Honest, simple, solid, true

When I was in the MTC, one of the sisters in my district lent me a copy of a 1996 devotional address by C. Terry Warner, entitled “Honest, Simple, Solid, True”. I read it, of course. There aren’t many single events I can point to and say, “This changed my life,” but reading this talk was one of them. It gave me new eyes to see. It showed me, clearly, what it means to follow the Savior. It really did change my life. Here’s just one paragraph:

Perfect honesty and simplicity consists not in devoting attention to oneself, even when one’s aims are lofty, but in forgetting oneself and responding to others in love, according to their needs. We are not oysters or abalones, existing in shells–even though that is how we may feel when we become self-involved. We are members one of another, connected to each other, and especially to God, by spiritual sensitivities and obligations profound as eternity. And just for that reason, we become most ourselves when we are most true to God and to one another. We become most right with ourselves when we are most right with them. Jesus’ example demonstrates this.

Sometimes gospel-related talks don’t get through to me, don’t resonate with me. They’re nice, true, but they don’t grab me by the collar and shake me into awareness, into life, into the deep reality that’s there if we just know how to find it. But every once in a while I’ll come across something that does speak to me, deeply, a book or a poem or a song or a piece of art that feels truly real. The end of C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle is like that for me. So is Michael McLean’s song “Light on a Distant Hill.” The list goes on. It’s as if these things rip open a conduit to the real world and let me see out, forcing me to realize (with bliss, I might add) that there really is more to life than meets the eye, and that robotically skimming the surface is not how I want to live. Warner’s talk did that for me. It showed me what it means to choose good over evil. This talk is solid. (Think of C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. That’s the kind of solid I mean.) It’s like that spiritual shower I mentioned yesterday. It’s like waking up momentarily and realizing that most of what you thought was life was actually just a dream, and that there’s a deeper reality going on and that you can tap into it, break through at times, and someday it will become your primary reality. That’s heaven. :)

I’ll have to read this, I hadn’t heard of it before. One of my life-changers was “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence” by Elder Holland.

Ben,

What a lovely quote. Thanks for the morning!

“We are members one of another, connected to each other, and especially to God, by spiritual sensitivities and obligations profound as eternity. And just for that reason, we become most ourselves when we are most true to God and to one another. We become most right with ourselves when we are most right with them.” I will have to read the talk.

Have you read Making the Most of Yourself by Sterling W. Sill? It is a great book and I highly recommend it. One of my favorite quotes in the book is, “God always votes for us and Satan always votes against us, and then we can vote to break the tie. It’s how we vote that gives significance to our lives and determines our every success and failure,” pg 10.

It is interesting to note that there are only two persons capable of casting their own votes. Satan can not without our help. “And just for that reason, we become most ourselves when we are most true to God and to one another.”

We will be held accountable for the votes that we cast and for the impact our votes have on others. Again quoting Sterling, “It is reported that some of the ancients had an interesting way of punishing wrong. It was the law that the criminal should be chained to the result of his crime. …Then wherever he went, he must drag the result of his evil deed with him forever. There was no possible way that he could disentangle himself from the results of his crime. This punishment seems dreadfully sever, and yet life has a program of retribution that s exactly like that. We are always chained to the results of what we do,” pg 32.

“We are members one of another, connected to each other, and especially to God, by spiritual sensitivities and obligations profound as eternity.”

This was really good. I was just going to take a look at it last night before I went to bed, but once I got started I couldn’t stop until I had finished it. I can really relate to what Brother Warner is saying. I have been so worried about what people think of me so much that I get really self-involved, like he said, and it does make it really difficult to truly love others.

Yes, I will be reading this multiple times. Thank you for pointing it out. :)

Going along with Connor and J, here’s a talk that has really been good for me. It was given by John Ivers, one of my BYU-Idaho professors, For My Yoke Is Easy, and My Burden Is Light

Connor: Thanks! I really, really liked it. In fact, it was just what I needed, particularly the part that said, “..along with the illuminating revelation that points us toward a righteous purpose or duty, God will also provide the means and power to achieve that purpose. Trust in that eternal truth. If God has told you something is right, if something is indeed true for you, he will provide the way for you to accomplish it.”

J: Sounds like a very interesting book — I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip! :)

Holly: Thanks! I really, really liked this one, too. And though I hesitate to repeat myself, it’s true that this was just what I needed as well.

