Lady Liberty

 "The future is as bright as your faith." -- Thomas S. Monson (Oct. 3rd, 2015)

Happy Fourth of July!  It was a good holiday for me this year; I have so many freedoms to be grateful for. I talked with Lady Liberty on the fourth and she said she was grilling chicken, not hot dogs on the BBQ. She also said she was wearing a black T-shirt with cut-off blue jeans shorts and some shoes that are a secret and that you have probably never heard of.  And she was wearing a touch of makeup, ahh!........... that could mean something bad for her, me, us or the both of us.  (But I don't purport to know anything about makeup, so I will refrain from elaborating on that). 

Some of you may be saying, Lady Liberty wears a toga and is a statue in New York City.  No, sorry, your totally wrong on that, she is not a statue, she is more like an active, living force of nature. Yeah, she is like lightning-- she's striking guys down with her killer body and stunning good looks. She's even cleaning up that cesspool city of New York. I know with Lady Liberty in charge the best days for us and this country are yet to come!

But seriously, about the touch of makeup Lady Liberty was wearing and/or the possible ice cream --I think it means she needs more eye D and support from men.  It's not easy grilling chicken for the fourth.  lt's not easy going against the sky. Let's all protect and help Lady Liberty, okay. 

I looked recently and about 30% of my ice cream came from women, 70% from men. One guy who is dead now (I got him, ha, ha, ha), was responsible for 90% of my damage from men.  U-fees got me 2% of the time Co-fees were the other 98% of the damage. It might be helpful for some of you to look and figure out just who is the culprit and who needs to be attacked. You will probably find that swomen aren't nearly as much the culprit as you thought they were!  

Well, I'm in such a good mood now, I feel like preaching something important to my family, friends and future generations. (so get ready for some false doctrine!) This could be the only untampered-with, written record I leave to my children, so I want them to listen up and take some advice. 

I think it is very important that all these people know and understand the power of the word of God. The word of God or scriptures, is where you go for answers. It is the living water and the bread of life spoken of by Jesus. Elder Robert D. Hales once said, "When we want to speak to God, we pray. When we want Him to speak to us, we search the scriptures." God doesn't really want us to look to others for guidance in this world. Instead, He wants us to follow Him through the words of Christ and personal revelation.

The Book of Mormon teaches about the word of God in this verse, "And now as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just-- yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword or anything else, which had happened to them-- therefore Alma (the prophet) thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God."  (Alma 31:5)

Isn't it funny how sometimes we have sins in life that set us back and that for the life of us, we can't seem to overcome, despite the threat of death, poverty, isolation, depression, sickness and you name it? That passage in the Book of Mormon just told us how to overcome such problems.  We overcome them by immersing ourselves in the word of God. Jesus said in John, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).  It is amazing because when we hear or read the word of God it almost imperceptibly infuses our souls with power, light, knowledge and energy to overcome our human weaknesses. No matter where we start from, we can become perfect in Christ through diligent study and adherence to the word of God. It truly has a more powerful effect on us than anything else in this world. 

We do things backward in the world today. We try and correct problems through alternative means. As the apostle Boyd K. Packer stated, "True doctrine understood changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than the study of behavior will improve behavior .........That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel." 

The word or doctrine of Christ gives us the power to change; repentance is how we change-- and repentance is a beautiful thing. It is a complete turning away from all sin. Note, I said a turning away from "all" of our former evil desires or tendencies. When we repent we humbly come before God and say," Lord I am sorry for my sins, I will not return to any of them again. I will do anything thou wants me to do right now, I will try my hardest, be 100% obedient and completely perfect going forward, what would thou have me do?" This is how you have to approach God every time. If you don't feel like you can make a prayer like this, repent, and pray until you do. If we come before God without reservations, ready and willing to do whatever is asked of us, being perfectly honest with ourselves and Him, we then find forgiveness, are made clean, and become right with God. 

We can and must repent like this over and over again throughout our lives to be rejuvenated and cleansed.  As J. Golden Kimball, once said, "Cut me off from the church? They can't do that!  I repent too damn fast." (ha, ha, ha) Indeed, it isn't about making mistakes in life, we all have our hangups, it is about how fast you truly, repent of your mistakes.  

God requires "all" our "might, mind and strength" to do his work. He says to thrust in our sickle and reap. You know the funny thing about sickles is they are somewhat blunt instruments. You have to use vigorous thrusts to harvest the grain. If you lackadaisically or half-heartedly swing your sickle you will just push the stalks of grain over, not cut them down.

The last thing I want to share is kinda funny. It is a comment by the prophet Brigham Young to the Latter-day Saints in the 1800's, soon after they began settling in the Salt Lake Valley.  He said, "The worst fear that I have for this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty and all manner of persecution, and be true. My greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth; and yet they have to be tried with riches, for they will become the richest people on this earth."

Huh, the saints can't stand wealth. They may fail the test of riches-- oh, please try me with that one, it sounds horrible. They kick themselves out of the church and go to hell. That's a good warning for all of us I think. I read the word kick as having something to do with, among other things, "kicking against the pricks," Kickstarter, and Kicking Wing. (ha, ha, ha, no just kidding, Kicking Wing was a character from the movie Joe Dirt.)

Anyways, if you think this quote is important and want to follow it, maybe start by looking at those people in the world who have everything and yet are humble and devoted servants of God. If you're not into following Christ, follow them. Then maybe, maybe look at those other people who have endured persecution or poverty or sickness and still remained true. The rich are more blessed than the poor though. (ha,ha,ha, that may be false doctrine there -- no, I don't think life is that simple.) Heck, life is so relative it really seems impossible to judge correctly, so maybe why attempt to. (ha, ha, ha, that's false doctrine too)  

What do they say, "The love of money is the root of all evil?" Let us resolve not to covet wealth and always be humble and obedient in whatever circumstance we are in and in whatever way God chooses to bless us. As Job said, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."( Job 1:21)  Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).  

In conclusion, I just think it's important to be humble and obedient when we are blessed with wealth-- not just when we are poor or going without. Please tell me why is it so much harder to remember God when things are going well for you and when you have everything that you need. 

We are all tested in different ways and in different things throughout life. Everyone has their own timetable for acquiring wealth. (And dammit, why doesn't God speed mine up ha, ha, ha). All that really matters to God is how obedient we are to the truths we have been taught in life. So cover your ears and be sure and learn as little as you can in life because then you are not as accountable. (ha, ha, ha).