No Coincidences

Tag: god

Why do we Love our Children?

I recently heard a quote so good I want to quote it in full:

“Think about this. When a little baby is born, that baby cries at inopportune times, makes a lot of noise. It soils its diapers; it demands to be fed when it wants to be fed. It costs you a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of lost sleep. So why do we keep putting up with these little creatures? It’s because there’s this deep, underlying feeling of love for these children of ours. We love them so much that we don’t look at what it’s costing us. We keep infusing life and we keep teaching, and we keep forgiving, and we keep working with, and we keep nurturing and feeding and helping them to grow to become who they need to become and who they have the capacity to become.”

I think that’s an awesome quote. Well said.

I’ve been thinking about this more lately. With a toddler that is so full of joy and happiness, and also, sometimes, not. And a 7-month-old that still isn’t sleeping great. And with plates thrown and irrational frustrations (by the toddler), and crying and no sleep and…

Ivy “loving” Sage

*Sigh

The energy it takes. The life force being sucked out of me.

And.

Would I go back if I could?

Not in a kagillion-billion-zillion-babillion years. I love them so much. It’s all worth it.

Is it hard? Heck yeah. It’s so hard. Do I feel like I’m dying a slow death sometimes? Uh, yeah, I do.

And then, Ivy smiles and says, “Dada. I love you.” And Sage sees me and inexplicably giggles. And suddenly, all that sucked out life force flows into my body from my head to my toes in a rush of energy and exhilaration and LOVE. It’s like nothing else in this world: looking at my two daughters. The love.

As a parent, speaking for myself, there’s a point where you become numb to the sacrifice and all you give up for your children. There was a time when having to get up once in the middle of the night to check on anything would ruin my entire night of sleep. At this moment, the average night has at least 3 middle-of-the-night wake ups. Zero wake ups in the night is a miracle.

Early on with Ivy, I really struggled with this. I started to wonder how I could survive without getting sleep. And now we’re starting over with Sage who doesn’t sleep nearly as well as Ivy did. I’m probably getting hours less sleep per week than I ever have. And yet I feel alive and invigorated. Somehow, I’m surviving. I think it’s that infusion of love I get from seeing them happy, healthy, and growing each day.

Ivy the morning after waking me up three times in the middle of the night. She didn’t go to sleep with the crown.

The time, the noise, the diapers, the feeding, the money, the energy, the sleep put into these “little creatures.” And yet, do I regret it? A resounding NO! I want more. I love them so much, it hurts. Sometimes it physically hurts how much I love them. That quote above came from a video of a guy discussing the Lectures on Faith. I’ll link it HERE.

He was talking about the attributes of God. That wasn’t where the quote ended.

“If we as mortal parents can figure that out (the love for our children), how much more do perfect, eternal parents have that figured out? God is a God motivated by love. It’s not just this outward thing, it’s part of the divine characteristic. God is love. Without that, you and I can’t have full faith in God unto life and salvation.”

We’re here to learn to love like God. God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost love so perfectly that they have become one in mission, intent, and purpose. That is the love I feel for my family. I would give anything for them. My wants and needs have taken three back seats. Beth, Ivy, and Sage’s needs are so much more important than mine. The “world” will try to say this is unhealthy, that I need to “put myself first” or “take care of myself.” Of course, I don’t completely disregard my health and care, but that idea that I come first is extremely wrong. I don’t come first. I know that. And not coming first is what gives me strength each day. That infusion of love that comes from my family makes every sacrifice the sweetest sacrifice there is.

If I feel this way, as a mortal man who knows how to give good gifts, how much more perfectly does God love me? How much more is He willing and able to give me because He loves me? I know God loves me. I am eternally grateful for His love. Now, He is teaching me how to love.

April 13, 2023
How Does God Bring Us Scripture?

I recently heard a different denominational Christian individual say, “We believe God can provide scripture in whatever way He wants. It’s not on us to tell Him how He should have brought scripture to us. This is why we believe in the infallibility of the gospel message from the Bible.”

This individual is adamantly opposed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and especially opposed to the Book of Mormon.

I found that statement so interesting. Of course, I’m pulling the comment of one anonymous individual to make a large sweeping point, but I believe the point is significant nonetheless.

If believers of the Bible agree with that statement, namely: that God brought the Bible to us through translations, handing down, manuscripts, different texts, different handlers, scholars, writers, and translators, and that was in His power to do so and we don’t try to criticize Him for His method of bringing us His Word…

My only question is.

Why can’t that same logic be applied to the Book of Mormon?

April 6, 2023
Suns Experience

Last week I got to play on the Phoenix Suns court. It was an awesome experience, one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do. Huge shoutout to Robert, his wife Brooke, and Blake for making it happen. We got exclusive access to the court and were able to play pickup for three hours. Well, some of us were able to play for hours… more on that later.

Some basketball thoughts from playing on a real NBA court.

