Blog Archives

Christ and Karma

4/19/2015

I’d like to introduce you to my friend.

The introduction will not be literal, not now at least, though if you are lucky you will get to meet her in person.

I say that you’ll be lucky to meet her in person because Holly is a truly wonderful woman.   She has a pure and tender heart (ready smile, eagerness to help); she is a proactive mother who invests her full focus on the welfare and well being of her family (struggling to stay at home with her children, pondering how to teach them correct principles); and she is a seeker and finder of truth.

It is thanks to Holly and her honest heart that my understanding of and appreciation for my Savior, having already sprouted, did grow exceedingly.    To quote Alma, “my understanding was enlightened and my mind did expand.” (Alma 32:34)

It is this story that I want to share today.

In her quest to understand life and to make sense of existence, Holly has studied many religions.   She feels particularly drawn to Buddhism and its emphasis on peace.

She taught me the doctrine of karma is that whatever you send out comes back to you. In fact, it comes back multiplied.

Our conversation left me puzzled.    How does one help a person who does not embrace the story of Adam’s fall to see the importance of a Savior?    What need is there of being redeemed from the Fall if one does not believe man has fallen?

The key that opened the door of my understanding came in the Book of Mormon.   In Alma 41:15 it says “…that which ye do send out shall return unto you again.”   Karma. Somehow, reading about karma in the Book of Mormon led me to the realization that the law of karma is the law of justice.   We need a savior so that we do not have to get back what we send out.   The Savior is mercy and grace.   Christ paid for bad karma. If we turn to Him, we do not have to suffer the anguish and agony that karma/justice holds for us. He suffered for us and will save us, if we repent and turn to Him.

Pondering about Christ and karma, I came to another realization.   It is Christ’s willingness to take our bad karma upon Him that sets Him apart from the other great teachers of the earth.    Mohammed, Buddha and Lao-Tse (Taoism) taught compassion, humility, forgiveness, service, and love, just like Christ did. But, unlike Christ, they did not offer to pay for our failures to live compassionately, humbly, and lovingly.   With them, we are left to suffer for our own mistakes.   Only Christ offered to pay for our lapses, to suffer for our mistakes.

And He did not stop there.   “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind…and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, that he may know how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”   (Alma 7:11-12)   He experienced pain and sorrow of EVERY kind. As a legitimately empathetic Being, He truly knows how to best comfort and guide us. But He does not stop there.   Not only will He pay for our sins, He will help us with the sorrow and heartache that accompany sin.   In fact He will help us with all sorrow and heartache, be it caused by our sins, by the sins of others, or by life’s circumstances in general, if we will turn to Him.

This enlightenment, this understanding of Christ and His role, is the gift that Holly gave me.    Thanks to her, I better comprehend why we need Him.

But I don’t want to stop here.   I want to tell you, as I told Holly, not just why I need a Savior but why I love my Savior.

I love Him because He has helped me with my sorrows and heartaches.   I love Him because He has paid for my sins.   I love Him because He has truly comforted me, lifted me, changed my heart, and given me peace and direction in this increasingly chaotic world.

The bottom line about Christianity is that it works.   It works.   I know from personal experience that my Savior lives and that He loves me, that He forgives, comforts, leads, guides, and directs us when we turn to Him.

May the peace, joy, and light of the Christ child, son of Mary, grow and expand into the peace, joy, and light that Christ, the Son of God, offers to our souls.

0 Comments

La Vida en la Fincacita

4/12/2015

0 Comments

I would love to post an entry about life on the farm--at least I think I would love to post an entry about life on the farm, maybe I would not be so much enchanted by the idea if I actually lived on a farm....I do remember being particularly eager to leave the farm as a teen-ager.... However, the point is a bit moot as I do not currently live on a farm and cannot, therefore, post an entry (not an honest one at any rate) about life on a real farm. I can, however, write about life on a tiny farm, un fincacita, because we do live on a tiny farm but.....I am not going to do that either. Instead, I'm posting pictures. Enough writing. Done.

Tanah the apricot tree trimmer

Teresa the apple tree trimmer

A wheelbarrow has many uses. (See photo above and below!)

Zorro before....

...and after his shave.

Being shaved is NOT a happy thing for Zorro. For some reason he feels shamed. When we finished he lay in the driveway as if dead for a moment or two.

