I am reading "Increase in Learning" by David A Bednar. Great book so far. It talks about loving to learn and I realized just how much I really do love to learn. I would much rather read a non-fiction book than a fiction book, any day of the week. In fact sometimes I almost feel guilty, or like I am being wasteful (of my time) by reading fiction books. Not an urgent sense of guilt, but like God is telling me "This book is alright, but I have given you a talent and desire to seek out truth but this book you are reading has very little truth."
Anyway, something else I am learning in this book is the idea that this life is very individualistic. That something that is good and right for me is not necessarily good and right for someone else. (Of course this idea can be taken to an extreme and would become false.) For example I really feel like I should be reading good books, almost to the point that I feel it is my mission in life...but that does not mean it should be everyone else's mission too. I make this mistake sometimes. I have an "aha" moment and so I think everyone else needs to be reading and doing the same things as me, because I found THE recipe to truth and I need to get others to use that recipe. But I don't think this is right. I think the recipe is a little different for everyone. The recipe is individualized. The way that I come to God and live my life is not the exact same way that someone else will. It is almost like some eternal Truths are more important for me to understand than it is for others to understand. Actually I am not sure yet whether it is the Truths, or the methods to the Truths, that differ among people.
Now don't take this idea to an extreme (like I warned before). I am not saying ANY recipe can get you to God. And I think everyone's recipe has some common things like being baptize by Gods proper authority. I do believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church and in the church is the general recipe, but the specific ingredients to make the final product (lets make it a dessert...how about cake) delicious to me differs a little bit than it does for someone else. And maybe it is less about the ingredient, but the method in which that ingredient is added to the cake.
I think many members of the church don't realize this. I think sometimes we think we are just supposed to homogenize and all be the same and do the same things. Up until this moment this is what I thought. I also think we worry too much, sometimes, about how others are (or aren't coming) to God...and by that I mean we worry more about them than we do ourselves, and I think we do that because of pride. Okay, this is a whole other topic that I don't have time to write about today. But I will say this: I struggle to remember that everyone has their agency.
The subtitle to this book is "Spiritual patters for obtaining your own answers". I am definitely seeking answers, so I am excited to continue reading this book.
1 comment:
I like this post. I think you're right: There are a lot of ways to make a delicious cake. And I'd take it another step - some days chocolate is the way to go, while on others, red velvet makes the tastiest cake. For me, it's the same with getting to God. Just because I don't particularly like sprinkles doesn't mean they aren't someone else's bread and butter.
(Enough food metaphors? :))
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