Faith

Faith is the bridge between what we know and what God knows. Faith precedes miracles.
What is faith to you?

What Is Truth?

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Well over one hundred years ago, an American poet put to rhyme an ancient parable. The first verse of the poem speaks about:

Six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

In the poem each of the six travelers takes hold of a different part of the elephant and then describes to the others what he has discovered.

One of the men finds the elephant’s leg and describes it as being round and rough like a tree. Another feels the tusk and describes the elephant as a spear. A third grabs the tail and insists that an elephant is like a rope. A fourth discovers the trunk and insists that the elephant is like a large snake.

Each is describing truth.

And because his truth comes from personal experience, each insists that he knows what he knows.

The poem concludes:

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!¹

We look at this story from a distance and smile. After all, we know what an elephant looks like. We have read about them and watched them on film, and many of us have even seen one with our own eyes. We believe we know the truth of what an elephant is. That someone could make a judgment based on one aspect of truth and apply it to the whole seems absurd or even unbelievable. On the other hand, can’t we recognize ourselves in these six blind men? Have we ever been guilty of the same pattern of thought?

I suppose the reason this story has remained so popular in so many cultures and over so many years is because of its universal application. The Apostle Paul said that in this world the light is dim and we see only part of the truth as though we are looking “through a glass, darkly.”² And yet it seems to be part of our nature as human beings to make assumptions about people, politics, and piety based on our incomplete and often misleading experience. 

To read more, go to:  https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/what-is-truth

Who's in charge?

How many Psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?

Only one, but the light bulb must first really want to change.

God won't force anyone to change--this was His gift of agency to us, His children. He wants us to change, because He knows how much happier a life we could enjoy.

Landscaping

A weed is a plant where you don't want it. And, you shouldn't want plants where they invade the space of the plants you know you want.