Grace shears Big Mama

After shearing the sheep, we trimmed their hooves. To trim Big Mama, I put her on the ground and had Grace sit on her neck and hold a front leg. Somehow Big Mama got her back legs under her and started to stand. NOT GOOD. I grabbed her by the flank and twisted back, throwing both her and myself to the ground (asphalt). I have a little road rash but she did not escape. When I got her down, Grace immediately did a belly flop on her; Grace’s entire body was lying on top of Big Mama’s entire body. It was sheep wrestling at its finest and we won!!

Three bags full

Grace is much happier that the pig is here than the pig is.

Like pigs in a pod....

Sheep eating like pigs

Chickens acting like......

....chickens

Beets....

...peas....

...peas and lettuce.....

....lettuce.....

...and spinach.

I looked through the camera lens and what did I see? "Popcorn popping" on the APPLE tree!

Miles took the fincacita (little farm) to school Friday. He proudly taught all the six graders (six separate rotations) about lambs, pigs, and chickens. The squealing pig was the highlight of the show for everyone--except the hog.

Charmed!

0 Comments

Good and (hopefully) Effective Advice

4/5/2015

1 Comment

It response to my query about good advice he’d been given, Lance told me a high school world history teacher told him to “look around and find a beautiful, intelligent, gracious, fun woman who has the same beliefs and values as you do…and marry her mother.”

“But you did not follow that advice,” I protested.   [NOTE: My mother is beautiful, intelligent, gracious and fun but Lance decided he would marry me long before he met her so her charms could not have been a deciding factor in our courtship.]

“Oh, I know,” he admitted, “but it is really good advice.”

True.

Talking to Lance I realized that there is a significant difference between good advice and effective advice.   There is lots of good, REALLY GOOD in fact, advice out there—exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, work hard—but good advice has no impact unless it is applied.    Effective advice changes lives.

In the February 2015 issue, The Reader’s Digest published an article titled “The Best Advice I Ever Got” (Lauren Gelman) wherein people shared effective advice that changed their lives.   It caused me to pause and to ponder, to reflect and to ruminate, to think and to thank. Today I share these thoughts with you.

Never assume. Always ask.

From the Reader’s Digest:   “I grew up in the northern Himalayan region of Kashmir. My grandfather would take all his grandchildren for walks in his apple orchards, where he would pick apples that had been tasted by birds and carve off the opposite side for us. I once asked, ‘Why would you not offer the ripe-looking apple untouched by the bird?’   I felt he was such a miser that he wanted to sell the ‘good’ apples instead of feeding them to his grandkids. He rolled his hand over my head affectionately. ‘The bird would only eat one that is sweet, so I pick the best for you,” he said.   ‘Never assume; always ask.” (Khurshid A. Guru)

From my life: I was a missionary in the Dominican Republic and was in the kitchen conversing with the mission president’s wife. (NOTE: NOT Sister Sorensen; I served under two mission presidents and Sister Sorensen was the second mission president’ wife with whom I associated. This story refers to the first.)   Transfers had been announced and she inquired who my new companion would be.   When I told her the name she said, “Oh dear! That sister is so rude.   When I made her French toast she told me how awful it tasted.”   A few weeks later, in a casual conversation, the mission companion said to me, “The mission president’s wife makes the best French toast.   She made it for me once and I loved it.”   It was a powerful lesson to me. Never assume that what you hear about another person is true, no matter who tells you. Always meet people without bias and give yourself a chance to love them.

Don’t be afraid to be the one who loves most.

From the Reader’s Digest: I met a woman in Georgia who has been married to her husband for over 60 years. After being asked for her best relationship advice, she paused and said, ‘Don’t be afraid to be the one who loves the most.’” (Nate Bagley)

From my life: In the Dark Ages of my marriage I read a lot of books seeking insight. One recommended book suggested if the relationship were 80/20 then it could be successful; if I were giving 80% of the effort and only 20% my needs were being met, we could make it work. At the time I felt that I was giving everything and receiving nothing.   I threw the book away.   Marriage is not 50/50 nor is it 80/20. Marriage is 100%; 100% commitment, 100% effort, 100% dedication.   I gave everything I had to make it work and am so, SO grateful. My children have a father whom they adore and I am married to my best friend; a man who also gives 100%.

