be learned and lived, ordinances to experience, and covenants to be made and kept, and faith and obedience to demonstrate in this life.

Third, where do we go from here? Where will I go when I die? Where have friends and family that have passed on gone to?

The penitent thief on the cross being crucified with the Savior, Jesus Christ, asked the Him the same question. The Savior responded with this answer, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Christ died in the literal sense that you and I will die. He underwent a physical dissolution by which His immortal spirit was separated from His body of flesh and bones, and that body was actually dead. While the corpse lay in Joseph’s rock-hewn tomb, the living Christ existed as a disembodied Spirit. Where was He?  We naturally assume that he went where spirits of the dead ordinarily go. He was in the disembodied state a Spirit among spirits. He went to the Spirit world.

We know that the spirit world is not heaven, as the Savior, on the third day after his crucifixion, met the weeping Mary Magdalene and said: “I am not yet ascended to my Father.” He had gone to Paradise as he told the penitent thief, but not to the place where God dwells. Sprit Paradise, therefore, is not Heaven, or the place where God the Eternal Father and his celestialized children dwell and make their abode. Spirit Paradise is a place where dwell

righteous and repentant disembodied spirits between bodily death and resurrection. Another division of the spirit world is reserved for those disembodied beings who have lived lives of wickedness and who remain impenitent even after death.

The ancient prophet Alma explained to his son Corianton who was confused on this matter, “Now there is must needs be a space betwixt the time of death and the time of resurrection.” (Alma 40:6) “Now concerning this state of the soul between the death and the resurrection, behold it has been made know unto me by an angel that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happens, which is called Paradise, a state of rest from all their troubles and from all care and sorrow.”

“And the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil – for behold they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold they chose evil works rather than the good; therefore, the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house – this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and as a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.” (Alma 40:11-14)

The Spirit World is therefore quite a unique place.

Another apostle and scriptural historian, Bruce R. McConkie, explains from the Savior’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, “The spirit world is divided into two parts: Paradise which is the abode of the righteous, and hell which is the abode of the wicked. Until the death of Christ, these two spirit abodes were separated by a great gulf, with the intermingling of their respective inhabitants strictly forbidden.” (Luke 16:19-31)  We know that Christ visited this spirit world because the apostle Peter’s biblical account tells us the following: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)

When Christ visited the Spirit world, he also organized the affairs of this kingdom such that the righteous spirits began teaching the His gospel to those who had not heard it and those who were disobedient or wicked.  Although, there are two spheres within the one spirit world, there is now some intermingling of the righteous and the wicked that inhabit those spheres; and when the wicked spirits repent, they leave their prison-hell and join the righteous in spirit paradise. Hence Joseph Smith said, “Hades, Sheol, paradise, spirit prison are all one: it is a world of spirits. The righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits until the resurrection.” (Teachings, p. 310).

Life, work and activity all continue in the spirit world. Men and women have the same talents and intelligence there which they had in this life. They possess the same attitudes, inclinations, and feelings there which they had in this life. They believe the same things, as far as eternal truths are concerned: they continue in effect, to walk in the same path they were following in this life. (Mormon Doctrine, Spirit World, McConkie) The prophet Amulek said, “That same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in the eternal world.” (Alma 34:34) Thus, if a man has the spirit of charity and the love of truth in his heart in this life, that same spirit will possess him in the spirit world.

Family and friends who have passed away with the spirit of joviality and happiness will find it will carry them forward in the gospel and in the teaching of the gospel to many others on the other side.

When I leave this frail existence,

When I lay this mortal by,

Father, Mother, may I meet you

In your royal courts on high?

Then at length, when I’ve completed

All you sent me forth to do,

With your mutual approbation

Let me come and dwell with you.

(Eliza R. Snow, “O My Father,” Hymns, #292)

This post mortal world is a place to await resurrection. All will be resurrected. The Atonement of Jesus Christ ensures a universal resurrection. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:22) Judgment will then, after the resurrection, be passed on all according to individual works and obedience while in mortality. The great prophet Nephi says, “For by grace are they saved after all they can do.” (2 Nephi 25:23) Said the Savior to His disciples, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me because I live and ye shall live also.” (John 14:19)

Inheriting the glory that Christ has been resurrected into is conditional and is based upon the laws by which individuals choose to govern their mortal lives.

