"The only rules that really matter are these: What a man can do, and what a man can't do"
This is one of my favorite quotes, but it comes from an unlikely source. Do you know where?
Captain Jack Sparrow. If you've forgotten where he says it, it's in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and to me, it sets the theme for the entire series. The quote in it's entirety is
"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a
man can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a
pirate and a good man or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so
you'll have to square with that some day. And me, for example, I can
let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me
onesies, savvy? So, can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can
you not? "
This is his entire philosophy. He can either do things, or he can't, and if he can, he will. He is an extreme case of this, but how much more would we get accomplished if we did everything that we could do? I don't mean that we need to go out and pillage and ransack, because there are obvious things that we can do that we shouldn't do, and that's where we need to draw the line. It's a little bit like a chess match. People don't play chess very much anymore, but I like it. You can make a large amount of moves, but how many of those moves will result in a loss? Most of them probably. What Captain Jack is attempting to convey is: "What can I do that will help me survive the longest?" or, more motivating and in context, "How can I get from where I am, to where I need to go?" "How can I conquer this?"
Just like in chess, you have to think multiple moves ahead, but even if you get stuck in an impasse, or an undesirable situation, what can you do now? There is little to do with what you can't do, so why worry about it? except for learning from them, there is little else we can do about mistakes, yet a large portion of our thoughts can be spent wondering about them. They can be a burden, and as Charles Dickens eloquently gave words to Jacob Marley:
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost.
"I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded
it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I
wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"
We still must be aware of our misdeeds, and remove them, for they will be a burden if unresolved.
I use a boat as an analogy in finance a lot. A boat will move faster, the less it contains to a point. What is needed? (1) The captain (you), (2) a power source (Oars, sail, motor) and (3) directional tools are preferable (rudder, maps, compass). Other than that, (4) supplies (food, water, clothing, etc) to get you to your desirable location and (5) a desirable location: know where you are needing to be.
The important part of this is balance. If you have less of one, you will need more of another; I.e, if you have less power, you will need more supplies and vice versa.
In a life-goal or financial management analogy, the parallel is that if you are (1) The captain, you will need to know what to take, and if you have too much excess (meaning too many bills, too much debt, or too many plates to spin), eventually you will slow down, stop or even take on water and sink. If you have too little, you simply won't make it, or will take much, much longer than needed.
So what can Captain Jack offer? Do what you can, when you can! If you can't, then don't worry about it or don't do it. If you can, and it will help you progress in your journey, then do it. The directional tools: a compass (Knowing what is true North: a moral compass), a rudder (an ability to adapt and change direction), and maps (knowing what is around you and how they are beneficial or problematic).
What can Jacob Marley offer? Recognize the chains before they are permanent and do something about them! This post is not promoting that you should do whatever you want whenever you want (YOLO). It is about finding balance. It is not Hakuna Matata. It is about action.
I was in a car accident when I was 18, and fractured my neck, which left the upcoming summer for a recent high school graduate limited at best and fatal at worst. It was an interesting summer, but became one of my favorites. One of my favorite scriptures were found during this period. (For those of you not as religious, please keep reading! It's very applicable to life in general).
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
~ 2 Timothy 1:7
No matter what your religious or spiritual preference is, most people will recognize these elements in your life, but the important thing is that one side will not exist with the other very easily. I have tested this on more than one occasion (Usually unintentionally). If you are scared, recognize that one of the three elements that follow will resolve it.
(1) Power (Action, strength)
(2) Love (Forgiveness, strength, friendship)
(3) Sound mind (Logic, critical thinking)
Having a broken neck brought me into recognizing the need for one of these elements at various times. The sound mind one is honestly one of the best. Just think it through and work it out. Power and love are also ...powerful and lovely I guess. But it works! Work through it, either by pure strength, pure will, or pure knowledge and truth.
If something is scary, worrisome, unsure, doubtful, etc., talk through it. I think it works in order also.
First, use a sound mind. that will resolve a fair amount of the problems that we face. George McFly, or maybe Marty depending on the space-time continuum (from Back to the Future) said "if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything". Mostly true.
If it doesn't work, however, then "put your back into it".
"Work will win when wishy washy wishing won’t.”~ Thomas S. Monson, Sept. 1977 (https://www.lds.org/new-era/1977/09/faces-and-attitudes?lang=eng)
Lastly, pure love, undefiled will work through the rest. Lasting forgiveness and lasting love lead to lasting peace and happiness. Just forgive and move on. Forgive yourself, forgive others, obtain forgiveness, and move on. Once the chains are gone, don't ask to be reminded of them, or try them on to see how they fit. You aren't that person anymore. Be a new version of yourself. That can take work. and a sound mind. I am not naive enough to think that people will never get burned by anyone. Life can suck. People aren't nice, and things happen. But that is not the point of life. We are here so that we can have joy. Find it. hold onto it. It will take work, love and a sound mind.
