LIFE MATTERS

Yesterday a friend posted something on Facebook that dealt with a subject that involved the acceptance of theories all of which are not universally applauded. To which another friend commented, "Hog wash!" To me, that attitude describes one of the failures of American society today. We should be allowed, we must be allowed, to disagree, however, the manner in which it is expressed is very important. Rudeness in speech and action should and must be avoided. I have had some experience in this area.

I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (some of you reading this will ask "Mormons?" My answer would be "If you wish.") After two years in the field, I was assigned to work with a man I respected and from whom I learned much. We experienced many things together. One of the most challenging was the eviction from our apartment without notice. Warm and comfortable one day, on the street the next. We made it our job for the next week to find housing. We even accepted the unfinished attic of a church for a few days. Our common difficulties seemed to draw us closer. United against a common enemy. Or so we thought. It was during this challenging time that we developed the habit of being sarcastic with one another. Our district leader cautioned us, but to no avail. We assured him we just liked joking with each other. And so we continued. The "jokes" becoming sharper and sharper. Soon we weren't that united front any longer, but a fractious pair. Words can hurt! Not perhaps as a punch in the face or a stomp on a bare toe, but they can scar another person's mind, if repeated often enough.

After reading the hog-wash comment and for some reason unclear at that moment, this verse from Genesis came to my mind. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."

Now that garden, that holy place, is literally no longer. However, in a figurative sense and perhaps in a very significant way, it can still exist. It can exist as our personal garden - the environment of our personality - the attitude we present in dealing with our fellow brothers and sisters in this sojourn through life. We need to learn how to dress this garden and how to keep it. Significantly the manner in which way we treat and speak to friends or strangers is a reflection of how we keep our garden. Have we chosen to labor diligently in our interpersonal relationships allowing us to stand in a beautiful garden, a cool refreshing place filled with fragrant flowers. Or have we chosen to neglect the way we present ourselves to others and find ourselves inviting them to a nearly barren and unweeded plot, one choked with thorny plants and ensaring vines? How we keep our garden or that place we choose to stand in is important. Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS church stated in April 2013: "Standing obedient and strong on the doctrine of our God, we stand in holy places, for His doctrine is sacred and will not change." And have His teachings not instructed us to be kind to one another? (See New Testament, Ephesians 4:29-32) By obeying His teachings, or standing in a holy place, taking such a stand will enhance our lives in the eternal sense.

Eternal - and even this life seems that way at times. Seconds can last so long, though days pass so quickly. But it's in the seconds, in the momentary exchanges, that life takes place. So to make this personal, that's my life. And my life matters. It matters in the sense that what I do with it in those momentary exchanges is deterministic. Not as a theory might suggest, that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, or social or psychological phenomena are causally predetermined by something external to them or myself. Rather, what I do will determine the outcome of my life in an eternal sense. I, what I do, or my life, may not have an immediate effect in the world as a whole, however, it will affect those with whom I interact directly and, much more importantly, upon the eternal direction of my life.

This life does not come abruptly to an end with the death of the body. Life is an eternal function of self. It is, therefore, important to acquire, through good choices, an attitude of loving forgiveness and tolerance. I've got more to say about that, but it will have to wait for another day. Suffice to say that if such a life directing choice shortens the duration of my life in this realm of existence due the actions of another person, it has not shortened my life in an eternal sense. This realization came to me as I stood in the clutches of an irate man one afternoon in Pforzheim, Germany. But that's still another story. My choice to respect those with whom I interact will, however, give me some advantage in the next stage of my existence. For God, my Heavenly Father, by scripture, is love - a loving eternal being and the individual whom I aspire to emulate. And because this life is not a dead end, my actions here must reflect my eternal aspirations. Simply stated, in the eternal sense, your actions cannot hurt me but mine can. If I accept His injunction to become as He is (See New Testament, Matthew 5:48,) I must wisely choose to be kind to those around me, "oft [speaking] kind words" to my brothers and sisters and allowing the ripples of kindness to encircle the earth one life at a time.

Let us oft speak kind words to each other

Like the sunbeams of morn on the mountains,
The soul they awake to good cheer;
Like the murmur of cool, pleasant fountains,
They fall in sweet cadences near.
Let's oft, then, in kindly toned voices,
Our mutual friendship renew,
Till heart meets with heart and rejoices
In friendship that ever is true.