I never really planned on going on a mission. I’d say things like, “If I ever go on a mission, it would be cool to go to Russia,” and things like that, but it really wasn’t a goal in my life. I just didn’t see how it would be financially possible, and I didn’t spend any time figuring out how to get over or around that obstacle. And I was fine with that.
I was in college and things were going well. My spiritual life, though it could always be better, was in good shape. So I was where I should have been, doing what I should have been doing.
And then when I was 22, the Lord hit me over the head with a 2 by 4.
It didn’t hurt, but it did stun me. An event with a roommate who departed on her mission suddenly, out of nowhere, gave me this sudden desire to go on a mission. And that desire didn’t fade. Unfortunately, after spending some time actually thinking about my financial obstacles, I couldn’t figure out how to deal with them. Then, two months later, on the same weekend, both obstacles suddenly vanished. The option of going on a mission was right there. In front of me. No obstacles. And that evening when the last obstacle was removed, I felt that 2 by 4. It was the excitement of realizing this was meant to be mixed with the Spirit saying, “Hello! I’ve been as clear as I can be.”
And so I went, and I’m so glad I did. It was where I was supposed to be, when I was supposed to be there.
In the MTC and on my mission we studied the talk “The Candle of the Lord” by Boyd K. Packer. (Did everyone else’s mission push this talk all the time? It was this one, “Lock Your Heart” and “Beware of Pride”.) The first time I read it, I came across this passage:
We are expected to use the light and knowledge we already possess to work out our lives. We should not need a revelation to instruct us to be up and about our duty, for we have been told to do that already in the scriptures; nor should we expect revelation to replace the spiritual or temporal intelligence which we have already received—only to extend it. We must go about our life in an ordinary, workaday way, following the routines and rules and regulations that govern life.
Rules and regulations and commandments are valuable protection. Should we stand in need of revealed instruction to alter our course, it will be waiting along the way as we arrive at the point of need. The counsel to be “anxiously engaged” is wise counsel indeed.
That was it! That was what happened to me! I was going about my life “in an ordinary, workaday way, following the routines and rules and regulations that govern life”, and when it was time for a course correction, there it was.
This is comforting. It is good to know that if I’m doing what I should be doing, if ever there needs to be a change – not necessarily because I’m on a wrong path, but because another path is where the Lord knows I need to be at that time – I will somehow have a course correction.
FYI, Here is the full talk by Elder Packer. Thanks for sharing Tanya.
Thanks for the link.
Your thread on course corrections got me thinking about looking backward to watershed moments when a decision I made changed my life irrevocably. One principle I have lived by is to refuse to second guess those decisions. (I am not talking about sin here, but rather, the should I take that job, or go and live in that city, or should I major in that subject?).
The reason is that you can spend a great deal of useless time agonizing and second guessing those decisions, and the presumption always is that life would have been better had you done that. My presumptions always is: “If I had done that, I might have been hit by a truck and paralyzed.”
So I live quite happily with my decisions.
Interesting thoughts, Soyde. I’ve never agonized over past decisions, but sometimes I wonder how my life would be different if I’d completed college where I started or stayed with my first major.
Well, after two long posts under your other blos, I thought I would head here. I said I would stay away from posting on this blog due to my impulsiveness. That did not last long!
Anyhow, this was excellent. I do think there are times when we need to seek direction. I am really hoping that one of these days, I will just know what to do with my life though. Not that I do not try to make the best of my life in the meantime. 🙂
Tanya, nice post, and I like the general conclusions.
But what if we push further along this line of thought? There’s no shortage of members who believe that every move they make is either prompted by, or at least officially sanctioned by God. Similarly, many believe that God has a specific plan or purpose for their lives.
Now I don’t mean a large-scale plan. God obviously has a plan and purpose for us: to keep his commandments and return to his presence. But many believe this plan can get very specific, down to the city we live in, to the very house we live in, to where we hang the large Christ-picture in the living room.
I admit there is some comfort in feeling like the Lord has your life all drawn out for you, and all you need to do his seek his guidance to find out what that is. I’ve also wondered if, in some cases, insistence on a specific, divinely mandated mission in life is the result of an attempt to solidify an individual sense of self-worth.
But while a divine plan brings both temporal and spiritual comfort, I’ve come to doubt if God’s plans are so rigid. I think the future is quite open. Admittedly, that’s kind of scary, but it’s also encouraging. We can make whatever we want of ourselves if we’re “anxiously engagedâ€.
It seems to be an issue of great polarity in the church. On one side of you sits a good member who feels the spirit in her life, but is almost never directed by personal revelation; while on the other side sits one who was told she needed to come to church early that day for spiritual strengthening and feels direction from the Lord on issues of a relative weight on a regular basis.
How does that work? Is the first woman spiritually numb or is the second woman off her rocker? Or does God work that differently with different people?
Interesting point, Eric Russell. I used to wish a parchment with dates, times, and places to be at throughout my life would float down from heaven and land at my feet, but that would really take the free agency and adventure out of life, wouldn’t it?
Eric, it could be different for different people, but I would guess for most people, there is not that much guidance for every little decision, nor should there be. That seems to be the point of the first paragraph quoted above. Wouldn’t the person that must be compelled in all things be a slothful servant? I think we should definitely be open to direction when it comes (e.g., when course corrections are needed), and we should ask for direction when we are unsure, but we should also use the knowledge and wisdom we’ve already been blessed with to figure out our way much of the time. I guess that’s how I would summarize it: use what God has already given you, but live so you are open to inspiration and revelation. I’m uncertain how much learning there would be if every little decision was directed.
