Explosions of Wisdom

I teach a ballroom class for some friends, it's very casual and fun, just for my peers. So, I was talking to some of them yesterday when I made a sarcastic comment about how I needed to go impart my "infinite wisdom" to some "students" or else I would explode with all the wisdom.

Like this, only not a "Time Lord" from Dr. Who with time energy flowing from my fingers, but pure wisdom in its place.

They mentioned how cool, though tragic, it would be, if I were to explode and then infinite wisdom would flow.

The thing is, we do have a source of infinite wisdom, of infinite love, and infinite power to help us overcome all things.

All we have to do is to ask for help and have the faith to move forward. We keep asking and adjusting and we keep moving forward. Things will always try and hold us back, but we can move forward through the Savior.

And if you're wondering, the guilt post is coming along, but I need more responses! :)

Steve's Doughnuts

I don't remember exactly how I found this story, I don't know who wrote it, or anything except what I have posted here. Even still, I would ask you to consider it. It is similar to this post, I feel it helps in a small way to understand another aspect of the Atonement. It may seem a little cheesy, but sometimes it is the cheesy stories that are the easiest to understand.

Steve opens the door into Brother Christensen's seminary class. He was always the last one to enter, and the first one to leave. One day, Brother Christensen asked Steve to stay after class.

"You think you're pretty tough, don't you Steve?" Brother Christensen asked. 
"Yes" replied Steve. 
"About how many push-ups can you do?"
"I do 200 push-ups every night."
"200, that is pretty good. Do you think you could do 300?" 
"I don't know, I've never done 300 at one time."
"Do you think you could?"
"Well, I can try."
"Can you do 300, in sets of 10?  I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it."
"Well, I think I can...ya...I can do it."
"Good. I need you to do this on Friday."

Friday came, and Steve was standing at the front of the room before class. On the table was a box of the biggest, expensive, delicious donuts. 

Brother Christensen turned to the first person on the first row, "Cynthia, do you want a doughnut?" "Yes" "Steve, would you do ten push ups so that Cynthia can have a  doughnut ?" "Sure!" Steve quickly did the ten push ups and Cynthia got the  doughnut . Brother Christensen headed down each row, repeating this process. He soon came to Scott, who asked to do his own push ups. Brother Christensen replied that Steve had to do the push ups. "Then I don't want one." Brother Christensen turned to Steve and asked "Steve will do you do 10 push ups so that Scott can have a  doughnut he doesn't want?" Steve started doing the push ups, Scott got really mad, and soon he had a  doughnut on his desk. Brother Christensen replied, "This is my class, just leave it on your desk if you don't want it." 

Steve started to slow down, a little perspiration, the class started getting angrier by the third row. Most people were refusing the  doughnut now. They turned away and wouldn't watch Steve do the push ups, yet each got a  doughnut .

During class, additional students walked in. They sat on the side of the room, and some of the students realized this, and making quick count, 34 students, the students started to worry. He went on, near the end of the third row, Steve had a hard time, he asked Brother Christensen, "Does my nose have to touch the ground each time?" "They are your push ups, do them how you would like." 

A few minutes later, Jason was about to come in. The class yelled and begged him not to come in. Steve replied, "No, let him come." Brother Christensen turned to him, "Do you realize what this means?" Steve replied, "Yes, let him come."

Ten very slow push ups later, a bewildered Jason was handed a doughnut . Brother Christensen finished the fourth row and started on those seated around the room. Steve's arms were now shaking with each push up in the struggle to lift himself against gravity. There was not a dry eye in the room. 

The last two girls were both cheerleaders, Linda, the second to last, was asked if she wanted a doughnut . "No, thank you" she replied. Brother Christensen turned to Steve, "Would you do ten push ups so Linda can have the doughnut  she doesn't want?" Ten push ups were done. Finally, he turned to Susan. "Susan, would you like a doughnut?" With tears flowing, Susan asked "Can I help him?" "No. He has to do this alone." "Then, I do not want one." "Steve, would you do ten push ups so Susan can have the  doughnut she doesn't want?" 

Slowly, he finished. He had accomplished all that was required, having done 350 push ups, his arms buckled, he fell to the floor.

"And so it was, that our Savior plead to the Father, 'Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.' After all that was required, He collapsed and died. And, like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."  

Steve smiled on the ground where he lay in is own sweat and began to cry.

Remember the Savior, remember to apply His gift into your life, your heart, and your actions. I know it is not a perfect metaphor, but choose to learn from it anyway, turn to your Savior today.

