Thursday, June 11, 2009

History Lesson

Yesterday, I read Elder Ballard's talk “Learning the Lessons of the Past,” Ensign, May 2009, 31–34.

This morning I read on Mormanity a topic that deals with the same idea ... learning from the past.

What I find interesting is that the pattern Elder Ballard describes (righteousness followed by prosperity, followed by material comforts, followed by greed, followed by pride, followed by wickedness and a collapse of morality until the people brought calamities upon themselves sufficient to stir them up to humility, repentance, and change) happened not only to the Nephites but other great civilizations we read about in history books. It seems that the Book of Mormon not only is "another testament of Jesus Christ" but it can also be another testament of the pattern of living righteously and wickedly followed by consequences.

Right now I'm reading a book about the 30 year Pelloponnesian War and what is shocking is learning that the sons who fought in this war (Sparta and her allies vs. Athens and her allies) are the grandsons of those men who fought together to defeat the Persians. How could two "countries" unite to defeat a common enemy and then in turn fight each other a few decades later? I think the answer is the same time and time again ... pride, wickedness, moral collapse, etc.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Perspective

We all need a little perspective in our lives from time to time. The next time you are having a rough day or if you are going through some adversity or trial, consider this statement from President Eyring:

"The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of Their [Heavenly Father and the Savior] infinite love. God gave us the gift of living in mortality so that we could be prepared to receive the greatest of all the gifts of God, which is eternal life. Then our spirits will be changed. We will become able to want what God wants, to think as He thinks, and thus be prepared for the trust of an endless posterity to teach and to lead through tests to be raised up to qualify to live forever in eternal life." (Henry B. Eyring, “Adversity,” Ensign, May 2009, 23–27)