Stand & Deliver

For the sake of argument - and probably everyone thinks they are anyway - but let’s say you are a hard worker, you know your stuff, and you are highly motivated. Mainly, you deliver. But in spite of this, some boneheads still treat you like you’re Otis, the Mayberry town drunk (from the Andy Griffith Show.)

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about work, school, a social club or a church group. You prepare yourself, get educated about the work you do, have good experiences, and think you really know your stuff. One day a project comes your way that is right up your ally and it excites you so you dig into it.

This particular project, hypothetically of course, mostly affects other people that you are assisting. You jump on the problem, make contact with those who are involved directly in the issue, research the situation and then go out and show initiative by coming up with a real good potential solution and then go one step further and take steps to get the problem solved. Are you with me? Basically you see a problem, feel you are uniquely qualified to get it fixed, dive in, come up with a solution, and even start putting into place things that will fix it. Initiative, I think it’s called.

Since we all have someone that is the boss of us in every area of our life, this person at some point or other shows up on the scene. Our “solution” also affects them and maybe even more directly than it affects us. They want to be briefed on what’s up. So you brief them and tell them what you’ve done and the initial steps you’ve taken to solve this problem. As you do your update, the boss of us starts peppering you with questions about details of what you’ve done. You start getting nervous wondering what they are really after. So you restate the facts succinctly and end by explaining that you feel really good about what you’ve done and that you think you’ve come up with a real good solution. Then the boss of us asks a couple of questions you’ve already answered. This is starting to get irritating so you dig your feet in and reiterate what a great solution you think you’ve come up with.

The boss of us still seems unsatisfied with what you’ve done and asks you to compile some of the data involved with the project and look into some other aspects of this problem. Then they tell you they want to see some comparative information about how others are dealing with the same issues so we can verify you are on the right track. Aaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh! When the boss of us leaves, you are irritated that you didn’t have all the information at your fingertips they wanted, you are frustrated that you maybe didn’t communicate it all a little better, and you mostly are just ticked off because you feel you just got jerked around and you don’t know why. In a nutshell you are a little angry and a little confused, to say the least.

This is all theoretical of course. It would never happen in real life.

When this happens all you can do is “stand and deliver”, like the movie title says.

Anyone risks making a bad impression because of failure to understand what is expected. For example, usually an inexperienced newcomer is not expected to make major decisions and change the direction of an organization. As a newcomer, a person usually does what the boss over them wants them to do. In this situation, if you want to make an impression, do what “the boss” wants done and tells you to do. Focus on collecting the applicable information on an assignment or an issue and presenting it in a way that an important decision can be made. Usually you won’t want to try and make decisions yourself or solve problems independently.

The flip side of this might be the situation when you have a lot of experience and are expected to make decisions and facilitate changes in an organization. The boss of you might be expecting you to solve problems and take appropriate action on your own and when necessary. In this instance, if you want to make an impression, you shouldn’t be bouncing every detail off the boss of you and asking others what you should do. Focus on the decision making process, make good decisions, and know how and when to present updates to the boss of you.
It really is all about service, isn’t it? The same principles that go into providing service to an outside person or group apply to how you provide service to those inside your group. With outsiders you have to manage expectations, so also with those inside. Any organization that produces a service that nobody wants is not going to have a purpose in life for long.

I will sum this up succinctly with the aforementioned movie title: stand and deliver. Deliver the bosses of you what they want, not what you want them to have, and while you do it, stand up and be confident and deliver the right thing for the circumstances.

The inability to figure out and then deliver what is expected is a byproduct of many things but the reasons are irrelevant because they still lead to “personal need” suicide or at the very least ruin your peace of mind. Shrinks attribute our helplessness in failing to understand expectations to part anxiety and part erroneous assumptions about productivity as the following examples illustrate. (I lifted them from a shrink handbook and put them into english):

Fear of failure can be real and causes us to not deliver correctly because we don’t want to look stupid. Wouldn’t we all rather be thought of as non-motivated rather than lacking in ability? Revealing as this is, looking back on school, I’d much rather someone think I didn’t study hard or long enough on a test than to think I needed some tutoring or extra help. We create defense mechanisms to avoid this tendency. Instead try to overcome it by simply being aware of it and avoiding the defensive behaviors. After all, now that you know we are onto you, being defensive isn’t very fun anymore.

Perfectionism is a great excuse to do whatever we feel like isn’t it? I know well that most perfectionists do so out of insecurity. (Oh no, what is everybody going to think of me saying that?) But we have to get over our insecurity if we truly want to do our best in every circumstance. We overcome it by taking measures to know beforehand what the expectations are in a situation and then focus on delivering them rather than critiquing expectations downward. You’ll have to think about the last part of that for awhile before you get it.

