The Best is Yet to Be

This is just a short entry today.  First off, happy father's day to all of the fathers out there, and most especially to my own saintly father.  I've never known a mortal man who sacrifices more of self for those he loves than does my dad.  He is a constant example for me to follow, and I hope one day to be able to be just like him.

This last Thursday, I stopped off at the Draper Temple on my way home from work.  Draper is a good Temple to stop off at because Traverse Mountain Road is right next to it, which is a good alternative to the current nightmare that Point of the Mountain is.  But that is beside the point.  While I was at the Temple and as I left, I kept having a line from Robert Browning's poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra" come to my mind.  That famous poem begins, "Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be."

The line that stood out to me was "The best is yet to be."  Life has a way at times of knocking us down.  Certain experiences can cause us to believe the falsehood that our best days are behind us, and that the future will never be able to measure up to the past.  But for each and every one of us, this is a lie.  The comforting and eternal truth is that "The best is yet to be."  We have so much to look forward to, so much to hope for, so much to live for!  Ultimately, this is the message of the Holy Temple.  Those beautiful buildings themselves, and, more importantly, the sacred ordinances within them declare to us that "The best is yet to be!"

So that is my simple message today.  The best is yet to be!  So live for it, pray for it, hope for it, and never stop looking forward to it!  Whoever you are, and whatever joys or sorrows the past may have held for you, the best is yet to be for the simple reason that our Heavenly Father gave His perfect Son.  And through His sufferings and atonement, that perfect Son has become our High Priest of Good Things to Come.  And that is the greatest gift that any father has ever bestowed upon any child.

Brett

Exactly What You Are Looking For

Levi Richards, 1799-1876

I had an experience at work earlier this week that I thought was instructive.  I was assigned to look for some information about Joseph Smith's Letter to Oliver Granger on July 23, 1840.  Specifically I was supposed to focus on the Prophet's statement that he had received a letter from Granger and from Brother Richards from New York on June 23, 1840.  If you follow the link, you will see that the website identifies Brother Richards as Willard Richards, certainly the most prominent member of the Richards family at the time.  But the problem with this is that Willard Richards was in England on a mission in 1840.  And so my assignment was to find out which member of the Richards family had been with Oliver Granger in New York in June 1840.

These kinds of historical research quests are often both fun and maddening at the same time for me.  They are fun because they take me through all different kinds of sources.  They are maddening because often--and perhaps even usually--no one bothered to record a detail that minute, meaning that the best that you can usually hope for is to make an educated guess.

Hopefully this won't bore you, but I thought I'd give an abbreviated recap of the process I went through in looking for this small detail in the sources available.  First I had to identify any potential early brethren with the last name of Richards who would have been in the Church around 1840, and may have been in the vicinity of New York.  This left me with a list of 4 or 5 potential candidates.  Then I had to look for anything I could find on them, letters, diaries, etc.  The problem was that for the most part the letters and diaries of these various Brother Richardses did not begin until 1841.  Hoping that these things were misdated, I went through them anyway, but without any luck.  I found a lot of interesting details looking through these items, but not the detail that I was looking for.  But this process did help me to narrow my list of potential people down to Phineas Richards, Levi Richards, and Samuel Richards (all members of the same family).

I was just about ready to inform my boss that the best we could do was to narrow the possibilities down to these three, until I realized that perhaps I had been looking in the wrong sources.  I had concentrated on diaries and letters written by these brothers, thinking that there might be one mentioning or written from New York.  But it hit me that often the person directly involved is the worst record keeper of what happened, while family members often care much more about those small details.  With this premise in mind, I began looking through the diaries and letters of Rhoda Richards (a sister to Phineas, Levi, and Willard, and an aunt to Samuel).  And there it was in a letter from Rhoda Richards to Willard Richards on July 5, 1840, "Brother I now inform you of the safe arrival of Brother Levi to this place [Richmond, Massachusetts] the last day of June.  We truly rejoiced to see him. . . . Brother Levi spent a week in New York with Brother Granger" (Rhoda Richards to Willard Richards, June 14-July 5, 1840, Richards Family Papers, MS 1558, box 1, folder 2, CHL).

