Most people, left to themselves, are happy and content

I gained an interesting insight one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. I believe that is was when they were erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man in his work overall was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - that will always be the case. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure.    

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on Friday evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.

A question for our youth, and others.

I am sometimes phoned and am told that someone has put me as a referral on his or her CV, hoping for employment because I was their mentor, colleague, or bishop. 

Sometimes I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them for employment, sometimes I have grave misgivings about doing so! 

Now, the preamble to the question: 

A prospective employer phones me. She asks about a young candidate, Jimmy or Jenny, who has applied for employment and wants to work for what they describe as their dream company.

The prospective employer has to decide between this young person and someone who is honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, who does good to all people, seeks after that which is virtuous, lovely, of God report and praiseworthy (does that sound familiar?) and is really dependable, innovative, proactive, polite, punctual, loyal. 

First question:

Would I have no hesitation in recommending you if you were this young candidate? 

Second question: 
If you were the prospective employer who phoned me, and I described yourself to yourself. Would you want me to lie about you?  Would you employ you? Would you regret employing you rather than the other candidate because I recommended you? 

You are now preparing for a bishop, teacher, friend or colleague to be your referral. Prospective employers do phone for referrals. Live the 13th Article of Faith and develop other good virtues in yourself. Be that! Then I, and other referees, would be delighted to recommend you!

I would love to have no hesitation in recommending you if I had the impression that you genuinely strive to live these virtues. I would guess that you are not as yet prefect in them, but I would believe that you would continue to strive to live them.

Some thoughts about a question to me on the beach near Kwesani

Thanks, Rohan, for this picture of weird clouds.

This morning, storm clouds from my study window.

And the rain gauge which measured 9 mm for 07:00 to 07:00.

WeatherSA had forecast 80% chance of 10 mm for City of Cape Town.

As we face a tremendous storm in the Cape of Storms, my mind is turned again to a question asked a few days ago by a colleague from the Kwelera National Botanical Garden as we stood on the beach near Kwesani. He asked me about my thoughts regarding creation and evolution.

I don't know what prompted his question, but I shared some thoughts about the many questions that evolution has never answered for me, and that creation can be the only answer. Like, who keeps the celestial clock wound? Who keeps topping up the gas bottle? Who helps the flimsy little insect species to survive despite the individual that I see caught on a raindrop clearly not being 'the fittest'? What were the levels of radioactivity millions of half-lives ago? How is the distance between the Earth, the Sun and all other celestial bodies constant so that day lengths and year lengths seem to have been consistent for thousands of years? These fiery suns, without some intelligent governing force or power or influence, must be constantly losing mass as they emit infinite quantities of solar energy, and the planets that must be constantly gaining mass as they absorb small proportions of the solar energy emitted by their suns.

I failed to go beyond the academic and intellectual in answering the question. 

The reality is that I know about evolution, and I know about creation, but far more importantly, I know the Creator. I know that Heavenly Father lives, loves us, is merciful to us.

 

I apologise for not giving this piece of essential evidence to my friend. I sent it to him this morning. And I give it to you.

I hope that you can learn to know the Creator instead of only knowing about him. It is essential to read His word - not what people say about His word. Read the Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, or the Qur'an. It is essential to speak to Him through prayer so that He can speak to you through His holy scriptures. Sometimes He will give you something that He has not already spoken through the prophets, but most of His answers have already been given. We just need to discover them in the scriptures. Prayerfully read with a question in mind and you will find answers. Not many of us are like Saul of Tarsus, Zeezrom, or Alma the younger who will be called to repentance on some road to Damascus or Zarahemla or in the land of Ammonihah. Rather get to know the creator without having to spend days in eternal torment or anguish because of being harrowed up by the memory of our sins.

Surgery on a toe to remove ganglion and fuse a joint

The question is - would I do it again?

In about 2008-2009 I had a ganglion on the second toe of my right foot. This was uncomfortable and
I had to wear a corn plaster when doing field work in Phalaborwa because the ganglion was continually chafed in my shoes or boots. I then had the ganglion surgically removed and after the healing I was fine for many years.

But then a ganglion formed again on the same joint, and a short while later on the equivalent joint of the left foot. I put up with this for a while, but it would become inflamed at times and burst at times, and it was not something that I could continue to live with.

I consulted an orthopaedic surgeon who recommended surgical removal of the ganglion, and that because this is a sign of the onset of osteo-arthritis, that it was likely that I would have repeated ganglion formation unless the cartilage and capsule for the joint were removed. He would put in a wire to fuse the joint and then I should have no more ganglion formation in those joints.

