Look Up

Look Up.

As a 6-year-old small-town troublemaker, I used to spend hours playing with my brother in the field beside our humble home. Firecrackers, slingshots, and an endless imagination kept me occupied for my early
years. One of my favorite activities was to go down the zip line that my father had built for us in that same field. The ladder led to a
small square platform about 15 to 20 feet off the ground. From there we would grab the metal handle attached to the pulley and step off the platform and accelerate rapidly following the straight trajectory of the thick metal cable until we reached the other end of the field. I
remember how scared I was to take that step off the platform the first time I climbed the ladder. I also remember one of my sister's friends who took that step after having applied lotion to her hands and found her way very quickly to the ground, but that is a story for another time. I remember the words of comfort that I was given in this anxious moment. I said to my brother, "I am scared." He replied simply, "Don't look down."

Don't look down. That has stuck with me all these years. I think that is advice that can apply in many aspects of life. Remember what the angels told Mary when she came to the tomb searching for Christ and found it empty? "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but it risen." There is so much to be learned from that declaration. How often do we seek peace, comfort, understanding, or refuge in the things of the world? How often do we look to alcohol or other substances for comfort or relief? We look to television, games, and other forms of entertainment in search of identity or direction or simply to numb reality and endure our days. In essence we are "seeking the living among the dead." We are seeking godly blessings in an ungodly world. The answer of the angels to a grieving Mary is profound. "He is not here, but is risen." When we understand that principal, the tires finally hit the asphalt and we start moving. True refuge, understanding, identity, comfort, peace, and relief "is not here, but is risen". We simply need to stop looking for the living among the dead.

About three years ago I met a young man who I came to admire. I can't remember his name, where he was from, or even his face, however I vividly remember something he said to me and will keep it with me forever as one of the gems of wisdom in my life. He told me "your mission is just one big lesson in your life to teach you to look up." I have considered that thought many times since that day. Prayerfully pondering a topic opens the windows of heaven and revelation comes almost faster than you can take it. That has been the case here. I have broken it down. Look Up.

Look.

By divine design we are given 2 eyes. I read recently that each of our eyes is composed of 130 million photoreceptor cells. In each of those cells there are more than 100 trillion atoms forming functioning cells that take in over 73 gigabytes of information per second. The concept of vision to me is incredible. Our eyes take in colors, shades, depths, and distances and turn them into something our brain can comprehend and react to while auto-adjusting to different levels of light, blinking to remain moist and functioning, will produce salt water to cleanse and reject infection and other risks, and will turn red and become irritable to remind us to rest them. Vision is truly a gift from God. Now, along with our vision, we were given agency, or the ability to make our own decisions. My purpose is to invite all to properly use both of these gifts (vision and agency) by looking up.

I am a snowboarder. I love it. Untouched powder, white pines, frosty ski lifts - that is my scene. When my father was teaching me to

snowboard at age 13, he taught me a lesson that I won't forget. You see, snowboarding is a game of friction and gravity. If you do not know how to properly handle the mountain then the mountain handles you and you quickly find yourself at the bottom of the steepest and lowest
ravine. My father told me, "Son, you will go where you are looking, so look where you want to go." This counsel was intended for instruction in snowboarding, but it has served as an eternal truth for me. You go
where you look. Your body is designed that way. That's why your feet face the same direction your eyes do. It is your nature. So for all those mom's who claim to have eyes in the back of their heads, I am
calling your bluff.

Another aspect that must be considered is that where you look directly effects your thoughts, and what you think directly effects where you look. I will not spend much effort convincing you of the importance of positive thinking. Motivational posters in doctors offices, overplayed ABC Family movies, and fortune cookies everywhere tell us the power of positive thinking. However, I am reminded that "There are two kinds of people in this world; those who think they can, and those who think they cant, and they are both usually right."

Up.

Let's consider some of the differences between up and down. In nature we see countless examples of things going up. When we see a seed
planted in fertile ground it quickly germinates it literally breaks out of its shell, which once served as its protection, and begins to grow. It is interesting to me that almost without exception plants
grow up. That is the direction all of them are headed. From giant
redwoods to Kentucky blue-grass they all grow up. It is funny to me that we always pair those two words together: Grow-up. "Up" is the direction of progress, of advancement, of growth. 

Up is the direction of life. 

You would never grow down, though it is important to recognize that "down" is essential to growth, for without the direction "down" you could not have the direction "up".

Up also takes effort. Nothing stands up without effort. For humans laying down is the position most assume when they rest, or die because it requires no effort. To erect a wall or a building to stand up takes a great deal of work, and even after its completion it requires
maintenance because time and the elements will beat it down. Up is a direction of effort.

As I get older and come to know more people I have come to the conclusion that one can grow old without growing up. Someone can reach an advanced age while still being immature. They can go through life while putting a minimum effort, thus their progress is minimal. They grew old, but never grew up. I think that's one of the reasons why God makes children short, so that they learn to look up. They appreciate everything that is at
their level and take in every wonder that we have here, but it is a rare moment when a young child will go long without glancing up.

Paul, in the New Testament, understood the importance of looking up. He said to a group "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 

(2 Corinthians 4:18) That is how we look up. Thank you Paul. Paul was not the only one who understood this concept. I found 7 times in the New Testament where it talks of someone "looking up". Four of those accounts record Christ himself looking up to heaven. Perhaps the most detailed is that of Stephen when he is surrounded by wickedness, prejudice, and hate he is recorded as "looking up steadfastly into heaven."

