Writing My Life

Now and Then

Category Archives: … my spiritual life …


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… maybe I can be religious AND spiritual …

Personally, I need the hard back of a pew to keep me pointed toward God. So I guess I’m more religious than spiritual. ~ Lavar Webb

Lavar Webb and Frank Pignanelli are politicos who spar via their column in the Deseret News. Among several other topics discussed in today’s newspaper, the two addressed the difference between being “spiritual” and being “religious.” This interesting debate stemmed from a comment by potential presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, Junior’s “articulate dodge of the religious question” as reported in TIME Magazine.

When asked about whether or not he was a practicing Mormon, our former governor replied that he was more spiritual than religious. Webb prefaced the above quotation by suggesting that “lots of people consider themselves spiritual, but not so interested in organized religion. They find spirituality in nature and meditation.”

Now I am NOT interested in debating whether or not Mr. Huntsman wanted to distance himself from the “Mormon question” in order to appeal to “closet agnostics,” Baptists,  or moderate Republicans or Democrats. I am merely reflecting upon my own condition. Am I …

  1. more spiritual than religious?
  2. more religious than spiritual?
  3. religious AND spiritual?

Tonight, I’m going with number 3. While many observers might see religion in the light of the “letter of the law,” I see religion as my doctor’s office. The place I regularly  go to check-up on my “spiritual” well-being. It is there, that my heart is examined through words from the pulpit as shared in Sacrament Meeting talks by fellow church members and through lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society.

To be clear, it is NOT church members or leadership who pinch and probe, it is that spirit that accompanies my reflections as I listen to and learn from others. And just as I do at the clinic, I commit to trying harder and doing better. Why? Because my spiritual life is dependent upon the “good-for-the-soul” changes I constantly work on.

I think the hard back of the pew does point me toward God who is so patient with me and toward friends who laugh at my craziness, family members who forgive my carelessness, neighbors who extend and receive kindnesses, clerks I meet at Maverick’s stations, frustrated drivers who flip me off when I inadvertently cut them off, co-workers I learn to respect, and people in far away places that I don’t know but want to help.

Many may not feel they need weekly prodding to do good. But I need all the help I can get to become more patient, more faithful, more prayerful, more grateful, “more spiritual.”

Yes, I find spirituality in nature, in meditation, AND in organized religion.


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… beginning of the end of the “war on terror”… maybe ….

Dear FUTURE Great and Great-Great Grandchildren,

Yesterday was one of those historic dates that you may read about in your history books in your online history class. You will interact with the text and learn that on May 1, 2011, nearly 10 years after September 11, 2001, the evil genius behind the Alqaeda attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City was FINALLY hunted down and killed.

 At first, as silly as this may seem, I felt like the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz who sang, “Ding dong! the witch is dead; the witch old witch, the witch old witch. Ding dong! the wicked witch is dead.” But then I stopped myself. Like many Americans, I realized that it isn’t right to be excited over any person’s death – wicked as they may be.  

In that distant day, you may not access the hologram that could show the celebrating crowd of 2000 or more cheering in front of the White House from where President Barak Obama made the late evening announcement. But you may stumble onto an ancient CNN story that tells about those who went to Ground Zero – former home of the Twin Towers – to honor the 3000 plus who died there, and you may hear a recording of the crowd’s rendition of  “I’m Proud to be an American.” While many are excited that the tyrant is dead, I hope what we are truly celebrating is the death of what bin Laden symbolized.

Throughout that evening, your great granny here watched those same stories as they unfolded on television (which, to you,  may be an obsolete piece of technology), and they reminded me of photos I had seen of the ending of World War II. I wondered as I watched if this was as big event as VJ Day was back in 1945. Or was it as monumental as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that signaled the end of Cold War? Most importantly, I asked myself, “Is bin Laden’s demise the “beginning of the end of the ‘war on terror?'”

Headlines

In the coming day, weeks, months, and years, I will learn the answer to that question, and I hope it is a resounding YES. Most politicians and analysts really don’t think so. But I hope they are wrong.

