Stepping Stones or Stumbling Blocks?

I've been thinking a lot about trials lately and how to best handle them. One of our daughters has been going astray in a variety of ways, and our other two children have been struggling with totally different things. There is so much hurt and pain involved, for the whole family. It has been easy for me to be miserable and difficult for me to be happy.

However, I've been thinking that working toward happiness during trials is worth the effort. In the past, I've thought I'd be happy once the current trial was over, forgetting that there were more trials around the corner. That's how earth life is set up, after all. We are proving ourselves and we're being refined.

In his book, Spiritual Plateaus, Glen L. Pace talks about trials and how they can either be stepping stones or stumbling blocks. I have started thinking about the refinement that is happening for our family (whether we want it or not). I've also been trying to view our trials as stepping stones. The Lord must trust that we can handle this and I'm sure it's part of the divine plan, even with a daughter headed in the opposite direction.

So, when I start to feel the pain of our trials, I'm trying to remember that these things really will benefit us. Frankly, I used to be bugged by the scripture D&C 122:7 where it talks about all the severe trials Joseph Smith could face and then it says they're good for him. 

It says, in part, "if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

Usually sarcastically I'd say, "Oh yeah, this is going to be for my good. Right." Well, I suppose I'm having a change of heart with regard to this scripture because now I'm looking to it for comfort. I'm working hard to view trials that way. To make them stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. To remember that these things really do give me experience and will be for my good.

We're going to have trials no matter what–even when we're obedient, just ask Joseph Smith. So, I can either face trials with more courage, faith and optimism or I can be miserable.

I know which one I'm choosing. Now I just have to figure out how to live it.

The Anchor

One of my funny childhood memories took place on our boat out on the lake. We had pulled into a cove with a beach that couldn't be accessed very well. So, my dad asked my brother to throw out the anchor. He did just that. However, he neglected to notice that the rope wasn't tied to it. So, we watched as the anchor sank deeper and deeper into the water until we couldn't see it anymore. There was a steep drop off near the beach and the water became deep rather quickly. Despite many dives down, the anchor was never found.

I thought about this story just the other day and, for the first time, I equated it with life here on earth. The Savior is our anchor. He is the anchor for all humankind. But there are many people who do not believe in Christ or do not follow him. They fail to attach themselves to the anchor so they don't have that sure and steady connection. Their lives can easily be affected by any wind of doctrine, especially the ever-growing popularity of the world which encourages people to do whatever feels good. The anchor falls deeper and deeper with nothing attached to it.

Even those of us who believe in Christ and choose to follow him, who hold onto the anchor, can be tossed around a bit through adversity and temptations. Sometimes that will weaken our connection to the anchor and our lives can get off course. We need to constantly check to make sure our connection is secure. If it isn't, we need to do whatever we can to strengthen it.

Sometimes I get so busy I forget to check. And when I forget to check, that in and of itself seems to weaken my connection to the Savior.

An anchor does us no good if we aren't securely connected to it.

I just like that analogy and thought I'd share it.

Post Valentine's Day Look at Love

A friend of mine got me thinking about love yesterday. Not just romantic love, but all kinds of love. Especially the highest love of all: charity, the pure love of Christ. I started thinking about how difficult it can be to keep love pure, in all sorts of situations with all sorts of people. I thought about pure love with regard to my children. It is difficult to avoid manipulating in attempts to get them to obey. And to avoid having a "natural man" response when they're busy acting out from their "natural child." Charity can hurt, too, when you have so much love for a child and have to watch him or her making poor choices while exercising agency. That pain continues for me. I suppose it may for quite some time. However, I am getting better about doing all I can, loving purely, and turning the rest over to the Lord.

I also thought of the difference between having charity toward a person and avoiding feelings that are inappropriate. I haven't struggled with that for many years, but I started thinking about how I got to this place.

There was a lot of praying, a lot of introspection, and a fair amount of therapy. I remember the last time I ran into my therapist's office, in a panic, and said that I'd met a woman I felt attracted to. I started into the old, "See, I haven't changed a bit! I've done all this work, put in all this time, and tried so hard to avoid relationships. And here are these feelings again. I really am gay and I'm just avoiding the inevitable!"

In a calm voice, my (LDS) therapist replied, "Of course you've changed. You've avoided inappropriate relationships. You've been living true to your covenants. You've gained a greater understanding of yourself and what it takes for you to be more faithful. Just because old feelings come back up, that doesn't mean you're in the same old place. That's a lie that Satan would like you to believe."

After that, my reactions to women I thought were attractive began to change. Rather than thinking, or even feeling, that I wanted a same sex relationship, I called to mind, and to heart, the feelings of conflict, guilt, and pain those relationships caused. The "natural reaction" is to reminisce about the exciting and rewarding parts of those relationships. Just remembering or longing for those relationships tends to bring momentary pleasure. I came to learn that even experiencing that momentary pleasure ended up causing pain and conflict. I learned that calling to mind all the negatives and the reasons why I decided to leave same sex relationships were far more helpful and healthful. Over time, it became easier and easier to resist the reminiscing and, instead, to remember the equally strong reasons for leaving.

