I bolted awake, about 4:30 this morning. I was dreaming that a junior high student had shot himself in front of his classmates. I was watching how the other students were reacting. What were they doing? Where were they placing blame? Well, I lay awake for at least half an hour, not able to fall back asleep, and so here I am, feeling the need to talk, write, put my feelings out there for the few readers of my writings to see.
I'm in a couple book clubs. One of them is organized by a librarian through a branch of the St. Louis County Library. It was brought to my attention by a friend from a Meetup movie group, because one of the three books the club reads every month is a "book to film," where we are asked to read the book and watch the movie, then come together to discuss the similarities and differences. This past month, we were assigned "The Princess Bride." This month is "To Kill a Mockingbird." Once I got involved with the club, I decided to try reading the other books assigned each month. The other categories are "book journeys" and "African American experience." I am currently reading the June assignment for "book journeys," Untamed by Glennon Doyle. I am struggling to get through it.
The other book club is one I follow on Instagram. It's the LDS Living Book Club, organized by Deseret Book. It focuses on books offered digitally through Deseret Book's Bookshelf+ app. One book is assigned each month. Instagram followers are provided a reading plan, as in how many chapters to read each week, sound bites and quotes from the authors, and a platform for giving feedback and sharing opinions. The book for May was The Law of Love by Steve Young. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since April 2002. My brothers are Southern Baptists. My son is anti-religion. I was listening to an interview with Steve Young about his book, when my son called. As I was pausing the interview, my son asked, "Who's there with you?" I told him I was listening to an interview with Steve Young. He thought of Steve Young, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, and wondered why I would be listening to an interview with a former football quarterback. I told him it was indeed Steve Young the quarterback and explained that he was a member of my Church and had written a book on the law of love. I'm not sure if the sense I got that my son was instantly disinterested came from his feelings about religion and my beliefs or my presumptions about what anyone who's not a member of my church feels about my church and my beliefs, but it was there. I wish it wasn't.
Anyway, it's a great book. It touches on a philosophy I've had for what seems like my whole life: The best way to be of service to another person is to put that person's welfare before your own; and doing that nearly always requires a sacrifice. I don't think Steve brings the sacrifice part into his book; he's focused mainly on helping us see how to love non-transactionally, unconditionally. Glennon's book, on the other hand, seems to focus on how to make your life better by putting your own welfare before the welfare of others. She seems to talk a lot about hate -- who and what she hates, who and what hates her, how she perceives religion as not based on love, but based on rules and restrictions. Her view seems opposite to Steve's. I don't think she gets what love is all about. She sees it as transactional and conditional. To me, these books represent the differences between the world's views and God's commandments.
I love the book of John in the New Testament. It contains many of my favorite scriptures, like John 13:34: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." and John 16:33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." You see, love is a commandment, a LAW!?! And the world gives us tribulation!?! Jesus overcame the world with sacrificial love. He overcame tribulation (hatred) with love.
We are studying the Old Testament in Sunday School, and have just finished the book of Judges. There's a fascinating story in Judges 4. A woman named Jael kills a man named Sisera by hammering a nail into his temple. I learned that Jael's name is a combination of the Hebrew names for God and Jesus, Yeshua and Elohim and that Sisera means sin. So Jael killing Sisera with a nail symbolizes God killing sin with a nail, through the Atonement. Cool, huh?
Having explained a bit, here are some examples of how love is better than hate, or how Christ's love is better than the world's view:
Anybody remember the old fable about the sun and the wind sort of wagering on which one could get a man to take off his coat first? The wind tries by blowing at the man, trying to blow his coat off, which causes the man to pull his coat on tighter, bracing against the wind. All the sun does is shine on him, which causes the man to become warm and remove his coat. The moral: Stop trying to force your opinions on everyone else; just love!
I was once the evening shift lead operator in the word processing department of a large law firm. As such, I answered the phone, when the switchboard operators left for the day, and served as the help desk for attorneys who worked through the evening. One of the female partners would occasionally become frustrated when her computer wouldn't do what she wanted it to do. She would call the help desk, which would forward to the word processing department. Whoever answered the phone would be bombarded with a steady flow of foul language and screams of hatred for technology. If I was away from my desk, the assistant lead operator was responsible for answering the phone. My reaction to this partner's calls was to agree with her, express empathy for her situation, and offer to come to her office and fix the problem, at which point the attorney calmed down right away and was able to clearly explain the problem. The assistant's reaction was to explain to the partner that she will not tolerate being talked to that way, and she will not get any help from her until she calms down, at which point the attorney became angrier, and a yelling match ensued. Can you see which represents Christ's love and which represents the world?
There's another fable about a couple of sisters who are as different as hate and love. The older one, Fanny, is rude; the younger one, Rose, is lovely. Their mother favors Fanny and makes Rose do chores, including fetching water from the forest. One day, Rose comes upon an old woman who asks for a drink. Rose gladly gives her a drink, and the woman, who is a fairy in disguise, gives her a gift: whenever she speaks, diamonds and pearls will fall from her mouth. When her mother discovers what has happened, she sends Fanny to fetch water, telling her to be nice to any old women who show up. However, Fanny is approached by a beautiful princess and tells the princess to get her own water. As the fairy has disguised herself as a princess, this time, the gift she gives to Fanny is that, whenever she speaks, snakes and toads will come out of her mouth.
Finally, I was working a different job that required answering all incoming calls. One day, I kept answering a call that seemed like the person on the other end was trying to intimidate me by not saying anything. After a couple calls like this, I began to say horrible things into the phone and hang up. After about five of these calls, I answered and heard a voice on the other end. The caller explained that he had been trying to get through for awhile, and that he was able to hear me, but I was not able to hear him. As Thumper's father told him, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." In other words, act out of love at all times, not as the world does.
Getting back to my dream... A lot of bad stuff is going on in the world. How we react to it helps shape the direction our world goes. If we react with hate toward individuals who are hateful, there's nowhere for anyone to go for peace. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." 1 Corinthians 13:1. If we react with love toward individuals who are hateful, there is an opportunity for peace. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33.
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No not just for some, but for everyone"
Hal David/Burt Bacharach/Jackie DeShannon
"You feel unloved, Arthur, welcome to the world. Everyone is unloved. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself. And incidentally, I love you." John Gielgud as Hobson, "Arthur"
And I love you, too! All of you. God bless. XOXO
Teah
