"I Have Lived A Thousand Years"
This blog has turned into "Obsess over President Monson's biography and how great he is, and share with all my friends, every moment of every day..." I'm sorry. I know you're all probably getting tired of hearing about him, but I am just loving President Monson even more than ever before. I've always known he was a Prophet of God, but I think sometimes we just think that he was born great, and therefore had to turn out great, when in all actuality he had so many opportunities to become great, and that's why he's so great.
I spent years in college arguing that time old question "Are people born great, or are do they have greatness thrust upon them?" and I always thought that people were born great. I mean, I argued for that. I really believed it in college. I felt like people needed to have that greatness in them or they could never live up to their potential. I felt like someone couldn't go through their life and just magically be ready when the moment to be great occurred. As I'm writing this, Greek mythology is running through my head. I studied a lot of Greek and Roman history in college, so I probably was basing my ideas off of most of that time period. I always thought only a handful of people had that "greatness" and could be placed anywhere in history and be great, whereas the rest of us are just normal people, trying to live our lives- as normal people.
However, I'm reading President Monson's biography, and it has started to click that it's not one or the other- the two go hand in hand. We are all born great- we're children of God! We have greatness in us! It's part of our divine nature. We have the potential to become just like God. Literally... just like Him. We all have that greatness in us. I guess I just never looked at it like that before.
We're all great, and we all have this potential to become even greater, and to get there we have to let our life shape us in great ways. Not saying we sit back and watch as life makes our choices for us. Oh no, that is definitely not what I'm saying. I'm saying we have to look at what life is giving us as a test of our greatness. President Monson was taught at a young age to serve and to love everyone and to take care of anything given to him, whether it was a pigeon or a congregation of 85 widows. He didn't shirk at the call to be great, and because he was born great, as we all are, he just let the greatness get better with every good choice he made.
I was just reading the part of his biography where he signs up for WWII and is sent off to boot camp. He talks about how significant it was that first Sunday at camp when they start sending everyone off to church, and they don't call the Mormons. He said this of the experience:
"One of the sweetest expressions I have heard came from a petty officer when he said 'What do you fellows call yourselves?' It was the first time I realized I wasn't standing alone. The men responded "We're Mormons."
Ok, if that didn't give you chills you obviously need to read it again. The thing that really stands out to me is that he thought he was alone. I have two thoughts with that comment. One, he thought he was the only Mormon there. What a shock to see others there, waiting, and ready to be Mormon; to be different; to not hide with another group, or claim nothing. They were there, and they were ready when the call came to stand and say "We're Mormons." The other thing that stands out to me is that he says the men responded. Plural. Multiple. More than one. President Monson wasn't the only Mormon there, and he wasn't the only one to claim Mormonism either. I think it would be so easy to overlook that moment when the men are all standing there together, announcing their belief, and just focus on President Monson, because the book is about President Monson obviously, but I think President Monson wants us to remember those men because he talks of them later when he refers to a party they all attended. His friend, Eddie Foreman, relates this experience:
"You [President Monson] were kind of a natural leader even then among us.... I can see you so clearly right now in my mind- that skinny, tall kid with your smile and sense of humor to laugh your way through saying no [to the alcohol], so no one would take offence, pushing it away, repeating, no, no. How would it have hurt you? It would have hurt us, Tom- those of us who were watching you. The Lord could still have made you and apostle if you had taken that beer, but what would it have done to us who remember that moment in time so many years ago?"
I love this story. I think this story is so great because it's a reminder that we are being watched. I remember when I was in eighth grade something sort of similar happened. I was standing at the lockers talking to a friend when a girl came up with a shocked look on her face and asked me if I had just cussed. I was shocked myself and said of course not! She told me she was concerned because she knew I didn't cuss, and she was worried that I had. I remember being so surprised that she knew that about me. I had moved to Rio Rancho when I was in 7th grade, and had only known this girl for about a year, but even then she knew I had standards, and she was watching. I guess it had never really clicked before that people really were watching. I know they always say that people are watching us, but in that moment, as a little 14 year old in public school in New Mexico, with no Mormons around me in the hallway of the eighth grade wing I was aware more than ever that I was an example- and not in a prideful way! I remembered my baptismal covenants- Always remember him. Keep his commandments. Take his name upon me. These had never meant so much to me until that moment. I had lived my life in a way that I was already trying hard to live up to these covenants, but at that moment I knew not only was I living them for myself, but to be an example to others.
I'm sorry I've been writing so much about President Monson; I'm just amazed at the great example he's been. He was born great, he chose to live a great life, and he chose to be an example to those around him. I'm remembering Alma the younger and the four sons of Mosiah from the Book of Mormon. They were friends who started out as rebels, who were out to destroy the church of God, and then repented and went off to be what one of my college professors called the "Justice League" of missionary work. They are the examples we look up to. I think it shows the power of having good friends around, as well as what a powerful example we can be if we decide to use our greatness for good, and not sit complacent in our lives, waiting for others to be great. We should all follow President Monson's example, or better yet we should all follow Christ's example and live the greatest lives we can.