Self-control is the opposite of perfectionism (which is all about control.) If we are impulsive and lack discipline, I love unclear expectations. (I mean we love unclear expectations.) This allows us to ebb and flow wherever we want in or around assignments or projects or issues and never quite deliver exactly what is wanted or needed. What is needed in this situation is focus and self-discipline to do what is wanted.

False beliefs about what is wanted and needed can limit us. Couple this with false beliefs about what we can and do deliver will result in frustration and confusion. Finding out the expectations and being aware of the quality of our delivery will help us through this.

Sometimes we just enjoy the adrenaline rush of moving like a bull through a china closet. This is the roller coaster methodology and let’s face it some have a wicked joy in approaching life and work in this manner. Sometimes you will deliver in this manner but sometimes you won’t. It’s hit and miss many times because nobody catches up with you until you are a mile down the road. Either way you’ve left an indelible mark. Usually and fortunately this tendency will be beaten out of you soon on your journey through life.

Sometimes we are just being human which means we go to extremes to avoid being bored or to tackle the difficult. Whatever our reasoning, just like service, we have to get over all of it and deliver regardless of the consequences. We just have to.

Key to the whole point – as I see it:

Forget about your internal evaluation of how good you are. There is a time and a place for that (like a personal journal) but it’s not good to do in the heat of battle. Pay attention instead to what is really wanted and what is really expected. Many times the task at hand requires far less skills than we might have. Just because we can do something or are capable of doing something doesn’t mean we always need to do things at that high level.

Sometimes we need to be in touch with the realities of our organization and adapt our responses accordingly. We may be the most capable person on earth but if that is out of touch with what is needed or expected, it will be irrelevant and work against your success.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you realized this after the fact, sit down with the boss of you and inventory the things you should pay attention to and the things that are truly needed from you. As far as I know, Otis, the Mayberry town drunk was the most likable guy on the planet but he never seemed to deliver anything and could seldom stand up. It wasn’t Andy's and Barney’s fault. It was Otis’.

Forbidden Knowledge

Some things you are better off not knowing. If possible. Let’s call it forbidden knowledge. But in spite of knowing this, curiosity, loose lips, or having to know because of your job can place this information in your brain anyway. And then you have to deal with it. For example: I know what I make compared to some other people. Conversely I know how much I do compared to others. They don’t match. Sometimes they aren’t even on the same continent.

Having forbidden knowledge can eat you up. I’ve been there, done that, seen it up close and personal. Some get over it. Others don’t. It can be very upsetting when you find out someone less deserving is getting bigger rewards and more blessings. The more you think about these situations the more upset you get. It can keep you up at nights and distract you by day – maybe more than any other thing on earth.

To depersonalize the whole thing, let me tell you about two people I know. They both went into the same line of work. They sold drugs for one of the largest drug companies in the world. One sold a line of a dozen drugs for things like depression, asthma, and migraines. Whenever I saw him he always asked me if I needed anything. Yeah, right. I always gave him a list and never got me anything. He had been in the business and done well for a decade or so. The other person had only been doing this for about four or five years and sold a small line of oncology drugs; the ones for chemotherapy and cancer treatments. Both were paid salary plus bonuses based on sales volume. The first made a bigger salary but the second more than made up for it on bonuses.

I was with both of these folks when this revelation came to light and the one who’d been in the biz the longest almost blew a vein out the side of his neck. I probably talk to these folks four times a year and over the next month I spoke to the freaked out friend at least that many times. He was completely traumatized and tormented that the other friend was making so much. It ate and ate away at him and made him more and more frustrated. It was obvious to me that greed and envy are a real bad-boy combination!

The only advice I could come up with for my self-destructing friend was that he had to get a grip on understanding the forces at work on him; the forces that were invading his thoughts and destroying his happy place (the place with unicycles and little people.) Before the forbidden knowledge came to light, everything was fine. But once it surfaced, apparently my friend's compass was broken and had been broken and was pointed toward greed rather than thankfulness that he is able to do what he does and make what he made (which was not too shabby.) Both of them should have had pity on me, the poor public servant. The pain he was feeling ought to have been an indicator to him that he was off course.

This brings me to my point. Greed is a weed.

Weeds are considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome (except in the wacky world of zeriscaping), especially when they grow where they are not wanted.

Greed is undesirable, unattractive, and troublesome, especially when it appears where it is least needed. Greed is a weed.

Greed is a great big morning glory weed and if we don’t kill it, it will take over. Killing it, like morning glory you might know, can be tricky. It takes skill and perseverance. Until we kill it, though, greed makes us think we can’t move on unless or until we get what we want. In fact, it can make us think we want even more than we really do. Sometimes it can even trick us to thinking we can have whatever we want, even if it isn’t right for us.

I’m sure everyone caught the news story about the man and his sister who stopped at a McDonald’s in California while they were doing their Monopoly promotion? I think how it worked was you peel off something from your drink cup and you win stuff. I’m not exactly sure because I only go there to get the Happy Meals with Superheroes for my good-guy grandsons. In any event, somehow there are things you can win.

