Some thoughts about moving from dependent to interdependent

I responded to a message from a friend that I have not seen for a few years, but with whom I have continued to share some messages that I hoped would be uplifting to him. I hope that this adaptation of my message may be meaningful to someone who reads this.

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Good morning to you 😉

Haauw! This is turning out to be a long message in response to your long message 🙂 But hang in there…

It is really good to hear from you. I often see your videos on WhatsApp Status or Facebook and I remember well your involvement in [our congregation], and then COVID hit, and [your girlfriend] moved. I really missed seeing you. I have wanted to share the light of Christ with you and I am happy if some of that light has helped you to have a glimmer in the darkness that you have been experiencing. 

My friend is a very talented stuntman 

and I enjoy seeing him sharing his skills

You may have heard me share some insights that I have received over many years. I share several of those insights with friends like you in the hopes that the seeds that I sow will help someone to have a good harvest. I do not expect replies, but it is a delight when I do receive the occasional reply like this one from you 🙂 

I am now one of the Free Guided Walks guides at Kirstenbosch where I worked as an ecologist in the Kirstenbosch Research Centre up to the time that they 'put me out to pasture' to make place for the younger generation. I have continued to share some of my experience and skills with others since retiring, including the walks at Kirstenbosch - 'my garden', leading the Battle of Blaauwberg walks where I lead people on the battle grounds where the battle of 1806 led to British occupation to prevent Napoleon from occupying the Cape, and then the Cape becoming the Cape Colony in 1814, then the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Republic of South Africa in 1963, the democratic nation that we became in 1994, where sadly men with light skins like yours and mine have been treated as though we are not wanted amongst the 'Diverse People Uniting'... But we continue to sow seeds in the hopes that some will germinate, and some of those will germinate in good soil rather than by the wayside or be eaten by birds, and some of those roots will penetrate deeply enough to survive the next dry season, and grow tall enough to not be killed by fire, and become a tall tree that will produce thousands of seeds every year, most of which will be food or nutrition for tens or millions of other living organisms, and only a very small number will become trees themselves…

I will be starting the firefly walks in early November, the walks that stopped a few years ago. I love to share how we cannot see an ant walking on a tree twenty or so metres away, but if we walk to the tree we are almost certain to see one or many ants walking on that tree! Or a butterfly flying on the slopes of Table Mountain kilometres away, but if we walk to the mountain we will see tens or thousands of butterflies. But - that firefly, only about 3mm long, with the light being produced in just the last one or two segments of the abdomen - less than 1mm - will be visible in the dark at 20 metres. Or, walkers on the mountain with their headlamps that are smaller than a butterfly will be visible from kilometres away. In many ways you have been sharing your light with tens or millions of people on social media - and a very small percentage of people who were delighted by your antics will Like, and a very small number of those will Comment… But you delighted many more than that small minority 🙂 

This tiny insect is very visible in the dark!

A view of some fireflies between about 1 and 20 metres from the camera.

I hope that I am successful in sharing some light, or being that tiny cell called yeast in that tiny part of the bread dough where I respire and multiply to form more tiny cells, that will respire and multiply, and their respiring will produce the carbon dioxide gas that will cause the bread dough to rise and become that loaf that you enjoy with the beans.

My daughter and her family are currently living in a tent at a nearby Holiday Resort while they get themselves on their feet! We support them to some extent, but they need to become self-reliant and they are working on that. I shared something with their one daughter this morning while taking her to school that Jesus Christ was, at one stage, needing Mary and Joseph to change His nappies, and to feed Him, and teach Him to walk, to be a carpenter, to play with other children, and so forth. But He did not remain dependent - He became independent, and then He set a wonderful example of becoming interdependent - and I try to follow that example. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I do try. Some people were offended by what He said and did, calling Him a devil, a winebibber, and other demeaning things, but He still atoned for their sins. Someone needed to crucify Him to fulfil His mission - but I hope that I did not put up my hand to volunteer to do it, but someone had to! And He said 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' and He atoned for their sins.

