Shall I Falter or Shall I Finish?

"The gap between what is popular and what is right is widening. Many today call evil good and good evil. Revelations from the prophets of God are not like offerings at the cafeteria. Some to be selected and others disregarded" - James E Faust Oct 2003
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no one is perfect with words {especially me} but I blog nonetheless

Dear Posterity - here is how I see it:

You may be on a good course, fighting a good cause, until it overpowers your ability to balance all other good courses and causes. We cannot pick one thing and become a great person. We must balance a world of virtues and knowledge until our vision can be considered perfect. There is God. There is Christ. And we are neither. 

As soon as we think we know, we must humbly realize there is more to understand. And because we are human, we tend to focus on one thing of improvement but inevitably we become too relax in something else. I think Satan tries to use that against us. He knows we will fight a good cause, but he also knows he can be subtle. Subtly, he tells us to give it our all and don't worry about these other "little" things. Subtly, he encourages you to focus on nothing else. And it eats at you. You are consumed by this good intention turned selfish. Our priorities are who we become. And he wants you to feel negative, upset, filled with so much science and history that you have no room to feel the quiet promptings of what just might be the Spirit saying, slow down, forget about yourself, move along.

Mr Smith has weaknesses. Mrs Smith has weaknesses. Mr Smith finds it, how should I put it, difficult to apologize or empathize. And I, well, I have a little minor sometimes major temper. I also think Mr Smith is pretty selfless. I am pretty quick to judge myself before anyone else. I'd try and qualify more, but it's really difficult to put labels on everything. I think we can only hope our strengths and weaknesses balance by the end of the day, as if ground zero were the goal.

But the truth is, we need Christ and His Atonement just like everyone else. We have faith in the Resurrection in part because we believe we did not come to earth by happenstance and we will not die by the same. We believe in an eternal plan of exhalation. And we try to keep these truths a governing force in our lives. 

"The world" is a broad metaphor for sin or those who govern themselves outside of the laws of the gospel. The way I see it, the world is in transition from a time of "tradition" to a time of "accept all or pick and choose" - so they say, lets pretend for a second that is actually possible and that society is good at choosing what's good. I am definitely not one to follow tradition simply because it's tradition, so what do I mean?

I don't mean tradition in the social sense. But tradition in the spiritual sense.
Where people felt accountable to God for their actions.

{insert a bad social tradition due to human weakness}

We took up a good cause. We fought for justice, but then we went a little over board. We became nondenominational or agnostic or atheist due to whatever number of bad experiences, and lost hope in any particular religion at all. I'm not going to say I blame you. But I think there are some truths being forgotten because you were misled. And Satan handed you the indifference ball or the hatred ball or the apostate ball and you took it because after all you had been through… it was the easiest to catch. For some reason, all you started seeing was the darkness. That's because Satan doesn't offer light. And the Holy Ghost is a bit more particular.

Whether or not you want change, we have to understand truth as it is and who we want to be. In reality, truth has never changed, but we can see things more completely.

Maybe it's not important to you whether or not the gospel of Jesus Christ {the non edited, non manipulated, & authorized} exists on the earth today. Maybe you're okay with assuming there is no inspired, mouth piece of the Lord - also known as prophets and apostles - that exist anymore. Whether or not you're Christian, you're okay with assuming truth exists in bits and pieces and overtime man will come to discover the truths of the universe if it even matters.  No divine inspiration needed. Some profess to believe yet they still doubt that God has control over his church.

Sure. But that seems silly to me.

I believe in one God of this universe. I believe in His Son Jesus Christ, our Savior. I believe that Jesus Christ created this earth. I believe we are all spirit sons and daughters of loving heavenly parents. On earth, we receive bodies in their likeness. We are tested, tried & tempted. We experience how small our efforts feel. We find how difficult it is to overcome our weaknesses. But we were not left alone to endure these challenges. We were born with tendencies good and bad. In our efforts to control our bodies and perfect our spirits, we were blessed with the ultimate example, Jesus Christ. Knowing we will still fall short, He blessed us with the gift of repentance and the blessing of salvation and the hope of exhalation. We can know these things and take part in these things by the power of the Priesthood, the power to act in the name of God, which has been restored to man. Our prophet holds all the keys needed in this dispensation, which allows him the authority to use them or bestow them under the direction of Christ. Science will not prove that. Logic will only prove confusion and lost words. The Spirit can testify this truth to you. But like I said, he's particular. Well, better said, we will only hear and understand when we are striving to live by Christ's words, when we have a broken heart and contrite spirit. 

The power of God is on the earth today and we all can receive the blessings that flow from it.  Through my temple covenants, I am endowed with that power. Not for the entire church, thank goodness, but I can use that power in my own life. And I am lucky enough to have a husband that can also utilize the power he holds to bless our family. Together we can bring life into this world and connect it to the next.

There is hope in a time of struggle. 
Ask good questions & find good answers
When we focus on truth, we will find it, and more.

People outside and from within will struggle. In the last days, darkness will increase, but light will create an equal force. Even if outnumbered, darkness will never have power over the light. The truth will never fall. Satan will. And Christ will reign. To this end, do I fear for my weaknesses and my shortcomings, but do I pray for a humble, repentant heart? 

I know He lives and will come again.