Well, this man in California peeled off his sticker and won $1,000 a week for the rest of his life. Not too shabby; $50,000 a year for as long as you live. What could be the problem? Nothing, of course, unless you worked for McDonald’s and you and your immediate family were thus ineligible. Well, guess what? He did and they were.

He and his sister hatched a plan though. He would give the ticket to his girlfriend and have her cash it in. The arrangement he brokered with her was that she would turn in the prize sticker and they’d share half of the winnings each. You can probably already guess the end of this story even if you didn’t read it. For six years it worked out fine to the tune of $330,409. But eventually they had a fight and were not getting along about something and the guy got ratted out. Ah, true love. What a beautiful story. Tale as old as time. The payments were, of course, stopped. And there was the pesky firing (why he stayed employed at McDonald’s is beyond me) and the court case to collect the winnings back.

Clearly greed got the best of this person and his friend and the sister. It trapped them and as the Greeks say, “Greed is like sea water. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.” True dat.

Key to the whole point – as I see it:

You’ve seen the oldie-but-goodie comedy routine where a man shows his doctor that every time he raises his arm in this unusual position, he gets a sharp pain. The doctor’s suggestion, “Don’t do that any more.” The point of the skit is that if something hurts, stop doing it.

Like with my friend, he just needed to suck it up and realize there is nothing he could do to change the fact that oncological drugs have a higher markup and are in more demand than his stuff. That’s life, dude. Get over it. If he focused more on his own great job and the good living he was making, he’d be much better off and would probably enjoy the time he spends out by his very nice swimming pool much more.

Fear Factor Rules

Continuing on the theme of raising the bar, we all sometime or somewhere have to cross the following bridge in life: Do you want to get a bigger reward for something you don’t like or a lesser reward for something you love? That is a situation we will all face one way or another.

Let me put it this way, would you eat a maggot for the chance at a hundred thousand dollars? Not me. Not even a million. I wouldn’t get in a tank of spiders nor would I put a worm anywhere near my mouth. And forget anything about rats; na-gon-do-it. But some apparently would if you’ve seen the reality show. Go figure.

That’s a severe example of boundaries we set on physical stuff but what about the things we do day-in and day-out? Are you okay being miserable about your work or other aspects of your life if you are well compensated or well rewarded with intangibles? Or would you rather have less income or accolades but do something you love? These are questions as old as time; questions that affect the very core of our existence.

Unhappy people line the corridors of therapists every day because of one thing; they haven’t figured out that we can’t always have everything we want. The cliché (sorry) that comes to mind here is “having our cake and eating it too.” Sometimes we want to land in a job that we love with a great salary and a great title and supreme power without paying the price or having to make any choices. It could happen, I guess, but usually it doesn’t. Usually you have to choose and there’s a journey associated with it. Usually there are dues to that club.

Having to make choices can make us ornery because we keep getting told we can have everything and so we wonder what’s wrong with the world or what’s wrong with ourselves. But have you ever noticed that those telling us we can have “everything” are usually those who have everything? If we dwell on the complexities of having it all, we can turn our life into a drudgery because we refuse to adjust ourselves to reality.

It’s back to the broken compass. If our compass needle is bifurcated and pointing in opposite directions, we won’t know which way to go. We have to make sure our compass needles only point in one direction and doesn’t give us conflicting signals.

How, you say? Funny you should bring it up. Two ways.

1. Claritize.

This is a new word I think I invented. Maybe I pilfered it, it’s all blending together. In any event it takes clarity and combines it with prioritize. Sounds like a detergent, doesn’t it. It kind of is.

We’ve all seen those tear jerker commercials. I hate it when a commercial makes me cry. One showed a mom driving her daughter home from school. She was telling this cute little thing that she had to go on a business trip for a few days. The little girl was disappointed because her mom was going to miss her school play. She was pouting – the daughter that is – and the mom was explaining something like, “but don’t you like all the good things we have like this car we are riding in (it appeared to be the Mercedes S430 Sedan) and don’t you want a bigger house?” After a moment of thought the little girl said sincerely, “Do we really need a bigger house mommy?” I know, Ohhhhh!

Food for thought and from the “mouth of babes,” etc. The kid apparently was able to reach a reality the parent hadn’t. The daughter was faced with two mutually exclusive choices and was willing to make the one that fit her priorities. The parent hadn’t reached that claritization yet.

2. Being versus Becoming.

I had a friend once who graduated from college with a master’s degree in education administration. Everything about him screamed teacher/principal, perhaps superintendent someday. He was the real deal. He began teaching and then we lost touch. A couple of years later I ran into him and he was a regional manager for Domino’s Pizza. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, he was doing well and on a different fast track, but it wasn’t his life dream. I asked him what was up with the change of career and the seeming “tossing” of a master’s degree. This was the story.