I spent years in college arguing that time old question "Are people born great, or are do they have greatness thrust upon them?" and I always thought that people were born great. I mean, I argued for that. I really believed it in college. I felt like people needed to have that greatness in them or they could never live up to their potential. I felt like someone couldn't go through their life and just magically be ready when the moment to be great occurred. As I'm writing this, Greek mythology is running through my head. I studied a lot of Greek and Roman history in college, so I probably was basing my ideas off of most of that time period. I always thought only a handful of people had that "greatness" and could be placed anywhere in history and be great, whereas the rest of us are just normal people, trying to live our lives- as normal people.
However, I'm reading President Monson's biography, and it has started to click that it's not one or the other- the two go hand in hand. We are all born great- we're children of God! We have greatness in us! It's part of our divine nature. We have the potential to become just like God. Literally... just like Him. We all have that greatness in us. I guess I just never looked at it like that before.
We're all great, and we all have this potential to become even greater, and to get there we have to let our life shape us in great ways. Not saying we sit back and watch as life makes our choices for us. Oh no, that is definitely not what I'm saying. I'm saying we have to look at what life is giving us as a test of our greatness. President Monson was taught at a young age to serve and to love everyone and to take care of anything given to him, whether it was a pigeon or a congregation of 85 widows. He didn't shirk at the call to be great, and because he was born great, as we all are, he just let the greatness get better with every good choice he made.
I was just reading the part of his biography where he signs up for WWII and is sent off to boot camp. He talks about how significant it was that first Sunday at camp when they start sending everyone off to church, and they don't call the Mormons. He said this of the experience:
"One of the sweetest expressions I have heard came from a petty officer when he said 'What do you fellows call yourselves?' It was the first time I realized I wasn't standing alone. The men responded "We're Mormons."
Ok, if that didn't give you chills you obviously need to read it again. The thing that really stands out to me is that he thought he was alone. I have two thoughts with that comment. One, he thought he was the only Mormon there. What a shock to see others there, waiting, and ready to be Mormon; to be different; to not hide with another group, or claim nothing. They were there, and they were ready when the call came to stand and say "We're Mormons." The other thing that stands out to me is that he says the men responded. Plural. Multiple. More than one. President Monson wasn't the only Mormon there, and he wasn't the only one to claim Mormonism either. I think it would be so easy to overlook that moment when the men are all standing there together, announcing their belief, and just focus on President Monson, because the book is about President Monson obviously, but I think President Monson wants us to remember those men because he talks of them later when he refers to a party they all attended. His friend, Eddie Foreman, relates this experience:
"You [President Monson] were kind of a natural leader even then among us.... I can see you so clearly right now in my mind- that skinny, tall kid with your smile and sense of humor to laugh your way through saying no [to the alcohol], so no one would take offence, pushing it away, repeating, no, no. How would it have hurt you? It would have hurt us, Tom- those of us who were watching you. The Lord could still have made you and apostle if you had taken that beer, but what would it have done to us who remember that moment in time so many years ago?"
I love this story. I think this story is so great because it's a reminder that we are being watched. I remember when I was in eighth grade something sort of similar happened. I was standing at the lockers talking to a friend when a girl came up with a shocked look on her face and asked me if I had just cussed. I was shocked myself and said of course not! She told me she was concerned because she knew I didn't cuss, and she was worried that I had. I remember being so surprised that she knew that about me. I had moved to Rio Rancho when I was in 7th grade, and had only known this girl for about a year, but even then she knew I had standards, and she was watching. I guess it had never really clicked before that people really were watching. I know they always say that people are watching us, but in that moment, as a little 14 year old in public school in New Mexico, with no Mormons around me in the hallway of the eighth grade wing I was aware more than ever that I was an example- and not in a prideful way! I remembered my baptismal covenants- Always remember him. Keep his commandments. Take his name upon me. These had never meant so much to me until that moment. I had lived my life in a way that I was already trying hard to live up to these covenants, but at that moment I knew not only was I living them for myself, but to be an example to others.
I'm sorry I've been writing so much about President Monson; I'm just amazed at the great example he's been. He was born great, he chose to live a great life, and he chose to be an example to those around him. I'm remembering Alma the younger and the four sons of Mosiah from the Book of Mormon. They were friends who started out as rebels, who were out to destroy the church of God, and then repented and went off to be what one of my college professors called the "Justice League" of missionary work. They are the examples we look up to. I think it shows the power of having good friends around, as well as what a powerful example we can be if we decide to use our greatness for good, and not sit complacent in our lives, waiting for others to be great. We should all follow President Monson's example, or better yet we should all follow Christ's example and live the greatest lives we can.
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