Minasan konnichawa. Sorry, my New Jersey accent comes back when I get nervous. Actually, that was Japanese for, "hello everyone." People in Japan return greetings when a speaker at a meeting expresses salutations. For example, in sacrament meeting a speaker might say, "good morning" or ohayou gozaimasu, and the congregation would respond back by saying in unison, ohayou gozaimasu. I believe there is a similar tradition in Hawaii. A common greeting in New Jersey where I grew up is, "how you doin'?" Now the response back is not, "fine, thank you." It is the same phrase back with the accent on "you." "How you doin'?" So, hello everyone, how you doin'?
I hope you are all doing fine. Even though you all have troubles and life can be difficult, I actually hope you are more than just fine. Brothers and Sisters, have trust and faith in God. Be happy. Don't borrow trouble from tomorrow.
Don't take counsel from your fears. Don't be anxious or afraid of the future. God is omnipotent and He is in charge, even if your favorite politician doesn't get elected, God's still in charge. He knows you and loves you. He has a plan for you. The world we live in is a beautiful, lovely place. Jesus Christ is real. He accomplished the atonement and was resurrected. Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God. Think about these facts and be happy! Do as the Apostle Paul instructed the Colossians:
"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts...; and be ye thankful."[1] I would like you to think about places you have seen or been to that are beautiful and have amazing views. Some places that come to mind for me include the top of the path that leads to a castle called Burg Eltz in Germany; the Manhattan skyline as viewed from Jersey City, New Jersey, close to where I grew up; a harbor in Vancouver, British Columbia; an Idaho potato field and our own Thomas E. Ricks Gardens with my favorite people - my family.
Having a home with a scenic view can be very expensive and is not always practical. Even if you are fortunate enough to start with a fine view, in time you might not be able to control what happens around you. New local industry, pests, plant disease and drought can all have a negative effect on the views around you.
For these reasons, my wife and I have tried to create our own views from our house. You could say we have tried to build our own version of the thought by Francis de Sales who encouraged, "bloom where you are planted." Although we are not professional landscapers, and the fruits of our efforts are not exceptional, we do try to control what we see from our front porch and the windows of our home. We do this by planning, designing and planting our landscape with our future view in mind.
We remove dead, diseased and undesirable plants. Next, we prepare the ground to receive the new hardscape and landscape. And finally comes the seeding, and planting of a variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers. It takes effort. It takes time. But it creates a pleasant and peaceful view from our home.
My sons grow and pick pumpkins of many varieties and thoughtfully place them in our front yard during the autumn time. We obsess a little about pumpkins at our house. My daughters have also chosen to create their own views by placing inspirational pictures and sayings on their desks and bedroom walls. They have even created handmade paper and cardboard fireplaces during Christmas time in their student housing while attending college. This has added a warmth and comfort to the cinderblock walls in their living rooms.
Our view on life can be like the views from our homes. The things we choose to surround ourselves with influence how we see the world. This includes printed materials, media and technology. We should choose wisely so we don't plant the spiritual equivalent of skunk cabbage, dandelions and poison ivy. We also don't want to leave diseased and rotting trees that may fall and cause harm. They need to be hewn down and burned.
With the capabilities of today's technology, the world is literally at our fingertips. The speed of current-event knowledge is almost instantaneous and bombards us with mostly negative events. Not only do a butterfly's wings affect the weather on the other side of the world, you can probably subscribe to get an alert the moment it flutters.
Many feel anxious about the state of the world. This could be due to the availability of news and the provocative nature of the Media today. Everything is breaking news and most news seems to be negative. Pundits and spin doctors turn everything negative and into debates. The news rarely emphasizes the great and positive things going on and certainly doesn't report on the terrible things that ARE NOT happening. Can you imagine turning on the TV or radio to a breaking report of "This just in, no major calamities, no pandemics, no world wars and no giant meteors heading towards us today. However, poverty is at an all-time low and world peace is at an all-time high. People are living longer than ever." How about a newsflash of a poor kid from Chicago who just graduated from college and gained a testimony of Christ? What about major news coverage of a former U.S. republican senator who recently joined the LDS church and was baptized by a prominent democratic senator? It doesn't sell, so it doesn't happen.