His brother went to work for Domino’s and was a multi-state executive. They had been talking and his brother convinced him that the corporate culture at Domino’s was the greatest thing on earth. It was all about being in a work environment that was fun and teaching was all about a lot of work and a lot of grief and a lot of underpaid thankless activities. Domino’s started out paying him what a teacher would never make.

Domino’s whole philosophy was about not playing it safe and putting it all on the line - for pizza. He was doing it. I still remember going out to dinner with he and his wife. He was the first person I knew with a pager. He was paged in the time we were at dinner about a dozen times. I couldn’t imagine what for? Did they keep running out of cheese and didn’t know where to get any? He seemed stressed and anxious about each call. I was having more fun in life than him and I was eating out of the public trough (government work if you hadn’t heard that one) which is notorious for underpaying. He was conflicted though, that much was clear. I felt bad for him. Fast forward many years and skipping particulars, he is now back in education and is an elementary school principal where he should be. He figured out after awhile that there is a difference between being and becoming, about doing and having, and he got back into what he was meant to do and lowered his material expectations. Getting back into the education business was difficult once he left it but he paid the price and did it.

His decision to do this reminded me of a statement I read a couple months ago when Red Adair died. Remember him?

He was the famous oil well firefighter who John Wayne played in the movie Hellfighters. He’d been around forever but maybe his greatest accomplishment was just back in 1991 following the first Gulf War when he and his team extinguished 112 burning oil wells ignited by Sadam Hussein as they retreated from Kuwait. Estimates were that this work would take five years to accomplish; his team was done in nine months.

The statement he made that reminded me of my friend was, “Life isn’t having it made; it’s getting it made.”

Whatever we do will require effort and will-power. Each time we make the effort, we move from being and we grow and are strengthened to becoming. And hopefully it will be doing what we love and the rewards will take care of themsleves.

The key to the whole point – as I see it:
If we are fortunate we will be in situations in life where we can experience work and play from a variety of angles. (I first mistyped this as angels and wouldn’t that be great to experience things from a variety of angels?) This will give us first hand knowledge of what it takes to get different rewards and to achieve particular accomplishments. This is great because regardless of what we choose, it will be an informed choice and not just based on the fear factor. It’s usually more difficult than that because we can complicate it with financial obligations or interpersonal relationships that are hard to unravel but if we find out what we truly want, we should be brave enough to follow our compass there and be satisfied with the rewards it brings.

"Raising the Bar"

Sometimes I like clichés, sometimes I hate them. Mostly I hate. The other day, though, I caught myself daydreaming in a meeting at work. It went something like this:

"I need to “level the playing field” and “think outside the box” because it’s a “hard and fast rule” that I should deliver “world class” “customer service” or “the long and short of it” is it’ll be “the kiss of death” unless I “tie up all the loose ends” and “dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.”

“In the blink of an eye” I will “pull myself up by the bootstraps,” “grit my teeth,” “live and learn,” so that I can “fight another day.” “That’s half the battle” until I hit the “turning point” by “swallowing my pride,” “letting bygones be bygones” and put the “ball in the court” of those that are “dyed in the wool.”

I knew it was all “food for thought,” “in the long run” anyway. But I didn’t want to “beat a dead horse.“ I knew these thoughts were only worth a “dime a dozen” to someone unless they’ve “seen the light” and unless something’s “fallen through the cracks” but by then you find you’ve “crossed the line.” At that point though I realized that “word of mouth” and “idle chitchat” took me to my “hour of need” and I knew if I placed all my “cards on the table” and “entertained high hopes” “wild horses could not keep me away” from “coming up smelling like roses.”

I guess I could have “drawn the line” at being “all talk and no action” because with “every tick of the clock” there was “hell to pay” if I didn’t have “peace of mind” or at least “give it the old college try.” That was just the “tip of the iceberg” though: “Nothing to write home about,” “in a word” you could say. But if you “check it out” what I’m saying is I’m “not too shabby” since “there’s no fool like an old fool.” At the very least “it’s better than sliced bread” if you can just “wake up and smell the coffee (postum).” “Time will tell” I guess. “yada, yada, yada.” “Blah, blah, blah.” I’m not “pulling your leg,” I’m “on the up-and-up.” “For what it’s worth.”

Regardless of what I think of clichés I clearly use them, maybe too much, and maybe too much in jest. I guess it’s a love-hate thing. I’m titling this blog by a cliché though because the practical reality is that “raising the bar” is the only way I can figure out how to get across the point of how we all need to set high standards to get us from wherever we are in life to a higher and better place.

So what I’m saying is clichés do communicate messages to us. The only problem with them is that we get used to hearing them so often, we stop considering what they really mean. So let me try and break “raising the bar” a little more so it isn’t just a cliché, though it is.

