Shawn Lelle

The last couple of months have been interesting times. A lot of changes have happened in my life. Many for the good.
I have been working at Bluehost for several years now. I like it. Always have. There are some aspects of my job I love, while some I would rather do without. My co-workers are great for the most part. Aside from a the occasional bump in server issues the work load is easily manageable. This has given me plenty of time to learn and grow.
When I started at Bluehost 3 years ago my plan was to make it temporary so that I could go back to school and get my Master’s degree. Temporary is such a transitory word. My initial plan was to take a year off school and then get back to work. But life happens and your carefully set plans often tend to fall through. I can blame so many things for not going back to school right away: the economy went to crap, I had loans to pay off, I wanted to find a wife, Obama became president. But none of them can really take the full blame for not going back when planned. Life is the real culprit. I kept finding new avenues of adventure to pursue. New people to meet and activities to explore. Basically I fell in love with life again. This, of course, makes it a bit more difficult to get back to school. Throw into the mix a car accident and a new car payment, and I now have a few more responsibilities than anticipated.
Adventures in dating have come and gone. I’ve met people, fallen in love, and fallen out of love more times than I care to admit. Some of the dating experiences I would rather have never had. But I know that I have been made better for having them. Hopefully it makes me a better person for the girls that I pursue. And the girl I’ll eventually marry. Only she can say if it does or not.
I recently got promoted to be a Level 2 tech at work. This has been a large change for me. For almost the entire time I was an L1, I worked Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm. Best. Schedule. Ever. That’s why it took so long for me to decide to try out to be an L2. But the promotion and raise were necessary. I HATE the schedule. I now have to work on Sundays–which sucks the most–and swing shifts, 2:45pm to 11:15pm. I miss my nights and weekends. I miss hanging out with friends late at night. But that’s how life tends to go. At least I have more time for studying now and get to spend more time with my brother. It’s always nice to spend time with my family.

So we made a movie….

13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

These words are the culmination of our faith, the glue that binds together the previous twelve declarations of belief. Elder James E Talmage said of this article “in this article of their faith, the Latter-day Saints declare their acceptance of a practical religion; a religion that shall consist, not alone of confessions of spiritual matters, and belief as to the conditions of the hereafter…but…of present and every-day duties, in which proper respect for self, love for fellow men, and devotion to God are the guiding principles.” In other words, this article is about what we believe we must do in order to truly be saved.
“Behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” declared the great Jehovah to His prophet Moses Moses 1:39). The three-fold mission of the Church–to perfect the saints, redeem the dead, and declare the gospel–embodies this decree. By being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men, we can’t help but lead souls to Christ. We show the pure love of Christ, which is Charity.
To me, two things in this verse stand out: charity and endurance.

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:47-48)

When we are filled with charity, we are true, chaste, benevolent, and so forth. We have hope; we have the belief necessary to be saved.
So how do we get this Charity? Robert L Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie in their excellent commentary on the book of Mormon explain:

“It is bestowed by God. One does not ‘work on’ his charity any more than he might work on his prophecy, dreams, visions, or discernment. Charity is that “more excellent way” that comes by and through the Holy Ghost as one of the gifts of God…. Charity is the ‘highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ….Charity is that gift of the Spirit which motivates us to greater goodness, specifically greater service and compassion for other….We can serve people without loving them; we cannot truly love them (as the Lord does) without serving them.”

They go on to say “the purpose of charity is not just to motivate us to Christian service, but also to sanctify us from sin and prepare us not only to be with God but also to be like him.” 1 Peter 4:8 says “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” Charity helps us to become who we need to become. Bruce C Hafen said “The ultimate purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to cause the sons and daughters of God to become as Christ.”
To me, this is the very essence of the 13th Article of Faith. Charity: that Christ-centered love meant to prepare us for exaltation.

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (Moroni 7:45)

Again we have the believe, hope, endure message. This phrase seems to crop up over and over throughout the scriptures. In my experience, when the Lord repeats himself it is probably something worth listening to.
I love how the scriptures seem to often put charity and endurance side by side. Moroni, still in chapter 7, says “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail.” Charity leads us to endurance. In fact, charity is an essential component to enduring to the end.
What does it mean to endure? According to the dictionary, it means to suffer something painful or difficult patiently. When I think of enduring, it reminds me of the Prophet Joseph Smith and all that he went through. When he was in Carthage, he offered a prayer asking the Lord here he was and why He was not helping his suffering saints. Doctrine and Covenants 121 contains the prayer and Heavenly Father’s reply: “7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.”
That last part is the important part. We must endure the trials we face, true, but we must also endure them well. When we do, we become worthy of the glory of God. We can become like him.
In closing, the thirteenth article of faith is about how we can use the previous twelve to grow closer to God. It is how we can become more Christ-like in all we do. For Christ surely is the epitome of charity and he endured well all the trials that His Father charged him with. We must pray for charity and sacrifice all we can to be able to endure to the end. Only then can we truly endure all things.
To quote Joseph Smith in the Lectures on Faith:

“5 For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also, counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, requires more than mere belief, or supposition that he is doing the will of God, but actual knowledge: realizing, that when these sufferings are ended he will enter into eternal rest; and be a partaker of the glory of God.
6 For unless a person does know that he is walking according to the will of God, it would be offering an insult to the dignity of the Creator, were he to say that he would be a partaker of his glory when he should be done with the things of this life. But when he has this knowledge, and most assuredly knows that he is doing the will of God, his confidence can be equally strong that he will be a partaker of the glory of God.
7 Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things: it was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things, that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has, for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice, because he seeks to do his will, he does know most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice & offering, & that he has not nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life.”