Psychology researcher Shawn Achor, has expressed the idea that the majority of information on the news is not positive. In fact it's negative. Most of it's about murder, corruption, diseases, and natural disasters. He says your brain starts to think that's the accurate ratio of negative to positive in the world which creates "the medical school syndrome." During the first year of medical training, as you read through a list of all the symptoms and diseases you suddenly realize you have all of them. It's not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality.[2] This reminds me of my time as a probation officer; after a few years I began to have an unrealistic view of how many people were really committing crimes. My perspective was not reality and was skewed by what I thought about 40 hours a week at work, which was people breaking the law.
We need to create our own views. We need to be in charge of what we take in and it should be based on reality. The way our time is spent and what we do creates a lens which affects the way we see life. We cannot let the negative and bad things paralyze us into inaction or passivity, waiting for others to act upon us. We cannot sit back and let the world create our view.
The reality is that there is wickedness in the world today. However, it is also a place of positive things, a place of beauty, goodness and wonder. It is also true that God lives and loves us and Christ has restored His Church in these latter days with a prophet leading the way. These positive things can be placed in your view.
I suggest that there are good, better and best ways of gaining a positive realistic view.
One GOOD way of creating your own positive view is by assessing your life in relation to the past and being appreciative and grateful to Heavenly Father for the life you now live.
Along with good times, there were also very dark days throughout history that some argue were much worse than the things we see right now. Here are some historical facts to put your life today in perspective:
- The Mongol conquests of the 13th and 14th centuries killed up to 40 million people.[3]
- During World War II and the Holocaust up to 85 million people died.[4]
- The Three Kingdoms Period of China from 184 to 280 AD saw up to 40 million killed.[5]
- There was the Black Plague where up to 200 million people succumbed to this disease and some locations saw 75 to 80 percent of its populations die of the illness.[6]
- During World War I most Europeans were in danger. Sixteen million died and 20 million were wounded.[7]
- Imagine if you were a slave at any period of history or you lived in a border state or in the south during the American Civil War.
- There was the Great Depression.
- Or the beginning years of the United States from the Revolution through 1814.
- The 1918 flu pandemic infected 500 million people across the world killing up to 100 million.[8]
- The early Latter Day Saint pioneers certainly had their share of difficulties.
- This list can go on and on and on.
History, even somewhat recent history has seen bad days which can help us be grateful for the lifestyles we currently live.
And although lots of history was grim, it is vital to recognize that the struggles of the past did not hold back great men and women from achieving wonderful things. Many did not postpone progress until the perfect moment which never came.
We shouldn't wait until we feel we are totally secure and our lives are in total order before we let ourselves be happy and take active steps toward the future. If we do we will be waiting a lifetime.
C.S. Lewis said:
"Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun . . . Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of cries, alarms, difficulties, emergencies. Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all . . . activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moments that never come. ... men ... propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffold, discuss the last new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache; it is our nature."[9]
Perhaps a BETTER method of creating your own positive view could be to look for the good in the world today. Thessalonians 5:21 says, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." The 13th Article of Faith declares, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."