Tanya,
I think that I have to disagree with you slightly.
I think that the value of “figuring it out on our own” is highly exaggerated. There are some valuable things to be learned by trying to figure things out on your own, but I see our relationship with the Lord as a Master-Apprentice relationship. The Master doesn’t simply take the apprentice to the forge, hand her an hammer, and say “figure it out.” He demonstrates, he observes and offers feedback and criticism, he explains what you should do under certain circumstances, he makes assignments and evaluates our results. Sometimes he will ask the apprentice what she thinks she should do, and even permit her to try it the wrong way before teaching her the right way, but he rarely leaves her simply to figure it out on her own.
If we can figure it out on our own, then we have no need of a Master. But there is no way that we will ever successfully figure out how to become like Him on our own.
Going back to your comments, I think that it is not enough to ask for guidance “when we are unsure.” Elder Packer and other have taught that inspiration and revelation will most likely not come unless we ask first. We should always ask for guidance in all things (in general for the everyday decisions, and specifically for the more important ones), and we should be open to the possibility, and even expect that the Lord will inspire us in seemingly small, insignificant things, as well as more life changing decisions, if necessary.
Clark and I had a discussion back in February on this topic. Here is what I wrote then:
I should clarify that if we already have the knowledge of how to do it (from the scriptures, guidance of leadership, previous revelation, etc), then he isn’t going to tell us what to do again. Just like your wonderful quote from President Packer says. I just worry that we often emphasize the anxiously engaged part so much that start to leave the Lord out.
I agree with what you’ve written, Max, but I think there are many decisions that really are up to us, and the Lord will not intervene because it is our choice. That isn’t to say we can’t ask for direction, but I’ve seen people who seem incapable of making their own decisions and end up doing nothing because God didn’t tell them what to do. I’ve known a couple people who seriously wondered if God wanted them to wear the red outfit or the blue one.
Ah, J….but did you notice that the brother of Jared went and melted the objects out of the rock BEFORE he went to the Lord? In other words, he tried to do as much as he could with the knowledge and talent that he had. When he was unable to do more, indeed, the crucial part, THEN he took it to the Lord.
Similarly, Nephi tried Plan A and Plan B, and then, when he had done all he could, he was “led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand” the things that he should do.
No an argument for excluding the Lord from the early stages (because we should always seek His help), but indicating that the Lord expects us to do our part, with the talent and ability that we have. If we do not use the scriptures, for example, where he has given us rules for living, it is useless to expect the he will reveal to us anew the commandmants.
When we have talent and ability, God given, and instruction from His servants, it is for us to use them. Not to sit around waiting for Him to tell us what to do.
Your statement is just plain wrong, Soyde. You have misread the text–but take comfort in the fact that you are not the first to make this same misreading.
The brother of Jared took his difficulties to the Lord BEFORE he ever formulated a plan or did anything with rocks. The Lord gave the brother of Jared an answer to his first problem of how to get air without requiring any personal effort first. It was only after the Lord turned the question of what to do about light back to Jared himself that Jared went and formulated a plan, created his sixteen small stones, and presented his plan to the Lord.
Many of you seem to want to say “Do everything you can on your own first, and then go to the Lord.” That is just plain wrong. We should take our needs to the Lord right from the outset, as did the Brother of Jared. He might give us an immediate solution, as he did with the Brother of Jared’s air problem. He might ask us to come back with a proposal, as he did with the Brother of Jared’s light problem. He might leave it up to us completely. Only after we have approached him and asked that he consecrate our actions for good do go and we do everything in our power to solve the problem.
I am not advocating praying over which brand of milk you buy, but I do think that we shouldn’t jump full throttle into solving our own problems without first consulting with the Lord. It is not up to us to decide when the Lord wants us to figure it out on our own and when he wants to simply give us the solution. That is his prerogative, not ours.
I see far more people who make the mistake of always trying to do it on their own without the Lord than I do people who pray over which brand of butter they should buy.
what is the point of having the Holy Ghost as a constant companion if we only need the Lord now and then?
Max, we both agree that going to the Lord to decide for us which outfit to wear that day or which brand of milk to buy is silly, but where, then, is the cut-off of what is important enough?
While it is silly to pester the Lord over every little thing, it is not silly to be open to the possibility that He might inspire us to wear specific clothing, or buy a certain brand of milk. We shouldn’t pray specifically over each of these things, but we should pray in general that the Lord will guide us in all of our decisions (including the apparently trivial ones), and pray specifically on those matters that are not generally obvious, or have obvious far reaching effects, and then stay open to inspiration for both.
That I agree with (i.e., praying in general to be guided, praying specifically for obviously big things, and living so as to be open to inspiration), but I also believe we should not then sit and wait. However, we should be out living our lives, making decisions on our own (open to inspiration), rather than sitting and waiting for the Lord to tell us what to do.
I have found comfort in the sections of the D&C where the Lord calls men to missions, tells them where to go, and then says “it mattereth not” how they travel–on foot, by boat, etc. Some things are important, some are not. For example, for most people, what profession they enter isn’t all that important, so long as they do their best and do it honorably. But I know one man whose patriarchal blessing told him to be an architect. That made choosing his major in college pretty easy.
alamojag, I really could have used something that obvious when I was trying to decide on a major 🙂