What we can learn from Malaria.

Or all you wanted to know about malaria, but were afraid to ask.

The disease of malaria was named because it was thought that one got it from breathing bad air. For many years it was not known that this was a parasitic disease that was transmitted to humans through the bite of a certain species of mosquito.

We still see many cases of malaria in the world today. About 3.2 billion people – almost half of the world's population – are at risk of malaria. In 2013, there were about 198 million malaria cases (with an uncertainty range of 124 million to 283 million) and an estimated 584 000 malaria deaths (with an uncertainty range of 367 000 to 755 000). Increased prevention and control measures have led to a reduction in malaria mortality rates by 47% globally since 2000 and by 54% in the WHO African Region. Source WHO

Since we probably will not get malaria, why am I talking about it? In a recent meeting I learned about one of our missionaries who died of malaria. It was sad and completely unnecessary.

We now know the cause of malaria and we know how to prevent it. Then why did the missionary die of the disease?  He refused to take the medication to keep him from getting the disease. He would not use mosquito repellant or sleep under the netting provided to keep him from getting bitten.  He either believed he was invincible or he thought that it really did not matter.

When we do not take our spiritual medicine we may suffer spiritual death as well. Just like the missionary who died of malaria, disregarding sound principles leads to spiritual illness and death (which is separation from God).  We then become the walking dead, as it were, oblivious to true joy, and experience the sorrowing of the damned.

In this state of blissful ignorance we wander on forbidden paths as described in Lehi's vision of the tree of life. We fail to hold on to the iron rod and fail to partake of the fruit of the tree, which was designed to make one happy.

Taking prophylactic medication to prevent malaria is important to keep us free from the ravages of the disease and possible death. Reading the scriptures, prayer and partaking of the sacrament on a weekly basis and incorporating the principles of the gospel in our life is the prophylactic spiritual medicine to keep us from getting spiritual malaria.

What do we do if we do get malaria? We treat it vigorously. We do not neglect it, thinking it will go away. Poor decision! We neglect it at the peril of our mortal lives. The same holds true of spiritual malaria. If we do not treat this vigorously, we do it at the peril of our spiritual lives and eternal destiny.

Just as malaria is introduced into the human body from an outside source, spiritual malaria does not come from within us; it is introduced through our exposure to the toxic ways of the world and our adopting them into our lives. The interesting thing about malaria is that it infects the red blood cells and replicates itself and destroys the substance that gives energy and life to our bodies. Spiritual malaria infects our spiritual life sustaining blood and slowly destroys it a little at a time until we are past feeling.

“In your life there have to be challenges… they will either bring you closer to God and therefore make you stronger, or, they can destroy you. But you make the decision of which road you take.”
-Elder F. Enzio Busche

Pay attention to your spiritual prophylaxis.  I do not want to see any of you die.

Love,

Grandpa

Cracked eggs

The other morning I was boiling some eggs for breakfast. The eggs looked perfectly good as I carefully put them in the water  I set the timer for eight minutes. Before I heard the timer go off I heard the water boiling over. Since I only put in an inch of water this signaled that one of the eggs had cracked and was spilling egg white into the boiling water causing the water to overflow.

I thought that this might be a good subject for my blog.

When I was in high school I worked for a creamery. We got eggs from the local farmers and prepared them for sale.  We were hired to candle the eggs. This process was to hold the eggs up to a very bright light. By so doing we could see if there was any blood in the egg. Although this would not cause any problem, the housewife who would use this egg would not find that very appetizing. We would also check to see if there were any embryo chicks in the egg. In some cultures this would be considered a delicacy , but in our culture this is extremely unappetizing.  We also checked for cracks in the shell. A cracked shell could allow pathogenic bacteria to enter the sterile white of the egg and cause disease to the person who consumed the egg in its raw state and make the egg rotten. The  most common bacteria to cause disease from eggs is Salmonella.

We would crack open the eggs with the cracked shells and drop them in a metal container and those eggs would be sold to the local bakery for cakes and other baked goods.

Each of us has a protective shell. Much like the egg, it protects us against the intrusion of the outside world and from it's contaminating influences.  We have to keep our shells intact. We do this by simple procedures.

When I was growing up we raised chickens. We knew that thin shells were easier to crack. In order to get thicker shells on the eggs we would feed oyster shell bits to the chickens. The oyster shells contain Calcium, which is metabolized by the hens and provides material for the production of the shell.

What we feed our spirit will strengthen our protective shell. The formula for this food for our production of protection is really as simple as small bits of oyster shell. I have written about it in previous blogs; daily prayer, daily scripture reading, weekly family home evening and partaking of the sacrament.

If we have small unseen cracks in our spiritual shell, just like the eggs, they will be made apparent by heat. The heat does not come from inside the egg and it does not come from within us. The boiling water manifests the crack in the egg shell. The pressures from peer groups and secular influences in our life will bring out the cracks in our spiritual shells.

There is no spiritual super glue. It is a maxim that prevention is better than treatment after the fact. If you find a crack in your spiritual shell, go back to eating the spiritual oyster shell calcium and this will strengthen the shell and prevent intrusion of unwanted things.

We all need constant protection in our lives.