Faith Putty

I can already hear the arguments to this post, but I've decided to post it anyway.

Yesterday in Relief Society we were talking about the importance of sustaining our leaders. I think it is an important lesson. One of the things that my mom made sure to tell me every time I had something negative to say about the way things were being run at church was that "criticizing your leaders is the first road to apostasy" or some such thing.

Here's what I know: I know that Heavenly Father has placed a prophet -- with the same keys and authority that ancient prophets from the Bible held -- on the earth. His name is Thomas S. Monson. I know that Heavenly Father calls leaders to preside over the church in different capacities. From apostles, to area seventy, to stake presidents, bishops, etc. etc. etc. I know that the Lord qualifies the leaders that he calls.

I also know that the men and women that are called are human. They make mistakes. They have their own weird prejudices.

Now, the way that the lesson was taught in RS, yesterday, there were a few quotes that if I had been in the mood to play devil's advocate, I might have raised my hand and done so. But I didn't really see the point, and we ended up going over 10 minutes anyway, so who's to say we'd have ever got out if I had raised my hand. But there was one comment that caught my attention.

A visiting mother of one of the girls in our ward mentioned that we all needed to have our own "faith putty". Because there are times when things don't make sense or we just can't reconcile one thing with another. Those are the times where people who think that logic is the be-all and end-all find a hard time moving forward in the gospel. They get hung up on these little things that they can't explain and can't progress. But the woman in class suggested that we needed to just slap some faith putty and move on. Continue to progress. And then, after a while, when the time is right or we have increased understanding, we can go back and look at these little details that don't quite add up.... yet.

Because I think there are a lot of "not yets" in the gospel. We may not understand everything. We may not be able to reconcile what we want to do personally and what we are being told to do. God has given us our freedom to choose and our judgment to use for our own sakes, but I don't think we should ever let ourselves get hung up on something we don't understand or where logic doesn't make enough sense. There are a lot of areas in our lives where we have to apply our faith putty and know that God will give us the answers we seek at a later time. We can't go through life thinking that we'll never have to practice faith. And sometimes it will be a little bit of blind faith -- but I don't think that that is a detriment to us. I think it will only bring increased blessings later.

How old was Alma the Younger?

In today's Relief Society lesson, we were discussing the responsibility of family members and one of the things that we read mentioned how we are responsible for fasting and praying for our family.

The story about Alma the Younger was then brought up.

The Book of Mormon tells us how the prayers of a father helped a rebellious son return to the ways of the Lord. Alma the Younger had fallen away from the teachings of his righteous father, Alma, and had gone about seeking to destroy the Church. The father prayed with faith for his son. Alma the Younger was visited by an angel and repented of his evil way of living. He became a great leader of the Church. (See Mosiah 27:8–32.)

As we read this, I thought about my uncle who was excommunicated from the church, and then took X amount of years (decades) to come back. And I thought very specifically about my brother who has been struggling since he was 14 with all sorts of problems. And I wondered, How old was Alma the Younger?

Whenever I've read the story about Alma Jr., I always thought of him as a young man. Out and about pranking people... like the rebellious teenager that is being bad just to be bad and tries to get everyone else to laugh at his shenanigans. But he is called Alma the Younger because he is the son of Alma the Elder. So that doesn't mean that he was young, just that he was younger than his father. Obviously.

So my perspective has changed. Perhaps Alma the Elder had been fasting and praying not for just a couple of weeks or months as he saw his son go about and try to draw people away from the Church of Christ, causing problems and making poor decisions. He could have been praying for years. And years. And maybe more years than any parent should have to pray for their wayward children.

I bet Alma the Elder got really frustrated with his son. I bet there were times when he didn't think that he'd ever see the day that his rebellious son would ever get his act together. And I bet he wondered what he did as a parent to make his son behave that certain way.

But you know what? I bet with all that time that Alma the Younger spent fighting against the church and against God, I think he brought a different perspective to the table once he finally realized what he was fighting against.

After all of that praying and fasting, Alma finally saw the light. He repented. And he became a really great man and leader of the church. He could have been fairly old by then. We don't really know. At least I don't, because I'm not much of a scriptorian, and I've never been told otherwise.

And I think, it gave me just a little bit more hope for my brother. Because, even at 21, he has his whole life ahead of him and can get his act together eventually. I think I do have faith that even if he doesn't fully make his way back to church, he can turn his life around and see the benefit of living a fully healthy and productive life. And I know that it will take many more prayers and fasting, but along with that, patience, and faith in the Lord and in him.

Staying Good Forever

Every Sunday (EST) in my Google Reader, I get the newest posts on Postsecret.com (PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.) 


Today this was one of the post cards.


For all the members of the church who read my blog, I'm curious as to what you would tell this person if it were someone who were close to you, admitting that they didn't believe they could be "good" or, as I'm interpreting it, faithful in living the gospel "forever". 


I guess I wonder what the thing or things are that are enticing him/her to think that eventually they will stray... But I guess that isn't really my business anyway. 


I would tell them something along the lines of:


We will all screw up. We all make mistakes. But we have to keep going, keep trying to be the best we can be. And in the end... I don't think there will be nearly as many regrets as we imagine there will be. It will be worth it. It has to be worth it. You. Can. Do. It.

Dear Katy

Dear Katy, I just wanted to tell you that I think you are an amazing, wonderful person and I love you as my sister forever.

Love,
Shelli

Last week I found out that a dear friend of mine - my sister for all intensive purposes, as I have known her for over 20 years - lost her baby. She was nearly six months pregnant and due in March.

I felt like I had been hit by a truck, and instantly the tears prickled to my eyes. I can't imagine a worse loss than that of a mother losing her child - unborn or not - and so I knew that my grief only paled in comparison to what she and her husband, Jared, must be feeling.

I was at work, so I got all the news over a text. I was surprised at how calm and relaxed the texts sounded, and I just knew that my heartbroken friend was putting on a brave face and that I wasn't getting the emotional translation across the texts.

She had to go through the delivery process beginning Monday night, and delivered her stillborn, Baby Boy Self, on Tuesday morning.

I went to visit her last night. It had been a while since I've had the opportunity to hang out. She lives in Salt Lake and we haven't had the time to get together. Her apartment was filled with flowers, meals had been organized for the week, and Katy opened the door to give me a big hug.

I had expected to go over and mourn with her. I was expecting to cry and cry and hug and cry some more. But there was a peace in Katy's apartment that I was not expecting. The peace that comes with the knowledge that she and her husband were sealed together for eternity, which means Baby Boy Self is sealed to their eternal family. Katy and Jared both have a testimony of that, and I think that has helped them get through this tragedy. I really admired the strength and faith demonstrated by Katy as she related the delivery story and recent happenings with humor rather than self-pity or despair. I swear, we were laughing half the time I was there while Jared sat at his desk studying for Stats (shudder).

I know that the past week has not been an easy one, and I know that there are sad days ahead as they start to rearrange the lives they had been adjusting in preparation for a baby. They know that they will have the chance to have children again, and until then, they press forward with faith in the Lord and his plan and timing for them. I am grateful to have such excellent examples of how to face the adversities in this life. And I am so proud to call her my friend and thankful for her in my life.

I know that Heavenly Father is looking over their little family and will bless them as they continue faithfully through this trial.