Said the prophet Alma, “The plan of restoration is requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just, according to the power and resurrection of Christ, that the soul of man should be restored to its body, and that every part of the body should be restored to itself.

“And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also as the last day, be restored unto that which is good.” (Alma 41:2-3)

The righteous who understand and live the truth will be resurrected to receive a glory in heaven referred to as Celestial and Paul refers to this as comparable to the glory of the Sun. In this celestial kingdom also known as the Kingdom of God, marriages and eternal family relationships are secured, eternal progress and progression is uninterrupted forever and ever.

The less valiant who choose the lesser law will be resurrected to receive a glory Terrestrial that Paul compares to the glory of the moon. They chose not to enjoy that which they could have enjoyed. These would not accept the words of the prophets in this life and died in their sins, but accepted afterwards.

And to the undisciplined, wicked, liars, sorcerers, adulterers, whoremongers, and the unrepentant who are shut out in spirit prison until the Savior finishes his work (D&C 76:85), they will be resurrected to a glory Telestial or that equivalent, as Paul puts it, to the “glory of the stars, for one star differeth from another star in glory.” (1 Corinthians 15:40-44)  The remainder will become attached to Perdition, those who refuse any part of the Atonement of Christ – those that are cast off forever, as the scriptures say, into outer darkness.

What of those that have taken their lives prematurely when the Lord has said, “Thou shalt not kill”? Are they consigned to spirit prison and later a telestial glory?

Another of the Lord’s modern day apostles, M. Russell Ballard, recently stated that there are “some things we know, and some we do not . . . [the] judgment for sin is not always as cut and dried as some of use seem to think. . . the Lord recognizes differences in intent and circumstances: Was the person who took his life mentally ill? Was he or she so deeply depressed as to be unbalanced or otherwise emotionally disturbed? Was the suicide a tragic, pitiful call for help that went unheeded too long or progressed faster than the victim intended? Did he or she somehow not understand the seriousness of the act? Was he or she suffering from a chemical imbalance in their system that led to despair and a loss of self control? Obviously, we do not know the full circumstances surrounding every suicide. Only the Lord knows the details, and he it is who will judge our actions here on earth.” (Liahona, March 1988, Suicide: Some Things We Know, and Some We Do Not)

Said the prophet Joseph Smith: “While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard . . . He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow contracted notions of men, but ‘according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil,’ . . . We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relations to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1938, p218)

When we are judged, the Lord will take all things into consideration: our genetic and chemical makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received the traditions of our fathers, our health, and so forth.

That is the plan. Those are the answers. Death, then, is a gateway.

Upon the cross he meekly died

For all mankind to see

That death unlocks the passageway

Into eternity.

(Hymns, #184 – “Upon the Cross of Calvary”)

“The keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.” (2 Nephi 9:41)

To live, to love, and to be loved are the essence of what is important in this life.  Those we have known and passed on have lived great lives, they were loved and are still loved.

Mourning and tears are normal – in fact, they are a healthy reaction. Mourning is one of the purest expressions of deep love. It is a natural response in accord with divine commandment: “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die.” (D&C 42:45)

By mortal standard time, it’ll be much longer than we like till we see our loved ones again. By eternal standard time – “We’ll see you soon.”

Until then watch. There are another set of hands you should look for, pierced at the palms and at the wrists. You will recognize His hands when you see them. You will recognize Him when you see Him. His hands are always open. The brightness of His eyes and smile will warm the darkest recesses of your soul. When you meet Him, touch his hands, feel the mark in his side, and bow at His feet. He knows you by name. He knows each of us by name. He will offer you the peace, the rest and the love that you seek.

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born and a time to die . . . A time to weep, and a time to laugh, at time to mourn, and a time to dance . . . a time to get and a time to loose . . . a time to embrace . . . and a time to love.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

This death of which I speak eventually comes to all. It comes to some in childhood, to some in ripe old age, and to others in the prime of life. To some it comes by natural means, anticipated and expected, to others it comes without warning, unannounced. It may come quietly in the peace of the night, or it may come violently in the confusion of an instant, but assuredly, it comes to all.

