The Natural Man

Background for this Blog post:

Some years ago my daughter was concerned because one of the missionaries from her mission committed suicide.  He found he was attracted to persons of the same sex.

There has been a lot in the news recently about same sex marriage and gay rights.  I wrote this as an answer to her question.  Since that time I have made some additions and corrections.  In this world we are given agency.  We can keep the commandments or we can disregard them and be much like the three-year old child and say, “Me do it my own way.” There are only two ways in this world, the right way or the Lord’s way and the wrong way.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell put it this way; the commandments are given to us to keep us from hurting ourselves and other people. He also said, “Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel.”

Just because we have allowed people to sin by entering into homosexual relationships does not make it right in the eyes of our creator.  There are dire consequences to this behavior, which cannot be avoided in this life and in the life to come.

I sensed that the suicide of one of the elders from your mission who was having an identity problem may have troubled you and I have tried to write down some of my thoughts about this with perhaps a different sort of approach that is usually taken. 

We were over in the Czech republic visiting with the mission president and his wife and the subject somehow turned to a mutual acquaintance who also happened to be a physician.  He had recently been to visit the mission president and had told the sad story of how he decided that he was gay and couldn’t help it.  He lost his family and membership in the church and although he had been a stake president, he failed to understand fully the plan of the Lord and the simple truths taught in the Book of Mormon.  The mission president was also a bit confused and upset about the state of his friend.
There are two scriptures in the Book of Mormon that come to mind that are worthwhile examining in depth.  The first is found in Mosiah and is well known and quoted often.
|v18 For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

|v19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

|v20 And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come when the knowledge of the Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

|v21 And behold, when that time cometh, none shall be found blameless before God, except it be little children, only through repentance and faith on the name of the Lord God Omnipotent.
    (Book of Mormon: Mosiah 3:18-21)
I have some thoughts on the scripture a natural man is an enemy to God.  The main points are that since the fall of Adam a change came over man and he will be cut off unless he putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint and yield to the enticings of the spirit.  He will be estranged from God.
The combination of mortality and a spirit allow men to be able to experience and then to choose.  In 2 Nephi, Lehi explains that in order to be able to choose that we must be enticed by the one or the other.
Mortal bodies are not all the same.  Some are more responsive to certain stimuli than others.  Examples of the differences in response to stimuli are; pain tolerance, ticklishness and hunger.  There are also different tastes and different appetites.  Some like asparagus and some cannot abide it.  The human nervous system is made to respond to stimuli.  Therefore some are pleased and enjoy tennis and some do not find it enjoyable at all.  Each one is different in his response to that which is enticing.
The statement that some people make “That is the way I am.” is a rationalization or excuse for unacceptable behavior and it is to a certain extent true.  The natural man or mortal man is carnal, sensual and inclined to do evil.  He must learn to rely on the Lord for instruction and guidance.  Those are His commandments, which will point man the way to happiness.  (Man is that he might have joy).  If left to his own desires without the guidance by the spirit from God, man will seek to satisfy the mortal body and its urges and desires.  Thus we have all manner of transgressors of the law who yield not to the enticings of the spirit, but to their own mortal nature and desires.  They become confused because they seek the answer to their problems outside the framework of the gospel and its principles.  They fail to ponder and thus are as Laman and Lemuel and say, “The Lord revealeth no such things unto us.” 
They then cannot understand their own natures or the nature of the atonement. They, as a consequence, become disillusioned with life and with their state.  They cannot understand that without the strength given by the Lord they remain a captive or in a bondage state or in other words in the bondage of sin.  Captivity seems to be a theme in the scriptures. Thus the numerous references to the captivity in Egypt and also the various times the Nephites were held captive.   Without the Lord and the atonement we remain held captive and it is only the Lord that can break those bonds.  It is only the Lord who can plant in us the desire never to do evil and to look upon sin with abhorrence. We are not able to do it alone.
There are many ways to sin.  The scriptures tell us that we cannot tell how many ways there are.  The reason for this is that man and his weaknesses are so varied.  Let us here mention a few that come immediately to my mind. The following are things that all play upon the stimulation of the sensations of the mortal body and have been proscribed by the Lord; the word of wisdom (alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea), drugs, pornography, adultery, fornication, violence (including murder), masturbation, and homosexuality.  We are to learn to control these feelings and to make our body responsive to the spirit who takes its strength and guidance from the Lord.  For some people these may not even be a temptation, but they have other weaknesses. We all have weaknesses and are in a mortal and fallen state.
The following scripture is interesting in that it tells us first what kind of sins and transgressions there are in the world and then uses the same word enticings to relate the fact that not only can the Lord through his spirit entice us to do good, Satan can also entice us to do evil and prey on the weakness of the flesh.
|v23 And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.