First, those lights are bright. When I’d shoot from the corners, if I watched the ball arc up before it got to the rim, I’d be blinded by the lights. If I looked up unconsciously while playing, I got blinded. Never thought about what it would be like to actually play under the “bright lights.”Speaking of the corners, it is a tight fit. Shooting an NBA three from the corner gives barely enough room for your feet. If you take a step back at all to try to explode toward the hoop, you’re stepping out of bounds. I have size 10 shoes. I don’t know how the size 20s even do it.

Speaking of the lights, part of the package with getting to play on the court was we got to watch the Suns play that night against the Orlando Magic. We got to watch from the suite level with food and drink included. I’ve been to many Suns games, but this was a unique game to watch due to having been on the court just hours earlier. These things I mentioned like the lights and the tight space from the corner were things I considered more than I ever had before. The other thing that stood out to me that I’d never thought about before was how hectic an environment this was for NBA players to play basketball in.

Basketball is a refuge for me. It’s therapeutic. Playing on an NBA court with thousands of people watching cannot be therapeutic.

An NBA game is a chaotic and hectic experience. Of course, there are the thousands of people watching, yelling, and trash-talking. That’s crazy in and of itself. But what struck me the most after having played on the court was how loud the music was. While we played, we had a pretty chill March Madness game playing on the big screen with the volume on what I’d guess was around medium. It was still distracting. Watching that game later against the Magic I was focused on the NOISE, the MUSIC, and the BASS.

It is pandemonium at an NBA game. For some reason I’d always thought the NBA players were a bit sheltered from the noise. After playing on the court, I realized it’s the opposite. They are at the bottom, center of a dome. All the noise and chaos are amplified on the court. It gave me my first true appreciation of home-court advantage. That chaos is one thing, but when it’s a chaos you’re not used to, (on the road visiting another stadium) with fans heckling you the whole time, it’s complete sensory overload.

So, back to my time on the court, unfortunately I got hurt the beginning of the second game. I was running and just stepped wrong and twisted my ankle bad. It actually happened at almost the exact spot where Kevin Durant twisted his ankle while doing a routine warm-up layup a couple weeks earlier.

Probably exactly what my ankle looked like, same spot.

After I rolled my ankle, I at least got to see what it was like to be treated like an NBA player for a moment. Multiple trainers checked on me and brought me ice. It was a bit embarrassing. I got to spend the rest of the pickup session jealously watching with ice on my ankle from the sideline.

Here’s the part where I insert what I learned spiritually from this experience.

I’ve twisted that ankle at least 3 dozen times, not exaggerating. It’s never fun. It’s always painful.

That night, I was laying in bed with my ankle propped up on pillows. I’d already discarded the ice that was on it. It was the middle of the night and my foot was THROBBING. It hurt.

It hurt badly enough that I started praying for relief. I don’t want to be dramatic. I know that on the pain scale, what I was experiencing was pretty mild. But still, it hurt. That’s when I started thinking about every groin pull, every sprained ankle, every concussion, every headache, every upset stomach, every scalping, every stitch, every ingrown toenail, every scratch, every bruise, every heartache, every heartbreak, every disappointment, every fear, every doubt.

How could He have felt it all?

Here I was, writhing in pain, whining, praying for relief, over a sprained ankle. And He felt every sprained ankle of every person that ever did or would exist, all in a moment. He felt it all. How?

I ponder often on the Atonement. I’ve tried to wrap my head around it. It’s not something we can wrap our heads around. That’s the point. He did something unimaginable. He did something incomprehensible. And he did it for us.

I believe (I know) that Christ felt it all that night at Gethsemane. I don’t know how; I can’t understand it. But I know He did. It’s why I write about Him, it’s why I think about Him, it’s why I serve Him. Because for a long time, I tried to forget what He did for me because of guilt, or incomprehension, or selfishness. But now I think the most important thing I do outside of anything with my family is write about Him.

I think the most important thing I do for my daughters is teach them about Him. Few things bring me as much joy as when Ivy sees a picture, I ask, “who’s that?” And she replies, “Jesus.” I hope someone reads this that needs to remember Him and what He did for us. When you think about what He did for us, ultimately it must make us more loving because we’re considering a love that is unfathomable. That makes us better.

March 23, 2023
Importance of Promises (and Covenants)
Since as long as I can remember, promises have been important to me. I’ve always said I would never break a promise for any reason. Period. I’m sure at some points in my life I have broken promises. I have this vague recollection of a broken promise or two that still eat at me. I don’t remember the details, but I remember the feeling of not keeping my word. For whatever reason, promises are something I’ve always considered immensely important, I’m not sure exactly why. Deep down inside, I’ve always thought promises were important to keep. Otherwise, what was the point? Otherwise, words were hollow and how could you be trusted?

In Alma 23:16-25:2 of the Book of Mormon, there is the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. This is the story of the Lamanites who converted unto the Lord and from then on turned away from their past traditions of murder and bloodshed. They buried their weapons of war and covenanted to shed blood no more. They took their new covenant so seriously that when other Lamanites came to war against them, rather than break their newly made covenant, they knelt before their former brothers and gave up their lives.

