Come What May, and Love It

Hello again, and welcome back to Keep Moving Forward! My apologies for missing last week; it was rather busy setting up the baptismal service of some very close friends of mine (Pictures Here!)

While thinking about what I might write about next, I read over a talk from a previous General Conference that struck a chord (what is General Conference? Find out here). The talk, entitled "Come What May, and Love It," was written by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who has now since passed. The power and truth in his words are palpable.

So, without further ado, the talk! (For the written version, go here)



As Elder Wirthlin summed it up,

"As we look for humor, seek for the eternal perspective, understand the principle of compensation, and draw near to our Heavenly Father, we can endure hardship and trial. We can say, as did my mother, 'Come what may, and love it.'" (But you should really listen to the entire talk)

I too testify that, although adversity and trials may come our way, facing them in the way that Elder Wirthlin says will make everything go smoother. As we look to laugh, see things eternally, wait patiently, and pray for support, we'll all be aided in our quest to Keep Moving Forward. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Well, a bit shorter this week, but I think that's alright. Onward!

-Elder Richmond

111: Love Yourself

Once again, I'm late to post! My sincerest apologies. I'm still figuring out what exactly I want to do with the blog and such, but things should even out as we go on.

So, today we come to the last part of 111, love yourself. Now, at first, that sounds awfully self-centered. I'm definitely not trying to promote narcissism here; we should not be so obsessed with ourselves that we forget to think of God or others. But, implied in the mandate to "love our neighbor as [ourselves]," it is implied that we do need to have some level of self-love. To put it mathematically (I'm a bit geeky like that),

Love for Neighbor = Love for Self

So, if we have no love for ourselves (or if Love for Self = 0), then

Love for Neighbor = 0

Which is bad.

---

Alright, now that we've spent more time than is probably necessary discussing how it's okay to love ourselves, let's apply the other ongoing theme of these posts: forgiveness. Just as we must seek forgiveness from God and be willing to forgive others, we must also be willing to forgive ourselves.

How does this work? Well, let's go back to the first story I shared, about saying something embarrassing on 9/11. Quite frankly, I messed up there. Sure, I was only about 8 at the time and I didn't completely understand what was going on, but I still get a bit embarrassed when I think about what happened. And, I've kept making similar mistakes, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, over the course of my life (I just did it this morning at the breakfast table). Now, I could start obsessing over these things. I could start thinking about them every day, focusing on how wrong I was and how things could have gone so much better if I'd have said something else. I could dwell on all the shame and remorse I feel. I could feel pretty lousy about myself in general.

Sound familiar? It's the same principle as the rosebush from last week. In fact, let's use another example from my life (someone's loving himself a bit too much here): in elementary school once, I stabbed a freshly sharpened pencil in to my index finger. How that happened, I have no idea, but one second I was holding the pencil in my right hand and the next it was stuck in my left. Instinctively, I shook the pencil out, breaking the lead and leaving some inside my finger. I promptly went to the bathroom to clean out the wound, but I suspect that some of the lead is still inside, especially since there's still a dark spot on my finger nearly 10 years later.

So, that was something that was self-inflicted, and it hurt, a lot. Not only did I injure myself, but I carry a reminder of it every day, probably for the rest of my life. But, what do I do about it?

I accept that I'm not perfect. I realize that sometimes things happen like that. I analyze what happened and make sure I don't do it again. And then, I move on. I Keep Moving Forward.

Whether it be stabbing ourselves with pencils or saying something we shouldn't or whatever else, we're all likely going to feel a bit ashamed of things we've done. But, just as we must recognize that others aren't perfect and seek to forgive them, we also need to recognize that we, too, make mistakes, and can be forgiven of them.

I've talked a lot about myself in this post, and I'm sorry for that, but I just have to express how much I know that this principle is true. I've lost sleep about things I've done before, about my imperfections. I've been a terrible critic of myself. But I've also felt the wonderful peace of mind and self-confidence that comes from letting things go, from forgiving myself. You can be your own worst enemy, but it feels a lot better to be your own best friend.

I know that God lives and loves us. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for all pain, self-inflicted or not. And I know that God wants us to love ourselves, imperfect though we may be, and that Jesus Christ knows how to help us move past our pain. I'm very thankful for the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ (info here. I had to get a Mormon.org link in there somewhere), that has let me feel more peace and love in my life. I say these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Well, thus concludes 111! Thanks for reading! I hope this has helped brighten your week, even if only a little bit.

Keep Moving Forward!

-Elder Richmond

111: Love Each Other

Welcome back! My apologies for being a day late. While we plan out every day as a missionary, sometimes even we get thrown curveballs and deviate from our plans in order to help those in need. But, we are all set for today.

I'll start out this portion of 111 with another story, this one much more recent. I was with another missionary, and he asked to borrow some shoe-shining supplies since we were staying in my apartment. I said that was perfectly fine. Using some materials from my kit, and some that a previous missionary had left behind, he shined his shoes. As we were leaving the apartment, I noted that he'd put some of the older missionary's supplies into a bag to take with him. I didn't have a problem with that. However, I also noticed a small buffering cloth in his bag that looked awfully like one of mine. I was a bit suspicious, but didn't jump to any conclusions until I was back at my apartment later, with another missionary. Sure enough, I checked my shoe-shining kit, and one of the cloths was missing.

