Teach Me

For the last four days I have been hanging around on the Brigham Young University campus doing Education Week. For anyone who isn't in the know, the college campus is used during the week between semesters for adult, or maybe I should say, everyone education. It is nothing like going to school. There are 1000 classes to choose from during the week, divided into series of 4 usually. Other college campuses do this sort of thing but the price is usually hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Here the entire week, for classes only, is $57 if you buy your ticket ahead of time. If you want to stay on campus, or eat there by ticket, it costs a bit more. Of course you can just buy food there or bring your own. (which I did). The classes are varied, although most are of a religious nature. Even the money management and cleaning classes are LDS based.
Having said all that I would like to do a mini - series on some of the classes I took. I had a wonderful time and gained a lot of spiritual knowledge. I can't really pass on much but I'll give it a bit of a try.
The first class I'd like to comment on was called Peace: The Savior's Magnificent Model. From my notes:
Peace through forgiveness.
We all have wounds that need to be healed. Why is it so hard to let go of the unintended injury? The world is troubled. Can we begin a healing process? 1) Forgive others. 2) Seek forgiveness from those you have injured. 3) Seek forgiveness from God. The enemy of our peace is Anger. Christ, who was injured most of all, said "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." and "... whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment:. . ."
Peace through Faith.
"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world," again from Jesus Christ. Corrie Ten Boom who years after her experience in "The Hiding Place" saw the man who had caused her so much pain. She had a really hard time not hating, but she said, "Jesus Christ had died for this man. Was I going to ask for more?" The enemy of our peace is Fear. Learning about faith is like learning about gravity. You: 1)Learn about it. 2) Observe it. 3) Experience it. 4) Act according to your understanding. 5)The deeper your understanding the more courageously you act. 6) Deal with apparent anomalies and inconsistencies. For instance, if you saw a helium balloon rise, not fall, did it shake your testimony of gravity? Why then, do we get in airplanes? Why is faith in Christ sometimes destroyed by apparent anomalies? And if every good person were blessed immediately how could faith fully develop? What would drive you to your knees to form a relationship with the savior? How would compassion be added to your character?
Peace through Service.
What is causing me anguish? The enemy of our peace is isolation. If you don't take that loaf of bread to a friend in need, or the new neighbor, they may be hungry but really you miss out on a great experience. How much of our confidence comes from acts of service we do? (You'll never know if you never serve.) We learn to love those we serve. Simon Peter, a master fisherman, was asked to change completely and like a shepherd "Feed my sheep." Read the poem "Father, where shall I work today?" by Meade McGuire (?) Enos prayed all night. What drives us to our knees? He was told, "thy faith hath made thee whole." She quoted a poem:
I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody's need
Made me blind.
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind.
How about instead of random acts of kindness we were consistently, purposefully kind.
Peace through sanctification.
What is causing your turmoil? We all have a secret wish for world peace, but, if we had world peace but not inner peace, would we really appreciate it? "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10 "and if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ. . . ." The enemy of our peace is complacency. Sanctification means to be made holy. We cannot make ourselves holy. Becoming holy is a process, needing 1) Preparation-invite the experience. 2)Prayer-initiate the process. 3)Power-through the Atonement of Christ. 4)Personal-individual tutoring by the Savior 5)Painful-demanding surrender of who we currently are. Peace is urgent, essential, eternal and a component of a Christlike character. She mentioned Craig Decker, a former student of hers, who lost his right hand (he was right handed) came to peace with that loss and was teaching others how to be at peace with loss, when he died in a drowning accident. Why do we want to search for peace? Because we need it, and because we love the savior.