Cleave

Sorry for another late night or early morning post.  Sometimes that happens.  But here's a strange coincidence: the beginning of my day matched the end of my day, and this is a very simple statement to explain.

In institute today, we learned that we are instruments in the hands of the Lord and we need to be in tune in order to be worthy to receive true revelation.  My instructor related us to pianos with the fact that even if an expert pianist were playing an out of tune piano, it still wouldn't sound great.

Just a few moments ago, I was with my roommate/friend correcting some tabs to "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" so that she could learn it and we could play a guitar duet.  Something was wrong with her lowest string, and it took us a while to get it to sound right.  It was because the tuning was off.

But I think we need more than tuning.  We also need practice, or we won't be ready.  My roommate/friend is excellent at picking, and I am not.  Mostly it's because I'm comfortable with strumming, no matter the strumming pattern, but it takes me longer to understand and play a picking pattern.  I know that if I would just stick with it and practice until I developed my skill level a bit further, I could pick as easily as my roommate/friend.

I related that to the gospel too.  If we only serve the Lord in ways that are comfortable to us, we aren't going to learn all of the skills that would make us better instruments in His hands.  It might be awkward at first, but we are here to learn, so we shouldn't worry about making mistakes or being slow.  We should just worry about doing our best for however long it takes for us to master the skills that have been set before us.

So I made a goal to learn a song by picking.  I need to develop the talent of reading tabs and learning picking patterns without being scared or frustrated (too much).  I don't know what song I'll do yet, but I'll pick it by Sunday night.  I'll post what song I've chosen on this blog, so if I forget, give me a hard time.  I don't want to forget about this goal.

Choose to Cleave.
*Read my first post, "Preface," for more information about Cleaving

I was reading D&C 63 today, and I want to share my thoughts on one verse in particular: D&C 63:61.

"Wherefore, let all men beware how they take my name in their lips--"

This is the Savior speaking, and it reminded me of how often I hear His name taken in vain every day.  On campus, in movies, at grocery stores...it's happening everywhere, and I wish I could just shake people and say to stop it, because they apparently don't know what they are doing.  If they knew, if they truly understood, I doubt they would continue using His name so easily as they do.  And there are far too many people and far too many lips using His name inappropriately.

I remember a story (maybe I read it in an email...my citations are clear for this story) in which an old man with terrible wounds was rushed into a hospital (let's say he jumped in front of a bus to save a girl--heroic and deadly) and it didn't look like he'd make it through the night, and as one of the men on the ER staff is rushing beside the gurney, the ER guy lets out this profanity.  The old man grabs his arm and says softly to the ER man, "Why do you take my Lord's name in vain?  He is so precious to me," (or he says something to that effect).  The ER man was taken aback.  It wasn't something he thought about as profanity, and it wasn't something he really cared about because he wasn't Christian, but the old man was so distressed by this that he gained a new respect for things sacred to other people.  The ER man said, "I'm sorry."

I didn't give the story justice, so just trust me that it was really heart-touching when I heard it.  I don't have a problem with taking the Lord's name in vain, but I hope that I can build the tact and courage it would take to stand up and say something to those people who do have a problem with it.

Choose to Cleave
*Read my first post, "Preface," for more information about Cleaving