Change 2.0

The Blunt Edge now not only counts number of visitors to this little universe, it also maps the geographic proximity of your IP address...  the pair 0'noids just love that!

  

Yesterday, our discussion in Priesthood meeting kind of centered on the topic of change, specifically where I left off in my previous posting -- that of changing ourself.

There is a scripture that illustrates a certain juxtaposition of mortal change and eternal perspective.  Mormon 9:18-21

18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.
19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

What I take from this passage is God is unchangeable, but if we as mortal beings are unchanged from one condition to another, then that which is classified as miracles cease.  Miracles are events that we acknowledge as having source in a higher plane of existence or power.

Verse 20 is the key here.  The question I want you to consider, dear reader, is what is the greatest miracle?  Is it the parting of the Red Sea by the prophet Moses?  Is it the prophet Elijah calling down fire from heaven to consume the alter of and priests of Baal?  Is it the Lord's healing of the blind man from birth?  Is it the knowledge mankind has been given to harness some of the natural world in technology that benefits our life?

I submit to you that ultimately, the greatest miracle of all is the gift of The Atonement.  The miracle is in the fact that for nearly every sin an individual can commit, he or she has the opportunity to merit forgiveness from God, the Unchangeable One, upon conditions of repentance... or in other words by changing one's self.

In a recent General Conference address, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a living Apostle of the living Jesus Christ, stated "Small errors and minor drifts from the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring sorrowful consequences into our lives.  It is therefore of critical importance that we become self-disciplined enough to make early and decisive corrections to get back on the right track and not wait or hope that errors will somehow correct themselves."

Now, lets liken verse 21 to ourselves.  Do we really believe Christ, doubting nothing (of what He has promised and taught)?  I think it is essential one really look at this seriously.  If you do not believe with full trust, how will you ever be able to really make the changes in yourself necessary for the miracle of being forgiven to happen?  The answer is you probably won't.  One who chooses not to believe also chooses to give up hope.  And where there is no hope, there is no desire.  And where there is no desire, there is no active faith.  And where there is no active faith, there is no change.

And where there is no change, there is no miracle.

But, there are miracles.  One can develop and exercise active faith from just the desire.  One can have a sure hope that it is possible and not just a nice thought.

There are countless souls who can testify of being forgiven, which is evidence that they have changed.  I am one who has felt that sweet miracle on more than one occasion.  In German, the concept used for repentance is "umkehren", or to turn around.  That is even more descriptive than "change".

I used to think that being worthy of "heaven" meant never being marred by sin, transgression, or imperfection.  I have since learned, as President Uchtdorf reminds, "The heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes, but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth."  There is no cause to hope that any of us who are accountable have not caused The Savior some degree of anguish and pain when He was paying the price for our individual sins and transgressions of Gods laws.  Wouldn't it therefore be better to be amongst those who turn around and have the miracle of the full effect of the Atonement change your soul?

The promise of forgiveness is universal to all who will turn around and change.  Don't assume you can not turn around though.  Quoting President Uchtdorf "...there are those who have neglected to make appropriate course corrections and now believe that they are too far from the Lord's way to ever make it back... No matter how terribly off course you are, no matter how far you have strayed, the way back is certain and clear.  Come, learn of the Father; offer up a sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  Have faith, and believe in the cleansing power of the infinite Atonement of Jesus the Christ.  If we confess and repent of our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness... It may not be an easy path... You are not doomed to a tragic end... your greatest friend is the all-powerful Creator of the universe... He understands your sorrow.  He knows your grief.  He and our Father in Heaven will bless, comfort, and strengthen you."

Change

You may have noticed some changes recently.

Here at the Blunt Edge, a few widgets have been added.  I've seen them elsewhere and thought they were kind of neat.  Each has a certain utility, like the clock thingee (so you don't have to look at your watch or time piece on your computer), the visitor counter thingee (so I can tell how many times people are looking at the blog), the bookshelf thingee (so I can influence you to read some of the same books I have read), and the music playlist thingee (so that you can properly enjoy your time here with a selection of specially selected music).