|v24 And if they will not repent and believe in his name, and be baptized in his name, and endure to the end, they must be damned; for the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has spoken it.

|v25 Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him.

|v26 For the atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel.

|v27 But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!

|v28 O that cunning plan of the evil one!  O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men!  When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not.  And they shall perish.

|v29 But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.

|v30 But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world.  For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their God.  And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.

|v31 And wo unto the deaf that will not hear; for they shall perish.
|v32 Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also.
|v33 Wo unto the uncircumcised of heart, for a knowledge of their iniquities shall smite them at the last day.
|v34 Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.
|v35 Wo unto the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die.
|v36 Wo unto them who commit whoredoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell.
|v37 Yea, wo unto those that worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them.
|v38 And, in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins.

|v39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one.  Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.
|v40 O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words.  Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel.  Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker.  I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken.
|v41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One.  Remember that his paths are righteous.  Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.

|v42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches--yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them.

|v43 But the things of the wise and the prudent shall be hid from them forever--yea, that happiness which is prepared for the saints.
    (Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 9:23-43)

The Lord gives men weaknesses:
We really should understand that we came into this world mortal and we will go out mortal.  The Lord has so decreed it, but we were commanded to come unto him so that our mortality could put on immortality and in addition eternal life.
|v27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

|v28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me--the fountain of all righteousness.
    (Book of Mormon: Ether 12:27-28)
We often look at this scripture as an explanation of our minor imperfections and to give us a hope that the Lord will strengthen us and nothing more.  It means much much more.  It is an explanation of the basic doctrine set forth in Mosiah.  We are imperfect (mortal) and were meant to be after the fall.  We have to understand that a combination of a mortal body and an immortal spirit requires a refinement, which can only be accomplished by the Lord.  We can try, but we cannot succeed without the atonement of Christ.  Too often we leave this important element out of the equation.
Why do some respond to homosexual exposures and others not.  The sexual desire is one of the strongest in man.  Not everyone has the same level of sexual desire, just as some have larger physical frames than others.  Like any appetite, it can be stimulated by reinforcement.  If the repetitive reinforcement is not there then it will be dormant and diminish.  We could use the same argument to explain the chronic liar, the thief, the adulterer, the murderer, and any other person who is at odds with the commandments of God.  At first we are given light and truth and we have the words of the prophets.  Then when we disobey.  Satan commeth and taketh away the light and truth through disobedience (D&C 93).  We are then left to respond to the enticings, which come over our mortal body.  We can respond to the enticings of the spirit, who leads us to the Lord through the atonement, or we can respond to the enticings of the devil and respond to the mortal body and its desire for stimulation and deny the atonement.  There is no middle ground in this battle.  A Lamanite king who was responsible for the murders of many of his servants and perhaps many other people put it better than I can express it.  “I will give up all my sins to know thee.”  And the great thing was, that it happened.  He did give up all his sins and he knew the Lord. We also have to give up our sins.  When we teach in the church all the wonderful doctrine and the history and try to convince people to live in a certain way, if we do not teach them that without the cleansing power of the atonement we cannot overcome mortality and its attendant tendency to make us less than we would like to be, then we have failed and people like your missionary lose hope and do not see a way out of their dilemma.  And thus he (Satan) binds them with his awful chains and leads them carefully down to hell.
The model, which is portrayed by the children of Israel out in the wilderness, is a type and shadow of our relationship with the Father.  Jehovah came down and offered to be their God and to sustain them in a spiritual sense.  As it were, they would have died in the wilderness had he not provided nourishment (Manna) and water.  That many people out in the Sinai desert without food or water was a travesty.  The Lord provided for them and they had to rely totally upon Him. 
We are also, as it were, in a desert.  The Lord provides us living water and the bread of life.  We have to learn to put our total trust in Him and listen to his counsel..  The manna that he gives to us is the gospel to nourish our souls.  Without that we die spiritually because we are enticed to do evil rather than good.

