The Diamond is one of the hardest materials that is found in nature. To cut, reshape or polish a diamond then, requires tools and methods that are gruff enough, and tough enough to make the required changes. But most critical of all to the process is the skill of the Master Diamond cutter. Without that great skill, the Diamond could be sheared, cracked or rendered less valuable. It could be completely shattered altogether if the hand of the Master should make a mistake or an incorrect cut. It is his skill, experience, unwavering hand and eye that in the end unlock and reveal the beautiful gleaming diamond that only he knows is there.
Everyone has seen a finished diamond with its smooth, round, polished surface reflecting brilliant shafts of pure light from its multiple cut symmetric edges. But if you were to search for such distinguished and desirable gems in the open pits of kimberlite ore bodies and lamproite pipe systems of long dead volcanoes in the corrosive magma where they’ re found in nature, you would not be able to find anything at all that resembles them. These rough diamonds that are located there, are dirty, rough, uneven, reflect little light and look to be of little or no value to anyone. What it takes for a diamond in the rough to metamorphose into a beautiful Diamond of great value, is a process called “Polishing and cutting”.
The Master that created us knew that if we were to be more than Diamonds in the rough, with our great potential, talents and capacities still hidden by imperfections, dirty grim and rough edges that could not reflect light, then we too would have to go through a process that would remove our impurities, scale off the clinging deeply etched habits and the corrosive and toxic attitudes that we had embraced through ignorance and fleshy desires. This life is a process that we go through under the hand of the Master Polisher and cutter to bring out, reveal and expose what even we did not know was there. By resisting the will, experience and guiding hand of the Master, we run the possibility of being sheared, cracked, chipped, reduced in value, or shattered all together.
On the other hand, from our most inner soul, can come a gem of such exquisite beauty and value that even we will agree, the difficult buffetings, the oppositions and the cuttings, were in the end, well worth the while.
Definition of Ignorance:A state of mind in which, when you are in it, you are the last to know.
Definition of Arrogance:A state of mind in which you do everything within your power to convince everyone you know, how ignorant you are.
Definition of Pride:A state of mind in which you have both ignorance and arrogance simultaneously.
Definition of Humility: The only known cure for the most common of human maladies, ignorance, arrogance, and pride. It is found in abundance and can be consumed in its natural state. Consumer reports indicate however, it has the least effect on those who are known to be suffering from ignorance, arrogance or pride.
– Doug Garrett
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How do we become successful? Answer in 2 words: Right choices.
How do we learn to make right choices? Answer in 2 words: Gain Experience.
How do we gain Experience? Answer in 2 words: Wrong choices.
Looking forward to January
from this, the finish of the old year and the start of the new, I record the
passing of yet another ending and another beginning.
For so many years I have
tried to understand why each new year seems designed to defeat me. Each came
with so much potential and promise, but within a few short months ended in
frustration and disappointment. I am beginning to suspect I am the problem: A square lid on a round cookie can.
Still, there is something about this year that I seem to perceive differently. I have always assumed each year was a one-off, single shot in the dark, like the annual, yearend entry. Suddenly, I now see that each is always followed by another shot, another entry, another year. There is a synchronization, a discernible flow carried from one year to the next. What has also appeared this time is the realization that each year is linked to the others, and has been since my birth. Each has been piled upon an ever increasing stack of years, with the newest on top. As I turn around, standing on the cusp of the latest year, I imagine that from here I have the perfect attitude, the best opinion on how things work in life or even the latest and most complete point of view. However, the point on which I have derived all of this, as noted, is not very stationary. How can it be? It changes every year and it keeps moving like a small raft on a swiftly moving river. The whole of it, with me at the apex, flows through ever changing circumstances, experiences and scenery.
Those new year starts,
which lasted only 3 or so months, now look like I was drifting into backwaters
where I got temporarily slowed down for a bit. While each backwater held new and
tempting things, I rested there only so long as there were more experiences to
ingest. Then, just as certain, the time would arrive when a higher flow of
water would flush me out into the main current again to be moved on. Even now
at the thresh hold of this New Year, I can already feel the irresistible pull
of the current.
