Tag: Courage

I Know, Therefore I Do

From a story found in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi, Chapter 3, we read that Lehi’s family fled into the vast, scorching desert to escape the wrath of the Jews who sought their lives. Having reached safety, or so they thought, they then received staggering news. God had commanded the sons of Lehi to return to the danger of Jerusalem to obtain records which contained the history of their people written on brass plates.

Even worse, the plates were in the possession of a treacherous commander of a unit of the army of Israel. He could not be easily approached as there were many soldiers protecting him. The brothers were terrified. But then one of the brothers boldly stood and declared:

” I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1Nephi 3:7)

From this statement we learn two very important principles:

1/ God never commands us to do anything that is impossible to do. Without faith it may well appear to be impossible. But the fact remains: no matter what God commands us to do, there is a way and he has already provided it before he asked. Our job is to have faith that the statement is true and to act on that assumption until we discover what the solution is. 

2/ God never issues a command that is for his benefit alone. In each case, in each commandment whatsoever he commanded us to do, it is always, always for the betterment, protection, edification or improvement of his Children. 

We know the second principle to be correct because later, the portion of the people (the people of Zarahemla) who didn’t take written records of their history were unable to retain their language or maintain the memory of the basic purposes of moral, spiritual or intellectual principles. Those who did keep those and future records found them not only to be a stabilizing force for good, but were able to maintain their original language and core values which served as a reservoir of their collective wisdom and customs.

The records of their history were to disclose another equally important principle as well.

Knowing history is not enough by itself. For a society to remain intact, they must also be be willing to have the courage to apply and live what they know.

This is true and applies to every one of us. Most of us perform at a level below that which we know we should. The challenge is to bring our performance up to that higher level of understanding or as Nephi declared, “I know… [therefore] I will go and do.” This struggle determines who we are and what we will become as a people, and as a nation.

As we are always learning, we must therefore always be changing. We must realign our behaviour to match our understanding, knowledge and wisdom.

We are instructed to pray in the morning: “What would thou have me do today?”

Likewise in the evening, our prayer should be: “How well did I do with those assignments you gave me today?

The way to overcome our weaknesses is one step at a time, one weakness at a time. In other words: consistent practice until we are made perfect.

-Doug Garrett

The Promise

For so long the land lay waiting, undisturbed until that day,
When their footsteps crashed like thunder, bringing dreams from seas away.
Like great waves they filled the forests. Onward as a mighty flood.
Steel rails reaching for horizons, gripping sleepy prairie mud.

As they filtered through the mountains, as they plowed the eager earth, 
A vision burned within their hearts – a nation was in birth.
They built with strong traditions, they dreamed upon their youth,
This nation of the future: A nation built on truth.

Tell me brother, tell me sister, are you not the ones they bore?
Are you not the ones they witnessed that made their spirits soar?
They left for you a nation, they sowed you in this land.
They put these gifts of nature into your waiting hand.

Have you seen the nations wealthy standing on the nations poor?
Longed for strong and righteous leaders to keep crisis from our door?
We now face the troubled future. Hope’s not vested in the weak.
You were born to keep a promise. It is you they search and seek.

Hush your chatter, pause your laughter, still your hands from noisy toil.
Hear the sound the soft wind whispers, bringing voices from the soil.
Wake up, wake up, its urges. Claim your legacy and land.
Faith will fill your heart with courage. God will guide your trembling hand.

-Doug Garrett

Self-Discovery

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.

Doug Garrett

The Trapped Chilean Miners

Hardly anyone of the millions who heard or watched the rescue of the Chilean miners who 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.

Doug Garrett