Morse Code And Meditation

Consider this picture as you read the following story.

There once was a former army morse code operator who was looking for a job. One day while looking in the paper for a job, he saw an ad "Morse Code Operator wanted, for appointment call…." He quickly picked up his phone, and called and made an appointment. He was told to come in at a relatively early hour in the morning in a few days.

The day arrived and the operator hopeful walked into the office, dressed in his best suit and tie, and walked up to the secretary. "I'm here for the interview for morse code operator!" he proudly said. The secretary looked up, smiled, and asked him to "take a seat with the others." Puzzled he turns around and sees 3 men men sitting in chairs, dressed in a suit and tie.

As he takes his seat he asks the men how long they've been sitting there. The first man has been waiting for 45 minutes and was reading the paper, the second man had been waiting for 30 minutes and was reviewing his interview notes, the third man had been waiting for 15 minutes, and was nervously sitting there. As our friend took his seat he decided to calm himself down, and clear his mind.

After a few minutes he stepped up to the secretaries desk and asked for a paper and pen. The other men glanced up, and then resumed their respective activities. A few minutes later our friend stood up and marched into the office of the interviewer. The manager stood up, and asked him what he was doing in his office. Our friend showed him his notes, and the man shook his hand and said "congratulations, you've got the job."

When the hiring manager stepped outside his office to announce that the other perspective employees could go home, they were upset and asked why they weren't hired! They had never gotten their interview!

Calmly the hiring manager said, "The entire time you've been sitting out here a message has been broadcast via morse-code: 'If you can hear this, come into my office, you've got the job.' All of you had equal opportunities to translate, all of you had the training, and the skills, but not one of you took the time to be still and listen. Therefore, none of you got the job. You're all dismissed."

This story illustrates a very powerful truth: if we don't listen for the still small voice, we won't hear it. When Christ comes we'll be among those who "never knew [him]." The injunction to "Be still and know that I am God" is a commandment. (And it's not just in the Old Testament! It's a commandment in the Doctrine and Covenants as well.)

I'm sure there are numerous reasons why this is, first off, the world is going to get CRAZY, and if we don't anchor ourselves into him, then we'll won't survive the storm. The second is more subtle i think, by becoming still, we allow ourselves to really surrender everything to the Savior, and let him make changes in us for our benefit.

John 10:27 says "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (NIV) Matthew 7:22-23 says something quite chilling. "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in they name done many wonderful works? And I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Did you notice how often they said that they did a wonderful work "in thy name"? What is the only church that has Jesus Christ's name on it? I've seen plenty of Baptists, and Methodists, and sects of Christianity, but I'm only aware of one church that bears the name of Jesus Christ: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

Many of members of the LDS Church believe that because they're called, (or got the job interview appointment, and were well qualified, as was the case in the story above), that they'll be chosen. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that! "...Many are called, but few are chosen." as the scriptures declare. The problem? "Their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world…." The solution? Spend time in stillness, and give your heart a chance to let go of the things of this world.

What will happen if you do? The scriptures will open up to you in a way that they've never done before. The words of the prophets will make more sense, and you'll feel an increase of peace in times of difficulty. Your ability to regulate your emotions will be enhanced, and you'll be more calm in times of relative chaos. Also, one of my favorite blessings, all things will begin to be revealed to you. 2 Nephi 27: 11 says of the last days, "And all things shall be revealed unto the children of men which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the ends of the earth." Some people think this will happen in General Conference, but it won't. General Conference has to be the standard to the world, the ensign, the constant unchanging message and invitation to all the peoples of the world. No, this says it will be revealed to the "children of men" not just the prophets or apostles, or yogis, or sages, or mystics.  It will be direct, straight to us, from God to man.

The twelve steps teach it, Oprah suggests it, the prophets have commanded it, and the warnings for not doing it are unmistakably clear! Meditate. Take time each day to be still: still your body, mind, spirit and emotions. (Don't still your heart-beat otherwise you'll die, and I don't want that on my head.) And if you don't know how to do this, ask God to teach you! (That's how i had to learn) If you do this with the pray of knowing God, i promise that you'll get that! I have come to know and love God better through my daily time in stillness. I've become a better disciple of Christ. Love reigns in my home, and in my heart, and when i step out of bounds, i recognize it, and quickly hop back on the path of love, and devotion. It might not make you perfect overnight, but it will certainly transform and change you life!  As always, i love comments, so feel free to share your thoughts! 

It is my hope to meet you as we travel the road of happy destiny (hopefully you'll be meditating),

until then, happy meditating, and have a wonderful life!

Free To Choose

During my mission i was really puzzled by the commandment to "humble yourself…." I was familiar with the process of being humbled by the Lord through his glory, or through affliction, or threats of afflictions. But the idea of choosing to be humble confused me. I didn't know how to choose that!

In the midst of my emotional turmoil the spirit took me to Alma 42:30. It's a gem of a scripture, and reading Alma 39-42 in order to get the full context of Corianton's spiritual state. It also happens to be the formula for humbling ourselves before God.

It reads, "O my son, I desire that ye should deny the justice of God no more. Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point because of your sins, by denying the justice of God; but do you let the justice of God, and his mercy, and his long-suffering have full sway in your heart; and let it bring you down to the dust in humility."

Did you catch that? The justice of God + the mercy of God exercising their full range in the human heart will = humbling her/him to the dust. The scripture points to one other thing, and i'll get there in a moment. When i was on my mission, i only saw justice and mercy, because that's what i needed at the time.

I used to think of this as a pendulum! (again, we're ignoring that third part for a just moment)

It's perfect! If i bank too much on the mercy's of God, i will be denying Justice, and excuse myself in my sins. If i lean too much on God's justice, i'll never be able to accept the Atonement as ransom for my sins. Humility is in-between justice and mercy. Okay, here's the third part, (10 points if you can guess it) love. That is, the Love of God.