What guides the tides of
time and the affairs of men? How is it that now that I am aware of it, I do not
feel the least bit inclined to try to rearrange or change the speed or
direction of the current?
My journey is becoming the center of my interest and attention as
I ponder the unanswered questions it presents to me.
1/ I must have started
somewhere, at some time. Did I have any choice regarding the destination or
duration? Or were they chosen for me?
2/ How will the journey
end?
3/ Does my life or its end
really matter to anyone besides myself?
4/ What does” eternal
time” mean when there is so much meaning to understand in just one
day?
5/ Everything I must once
have known, is all forgotten now. Why is that so?
6/ Everything I see, smell,
touch or learn today becomes woven deep, deep into the innermost fabric of my
soul. Why weren’t those things I once knew, woven in as well?
7/ If time began, and I
began, and my journey began, then surely there has to be an end to everything as
well. When it is all over? What then?
8/ Will there be another “ shot in the dark” like this one, followed by another and still another? I now begin to understand the gift of my years. I feel, more than hear, the perplexing answers in the wind. They start quietly in my mind, assuring me as long as I am willing to move forward, I will find a river waiting — with a current over which I will be permitted to travel.
9/ How much is there yet to
see, to hear, to learn?
10/ Does any of it depend
on me? My choice?
11/ Who keeps track of all
the journeys like mine?
12/ Is there an ever-watching
eye somewhere that records it all?
13/ Where might that seer sit? In the Holy Halls of some Grand Palace in a land beyond where I can now see?
14/ Is there carved in the
stone of that great vaulted Hall, a message written by a ghostly finger that
makes my course unalterable. “Whosesoever yearns and would dare to
desire to travel where the Gods have gone before them, must first learn what
they have learned, and do what they have done. To these will be granted the
space, the time, the opportunity required, that they may do so.”
15/ Will we ever have
answers to these questions?
16/ Could it be that
endings are only for who reject new beginnings?
17/ Are the opportunities
of the new beginnings influence by our previous journeys?
18/ From the height of our
years, piled one upon the other, we perch to get our points of view, our
opinions and our attitudes which then determine everything we do. Is this the
never-changing pattern of all our progression?
The memory is vague, the vision dark and distant. My hands tremble
upon the oars at the very hope of such a thought. It is enough to stir a
longing in my soul. “Come, my hesitant arms. We cannot rest or sleep yet.
The current beckons and we must follow. The way is not well marked or brightly
lit, but we must finish.”
What manner the finish
shall be, has not been reveal to me.
What reward of greatness we
will receive at the finish, I cannot remember — if I was ever told.
Who I will have become in
the process, I cannot imagine. I have already changed so much.
This however, I do know. I will give all I possess to finish, and perhaps, to remember. Sufficient to itself, in the meantime, is to know I have moved far, oh so far. Yet all the while, so infinitely closer.
There is a reunion being
held in my backyard this fall. They are expecting hundreds to attend out of the
thousands who were invited.
Even though its being held on our property and in our yard, we have not been invited. As a matter of fact, they have been holding these reunions for a very long time without our permission. They have been coming long before we lived here, even longer than the coming of the Europeans to the Americas, or even the indigenous people who once lived here.
I am speaking of the annual
return of the salmon to spawn in the creek that runs through our property.
For the past two years they
have been gone from this stream. But now they are returning to lay their eggs
and finish their life cycle –here — where it began at the bottom of the clear
cold stream among the sand and pebbles.
What a marvelous thing it would be if we could sit on a log and ask them where they have been. What incredible tales of adventure would they tell us? How many thousands of miles have they traveled? How many struggles did they have to overcome to reach home? So many rivers, so many streams that all look alike, how did they find their way back?
With so much swimming,
through so many strong currents, with so many obstacles, did they ever think
about giving up?
I have seen them in strong tides where they were just able to hold their own. I have seen them streak through water at great speed, darting from rock to rock, finding eddies to rest in. Then, a few minutes later, I have seen them go again, then rest again, repeating the process over and over. I have watched them leap through the air, just to get over a single water fall. Some of these extraordinary efforts only gained them a few hundred feet.