So my grandchildren keep the commandments and know that without them we are left to our appetites and ourselves and we will not avoid the consequences of our behavior. Also be acquainted with the scriptures.  They will never lead you astray.

Love,

Grandpa

Advice to those going away to college or into life

When my children went away to college, I took them aside and tried to give them some advice. I was not as articulate as Polonius, but I tried to tell them some of my experiences. What follows, my dear grandchildren, is Shakespeare mixed with grandpa.

I had fun when I went to Weber College. I had the opportunity to live with my uncle Wendell and go to Ricks College and work on his dairy farm milking cows twice a day or go to Ogden and live with my father's aunt Alta Lowe. She had recently lost her husband and needed someone to help mow the lawn and shovel the snow and help her clean the house and help her with her dinner parties and entertaining.

My parents wanted me to go to Ricks College, but they let me make the decision. I think that they were disappointed that I chose Weber. Unbeknownst to me they asked my great aunt to make sure that I went to church. Aunt Alta was a member but semi-active. They were concerned for my spiritual welfare. I went to church twice each Sunday and to MIA on Wednesday evening. After a while my aunt said that my parents had told her that I was to be diligent in my meeting attendance, but she was not prepared for me to be gone to church so much. It was never in my thoughts to skip any meetings. The church and the gospel were as much a part of who I was as my then pimply face.

I wanted to experience all that college had to offer. I was in Community Theater. I took private voice lessons and sang in a men's chorus and the college choir. I played in the band and the orchestra and had a lead part in the college production of the Merry Widow. I was in a local fraternity.

In short I tried to be involved. I did not do too badly in my school studies either. I graduated cum laude.
My parents asked me to attend the institute of religion, so I did that as well.

So when you go to college or the university try to take advantage of every opportunity that is available to you. Do not shrink in a corner and wait for things to come to you and do not be afraid to fail. If you learn this early, you will be better for it, for we all fail at some time in our life.

When I came home from my mission, I went to BYU. A couple of missionaries from my mission were there. I contacted them and they were both living in a house off campus. There was room for me. My second missionary companion decided to go somewhere else to live, so I moved in with Lawrence Wilson. We had shared the same room in Berlin, although he was not my companion. He was the mission secretary.

In that house was the brother of a missionary from our mission. He was tall and strong and good-looking, but not very religious. He was from California and drove a convertible. We did not have much in common except living in the same house. The school term passed and I went home to work for the forest service.

When I came back, I lived in the same house and had mostly new roommates. Lawrence Wilson had gone into the army. There were a couple of returned missionaries and some freshmen. The California roommate was not there. I became aware that he was living an immoral life the previous term. The girl involved became pregnant and had an abortion.

One day I received a summons to appear before the BYU honor council. I did not know what I had done. When I got there they asked me if I was aware of my roommate's immorality. I responded in the affirmative. They asked me what I had done about it. I told them that I had reported the fact to my bishop, Lester Allen.

In my conversation to my children, I related to them this story. I told them and I am telling you that when you see someone in the church who is not keeping the commandments, you should go to the bishop and tell them.  If I had not done that I would have been expelled from BYU and it would have closed doors for me.

When I was in high school we read Shakespeare’s Hamlet. There is a friend of Hamlet named Laertes.  His father Polonius gives him advice since he is going to France to school.  

Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for.
 
In other words, don’t procrastinate your departure. 

There; my blessing with thee!

It might be a good thing to get a father’s blessing before you go off to college.

And these few precepts in thy memory 

In other words remember well what I am telling you now and pay strict attention.

See thou character.

Character is the making of an individual.  If you do not have character, then you really are of little worth to yourself.


Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. 