As I read this story recently, a question arose: how seriously do we take our covenants? What does our word mean to us? How about when our word is a promise to God? How important do we deem that pact?

Covenants are important. Covenants are serious. Keeping covenants is a serious thing.

The converted Lamanites, or Anti-Nephi-Lehis, made a covenant to shed blood no more. Full stop. No excuses. When their lives were at stake, did they reconsider? Did they say to themselves, “well I promised this, but surely I’m not supposed to lie here and die over a promise”? They thought the exact opposite. Their covenant was worth more than their mortal life. These Anti-Nephi-Lehis understood the significance of covenants. There were no excuses. They had faith. They knew that if they died keeping their word to God, they would inherit a glory and reward that would be well worth the earthly sacrifice.

Covenants with God are greater than death.

So, I ask again, how seriously do you take your covenants?

Have I been perfect in keeping the covenants I’ve made with God? Let’s review the first covenants I made with God when I was baptized at age 9. I covenanted to:
1. Take upon myself the name of Jesus Christ.
2. Keep His commandments.
3. Serve Him to the end.
Have I been perfect in this? Of course not. None of us are perfect yet. But I’ve tried. I often wonder how much my baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost at age 9 strengthened me and helped me to return. I often wonder how my upbringing influences my deep respect for promises. Though I haven’t been perfect, I always took these covenants seriously.

I now take further covenants I’ve made very seriously. For example, my covenant with my wife, to be faithful to her, to love her, to serve her, to be there for her. That is the most important promise I’ve made in this life and I intend to die before breaking it.

In a world of promise-breaking and commitment to nothing, I am ever-grateful for the covenants I’ve been privileged to make. I’m grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ that provides the proper authority for me to make promises with God. I’m grateful to be linked to God. I’m grateful for the strength covenants provide in a shaky and uncertain world.

If you’ve made covenants that you’ve broken, I implore you to reexplore those promsies. Satan leads us to believe that once broken, we can’t mend our word. When our promise is with God, that is true, we can’t mend it. But He can. Jesus Christ suffered the Atonement so that we can come back even to make up for the promises we’ve broken. He knows we aren’t perfect. He will make the difference. I fell into that trap for stretches in my life. Thinking I’d gone too far away from God, I’d broken too many promises, disregarded too many commandments, and I couldn’t come back. The feeling of reuniting with God is the most comforting feeling in the world. Reunite with Him. He will always take us back. He will always reestablish our covenants because He loves us that much.

Come back to Him and feel His peace.

I am grateful for covenants and that God allows me, an insignificant little speck, to align and connect myself with Him. What power. What comfort.
March 9, 2023
What if I saw Jesus in a Fight?

A friend asked an interesting question: “If you saw Jesus fighting somebody, what would you do?”

No context, I had many follow-up questions. Has the second coming happened? Why is Jesus here? How do I know he is Jesus?

But, ok, I can follow along with the exercise.

My response was, “I would assume he was fighting Satan. I would assume that the person Jesus would be in a fist fight with would have to be Satan taking over a body… but then that doesn’t make sense, because Jesus could simply rebuke Satan, he wouldn’t need to fist fight him…”

I was interrupted by the friend who reminded me this was a fun what-if and to not go overboard. He then asked again, “But what would you DO?”

I thought for a moment, then I said, “I guess I’d watch.”

My friend laughed and then jokingly said, “You’d record it, WORLDSTAR.”

He made a good point: sitting and watching didn’t seem good enough. So I told the friend, “You’re right, if I saw Jesus fist-fighting someone right now, I would say a prayer to God, asking if this was OK, did Jesus need help, should I do something?”

It was then asked, “what if Jesus punched Beth?”

That one made me laugh. I said if that happened, I’d know I was being deceived in some way because Jesus wouldn’t punch Beth in the face.

This was a fun exercise. I think God will forgive us for any irreverence. I think it’s good if you bring Jesus into a normal conversation, even if in a slightly irreverent way.

This silly question did lead me to think more deeply about a serious question, though. In this silly context, “What would you do if you saw Jesus in a fistfight?” I realized my first answer was, “I would watch.” I realized that was my first reaction because my first reaction would be that Jesus doesn’t need my help. This is what led me to the more serious thought. How often do I think Jesus doesn’t need my help? How often do we think there’s nothing we can do for Jesus? Now, I’m not trying to get into the faith and works discussion, of course we can do nothing to save ourselves without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But, we can still do things for Jesus.

We are here on this earth for a reason. gain, how often do we think, “Jesus doesn’t need my help. I can’t do anything for Jesus. I’m not good enough to do anything for Jesus.” I think sometimes we forget that we are here to do things for Jesus, we’re here to promote Jesus, talk about Jesus, lead others to Jesus, help Jesus in any way we can. We do that by loving others. Jesus does want our help. Whether He needs it is another question. But He has asked us that know of Him to share Him, to be His servants, to be His feet on the ground in a way.

So, when I think about that question again, “What would you do if you saw Jesus in a fight?” my answer has changed.

I would pray. Then I would jump in. At least I hope that’s what I would do.

March 2, 2023