Growing up, I shared a room with two brothers. Nights were not a job, they were an adventure. At a young age our ridiculous bedtime would give us like 9 or 10 hours to kill before we could surface back on earth. We did all sorts of stuff. I distinctly remember one activity was to play this card game we had. It was called authors. It had nothing to do with authors, other than you had to collect all four of the same author cards to make a set. What it did though is introduce to me the names of some of the greatest authors who ever lived and inspired me later, out of curiosity, to look into their works and find out more about them. Alfred Lord Tennyson was one of these authors. His name and grizzly appearance made him memorable.

The guy was amazing. At 12 he composed his first epic poem of 6,000 lines. At 12, I hadn’t read 6,000 lines. After that he got prolific. One of the last things he wrote, considered to be his epitaph, was my favorite. It’s a short poem called "Crossing the Bar." It’s could have been called “raising the bar.” Alfred loved it also and left instructions that it was to be placed at the conclusion of any collection of his writings. Consider some of his words:

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

When we “cross the bar” we will probably hope we had it “raised” as high as possible. I recently read an interview about a young and very successful man in Tel Aviv. His name is David Tur and he is one of a new generation who are putting the violence and sadness of the Jews and all that is going on in the Middle East behind him and pushing himself upward and onward to new heights.

He is a fascinating character and I would never embrace or encourage others to celebrate their bar raising efforts as he does but his style was interesting. Each time he felt he raised the bar in his life and accomplished something, he got a tattoo. That’s not too unusual these days, but his are very personal to him and had a lot of meaning. He considers his tats stars and he has five already in his less than thirty years of life. Most are just for him and not visible to others.

Under his arm is an ace of spades reminding him that during a real tough time in his life he had a surprise up his sleeve (he doesn’t share what that was however.) Above his wrist (the only visible one) are the words “senseless conflict”. He had this one done at seventeen, much too his parents dismay. The reason seems obvious. His parents thought this was his first but he actually had one done a year earlier. His parents didn’t know because it was on the inside of his lower lip. It is the words “No Pain,” ironically he said “it was one hell of a pain to have it done.” There are two others he won’t talk about. His point is he will always strive to raise the bar and each time it’s raised in a monumental way; he will celebrate it in this unique way.

Don’t do what David does but take the inspiration from his experience about striving for personal bests.

The supreme rule of survival on the high seas was always to follow your compass and where it would lead you. We should do the same. We should discipline ourselves to always follow what we know is the right thing regardless of what we see or hear about what others think the correct action might be. I think the best word describing this compass is integrity.

Integrity is Latin from the word integritas, meaning "whole" or "oneness." It is the discipline to follow one’s moral and ethical compass regardless of circumstances. It might be the one common denominator of all great people.

We’ve probably all seen how effective this one characteristic is and the difference it makes wherever it is found. People with integrity “raise the bar” throughout their life and it gets real high and they keep it there. Nobody makes them do it. How could they? And once you have the bar at a certain level, you don’t cave in or lower it for anyone or anything.

But every day in the world, in a hundred different ways, some lose their compass and get lost. Some pile up waste-high fibonacci troubles while others navigate brilliantly through the same challenges and keep the bar up high and even raise it higher.

Those “raising the bar” have this internal compass and follow it. Those who don’t ever “raise the bar” have compasses, but they are broken. Isn’t that the worse situation we could be in? To have a compass and think it is working and you discipline yourself to follow it, but you are headed for a disaster because your compass is broke. Clearly we all have the responsibility to make sure our compass is working and then follow it. This will keep us safe and on track and only then will we have the confidence to “raise the bar” “higher and higher.”

Crowds

I caught Coldplay on the HD Cable station the other night. They were live at Clint's old mission hangout: the Isle of Wight.

It was amazing to watch this concert. The crowd was one mass of people as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of thousands of people I'd guess. All of them standing, pumping their fists in the air in unison to the music and most singing along word-for-word.

I wanted to join in. You feel like you want to be there and be apart of something. But I wonder if this is a "great and spacious" concert? It certainly is fleeting and when it was over it was done. You don't have the urge or the urgency to go out and do something meaningful. It doesn't make you feel like you want to be a better person. It is something just for that moment - cooler than heck, don't get me wrong - but just for a minute or two.

I think of other gatherings that have happened and some yet to come that are much different in nature and outcome.

When Christ came to the American Continent after His resurrection, a large crowd had gathered. The entire crowd got to approach the Savior, one-by-one, and feel the imprints of the nails in His hands and feet and the scar from the sword in His side. I imagine this crowd wasn't jumping up and down and pumping their fists. I imagine it so quiet you could hear an ancient bone-pin drop. The evidence of the effect it had on the people was that the whole society lived in righteousness and peace for 400 years afterward.

Then there was the crowd that gathered to listen to King Benjamin's farewell address. So converted were they all by being in this crowd on this day and the next that none had a dispostion to do evil ever again. Of course, some eventually did but the remembering of this event years later spawned an unbroken chain of righteous leadership that went on for 500 years and 9 generations: From Alma to Alma to Helaman, to Helaman to Nephi to Nephi to Nephi to Amos to Amos & Ammoron!