In other words do not say everything that you think and do not do everything that comes to mind. Be very careful not to act rashly.


Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.

Do not play to the crowd and do not be commonplace.

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade.

Friends are important, but they must be true friends and make you want to improve yourself and be a better person.

Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee.

To contend is of the devil, but if it is principle that you are defending make sure that people know your position and respect it.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Listen much and speak your opinion seldom. People like a listener and not a talker.

Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.

Criticism of your actions will come from many areas.  Some is justified and some is not. Accept that which is justified.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous chief in that. 

Dress well.  Do not wear jeans with holes in them.  Dress modestly and spend your money on quality clothes.  The fashions of the day soon fade and just because it comes from France does not make it appropriate.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

Do not borrow because the lender may be a friend at first, but money has a tendency to make people upset. And if you are the lender you may not feel amicable toward the person who does not pay you back. Budget wisely and do not go to the loan sharks and payday loan establishments.

This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. 

Long before Mrs. Tweed made us memorize this, my parents quoted this verse to my brothers and me. This means that you must be true to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you make them part of you then what you do to others will be in accordance with those principles as well and you will not be dishonest in your dealings with anyone.

Farewell: my blessing season this in thee! 

And now I bless you, my grandchildren, that if you use these guiding principles in your life, you will save yourself and those that love you much sorrow.

Love,

Grandpa

An unexpected encounter

You never know what you are going to experience on a flight on an airplane. Most of the time things go smoothly and without event. The last flight that we were on was the exception to this rule.

We were scheduled to fly home to Salt Lake from Seattle. We had had experience previously with long waits going through security at SeaTac airport so we arranged to be there two hours before the flight left. We were not disappointed. It took us fifty minutes to get through security.

We had some time before boarding, so we like to eat seafood when we are on the coast and they have a seafood place in the terminal. Ivar's serves pretty good seafood, so we ordered Salmon and chips to split between us. It was “qs” as they say in medicine (quantity sufficient) for both of us.

We got to the gate and were in the first boarding group. For some reason we went to the back of the plane to get a seat next to the window. For a while it looked like we might be the only ones in that row on the right side of the plane until a rather large tall man weighing approximately 285 lbs came to deposit his large frame into the aisle seat next to me.

He was rather loud and at times somewhat crude in his language. An electrician by trade he was going to Pittsburgh to watch the Steelers play. When he asked where we were going, I told him Salt Lake, he asked if we were Mormons. That led to a discussion about the church. He said that he would like to know some more about Joseph Smith.

We were just settling down and had started to pull away from the gate when the stewardess inquired over the loud speaker if there was a doctor on board. There was a passenger having a seizure that needed assistance. I raised my hand and there was another man a row behind me across the aisle that also raised his hand. The stewardess ushered us a few rows back to a man sitting in an aisle seat who was slumped in his seat.

When we arrived he was unresponsive. The other doctor felt for a carotid pulse and I felt for a radial pulse. There was no pulse. I checked his pupils and they were dilated. I used the light on my iPhone and the pupils did not react. He was not breathing. We got him on the floor of the plane and the other doctor started chest compressions and I checked his radial pulse. The vigorous chest compressions were producing a good strong radial pulse.

The flight attendants were bringing a defibrillator and I started ripping his shirt from the bottom. A pair of scissors was produced and we cut the shirt up the center of the chest. The other doctor placed the pads on his chest and we yelled “clear”. I moved back and by that time the EMT personnel arrived and I got out of their way.

I went back to my seat and told Alice that the man was dead. I later learned that they shocked him a second time and converted his rhythm from ventricular fibrillation to a sinus rhythm and restored his blood pressure to 105 systolic.

He began breathing on his own and was placed on a transport board and taken off the plane through the back door and placed on a waiting ambulance to be transported to the hospital.

The fact that his upper torso and arms were covered with tattoos made me suspect that he had suffered an overdose. That was the conclusion of the other doctor as well. Perhaps one will never know the etiology of the near fatal incident.

It was interesting that both doctors were active members of the church.

Because of this incident our flight departure was delayed more than an hour.  We were the last two people to board our waiting flight to Salt Lake from Las Vegas. They held the flight for us.

