My talk I gave at Church, August 2017
-dictionary quotes in blue
-all other quotes in yellow
(and I don't know where the white highlights are coming from)
Hello Ward Family
I am very happy and excited that I was asked to
speak on the topic of Perspective!
I love words like this, a word that can mean so
many different things, it is an individual type of word. An idea that is used
every minute of the day and everyone here in this room in unique in their
perspective in one way or another.
I want you to think about walking, when
you get to a flight of stairs or a log on a trail your brain automatically adjusts
your steps to fit so you can make a nice even step over the obstacle or up the
stairs, easy, we do it every day, all the time.
Now imagine you are riding a 1300 pound animal,
a horse, galloping on a 10-12 foot stride and heading to a jump maybe 3 feet
maybe 4 feet high maybe also just as wide. Now usually you can see what is
called a distance, which is exactly like when you see how many steps you need
to take before you go up the stairs but your riding something much bigger and
faster and with a huge stride and a little or a lot of panic happens when you
come out of a corner and … you don’t see a distance, nothing! or you see a very
tight (uncomfortable) distance or a very long (dangerous) distance. The
automatic response is to DO SOMETHING! And usually it’s the wrong thing like
slow down or speed up or run away. What coaches teach is to “continue and pray”
and this means don’t change anything and blink. That’s it just blink! You rarely
see the same distance twice. All of a sudden you see something different,
something better, a small adjustment or none at all and its smooth and
flawless. So simple and kind of hard to do.
I
love the perspective this gives my life. When its rushing along and its great
and its fun and all of a sudden I don’t know what to do? Do we all have times
like this? Some bigger and scarier than others, but I can take this same advice- Don’t
change anything. Blink = Pray and then you will have a much clearer perspective
on what truly needs to change. It’s so great I love it! So simple and yet
sometimes so hard.
I am going to talk about Perspective and its
definitions- a lot.
The first is Perspective as used in art.
When something is far away it is smaller than
something up close.
To the modern mind, it's hard to believe that perspective
had to be "discovered", but before the 1400s paintings simply lacked
accurate perspective. Instead, important people and objects were simply shown
larger than less important ones; and although distant objects were sometimes
shown smaller than near ones, this wasn't done in a regular and accurate way.
Just as odd, many paintings didn't represent the other meaning of perspective either—that
is, a scene might not be shown as if it were being seen from one single place.
-Merriam
Webster Dictionary
*Apply to The First Vision
(year 1820)
before the first vision religion
did not have an accurate perspective.
-Joseph Smith was confused about all the
religious competition and confusion
-After reading in the bible he gained a new
perspective on Gods relationship with man
-Joseph decided to pray and ask God which
church to join
-Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to
Joseph Smith telling him not to join any of the religions.
Joseph was to help restore the True church to
the earth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Those
without an eternal perspective, or those who lose sight of it, make their own
standards to benefit themselves and their own selfish interests. Their mortal
perspective becomes their standard and for some their god.
-Jay E Jensen, First quorum of the
seventy
We are blessed to have the
fullness of the gospel in these latter days.
My message today focuses
on the importance of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Our Father in Heaven knew
that in mortality we would face challenges, tribulation, and turmoil; He knew
we would wrestle with questions, disappointments, temptations, and weaknesses.
To give us mortal strength and divine guidance, He provided the Holy
Spirit, another name for the Holy Ghost. - Elder Ronald A. Rasband
When our problems,
challenges or trials take up the whole picture, right up close in our face
screaming at us; it is so important yet can be so hard to hear the Holy Ghost.
We need his inspiration at that moment more than anything but the Holy Ghost is
a still small voice, and when all you can see is your own perspective of your
trials and how looming they are it can feel like God is not listening, not
there and not caring because… The Holy Ghost will never yell as loud as
mortality!
On a later occasion,
Elijah prayed. “And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind
rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord
was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in
the earthquake:
“And after the earthquake
a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small
voice.”12
Do you know that voice?
“The voice of the Holy Spirit is still
and small.” -Elder Rafael E Pino
I
testify that when all you can see is your trials up close and looming and if it
feels like God does not listen or care I promise with all my heart that he
does. It is mortality, it is earth life, it is the world we live in that makes
it so so hard to hear the soft, gentle kind, always kind voice of the spirit. There
are moments, prayers, even seasons where we wait in patience to feel the Holy
Ghost, clear and sure.
Trials can bless us with
perspective, it is so hard but oh, such lessons. Lessons that cannot be learned
any other way. We are often taught by the spirit after the trial of our
faith. It is with a resounding YES that it is worth it, in hindsight oh in
hindsight!