Ok, so for the 1 person who may still be reading this, why have I bored you with this story about my research?  As I've mentioned, these are rare moments for a historian.  Generally, the best that you can do is still guess work.  You study, you compile your notes, and you put together the best argument you can make, but in the end if you are honest with yourself, you still aren't sure whether you are right or not.  But every now and again, you get lucky and you find that golden letter or diary entry or whatever that throws uncertainty out of the window.  You don't need to make arguments or compile pages of evidence to support those arguments (as fun as that can occasionally be).  All you have to do is point to that one simple letter and everything becomes clear.  In other words, sometimes you do find exactly what you are looking for.  Moments like this give me hope, and not just as a historian.  They give me hope that from time to time, we find exactly what we are looking for.  From time to time, we don't have to make our case or convince anyone or ourselves, because the evidence is clear.

Brett

I Would That Ye Should Believe

It's been an interesting week.  I went to the Mormon History Association's annual conference and heard a number of fine presentations, and more importantly spent time with a number of friends and reconnected with people that I hadn't seen for a long time.  I'm not sure I ever really walk away from these conferences filled with new ideas, but I love being able to spend time with my friends.  One of the fun things this year was that I felt like I was surrounded by colleagues and friends rather than advisers.  I guess that is a sign that I need to finally finish my dissertation and join the ranks of the Ph.D.'s.

This week I've been continuing with my study of Alma 32.  It is an old familiar chapter that we all know well, but some thing stood out in it that I needed to hear, but which I have never seen before.  The first thing that stood out was Alma 32:22.  "And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he deserted, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his name."  After I quit caring about the comma splice after the word remember that was driving me crazy (note that punctuation was added by the printer afterwards and was not a part of the translation), I was struck by the message of belief.

Sometimes all that God wants is for us to be willing to believe, as difficult as that can at times be.  There will be moments when the very best that we can manage is to "exercise a particle of faith" and, at times, our best will be "no more than [to] desire to believe" (Alma 32:27).  I love the words "exercise," "particle," and "desire."  First, "exercise."  Faith is and always has been a principle of action.  It requires exercise, thought, and effort.  We put ourselves out there in the belief that we are trying to follow God's will and that He will bless us for our efforts, no matter how feeble those efforts may be.  Second, "particle."  A particle is something that is small, often not even visible to the natural eye.  It can make a mustard seed look gigantic by comparison.  And yet God does not scold us if all the faith that we can muster is the size of a particle.  Rather, he will work with that particle until it grows and strengthens.  Third, "desire."  Sometimes what we possess could not even be described as a particle of faith.  Sometimes the best that we can manage is a desire that what we have heard is true; that somehow, somewhere, some way, God will fulfill His promises to us.  And even in this God does not scold our lack of faith, but gently says to us, "Begin where you are.  Give the best that you can manage, for I can work with righteous desires."  And so He goes to work transforming our imperfect desires into particles of faith, into seeds of faith, and finally into trees of life bearing forth fruit, with each piece of fruit filled with its own seeds to then be cultivated.

 The second item that hit me in this chapter was Alma 32:28.  "Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.  Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beignets to enlarge my soul; yea, it beignets to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beignets to be delicious to me."  Now Alma, of course, is talking of the seed of faith here.  But it struck me that we have all kinds of seeds that we can and do plant in our hearts, and in this regard, we are the gardeners.    We can plant seeds of faith, but we can also plant seeds of doubt.  We can plant seeds of love and mercy, or we can plant seeds of hatred and bitterness.  And whatever seeds we plant and nourish will grow within our hearts and minds; while whatever shoots we pluck out or fail to nourish will wither and die.  I began to ask myself, what seeds am I cultivating within my heart?  Do I boast a garden filled with faith, hope, charity, and love?  Or is mine a garden filled with unbelief, doubt, bitterness, and anger?  Like every garden, the garden of our hearts will not simply remain empty.  Something will grow there.  Some seeds will germinate and take root.  Therefore it becomes us to fill our hearts with seeds that will bring forth good fruit, while at the same time uprooting every shoot of evil that springs up.