In the interior of British Columbia, Canada, a damn was built many years ago. It stood in the path where salmon have passed up stream for hundreds of years. When the salmon came, they tried to get over it, but it was too high. So they hurled themselves at in until their bodies were smashed and broken. The men who built the damn were so impressed at their determination that it was decided to build a concrete water ladder so the fish could circumnavigate the damn in small leaps.
What made the salmon do
this? What thought in their tiny heads was so powerful as to compel them to
succeed or die in the attempt?
I suspect, as each left the
tiny stream where it was hatched, it had no such compulsion. Rather it was
probably filled with a great excitement for adventure, a feeling of freedom, a thirst
to swim, to eat, to look, to play, to do anything and everything with reckless
abandonment.
What happened and when? How
much time went by before there came the feeling deep from within that they must
return? Did they ignore it at first, perhaps mistaking it for something they
should not have eaten? No doubt they became restless as the feeling became
stronger. Is that why they began to gather together in large schools to see if
others were feeling the same? Were they looking for someone to tell them what
to do? Where to go?
Visualize them then, like ballet dancers, pivoting in unison, first this way and then that. Their movements become faster as others joined in. “ Where are we going?” No one answers as each becomes transfixed in the hypnotic spell. Then, without any visible signal, they all begin to move in a single direction. Somehow, from somewhere a long, long way away, they hear –or rather feel — a calling. “Come home” it beacons. “Come home. It’s time. You must complete the task.” Some respond, yet others stop to ask,” What task? What time?” We are mature now and strong. We are already home. We will continue doing as we have always done.” They break off and swim away.
Those who begin the trip start
with enthusiasm, but gradually some slowly drift away because the journey seems
so long and the reason so unimportant.
Others moving on ahead hear
and feel the call again. ”Come, hurry, there is not much time left!” Swimming
through and across large nets, they struggle against fast moving tides, Over
and up water falls, past enticing lures and strange looking, brightly colored
minnows they move onward, always onward.
Still, it is too far and
too much to expect from some. They pause, and rest, and play with the exciting
trinkets that dangle from long, shiny spider webs.
Now the few remaining are traveling further and longer each day. Many have scars and bruises, while still others limp and work with all their strength just to keep up. “ Move on, Move on, Don’t delay, there is only so much time left!. You must finish, You MUST finish.”
When they finally arrive,
there are not many left. They look nothing like they did when they left. Their
backs are humped, and their snouts turned up. Their skin is a strange, bright
red color. But they have arrived and their joy is high. They have come home.
They will lay the eggs that will ensure the continuation of their species. Once
the eggs are fertilized, the males make
great sweeps to cover them with fine sand so they may lay protected among the
pebbles on the bottom of our clear water stream.
It will be a few months
before the cycle is repeated. Then these new hatchlings will too go out to sea,
as countless millions of others have done before.
As it is with fish, so it
is with man.
We have left the place
where we were spiritually raised. But now, we are all away at sea. From
somewhere afar off, we have heard, or rather felt, a stirring which is calling
deep down inside of us. “Come home, come home,” it calls. “ You must complete
your task. There is not much time left!” There are many who respond. They
gather together looking for directions on what to do, where to go. Yet some
prefer to cling to old ways. Still others are busy chasing trinkets that move out
of their reach on invisible spider webs.
Still, the call has come.
Can you remember hearing it? I can. It was when I was a little child. It came
as a distant voice on a summer wind. I remember knowing that there is a God and
I had something I must do. When the missionaries from The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints came and called at our door, I remembered that day
in my childhood. The voice sounded as familiar as “a voice on the summer wind”.
Come home, come home” it called and I responded.
Later, I read what the Lord said in Matthew 4: 19: “…Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
We are not home yet and
there are many challenges and obstacles to overcome before we get there. The
early Christians used the sign of the fish to identify themselves. We might
consider how many other things “fish” could teach us.
I have discovered that this
life is all about giving up, giving in or giving away. Before we even got here,
we chose to give up the beautiful spirit home where we lived in innocence and
happiness with our Heavenly Parents. The motivation was we could gain
experience and a physical body like our Heavenly Father had. But mortal life
was not without its inherent dangers. We would be exposed to temptations and
evil we could not even conceived of. Our mission would be to choose good over
evil or vice versa. We could lose our way and the opportunity to come back to
his presence, But we all had the faith and confidence we would do what was
required. We willingly and eagerly gave up what we had, for what we might
become.