I pondered this and acknowledged that something had to be done and that the ganglion was a serious impediment to my normal functioning and the amount of walking that I routinely do. So I agreed to the surgery and on 19 July the joints were removed and the recovery proceeded. I was booked off work for six weeks, but was able to work much of the time at home for the first weeks, and once I could drive again I returned early to work. I missed the walking that I often did, parking at the administration buildings and walking about 500 m each way to and from my office.

The pictures are on 31 December (5.5 months) on the left and 22 Feb (7 months) on the right. 

It is now more than six months and I am not particularly aware of the surgery to the toes. The joints are not really obviously missed because the toes do not bend that much anyway. But there is not denying that they are different.

I have pondered what might have precipitated the ganglion formation and wondered if in some way it might have been due to irritation from the strops (surfer's web sandals) that I have been wearing for a few years. The surgeon was not sure that there was any real cause other than aging.

It was quite amusing when we went to vote shortly after the surgery and Sally was told by one young lady that I should return to the car and they would come to me for me to cast my vote. She indicated that I was an amputee! Well, I was not up to standing in the queue, but amputee is rather an extreme label 😉

Some reflections on blessings that my family has had at the Temple

My family has visited the Johannesburg Temple every year, I believe, since it opened thirty years ago. Our annual holiday would be to visit family in the Johannesburg area so that we could attend the Temple. We drove the N1 between Cape Town and Johannesburg year after year, and usually stayed with my wife Sally's mother Margaret Burns in Pretoria so that we could enjoy the Temple. But it did usually mean that one of us could attend at a time because we usually had one small child, then two, three, four and five. Sally was often breastfeeding. So it was a real blessing to us when we were able to stay in Patron Housing when that opened. What a difference that made! It was possible then for Sally to attend the Temple each day because I could take turns babysitting while she served, and we could change so that she could breastfeed or babysit while I participated in ordinances. We could enjoy the Spirit of the Temple in a way never before possible. As the children grew and the older ones could look after the younger, we could attend together more often.

We have found it a great blessing when we attended with other ward members and different people could take turns caring for children allowing parents that otherwise would not be able to participate, to enjoy the blessings of the Temple. We would make sure that all children were cared for so that as many adults as possible could be in the Temple participating in baptisms, initiatory, endowment or sealing ordinances as frequently as possible. Travelling from Cape Town, this was always a wonderful blessing.

I remember last December babysitting my 6 grandchildren and the children of a son-in-law’s sister. This sister and her husband, bishop and sister Ferrett of Fish Hoek ward, had the most remarkable visit that they had ever had because they were able to attend together for the first time since their own sealing. All of this was possible because we were at Parton Housing, the families in the family rooms, although the Ferretts were staying with her brother in Vereeniging and not in Patron Housing. I read to them and then took them into the Temple garden, and when they became a little rowdy in the Temple garden I took them exploring in the gardens at Enduleni, looking for fairies and wild animals. But Amanda Ferrett had apparently not had a good Temple experience before, and this was a real turning point for her, blessed by Patron Housing.

For me, I felt as reverent and blessed a Temple Spirit having the children in the Temple garden enabling parents to be inside together as serving inside. I looked after the two children of my counsellor in the bishopric so that he and his wife could attend and endowment session together. I served as an ordinance worker from December 1995 to September 2013. It had been a blessing to be able to bring members of my own ward or stake through the veil, or to officiate in my own children’s endowments. I would participate in at least one endowment session, carefully observing for anything that appeared to be different before mentioning to the Shift Coordinator that I was available should I be needed in any way, and asking if I needed to know anything that might have changed. It was wonderful being able to serve in that way. I was saddened when told that because more than three months passed between some of my visits I could no longer officiate. Serving the children in the garden so that their parents could sit together in and endowment was also wonderful although in a very different way.

Each of our children was born in the covenant because Sally and I had been sealed in Salt Lake Temple immediately after our marriage in 1981. It was such a wonderful blessing after years with no Temple in South Africa to be able to frequently visit the Johannesburg Temple, and such an increased blessing when Patron Housing was available. We hope that the Temple managers can find a way to enable families to serve in the house of the Lord in the way that Sally and I have been able to do by making it possible for them to use the family rooms, although we do understand that it should be on the proviso that they always have proper care for each and every child.

Breast feeding mothers are blessed with the flexibility that the husband can attend a session while she is feeding and the father can care for them for the other session while the mother attends. This is possible because they have a room in which the mother can feed in private. Ward groups add to the flexibility, enabling parents to serve together where they might otherwise not be able to do so.

People, left to themselves, are happy and content

Interesting insight that I gained one day driving slowly in peak hour traffic on the N1. There was a team of men working on the side of the road. They were probably erecting street lights in about 2014, and one big, hulking man was skipping merrily along.    