Can I share your message with the current stake president? You can approach the bishop in the area where you live, but it sounds like you might not be steadily in one ward area! But let the Lord call you to serve in His Kingdom, and receive assistance from the Fast Offering, and share your talents in turn, building children, youth, adults in multiplying their talents, magnifying their callings, and building Zion.  

A thought crosses my mind that I shared with my son-in-law that I mentioned is trying to get his family back on their feet. I also shared a similar thought with a baker who lost his job because of what sounds like an unkind action by his manager towards him and some other employees… You could go to a school like Tafelberg School that caters to students with a variety of learning difficulties. You can volunteer to teach stunts, activities that will build physical, mental and emotional strength for one or many students that might find that to be just the right thing for their future career. Then, if you demonstrate your value, they might allow you to contribute in meaningful ways and pay you for your time and contribution. 

A career like yours is not guaranteed to be wonderfully remunerating, but if it contributes to society, it is rewarding and fulfilling to you and maybe you can help others to get that reward and fulfilment. Sally's father was a professional actor and always advised people to choose very wisely before going on the stage! He would use Noel Coward's song 'Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington'. He survived reasonably by contributing to the stage, radio, TV, film, and One Man Shows in about the 1970s, performing in libraries in small and large towns all around South Africa (like Kakamas, Keimoes, and Kuruman) and in large cities such as in Artscape in Cape Town. Her mother was a musician who had more predictable and permanent employment playing the violin in the National Philharmonic Orchestra, but not every excellent violinist can be a lead violinist on NPO! And every lead violinist will not be lead violinist forever!

Don't lose hope! Let the Spirit guide! Most importantly, I encourage you to be part of building Zion and you will succeed in Zion. That yeast cell will not survive outside the dough that provides it with food that enables it to respire and divide and multiply and cause the dough to rise! 

I have known your adoptive family since I was a child, mourned with them when their daughter died, rejoiced with them when members of the family did well in so many careers, occupations, companies, organisations, sharing talents, skills and abilities to build their families, communities, and our nation - and Zion. I have not been aware of any stories about you, so you can be comforted knowing that the entire world does not know. Just continue to live worthily of the Lord's approval, remembering that He beholdeth not the countenance, but He looketh upon the heart.

You have heard me share my testimony - the Lord has told me, personally, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His true and living church. I know that if you follow the same recipe that I followed, you will enjoy the same pudding that I enjoy every day. That does not mean that I never have hungry times, or indigestion, or poor health, or some other opposition - but we are told that there must needs be opposition in all things. I smile and reflect on how any doctor that I consult, or lawyer, or accountant, or stunt artist, got there by facing, coping with, hard work and labour, agonising over exams, practicals, oral exams, social pressures, and all sorts of difficulties that were part of getting their accreditation to serve me in the way that I engage them to serve me.

Why don't you join me at Kirstenbosch, or on the Battle of Blaauwberg walk to enjoy being with your brother, enjoy Heavenly Father's delightful Creation, and sommer to renew our brotherhood? We can chat and I'll give you dates when I will be there. I see so much possibility of exciting ways that you can use your particular talents, gifts or strengths to earn at least enough to be able to be fruitful, to multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have [some] dominion over it and be able to deliver it up with surplus to the Lord when He returns. You can have Him say 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things.'

Sorry for this very long reply to your long message 😉

I look forward to your response.

Your brother in the Gospel.

Les

Climate And Self-Reliance

We have had some serious rainfall that has impacted on several of us in Cape Town during the past month. 

It is difficult to attribute photos that are shared on social media, but here are some photos from the two weeks of the extreme weather conditions.

This caused me to reflect on memories from a workshop that I attended at the United Nations offices in Trieste, Italy during 2002. I had been involved in research into climate change for some 12 years, and I found that my impressions were seriously blinkered. I was looking at the impacts on plant species, but was now surrounded by people dealing with health, epidemiology, agriculture, tourism, engineers, planners, physicists, hydrologists, climatologists, and many more!