I guess you could say it has been an exercise in educating and training my desires, which Elder Neal A. Maxwell discusses in his talk, "According to the Desire of our Hearts." It's a great talk, definitely worth a listen.

Charity, the pure love of Christ, is so important in all aspects of our lives and in our various relationships. "Charity never faileth." (Moro. 7:46.) And how many things can you say that about?

 

Pain and Love

I suppose I should accept the fact that my posts will be further apart than I originally anticipated. This time, rather than being busy with a book I was busy with one of my children. She is really struggling, hence, I'm really struggling.

I do not know how a mother can have a child in pain and not be in pain herself. I know the separation is important. I also know the connection is important, too. It is how children remain cared for, by a mother who feels the weight of the matter. It has been weighing me down though, too much so I'm afraid.

Pain is a tricky thing to manage. Some current situation that causes pain almost always seems to be connected to past situations, too. Next thing you know, the pain grows exponentially. Especially with a child. There is pain, and there are painful questions.

How can I help? What could I have done differently? What can I do differently now? Why do I feel so powerless? How can I maintain a certain quality of mothering for my other children as I go off to help "the one?" How can pain run so deep? How can I get past it?

I have said it before and will likely say it again. Suffering from my own pain in my life has been extremely difficult. Suffering from my children's pain has been incomprehensible. The love I have for them makes me so vulnerable. But that is part of being a mother, I suppose.

I certainly know much better how our Heavenly Parents feel about us, especially when we suffer and struggle and even go astray. Like the story of the Prodigal Son. The father sees his son returning from afar off and is so excited. He doesn't even know whether or not the son is coming back to stay or just dropping by for a visit. It doesn't matter. He just loves him, even though and especially because he felt such pain when his son left.

I guess love and pain go hand in hand.

I like love a lot better.

Last Year's Resolutions

So, I started this blog last month. I made a commitment to myself that I wouldn't go more than a week between blogs, and I wanted to write two or three times a week.

Of course, that was last year when I said that. And, I just went almost two weeks between blogs. So maybe I can just say that was one of last year's resolutions, which I didn't break until this year. And I haven't really broken this year's resolution, mostly because I didn't make any this year.

All of that sounds like pretty good rationalizing, as long as I'm just saying it to myself. But that's the trouble with blogs. Other people read what you're thinking. And I have to write it. Which reveals the flaws in my reasoning/rationalizing rather quickly.

Actually,  I have been busy finishing up one of last year's resolutions. And I really did complete it. I decided that I would finish my book, Reborn That Way, by the end of the year. I finished it right about when I predicted. Even a little earlier. I figured I'd finish it on New Year's Eve at 11:58, just in time to join the kids in a little pot and pan banging.

Actually, I finished at 10:05. One hour and 53 minutes early. Then I emailed it to a content editor.

Of course, the editor made changes. And I have been busy working on those, including some major changes to one of the chapters. So, there is a legitimate reason for my lapse in blogging. That doesn't really matter, though. I just want to do better.

Hey, perhaps I just made a New Year's Resolution. And I like it. For all aspects of my life, for the year.

I just want to do better.

Holiday Depression or a Holiday from Depression

I struggle with depression. Sometimes it's severe. Sometimes it's not so bad. Either way, it is persistent. I'll give it that.

I know that a fair number of people who suffer from holiday depression, for a wide variety of reasons. They include: unmet expectations, fond memories of Christmases past that pale in comparison to Christmas present, painful memories of difficult Christmases past that intrude upon Christmas present, high stress trying to get ready for Christmas followed by the letdown of when it's over, and so on.

I often get to take a holiday from my depression during the Christmas season. I take time to listen to my favorite Christmas music, Christmas devotionals and Mo Tab Christmas specials that allow me to bask in the spirit of the season. I must confess, I forgot to do that this season. I guess I got too distracted to take the time to feel good. Seems a bit silly, now that I think about it. I mean, I did listen to and watch several inspiring shows. I had some really good moments. But I didn't make room in my heart for the Christ child to stay very long.

Fortunately, it's not too late. Christmas might be over but Christ is not. And honestly, nothing helps me take a holiday from my depression more than making room for the light of Christ to burn brightly.

Depression is dark. Christ is Light. I know which one I prefer.

Nobody Cried

My idea of a successful Christmas, for the past several years, has been if none of my children cry on Christmas day. They've been known to cry because they didn't get the gifts they wanted or another sibling got the gift they wanted or the day was too short or too long or something or other.

This year, nobody cried.

Perhaps it's because my children are getting older. My oldest is 17. The youngest is 12. Perhaps it's because I listened carefully to what they wanted, purchased the gifts, and nobody changed their mind at the last minute. Or, perhaps it's just the luck of the draw. I don't know.

But this year, I am grateful.

Not so much because nobody cried on Christmas day. I am grateful for that, to be sure. But I am grateful that we are a family, that we're still a family. That we seem to have weathered the storms, against the odds in many cases, and we're still afloat. We've taken on water. We've had our trials and we're still struggling through them. But it seems that, so far, right has prevailed.

I love it when right prevails.