The difference between winners and losers is that winners do things that losers just don’t want to do.

From the Reader’s Digest: My seventh-grade football team had just been soundly trounced. Our opponent was a bunch of ragtag kids from an Oklahoma City Salvation Army shelter. Their helmets didn’t match. Some wore jeans. The kid across from me had put his number on his shirt in masking tape. But when we snapped the ball, that kid hit me so hard, my left should still hurts when it rains. After the game my dad told me, ‘Boy, you just got a lesson in the power of desire. The difference between winners and losers is that winners do things that losers just don’t want to do.’ If I want something bad enough, I better be willing to work however hard is required. If not a boy with a taped-on number might take it away.”   (Phil McGraw)

From my life: In high school I ran to win. I knew that I wasn’t the fastest on the team; I also knew that I could work the hardest.   At the time, our small, Idaho school did not have a very good track but we did have a very good coach.   Every day after school Coach Campbell drove us to Rick’s College where we worked out on their asphalt track.   Every day I ran the prescribed workout with 100% effort. And, every day, when the bus returned to the school, after having completed a full work out, I ran around the school, another 400 m at full speed.   I worked hard and I won, three state championships, three state records. The lesson has transferred. I don’t win races today but I do things—send thank you notes, apply for opportunities, write blog entries (smile!)—that make me feel like a winner.

You don’t want to win the argument. You want to get your way.

From the Reader’s Digest: “’You don’t want to win the argument. You want to get your way.’ It was from the late Rae Wolf McKenna, my first mother-in-law. I have found it popping into my head in many tense situations over the years, to great effect.” (Paul Steiger)

From my life: I was fifteen and we had just moved from a few acres in Oregon to a dairy farm in Idaho.   The ewes came with us; the ram did not.   In my autocratic, older-sister way, I assigned my younger brother, Wright, to find a ram so our sheep could have sex in the fall and lambs in the spring.   Wright did not do it.   I reminded. Wright did not do it. I nagged. Wright did not do it. The situation was getting desperate.   No ram, no lambs. No lambs, no money. Finally I initiated an argument.   I don’t remember what I said—I am sure it was not nice—but I know that won.   He agreed with every accusation I hurled at him, every nasty thing I said to him, every character slight I directed his way.   I was the clear winner….and the clear loser.    I damaged my relationship with my brother….and ended up having to find the ram myself anyway.    I learned a lot from that experience.   One: It takes two to fight. He refused to fight and it frustrated me to no end.   I would much rather someone else be frustrated so I refuse to fight. Two: Often by losing the battle, one wins the war.   Keep the big picture in mind; concede small points as needed, give up low ground to keep high ground.   Lance calls this manipulation; I know it is facilitation.   We don’t argue about it. J

Zap them back with super love.

From the Reader’s Digest: “When I was maybe six I saw a photograph in a magazine of a young woman holding a bouquet of flowers up to ta police officer who was pointing a gun at her—it was a 1970’s image from an antiwar protest. Terribly intrigued by the contradiction depicted in that photo, I asked my mother about it. She explained that the woman was trying to win over the officer with kindness. Her exact words: ‘Zap them back with super love.’ I’ve thought of that phrase many times over the years in trying moments. I’ve never regretted zapping anyone back with super love.” (Cheryl Strayed)

From my life: Brother Day was a gnarly, opinionated, vociferous, elderly widower in our neighborhood.   His know-it-all, “I am the expert” attitude in Sunday School drove me a little crazy.   Apparently I bugged him too.   When he told someone that he did not like me because I was “too hoity-toity”, I decided to change the relationship. “By gum,” I told Lance, “Brother Day is going to like me” and I set out to win him over.   I made a point of saying “Hi” to him at Church, I took the kids to his home to trick-or-treat on Halloween, we brought him zucchini bread at Christmas…..and he grew to love me.   The beautiful thing is that I grew to love him too.   Sincerely and deeply.   “Kill them with kindness” we often say; a more accurate statement would be “Lift them with love”.   No matter how it is phrased, the concept is concrete. Zapping back with super love often lifts everyone involved and always lifts me.

I am so grateful for the good advice that was shared.   I hope it is effective!

Love,
Teresa

1 Comment

Christ and Karma

La Vida en la Fincacita

Good and (hopefully) Effective Advice

Author

Archives

Categories