Wherever we are along the pathway of faith, may we desire good desires, learn to believe, and exercise faith in Heaven and Heaven's holiest promises.  And may we learn to cultivate hearts filled with the cardinal characteristics of the Celestial soul: faith, hope, charity, and love.

Brett

Knowing Who We Are And What God Expects Us To Do

This was an exciting week.  I took a research trip to Springfield, Illinois and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.  The library had a surprisingly rich collection of LDS sources, including sources that will help me on my dissertation.  There is always something fun for me about holding letters written by people like Orson Hyde, as well as other materials from the 19th century.  Also, I love going to various libraries because I always find the archivists and workers at those libraries to be so helpful to me.  I find good people who truly want to assist others everywhere I go.  It's a nice reminder of the innate goodness that resides in each of our Heavenly Father's children!  Although my main purpose was to do work for my dissertation, I also availed myself of the opportunity of seeing some of the sights such as Abraham Lincoln's tomb (pictured above) as well as his Springfield home. For as long as I have known anything about history, he has been a hero of mine.

This week I spent a bit of time reading in the New Testament--a book which I must confess, I have not studied as diligently as I should have studied it the past few years.  It was like reencountering an old friend who is full of insight and understanding, and who didn't chastise me for my years of negligence.  A powerful truth stood out to me as I read John 12 and Matthew 21-23.  I was struck by the absolute, unconquerable confidence that the Lord had in His knowledge of who He was and the appointed mission He was to fill.  No matter whether it was Judas criticizing how He had been anointed by Mary; the Pharisees criticizing the praises heaped upon Him during His triumphal entry; the endless barrage of questions meant to entrap Him; or the growing weight of that final week's impending sacrifice; He remained absolutely steadfast in His understanding of His divine Sonship and of His divine mission as the Savior of the World.

Approached by a set of Greeks that "would see Jesus" (John 12:21), Jesus said, "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified" (John 12:23).  Although happy to meet with and teach these people, the Savior reminded them that He was more than just a curiosity.  He had a work to do, and the hour for that work was rapidly approaching.  It would be this work to which these seekers needed to come to a testimony and an understanding if they were truly to "see Jesus" and be changed by Him.  He then gave a parable, stating "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hatter his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour" (John 12:24-26).

I wonder just what their reaction was.  I wonder if they understood what He was saying.  I wonder if I understand what He is saying.  A single grain of wheat is of little value unless it is buried in the field and watered, where it can then grow up in great stalks of wheat that provide not only nourishment (for all those who can eat gluten) but also other grains of wheat with which to fill other fields.  The Savior was prophesying that in His death, He would bring forth life and nourishment to others.  And then He invited us to follow Him in the way that He lived and in the way that He died.  He invited us to give of ourselves so that others could grow and be nourished and thereby give of themselves.  He invited us to be that single and seemingly insignificant grain of wheat.

The Savior then uttered these memorable words:  "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?  Father save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour" (John 12:27).  Amidst the growing agony of the impending trial, Jesus simply refused to forget who He was and what He had agreed to do.  He knew who He was, no matter who He was talking to and no matter what the circumstances were.  This made me ask myself, "Do I have this kind of certain knowledge of who I am no matter the circumstances or the company?"

Like the people in Anatevka, and (far more importantly) like the Savior of the World, may we all know "who we are and what God expects us to do."

