Be Fruitful

It’s taken me a while to get my head around what the difference is between being serviceable, which I already wrote about, and being fruitful.  I’m not talking about having children.  I’m talking about the other fruit that the Lord talks about us bringing forth.  After studying all the scripture references on the subject, I realized that being fruitful means to live in such a way that the footprint we leave on the world is positive and uplifting.  We participate in building the kingdom of God on earth.  We don’t just pray that his kingdom come on earth as in heaven.  (Matthew 6:10) We do our part to make it happen. 

Yesterday I spent some time outside enjoying a gorgeous, sunny day.  I noticed that the grass in our backyard is green with a very healthy-looking patch of clover growing right in front of the patio.  The bamboo across the back fence, which was brown all last summer, is green and bushy.  Purple and yellow wildflowers are scattered across the yard.  I watched several small yellow butterflies fluttering around.  I could hear birds singing nearby.  It was ideal: peaceful, tranquil, beautiful.  But when I turned my head to the left, I saw, against the blue sky, the barely moving, gray, lifeless, bare limbs of trees in the neighbor’s yard, which reminded me it is still winter.  As I looked back and forth a couple of times from my yard in spring to their trees in winter, I thought what a great analogy it is for what is happening in the world today.

The world is in winter.  Everything is growing old, wearing out, decaying, or just failing to produce.  There is so much ugliness, despair and seemingly little hope of improvement.  The economy is bad.  People are losing their jobs, their homes.  Families are breaking up.   We have the possibility of our entire economic system collapsing, of the money being worth nothing.  Violence and discontent are being bred in the streets of most major cities by young people angry about life being difficult for some while others have too much ease because of their money. We watch the results of economic crises in the rest of the world as they affect us here.

More and more states are redefining marriage.  Religious freedom is being threatened by the federal government as laws are considered that would force people to do that which goes against their moral values.  The government has already put many programs into place that are systematically robbing us of our rights – telling us what our children can and cannot eat at school, what they can wear (going way beyond a dress code for decency).  They want to tell us what we have to buy and what we can’t have because they think it’s not good for us.  They threaten to take away our right to protect ourselves at the same time that they refuse to do so themselves, ignoring the violence coming across our mostly unprotected southern border.  Freedom of speech is under constant attack at schools, in the media, in the military, at places of employment. 

We have terrorists and even nations who hate us and threaten attack.  Many Muslim countries are overthrowing dictators and are ripe to be taken over by Islamic extremists – Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Turkey.  Iran, whose president has said he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and destroy the United States, will soon have a nuclear weapon. They are already taking aggressive action around and against Israel, which stands ready to defend itself.  Hatred against the Jews has risen all around the world, it seems, including here where we used to believe that all men were created equal and had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as well as the right to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience.  Now the hate that is spewed forth in the name of religion isn’t even disguised.  We have people judging who is and is not Christian, saying that some are not, even though they believe in Jesus as the Savior.  We have too many people focusing on what they don’t like about someone else’s religion instead of doing their best to live up to their own.  Jesus’ admonition to “judge not that ye be not judged” is being ignored, which is a shame, considering what the next verse says.  “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”  (Matthew 7:2)

What passes for entertainment now is often the worst of what our society has to offer – violence, hatred, abuse, torture, murder, promiscuity, lust, greed, adultery, gluttony, blasphemy, ridiculing everything that is good and glamorizing all the sins that have brought so many nations, kingdoms and empires in the history of this world to destruction.  Yes, it is winter in this world, and not much good fruit is forthcoming.  

However, as winter rages on all around the world, there are some spots, like my backyard, where spring is bringing forth fruit.  There are still people who love God, whatever they call Him, who are trying to do what would please Him.  They are trying to do His will, to serve Him by serving others.  They are looking for a way out as calamity approaches, but they are not leaning to their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5) or trusting in the arm of flesh (2 Nephi 4:34, Psalm 44:3).  They seek guidance from the Holy Ghost.  They try to live God’s law so they can count on God’s protection.  They obey His commandments so they can receive His blessings.  They notice the miracles that happen around them, and they thank the Lord for His Mercy.  They don’t lose hope because they know that those who are with us are more than those who are against us. (2 Kings 6:16)