   

I realised that most people, left to themselves, are happy and content.    

   

It is very easy to persuade one that he is unfortunate because he lacks something that another has - it will always be the case that someone has more of something than we have. Or that he is entitled to something. Or that he has rights that others should ensure. We need to recognise that we, in turn, have more of some things than others have, or are better in some ways than others. I remember my mother pointing out that the goat herder on the mountains can almost certainly speak more languages than I can.

   

It is not easy to persuade one, though, that he must meet the needs of others, or ensure those same rights for others, or share what he has with others.    

   

This entitlement is one of the biggest maladies that we face in the world, and South Africa is an excellent example of the malady. Donald Trump elected US president, Jacob Zuma giving State of the Nation address in South Africa, BREXIT in Britain, and so forth. 2016 and 2017 are proving to be remarkable years.

Coincidentally, I wrote this on Friday morning 11 Feb 2017, and on that evening I heard an interesting quote on a business radio programme. 'Comparison is the thief of joy'.

Panorama Ward conference theme 2016

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. That is our first Article of Faith. We believe that he wants us to have eternal glory, with Him.

His Son, Jesus Christ, taught us that 'After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven...' He taught us that we are children of Father in Heaven, one who has a kingdom.

For the past ten years I have been encouraging ward members to qualify for and receive driver's licenses to improve their self-reliance. As I worked with some of them, and with my own children, it became quite evident that the objective in the minds of many driver's license examiners is to look for every reason to fail the candidate. Contrast that with what I believe is the objective of our Father in Heaven as He will examine us in the final judgement. I firmly believe that the objective of our Heavenly Father is motivated by His love for us, and His absolute wish that each and everyone of us would come unto Him in purity of heart so that He can welcome us back into His presence. It grieves Him when we choose to become unclean in thought, word or deed. He taught Moses 'Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.' He wants everyone to pass, but every individual who passes will pass because he or she chose to repent. No one can pass while in an unclean state.

Alma taught 'And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.' As we develop these characteristics as part of our being, we repent, become clean and can  inherit the mansions prepared for us. The Saviour taught 'In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.' How sad it will be for a mansion to be prepared, but we fail to turn up to occupy it!

The Saviour also told a parable of great power.

31 ¶When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Some time ago I read about wealth creation. Robert Kyosaki mentioned hearing the Have, Be, Do relationship. In searching for this, I came across this by Tracy Corrigan 'The only way I could get a true definition of happiness for myself was to identify what it wasn’t. As in, what was absent: When I am NOT anxious, fearful, worried, scared, angry, resentful, depressed, sad, lonely, tired, jealous, greedy, lazy, hungry – I am at peace, and I am very happy. So, when I am calm, accepting, loving, kind, gentle, compassionate and empathetic towards myself, I am happy, and I can naturally extend those things to others because it is the very operating system of Who I Am. When I have let my judgments of the past, and projections onto the future go, I am fully present and happy with myself, wherever I am, doing exactly whatever it is I am doing at that moment. It is completely independent of people, places or things around me. BE happy is a state of being, not an emotion. That’s my definition of happiness for me, at least.'

In essence, as children of God, we HAVE divine potential. Sometimes we DO things that Heavenly Father wants us to DO. But, until we strive to BECOME, to BE, of a Divine Nature, we are not succeeding in Heavenly Father's vision for us. I recently heard someone comment on the term 'human beings', that we are not human doings or human knowings, but BEINGS.

Once again, to quote Jesus Christ in Matthew 22: 36-40:

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, soul and mind. That ALL is everything.

I am reading the book The Undaunted and was impressed that young David is so excited when approaching his 6th birthday that he can start working at the mine! He will be underground in total darkness for most of 12-14 hours each day, earning some money to help his family. That touched my heart and made me think of the divine inspiration in Jacob's words 'And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.'

In the Sunday School discussion today we have read about looking to Christ as the children of Israel were instructed to look to the brazen serpent 'And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.' I have often thought about what this meant. If you were one of the children of Israel, in a camp of hundreds of thousands, even possibly 3 million people, what is the likelihood that you were conveniently close to the serpent to be able to simply turn and look? In all likelihood you would have needed to walk at least a few minutes, if not hours, to be able to look  upon it. But the promise was there, and it was simple - look, and live.

May we set out with devotion and commitment to follow the example of the faith, hope and charity exemplified by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Once again, as verbalized by Alma:

22 And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, that ye may walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received.

 23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

 24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

 25 And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out.

Let us press forward in our duty to God being blameless, of the holy order, humble, submissive, gentle, spotless. Then we can be welcomed in to 'sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began' being comfortable in their presence, our confidence having waxed strong in the presence of God.

May our hearts be committed to so do, I hope and pray.