A tale of two people

This is not a Charles Dickens novel. But I could start out with,:"It Was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." This pretty well describes our time in history.  The two people in this tale were in the news this week. I will not introduce them by name. 

The first is a woman. She saw a problem in her society. It had to do with the inequality in the status of some individuals. They seemed to be the poor and downtrodden without the advantages of some of their neighbors. She spent her life trying to build up and strengthen those around her. She organized a group of women who dedicated their lives to changing their circumstances and improved greatly the living of those that she served. Her motto was, [give];"wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor". She remained out of the limelight for most of her life. 

Now we will introduce the second individual. 
He probably makes more money in one year than the first individual made in her entire life even after she was internationally recognized for her achievements.  He, rather than doing anything personally, chooses to protest the treatment of the poor and downtrodden and disadvantaged in a nationally televised arena. 

Anyone can make their views known on national TV or on social media. They can draw attention to themselves and invite sympathy and criticism, but it does nothing to solve the problem. There are those who defend his stand as his right to freely express his views, but the outcome of this protest will never bring about an equitable solution. More than likely it will polarize into inaction any who are affected. Thus this is a tale of two people. One died a Saint the  other lives a selfish fool. Who will "strut and fret his hour upon the stage” of life and like many will be like Ozymandias and fade into obscurity.

Do not protest my grandchildren.  Be proactive and work to better the environment that you find yourselves in.

Love,

Grandpa

Just say no

Just say no[1]

Sometimes we are put in a position where we have to make a decision with a definitive yes or no answer. For most people it is easier to acquiesce than to say no. More often than not we are ‘wankelmütig’ or ambivalent. We may really want to say no, but we are then influenced by peer pressure or what some may call situation ethics. 

Each of us must learn to distinguish between principle and preference   The gospel of Jesus Christ and his commandments give to us the basic principles of life. We are free to add others of our own, for we are agents unto ourselves. If we make them a part of our internal fabric we will then have a set of principles upon which to base our yes or no answers. 

In the biography of president Spencer W. Kimball he relates that while milking cows he would say to himself, "I Spencer Kimball will never drink coffee. " He then would repeat this and insert the other commandments and principles of the gospel until he had covered them all. He would do this every time he milked the cow. Eventually they became such a part of his fabric that when he came to a situation where principles we involved there was no hesitation as to his response. 

If it is a decision of preference it really doesn't matter what our responses are, it will not in any way affect our happiness or eternal salvation. 

As a simple example of preference I have used the trip to the candy store. One has many choices. You may choose to purchase a Snickers with Almonds or a Lindor bar. This a preference.  Your companion my try to get you to buy a box of licorice instead and be very insist and persuasive. You might give in and buy the licorice even though you would prefer the Lindor bar just to keep him off your back. There is no harm in this, because it is just a preference and does not have eternal consequences. But given the same scenario with the choice to obey or disobey one of God's commandments, the same pressure may be applied and if we choose not to say no we may hurt ourselves or others or both. 

I was listening to a rebroadcast of a BYU devotional this same morning that I wrote this.  It fits nicely into this theme. You can read or listen to it.
Click Here

Learn to say no. It will save you much heartache and grief. 

Love, 

Grandpa

---

[1] Written while waiting in a doctor’s office.

A rose to the living

We recently attended a funeral of a good friend in Riverton,Wyoming. There were many flowers in the church and the casket was covered with flowers.  The speakers gave the deceased many compliments and extolled her virtues. You may ask if we sent flowers as well. Although we were very good friends and had traveled Europe together, we did not send flowers.

We have done the flower sending in the past. This time we took into account the the saying that my grandmother Gee was fond of quoting. "A rose to the living is worth sumptuous wreaths to the dead "

Our friend was in the terminal stages of cancer. We called her and talked to her. She wanted some support and asked for some suggestions of books to read that might help her through the process of dying. 

We did send her a book and some suggestions. She was appreciative and when we talked to her later, she said that it helped. 

What she needed at that time was our figurative rose while she was living. She could not appreciate flowers after her death. 

People need to be appreciated while they are living, not after they are gone. 