Years from now, when you study this historical event, I HOPE you are curious about the bearded man and wonder how his malevolent influence faded so fast from the face of the world.

I PRAY in that day that you ask yourself how such a one could have misinterpreted the beautiful teachings of the Koran in a way that directed hundreds of Muslims into extremist paths of deep hatred and vast destruction.

I DREAM that when you learn the details, such despicable human beings and appalling events will elude your understanding because YOUR world is one where Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindi, Buddhists and many other peoples and faiths co-mingle in peace.

I know yesterday’s event may not bring about the desires of my heart and my prayers for you, but I want you to understand that I have faith that one day our world will know the peace we dream of. It may not happen in my lifetime or yours, but it will happen, my darlings.

I love you. 


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… HaPPy BiRtHDaY, dEAr ReLief SoCiEtY …

As a female member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I also belong to the largest women’s organization in the world, the Relief Society. Officially organized in March of 1842, Relief Society is “an auxiliary to the priesthood.” In its earlier beginnings, women of the church envisioned their society as a service organization, as suggested by Sarah Melissa Granger Kimball’s idea of establishing a constitution to formalize the community’s sewing circle.

Within the confines of the Mormon Church, the rest of the story is well known: Sarah’s friend Eliza R. Snow wrote the document and took it to Church President Joseph Smith who praised its contents but added that the Lord had something better in mind for the women of the church. It’s my understanding that the “better part” included organizing the women as an auxiliary to the Priesthood AND adding teaching to service; thus the sewing circle also became a learning circle.

While church leaders, including Joseph Smith and Newel K. Whitney, attended early meetings to teach “new things” to the women, the organization eventually turned to its own members to teach one another. And so it continues today.

Yesterday, March 19, 2011, the women of the Eagle Mountain Utah North Stake celebrated that occasion by meeting together at the nearby church. As women do, we adorned the “cultural hall” in springtime pastels; we sang, prayed, and lunched together, and we taught one another. As in  times gone by, a priesthood leader shared his thoughts, but it was women serving, teaching, and inspiring one another that lay at the heart of the occasion.

I know today’s Relief Society may not be my grandmother’s Relief Society – her social would have been the annual bazaar, complete with quilts and pot luck dishes instead of a celebration featuring balloons and a catered buffet – BUT it is still a most amazing organization whose past and present fascinate me.

NOW and THEN …


 


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… uphill battle for Christianity …

As I have loved you, Love one another,

This new commandment: Love one another.

By this shall men know Ye are my disciples,

If ye have love One to another.

(Hymns, 1985, no. 308.)

This won’t be a long post and I will add to it, I’m sure, but today as I listened to an audio book – Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy – two thoughts came to mind:

  • I can’t remember all  the sexual references when I read this as a high school senior!
  • I didn’t realize Hardy viewed Christianity as something archaic, provincial, smothering, etc.

That thought led me to think of the struggle to spread the Savior’s message of charity, forgiveness, and redemption. And many of the problems have been initiated by Christians themselves. Some examples:

  • Unrighteous behaviors of kings, popes, and Christian folk in general. And when I say UNrighteous, I mean more than horrendous – torturing, burning, warring, and killing in the name of the Lord. I do NOT get that.
  • Horrific actions of horrific hypocrites: while we are ALL hypocrites to some degree, I cringe and I cry when I read about well-respected church-goers who hold high positions in their congregations and testify of the Lord on Sunday and abuse their spouses and children on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
  • EXTREME views of sects that attack the beliefs of other denominations – burning the Koran, protesting funerals of fallen soldiers, teaching congregations false information about other churches.
  • And on the other side, the mocking and belittling of those who try to live righteously that rises from many (not all) atheists, agnostics, intellectuals, entertainers, authors, artists, etc.
  • Secularism that is replacing faith, hope, and charity with skepticism, greed, and unbelief.

It’s a wonder that there are people of faith left. Seriously. But with so much against those who want to be true disciples of Christ, there is much support as well: A loving Heavenly Father, a benevolent Savior, the Holy Ghost. And They love us ALL. And ALL means ALL!