Then there is the crowd that will gather at Adam-Ondi-Ahman toward the end of the pre-millennial earth. Everyone to have ever held priesthood keys will gather at this place, give an accounting, and turn over their keys to Adam, who will turn over all of the keys over to the Savior. That's going to have a lasting effect on all of earth. Maybe that's what gives the people the boost to be righteous for the thousand years of the millennium.

There are crowds and there are crowds. Some are cool and some are way cool.

Media Observation

I'm watching the news and a breaking story flashes on the screen. A team of reporters pop into view and tell about an "officer-involved shooting" that has taken place.

As both reporters go over the "facts" as they know them (most of which we now know were inaccurate), the picture changes to an on-scene, live feed where the shooter was captured by police.

While we are watching, the reporters continue to mull over information as they get it and fill in the gaps with their observations. Then one reporter said something priceless. He said, "It looks like people are starting to gather at the scene to try and see what's going on and that's the last thing we'd advise anyone to do. Let the police officers do their job and give them room to work."

Other than the fact that those gathering at the scene weren't watching the news so they couldn't benefit from this sage advice, the humorous part of this commentary was that as we are watching this panorama at an Arby's parking lot, you see a half-a-dozen people gathering way out at the far end of the yellow police tape, but all around the rest of the site you see these big TV news vans parking however and wherever they please; pulled in at all angles and diagnal clear out in the roadway, creating all sorts of traffic hazards and access problems in and out of the crime scene. But that wasn't the funny part.

All around the site you see these reporters with camera operators in tow running like packs of dogs with microphones in hand trying to get a story. Then as the condescending reporter back at the station is lecturing the public on giving the police room to work, you see several police coming out of Arby's with the prisoner cuffed, leading him to a police car. And all of the reporters at the site beeline directly to that spot at full sprint - kicking, pinching, and biting - and when they catch up with the police, they actual prevent them from getting to their vehicles to secure the prisoner as they are thrusting their microphones in their faces and badgering them with questions.

Now, who should back the freak off and let the officers do their job, I ask you? Nim whits is what they are. We live in a funny, selfish, self-righteous world folks. Be lee dat!

High Council Talk

What follows is the High Council talk I gave for the last time today. How our Stake works is two High Councilors are assigned as speaking companions and then once a month we go to each Ward in the Stake. Today we finished our circuit using this particular talk. This was a fun topic and quite practical in the advice given. I learned from it each time and it evolved as the six months rolled out. This is the evovled version called, "Learning the Things of God." The original tidal was, "Don't trifle with Sacred Things." It was a little edgier and as I matured, the talk became more positive and practical. It is a 16 minute talk though I could and did expand it from 10 minutes to 20 minutes depending on the time left in the meeting. Enjoy.

Today I want to talk to you about why it is that we seem to feel an urgency to do and accomplish more as time passes rather than at some point, just sitting back and enjoying the blessings of the gospel and all that it has for us.

Our human nature and the world we live in gives us opportunities to retire someday from our work and look back on our accomplish and enjoy the fruits of our labors. Other things we do, hobby’s for example, allow us to also kick back at some point and enjoy what we’ve done, made, read or wrote.

But in the gospel, after a great spiritual accomplishment or just times when the Spirit is so strong in my life, I feel like I want to just bask in the glory of the Lord and just enjoy it. But unlike the world, the minute I do, the same Spirit compels me to get up and do some more. And then gospel leaders started – I was going to say pestering but the real word is encouraging us to – quicken our pace and do a little more to build up the kingdom of God. Why is this so?

Elder Holland tells us why. He also tells us why it is that it is even more so with those of us living today in our day and age.

Elder Holland:
Because ours is the last and greatest of all dispensations, because all things will eventually culminate and be fulfilled in our era, there is, therefore, one particular, very specific responsibility that falls to those of us in the Church now that did not rest quite the same way on the shoulders of Church members in any earlier time … we have a responsibility to prepare the Church of the Lamb of God to receive the Lamb of God—in person, in triumphant glory, in His millennial role as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. No other dispensation ever had that duty…

When Christ comes, the members of His Church must look and act like members of His Church are supposed to look and act if we are to be acceptable to Him. We must be doing His work and we must be living His teachings. (Bold added.)

Do you think about the gospel in these terms? We ought to because it’s what we are about. Having said this, the question begs itself, how to we get ready? What things must we be doing or what process can we follow to make sure we look and act like members of the Savior’s Church so that we are acceptable of Him when He comes?

Joseph Smith gives us the key, and though he doesn’t call it a process, it really is.

The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful nd ... solemn thoughts can only find them out ... None but fools will trifle … (D.H.C. Vol. 3, pp. 295-6.)