Too often we miss the opportunity to connect with people. There are many people who would appreciate a small token of affection or word of kindness. We often miss the opportunity to give deserved specific praise to those who have unexpressed needs. 
If we are sensitive to the spirit, we will be a messenger to comfort and elevate the souls of God's children. 

Please read the words of the hymn "Have I done any good in the world today? "

Can you think of someone you can give a rose to today?

Love,

Grandpa 

Ain't ya got no smarts?

No, I haven’t gone off my rocker and forgotten about using double negatives and colloquialisms.

My brothers and I used to tease one another with the above phrase.  When one of us would do something rather stupid the other would say. “Ain't ya got no smarts?” Then the reply was. “ I got a lotta know, but no smarts.”

I thought this might be a good subject for a Blog to my grandchildren. 

My parents used to quote scripture to us occasionally and particularly this quote from Proverbs chapter 4 verse 7 “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

There is a difference between wisdom and knowledge.  Wisdom is the correct use of the knowledge that we have acquired.  There is a lot of useless knowledge floating around these days. Also not all of us have the same store of knowledge that we have acquired.
 
Our first parents gave us the opportunity to learn the most important thing we are here on earth to experience.  They partook of the fruit of the tree and became as the gods, knowing how to discern between good and evil.  Now to quote a TV commercial from Chuckarama, “The choice is yours”. The choice really is ours.

To further address this topic I recently read this quote from president Joseph F. Smith. 

“Christ inherited his intelligence from his Father. There is a difference between knowledge and pure intelligence. Satan possesses knowledge, far more than we have, but he has not intelligence or he would render obedience to the principles of truth and right. I know men who have knowledge, who understand the principles of the Gospel, perhaps as well as you do, who are brilliant, but who lack the essential qualification of pure intelligence. They will not accept and render obedience thereto. Pure intelligence comprises not only knowledge, but also the power to properly apply that knowledge.”

So, just the acquisition of the pool of knowledge that is available to us is not enough.  We have to have pure intelligence or “smarts” to be able to properly live our lives to the full potential.

We have to be able properly use the knowledge we acquire in this life.  We can be members of Christ’s church and have gospel knowledge, but if we are not wise and use pure intelligence or "smarts" we will fall short of our true potential.  Eventually we will be with those who are “weeping and wailing and gnashing our teeth”.  

I recently listened to a father’s blessing given to me when I went into the Navy.  My father had never given a father’s blessing to any of his children that I knew of.  I think that I was the first of his children to ask him. He was a patriarch in the church at that time, but was not familiar with father’s blessings.  It was not well known throughout the church at that time, nor was it frequently practiced.  We learned about it from our bishop Oscar McConkie when we were in his ward my first year of medical school. In the father’s blessing I was told that I would be wise in my generation. 

I do not know if I have lived up to that promise.  Most of us do not live up to our potential, but we should never stop acquiring knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

There is a German poem, “Lirum Laurum Löffelstiel”, which I will not reproduce here, but the essence is that small children ask a lot of questions. “Why is the rain wet? Why is the grass green” etc.  We need to be like the small children and ask a lot of questions. There is not a day that should pass that we do not learn something new or improve our life.

So with Jacob chapter 6 verse 12, I say,” O be wise; what can I say more?”

Love,

Grandpa

Lessons from a currant bush

The other day I did what I have wanted to do for a few years. I picked some currants from some bushes around the ward meeting-house. I had noticed the bushes bearing fruit in July after the building was completed. I even picked a few and ate them.  
I did that almost every year since. Each year I was going to pick more than a few, but I never did. I asked the bishop if it was permissible to pick them. He was not aware of the fruit bearing bushes. He said pick away. 

I went the other day to see if I could pick enough currants to make some jelly.  While I was picking currants I learned some lessons. 

It is easier if you stand on level ground. 
In life, as in picking currants, it is much easier if you have a firm footing on level ground. Try to keep the ground under you level. There may be times when this is not possible. I could not change the angle of the hillside in this case, so I positioned myself so as to minimize the angle and sit if possible. 
You may have to make adjustments in life in order to achieve your goals. 
Make adjustments!

Start at the bottom. 
Picking currants is easier if one works from the proximal end of the branch and strip the fruit distally. One can see the fruit better and get the most currants. 