These two talks allayed some concerns I’ve been having lately, fears that have been gnawing away at my spine. It’s simple, really: trust in the Lord with all thine heart. And somehow I keep forgetting that. And what’s worse is that I don’t even realize I’ve forgotten it. I need to wake up and remember that the Lord is God Almighty, ruler of the universe, my Creator, my Savior and Redeemer, my King. And I can trust Him. These two talks just changed my life. Really.

Ben, I want to thank you for this talk by Brother Warner. I printed it out a couple weeks ago and have reread it at least four or five times. I do feel convicted of my sins–and as it turns out, some that I wasn’t really aware of until reading this talk.

I realized some years ago, that recognition of sin which is considered the first step in repentance, is not just a given. With certain types of sin, recognition is easy, but I’ve decided that some sins just become a part of our personality and they can remain hidden for a very long time. At least this has seemed to be the case with me.

Also, I just have had a mistaken notion of what certain sins looked like. I remember thinking to myself once when I was walking on campus at BYU back in the ’60’s that my tennis shoes with holes in them were proof that I was not proud. I figured you had to look really sharp and be really good at something to be proud. Not true at all!

Then there’s selfishness–with my time, in my case–just recently labeled that one. I think I would have recognized it if I were selfish with my stuff but really didn’t see it most of my life. I mean I am busy trying to better myself, isn’t that a good thing? Yeh, Brother Warner helped me see more into that one.

Well, I could name more but I’ll talk more about that when I get my own blog which I’m planning to do as soon as Holly gets done with her finals, etc. :) I’m excited! It’s thanks to you, Ben.

Anyway, back to the talk. He says,”…the little disquieting voice that says, “You’re not honest, simple, solid, and true. You’re still in it for yourself. It’s your own agenda that you care most about.” Ouch!
It would be so good to have all my pretensions “collapse completely and leave standing only what was me.” I’m sure that I have and unfortunately still do, I suppose, try “to arrange myself in the minds of others, playing a role, posturing.” It’s so hard to see it. I just know that I can be pretty uncomfortable in social situations and haven’t figured out why or how to overcome it.

It’s pretty convincing that the answer lies in forgetting oneself. Wouldn’t that be something amazing–for me!! Just to quote a little more: “…perfect honesty and simplicity consists not in devoting attention to oneself, even when one’s aims are lofty, but in forgetting oneself and responding to others in love, according to their needs.” And, “We become most ourselves when we are most true to God and to one another.” I really do want to be myself with anyone and everyone. I do want to be true. I used to think I was so honest because I could not stand to tell even a “white” lie for a surprise birthday party. It took years to recognize the more subtle dishonesty that became a part of my personality. Oh, and I’m sure haven’t recognized all of it yet.

But life is good. I’m not discouraged. I do appreciate all the help I can get. Your blog is good, Ben. Thanks for your example.

It really is true that the key to all this is forgetting oneself, metaphorically losing one’s life. Selfishness is an ingrown toenail. And that line — “We become most ourselves when we are most true to God and to one another” — is, I think, one of the reasons why I’m not such a big fan of dyed hair (as I’ve talked about in another post).

But anyway, posturing is bad, and I still find myself doing it far more often than I’d like to admit. The truth will set us free. Mmm.

Oh, make sure you post the URL when you get your new blog up. :)

Ouch! an ingrown toenail. The self hurting the self. I guess that fits. And I agree with you on the hair thing. About 15 years ago I wanted to keep from going grey and tried the coloring thing–just to make it stay the same, but it didn’t look natural enough and it cost money and time and trouble. Glad I got over that quickly. Silver is fine when you’re my age.

Silver is absolutely fine. I really don’t understand why people want to keep from going grey — I know that they do, but my brain just can’t process the reasoning behind it. Let the body show the natural signs of aging, I say. (Unless there’s a really good reason not to. But I can’t think of any at the moment. :))

[…] The older I get, the more I find that so much in the gospel hinges on turning our focus outward. In the words of C. Terry Warner: No matter how rigorous, a quest to be true when undertaken on one’s own behalf can never put to silence the disquieting voice that says, “You’re not honest, simple, solid, and true. You’re still in it for yourself. It’s your own agenda that you care most about.” Stubbornly setting out to be true cannot be glorious if I do not lift my focus higher than myself. […]