To you my beloved friends and patients and family, remember His invitation.  “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

This yoke is a conviction, a way of life; it is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It does not take away challenges, disappointments, frustrations, pain or sorrow. But, when lived, it lifts burdens, lightens loads, and makes life bearable. It empowers you with light and strength from on high to learn and grow from experiences in spite of whatever life brings.

This is my conviction. This I know to be true. It is what brings hope in the battle against that inevitable foe, death. May it bring you the warmth of heart and the solace of soul that it brings to me as I ponder its meaning in my life and the lives of my family. May the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation bring you comfort in knowing that those we care about have passed through the gateway we call death to look forward upon immortality and the Glory of the Savior Jesus Christ.

The Elk

(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:

  1. The idea that God actually exists
  2. A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes
  3. 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. 

Joy & Love this Christmas

My wife and I were driving home from a Christmas Day visit to Grandma’s house this afternoon.  On the street corner was a young man, probably in his early twenties, who was “tweaking” from what looked like a serious crystal-meth high.  I was surprised to see this on Christmas Day in the sleepy suburban city of Surprise, Arizona.  But, I realized that life has been hard on all of us, and it looked like It had been very hard on this young man.

Why would I be surprised?  For most of us, this has been an awful year when so many around us have lost their jobs, lost their hope, lost their health, and  lost their lives.  Those of us that have survived are so angry and divided that we can barely tolerate our neighbor, let alone love him.

A few weeks ago, I created myself a Christmas playlist of music in an attempt to put myself in a festive Christmas mood. I’ve found myself torn this year between feelings of anger, discouragement, anxiety and stress, and feelings of hope, love and joy.

Listening to this playlist on repeat, I was reminded of the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the lyrics.  At the time this song was written, the world was at war in 1944, loved ones were apart. They were thousands of miles away, many of which were never coming home.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Let your heart be light,

From now on, our troubles will be out of sight . . .

From now on, our troubles will be miles away . . .

These lyrics were appropriate then and they are appropriate now.  In light of all that has gone on this year, the lyrics to the song have retained their wistfulness and joy.  The lyrics remind us that Christmas brings a feeling of expectant joy that may seem out of reach at the moment.

“Joy,” C.S. Lewis once wrote, “ is distinct not only from pleasure in general, but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing.”   Every consolation we seek in life – love, beauty, money, pleasure, power, and even sex – is only a poor representative of something beyond Itself.  Those who dedicate their lives to pursuing the symbol rather that’s the thing the symbol represents invariably end up disappointed – or worse.

The misery so many celebrities that people have known in their youth who wanted fame, worked and pushed and fought for it. Then, the moment they became famous, the wanted to take an overdose.  The giant thing they were striving for, the fame that was to make everything OK, that was to make their lives bearable providing personal fulfillment and happiness occurred, and they found they were still the same person.

That thing we want, that thing that the riches of the world attempt to represent, that thing that seems so near and yet so maddeningly out of reach, is the love of God who made us in his image.  It is the only real North Star of our life’s journey, the only true guidepost to become the person we were divinely made to be.

On the very first Christmas, that longed-for thing broke through the earthly barrier and arrived upon our earthly plain.  When you and I celebrate this day, we are boldly declaring our faith in the reality of that event and the truth of It’s infinite meaning: God Is there for you and God Is there for me.  We know within our souls that our yearning is not in vain.

Maybe in this year of anger, pain, death and sickness, when we all have to muddle through day by day, it would be good to remember the people that we disagree with most, the people we hate most, the people we want to throttle most are also desperately yearning and suffering this year. They, too, are striving for the thing they can’t quite reach.  And, many of them do not have our hope and our Christmas faith.

The Savior, Jesus Christ, did not tell us to love our enemies, or our neighbors because he thought it would make them better people or make the world a better place.  He told us to love our enemies so that we ourselves might “be children of our Father in heaven.  He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous.”

To love in that way, the way that Jesus Christ exemplified, is to experience within this vale of tears the vale beyond.  The reality is that God loves you.  Left or Right, black or white, straight or gay, He loves you, and you and I were made in His image.

So, this year, remember, that far-away joy is more real that all of our troubles. Remember, you are not alone. Have a Merry Christmas.