Let me help to create a current realistic view of this world for you and share a positive lens by reporting some good news including the idea that there are many good people doing good things in contrast to what much of the media is reporting:
Some say that today could be the most peaceful time in human history. Dr. Steven Pinker of Harvard University has recently written that "Today we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species' existence." He acknowledges: "In a century that began with 9/11, Iraq, and Darfur, the claim that we are living in an unusually peaceful time may strike you as somewhere between hallucinatory and obscene . . . wars make headlines, but there are fewer conflicts today, and wars don't kill as many people as they did in the Middle Ages. Also, incidents of violent crime have decreased dramatically in the last few decades."[10] Today also sees the most advancement in technology to make our lives better and help us live longer. The average life expectancy worldwide was just 47 years in 1950, today it is over 70 years and is around 80 years in developed countries.[11] Not only do we live in a relatively more peaceful time with longer life spans but the global poverty rate has halved over a recent twenty year period from 43% in 1990 to 21% in 2010.[12] Also, imagine having your smart phone with its capabilities 25, 100 or 1,000 years ago. Most people of long ago would have thought it was magic. It has many tools to help your life be better including the vast majority of human knowledge, art, and music. Your phone likely also has access to calendaring, organizational tools, vast medical information with health trackers and my personal favorite app, the Gospel Library including all of the scriptures. You probably also have access to unlimited streaming of cat videos; however the science of viewing cats on your phone is still in its early stages.[13]
A few more bits of great news pertaining to our day include:
- The ability to travel to distant places in passenger jets going over 500 mph
- The availability of comfortable weather-appropriate clothing
- Air conditioning
- The human genome project where scientists completed a draft sequencing of the human genome - which includes all the genes that make up our DNA
- Adult stem cell research - scientists have shown that adult cells can be turned back into stem cells
- Better targeted cancer therapies
- Laparoscopic surgery
- Bionic limbs
- Mobile stroke units
- Lab created bladder organs
- Dengue fever vaccine
A few medical breakthroughs that scientists say are on the horizon include:
- Those who became blind during their lives being able to see
- Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for organ replacement
- Brain repair
- Eradication of genetic conditions
- Age reversing applications including a much longer life span
- Cures for neurological diseases
- Medication tailored to a person's individual genome
- Blasting brain tumors with particle accelerator light.
Also, the Church is strong:
- There are now over 15 million members of the Church.
- There are 173 Temples in operation, under construction or announced.
- There were also over 85,000 missionaries as of 2014.
- The Church has created family history records for more than 3 billion deceased people.
- We continue to be led by current day prophets.
During the April 2015 General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook said:
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never been stronger. The number of members removing their names from the records of the Church has always been very small and is significantly less in recent years than in the past. The increase in demonstrably measurable areas, such as endowed members with a current temple recommend, adult full-tithe payers, and those serving missions, has been dramatic. Let me say again, the Church has never been stronger. But, remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. We reach out to everyone."[14]
Although a GOOD way to create a positive view would be to look to the PAST and be grateful to Heavenly Father, and a BETTER way is to look at our time and the current circumstances of our day and be grateful for the NOW, the BEST way to create your own positive view of reality is to consider and act upon your knowledge of the grand big picture which is an eternal perspective of God's Plan of Happiness. This includes the reality of the existence of God our Father in Heaven, the fact that He is omnipotent and in control of the universe, He loves us, that we lived with Him before we came to this earth, we are here for a reason and He has a plan for us to return to Him which plan hinges on His son Jesus Christ. The good news is that the pivotal event of the Savior's Atonement has already been accomplished by our Elder Brother, the Savior, Jesus Christ. He made this world, was born into it, lived a perfect life, suffered for our sins and to lift our burdens, died for us and was resurrected; HE LIVES! He is also directing His Church today. We are not left alone. We have a prophet on the earth right now who speaks for the Lord and leads us to our Savior.
Heavenly Father's plan is not called the plan of failure, or the plan of anxiousness and fear, or the plan of doubt and worry, it is called The Plan of Salvation or The Plan of Happiness. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and have joy. After the Last Supper was concluded the Lord told his disciples that, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace, in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."[15]
Regarding being of good cheer, Elder Adhemar Damiani of the Seventy said:
"As part of our mortal probation, we pass through affliction, pain, and disappointment. Only in Jesus Christ can we find peace. He can help us to be of good cheer and to overcome all the challenges of this life."[16]
There are literally hundreds of occasions in the scriptures where the Lord has instructed us to be happy or not to fear or to cast our burdens upon Him. We know He speaks to us through His prophets of old and of today and that we can liken the scriptures unto ourselves. The messages of the scriptures are for us including:
- "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."[17]
- "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."[18]
- "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."[19]
- "Come unto me, all ye that labour 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."[20]
- "And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials , and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted . . ."[21]
The world would have us believe that if you have challenges, struggles, or afflictions then you are a victim and you should be miserable. That is not true. We have come to this world to learn and grow and that often comes through aches and pains. Part of your view is how you choose to deal with your aches and pains. Again, the great news is that we can find comfort from our sorrows and struggles through Jesus Christ, and when we fail and are not perfect we can repent because of the Savior's atonement. We have to be on the road to perfection, we don't have to be perfect.