Let’s examine each of the things Joseph mentions here in more detail so we can digest what the Prophet is telling us about the things of God keeping in mind that he said these are the only ways we can find out the things of God.

Time

The first thing we need to do - to understanding the things of God - is to take the time. It was not an accident that Joseph mentioned this as the first thing we need to do because all other things hinge on this.

Everything we need to do in the Church requires a sacrifice of time. Teaching by the Spirit takes time; proclaiming the gospel takes time; redeeming the dead takes time; and perfecting the saints takes a lot of time.

Fortunately time is the great gospel equalizer because each of us has the same exact amount of it. I hear the expression 24/7 a lot. That’s what we all have 24 hours a day; 168 hours a week; and 8,760 hours a year.

How are you spending your time?

We are so fortunate to live in a day and age that has all the modern conveniences we have that have been given to us, I think, by inspiration from our Father in Heaven so that we have more time to work on the things of God. And never in all the history of mankind can we get more done in the time we have than in our day and age. It’s miraculous when you consider the time it used to take to cook and clean and travel places.

So I ask again, how are you spending your time?

Recently some research culled from Census Bureau surveys showed that Americans on average spend almost 10 hours a day watching television, surfing the Internet, listening to music, reading magazines and playing video games. Of that 4½ hours were just watching television. That is over 1.600 hours a year watching TV if you can imagine.

As with all averages some don’t spend their time this way which means, if you are saying you don’t spend near that amount of time of these things, someone else is spending a lot more of their time on them. Another study concluded that 65% of people “spend more time with a computer than with their spouse.” And our relationship with our computer isn’t one of just happiness and bliss because 52% of people in this study described their most recent computer experience as one of “anger, sadness or alienation.” So if that is how your experience with the computer makes you feel, and you choose to spend more time with it than your spouse, what does that say about your spouse?

Each of us needs to take a personal inventory of how we spend our time because if we don’t spend time on the things of God, Joseph Smith says we will not find them out.

At Ward Conference the Stake President challenged you all at this pulpit to turn off the Television one day a week, and go visit someone – a neighbor, a friend, some family – someone, somewhere in need. The only thing you need to do in order to accomplish this is to take some time from one thing that is meaningless and shift it to another that has eternal meaning.

If that isn’t enough for you, Elder Bednar gave an Apostolic challenge at the October 2006 General Conference:

Will you please prayerfully identify a person with whom you will visit and extend the invitation to once again worship with us?

Experience

Once you have decided to spend more time on the things of God, Joseph tells us we need to have some experiences. At another time he taught us that “faith is a principle of action.”

So we have to be out doing things. That’s how faith works.

What kind of and how often are you having profound religious experiences?

The Church published a great manual for missionaries that we all ought to read and adapt to our own personal use and circumstances. It’s called Preach My Gospel and Elder Richard G. Scott, in the 2005 annual conference encouraged all members to use it to “make it easier for each of us to share” the gospel “with loved ones and friends.” I would add that we can share it with ourselves also.

It’s a great publication. It may be the finest thing the Church has published outside of the scriptures. This morning as a returned missionary reported her mission to the High Council I asked her what she thought about Preach My Gospel. Without hesitation, she said she viewed it as another volume of scripture. I asked her if she
thought she’d use it in the future. Without hesitation, she said she’s use it daily to study and reflect and motivate herself about the gospel.

I tell you these things because in this manual is a profound observation about having experiences in the gospel. After reviewing the steps of the conversion process, we are told in Preach My Gospel:

These are not just steps that are experienced once in our lives; rather when repeated throughout life these principles become an increasingly rewarding pattern of living… Obedience to Jesus Christ is a lifetime commitment. Through exercising faith, repenting, being baptized and committing to serve Christ, and then receiving the Holy Ghost, we can experience healing, forgiveness of sins, and complete conversion to the Savior and His gospel.

Great thoughts about having gospel experiences throughout our lives. At another point in Preach My Gospel we are told:

As you feel the joy that comes from understanding the gospel, you will want to apply what you learn.

“Apply what we learn” means we go out and use what we learn to have spiritual experiences. “Use it or lose it” seems to be the appropriate summary of what we are being told.

President Kimball was the one who counseled:

Let us remember that it is not so much what we know that is important as what we do and what we are. The Master’s plan is a program of doing, of living, not merely knowing. It is how we righteously live and apply that knowledge in our own lives and how we apply it to help others that describes our character.

Elder Robert D. Hales said in an article in the February Ensign (Ten Axioms to Guide Your Life):

… your greatest success and influence won’t come solely from the knowledge you’ve gained. It will come from what you do with that knowledge – the wise use of agency to make sound decisions.

I ask again: What kind of and how often are you having profound religious experiences by living the gospel and applying its teachings in your life and thereby finding out the things of God?

On a lighter note, Ian Fleming who is known for writing the James Bond books also wrote the children’s book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In there is where you find his great line that summarized his philosophy of life: “Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes’ otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.” A life of Church service, I promise you, is never dull if you are putting yourselves out there doing the Lord’s work - and you can start by turning off your TV one night a week and visiting someone in need.