Eliza R. Snow penned it beautifully in her hymn How Great The Wisdom And The Love, "How great, how glorious, how complete redemptions grand design, where Justice, Love, and Mercy meet in harmony divine!" (Hymns, 195)

I like to think that these three have to come together, because in love we find a love for God, and for ourselves and our fellow men and women. But this change must come about because of a love for God, which only comes as a result of feeling God's love! (1 John 4:19)

This all sparked through my mind tonight because i was contemplating affirmations. I decided that I was going to wake-up early, pray, and then spend 10 minutes in total silence, letting go of everything, then spend 10 minutes putting in healthy food for my brain via affirmations. (This is actually part of a bigger plan, but that's a post for another day!)

I was looking at a blog post the other day from one of the blogs i follow and Kylie, the blogger, put up a bunch of affirmations (that i'm assuming came from a really awesome scripture study) that started with "I am free to choose…" and it'd list two things she can choose, where she can really only choose one of the two i.e. "I am free to choose liberty and eternal life, or captivity and death."

So, i guess i liked them because they reminded me that I am free to choose humility, or self justification, or self deprecation. And that's a really great feeling.

Tools

I'm interrupting my story that i've been telling for a very important announcement: i'm going to be teaching another Addiction Prevention/Self Mastery Mentor Training that will be starting this Wednesday (September 10th) at 2pm.

Great and noble they are. Mentored they must be.

What i've been learning lately is that God gives us tools to bring about his purposes. Recently i've been working with someone that God led me to through those tools! (I'll explain that in part 3, or 4!)

I know that God will bring us to people through the tools he gives us, and i know that this is an inspired program through which God is working a great work.

The course is basically an 8 week intensive. And believe me, it's intense! We study spiritual principles, neuroscience, and techniques outlined in ancient scripture, and how we can use the truth from all of those to combat the pernicious and addictive evils that are rampant in society.

If you'd like to sign up, you can call Carol at 1-877-HERO-877, or you can sign up online here.

Mention this blog post and you'll get 10% off, or if you sign up online use the coupon code "LikeNephi" and you'll get the same discount.

If you have any detailed questions feel free to email me at ryanmcall@gmail.com!

Passions, Interests, Talents (part 2)

Study Music

The phrase hit me like a ton of bricks. Music?! Are you kidding me?! I want to like something cool! Like rock climbing! Or.. Or.. Hiking! Or anything! Anything but music! People don't socialize through music! I need socializing! I don't even like playing the cello!

You know those people who played stringed instruments all through school Yeah. That was me.

The idea of having fun with the cello, or with music in general was completely foreign to me.

Steven Sharp Nelson showing me how to have fun with the cello.

I might be getting ahead of myself. Let me backtrack a little bit.

I got home from my mission Dec. 2011, and attended BYU-Idaho that January. My quest had begun, and i was on the prowl to find out what I was passionate about.

I ignored the prompting (which i don't ever recommend) to take Organ Lessons, but decided to follow the prompting to take a horticulture class! I really enjoyed the horticulture class! I joked with my friends that i was studying "Herbology" like in Harry Potter. The next semester i felt impressed to take Flower Arranging, and Group Guitar Lessons. I took both, but not without some internal resistance: Why am i getting all these promptings to take music classes! Ugh!

With the semester over i found myself back in Utah at a CES fireside in the Bountiful Regional Center. I remember absolutely nothing from the fireside about the speaker or what she/he said, but i remember how that meeting ended. I felt a burning fire come down from Heaven that seemed like it might consume me, and i felt the peace accompanying it, and in my mind i heard the words "Study Music".

Dread. Horror. Fear.

Those were the only words that can express my feelings on the matter of that prompting. So I asked for a second witness. I said like Peter of old, "'Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee.' Give me a second witness." The meeting then ended and I turned to my right and saw someone i recognized from High School sitting on my row just 2 seats away. As i went to say hi and we talked he told me that he was going to school at BYU-Idaho (check) and he was studying Music (double check).

Then I had the aforementioned murmuring, and then cried the rest of the night deciding then and there that i'd change my major to music.

Part 3 is on it's way!

Being Me (Part 1)

For years and years I've been getting the message from God via priesthood blessings, random people calling me with one message that they felt impressed to give me, people in a class coming up to me and telling me the same thing over and over again!

Be yourself.

The first time I was given that message I thought I took it to heart and really was myself. Then a week or so later it came again! "Be yourself." This time I was a little discouraged and puzzled as to how I wasn't being myself.

I can't solve a problem until I'm aware that it's a problem. Right? Well, I wasn't sure what the problem was, but apparently identifying the problem (or equation) was actually the solution to the problem. Funny how stuff works like that.

I am the light, truth, and love of the Creator.

See, I love math, and physics. Those were my favorite subjects second only to yoga and psychology! I like to think of things in terms of math equations, the world makes more sense to me that way.

So the question was "If Ryan M Call = X then what is X?"

So i went to work chipping away at the problem. God threw me a bone when I was released from my mission; my mission president gave me a special message. He quoted some Prophet (the reference eludes me, which actually drove me to think and ponder the message more and more!) in saying something like "Get as much education and training in the areas where you have talents, interests, and passions. For God has planted those feelings within you to build the kingdom of God."

I now had a part of the equation! X = passions + interests + talents + YZPDQ(stuff i still hadn't figured out yet)

My next thought was "Crap! What are my passions and interests?! I've spent the greater part of my life addicted to sin! How am i supposed to even know what i like?!" And so the search began.

Stay tuned for Part 2!