Brett

"This Isn't Fair"

Perhaps I should give an update on the Joseph Smith Papers.  I have been working there for a few weeks now, and I am having a wonderful time.  I have spent the last several weeks trying to answer questions like: Where as Joseph Smith's office in 1839-1840? Where did Oliver Granger live during 1839-1840?  What was the population of Nauvoo in 1839-1840?  I have to admit that these are items that I've never thought or really cared about, but I've enjoyed working on them because they have forced to learn new ways to research.  I have had to start looking at things like censuses, burial statistics, land records, etc. that I never thought mattered.  And so these first few weeks have been challenging as I've had to begin learning some new skills as a historian.  I have also gone through many of Joseph Smith's documents for 1841, including sermons.  I was familiar with many of these sermons, but not all of them, and so the process of reading through these sermons has added to both my understanding and appreciation for the Prophet Joseph.  What a blessing it would be if we had a more complete record of what the Prophet said!  But I suppose that day will come.

This past week I've been reading through Alma 31 and 32, dealing with Alma's mission to the Zoramites.  As has usually been the case, I found myself upset as I read about how the Zoramite poor had been "cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel" (Alma 32:2), synagogues which they had "labored abundantly to build with [their] own hands" (Alma 32:5).  I found myself thinking to myself, "This isn't fair!"  And to be certain, to be cast out of a house of worship that you had helped to build, simply because of your poverty, isn't fair or right or just.  But it was this phrase, "This isn't fair!" that caught my attention and began to make me think deeper.

I began to think about the number of times in my life when I have either said or thought something along these lines:  "This isn't fair!"  "That isn't fair!"  "It isn't fair that . . ."  Perhaps I'm not the only one who has thought along these lines at times.  As a 34 year old single male who works in downtown Salt Lake at Church headquarters, it is challenging not to see the parade of brides and grooms--most of whom are a good 10-13 years younger than me, and think "It isn't fair!  I've waited a lot longer than them!  Shouldn't it be my turn?"

But as I pondered over Alma 32, something hit me.  The unfair circumstances of the Zoramite poor "had truly humbled them . . . that they were in a preparation to hear the word" (Alma 32:6).  These unfair circumstances had actually been the things that had opened the door up to great blessings for these poor Zoramites.  Under different circumstances, they might have ignored and mocked Alma just as the rest of the Zoramites had done.  It struck me that when I cry out to God, "This isn't fair!" I forget that God does not measure fairness by mortal standards.  In God's eyes, fairness does not mean equality of income or equality of circumstances.  In God's eyes, fairness is measured by the opportunities that we receive to come to Him and to receive His blessings.  Of course this does not negate the pain that the Zoramite poor had felt in being cast out, or that a family feels at the loss of a loved one to illness, or that one might feel in being single when they desire marriage, or at not having children when that is a couple's deepest desire.  But sometimes these painful and "unfair" circumstances serve the purpose of turning our hearts to the Lord and helping us to be prepared to hear the word of the Lord.  In the end, these unfair experiences may prove to have been among the greatest blessings the Lord ever gave us.

Brett

Jesus Wept

Among the most beautiful stories in all of scripture for me, is the story of Lazarus, or more accurately the story of how the Savior comforted Mary and Martha following the death of Lazarus and before he raised Lazarus from the dead.  Knowing that Lazarus was in failing health, Mary and Martha sent to the Savior, saying "Lord, behold, he whom thou loves is sick" (John 11:3).  But Jesus responded to these beloved sisters, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11:4).  Surely, upon receiving these words, Mary and Martha must have assumed that Lazarus would be healed quickly.  They must have assumed that the Savior would come quickly and perform His healing work.  He had done it for so many others that seemed to be relative strangers, and Lazarus was counted among the Lord's choicest and most beloved earthly friends.  Above all, they certainly must have assumed that the Savior's words meant that Lazarus would not die.  The Master had promised it, and they knew, like Enos, that the Savior could not lie (see Enos 1:6).