While Satan is strong in the world right now and his plan is moving forward with increasing speed, we know he will ultimately lose.  I am so grateful for this very real reminder I got yesterday that, even as Satan rages in the earth, I can find peace, hope and happiness in my own little Garden of Eden if I live so as to enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost and the protection of the Lord’s omnipotent power.  At the same time, I am reminded that I am not completely protected from harm as I continue in my mortal probation.  There is one tree in the far left corner of my yard that looks like those dead trees of winter in my neighbor’s yard, and there is a dead vine under the bush just outside my bedroom window.  But the bush is green and healthy, and the dead tree rises from a garden plot that has green plants growing in it, even all around the bottom of that barren tree. 

So as the evil in the world tries to infiltrate my righteous realm, I am fully dedicated to putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) and living in faith.  Instead of giving in to fear, despair and hopelessness, I will cling to peace, tranquility and security that come through living with an eye single to the glory of God.

And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. (D&C 88:67)

If we abide in the Lord and He abides in us, we will be fruitful, bringing forth goodness, righteousness and truth, by obeying the Lord’s word, living by faith, being cleansed of sin and walking worthy of the Lord.   When we are fruitful, then we will be saved by the Lord, be worthy of the kingdom of heaven, enter into the Lord’s rest and have joy.  That truly is being Happy Like Jesus.

Be Peaceful

I pulled my head up out of the sand this week and took a look around.  So much is not going well as the economy of just about every nation spins out of control, violence consumes much of the world, and people are increasingly showing a general lack of civility.  Men’s hearts are waxing cold.  Even the so-called good people are turning on each other as religious arguments rage on the Internet and TV.  There seems only to be more trouble and difficulty to come. 

All this “reality” could put me in a very worried, anxious and hopeless state, but I refuse to let that happen.  I have been working very diligently this year on being Happy like Jesus.  I have continued to strive to be holy, spiritually-minded, humble, knowledgeable, serviceable and prayerful, and this week I added peaceful. 

This world’s right and wrong, good and evil, true and false change consistently.  That is not my reality.  My reality is the truth that is eternal, and that truth teaches me that the turmoil in this world is fleeting and avoidable.  Even as we experience the events as they play out, we can be shielded from the turmoil by the inner peace that comes with a vibrant and active testimony of Jesus Christ, what He has already done and what He has yet to do but which He surely will do. 

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

These were the words of the Savior a little before He died to save us.  He told his apostles that He would not leave them, nor us, without comfort.  If we are true believers and followers of Jesus, we should not be moved by the evil that is swirling around us.  We should be moved by what the Holy Ghost whispers to us.  We should be moved by what the prophets have told us in the past and what they are telling us now.  We should be moved to action to prepare for whatever is coming.  We should be moved to focus more on building up the kingdom of God and protecting ourselves from the evil that is becoming more prevalent and acceptable in today’s world.  But in all that moving, we should not be stirred up to fear, doubt, complain and attack.  We should live always with the inner peace that the Lord promised to those who believe Him, who love Him and who follow Him.

We are told that the righteous will not perish.  There have been many examples in history of how He has saved the righteous through miraculous means: the parting of the Red Sea and its closing on the Egyptian soldiers; the death of thousands of Assyrians in their sleep as they camped around the city of Jerusalem; the victory of a small, untrained, unprofessional group of rebels over the British empire.  He has done it before.  He can do it again.  If we qualify for his miraculous protection, God will protect His people again.

Peace comes with knowing we do not have to depend upon ourselves or the government to save us from destruction or unimaginable horrors that the evil of this world could inflict upon us in so many ways.  Peace comes from knowing that the One who can do everything will protect us if we obey His commandments.  Peace comes from knowing we have done our part in preparing to receive the blessings He has said we don’t have room enough to receive. 

We can never achieve peace through our own efforts.  Peace comes through the Holy Ghost.  That is what Jesus was telling the apostles.  If we have the gift of the Holy Ghost and live so as to have His constant companionship, He will give us peace by dispelling the darkness that enters our hearts and minds, by providing counsel when necessary and by reminding us of the Savior’s promise to deliver us.  If we have the Holy Ghost as our guide and companion, we will be peaceful, and then we can be Happy like Jesus.