Find the balance to make it through your daily journey, and that will help your lifetime journey everyday.
Feel free to leave a comment, your thoughts and elaboration, or a topic for another blog.
09 October 2012
10 July 2011
The Power of Premeditated Prayer
Just some thoughts. Please feel free to comment, address concerns, and provide additional insight.
In Sunday School today, there was a discussion regarding the most transcendent event in the scriptures--namely: the suffering, atonement, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
One thought that has been coming to my mind and study regarding this is from Joseph Smith.
"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." ~~~ Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 121
This comment provides a clarity and definition to the main focus of my religion, and hopefully a strong definition for all Christians. It was not the main thought process on my mind today, although it passed through on multiple occasions.
The purpose of this post will focus on one verse that possibly gets skipped over most of the time, and only seems to be brought up by Luke.
Starting in 22:39
"And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing,remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
While it is a very familiar passage, and there are multitudinous lessons to be pulled from here, one that I wanted to address is found in the first line: "And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives".
Again, I know that there is plenty of important doctrine in these verses, but this part stood out to me, because it contains an important principle to me.
If I am to receive specific revelation and strength from Heavenly Father, if I have a specific pattern, mindset and even a specific place to pray, revelation may come because I am more prepared for it.
Maybe that is still a little complex, and needs to be broken down more. When the Savior went to work out His infinite and eternal atonement, there are a few specific things that He did that are instrumental to our prayer patterns.
1. He did not go to a public place. He went to a place where even His most trusted disciples were "about a stones cast" away.
2. He went to a place where he visited frequently, or "went, as He was wont," which means a place that he was accustomed to visit.
3. He was very specific in His prayer, He did not merely dole out a grocery list of requests, but truly spoke from His heart, and expected a response.
4. He, nevertheless, fulfilled Heavenly Father's will over His own, knowing what needed to be done.
Two of these I would like to briefly address. #2 and #3.
#2 Suggests that there is a power to premeditated prayer.
This doesn't mean that any prayer given without preparation will not be effectual, because true prayer, utilizing the name of Jesus Christ will always be heard and answered in the Lord's time and way. What it can mean is that if Heavenly Father knows where I am at a specific time and place, He sees that I am striving to be disciplined enough to make time to communicate with Him, and will know that I will be awaiting a response from Him. This is an over-simplified explanation, as God is Omniscient, Omnipresent, etc so of course He always knows where I am. It is more so a lesson to make sure that I know where I am, and know a source to receive counsel and instruction. I know that I may not always be in the responsive mode of receiving revelation while listening to the radio on the way to work, or working, or throughout the day, because I get too caught up in the day to be truly receptive. But if I know that at a specified time of day, whether it be earlier in the morning, at night, on a lunch break, or any other prepared time, I will prepare myself for that time.Jesus, while preparing Himself for the trials in the Garden of Gethsemane, went to a place of comfort, where, it can be inferred, He had visited frequently for communication with His Father.
Another more recent example comes from the life of Joseph Smith. In his own words:
"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith History 1:15-17).
Some of you may not be familiar with this story, but I would encourage you to read his main published history:
This experience is again one with a large amount of doctrinal insight, but for the purpose of the discussion, I will merely address the first line again. In order for the Prophet to have this powerful experience, even though He did not know what would happen through His heartfelt prayer, He was guided by the counsel of St. James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him". One thing that he felt to be important to do before praying was to find a place that he could be most receptive to receiving counsel and wisdom. A place where he "had previously designed to go".
Through this, he would eventually become a Prophet and witness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He would testify and witness of the mission and life of the Savior, including the ultimate experience of the Atonement of Christ.
Another witness of Jesus Christ is found in the Book of Mormon, which was translated by the gift and power of God by Joseph Smith. This post will by no means be able to address much of the tremendous teaching power of the Book of Mormon and it's strength to lead us to Christ, but again, one or two examples will help focus our attention to principle #3:
Specific prayers, expecting responses and trusting in God.
In the first book of the Book of Mormon, Nephi (son of Lehi) finds himself in a tough spot. (again, for those of you who may not be as familiar with the specifics of the story, I encourage you to pick up a copy, or read online. Both are free). Nephi is traveling with his family (roughly about 592 years B.C. and traveling from Jerusalem to what is now known as the American continent) and after constant threats from his brothers, who are quite aggravated with him for multiple reasons, he finds himself "Bound with strong cords, for they sought to take away [his] life". His only hope is to pray, as all other efforts of reconciliation have proved fruitless. His prayer (found in 1 Nephi 7: 17-18) is as follows:
In Sunday School today, there was a discussion regarding the most transcendent event in the scriptures--namely: the suffering, atonement, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
One thought that has been coming to my mind and study regarding this is from Joseph Smith.