Learn to Live

In the space of an hour, I have truly felt healed. Many may say that that's impossible. But, I testify to all that the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, can cause miracles of healing in our hearts.

I have been struggling for awhile, unhappy with the inability to plan my life, feeling like I was doing everything wrong. But then, I read this talk, and after a lot of prayer, I truly feel peace. 

Yes, I am still mostly in the dark, with no major, lasting specifics to guide my way. Yet, something has changed. I have learned it is so necessary to LIVE. Sometimes, living requires hurt, it requires an almost complete shut-down, while things struggle to make sense; Christ is always there. He will always reach our reaching. This implies that we reach. We try. We live. We find purpose. We find our foundation and are not scared to build upon it. 

His Grace is sufficient to heal any wound. His Grace is sufficient to heal a stubborn heart and give peace to the torn soul.

We can move forward, even in the darkest of surroundings, and still feel His Eternal, Perfect, Healing Peace. Love. Guidance. That is, if we keep asking and trusting His plan, walking in His ways, not after the desires of our own hearts, even when they are not "bad things" He truly has the Best things for us. Through trusting His plan, asking for help each day, we can truly feel peace. We may be weak. We need His grace. It is there. Reach for Him. Ask Him for help. Then, remember to Listen, because He so desperately wants to heal you, turn to Him, tell Him of your struggles, your fears, maybe write a blog post or two ;) 

Know that you are so loved. You can find peace too. You can learn how to live. It takes work, especially when nothing seems to be going right. But I truly know that it will, the pain will cease, and you can find joy when you turn to the Source, even Jesus Christ.

"His Grace is Sufficient"

I recently read a speech/article by Brad Wilcox, about the saving grace that Christ gives to us. I'm going to put a few quotes on here, instead of my usual interpretation because I feel like he says it much better than I can, so I posted the above link for the entire article and below are some of my favorite passages.

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Transform Us

Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.

If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.

In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and say, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19), “Keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

The child must practice the piano, but this practice has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its
purpose is change. I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, “You Mormons are trying to earn your way to heaven.” I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D &C 78:7). We are practicing for it.” They ask me, “Have you been saved by grace?”
I answer, “Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully—yes!” Then I ask them a question that perhaps
they have not fully considered: “Have you been changed by grace?” They are so excited about being saved that maybe they are not thinking enough about what comes next. They are so happy the debt is paid that they may not have considered why the debt existed in the first place.



In the past I had a picture in my mind of what the final judgment would be like, and it went something like this: Jesus standing there with a clipboard and Brad standing on the other side of the room nervously looking at Jesus. Jesus checks His clipboard and says, “Oh, shoot, Brad. You missed it by two points.” Brad begs Jesus, “Please, check the essay question one more time! There have to be two points you can squeeze out of that essay.”
That’s how I always saw it. But the older I get, and the more I understand this wonderful plan of redemption, the more I realize that in the final judgment it will not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, “Let me stay.” No, he will probably be saying, “Get me out of here!” Knowing Christ’s character, I believe that if anyone is going to be begging on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus begging the unrepentant   sinner, “Please, choose to stay. Please, use my Atonement—not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want to stay.”

The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change.


Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Help Us
“But Brother Wilcox, don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.” Now wait. Isn't that all part of the learning process? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning heaven?



The grace of Christ is sufficient—sufficient to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us, and sufficient to help us as long as that transformation process takes. The Book of Mormon teaches us to rely solely on “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). As we do, we do not discover—as some
Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing of us. Rather, we discover the reason He requires so much and the strength to do all He asks (see Philippians 4:13). Grace is not the absence of God’s high expectations. Grace is the presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37).

Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said the following:
Now may I speak . . . to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the
Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . .
. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . . . . . This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us.



With Elder Maxwell, I testify that God’s grace is sufficient. Jesus’ grace is sufficient. It is enough. It is all we need. Oh, young people, don’t quit. Keep trying. Don’t look for escapes and excuses. Look for the Lord and His perfect strength. Don’t search for someone to blame. Search for someone to help you. Seek Christ,
and, as you do, I promise you will feel the enabling power we call His amazing grace. I leave this testimony and all of my love—for I do love you. As God is my witness, I love the youth of this church. I believe in you. I’m pulling for you. And I’m not the only one. Parents are pulling for you, leaders are pulling for you, and prophets are pulling for you. And Jesus is pulling with you.