Leveling Up

One question on perfection and reaching the goal of Celestial glory is just how long we have to achieve it.

This morning I had some thoughts on that based on an old and recent discussion on God's Glory/Power

Years ago I took an institute class and a member of the class explained his perspective as an electrician by trade. He said that it takes a high quality wire to handle a high voltage electrical current. If you try to use a lesser quality wire, the wire will burn up. He likened the wire to our spiritual selves and the electrical current to the Glory of the three kingdoms. He said it is up to us to refine our "wire" so that we can withstand the Glory of the Celestial Kingdom and living in the presence of God's Power.

Yesterday, in Sunday School, I saw this quote I had placed next to the scriptures we were reading in Moses Chapter 1:

It made me think my first goal should be to be refined enough to handle a Terrestrial Glory so that I am not "burned up" at Christ's second coming and have the whole Millennium to "Level Up" to a Celestial Glory. I imagined it kind of like a computer game where your "lives" are refreshed when you move up a level in the game.

Somehow the thought made achieving a Celestial Glory seem more doable.

Saying Goodbye to Casey

 Some of our first friends in Lehi were the Colledge family. They built a house facing ours across the street. Our children were similar ages and Tina was good to put together adventures for us.

Jessica and Casey were the same age and had many similar interests. 

They had many adventures together and used to signal each other at night from their bedroom windows with flashlights.

They had a common love for all things Star Wars.

When Jessica turned 13 on Friday the 13th, I took some of her friends to a cabin in Heber to celebrate. I won't forget how her friends were jealous as Casey watched us leave from across the street looking like he wished he was invited. (It was girls only.)

I was Casey's cub scout leader for all three years and was proud of him for earning his Arrow of Light award.

Casey was kind hearted and quick to lend a hand.  Once, I was cutting down a dead tree and Casey ran across the street to do it for me.

We were all devastated to hear that on December 31, Casey passed away.

He was so young and our family, especially Jessica, lost a dear friend.

Our hearts broke for the Colledge family.

I had the thought that Casey had progressed as far as he could here on Earth and God released him to come home to find peace and rest from his many trials.

It was kind of the Colledge family to include Jessica and Graig in Casey's funeral

Jessica played a piano solo, "How Great Thou Art" and

Graig played his Violin with the band.

The whole service was very nice and peaceful.

The Pastor gave the family some nice advice:

Don't dwell on how Casey died

It is OK to mourn in your own way

Keep the stories of Casey alive by telling them over and over.

Corey, Casey's dad, introduced Jessica several times as "Casey's longest and most loyal friend."

They did have a special bond; she will miss him.

One of many arts council classes Jessica and Casey took together.

Just before a band concert at Willowcreek. 7th grade.

(Eternal) Perfection Pending

Toxic perfectionism is a topic that is close to my heart. It is a problem I have been working on hard for the past few months. When I was asked to teach Gospel Doctrine this past Sunday and was told I could pick my topic, this is what I felt inspired to teach on. 

12/31/2017 Gospel Doctrine Lesson

Objective: Class members will be more self compassionate as they seek self-improvement in the new year.

Q: Why do we strive for perfection?

·        We are bombarded with images of perfect people living perfect lives. Part of us wants these images to be real so that we have some sort of hope to achieve them.

·        “Mortal” perfection can be satisfying. (ie. A perfect score on a test.)

“In this life, certain actions can be perfected. A baseball pitcher can throw a no-hit, no-run ball game. A surgeon can perform an operation without an error. A musician can render a selection without a mistake. One can likewise achieve perfection in being punctual, paying tithing, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and so on. The enormous effort required to attain such self-mastery is rewarded with a deep sense of satisfaction. More importantly, spiritual attainments in mortality accompany us into eternity.”

“Mortal perfection can be achieved as we try to perform every duty, keep every law, and strive to be as perfect in our sphere as our Heavenly Father is in his. If we do the best we can, the Lord will bless us according to our deeds and the desires of our hearts.”

(R.M. Nelson, “Perfection Pending”, October 1995 General Conference talk)

·        It is a commandment, “Be ye therefore perfect.” Eternal perfection is achieving the distant objective to be complete or whole. It will not happen until after we are resurrected. Temple covenants will help us meet this goal.

