Stormy weather

I remember hearing President Hinckley speak in October 1998 General Conference, in the Priesthood session, about "There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed." He counseled us to put our house in order. http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-22-20,00.html

Then in October 2005, President Hinckley spoke about preparedness again:

We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness.

We know, of course, that the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust (see Matthew 5:45). But even though the just die they are not lost, but are saved through the Atonement of the Redeemer. Paul wrote to the Romans, "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord" (Romans 14:8).

We can heed warnings. We have been told that many had been given concerning the vulnerability of New Orleans. We are told by seismologists that the Salt Lake Valley is a potential earthquake zone. This is the primary reason that we are extensively renovating the Tabernacle on Temple Square. This historic and remarkable building must be made to withstand the shaking of the earth.

We have built grain storage and storehouses and stocked them with the necessities of life in the event of a disaster. But the best storehouse is the family storeroom. In words of revelation the Lord has said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8).

Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparation as will assure survival should a calamity come.

We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day.

Now what I have said should not occasion a run on the grocery store or anything of that kind. I am saying nothing that has not been said for a very long time.

Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn, and the blasted ears; the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity (see Genesis 41:1–36).

I have faith, my dear brethren, that the Lord will bless us, and watch over us, and assist us if we walk in obedience to His light, His gospel, and His commandments. He is our Father and our God, and we are His children, and we must be in every way deserving of His love and concern.

I don't know when the stormy weather will turn in to a full fledged hurricane for any of us, but it seems clear from the scriptures that the day will come when we must be prepared to "withstand the evil day."
We've been very blessed with opportunities and with many of the good things of the earth. If I were to rewind the last couple of decades and do some things differently, I'd pay closer attention to staying out of debt wherever possible and saving more against a future rainy day, and perhaps getting more education. As it is, we're focused on staying out of consumer debt and saving some money each month, and building our year's supply of food and other necessities. I have faith that by doing this and keeping the commandments to the best of our abilities, and keeping our covenants with the Lord, he'll guide us through the stormy weather ahead.

Back to bloggin'

I've been thinking about things to write for the last two or three weeks, and on a couple of occasions had what I considered some real inspiration. I thought "that's exactly what I'm going to write about on the blog to the kids." Then I turned to other far less interesting and non-inspirational stuff, like making business calls and paying bills. And when I later tried to remember the awesome, spiritually amazing things that I was going to write... well, they're gone. It's either a symptom of early-onset type II chronic geezerneuropathy, or it's a lesson on valuing spiritual promptings enough to write them down. Kind of a spiritual "use it or lose it" thing.

Tonight I had a little time during my shift at the temple to read the scriptures, and I read Alma chapter 4. It's a great cautionary tale for us. Alma tells us that the Nephite church was doing great. Thousands of new converts were baptized and the people had continual peace and prosperity. That is, until the people of the church got all puffed up with pride, because of all the cool stuff they had. They started to wear really expensive designer clothing, and they set their hearts on their cool stuff, and probably wished they could have even more cool stuff, like all the beautiful people featured in Nephite GQ or the ever-popular Rameumptom People magazine.

All this was very distressing to Alma and the other priests and teachers, because they saw that as the people began to set their hearts on riches and vain things,

"they began to be scornful, one towards another, and they began to persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and pleasure."

This was not only a stumbling block for the progress of the church, but it was the catalyst for the destruction of the entire people. The proud ones made a habit of

"despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted."

This so distressed Alma that he gave up his job as Chief Judge so he can be a full time missionary. He then goes on to give the people some seriously great sacrament meeting talks. He reclaims some of the wayward flock, like the people of Zarahemla and Gideon who decide to repent. Others, like the folks in Ammonihah weren't as impressed by the gospel message. They threw the missionaries in jail, made a big bonfire and threw the believers and their books into it. The bad guys in Ammonihah got smooshed in the end, or wiped out by some bad-tempered Lamanites, but I got to thinking about how all this nasty, murderous behavior by the people of Ammonihah was the natural result of their being lifted up with pride.

There's a lot of pride in the world today. You can see it manifested in the comments of almost any popular blog or web site. It doesn't seem to matter whether the topic is political, religious, or even a discussion about technology; the comments posted by many readers are, to put it mildly, "scornful, one towards another." There's lots of persecution aimed at those who don't believe according to the writer's "own will and pleasure."

I hope all my children develop strong opinions and the ability to passionately express them, but I hope they always do it with respect and consideration towards others who may believe differently. Mostly, I hope each of my children will develop the kind of faith that Alma had in Christ.