Joseph Smith said there was no other way to know the things of God.

Careful & Solemn Thought

There’s a story about President Kimball setting apart a man to be a Temple President. After the setting apart and some niceties President Kimball put on his coat and began to leave. The newly sustained temple president said, aren’t you going to give me some training or some guidance; “I could really use some.” President Kimball told him “he’d do fine. He’d been around the Church a long time and he didn’t anticipate he’d run across any problems he couldn’t solve.” Then he left. The man was a little overwhelmed as we all are with new callings and actually followed after President Kimball and was asking about some specific things about the building or other temple functions and President Kimball told him, “You have some phone numbers of support folks that know all about those things. When problems arise, just get hold of them, and they will help you out just fine.” Exasperated the Temple President said, “I beg of you President Kimball, please just give me some words of insight and guidance; how about just one suggestion. I’d honor and value it with my life.” President Kimball thought for a minute and said, “You could stand to lose about 30 lbs.”

The point of the story is as Joseph Smith told us, that once you have organized your life so that you are spending your time on the things of God and you are out doing things to ensure you are having spiritual experiences, we need to mix in with that: careful and solemn thought. Many times insights about the Savior, the gospel, and eternity, aren’t just handed to us. We have to follow a process that requires effort.

Careful means to be thorough and even painstaking in doing something. It also means that we show close attention to detail and accuracy.

Solemn means we have a sincerity and seriousness about doing a thing. It also means sacred or inspiring awe and reverence.

Together you get the picture Joseph Smith was trying to paint about “thought” that is meticulous and specific coupled with a reverence and a spiritual attitude. The picture you don’t get is thoughts about the gospel that are scattered or random or just during the commercials or in “our spare time.”

Careful and solemn thought means we make time to think about the gospel and put everything else on hold – no matter how inconvenient – while we ponder and wonder about the gospel.

A great way to get the type of careful and solemn thought Joseph Smith is talking about is also taught in the Preach My Gospel manual under the “personal study” section.

It suggests the creation of and regular use of a study journal “to help you understand, clarify, and remember what you are learning.”

Elder Richard G. Scott said it this way: Knowledge carefully recorded is knowledge available in time of need. Spiritually sensitive information should be kept in a scared place that communicates to the Lord how you treasure it. This practice enhances the likelihood of your receiving further light.” (Ensign, Nov. 1993)

Isn’t the “further light” Elder Scott is referring to another way of saying, “the things of God.”

I keep a regular and consistent study journal about the things I read in the scriptures, the Ensign, and general conferences. I bear you my testimony it is the greatest way that anyone can “treasure up” the things of God and pass on that testimony to your posterity. If you do it you will never want for the right thing to say or do in situations where you are needed in the gospel. I prize my study journals as some of my greatest possessions.

President Kimball assured us if we make a journal “that will last through all time … maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity.” (Kimball, Spencer W. "The Angels May Quote from It." New Era 5 (Oct. 1975):4-5.)

Too often we ignore the “doctrine of writing things down.” Remember that maxim: the dullest pencil can remember more than the sharpest mind. I personally like: if you think it, ink it.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell put an exclamation point on this thought by saying:

If we desire to have the promptings of the Spirit become almost habitual in our lives, then we must develop the habits that lend themselves to the flow of such inspiration. We should learn, too, that the prompting that goes unresponded to may not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital. A special thought can also be lost later in the day in the rough and tumble of life. God should not, and may not, choose to repeat the prompting if we assign what was given such a low priority as to put it aside. (Wherefore Ye Must Press Forward, p. 122)

As we keep a spiritual study journal, we take the time to record our experiences and are clearly making careful and solemn thought. The only ways Joseph Smith said we could ever find out the things of God.

Testimony

I bear you my testimony that if we want to be recognized as members of the Saviors Church at that great day, we should spend our time on the things of God – turn off our TV’s and going out and do the Lord’s work – have spiritual experiences. And then carefully and solemnly reflect and record the thoughts and feelings and
experiences you have had.

Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the Redeemer of the world. He is the Only Begotten of the Father and atoned for our sins so that we may repent and return back to Heavenly Father and live eternally with Him in our eternal family unit.

As we read the New Testament in Sunday School and learn more of our Savior, know that He isn’t just a good story we learn about in class or by the words on the pages of scripture. His teachings aren’t just good and ethical thoughts about things. They are truth.

He’s the bread of life; the water that quenches our thirst. He’s the Lamb of God; and the light that gives life to everything. He is everything. And He lives and guides this Church in a time of great uncertainty and turmoil. But His guidance and only His guidance will give us the things we need and will lead us to find our way to the things of God.

May we all give due diligence to what the Prophet Joseph has told us about finding out the things of God is my prayer in the name …