Thus an orthopedic surgeon and a retired pediatrician were able to be of assistance to a stranger in need. We hope the outcome was salutary.

You, my grandchildren, will probably never be called to resuscitate someone on board an airplane, but the Lord will use your talents in other ways to bring back to life someone who is in dire straits spiritually.

The next event following closely upon the code blue was also interesting.  I got the e-mail address from the man sitting next to me and promised to send him some information about Joseph Smith.  Here is what I sent:

Dear Kevin,

I was pleased to make your acquaintance on the plane.  I hope that you are enjoying your trip and have a safe and uneventful trip back home.

Attached in PDF format is a document prepared by Joseph Smith for publication when he was alive.  It details his history.  You will find there are many views of this controversial man. If he were a charlatan or a deceiver he would have built himself up.  I have highlighted in verse 33 what he said the angel told him would happen to his reputation.

The book that he translated is called the Book of Mormon, because the compiler of the record was a man by the name of Mormon.

If you are interested, I would be happy to send you a copy of the book for you to read.  All I need is an address.

My family has been closely associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for 183 years.  My ancestors have been driven from their homes in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois by mobs because of their association with Joseph Smith and the church until they came to Utah.

I can testify to you that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior.  That the Bible and the Book of Mormon testify of his divinity.

We send missionaries to all people to allow them the opportunity to learn the truths of the restored gospel, but we do not try to intimidate or trick people.
 

Sincerely,

Perhaps this flight will result in not only saving one person from a physical death, but saving one person from a spiritual death as well.

Be prepared to be a benefit to those around you. You never know when the opportunity will come.

Love,

Grandpa

Glimpses into the past

To really understand people one needs to experience the circumstances that form the personalities.  You will not be able to do this because times have changed.  You cannot fully understand what circumstances played a part in the development of their characters.  We all have to go through some of the same experiences that test and try us, but the backdrop is different.   

Thus to understand my mother and dad you must know about horses and buggies and dirt roads.  There were coal oil lanterns to light the homes and later the refined Coleman lantern.  Candles burned to light some of the homes long before electricity became commonplace.  Even when I was growing up there were places where electricity was not part of the household.  When we visited my aunt and uncle in Soda Springs, Idaho they did not have electricity.  Wood burning stoves and also coal-fired stoves were present in our home at times even until I was in high school.   

They grew up with Saturday night baths in a little round galvanized #2 tub with water heated on that wood or coal stove.  Many times two or more people used the same water with a little clean hot water added to take the chill off.  We took baths in that round tub in the early days of our stay in Lander, because we did not have a bathroom.  We had no bathtub in the house, but only a shower about half way into my junior year in high school. The bathtub came well after I was gone from home.  I learned to appreciate indoor plumbing and electricity from these experiences.

Radios were scarce and the variety of stations to listen to at a minimum, but they listened to good music and were interested in the arts.  I have probably seen more ballets our mission in Moscow that they have seen in their entire lives, but it was not because they did not have the desire.   I remember that they would listen to a radio program and try to guess the name of the song that was playing.  If the announcer did not give the name of the piece dad would often call the radio station to inquire after the name and the composer. 

I remember going to the opera house in Denver on the streetcar and we saw our first opera, Carmen with Risa Stevens (a famous soprano of the day).  They listened to the opera on Saturday afternoon on the radio.  Even though the culture was not as readily available to them where they lived the desire was there and they taught it to their children.   

Dad bought a 45- rpm record player and we listened to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.  The first recordings that I bought with my own money were compositions by Tchaikovsky; Caprricio Italian and the 1812 Overture. This was the introduction that stimulated my desire for good music and the arts. This introduction to the arts has always governed my choices.

Today with the miracle of television they were able to enjoy those things that were denied them in earlier years.  They did not have a television set when I lived in their home.  

I still remember and sing some of the songs from those operettas. They will always hold a special memory for me.  We enjoyed some lighter entertainment also, my brothers and I memorized the Spike Jones records as well as others that Dad bought and we used to perform them at family functions.  You are spared today because I am not around most of you..

