Invest in your eternal marriage

So today I spoke in sacrament meeting.  Since I am in the bishopric, I was asked to speak about our ward motto for the year, "Invest in your eternal marriage".  I felt like for my post today I would regurgitate my talk.

Anyone that knows me (which should be everyone that is reading this blog) knows that I love languages, words, roots, and especially etymologies.  So obviously I began my talk by pointing out that the original meaning of the word "invest" is "to cloth in the official robes of an office."  I like this because the Spanish word for the temple garment and endowment is "investidura."  If you remember, on my mission I received a "fully invested" BYU shirt, which was when I first made this connection.  Anyways, I think it is significant to realize that if the Lord has invested so much power and knowledge in us, we should invest in ourselves and in our marriage.  The type of investment that we are talking about are the righteous routines of scripture study and prayer as a couple, FHE, etc.

The idea of continous spiritual investments has been spoken of by general authorities.  President Heber J Grant once said,  "What are we working for? Wealth? Riches? If we have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we are working for eternal life.  Then we are laboring to save our souls.  And after saving our own souls we are laboring for the salvation of our children... I want to say that the best inheritance that you can leave to your sons and daughters is an investment in the kingdom of God."

Presdent George Albert Smith said that we "are making a real investment that will return an eternal dividend."  Perhaps this adds some meaning to D&C 6:7 where it says that "he that hath eternal life is rich."

There are three underlying principles behind the idea of "investing in our marriage": 1. Faith 2. The law of the harvest 3. By small and simple things great things come to pass.

Essentially an investment is something that we pay now, with the anticipation that we will receive more at a future date.  Obviously this requires a great deal of hope and faith.  In the last general conference Elder Richard G Scott said, "we must take time to actively exercise our faith.  Such exercise invites the postive, faith-filled power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives.  Our Father in Heaven has given us tools to help us come unto Christ and exercise faith in His Atonement.  When these tools become fundamental habits, they provide the easiest way to find peace in the challenges of mortality." He then went on to explain that these four tools are scripture study, prayer, FHE, and temple attendance.  This exercise of our faith requires hope.  As Ether 12:4 puts it, "hope for a better world, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men".  If we didn't have hope and faith we would not invest in our futures because we would only think about the now.  For this reason, our entire life can be a "trial of our faith" and we may not "receive a witness until after the trial of our faith".  Meaning, we might not see the return on our investment in this life.  We might wonder if our small actions will really pay off, but the Lord has a way of duplicating our efforts.

The second principle, the law of the harvest (or as a sister in my mission called it, the law of charma) teaches us that what we put in we will get out.  So if we invest a lot in our marriage we will receive a lot back.  Ezra Taft Benson said that "he observed his parents, he saw the joy, peace, and strength that came when family members chose to be faithful to one another and the Lord.  He learned that the law of the harvest - "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" - applies to spiritual pursuits as well as physical labor.  A lot of young married couples think that they can postpone sowing the seeds until a more convenient date.  I love what D&C 64:33 says, "be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundations of a great work.  And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."  We really are laying the foundation for our future and we should never be weary of doing that which is good.

This leads to the last principle I wish to discuss, that by "small things proceedeth that which is great".  This is a unique teaching to the Book of Mormon.  The world would tell us that if you want something big you need to do something big.  That only extraordinary efforts merit any great reward.  However, since the Lord can magnify our efforts we know that even things that might appear small (like how Erica and I go out on a date every week) can lead to tremendous eternal blessings.  "Now [the world] may suppose that this is foolishness, by very small means the Lord bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

So although right now Erica and I are at a very smooth part of our lives, where everything looks pleasant and the future seems bright, we should not think that we can avoid making this regular investments in our marriage.  If we think that when trying times arise we can make some withdrawals, if we haven't already made those deposits we will find out that we have "insufficient funds."  So at this young stage in our marriage it is important to not say "All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well" but rather "while all is well, let us prepare by laying the foundation for the future."

What Shall We Give?