“The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance. It is the eternal expectation as expressed by the Lord in his great intercessory prayer to his Father—that we might be made perfect and be able to dwell with them in the eternities ahead… Perfection consists in gaining eternal life—the kind of life that God lives.” (R.M. Nelson)

“My brothers and sisters, except for Jesus, there have been no flawless performances on this earthly journey we are pursuing, so while in mortality let’s strive for steady improvement without obsessing over what behavioral scientists call ‘toxic perfectionism’.” (J.R. Holland, Be ye therefore Perfect, Eventually, October 2017 General Conference talk)

Toxic Perfectionism Focused on others “What will others think of me?”	Steady Improvement Focused on Self “How can I improve?”
A self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, live perfectly, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame judgment, and blame. Perfectionism is self-destructive simply because there is no thing as perfect. It is more about wanting to be perceived as perfect.	Accomplished by letting the light of Christ into our lives and following HIS example.
Pride tells us that we have “made it” so we stop trying/working	Humility knows there is more to learn and enduring to the end is key.
Overwhelm, we fail to start at the thought of the huge task ahead	Hope tells us to focus on one small part of the goal that is doable
Judgmental. We get our value by judging others as better/worse than us. “Judge not that ye be not judged”… of yourself. (It is impossible to judge another, we can only judge ourselves against them.)	Charitable. We see our value as coming from God and equal to others. We know nothing we do can increase/decrease our value; only help/halt our progress.
Craves the Praise of Men perhaps to the point of doing something physically or spiritually harmful to earn it.	Appreciates recognition from others but seeks for confirmation from the Holy Ghost that they have God’s approval for their accomplishments.
Cynical of gospel principles that are hard to live. An all or nothing approach to life.	Seeks for progress line upon line. “All is possible with God’s help.
“We are not hypocrites, we are human” J.R. Holland
Blame/Punish others who don’t meet our expectations of perfection.	Forgiving of other’s faults or when they let us down.
Avoids Trials. Sees them as punishment for their lack of perfection. Wants and if/then formula (D&C 130: 20-21)	Trials = Growth. Understands the purpose of our Earth life and is willing to find meaning in all the experiences God gives them.
Greedy. Wants your share. Envious	Abundance. Blessings are limitless
Self-critical. Verbally abusive in our self-talk.	Kind and Compassionate in our self-talk.

“If we love God with all our might, mind and strength, then the grace of Christ will offer us salvation from sorrow, sin and death AND from our own persistent self-criticism.” (J.R. Holland)

“We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments. It includes thrones, kingdoms, principalities, powers, and dominions. It is the end for which we are to endure. It is the eternal perfection that God has in store for each of us. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

Accomplishing goals should be fun, fast and easy. If not, there is something wrong with me (performance pressure)	Believe we have the Power to effect change: “This is tough, but I can do it”
Shame. Our “lens” is zoomed in on our flawed selves “I’m the only one”	“Lens” is zoomed out to realize many people have the same struggles – connection
Deal with difficult emotions by numbing.	Knows how to “lean into discomfort” and put it into an eternal perspective.
Buffeting of Satan (D&C 78:12): Striking someone repeatedly or violently (Negative thoughts)	Praise: building up others with our words or ourselves with our thoughts
Darkness	Light
Misery	Joy (2 Ne 2:25)
Fixed Mindset: believes our character, intelligence, and creative ability can’t be changed in a meaningful way. We must constantly prove we are of value	Growth Mindset: The power of “yet” – “I’m not perfect, yet”. Believes they can find a solution to every problem. How fast they find the solution is not important. Makes a new goal for each one accomplished. No amount of talent negates the necessity of hard work for success.
2 Ne 2:27 Satan works hard to “sell” us on a mortal (unattainable) illusion of perfection. It is unattainable because the bar is raised as soon as you think you are close to your goal. Satan gave away his opportunity to be PERFECT (whole, complete) with a resurrected body. If he can’t have it, he doesn’t want us to have it either. Satan has no more opportunity or progression. This causes him to be miserable. Satan works to bind us with his chains (sin, doubt, fear) to drag us to hell where we will be tormented by what could have been.	Jesus Christ is, “with nail scarred hands, extending to us grace, holding on to us and encouraging us refusing to let us go until we are safely home in the embrace of Heavenly parents” (JR Holland). The atonement of Jesus Christ and the Power in the Priesthood we all can access gives us the ability to cast Satan out of our lives. To increase our Power in the Priesthood we must: *Pray from our hearts – the Lord will teach us how to pray for more power. *Search the scriptures. *Ask the Lord how to increase our power while worshiping in the temple. *Serve others. *Fast. *Seek. *Pay whatever price.