As little children we were
concerned only about ourselves and meeting our needs. Yet even then we knew our
parents were more experienced than we were. So we gave in to their wisdom.
When we were teenagers we
were preoccupied by the need to be accepted. Impressing others, especially
those we thought were special, consumed our daily thoughts. But we soon
discovered we had to up give many of our frivolous fantasies if we ever hoped
to get an education or the skills we needed for life. We discovered, after
experimenting, it worked better for us when we cooperated with others. So we
occasionally volunteered to give up, give in and give away.
As we met our future
partners we have to give away our selfish, single habits and give in to dreams
that involved at least the two of us if our marriage was to be successful.
When we had children, we
found we had to give in to their immediate needs and give away some of our
precious free time because little babies depended totally upon us to survive.
There was no one else who would give what we should give.
When we joined The Church
of Jesus Christ, we covenanted to give our time, talents and all we possessed
to build the Kingdom of God so that he could bless us with peace and hope now, and
receive Eternal Life hereafter.
When we gave up 10% of our
increase, we became partners with God, giving up a portion of our earthly
wealth so he could share with us his heavenly blessings.
As our children grew, we
had to give up the dreams we had for their future because the dreams they had
for themselves were even greater than we could have imagined.
Our young adult children,
whom we had fallen in love with, brought home total strangers and asked us to
give these, our precious offspring away to them. We would have held them to
ourselves forever, but we realized they were never ours to keep in the first
place. God had only loaned them to us to raise for him There was no other way
they, or we, could reach the full measure of our creation unless we let them
go. And so we, the parents, hugged, trembled and wept as we watched them drive
away together, with our blessings.
When our children had
children of their own, we gave up our rights of authority in parenting. We had
to stand back and watch silently — even when they made mistakes — because
they needed the room and experience to learn and to grow to be become even
better parents than we were.
In our roles of leadership
we finally realized we need not compete with others forever. We matured enough
to give in to the desire for glory, recognition and power. Those things are
best exercised by us when we shared them with others.
As we grew older, we gave up our need to be everything to
everybody. We were finally willing to let others win and let others have their
time in the spotlight. They needed the experience. We had our days aplenty of
these things. We became content to see the job done, not always as well as it
would have been by us, but as well done as others with less experience could
do. We found ourselves glowing in the satisfaction of the joy of helping others
to do and become better.
Now, as our personal health and strength decreases, we recognize
someday we will have to give up our independence. Then it may become a joy for
others to serve us as tenderly and unselfishly as they compassionately desire
to do.
Someday, one of us will
have to remain behind while the other slips away. When we are asked to give up
our life and eternal companion, it will also mean giving up our spiritual and
temporal rock, our pillar of strength. Then there will only be family and friends
left to lean on. None of us are ever really prepared for this day.
It may be many or few years
before our own time comes. Then we will be required to give up and lay down in
the ground the last thing we could call truly our own. We will be left with
nothing but our faith in the Saviour and the hope that he will handle it from
there.
Constantly and deliberately, from the very beginning of life, we will have given up, given in or given away everything we thought we absolutely had to have to be happy and content, or to experience joy. At each step we discovered all things we thought were indispensable, and had acquired at such sacrifice indeed, were replaced with something else of much greater value than we could have hoped for.
We have been changed through
the process, becoming refined, dependable generous, loving — and lovable.
What a remarkable, magnificent plan it is that requires us to fight our very basic natural inclinations to obtain its reward. What a surprise to discover that that was God’s very purpose for allowing us to come here: That we might, through our own choices, be united again with loved ones and become eternally as he is.
If you want to improve, you must change. To change for the better, you must have a better system of values. The perfect system of values comes only from God. Therefore, if you want to improve, you must know God.