But then something happened that Mary and Martha likely had not planned upon.  The Savior "abode two days still in the same place where he was" (John 11:6) before beginning to make His way back to Judaea where Lazarus was.  He waited, and while He waited, Lazarus died.  By the time that Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days (John 11:17).  Others had already been flocking to the home of Mary and Martha to offer comfort by the time that the Savior arrived.

It is here in the story that I pause to think about the thoughts that must have flooded the minds of Mary and Martha, these two faithful sisters whose goodness had been so great as to make their home a place where the very Son of God often took comfort and refuge.  They had been faithful.  They had done what the faithful do in times of trouble and called out to the Savior for help and they had received promises of Him which they had believed and trusted in.  And yet their brother had still died and it seemed as though the promises of God had fallen short of fulfillment.

Hearing of the Savior's coming, faithful Martha rushed to meet him, but Mary remained in the house. We don't know why Mary remained behind, but it is plausible to believe that for just a moment this righteous woman might have stayed behind in some pain with perhaps a few questions about the promises which the Savior had given.  At the very least, I know that I might have felt that way.  Rushing to the Savior's side, Martha verbalized the feelings of the sisters, saying, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."  But then with faith to temper her sorrow, she declared, "But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee" (John 11:21-22).  What a touching example!  She didn't understand why this promise had not been kept, but she retained her faith, full of hope that, at the very least, her brother would "rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (Luke 11:24).

The Savior responded to Martha's worries and to each of us in our moments of despondency, saying, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."  He then asked a critical question of each of us, "Believes thou this" (John 11:25-26)?  In other words, "Do you, in the depths of your sorrow and suffering, do you truly believe that I have the power to bring life and joy and happiness to you?"  Martha responded with unshaken faith that He was and is "the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world" (John 11:27).  No matter how painful the loss of Lazarus had been, Martha's faith in Christ's divinity and in His ability to fulfill each of His promises had remained unshaken.

Her faith renewed, Martha then went to her sister and said, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee" (John 11:28).  In this small act, Martha may have helped to renew the faith of her sister, who--whatever the cause of her remaining behind earlier--"arose quickly, and came unto him" (John 11:29).  In tears, Mary "fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:33).  She was heart-broken and filled with sorrow, and yet she still fell down at the feet of the Master and expressed her faith in His power.  And it is here, in this scene of sorrow, that we learn just how deeply His love for us runs.  For "he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him?  They said unto him, Lord, come and see.  Jesus wept.  Then said the Jews, Behold, how he loved him" (John 11:33-36)!  The Savior knew full well that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead.  The Savior knew full well why He had needed to wait and let Lazarus die, that there was a purpose in it.  And yet, the Savior took no joy in the sorrow of these beloved followers.  His knowledge of the final outcome of the trial did not diminish His compassion for these faithful sisters as they were in the midst of the trial.  Not only did he not take joy in their sorrow, He mourned with them.  He, who saw this situation perfectly, mourned because He knew and felt the pain that those who would not see perfectly were feeling in that moment.  There was no scolding or chastisement; no criticism of their lack of vision and understanding; not even a "Buck up!  Everything will be ok!"  He simply mourned with them.

Great as the subsequent miracle and witness of raising Lazarus from the tomb was to be, perhaps the more striking witness of the Savior was to be found in these tender tears preceding that miracle.  Most of us will not have occasion to have the Savior restore breath to one of our loved ones who has passed away.  But each of us will have occasion to experience loss.  And if we are faithful, each of us will have occasion to experience losses that seemed to go against the promises of the very God we trust in and worship.  In these moments, we can know a few things with the utmost assurance:  1) God is in control and He has a plan that He is carrying out perfectly.  2) We do not fully understand God's purposes or His plans.  3) It is ok for us to struggle with the pains and afflictions that we are called to pass through, but we must retain our faith.  4) Even while those moments of deprivation and sorrow are accomplishing God's plans, and even while He is rejoicing in the growth that comes to us through those challenges, He nevertheless understands our sorrow.  5) He not only understands our sorrow, He also mourns with us.  6) In time, the sources of our sorrows will all be healed.

