Thoughts on Being Mormon: The One Thing I Can Give God
Mosiah 4:22 says “And if ye judge
the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish
not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for
withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom
also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing
which thou hast done.”
Quick caveat for any who don't realize this: What I'm writing here is pure conjecture- not doctrine. Our opinions and speculation are just that. Maybe inspired, but don't assume I'm speaking for the church. I'm not.
Sometimes my family actually manages to have scripture study together. Hooray for us, we read together tonight and then had a discussion that went from interesting to profound, thanks to my children.
We read Helaman 5 tonight. Feel free to go read it. I'll wait.
In the light of the very public surgical and medical transformation of a famous man into a famous woman, lots of opinions and declarations and words are being thrown around. I don't really want to address the issue of trans-genderism or the current societal popular opinion that gender is fluid.
The definition of an adversary is: "One's opponent in a contest, conflict or dispute. Synonyms: opponent, rival, enemy, antagonist, combatant, challenger, contender, competitor, opposer."
Often in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we refer to Satan as "the adversary", and tonight I have a few new thoughts about him.
The other day I had to have a conversation with my 11-year old daughter that I had dreaded. I knew it would happen one day, but I really, really didn't want it to. No, I'm not referring to "the talk"-- we've had that conversation a few times and continue discussing it as new questions come up. I don't really mind those conversations. This is different.
Lately I've been thinking about this question a lot. I've also been thinking a lot about the nature of sin, but I think that's for another post.
By the way, if you don't speak "Mormon" and want me to translate any of the jargon in this post, comment below. I think most of my readers are LDS, so I'm not going to worry about it as I write.
For over 3 years now, I've been serving as the Ward Primary Chorister. I deeply love these kids, especially my little fan club of 3-5 year olds in the front rows. They warm my heart and I love singing with them. However, it is a decidedly exhausting calling, and usually by Sunday (even before church) I'm just about falling over from fatigue, and then I push through primary with a smile on my face and singing my throat dry and then I go home and collapse for a while. Every. Sunday. (I'm currently working toward a solution to my fatigue, but I'm not there yet.) And every Sunday I feel all mixed up with both extreme tiredness and happiness. Dread and love. I don't get excited for this calling anymore-- not only am I physically tired, but I'm feeling a bit burned out. More than a bit...
I didn't want to write this post. There's a chance (a good chance) I won't post it.
But it wants to be written.
Mosiah 4:22 says “And if ye judge
the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish
not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for
withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom
also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing
which thou hast done.”