The process of growing up includes the process of discovering who you are and liking what you discover. Do not let fear beat out the tender sparks of your hidden talents or latent uniqueness. They cannot be measured against the yard stick of your present limited capabilities. Abilities will grow with care and practice. However, if we waited until we were so proficient that they could not be denied, then our talents would be still born. There would be no Beethoven. No Einstein. No Joseph Smith. No real you or me. A desperately hungry world, would remain unsatisfied and uniformed because there was an absence of motivation.
One of the greatest virtues
of God is his ability to see in us what others do not. In his wisdom, he gives
us the time to feel, to evaluate and discover what it is, that only he can
presently see, and only we can presently feel.
Both in nature and in the
arts, beauty is magnified through diversity. Diversity is also the excitement
of living. What a dull and uninspiring world it would be if all we had to offer
is what is approved by the judgmental few. The majesty of the rising and
setting of the sun, the ballet of a school of fish, the look of a Mother as she
first caresses her newly born. Who will share these emotions with us? Whose
minds have been moved to reverent silence or majestic awesomeness because of
them?
Or what of the terror and hopeless agony in the eyes of the dispossessed and abandoned? Those whose numbers are beyond counting, who have discarded hope for their future and for their children’s future. What of the exquisite gratitude of those who are rescued from these situations of impossible desperation? Who can express these emotions by words or music, photos or documents so they remain unmistakable and unforgettable in our consciousness? Who among us needs to be taught how to express such anguish if our souls have been seared and our minds numbed into understanding by personal experiences? Theirs are the voices that give words that burn our ears and melt our hardened hearts and move us to change what should be changed.
What the world really needs
are those who have the courage to bear their souls while they are yet
imperfect. Of course, perfected skills in any craft is desired and are of
unparalleled value. These can be taught and acquired over time. The flowering
of a talent is more dependent upon the sprouting of its aspiration than it is
in its blossoming. The latter can never be realized unless and until the former
has begun.
In all of us there lies
greatness. The lack of skill is secondary to the possession of a burning
desire. If you want to sing, sing now. It may only be exciting to you at the
moment, but if it excites you enough, you will sing until there will be those
who desire as much to listen to you as you desire to sing If you want to paint, dance, perform, build or
to do any other righteous endeavor, then do it and pursue it with all the
passion in you, even if no one responds. Do it because it is in you to do so.
Not only will you expressed it in an unique way which only you can give birth
to, but you might in the process ignite in others that motivation to give life
to their dreams as well. Many of the world’s greatest motivators, writers,
speakers, artists and creators are awaiting discovery. Not by others but by
themselves.
Hardly anyone of the millions who heard or watched the rescue of the Chilean minerswho were trapped 700 meters underground for sixty-nine days, will ever forget the complete fascination and anticipation that kept us glued to our TV screens in 2005. Yet this was only the dramatic conclusion to a greater, bolder, courageous, personal drama that had been unfolding for months earlier — half a mile below the surface in the Chilean Mountains.
Thirty-three miners had
been trapped in the San José copper mine in Copiapó, Chile for 17 days and none
of them had heard a word about their fate. Somewhere, somehow, in those first
17 days, someone initiated the idea and convinced the others that their desperate
situation was not hopeless. It is the miners code that no matter the cause of
the entrapment, and regardless of how long it may take, or how great the cost
or effort, those above will come and find them, dead or alive. All the buried men
had to do was muster the means and will to stay alive until they were
found.
No doubt there was
contention and arguing at first between those miners who were convinced and
those who doubted. But in the end, we know they all agreed. They agreed to
share their water, their food, and the batteries in their lights which were
only intended to last 48 hours. All knew that on their own as individuals,
there was no hope any one could make it. But if they were willing to share and
work together, there was a slim hope they could all make it out together.
As they began to organize
themselves, their thinking began to shift. Instead of just thinking about the
problem, they began to allow themselves to consider and plan for a future. They
began to think about what would happen if they actually survived!. They would
imagine themselves being cheered and greeted by their family, friends and the
news media around the world. Slowly but surely the feelings of hopelessness
were replaced by a concern for their other miners and their families. That
faint flickering flame of hope was being fanned and embellished each time they
thought of their future instead of their present condition.
