Doctrine and Covenants 78:6

"For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things"
Doctrine and Covenants 78:6


We've talked a lot about this theme lately, but this struck me today.  We talk about building a Zion community, living up to that ideal, etc.  but on some level we think that is unreachable or really far away.  And I think that this verse really makes me stop and think.  Like most things, God is trying to teach us how to be the kinds of people that will be comfortable in Heaven.  And it isn't necessarily about achieving a temporal kingdom of Zion in the next 10 years.  It is about us achieving becoming Zion *people* inside.  Being the kind of people that will give and accept and love, even when people around us are the opposite, and even when it might hurt us financially or otherwise.  If we don't work on building Zion, it isn't going to hurt God's goal of bringing us a temporal Zion, and the city of Enoch coming back to visit.  That will happen anyway.  ... But not making the effort will hurt us.  We'll be stuck in the worldly cycle, we'll love less, and we won't know how to promote equality with other people.  I am definitely not an expert at that, I promise you... but it is something that I want to learn.  Today, let's work on learning some equality.  What can we do in our lives to promote equality in our spheres of influence?

Doctrine and Covenants 70:14

"Nevertheless, in your temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld."
Doctrine and Covenants 70:14


This is so interesting.  I love that God tells us that we need to be equal in temporal things, and especially like the "and this not grudgingly" part.  It reminds me of D&C 56:16-17 that we went over previously.  Both the rich and the poor need to work at the whole equal thing.  BOTH not grudgingly. :)  If we're rich, we should give to others and not worry about how the other people are going to use "our" money or that we're so much more industrious and better because we have money and they don't.  Non-grudgingly... not worrying about whether people less well-off than we are are just kicking back, expecting handouts.  There are plenty of people without that mentality that truly need help, and God will work out the difference.  And on the other side, if we're poor, then we need to make an effort to do whatever they can to make ends meet... again, non-grudgingly.  Yes, some people have it easier, and don't need to work as hard to survive.  Some people inherit their prosperity.  But it isn't up to us to judge, to steal what others have if they aren't willing to share it, or to rely on the government to support us.  God asks us to be self-reliant, and if it is possible, we should be, rather than being covetous and wanting what other people have so much that we will make poor choices to get it.  ... in the end, we're brothers and sisters.  If someone in our families needed something, wouldn't we make a sacrifice to help out?  God asks us to do the same with our neighbors.  And maybe it takes practice to do it non-grudgingly.  But what a reward... as we learn to make that effort, to give, to work, to be equal with each other, then we will feel an outpouring of the spirit... in abundance.  We'll have spiritual manifestations regularly.  I don't know about you, but the times when the spirit speaks to me are the most precious of my life.  The times when I feel like I get a little glimpse of heaven, and of eternity, and of everything that truly matters.  And to have that more often... I would give anything.  ...And I should. :)  Today, let's all do as God asks and equalize ourselves a little.  Whatever we have to offer: riches, time, pride, effort... whatever it is.  Let's lay it on the altar, and give it to God.  And in return, he'll bless us abundantly. :)  And not only that, but we'll be closer to being at peace with our fellow beings, to not resenting them because they have more, or less, than we do.  We'll be closer to learning to internalize Zion, and being ready to live in a Zion society.

Psalms 118:24

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118:24


This is cool.  It makes me think of the creation... of God actually making the days for us, and putting us here so that we could learn and grow and have freedom, and discover joy.  So often we look at our lives and think "if only" ... if only we had a zillion dollars, or if only we had a boyfriend or girlfriend, or if only we were healthy, or if only we had a different job or a different boss, or if only we were done with school, or if only we were in some situation that we are not in now.  ... And who knows, all those things might be true, and might bring us happiness long term.  But THIS is the day which the Lord hath made.  And *this* is the day that we need to rejoice and be glad.  Mormon 9:14, remember?  Today, let's try to remember... remember that the Lord blessed us with this day, this opportunity, and find our way to be happy now, in the middle of whatever it is, rather than thinking that "if only" we were somewhere else, on a different day, then we could be happy.  Psh.  We get to choose our emotions, and our perspective.  Let's look around for something good today... and find happiness in the people that *are* here, and the time that we are living right now. :)

Helaman 14:30-31

"And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.
He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you."
Helaman 14:30-31


