Weird Thoughts

The other day Rich shared with me something that our Korean father, Bishop Cho, said to him:

"It's good to be a member of the Church when you are old, because you can go to the temple and work and do service, instead of sitting home alone with your weird thoughts."

After I laughed, I realized how true it is!

That same week I read these scriptures:

Helaman 16:22
"And many more things did the people imagine up in their hearts, which were foolish and vain; and they were much disturbed, for Satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumors and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good and against that which should come."

And a couple of pages over,

3 Nephi 2 :2
"Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing."

I came to appreciate another reason for daily scripture study and weekly church attendance ~ it keeps our thoughts on the gospel and an eternal perspective, effectively helping us to rid ourselves of "weird thoughts," vain imaginations, foolish and deceiving thoughts from Satan.

One of the reasons I love the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that appears on the side of my blog is the phrase "our own imperfect thoughts and vain opinions." Boy, do I have plenty of those! We can never hope to know and do God's will for us unless we can learn to be still and wait in the silence of our spirit to know His will. And we can find Him in the scriptures and in the temple and in our Sunday meetings.

I was also reminded of this quote by Elder Ballard in the March 2009 Ensign on the welfare system and becoming self-reliant:

Think Straight

Fourth, master the ability to think straight. As Franklin said, “The foundation of all happiness is thinking rightly.” This may be more important in the future as the world continues to spiral downward and crumble into moral decay.

In my office hangs a printed statement that includes the last words spoken by my grandfather Elder Melvin J. Ballard before his passing. He was in the hospital phasing in and out of a coma. My father said that Grandfather suddenly opened his eyes and looked into the room and said, “Above all else, brethren, let us think straight.” A few minutes later he passed away.

That was more than 65 years ago. How much more does the world need people today who can think straight? Part of thinking straight is using common sense in solving life’s problems. Lord Chesterfield said, “Common sense (which, in truth, is very uncommon) is the best sense I know of: abide by it; it will counsel you best.”

Often in my ministry have I heard the sad tale of those who are struggling to become self-reliant but in fact are becoming more dependent upon others because of their inability to think straight and apply common sense in the decisions they make. Much of life’s misery centers in the lack of using common sense. As an example, consider the pharmacist who was compounding a prescription that called for as much strychnine as you could put on the face of a dime. He didn’t have a dime, so he used two nickels.

Helping people to think straight and use common sense will, in my judgment, always be a very important step in helping them to reach economic self-reliance. It is part of teaching our children and others to walk in the ways of truth and soberness and to love and serve one another (see Mosiah 4:15). Part of thinking straight is listening—being able to listen to the promptings of the Spirit.

I love how God teaches me a principle by having so many sources testify to me in a short amount of time on the same subject. He knows that we need repetition to really grasp a concept. Indeed,

it's all good.

Note added February 5:
In Moses 8:22 just prior to the flood : "And God saw that the wickedness of men had become great in the earth; and every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually. " Interestingly, these imaginations or weird thoughts, in the scriptures precedes a destruction of the people.