Dad and mother were born into less than affluent circumstances.  Every one of their grandchildren and great grandchildren has more wealth than they had for all of their lives as children and until most of their children had left home.  As a result they were like most of the people of their day.  They made their own clothes.  They made soap.  They made and baked their own bread.  They ate out at restaurants very little.  They butchered their own meat, raised chickens and sold eggs and they raised gardens with vegetables and berries.   

We had a large garden in Denver on land that we tilled by hand.  The produce was bottled and also eaten fresh.  A man who had a store in downtown Denver owned the land.  When the garden began producing it was my job to bicycle downtown and take him some vegetables from the harvest.  Not many people today would look for a vacant lot to raise a garden.  We even had a chicken house and raised chickens and eggs when I was going to high school in Lander.   

They worked long hard hours for very little money when they were growing up and then when I was finished with high school and got a summer job with the Bureau of Land Management I earned more money in a month than my mother did.  Perhaps that is the reason that I enjoy working and have an appreciation for the affluence that I enjoy.

They sacrificed their convenience and income to support me and their other children to obtain a higher education.  They were unselfish in their support and were pleased that their children could better themselves in the educational fields. 

I did not obtain all my education in school.  My parents were proactive in their children’s education. I remember sitting at the dinner table and dad would have us mentally add, subtract, multiply and divide a series of numbers and then at the end ask us the answer.  My parents drilled me on my spelling words, until I knew them.  My parents stimulated my desire for learning and education.  We read books together, one of the common family activities of the day.  One can never be too appreciative of that influence in one’s life.

From my earliest days the church has always been central to our family life.  As far as I know that was the case with my parents before I came into their life.  I have never known a period of inactivity in their lives as members of the restored gospel.  My life growing up was centered in church activity.  There were many meetings in those days and we attended them all.  In Denver we went to Stake conferences in the high school auditorium and after the meeting the people would line up to shake the hand of the general authority who visited the conference. 

The church was relatively small in those days.  We were acquainted there with people who were later called to serve as general authorities.  John H. Vandenberg who became the Presiding Bishop lived in our ward with his family.  Victor L. Brown who also became the Presiding Bishop lived in Denver, as well as Gordon B. Hinckley who also lived in Denver and was acquainted with my parents.  Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the council of the twelve came to Denver and ordained Dad a high priest and had dinner at our home on his visit there. 

Dad always went to general conference and they attended the June MIA conference as well.  We read the Book of Mormon as a family, seated around the table after supper.   

Strangers who came to church were often invited to our home to eat Sunday dinner and we often had the full time missionaries to our house to eat whatever food we had on hand.  We always seemed to have something to feed them.  From this background I learned to keep the church and the gospel foremost in my life and to be hospitable to those who were strangers and to enjoy the scriptures.

Our food was simple.  We had the basic foodstuffs and our ability to prepare them was limited by the times in which we lived.  When they would find some new way to prepare food or cook some new dish, my parents would adopt it into their repertoire.  Bread and milk was not an uncommon dish in our home and milk toast was reserved to be eaten if you were sick.  I suppose that was stimulus for me to develop my interest in the kitchen and in food.  My mother was patient and let me learn to bake cakes and do simple cooking tasks.  I still enjoy cooking. 

Life for them has, as for all of us, been sprinkled with disappointments and frustrations and unfulfilled dreams.  They have not generally shared those with their family.  

I was ambitious for my father.  I wanted him to advance in the government employ and as I understood it at that time he reached the level that his education would allow him.  I thought that he should go back to school and get a graduate degree.  As it was, he blossomed where he was planted and made lemonade of his lemon in life.   

I once asked him if he had any disappointments in his lifetime and he said that he did, but he never enumerated what they were.   

He has kept a faithful record of the proceedings of his life.  Perhaps one day we will have enough time to read the volumes that he has produced and discover what those bumps in the road of life were.  Keeping a faithful record is one attribute that I have not quite mastered as yet, but I am working on it.

The lady bicycle rider

The other day I was driving downtown and came to an intersection and proposed to make a right turn. I was in the right hand lane at the corner.  Next to me blocking my path was a lady on a bicycle. She was so far out in the lane that she blocked my egress. The light was red so I could have turned right but she was so far out in the lane that I was unable to do that.