In the Gethsemanes of our lives, each tear that we shed will be matched with tears of His own.  His our the tears of purest empathy and complete understanding.  They are tears that one can shed only out of charity, the pure love of Christ.  In time or in eternity, our own Lazaruses will be restored to life, our deepest losses restored to us, and our tears of sorrow replaced with tears of joy.  But for as long as we weep in heartfelt sorrow, we have the assurance that our Savior weeps and mourns with us.

Brett

Be Sure to Keep the Spirit of the Lord

It's been an exciting week.  Last Monday I began at the Joseph Smith Papers Project.  I am still trying to get up to speed, but I can tell that it is going to be one of those jobs that I love working at.  I've been blessed to have several of those jobs since I graduated with my BA from BYU in 2005.  While working for the papers, I will be assisting on volumes relating to the documents for November 1839-September 1841.  Although I am just beginning to get my feet wet, I have realized that the Prophet did so much more than I ever realized--and there is so much more that goes beyond what we have documentation for.  At the end of his life, Joseph told a congregation "You don't know me--you never will" (Joseph Smith, April 7, 1844, Willard Richards Report) and "you never knew my heart; no man knows my history" (Joseph Smith, April 7, 1844, Thomas Bullock Report) "I cannot tell it" (Joseph Smith, April 7, 1844, Times and Seasons Report).  In just a short week at the Joseph Smith Papers, I've come to a greater understanding of what he meant when he said that.  It is nearly impossible to know everything that Joseph left on record; and it is impossible to know those things that he experienced that were so sacred that they "cannot be written" (3 Nephi 17:25).  And yet it is a wonderful opportunity for me to learn as much as I can about this man of God.

This past week I've been reading in Alma 30 about Korihor.  While he is far from my favorite character to spend time with in the scriptures, he is instructive.  One verse in particular stood out to me today as I was reading.  Speaking of Korihor, Alma declared, "Behold, I know that thou believes, but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of God that it may have no place in you; but the devil has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God" (Alma 30:42).  The words that jumped off the page for me were that Korihor had "put off the Spirit of God."  Having rejected the Spirit, he traveled down a dangerous and forbidden path, beginning with preaching against the words of the Prophets, then rejecting the prophecies of Christ and the accompanying messages of commandments, sin, and repentance, and finally rejecting the very existence of God Himself.

The trajectory of Korihor's apostasy is not unique; it is a pattern that will play out over and over again unless we come unto daily faith and repentance, and learn how to avoid putting off the Spirit of the Lord in our lives.  Korihor's story reminded me of another story: that of Thomas B. Marsh.  Traditionally when we tell the story of Brother Marsh, we speak of milk strippings; and certainly that is a part of the story.  But in September 1857 when Brother Marsh returned to the Church, he told a larger story.  With Brigham Young's permission, he arose and addressed the Saints, warning them, "If there are any among this people who should ever apostatize and do as I have done, prepare your backs for a good whipping, if you are such as the Lord loves."  For twenty years, Brother Marsh had taken a good whipping from the Lord, until he was brought back to the fellowship of the Saints.  But then came the real lesson.

