You Put Your Right Foot In...

Dear Little Sister,
Sorry I didn't write you anything last week. I figured you were busy on the DELTA!!! so you might not have had time, and besides that, I knew my next post would be my 50th (woot woot!), and I could either make an awesome one and get it over with or I could celebrate by taking the day off. Having free time on a Sunday was really, really nice, so I think I made the right decision.
     But anyway! I had some cool thoughts last week anyway, sitting in Church, which is where I normally come up with your letters. I started thinking about Batman, Neal A. Maxwell, and the Hokey Pokey. Yes, they are related.
     Church leaders often talk about how the Church and the world used to be so similar, holding the same values and fostering the same goals. But as time progresses, the world moves ever farther away from Gospel teachings. Unfortunately, the same can also be said about Church members. I believe it was President Hinckley who commented that members of the Church are just a few steps behind the world—not as bad as the world is now, but what the world is now is where members will be in just a few short years. That's beyond accurate, but it's something that nobody likes to admit. They call it "progress," but they forget that God's doctrines will always be the same, and even when He makes adjustments, they're designed to make us more faithful, not less. While not politically correct, God's teachings about gender identity, for instance, are basic, eternal truths, listed in The Family: A Proclamation to the World and taught for over a century before that. Yet Konrie and I know a returned missionary who thinks that God sends people to earth with the wrong gender, which goes completely against sound doctrine.

     Many members of the Church justify ignoring the prophets because "it was a suggestion, not a commandment," or "the prophet is imperfect, so I don't have to do exactly what he says," or my favorite, "I prayed and decided that commandment didn't apply to me." First of all, I'd take the suggestion of a prophet over the wisdom of the world any day. Second, even prophets are imperfect mortals, but "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (Acts 10:15). God knew these men were imperfect when He called them, but they're still His mouthpieces. And according to President Benson's Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, a prophet can speak on anything at anytime; he's the prophet for the entire world, not just the Church. And thirdly, that's not how it works! When the Lord commands, do it. People would do well to spend less time making themselves exceptions and more time accepting the will of the Lord. I have a deep testimony that He is much smarter than I am.
     So why does this happen? I know there are many reasons and everyone is a little different, but it usually boils down to the same problem: people want to be in the world and as much of the world as they can get away with. And the more they push, the stretchier the t-shirt gets. Some may call sticking to principle old-fashioned, but God is pretty old-fashioned, and He seems to be doing okay.
     So what does this have to do with Batman, Neal A. Maxwell, and the Hokey Pokey?
     Elder Neal A. Maxwell, one of my favorite human beings, once said that we need to "establish our residence in Zion and give up the summer cottage in Babylon." We can't play for God's team and the devil's, even if it's just for a quarter. If we want to be on the Lord's side, we have to be there completely. God accepts and saves imperfect people, but He will not receive those who only halfheartedly approach Him. There's a difference between being imperfect and not caring about it. If you treat the world like an on and off relationship, putting your right foot in then taking your right foot out, you'll find yourself turned all around without direction. You can't rise up while the world holds you down.

     That brings us to Batman. In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne finds himself at the bottom of this giant prison hole that he is fully allowed to escape from if he's physically able. He tries several times to climb out, but he wears a safety rope just in case. At the same crucial jumping point, he misses. Every time. The rope breaks his fall (and his back), but he recovers and tries again. And again. And again. Finally, he realizes that while the rope grants him a sense of security, it's really just holding him back, stifling his jump. He climbs again, this time without the rope, and SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER this time he makes it. He climbs out of the prison and somehow makes it back to Gotham (seriously though, how on earth did he make it back to Gotham?).

     You can't convince the world to come back to the Gospel. It's a solid mass drifting into space, and I'm sorry, George Bailey, but you can't lasso the moon! Not this time. You can save the people on it, but not by joining them. In the beautiful painting of Christ on the rock, He reaches out His hand to the child. He doesn't crawl into the water and push up. He lifts. He reaches. He invites.
     As a missionary, your purpose was to "invite others to come unto Christ." That means you need to be standing next to Him—with both feet, not one foot in and one foot out. Like Batman's rope, the world may give a false sense of social security, but only Christ saves.

     Take a moment to appreciate Chris Evans's biceps.

     .......

     Take your time...

     .......

     It's okay.
     As Captain America, he tries to stop this helicopter from taking off, which almost kills him, but he does it. And he does it without leaving the ground. He didn't try to jump into the helicopter and convince Bucky to land. He stayed on a solid foundation and refused to budge, physically and morally. As the movie teaches, "When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world, 'No, YOU move.'"
     This life isn't about making the rounds and checking off a bucket list. It's about proving to God that we 1) will do whatever it takes to follow Him and 2) absolutely need His help to do it. So when the world stifles your jump, builds you a summer cottage, or tries to turn you all around, remember that you can only serve one master, and the only true Master is Jesus Christ.

"From time to time, I hear people speculate on the question, 'When does the prophet speak as a prophet, and when does he speak otherwise?' This query seems curious to me, as if one were presumptuous enough to sit in judgment on a prophet. In my close associations with President Kimball, spanning two decades and the spectrum from suffering to sublimity, I have never asked that question. The only question I have asked has been, 'How can I be more like him?'"

President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (2015 - present)






Konrie's Korner:
I used to think that I was sooo extremely obedient, but with help I have come to recognize that I have lots of room to improve. I, too, would fall into the trap thinking some of the older revelations received by prophets or apostles wouldn't apply to me. Revelations such as how mothers are needed in the home to raise their families and whenever possible should not work. I have always wanted to be a mother. We have been so blessed to have a mother that stayed home to take care of us throughout our lives. But as I grew up, I began to feel like I needed to put my Physics major to good use and get a well-paid engineering job. I still wanted to be a mother, but I let the world tell me that I needed to be an intellectual woman first. Motherhood is a divine calling. How did I forget how much it meant to me as a kid to have my mom be a home-maker? Why did I trick myself into thinking it wouldn't matter either way? It DOES matter; it makes a huge difference. I have since made motherhood the highest priority and working an absolute last resort (beneath living off of pure rice). No matter how badly I want to do something, I have realized that I would rather follow the Lord's command first. I am so grateful for prophets that help us to see with an eternal perspective and help us know how to find true happiness.