One major take-home story is that there is an increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events. We have experienced this first-hand in Cape Town during June 2023.

Another major take-home story is that adaptation and coping take place at the local level – ultimately with you, with me, and with our own families. I was reminded of the concept that the nation is made up of its basic units – families. It is mainly individuals that are impacted, and it is mainly individuals that cope or do not cope.

I remember the account of Bangladesh, with 1/5 of the country being less than 1m above sea level, and most of the country under 10m altitude. They face rather dire consequences of sea level rise. Their homes are regularly inundated and so they do not accumulate things that will be great losses when the anticipated floods come. If the authorities build barriers around communities, the inhabitants will have a greater security as most of the extreme events will be held at bay. However, when events strike that are beyond the threshold for which the barriers are designed to cope, the inhabitants may experience heavy losses because they would have relaxed their coping strategies. We compared this to Mozambique where the Limpopo River had overflowed its banks and thousands of people were impacted. In Bangladesh flooding is an inconvenience, in Mozambique it was disastrous. The people of Bangladesh have a high level of coping capacity.

Yes, infrastructure is affected, but coping and adaptive behaviour is inherent in us as humans. For example, we can choose to reduce our vulnerability by not building on a flood plain of a river that has not broken its banks for 10 years, or on the slopes of a volcano, thus reducing our risk. Alternatively, we can undertake a cost benefit analysis, and we can decide that the risk is worth taking in order to have the temporary benefits of fertile soil for producing crops for our family. The question is whether we will have personal responsibility for coping with the impacts of flood (or a lava flow that might be rather more damaging) when they come thus experiencing a setback with which we can cope. Alternatively, if we are not prepared to cope, the flood will result in our experiencing a disaster.

Disaster was defined very subjectively, as is illustrated above. If the community can cope with a serious impact it is not a disaster. Some agencies may define it as a disaster because they decide that it is beyond certain extremes, but the local community may cope just fine. Alternatively, some minor impacts, on top of a generally poor circumstance in a community, can be a disaster because the people had not been able to build up their coping capacity or adapt to the impending disaster. When someone deliberately takes a serious risk, should the authorities bail them out when they experience a disaster? A tough question!

The man in charge of the workshop, while handing out certificates to participants during a dinner hosted by TWAS (the Third World Academy of Science), made fun of some participants who were out taking a smoke break, joking about their skills in risk assessment. This was in jest, but it does stress the importance for each of us to take responsibility for our part in mitigation. We need to take action by adapting our lifestyles according to our vulnerability, using wisdom in our risk assessment. We need to involve our stakeholders (primarily ourselves, and our family members), in preparing ourselves for sustainable livelihoods, considering our abilities to cope with the impacts of climate variability which are projected to become more frequent and more severe so that we will not just be statistics when disaster strikes. Now is the time to start preparing so that each of us will be part of the solution and not part of the problem!

I remember being struck by the realisation that for 90 years we had received prophetic counsel encouraging members to prepare themselves for disasters by having food storage – a focus on Home Production and Storage. We have been counseled for more than a century to improve our Coping Capacity by improving our self-reliance. More importantly than physical self-reliance, the Saviour counseled us to ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ (Matt 6:19-21). May we be serious and intentional in following these basic guidelines of temporal and spiritual self-reliance which will lead to our avoiding loss, or reducing the impact of loss.

Beggars - what do we do?

Yesterday I was faced by yet another beggar who, I think, was displeased because I did not give him something. Gertjie was his name.

As I continued to work through the day, I pondered. Does someone like Gertjie ever go to a clinic for medical or dental help? My taxes contribute to the health system. Does he ever use the services of police, water, sanitation, roads, parks, or any public amenities? Does he ever use night shelter or food kitchen? I give monthly donations in the form of taxes or donations to some of these. What is he doing to ensure that he will be in a position to contribute to these facilities to provide for the next generation?