"Many have said to me, 'How is it that a man like you, who understood so much of the revelations of God . . . should fall away?'  I told them not to feel too secure, but to take heed lest they also should fall. . . . I can say, in reference to the Quorum of the Twelve, to which I belonged, that I did not consider myself a whit behind any of them, and I suppose that others had the same opinion; but let no one feel too secure: for, before you think of it, your steps will slide.  You will not then think nor feel for a moment as you did before you lost the Spirit of Christ. . . . I have sought diligently to know the Spirit of Christ since I turned my face Zionward, and I believe I have obtained it.  I have frequently wanted to know how my apostasy began, and I have come to the conclusion that I must have lost the spirit of the Lord out of my heart.  The next question is, 'How and when did you lose the Spirit?'  I became jealous of the Prophet, and then I saw double, and overlooked everything that was right, and spent all my time in looking for the evil; and then, when the Devil began to lead me, it was easy for the carnal mind to rise up, which is anger, jealousy, and wrath.  I could feel it within me; I felt angry and wrathful; and the Spirit of the Lord being gone . . . I was blinded, and I thought I saw a beam in brother Joseph's eye, but it was nothing but a mote, and my own eye was filled with the beam . . . I got mad, and I wanted everybody else to be mad.  I talked with Brother Brigham and Brother Heber, and I wanted them to be mad like myself; and I saw they were not mad, and I got madder still because they were not.  Brother Brigham, with a cautious look, said, 'Are you the leader of the Church, brother Thomas?'  I answered, 'No.'  'Well then,' said he, 'Why do you not let that alone?'  Well, this is the amount of my hypocrisy--I meddled with that which was not my business" (Thomas B. Marsh, Remarks, September 6, 1857, Journal of Discourses, 5:206-07).

How did milk strippings become an issue?  They became an issue when a good man made choices that caused him to lose the Spirit of the Lord.  They became an issue when a faithful Saint allowed unanswered questions and judgmental feelings to drive a wedge between himself and the man who held the Keys of the Kingdom.  They became an issue when he allowed anger to rule his heart and when he could no longer accept wise counsel from trusted friends and associates.

As I read Alma 30, I seldom think to myself, "I'm worried about becoming like Korihor."  I mean, Korihor was the person who could somehow simultaneously be seeing what he believed to be an angel, and at the same time believe the message of that "angel" that there was no God in heaven.  And often when I heard the story of the milk strippings, I thought the same thing about Brother Marsh.  But reading these words, I begin to understand that the danger of emulating this pattern is much more pernicious than we might suppose.  Each of us can lose--and has at times lost--the Spirit of the Lord.  And we know that in those circumstances, our choices are foolish and illogical at best.  Indeed, they are as illogical as getting angry over milk strippings.

So how then do we protect ourselves and our faith?  How do we safeguard our testimonies and our discipleship?  The answer came in a simple and straightforward message that Joseph Smith delivered to Brigham Young in a vision on February 17, 1847, at Winter Quarters.  At the time, Brigham was deathly ill and enormously stressed.  He asked Joseph if he could rejoin him, to which he received the answer, "we cannot be together yet; we shall be by and by; but you will have to do without me for awhile, and then we shall be together again."  And so, humbly, Brigham responded, "If you have a word of counsel for me I should be glad to receive it."  Then came the instructive and saving message:

"Joseph stepped toward me, and looking very earnestly, yet pleasantly, said, 'Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right.  Be careful and not turn away the still small voice; it will teach you what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the Kingdom.  Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.  They can tell the spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desires will be to do good, bring forth righteousness and build up the Kingdom of God.  Tell the brethren if they will follow the spirit of the Lord they will go right.  Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in Heaven before they came into the world.  Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion. . . . Joseph again said, 'Tell the people to be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and follow it, and it will lead them just right'" (Manuscript History of the Church, February 24, 1847).

Joseph's emphasis was on keeping the Spirit of the Lord.  None of us are perfect.  All of us fall short and have moments where we deprive ourselves of the Spirit for a time.  But in these moments, if we will quickly repent, and then strive to live in accordance with the Lord's laws, these moments of deprivation need not turn into decades or a lifetime.  Beyond the protection that the Spirit affords, we have the promise, as we do this, that we will find ourselves exactly where our Father wants us to be, doing what He wants us to do, and being among those whom He wants us to be with.  May we all learn how to keep the Spirit of the Lord more fully in our lives.

Brett