Humble & Hopeful

I suppose I have probably been thinking about the chaos in our world a little too much lately. It is hard to ignore when I go to school every day and am reminded of the jeopardy my job is in. Many days I have to remind some of my kids to wash their hands or brush their teeth because it is obvious that they have not been bathed in days. We turned on the news in class yesterday to watch some snippets about a massive 8.9 earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunamis; natural disasters that seem to become more and more familiar to us.

While all of these things swirl in and out of our information-driven society, I had a thought the other day that gave me comfort. The Book of Mormon is example after example of societies that chose to ignore the counsel of the prophets. These societies all faced destruction, captivity or some other major events that caused them to repent or be destroyed. This cycle that we read about took place every few decades or every hundred years. In some very wicked cases, it occurred more frequently. In each example, whether it be the Nephites, Lamanites, the people of King Noah, the Gadianton Robbers or whoever else, the righteous always found some way to rejoice and to keep going despite their circumstances, and the wicked almost always got what they deserved. In many situations, the righteous suffered greatly and paid the ultimate sacrifice on occasion. But after every catastrophe, after every great challenge or trial, the people left over always managed to put things back together and continue on with life. Unfortunately, we are just witnessing one of the downward spirals in our world right now. I just have to remember that no matter how wicked the world becomes or how many disasters come to our country, our family or my personal life, I will always be protected or learn something that will make me more like God so long as I remain humble and hopeful.

This world is designed to distract us from our destiny. There are voices calling out to us from every direction to ignore our responsibilities and divine purposes. There are distractions everywhere we look. It will only become more difficult to avoid such, but...that is what we signed up for!

"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. ... You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down."

-C.S. Lewis