Years ago we regularly gave food or money to beggars who came to our door. We came to realise that they were apparently spreading the word that beggars would get something at our home and so we had a steady stream of beggars. We were not helping them in the Lord's way, but were simply maintaining them in the beggar state. We decided that, in a personal time of need with illness in the home and shortage of money, that we had to turn them away and suddenly the stream of beggars stopped coming to our door. We still have the occasional beggar, but we rarely give them something unless they are prepared to work for it, but do sometimes give something small when prompted to do so, with the instruction to not come back to us, but to go to the soup kitchen where they can be assisted to get themselves out of the gutter rather than simply remaining in the gutter.

My thinking yesterday reminds me that we should be encouraging people more purposefully that, as is stated in two clauses right next to each other in the Founding Provisions of the constitution of South Africa:

Citizenship
3. (1) There is a common South African citizenship.
    (2) All citizens are—
          (a) equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits of citizenship; and
          (b) equally subject to the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.
    (3) National legislation must provide for the acquisition, loss and restoration of citizenship.

We need to encourage people to meet their responsibilities - meeting the rights, respect, needs of others - instead of simply asking for others to meet their rights or needs. This is tough, but love is tough.

We need every person in the nation to be contributing to the extent that he or she is able, using their own unique strengths, talents, abilities to build a better South Africa for all. We need builders and not wreckers; producers rather than consumers; givers rather than takers.

I firmly believe in the principles given in the talk by Spencer W. Kimball - Welfare Principles: the Gospel in Action. May I contribute what I can, and work towards helping others to contribute to the extent that each is able.

Remember what you know before just believing what others tell you ...

I was given a lot to think about when my brother Tim posted something on Facebook on 12 Nov 2018.

 

I see the image may not display because it contained text. It was the great pyramid with its geographical coordinates. I am trying again, this time with a cropped picture as well...

It gives:
Speed of light: 299 792 458 m/2
Coordinates of the Great Pyramid of Giza 29.9792458°N
COINCIDENCE?
His comment was 'Not in billions of years is this by chance........'

I posted the comment:

That depends... The pyramid spans about 29.97817°N to 29.98019°N, One of about 20200 points with 7 decimal place, each about 7 mm apart, along the approximately 150 m stretch from the northern to southern edges of the pyramid is indeed 29.9792458°N. That point is about 10758 out of about 20200, so reasonably close to the middle of the pyramid. It is TRULY REMARKABLE, but you have to have real faith in the precision of the surveyors of about 4578 years ago to think that they calculated the speed of light and plonked the pyramid on the ground at precisely that point to match that great number :-). This requires just about the same amount of faith as those have who believe that the millions of species in the world are the result of natural selection and the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life rather than the work of an intelligent God :-). But thanks for giving me something to think about :-)

I thought a lot about that.

The pyramid was built around 2580 to 2560 BC.

The speed of light was first considered about 1676 AD, and postulated by Albert Einstein in 1905 AD.

One has to ask why it was decided that a circle can be divided into 360 degrees, and that the Earth must span from 90°S to 90°N rather than any other number of degrees.

Then - the second is based on 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day - instead of some other numbers for seconds, minutes and hours.

The length of a metre is defined based on the length of a path traveled by light in a vacuum - instead of some other number like foot or yard or mile or something else.

These decisions and postulations put the pyramid close to 29.97817°N.

When I teach the process of georeferencing, or assigning geographical coordinates to record where museum or herbarium specimens were collected, I teach that one should not use more than 5 decimal places, nor less, because 5 decimal places puts one appropriately within 1 metre of the determined place, and using more decimal places adds false precision. So, I would have georeferenced a specimen of a bird or lizard with 'the Great Pyramid of Giza' as its location at about 31.13425°N, 29.97925°E, with a confidence of about 150 m representing the radius of a circle surrounding and including all four corners of the pyramid. If it had been a plant, then I would have given it within about 300 m or even 1000 m from the centre of the pyramid. Something like a bird or lizard can be 1000 m from the pyramid and can feasibly move onto the centre of the pyramid, whereas a plant is pretty much stuck in one place from the time of germination to its death, and is not likely to have been growing on the pyramid itself, and looking at aerial photography or satellite imagery shows the nearest visible vegetation at about 300 m from the pyramid.