I also added a couple of widgets that are pretty meaningless (the myminicity and myminilife thingees).  These last two have absolutely no purpose.  They get boring after about five minutes.  They may go away eventually...

I've gone a couple times in the past without posting anything for months at a time.  This time, it is because the firm I was employed with back in April informed me my position was being eliminated and my services to the firm were no longer needed.  In the minds of those who were tasked to show improvement in expense, I was an unnecessary widget in the structure of the company.

Hell, I could have told them that a couple years ago... it doesn't take a moron to see that the model the company was following said so... just an underpaid, underutilized moron with an MBA who is in a dead end situation.  But bless the hearts of my managers, they ostensibly defended my position for several years until there was no more lower fruit to shed.  I suppose I should be grateful for that, and I am since I had a job.  But, what they didn't do me any service in was keeping me as isolated as they did... stagnating my professional growth and development and training in the process.  It has made it that much harder to:  a). find a new job with a new firm; b). feel confident in my own abilities and transferable skill sets; and c). have the salary track record to negotiate a more equitable salary and compensation package than what I was receiving.  It is said one should not say anything negative about a previous employer to anyone, and I try not to.  

And this is the only thing I will say about the firm that ticks me off.  They claim loyalty to their employees, but do a very poor job at building their confidence.  I think most people who work for this firm for a long time, despite how competent they are, are ill equiped for the change of the finding out you are dispensable.

So, onward and upward in the topic of change.

We are in times of accelerated change.  The economy is being hurt badly by a variety of factors, and for the bulk of the population, things are getting tough and tougher.  I find it interesting that Ralph Waldo Emerson stated "Can anybody remember when the times were not hard and money not scarce?"  Maybe not, but it is certainly easy to remember when times were not as hard and money not as scarce.  Those that are well to do, those that are in power in corporations and in government, those who do not or have forgotten what it is to struggle -- they don't have a real clue what the rest of the population worry about, so things don't seem that bad.  And yet, those same people politic for elected office under the banner of "change."

Let's talk a bit about politics.  It is an election year here in the United States of America.  We will have elected a new Chief Executive of the nation by the end of November.  We will have "change" indeed there.  And each side is afraid of the "change" that the other side is promising to bring to the office to "fix" the problems.  And yet, in all the political rhetoric that has been going on for the past year between candidates and those that live and breathe to talk politics, there is not much "change".  In my mind, Winston Churchill kind of sums it up the situation well: "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."  We are turning into a nation of fanatics following fanatic ideology... left, right, liberal, conservative, libertarian, reactionary, anarchist...  It is downright scarey.  Compare our political situation to pre-WWII Germany.  Compare our social and cultural situation to pre-WWII Germany.  Change for just the sake of change -- or ill-advised change -- is not a good thing when it comes to running the country...

Personal change is not necessarily a bad thing, though.  Indeed, we're commanded, admonished, encouraged, and pled with to change in the scriptures by The Lord and His prophets.  Just a little thing called repentance.  Not an easy thing to do though, despite the fact we seem to live in a world of constant change.  Ironic, isn't it?  That which we can control the best is typically the thing we find hardest to accomplish successfully.

Sometimes, it takes an epiphany of sorts to help us start looking through the proper part of the glasses that have slid down to the bottom of our nose.  That ancient Chinese philosophizer Confucious (you know, the old guy with the long fu-manchu... not the Sew-crates dude Bill and Ted brought back from ancient Greece to help with their history report) is credited with saying "They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom."

I have a lot more I want to say about the topic of change, but I've really been fighting the feeling that doing anything creative in nature is wasting time when I need to be securing a new job ASAP.  It has been nearly two months now, and well, some days are more promising than others.  It is amazing how much desire to accomplish anything can be drained by the smallest of rejections or perceived rejection or lack of fit.  That is a condition of the change I have been forced into I will not miss when I am gainfully employed again.

Anyway, I'll pick up again here soon and continue with some of my thoughts on change.  Let's leave the topic for now with the following thought from Euripides "There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change."