We are living in a world where everyone has an opinion and endless ways to express and advertise it. The doctrines of men intertwined with half-truths are especially convincing because they delight the carnal mind, and seem so reasonable in their nature and so tantalizing in presentation. Satan will tell you nine truths to get you to believe one lie. Everyone and everything around you is trying to grab your attention and convince you of their product, argument, or perspective. They are all trying to get you to look, but not to look up. The only real truths come from God. So in everything look to him. I am personally convinced that Christ talked far more with his father than he ever talked to his disciples. Christ lived here but lived looking up. That is where he received his strength, comfort, and direction and he invites us to do the same. We look up to him constantly not necessarily by walking around looking into the sky all day, but by spending more time looking at the eternal things than the temporal and fallen things. We look up by spending more time in the scriptures than in front of the television, by spending more time with those we love than with the things we love, by talking to our Father in heaven more than we currently are. 

"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36)

Men and God in both groves and gardens have left us a legacy of looking up. We are born as drafted soldiers. We fight this war every hour of every day. Sleepless nights and desperate days are all a part of the program. If we fight this fight with our eyes fixed on anything lower than heaven we don't have a prayer (no pun intended).
The best this world has ever known have spent their lives looking up.

Don't look down. You go where you look, so Look Up.

The Price of Peace

Missionaries become very familiar with the world's problems. We see them in the living rooms of broken homes, in the tears of the broken-hearted, and in the struggles and suffering of those we serve. We hear them from people on the street, from dimly-lit porches, and even grocery store conversations. If missionaries hear a lot of anything, it is the world's problems. Work, school, economy, rent, weather,  drama, doubts, debts, and deaths.  

I asked someone recently if they want more peace in their life. They replied, "Well, who doesn't?"

I agree that it is a need that is about as widely known as any other in this world. Cries for peace can be found in hollow headlines, graffiti-littered ghetto's, and the private pages of jumbled journals.

When you think of the word "peace", what comes to mind?
Many images take the stage of my mind. I see a 1970's Volkswagen micro bus with a long-haired, free-spirited hippie behind the wheel. I see two fingers extended from a hand held in the air forming the classic "peace" sign. I see the cliché answer to an onstage question in a hundred different "Miss" anything pageants. I see the tears of a soldier who is fighting against people he doesn't know, in a war he didn't start, for a cause he doesn't fully understand. Many things come to our minds.
(I wonder what comes to God's mind when he considers the word "peace"...)

We hear frequently, "the pursuit of happiness". It seems more of "the pursuit of peace." I don't think that one can truly have peace without being happy. I think that happiness is one of the many treasures to be found under the umbrella of peace. Therefore when we have peace, we, by its nature, have happiness.

It is important to note that I am not talking about temporary, fleeting peace. I am not talking about a moment of peace. I have seen those who smoke marijuana–who, after smoking, seem quite at peace. However, this is a temporary, fake, and counterfeit peace. This is the world's specialty. In its countless forms, the world attempts, convincingly, to give what only God can give. No. That won't do. The peace that I am talking about is far more fundamental–far more permanent.

I learned as a student, both in high school and in college, a sure route to the opposite of peace. In a word? Procrastination. Being keenly aware of the approaching due date for an English paper, a math test, or even finals I, more often that not, would spend those days which were given me to prepare and study and work, to do other things. The due date marched ever closer and I would continue to spend my time with what I considered as "worthy endeavors", but nonetheless were not what I should have been doing. Almost any given night before a big paper was due, I could be found sweating over a half-finished rough draft, or pacing the floor until I had a well worn path, or squinting through bloodshot eyes to see the blurry characters of a textbook (comment if you know exactly what i'm talking about). I don't think that I could describe exactly what I was feeling, but it was definitely not peace.

Webster's Dictionary tells us that peace is "freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility."

So what is the opposite of peace? War? Trouble? Fear? Noise? Disturbances? Whatever it is, we, as a society, seem to have a lot of it! So, if peace is so valuable, and something that seems to be more elusive with the passage of time, then how can we obtain it?
I am reminded of a phrase that says, "anything worth having is worth working for." 


The pursuit of peace is lead by preparation and is defeated by procrastination. It is founded in the security of sacrifice and crumbles in the sands of selfishness. It finds its bedrock foundation in virtue and principal. Peace is one of the fruits of righteousness. Peace is the result of having done all you could with what you had, and having the confidence in God that He will take care of the rest. 

Think of a child. Someone under the age of 5. At that age, it is difficult to be tainted by the corruption of a fallen world. Imagine him or her for a moment. Picture them in your mind dancing from room to room–playing, learning, imagining, feeling, loving, drawing, falling over, and giggling for no reason. Picture them discovering, for the first time, the beauty of a rainbow or the sensation of a summer rainstorm. Picture the light and purity in their clear eyes. These little messy miracles–these tiny tornadoes that we call kids–are incapable of sinning, so they bask in the peace that will always be out of the world's grasp. They are in a perfect standing before God. They are made whole in Christ. I find it ironic that we are to spend our entire adult lives trying to become what we once were. Our biggest examples are our tiniest friends. 

The answer to the question, "what is the price for peace?" is as simple as it is uncomfortable.

Work. Preparation. Self-denial. Sacrifice. Charity. Diligence. Patience.

The price of peace is righteousness. The action is obedience. The motivation is love. 
Those who truly love God are those who truly have peace.

"Peace isn't the absence of adversity, it is the presence of Christ."