My GPS is good to about 5 m - and I have benefited from that precision by locating a small plant ten days after recording its locality with my simple GPS, so I know. To get less than 1 cm precision in 2018 requires using a Differential GPS, costing many thousands of Rands or hundreds of Dollars.

What prompted the pyramid consulting engineers to place their pyramid precisely there? Perhaps an all-wise, loving, gracious and merciful God prompted them about 4600 years ago so that this picture would be posted on Facebook in November 2018 so that I would think about the question and saying to me 'It's OK, Les. I am here' :-).

Hopefully my comments will prompt you to search your thoughts and remember what you know.

So - think.... remember.... ponder.... dare I say pray?....

Would I be privileged to be welcomed into the most special marriage feast of all history?

I was thinking as I prayed tonight. I pondered the parable in Matthew 25

Why would Jesus Christ use a marriage feast as an object lesson? What is special about a marriage feast, and an invitation to one?

Would I receive an invitation?

How would I know that I had received an invitation? So many Jews, even the leaders of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, rejected the very Messiah when He came in their midst – would I recognise an invitation to the most significant marriage feast in all of history?

Who would deliver such an invitation? Who would be on the list if invited guests? Would I be among those who would be invited?

If there were to be an invitation given, how would one come, other than through a living prophet? After all, Amos said ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’ Amos 3:7 Does this apply here? Would the Lord arrive unannounced, or would he have a prophet deliver invitations to the feast?

If I were to be one of the fortunate ten virgins who would receive an invitation to this feast, would I have sufficient oil in my lamp when the cry comes ‘The bridegroom cometh’ and I tried to trim my lamp at the crucial moment when it is most needed?

I bear my testimony that the Lord does indeed have a living prophet. The invitation will not go randomly to all the world, just as an invitation to the wedding feast would not go to all in the town, but to special friends of the bridegroom, and not all of those special friends will have sufficient oil in their lamps to enable them to be prepared and welcomed in to the figurative ‘hall’ where the feast will be held. I hope and pray that I may at least receive an invitation, and hopefully have sufficient oil in my lamp. I know that the Lord lives now – still as He said to His disciples ‘Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.’ Luke 24:39

I know that He still lives, that he still has that body of flesh and bones that his disciples saw and felt. He will come again. All we need to do is to be ready to be welcomed into the marriage feast. I reckon that a Temple Recommend will be a basic requirement, and then living worthy of that, enduring in faith to the end. And then, being alert and attentive to the still small voice as it whispers in the right place at the right time to become aware of the cry that 'the bridegroom cometh'.

I hope that I will be welcomed in and hear those glorious words 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' Matt 25:21,23. I hope that all of my loved ones will be among those wise virgins who are welcomed in to the marriage feast.

Wellness Day walk and fun

Today we had our annual Wellness Day at SANBI, Cape. We are given the opportunity to have ourselves screened for health, wellness, HIV, TB, and this year to have some real exercise.

There was the option of a walk 5 km or a run 7 km - I elected to take the walk. We set out at about 9:45 am for the walk, and walked up behind and above the Kirstenbosch Research Centre. We started at 110 m altitude and reached about 210 m, sometimes climbing quite steeply and I was really breathing heavily with some of the climbs. But I reminded those who complained that we walked down a metre for every metre that we climbed. We then proceeded southwards along the contour path and came down through the top of the Protea Section of Kirstenbosch. It was a lovely walk through the forest and natural area of Kirstenbosch. I always enjoy our garden. I am privileged to work there.