In life there are things that cloud our vision like the leaves of the current bush. If we begin at the bottom we will be better able to get better production from our labor.

Always start at the bottom!

Pruning is important. 
The current bushes at the church were pruned as ornamental shrubs and not pruned to produce an abundant crop of currants. To facilitate easy harvesting crossed limbs need to be cut away (pruned) to allow easy access to the limbs and the fruit. The resulting bush needs to be open to allow air and sunlight for a greater harvest. 

We need to prune the unproductive things from our life in order to allow the light of the gospel to permeate our very soul. This pruning may be uncomfortable. It means getting rid of some things that we want to hold on to and some ideas we think are right which are really erroneous. 

Prune even though it hurts!

Some good things go unnoticed. 
I suppose that over 200 people pass by those currant bushes every Sunday and others during the week. How many of them even notice what kind of bushes they are let alone notice the berries they produce? 

It is so in life. We may pass by golden opportunities because we are too occupied with such things as video games or texting on our phones or not being observant of our surroundings. 

Be observant!

Timing is important.
Currants only fruit during a short period of time. If they are picked too early they are sour. The process of photosynthesis by which the bush converts carbon dioxide and water into sugar to make the fruit sweet and balance the tartness takes time. It takes about three weeks for the currants to be ripe enough to be at their peak after they get their color. Then they start to dry. 

In our life here on earth we need to be aware of timing. There are some things in life that must not be rushed or postponed. William Shakespeare put it this way: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat."

Use the Holy Ghost to help you with your timing!

Size doesn't necessarily matter.
Not all currants are the same size. They all are important. They all are part of the eventual product, the jam or jelly. 

Our physical size is not as important as what we contribute to our environment that is; those people who are in our sphere of influence.

Make your presence positive! Contribute to the spiritual whole!

Variety matters. 
Currants come in four main different varieties; red, white, pink, and black. In Germany the black variety is preferred. I prefer the red. 

We have to have variety in our life. There is an old saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
We need a time to work and a time to play. My saying is; “All play makes stupid.”

Make sure that you have variety in your life!

Trash floats to the top and water matters. 
To separate the currants from the leaves and unattached stems, I put the harvest of my berry picking in the sink and poured in a lot of water. The trash floated to the surface and was easily skimmed leaving my currants clean and ready to process.

We believe that baptism is for the remission of our sins. In essence it, after repentance, cleanses the trash from our life. 

Clean the trash from your life!

Heat will make the job more difficult. 
Picking berries is easier when done in the morning when the temperature is cooler or in the evening before the light is gone. I went when the sun was high. I don't see well, so I need all the light I can get.  I was uncomfortable in the heat.  It was not as easy as picking when it was cooler.

If you are rushed, hurried and in a sweat, you will not do what you should as easily if you are not emotionally heated. We need to “chill out” in order to be at our maximum efficiency. 

Do not get heated up!

Enjoy the fruits of your labor, I did.

Death on the trek.

On the 24th of July we celebrate the arrival of the pioneers into the Salt Lake valley. This is a time when we remember those who came across the plains to Utah seeking Zion. 

Most of our ancestors made the trek safely.  There were some who died along the way. 

The first to go was Sarah Watson Crane. Her husband Salmon Gee died in Iowa and is buried in Nauvoo. The widow Gee left Nauvoo and traveled to Council Bluffs where she contracted cholera and died, as did many of the saints including a number of the members of Zion's camp on an earlier trek. 

Later Amanda Melvina Sagers and her husband Lysander Gee were driven from Nauvoo to St. Louis, where she died, leaving her son Orlando Lysander to be raised by his stepmother Theresa Bowley Gee. Although we do not know the cause of her death, there was at that time an epidemic of cholera in St. Louis. 

Mary Ann Wingrove was traveling with her husband and nine year-old son in a wagon train. She got out of the wagon to get Isaac a drink of water and caught her skirt on the brake lever and fell under the wagon wheel crushing her skull. Prior to this time she had lost two other children. 

We do not now have to cross the plains to come to Zion. There is a greater danger of losing our spiritual life now than it was for our ancestors to lose their physical life. 