"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." ~~~ Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 121
This comment provides a clarity and definition to the main focus of my religion, and hopefully a strong definition for all Christians. It was not the main thought process on my mind today, although it passed through on multiple occasions.
The purpose of this post will focus on one verse that possibly gets skipped over most of the time, and only seems to be brought up by Luke.
Starting in 22:39
"And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing,remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
While it is a very familiar passage, and there are multitudinous lessons to be pulled from here, one that I wanted to address is found in the first line: "And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives".
Again, I know that there is plenty of important doctrine in these verses, but this part stood out to me, because it contains an important principle to me.
If I am to receive specific revelation and strength from Heavenly Father, if I have a specific pattern, mindset and even a specific place to pray, revelation may come because I am more prepared for it.
Maybe that is still a little complex, and needs to be broken down more. When the Savior went to work out His infinite and eternal atonement, there are a few specific things that He did that are instrumental to our prayer patterns.
1. He did not go to a public place. He went to a place where even His most trusted disciples were "about a stones cast" away.
2. He went to a place where he visited frequently, or "went, as He was wont," which means a place that he was accustomed to visit.
3. He was very specific in His prayer, He did not merely dole out a grocery list of requests, but truly spoke from His heart, and expected a response.
4. He, nevertheless, fulfilled Heavenly Father's will over His own, knowing what needed to be done.
Two of these I would like to briefly address. #2 and #3.
#2 Suggests that there is a power to premeditated prayer.
This doesn't mean that any prayer given without preparation will not be effectual, because true prayer, utilizing the name of Jesus Christ will always be heard and answered in the Lord's time and way. What it can mean is that if Heavenly Father knows where I am at a specific time and place, He sees that I am striving to be disciplined enough to make time to communicate with Him, and will know that I will be awaiting a response from Him. This is an over-simplified explanation, as God is Omniscient, Omnipresent, etc so of course He always knows where I am. It is more so a lesson to make sure that I know where I am, and know a source to receive counsel and instruction. I know that I may not always be in the responsive mode of receiving revelation while listening to the radio on the way to work, or working, or throughout the day, because I get too caught up in the day to be truly receptive. But if I know that at a specified time of day, whether it be earlier in the morning, at night, on a lunch break, or any other prepared time, I will prepare myself for that time.Jesus, while preparing Himself for the trials in the Garden of Gethsemane, went to a place of comfort, where, it can be inferred, He had visited frequently for communication with His Father.
Another more recent example comes from the life of Joseph Smith. In his own words:
"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith History 1:15-17).
Some of you may not be familiar with this story, but I would encourage you to read his main published history:
This experience is again one with a large amount of doctrinal insight, but for the purpose of the discussion, I will merely address the first line again. In order for the Prophet to have this powerful experience, even though He did not know what would happen through His heartfelt prayer, He was guided by the counsel of St. James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him". One thing that he felt to be important to do before praying was to find a place that he could be most receptive to receiving counsel and wisdom. A place where he "had previously designed to go".
Through this, he would eventually become a Prophet and witness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He would testify and witness of the mission and life of the Savior, including the ultimate experience of the Atonement of Christ.
Another witness of Jesus Christ is found in the Book of Mormon, which was translated by the gift and power of God by Joseph Smith. This post will by no means be able to address much of the tremendous teaching power of the Book of Mormon and it's strength to lead us to Christ, but again, one or two examples will help focus our attention to principle #3:
Specific prayers, expecting responses and trusting in God.
In the first book of the Book of Mormon, Nephi (son of Lehi) finds himself in a tough spot. (again, for those of you who may not be as familiar with the specifics of the story, I encourage you to pick up a copy, or read online. Both are free). Nephi is traveling with his family (roughly about 592 years B.C. and traveling from Jerusalem to what is now known as the American continent) and after constant threats from his brothers, who are quite aggravated with him for multiple reasons, he finds himself "Bound with strong cords, for they sought to take away [his] life". His only hope is to pray, as all other efforts of reconciliation have proved fruitless. His prayer (found in 1 Nephi 7: 17-18) is as follows:
"But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound. And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again."
This is a very short example, but gives a good point. or a couple of good points. One is that if we do not have time to prepare (see principle #2) the Lord will still respond in emergencies. Another main point is that Nephi did not think it necessary to drag his prayer out will lots of flowery sentiments or conditional/theological arguments. He simply said what he needed, acted upon it, and the Lord responded. The last point is that if we need help being delivered from bondage, and are willing to put forth the effort, the Lord WILL RESPOND.
There are perhaps better examples to emphasize these principals, but these have encouraged me to be more specific in my prayers and have a predetermined, reverent disposition when I pray.
This is a rather long first post, but if you made it this far, I am grateful to you, and appreciate any comments or experiences/scriptures that you have for these principals as well.
Thanks!!
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