I had parked at the administration buildings as I often do, walked to my office, then down to the activities. This is a 500 m walk and 35 m climb.

Add that to the 4.5 km walk, then back up to my office and down to the car again, and all in all I walked about 7 km today, and climbed about 290 m, excluding incidental walking in the building or the regular movements of a day.

A beautiful day, weather wise, good walk, good company as we watched Taebo, tug-of-war, soccer, touch rugby and other activities.

The image shows the approximate route of the walk in white and my daily walk to my office in turquoise. What a privilege to work at this place!

Harvest, the devourer, dangers, and blessings in disguise

I shared an analogy with the youth today. I ended up teaching them with no warning and no preparation, and shared an analogy that has been developing in my mind. The theme is Marriage and Family and I chose to teach about learning and teaching in the home. 

It is as though we each have a farm, and each of us has the same size farm, with the same potential. It has 168 hectares of good soil, and we are allowed to do with it as we see fit. Each hectare represents an hour in the week. The harvest that we will eventually reap will depend on the amount, kind and quality of seed that we sow, or do not sow. If we sow maize and tend it well, then we have the potential of harvesting an abundant maize harvest. If we do not plant all 168 hectares then we will not reap the maximal harvest. It is also feasible that we can sow the entire area and do all that we possibly can to ensure the harvest, but then at the last moment before a very promising and exciting harvest we can lose everything due to lightning striking and causing all to be burned up, or there could be locusts or hail that destroy the crop, and we might harvest little or nothing. That is not a measure of failure on our part, but the harvest will not be what we hoped. 

The harvest is a result of our effort, but far more significantly and important is the sunlight, fresh air, rainwater and soil nutrients and quality that are provided free by a loving and provident Father. All that we reap is a free gift to us, and nothing is fully guaranteed or deserved. True, we will not have any promise if we do not sow, but even with our most faithful effort we still are dependent on the providence from above. Our input costs remain the same if we plant for the maximum harvest whether we have no harvest or the most capacious harvest. So everything is entirely due to the goodness of God. He invites us to give back 10% of our harvest, thereby showing our gratitude for the harvest. In return, He promises us in Malachi 3:11 that ‘I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.’ We can then hope for the maximum harvest in accordance with our greatest efforts. We cannot hope for more, and can hope that there will not be less. But if we do not bring our tithes into the storehouse, so that there will be meat in His house, then we cannot hope for any such blessing of protection from the devourer or the variableness of nature. We cannot complain if the devourer destroys the fruits of our ground. 

But, by the same token, even if we seem to have mishaps, we cannot always know what protection we may have enjoyed. We may have been spared far greater mishap that would have happened, and the small mishap that we do experience may be simply to try our faith. My son Richard pointed out that sometimes the mishaps might be because Heavenly Father knows our potential and is preparing us for a greater harvest. He cited the example of a field that needs to be burned in order to have a better harvest the following year. After thinking about this, I thought more and realised that it might be for us to learn a lesson, or for someone else to learn a lesson from the way that we handle our loss. We need to be trusting enough to accept the loss and not ask 'why?' but 'how?'. How do we move forward, rather than why did we experience the loss?

I am fully confident that very often we are spared a lot of problems and have blessings in disguise. I say this because of thoughts that have come to me as I have pondered the promise given in my patriarchal blessing that many physical dangers and difficulties shall continue to pass by me, giving unto me blessings in disguise. One such blessing was that I was not bitten by a puff adder that was right next to me. I wonder how many times I have been spared from dangers, but on this one occasion it happened while I was pondering on the promises given in Mark 16:18, Luke 10:19 and Doctrine and Covenants 84:72 and whether I as a young LDS missionary was worthy enough to be given this blessing should I be bitten by a snake on this occasion when I was alone for a very brief time in Kloof Gorge. I wonder how many times I have been blissfully unaware of such protection, and even complained that I do not see the blessings in my life, but that was because they were ‘blessings in disguise’.