Each man was given an
immediate responsibility. One was made responsible for the food supply and to
insure each ate something three times a day. Another with First Aid experience
was made the official “ Doctor”. Still another was assigned to keep a daily
journal and to encourage the others to add to it. As their lives began to take
on a structured feeling again, they began to encourage each other to pull
together and hope together.
Can you imagine the moment
when a pipe was pushed into their isolation? Contact from those on the surface,
along with fresh air, water, food and supplies coming down the pipe. The
greatest thing they received when that pipe broke through their dark hole was
hope. Now they knew they were no longer alone. They knew someone was working to
save them. They didn’t know how it was going to work, but somehow, somewhere,
someone up there had a plan to save them, something they painfully understood,
they could not do for themselves.
They were right. A plan had
been put in place to rescue them one at a time. A capsule, just big enough to
carry one man, but small enough to slide down the bore hole, could bring them
back from the dead to the living again. Yet the first capsuled lowered to the
waiting miners did no go down empty. In it was its creative engineer who felt
he personally had to go down to show his faith that the capsule functioned
correctly and to be there so others would know how it was done.
This is where the TV worldwide coverage had picked up the events that we had all watched.
Included were skilled technicians and ground crews from many countries around the world, the Presidents of Chile and Peru, and planners from N.A.S.A. Also waiting and cheering were family members and friends, who had camped in a makeshift village while keeping a candle light vigil and hope alive until their loved ones were safely back with them. As the miners came up, one by one, from the bowels of the earth, they were embraced in the arms of their loved ones and we all shouted and wept for joy.
How much like the miners we
sometimes feel when we are in a dark hole, where we fear there is no hope or
way out. We have nothing but a small flickering light and limited reserves that
are about to expire. We may have even felt such self-pity that we thought no
one really cared if we lived or died.
Yet, high above us, there
is a plan in operation to bring us safely out, if we will just do everything in
our power to hold on until the rescue party comes and shows us how. That rescue
party is Christ and his Church. It has come. The Savior personally came down to
earth to show us how it’s done.
Have faith, reach out and
climb into the rescue capsule. Christ promises us, if we do so, he will bring
us back home to our loved ones.
Note: THE 33 is a movie that has been made about these courageous men and their remarkable rescue.
When you see a butterfly, you see a jewel of God’s creations. Magnified against the blue sky or flashed against the green meadow, its mere existence catches your attention and your breath. It focuses your vision instantly by its singular rarity.
It was not created in a night of fantasy, nor is it the product of serendipitous experimentation. Long and purposeful has it been in the making. From a lowly, unpretentious beginning to its magnificent sense of purpose, is has been molded to protect itself from even the coldest and boldest of foes, and thus has it emerged. Determination has been its source of tempered elasticity. Strength has been the forger’s gift. Do not be fooled by so fragile its appearance nor its seemingly goalless flight. Not by these things has its laurels been won. Neither by one single sighting can a flawless judgment be rendered of its success. It is a work still in progress.
Its journey is long and perilous, the route precise, its purpose exact, even Eternal. Yet, if left to discover its own way, it will flourish, and all that was ascribed to it by its maker will be attained and its seemingly minuscule mandate, fulfilled.
When you see a strong and fruitful marriage, you see a jewel of God’s creations. Magnified against the chaos of man’s vanity and feeble follies, or flashed against his ever changing, self-liberating norms, its mere existence catches your attention and your breath. It focuses your vision instantly by its singular rarity.
It was not invented in a night of passion, nor is it the product of serendipitous experimentation. Long and purposeful has it been in the making. From a lowly, unpretentious beginning to its sense of purpose, it has been molded to protect itself from even the coldest and boldest of foes, and thus it has emerged. Determination has been its source of tempered elasticity. Strength has been its forger’s gift. Do not be fooled by so fragile its appearance nor its seemingly goalless flight. Not by these things has its laurels been won. Neither by one single sighting can a flawless judgment be rendered of its success. It is a work still in progress.
Its journey is long, and perilous, the route precise, its purpose exact even Eternal. Yet, if left to discover its own way, it will flourish and all that was ascribed to it by its maker, will be attained and its cosmic consequences, fulfilled.