I know the Christmas season has just ended, but obviously that doesn't mean that the spirit of Christmas should ever end.  If you have been around me the last few weeks you know that I have had the song "What shall we give?" stuck in my head.  I love this Christmas song.  It has a great message and an angelic sound.  I recommend listening to the MoTab rendition of this song if you are looking for a pick-me-up.  Here are the words to this song:

What shall we give to the babe in the manger,

What shall we offer the child in the stall?
Incense and spices and gold we've a-plenty-
Are these the gifts for the king of us all?
What shall we give to the boy in the temple,
What shall we offer the man by the sea?
Palms at his feet and hosannas uprising;
Are these for him who will carry the tree?
What shall we give to the lamb who was offered,
Rising the third day and shedding his love?
Tears for his mercy we'll weep at the manger,
Bathing the infant come down from above.

It really is a great question.  What shall we give to him who has everything?  To a much lesser degree, we have all struggled to find someone a Christmas gift because it just seems like that person has everything they need or want.  It might seem like there is nothing we can give that would be acceptable to him that created the universe.  In Mosiah 2:21 it read, "if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."  That seems rather discouraging.  It sounds like no matter what we give it won't be enough.  However, Christ himself said before he came to the Nephites in America, "ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit."  So the only thing that we can really give to the Lord is the only thing that we really possess.  Everything belongs to the Lord, except for our will and agency.  If we give him our whole soul as an offering we allow for the whole effect of his offering.

Standing as a Witness

Mosiah 18:9 - "To stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in."

This is a part of the covenant that we make when we are baptized.  In church today we talked about how difficult it can be to stand for what we believe in when we live in a world that cares more about political correctness than eternal correctness.  We discussed how it is hard to find a balance between "calling people to repentance" when they are clearly opposing God's plan and not coming off self-righteous, judgmental, or condemning.  A comment was made that the key element to finding this balance was to do so with love, following the counsel given in D&C 121:43, "reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou has reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy".  Some would say that just like being a witness in court means that you might offend some people in the real world standing up for what you believe in might not make you any friends.  However, in class we discussed how it is best if you actually know the person and love them despite their philosophies.  Then eventually, "when moved upon by the Holy Ghost", you can tell them how you are concerned about them and how you want them to know what you believe.  The quote was given, "no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."  I had two experiences this week that really demonstrated this principle.

So since the holiday season is over, I have no more excuses for just eating sweets, drinking eggnog, and sitting around watching football.  So this Monday I went to the gym and worked out in an attempt to make up for my three weeks off and in preparation for my BYU Ultimate Frisbee Club Team Camp (it didn't work, but that's another story).  While I was working out I was rather appalled at the vulgarity of the music that was on, considering I was at the BYU gym.  I got all worked up about how ridiculous it was that this employee was playing this music.  Most everybody else had their own music to listen to, so maybe that's why nobody spoke up.  I was close to saying something, but I was basically already done and I knew that I would just be too frustrated to speak to this person in a civil manner.  So I just left.

Later that week while at my BYU team camp I found myself in a similar situation.  We had music playing all day on a loud sound system and for the most part the music was appropriate.  However, at one point there was a song that came on that had several expletives unedited.  The difference in this case was that I am friends with the guy that was in charge of the music.  So when I heard this song, instead of assuming the worst, I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I jokingly said that I didn't realize he liked this type of music.  He admitted that he thought he had all edited songs.  I felt good knowing that I had stood up for what I believed in but that I hadn't made him "esteem me to be his enemy."

New Year's Resolution

So it has been longer than 1 year since I last posted! About a month ago, Matt pointed out to me the irony behind the fact that my last post was entitled "Not Procrastinating".  However, I figured that there was no better time to start my blog up again than as a New Year's resolution...so I waited a month.  But here I am with a new goal to start doing a weekly blog post again.  One of the guidelines for setting goals in Preach My Gospel is: "be specific and realistic, but set goals that will make you stretch."  I feel like my goal is specific and realistic, although based on my past results it will definitely make me stretch.  Preach My Gospel also says that "challenging goals will help you work effectively and lead you to stretch and grow."  This upcoming semester I will be very busy and I will need to plan effectively and find a good balance to succeed.  Fortunately, by stretching myself with demanding goals I will be more efficient with my time and so I should actually get more done in the same amount of time than I would have with less demanding goals.

One last quote from Preach My Gospel to express the importance of setting goals:

"I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential."

See you next week, and the 50 that follow it.