And that really bugged me.

We'll come back to the story later.

So, going back to the original post, the second great commandment that Jesus taught us is that we love our neighbors (i.e. everyone around us) as we love ourselves. For some people, we find that very easy. For others, we find that very hard. They hurt us with their words and actions. They stress us out. In a perfect world (not this one), everyone would treat each other with love and kindness, and hurt feelings would not exist. That world, though, won't come for a while (although it will eventually come). In the meantime, we need to learn how we can keep living with people we'd rather not have anything to do with.

First, we need to understand that nobody is perfect. To bring back the scripture from last time, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Due to a lack of knowledge or understanding, or perhaps even because of malicious intentions, people are going to end up hurting us. So what do we do? Do we mourn our social injuries, constantly bringing back the hurt we've felt? Do we get angry, despising the person at fault?

Let's use a metaphor. Say you see a rosebush, and you stop to admire the flowers. As you go to touch the blossoms, though, a thorn pricks your thumb and sticks in it. What do you do? Do you stare at the wound, tears in your eyes, wishing for the pure, unhurt thumb you had before? Do you spitefully leave the thorn in the wound, using the pain to fuel your plans to take a chainsaw to the bush?

Or do you calmly take out the thorn, step inside to get a bandage, treat the hurt, and go back to looking at flowers?

We firstly can't wallow in self-pity, longing for the happy selves we were before we were hurt. Some people believe that the world would be better if nothing bad ever happened to us at all. We know, though, through the Book of Mormon, that pain and trials are part of this life, and they help us grow (See 2 Nephi 2:27). We also shouldn't let the offending words and actions become the focus of our lives. The wound will never heal if we refuse to take out the thorn, and we shouldn't get angry at the imperfect nature of the thornbush for hurting us.

What we should do is forgive. Recognize that nobody is perfect, and be willing to move on and keep associating with those who have harmed us. As we do so, we find that we are free, that we don't let the words or actions of others define us. As stated by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, "We do matter. We determine our happiness. You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness" (See, "Of Regrets and Resolutions").

As well, God has commanded us to forgive, or to be merciful. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:7: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." He demonstrated this principle in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (see Matthew 18:21-35). In short, since we all depend on God for mercy (as discussed last time), we must also be ready and willing to extend mercy to all of those around us, be they friend or foe.

I know this is a bit hard to swallow. But, as in my story about the shoe cloth, I've obsessed over the actions of another person, and it just doesn't make me feel good. There have been other circumstances as well, in which I've become so focused on what another person has done or said that it becomes hard for me to think of anything else. But I've found freedom and happiness through letting these things go. It is hard; I've prayed for a lot of strength at times to do this. But, in the end, the past is the past. A shoe cloth is just a shoe cloth, and we'll all feel a lot happier when we're willing to let it go.

I know that God lives and loves us. I know he wants to forgive us, and he wants us to forgive others. I know that as we do these things, a greater light and happiness will enter into our lives. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Well, just one more installment of 111! See you there next week (and hopefully on time)!

-Elder Richmond

111

Hello everyone! And welcome to another installment of Keep Moving Forward!

So, to start off this week, we're going a long, long time ago...just about two years ago, in fact, as I was starting my first year of college at BYU. I was more than a bit disoriented, leaving my small town of 3,000 and living on campus with approximately 10,000 other freshman. At this time, I was very grateful for the counsel of Stephen Biddulph, the bishop of my student ward. (Bishops? Wards? Check out the official church Infographic below!)

In an early talk in Sacrament Meeting, Bishop Biddulph noted how our ward was the 111th. He told us how, to him, the one's seemed to be L's, all standing for the same word: Love. He then shared what he'd chosen as the theme for our ward that year: Love yourself. Love Those Around You. Love God. This was remarkable counsel; I posted it on all the bulletin boards in our dorm. What was better, though, is that the entire ward took it upon themselves. They loved each other. They felt good about themselves. And they loved God, serving Him with diligence. Largely because of this, those two semesters contained some of the happiest times of my life (before my mission, which is even more amazing).

Now, after having studied the scriptures and learned a bit more, I can see that Bishop Biddulph's advice mirrored some teachings of the Savior in the Gospel of Mark:

"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these..."

(Mark 12:28-31. There's a wonderful video of this conversation here as well)

So, we see three important relationships we have in life: that with God, that with other people, and that with ourselves. In the coming weeks, I'd like to look at how the principle of Forgiveness applies to each of these relationships, and how doing so can help us Keep Moving Forward. In the meantime, though, I invite you to analyze: What do you do to show your love for yourself? How do you express your love for others? And how can you better show your love for Heavenly Father?

I've come to know that the frantic things in life tend to dissolve as we focus ourselves on increasing the love in these relationships. I know that, when things seem dark and gloomy, often the best thing to do is to serve. To forgive is also good; we'll look at that in the future. But until then, remember: Love God. Love your Neighbor. Love Yourself.

And Keep Moving Forward.

-Elder Richmond