My perspective on Faith
changed in WA DC
-the Stake president of the
Capital Hill DC ward spoke on Faith
-He talked about how our
faith is not something we keep for ourselves or in ourselves. Our faith is all
placed in God. We hear place your faith in God often in the church but it
wasn’t until this talk on this day that my perspective changed. I cannot hold
onto and horde faith to make it grow stronger or to have more of it. The more
Faith I have the more faith I place in God. It took such a burden off me, to
realize that I have lots of faith if I view it from that perspective.
Perspective
is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, (place)
and it allows us to appreciate their true value.
Elder
Rafael E Pino of the seventy
Today, perspective is used much like standpoint.
Just as standpoint once used to mean simply the physical place
where you stand but today also means the way you "see" things as a
result of who you are and what you do, the same could be said about perspective. -Merriam Webster Dictionary
What a blessing it is to
have the perspective gained from knowing about;
*The plan of salvation
-to know about the
pre-existence, that we must be born, be tested in this earthly life, die, and
that that is not the end, we continue to learn and grow and become.
*Patriarchal blessings
-patriarchal perspective
-think of the perspective
you have gained by reading your own patriarchal blessing
-a paper of possibilities,
blessings, and love
-a gift from God
Think of
where your stand and what your eternal perspective is as I read this scripture
from;
2nd
Nephi 9:41
41 O then, my beloved
brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths
are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth
in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy
One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way
save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his
name.
If you
ask;
How do I
keep myself on the path and continue to have an eternal perspective?
Or if you
ask, How do I get back to the path?
Or if you
ask, How do I find the path in the
first place?
The
answer is;
We choose where we stand!
And these choices keep us very
much on the path.
Temple
Church
Prayer
Scriptures
Sacrament
Service
Kindness
Obeying
Gods Laws
Etc.
These
things make me a better person. Is it enough to do something simply because it
makes me a better person?
What
makes you a better person? Sometimes we do things simply because it makes us
better.
But that
is not a simply thing. If something makes us better than it is the best thing
we can do.
We can
see that our perspective is affected by where we stand.
Not
having an eternal perspective, or losing it, can lead us to have an earthly
perspective as our personal standard and to make decisions that are not in
harmony with the will of God. It is extremely important that we do not make
decisions of eternal value from the perspective of mortality. For decisions
that affect eternity, having a gospel perspective is essential.
-Elder Rafael E Pino of the seventy
Another
definition of perspective is;
2.a
particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.
Our
opinion will be guided by our perspective.
That is
logical and a little bit scary, where we stand is more important than meets the
eye, it trickles over our lives from perspective to opinion, to which we know
quickly turn to words and actions affecting all those around us.
Becky
-Murray
ward encompassed a condo neighborhood called Three Fountains and it was chalk
full of seniors who worked in the temple
-they had
the perspective of raising a family
-they
carried with them the perspective gained from Temple service
-I loved
them so much and they were kind and genuine
-Becky
was paralyzed 55 years ago while serving a mission in California,
-has
limited use of her hands giving her the ability to use an electric wheel chair
and type on a special computer
-I served
in the primary presidency with her
-she
loved those children, she loved their parents, she was so positive and
magnified her calling,
-visiting
nursery to give rides
-talking
to the children eye to eye
-humble
-serving
with all of her capacity and beyond, when it was tiring and uncomfortable and
her chair would get stuck in the room of little primary chairs
She has a
great sense of humor, “ask forgiveness not permission” and her wish to marry
Nephi.
-she
changed my perspective on serving in the church, Becky found true joy in her
service and even though she was not perfect she tried and tried and tried.
I think
of her often, she is a very influential person in my life,
-I go
visit her when I’m in Utah and feel so blessed to be able to sit on the foot of
her bed and talk with her.
-I am so
blessed to call her my friend
The Holy Ghost binds us
to the Lord. By divine assignment, He inspires, testifies, teaches, and prompts
us to walk in the light of the Lord. We have the sacred responsibility to learn
to recognize His influence in our lives and respond.
Remember
the Lord’s promise: “I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten
your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.”4 I
love that assurance. Joy that fills our souls brings with it an eternal
perspective in contrast to day-to-day living. That joy comes as peace amidst
hardship or heartache. It provides comfort and courage, unfolds the truths of
the gospel, and expands our love for the Lord and all God’s children. Although
the need for such blessings is so great, in many ways the world has forgotten
and forsaken them.
Let the Holy Spirit Guide -Elder Ronald
A Rasband
Testimony-
What is
Gods Perspective?
Temple
Holy
Ghost
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