A good friend recently summarized two truths:
- Mormonism is supposed to be about seeking truth from all sources.
- Deep spiritual growth is an individual path that organizations can't do for another and more.
Over the years, The Perfect Day has cast a spotlight on many truths, sometimes using non-Mormon sources, and mostly scriptural sources and peoples' first-hand experiences, to give us better context of concepts. These truths have included:
Calling and Election |
One Eternal Round |
The Gift of Discernment |
And of course, getting to know The Best Friend You Never Knew, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Which "Sea" Are You?
Yet no matter how edifying learning about these topics may have been, it's still not enough. What good is learning and maybe even knowing the truths of these teachings, if you haven't taught them as well?
“There are two seas in Palestine. One fresh, and fish are in it. Splashes of green adorn its banks. Trees spread their branches over it and stretch out their thirsty roots to sip of its healing waters.
Along its shores the children play, as children played when He was there. He loved it. He could look across its silver surface when He spoke His parables. And on a rolling plain not far away He fed five thousand people.
The river Jordan makes this sea with sparkling water from the hills. So it laughs in the sunshine. And men build their houses near to it, and birds their nests; and every kind of life is happier because it is there.
The river Jordan flows on south into another sea.
Here is no splash of fish, no fluttering leaf, no song of birds, no children's laughter. Travelers choose another route, unless on urgent business. The air hangs heavy above its water, and neither man nor beast nor fowl will drink.
What makes this mighty difference in these neighbor seas? Not the river Jordan. It empties the same good water into both. Not the soil in which they lie; not in the country round about.
This is the difference. The Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the Jordan. For every drop that flows into it another drop flows out. The giving and receiving go on in equal measure.
The other sea is shrewder, hoarding its income jealously. It will not be tempted into any generous impulse. Every drop it gets, it keeps.
The Sea of Galilee gives and lives. This other sea gives nothing. It is named The Dead.
There are two kinds of people in the world. There are two seas in Palestine.” (Stephen R. Covey, "The Divine Center")
The two bodies of water serve as a good metaphor for a spiritual principle: When you share your knowledge, gifts and resources freely, you receive much more in return. Whatever you jealously clutch and keep for yourself stagnates and eventually chokes the life out of you.“Sea of Galilee people” have an abundance mentality. They know that if they give freely, there will always be more coming their way. They never worry that the supply of blessings will dry up. And in fact, they're right. As they share these truths with others, others' lives are changed, enhanced, even transformed. As God sees this, He sends you more knowledge, gifts and resources. The process repeats, helping to ensure your -- and their -- status as Zionlike people.
“Dead Sea people,” on the other hand, are fearful. They say, "These teachings are too sacred," (a concept found nowhere in the scriptures) "Nobody will understand me" (a fearful assumption on your part) or "I just don't have the time or knowledge to share them." Yet I have found that if something is important, we CAN make time for it, and God WILL help you make time for it, too. Yet if you keep these things to yourself, you do not entitle yourself to futher knowledge, gifts and resources from God, thereby denying your ability to help others grow, too.
What to do from here on
You either have the desire to share or you don't.
If you're like, "I'd share what I learned, but I have no time," "I'd share, but I have no idea how to" or "I'd love to share, but I'm not a good writer," then that's an indication that you lack faith in God to help you do the right thing -- to share. You're either fine with making excuses to stay a "Dead Sea" person, or you're ready to strive to be a “Sea of Galilee" person. And it's all on nobody else's shoulders but yours. For eternity.
But if you're ready to become a “Sea of Galilee person," then be prepared for possibly the greatest adventure of your life -- an adventure where you hear Yeshua's voice and promptings to a much higher degree...an adventure where people on the other side of the globe praise your name to God for saying the right things at the right time to them...an adventure where you *know* you are growing in your spiritual development in ways you never even dreamed...and an adventure where your interactions with Yeshua, Father and Mother take a very real and significant upturn.
May I offer you some free advice?
This blog -- and its accompanying podcast -- is just the tip of the iceberg with respect to what's being discussed online about all the concepts I mentioned above.
The concepts are introduced here, on the blog; that's the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of the iceberg, analysis -- the good stuff -- is discussed in our Facebook group, which is comprised of many members who are focused on deepening their relationship with Jesus Christ in a responsible, safe environment.
So, if you haven't joined the Facebook group yet, I invite you to do so today. Click here to start the process.
Don't wait another day, and potentially miss out on all the things being discussed. And if you don't interact on Facebook, then do what others have done -- create an account just to join our group. There is no other way to engage in the below-the-waterline iceberg of this blog than on Facebook.
Want to get close to God? Then quit the excuses. Study these concepts and actively engage in ways to share them with others. Don't have the time? God can easily help you. Not a great writer? God will help you with that, too. Don't know what to say? Then strap in your seatbelt; God's got other plans.
2,000 years ago, Yeshua started the ball rolling by showing us how to do it. Now, it's time to take off the training wheels and do what He would do, if He were alive today. Wherever you go, whatever you do, be a reflection or extension of Him.
The ONLY way to be a true disciple of Yeshua is to let Him live His life through yours -- to move in your moving, to love in your loving, to minister in your ministering, to speak in your speaking, to touch in your touching, to rejoice in your rejoicing. After all, it's His life anyway. Live it for His glory so that you can't tell where your life ends and His begins, so that when you look in the mirror, you don't see your life; but only that of THE Rabbi.
And to live His life means to love a life focused on others, not yourself.
"A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race." (History of the Church, 4:227; from a letter from Joseph Smith to the Twelve, Dec. 15, 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois, published in Times and Seasons, Jan. 1, 1841, p. 258; this letter is incorrectly dated Oct. 19, 1840, in History of the Church)
"Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of, who do the things that no one can imagine." (Alan Turing, "The Imitation Game")
As you take these ideas seriously, as you take them to heart and act on them, you, too, will experience greater light within you and around you...until you, too, experience...
