Setbacks

Sometimes even little setbacks cause great frustration. Let me tell you about one of those moments this week (that actually turned out to be very fortunate). For the last two weeks I've been trying to play racquetball with one of my medical school classmates. We planned on playing Tuesday after our anatomy lab, but when I got to campus I realized I forgot my badge! I needed it to get into the racquetball court and I felt bad cancelling our match again. So I reluctantly headed home, knowing that traffic and another 40 minutes of driving awaited me.

Ironically, I didn't get to play racquetball anyway and would have survived the day without my badge, but I'm glad that I went home to get it. To try and make good use of the time, I decided to listen to two talks from recent General Conferences. As I drove and listened to these messages centered on the Book of Mormon, my attitude changed from annoyed to humbled. The words of the speakers touched my heart. What appeared at first to be a setback turned out to be a blessing and an answer to my prayer. 

You may be surprised by the good that can come of temporary setbacks.

Building Upon the Rock

This afternoon I spoke in church. I spent several hours this week preparing my remarks on Helaman 5:12, which reads:

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

Borrowing from this scriptural theme (see also Matt 7:24-27), I spoke about building upon the rock, who is Christ.

Whether we know it or not, each one of us is a builder. The decisions we make and the actions that we take determine where and what we build. If we want our efforts to have lasting meaning and impact, we must build on Christ, for He is the only sure foundation. Building thereon will provide safety during the storms that inevitably lie ahead.

Fire Starters

Yesterday I volunteered to help out at my stake's Provident Living Fair. Now, you may be asking as I did, what is that? All I knew is that I was to help out with a booth on how to start a fire. There were many other interesting booths there, such as cleaning water, operating ham radios, performing first aid, creating food storage, etc. It was a very informal event; people went around and talked to whoever they wanted. At my booth, we talked mainly about do-it-yourself fire starters. Even as an experienced boy scout, I was unfamiliar with some of these ideas.

Imagine that you are stranded in the wilderness and need to start a fire. You have matches, and you can gather wood, but how will you get it going? Here are two interesting ways which were new to me.

Is is just me, or does that look like a cat? It's actually a homemade fire starter: dryer lint in an egg carton.

The second idea is to use corn chips, such as Doritos or Fritos--anything with a high fat/oil content will do.

Now that you know a few more ways to start a fire, what's the parable? I think two scriptures here will help. In a revelation to the prophet Joseph Smith the Lord said,

"For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves" (D&C 104:17).

And in another revelation it says, "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward" (D&C 58:27-28).

We must be resourceful. God has given us such great resources, but He does not always give us all the answers--at least not without some effort on out part. We are agents who need to make decisions and find solutions so that we can reach our ambitions. Often times the things we need to start a fire or solve a myriad of problems can be found right before our eyes.