We were there for quite a while then she ran the red light and crossed the street.  I thought that this might be a good subject for an essay.

The lady on the bicycle was more interested in herself than anyone else. Had there been a police office there, she would have received a ticket for running a red light.

Just the other day, a young high school girl was killed by a woman who ran a red light at an intersection. I have seen drivers run red lights here in Utah and pedestrians cross when the light is red. This is a symptom of egocentricity, caused by our affluence and disregard for our fellow men. I call it the ‘me first’ syndrome.

Throughout history we find that when people become affluent they become more self-centered and insensitive to those around them.  They become less aware of their surroundings.

The Pharisees in Christ's time were of the opinion that they were the only ones that mattered. Just like the lady on the bicycle, oblivious to anyone around her and to any traffic restrictions. Although there are ordinances in some states that allow bicycle riders to go through red lights, the reasoning is; because they are too impatient to wait 2-3 minutes for the light to turn green.

So we inconvenience others because we do not want to be inconvenienced. I have noticed the same lack of concern in the grocery parking lot. People do not want to be bothered by returning their shopping carts to the place where they picked them up.  Often I have had to move a cart in order to park my car so my vehicle won’t hit it. 

We are so concerned with our own selves and what we are doing, that we pay little attention to those around us and the impact of our actions on others.  Christ taught us to love one another and serve one another.  We can never see another persons needs if we keep admiring ourselves in the mirror.

Veneer and living on borrowed light

When I was on my mission as a young man in Germany we lived in a room in the Niehoff's home in Goslar. One day I needed to press my suit and borrowed an iron from our landlady. We did not have an ironing board, so we used the wood table in our room. In order to press out the wrinkles in the fabric, I used a damp cloth over the pants. This produced a small amount of steam. The pants looked nice, but when I removed the cloth under the pants, I was dismayed to find that the wood under the pants was buckled. The table was not solid wood. It was veneer. The glue that had held the veneer to the underlying wood had been softened by the heat and steam and as a result the thin layer of wood that made up the veneer had buckled, warped and cracked.

Veneer is usually used to cover wood with imperfections to make it appear as if it were top grade, high quality wood. Often it is now used to cover particleboard or pressed wood or plywood to give it the appearance of solid wood.

When we had our kitchen remodeled in our home in Lander, I wanted the cabinets made of solid oak and for some reason, the carpenters used particleboard with a red oak veneer. We had a number of the drawers later break down and have to be repaired, because the particle board broke down and would not hold the nail or screw.

You may ask, "What does that have to do with anything today?"  There are some members of the church who I call nominal members. They have been baptized and attend church. Some are active in their wards and attend the functions. Others have a hit or miss attitude. Some are completely disengaged. Some only attend at Easter and Christmas. These people wear the veneer of membership. As with the wood some veneer varies in thickness.  The pressure or heat that is required to strip away the veneer of discipleship varies much the same as with wood, but the strength and durability of this product is inferior to that of solid high quality wood.

Just like the members of the church, there are some woods that stand up to pressure, steam, heat and wear. Heber C. Kimball taught that there would be tests and trials come upon the saints in the latter days. He was quoted as saying that we would not be able to live on borrowed light. This means that if we did not have a testimony for ourselves that the church is true and are living the commandments, we will not be able to withstand the pressure, trials and temptations that will come when Satan will send forth his fiery darts and his shafts in the whirlwind.

Since I started this post there have been events that have occurred in the church that, like the pants pressing example above, have stripped the veneer off some members of the church exposing their friable testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They probably are much like the sower in the parable of Jesus. The seed was good when it was planted. The soil in which the seed was planted was the factor that made the difference in the outcome.

Trials and tests will come in this life. If we are solid in our testimony of Christ, as solid wood, then we will pass the test. If we are grounded and rooted in the gospel, then the seed planted in us will grow and be productive.

My dear grandchildren do not put on a veneer. Be solid wood. Do not let the heat that will come to divert you from the spirit of the Lord have any effect. Be good ground so the seed that is planted in you can grow to a tree springing up into eternal life.