By believing that God lives, hoping that we can—and must—do all that we are commanded, and enduring all trials that we face, we can know that we are worthy of eternal life. We can know that by doing these things we are seeking anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy. We fulfill the admonition of Paul. That we all may do these things is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

As I was driving to work this morning I saw an advertisement for new “loaded” hamburgers at Sonic. This really got me thinking. We live in a time of excess. America as a whole has far more than we can ever use. Everyone goes for the bigger hose, the bigger cars, the bigger meals. Nearly every fast food restaurant has some option to “Super Size”. There have even been movies made about this trend. We are quickly becoming (if we haven’t already reached it) one of the fattest nations in the world. This desire to have more, while detrimental to us physically, has dire consequences spiritually and emotionally.
“Have it your way” and “The customer is always right” has become the mantra of the masses in recent history. Notalwaysright.com is chock full of anecdotes of people reinforcing this belief that they are always right. With very humerus results inmost cases. The fact is, getting everything we want whenever we want it is a bad thing. If we’re given everything we want, we tend to not appreciate it as much. We really don’t place as much value on it. What’s worse, we tend to look down on those who provide for us. This taking people for granted is a dangerous state of mind.
My parents did their best to teach me to be responsible and self-reliant. I will always be grateful for that guidance. I remember working at my dad’s newly opened restaurant when I was eight, running around with a bucket busting tables. I hated it back then, but I see the value of it now. Sure, I earned money, but I also gained a real appreciation of others and the work they do. My parents rarely just gave me anything. They had me work for what I got. In a sense, this gave more value to everything I had.
There are many people today that take what they have for granted. One of my favorite internet memes is First World Problems. It’s a poignant reminder that while we think we may have things rough, there are others that are in much more dire straights. We complain about the battery on our iPod dying or having internet connections go down for a few hrs as though these are God-given rights that everyone should enjoy. How often do we have to wonder where our next meal will come from or if we’ll have a roof over our heads at night? For many people–even Americans–these are very real questions. First world problems pale in comparison to the real world problems that millions of people face every day.
On close inspection you learn that the real problem with first world problems is the mindset of entitlement. Entitlement is the feeling that we deserve something, even though in most cases we haven’t earned it. Decades of people getting rewarded for participation and such policies as Affirmative Action have soiled the concept of achievement. People no longer have to work for rewards. The current video game industry is a prime example. There are games that award achievements simply for loading the game. What are we teaching our kids when we give rewards for absolutely zero effort?
This sense of entitlement leads to complacency at home and at work. When we become complacent, anyone can do to use whatever they wish. This is one of the real dangers of the mindset of more. I often hear people complain about the government or their living status or their jobs. My only thought, more often than not, is “If you hate it so much, do something about it”. If we can get past the idea that we are entitled to certain things just because of where we live or who we are, we can overcome any problem that we face. Only then can we truly start to be happy.
To be happy is something that many people list as a desire they have or a goal to reach. But, in my experience, many people just don’t know how to reach it. Is happiness something you can buy? Is it something you can wake up one day and decide to be? I honestly don’t think so. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi (2 Nephi 5:27) says that his people “lived after the manner of happiness”. Now he doesn’t say that they were happy. He said they lived after the manner of happiness. This is an important distinction to make. Happiness, above all, is how we live our lives. Does that mean running around with a goofy grin on your face all the time and being bubbly? Absolutely not! I believe it is a mindset.
The mindset of more is the antithesis of the manner of happiness. The more I study the gospel of Jesus Christ and the closer I grow to my Father in Heaven the more I am convinced that to be happy I need to focus less on me and more on others. Nowhere in the Savior’s life did he ever do a miracle for Himself. Nowhere in the Priesthood is there an ordinance that you can perform on yourself. Every aspect of the gospel, every aspect of the life of Christ, is focused on helping others and losing yourself. …He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matt. 10:39). By losing yourself and casting off the mindset of more, we can find who we truly are and live after the manner of happiness.

I love America. I have always felt blessed to have been born into this great nation. I may not always agree with the government or those who create the laws that I have to live by, but I try to keep in mind that in America we enjoy freedoms that no one else in the world gets to enjoy. I can worship anywhere I choose–or what I choose–any way I choose. I can complain about the president or his flunkies any time I wish. And it’s all thanks to being born in America.
For FHE last week we wrote letters to soldiers. I really liked that activity because it reminded me of the sacrifices made that let me be who I am. Both of my grandfathers fought in WWII. My father, my uncles, my cousin, and my brothers have all been part of the military in some way. I feel a special kinship to soldiers because of this. You don’t have to agree with the wars we’re fighting to support the troops. When it comes down to it, these brave men and women will lay down their lives so you can keep yours. What are you going to do with that gift?