This seems a little scary... I think because somewhere in all of this, even though we want freedom and the ability to do whatever we want... we don't often want the responsibility for our own actions.  We want to put it all back on God, or anyone besides ourselves, and claim that something in our parentage or our environment, or any other real or imagined influences... those are to blame.  Those are the things that made us who we are, that are responsible for our choices, etc.  Because if it were us, of course, we wouldn't be so far from the ideal. :)
The truth is though, that no matter how we justify or whine, it all comes back to us.  We are responsible for the people that we are... for the things that we do, the choices that we make.  And that is both amazingly scary, and just plain amazing.  There is so much potential there, to be anything that we want to be... to become so much more than we are.  To learn and grow and become... the person we've always wanted to be.  Like the people we look up to and admire.  Even like God.  To be *that* cool... to walk in that direction and catch shards of that kind of kindness, that kind of knowledge, wisdom, leadership.  So much potential.  And on the other side, so much negative potential too.  I think it is interesting that the verse says "whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself."  Seems like there is a lot of truth in that.  No matter who the bad action is directed at, when we do it, it lands squarely on our own heads... changing us and making us into people that are more likely to do similar things again.  And in the end, all of our choices will come back to us, as parts of ourselves... who we've taught ourselves to be.  At that point, we can't throw our choices back on God, or our parents, or our society, and say that we didn't really have a choice... they forced us to be this way.  We have a choice, we always do.  God gave us that freedom... and who we are is a result of all of those choices that we've made.  Who we will be tomorrow, and at the judgment day, will be a result of the choices that we make today and into the future.  Today, let's take our choices seriously.  Let's do good, and become good.  Let's choose life, and make it into what we want it to be.

Alma 32:5

"And they came unto Alma; and the one who was the foremost among them said unto him: Behold, what shall these my brethren do, for they are despised of all men because of their poverty, yea, and more especially by our priests; for they have cast us out of our synagogues which we have labored abundantly to build with our own hands; and they have cast us out because of our exceeding poverty; and we have no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do?"
Alma 32:5



This intrigues me today because I think that it is something that we all do sometimes.  We mentally limit ourselves to what we are familiar with.  It's like Dr. Seuss' Sneetches... they wanted to go to the cool hot dog and marshmallow roasting party, and they couldn't because they had no stars.  Mentally, they were trapped in wanting to be like the other group... having what they had.  But, why not just have your own Marshmallow roast?  And the people in this verse are understandably concerned, because they spent a lot of effort to build churches which they are now unable to attend.  But, why not worship someplace else?  I think we often get caught up in the injustice of it all, and feel excluded from the amazing things that others get to do because they are richer or cooler or have more stars.  But there are always cool things to do that are available with less wealth, or trendiness, or stars. :)  And, especially for the people in this verse, there is always a place to worship our God.  None of us have to go to church to do that. :)  Not that I am knocking church at all, or saying that it is optional according to God. :)   It isn't.  When no one is locking us out, we should be there.  It is a great place to meet with other people that believe and build our faith and testimonies... and taking the sacrament and being humble enough to go there and learn from the spirit is good.  Church attendance is a massively spiritually important part of our week, and shows our love for and respect for God.  Just, if we get into a situation where we're completely unable to attend... there are still so many things that we can do to worship and build that long-term relationship with God.  Our relationship with God is built in talking to him every day.  We can work on building a relationship with him, and listen and try to live as he desires us to live.  Indeed, if the only time we ever think about God is once a week at church, we're missing out on something just as vital as church... maybe even more so.
Today, let's worship God wherever we are.  Let's praise him and thank him profusely for his intercession in our lives, and for all that he does for us, every day.  Let's talk to him openly, and let him help us work out a plan for our lives, and listen to what he wants for us.

Titus 3:1-3

"Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another."
Titus 3:1-3


I think this is a great thing to remember.  One of the reasons that we need to be humble, obedient, kind, and good to others is that we've been there.  When someone makes a mistake... we've made similar mistakes.  When someone is overwhelmingly rude to us... we've done that to others.  Imagine if we hadn't been able to overcome our mistakes, and if we'd been treated like those things that we've done in the past were our only selves, and we could never overcome them and change into better people.  Today, let's respect the people around us... not always because their current actions deserve respect, but because their potential selves deserve that respect.  Let's truly treat others as we would like to be treated, especially during our worst moments.  God doesn't hold it against us... he encourages us to stand up, repent... try again.  Today, let's give others that same room to change, and not condemn them for the frustration and mistakes that we all make, that we have all felt.

Romans 12:2-3

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Romans 12:2-3


I love this. :)  It strikes me today as such good advice for getting through the day... any day. :)  Instead of trying to conform, and be more like the world and the people around us, we need to be transformed.  I think that we work on conforming a lot.  We work on understanding what it is that other people want, and try to be that person or think that way too... because it will take us farther socially, or at work, or at school, or wherever.  We want to fit in, to be approved of, and to be appreciated.  And that isn't necessarily bad, of course.  But how much better would our lives be if we looked to fit into God's puzzle rather than the world's? 
And then, as a follow up to that, I think God wants to make sure that we don't go all rogue puzzle piece on him and try to make our own puzzle. :)  It's awesome to work on God's plan, but part of that plan is also working with and loving, and fitting in with the people around us.  Not conformity the way we were trying it the first time, but transformity... not just changing ourselves individually and lording it over the whole puzzle box, but transforming ourselves and working on influencing the world and the people around us to be better and closer to fitting into that perfect picture of Zion.