We, like they, are on a trek. Ours is a trek through life. We have, like they, obstacles in our path. We have our rocky ridges to climb and our rivers to ford. We may plod along as it were by foot along the trail of life or pull our handcart of baggage or perhaps be fortunate enough to travel in a covered wagon, but we  face a different and more challenging environment. 

Cholera was a known and well-recognized disease in those days, but the cause was not known. It is caused by a microscopic bacteria usually transmitted in water. It causes profuse watery diarrhea. The body looses essential electrolytes and this then interferes with the electrical conduction of the heart and it stops beating effectively. Death is rapid. 

We don't have cholera here in the United States because we do not drink contaminated water. Yet there is a spiritual cholera all around us contaminating not what we drink, but the media we consume. It is just as insidious as the bacteria cholera vibrio. It, like the real bacteria, can cause spiritual diarrhea sapping our strength and if not checked can cause the heart of the spirit to stop and we become spiritually dead.  

We need to sanitize or purify what we take into our minds, just as we purify the water that we drink and pasteurized the milk we use and wash or cook the food we eat.  We do not want to get physically ill and it is important as well to maintain our spiritual health.

In this trek through life we will encounter things that will cause us to stumble or catch us off balance.  We do not want to be like Mary Ann Wingrove Price and fall under the wheel of a wagon and have our head run over.  Things that upset our spiritual balance and cause us to stumble may crush our head, destroy our reason and also lead to a quick spiritual death.  Do not go on the Internet to find answers to your questions about the church.  It will only cause you to stumble.  Grandpa and Grandma have been over the trail before you.  We can answer the great majority of your questions. We have taught your parents and they are grounded and rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ and are firm in the understanding of the operation of the true church. 

At this time of remembering the pioneers, let us prove ourselves worthy to come to Zion and make them as proud of us as we should be proud and honor them.

Love,

Grandpa

Glücklich ist, wer vergisst das was nicht zu ändern ist.

Glücklich ist, wer vergisst das was nicht zu ändern ist. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHnvfyXeGJs

For those of you who do not speak German I will translate the heading of this post.  He who can forget what one cannot change is happy. 

The melody came into my mind a week or so ago and then I was finally able to remember the words.  It is a song that comes from “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strass. 

I have recently noticed that some people that I am very close to have experienced some disappointments in their life. Most people can get over this very quickly. But in some instances it causes them to shut down spiritually and emotionally. They do not know how to deal with failure to achieve their expectations. 

There are many things in life that we can change. But we cannot change that which has happened in the past.  We know we never can change our mistakes and our disappointments that have happened in the past, but we can only change that which happens in the future. 

There is a rather good text written by a classmate of mine from medical school that talks about anticipation and expectation. He defines the terms and goes into the consequences of those feelings which we have.  If you wish I can send you this three-page document.

Christ has given us the opportunity to change not only our behavior but our thoughts and dreams. Through the plan of happiness we learn that we can become like our Father in Heaven. 

I could have also entitled this post “Letting the past hold us hostage in our lives.”

No one likes to be held as a hostage under even the best of circumstances.  Although our choices have consequences that we can have no control over, we all are free to choose what we can do in the future.  Because of what has happened in the past we may not be able to proceed in the direction that we had anticipated, but we are offspring of God and as such this gives us the opportunity to progress and become like him in spite of what has happened in the past. Why let the past hold us hostage?  Forget what we cannot change and go forward! The Lord will open a way that we many not even be aware is there for us.

The scripture says, “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thy own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him. And He will lead thee aright.

I have tried this in my life and can assure you that it works.

Love,

Grandpa 

God does not care about sports

We often see and hear people who pray to God that he will help some sports team win over the other. Of course we want the team that we support to be able to win all their encounters. 

Sports were not inspired of the Lord. They are the invention of man. Today they have become, to many, not just a diversion or entertainment, but a distraction from the true purpose of our life here on earth. 

Sports have been placed above our devotion to God. Most of the games are played on Sunday and as such keep us from keeping it holy and devoted; to include offering our oblations to God. Instead of attending to our church meetings and thinking about spiritual things, many think only about the big game or the super bowl party. 