Our modern Church leaders have also encouraged us at least dozens and dozens of times not to be fearful but be cheerful and give our burdens to the Lord.
President Boyd K. Packer said:
"In the final windup scene Satan cannot win . . . we need not fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. . . I have been in the councils of the Church and seen many things. I have seen disappointment and shock and concern. Never once have I seen any fear. . . Our youth can look forward with hope for a happy life."[22]
President James E. Faust said:
"Let us not take counsel from our fears. May we remember always to be of good cheer, put our faith in God, and live worthy for Him to direct us. We are each entitled to receive personal inspiration to guide us through our mortal probation. May we so live that our hearts are open at all times to the whisperings and comfort of the Spirit."[23]
In the April 2015 General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook said:
"The clamor that reverberates across the earth because of worldly wickedness creates feelings of vulnerability. With modern communication the impact of iniquity, inequality, and injustice leaves many feeling that life is inherently unfair. As significant as these trials can be, they must not distract us from rejoicing in and celebrating Christ's supernal intercession in our behalf. The Savior literally 'gained the victory over death.' With mercy and compassion He took upon Himself our iniquity and transgressions, thus redeeming us and satisfying the demands of justice for all who would repent and believe on His name. His magnificent atoning sacrifice is of transcendent significance beyond mortal comprehension. This act of grace provides the peace that surpasses understanding."[24]
When times are tough and things get really bad our capacity can be increased to deal with the problems of the day through Christ. We can handle it all through the Savior.
Now that is a nice view!
Elder Cook also described how his wife rejoices when sunflowers appear in "improper places" and even "flourish" where the ground has been negatively affected by machinery and materials not conducive for flowers to grow.
The key to flourishing and blooming is to do like the young sunflowers described by Elder Cook; they "follow the sun across the sky . . . Like the young sunflower, when we follow the Savior of the world, the Son of God, we flourish and become glorious despite the many terrible circumstances that surround us. He truly is our light and life."
You are responsible for your own view, take steps to create it. Let us not follow the world and its media to create our view but let's follow the Savior of the world, the Lord God Jesus Christ who rose after the third day and who restored His Church through Joseph Smith and continues to lead it today through a living Prophet, President Monson. Your future is bright in these latter days which are your days. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Colossians 3:11
[2] http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work/transcript?language=en
[3] http://wars.findthedata.com/l/439/Mongol-Conquests
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic_disasters_by_death_toll#cite_ref-Graziella_Caselli_6-0
[6] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1576875.stm
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic_disasters_by_death_toll#cite_ref-Graziella_Caselli_6
[8] http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article
[9] Learning in War-Time by C. S. Lewis. A sermon preached in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, Autumn, 1939
[10] http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines _reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.html
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
[12] http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/06/economist-explains-0
[13] http://news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2015/06/internet-cat-video-research.shtml
[14] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-lord-is-my-light?lang=eng
[15] John 16:33
[16] Be of Good Cheer and Faithful in Adversity," Ensign or Liahona, May 2005, 94
[17] Isaiah 41:10
[18] Psalms 55:22
[19] 1 Peter 5:6-7
[20] Matthew 11:28-30
[21] Alma 36:3
[22] Boyd K. Packer "The One Pure Defense" Teaching Seminary Pre-service Readings Religion 370, 471, and 475, (2004), 7-12
[23] President James E. Faust (1920-2007), Second Counselor in the First Presidency, "Be Not Afraid," Ensign, Oct. 2002, 6
[24] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-lord-is-my-light?lang=eng&clang=ase