I was disappointed one day to hear an employee of the missionary department talking about watching the super bowl game the day before.

We have so little time here on the earth to learn the things of God. That is the reason that we have the commandment to honor His day and keep it holy. 
It is as if sports have become our God.   If we spent as much time loving our neighbors and caring for them as we do watching sports then the world would be a better place. 

To illustrate this point recently over 1 million people turned out to celebrate their city’s team winning a championship basketball game. The question that I ask, is how many of these million people would come to see a prophet of the Lord speak and give them the word of the Lord or turn out to do a service project to beautify the city or help someone in need? 

In 100 or 200 years this basketball championship would not even be a blip on the history of mankind and no one would even care about the outcome or the players involved. 

Does celebrating in such a way make people better or make them more compassionate or do service to their fellow man? I think you could answer that question with a resounding no. And in the eternal scheme of things the championship and a basketball tournament has little or no redeeming value. It we let things like this cloud our perspective and keep us from our Heavenly Father. 

My dear grandchildren, keep your life in perspective.  Enjoy the game or sport occasionally, but do not let it take the place of the Lord in your life.

Love, 

Grandpa

Rewriting history

Recently in the news we have heard a lot about how people have been upset with things that have happened in the past. 

People have been upset because their ancestors were slaves or slaveholders. They have taken offense because the confederate flag has been displayed. 
In Europe there are those who deny that the holocaust and persecution of the Jews ever took place. 

People seem to be uncomfortable with things in the past unless they fit with their ideas of perfection. 
We become so sensitive that movies that depict what is esteemed to even have the slightest hint of what we consider offensive are censored. Yet we watch murder and adulterous behavior and consider that entertaining. 

Who are we to judge what happened in the past? How does this determine our righteousness? 
Can we learn from the past without being so critical? Does this make us better people by being critical of things that have gone on before, which we have no control over? 

Can't we learn without being condemning? 
Brigham Young talked about Offense. One of my favorite quotes is: "He who takes offense when no offense was intended is a fool and he who takes offense when offense was intended is probably a fool."

We have enough things to do in our life to keep the commandments and be kind that we should not worry about what happened in the past and affected others. 

There are two things that Christ taught. Judge not that ye be not judged. And judge righteous judgment. 

Those who are critical of the past are in the bonds of iniquity and the gall of bitterness. Most do not understand what the poet Bobbie Burns has written. O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!

You may have your own thoughts about things and how they should be, but expressing them to others and especially on social media is ill advised and usually invites discord. 

When I was growing up, we did not have e-mail or social media and the letters to the editor were read by the editor and only those that were proper were published.  Now anyone who has access to the Internet can comment on anything and display their absolute ignorance by expressing whatever they have on their mind.  As Christ said, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles the man but, that which cometh out.

Seeing dirt

This may be a strange title for a blog. You may ask me what prompted me to write about such an intriguing subject. 

In a recent conversation with our son we discussed the fact that some of the young people who come into the workplace do not know how to work. He had to terminate one of his workers. They did not follow through and he had to do his work and theirs. As an excuse the reply was that he did not get mad and chew her out. 

This fits into the subject very well. When I was growing up my mother used to use that expression to help us to look for more than just our superficial tasks. We needed to be able to see dirt. In the case above the employee was not able to see dirt. That is go beyond the perceived assignment and do a complete and thorough job. In other words see dirt and take care of the dirt. 

The scriptural admonition for this is found in D&C 58:27-28. The key words are "anxiously engaged". This means you need to be proactive. You need to be motivated to see dirt. 

That reminds me of the words of a hymn that we used to sing. "Have I done any good in the world today".

The words that have been taken out are: "the world has no use for a drone." As you know there are three types of bees in a hive; the queen, the worker, and the drone.  The drone is necessary to mate with the queen, but he is not productive in producing honey. Thus the drone is a typification of laziness.

I have only had to dismiss one of the people who worked for me. She happened to be the mother of one of my son's friends. She just did not work quickly and efficiently. She was not a poor employee; she spent more time socializing with the patients and as a result did not keep up with the assigned tasks. She was distracted. 

When you are in the employment of others look for dirt and do not get distracted. 

Love,

Grandpa