Look out! Here Comes a Spiderman!

Spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can...Look out, here comes a Spiderman!
Spiderman is my all time favorite super-hero. Why? Basically because he has the coolest powers. Admitedly, were he to move to say, Ohio or Montana, his web-slinging capabilities would be significantly less impressive and useful. But as it stands he lives in New York City, and there his ability shines... What I also respect and admire about Spiderman is that even though he loves Mary Jane a whole lot, he never lets her in on his secret identity (ok or at least for a really long time). Why? Because he doesn't want to put her in danger. Even if it makes him look like a jerk and even if it means he can never be with her he cares more about her than himself.
So what does any of this have to do with the gospel? Well
two things.


1-The Lord knows us individually. My companion pointed out to me the other day an account in the Book of Mormon where a father is giving advice to his two sons. Both are very wicked and as such they usually get lumped together in people's mind. Their names were Laman and Lamuel. Lehi their father though, does not lump them together. As they are traveling through the wilderness they stop in a valley. Lehi names two things there after each son; Laman becomes the name of the river, Lamuel the name of the valley itself. (1 Nephi 2:8-10) Why? As we read on we learn about Laman and Lamuel. In chapter 3 of 1 Nephi we read that Lamuel "hearkened unto the words of Laman" (1 Nephi 3:28). Lehi knew his sons perfectly well, he knew that what Laman needed was different from what Lamuel needed. Laman, the oldest and leader, needed to point his path towards righteousness. Lamuel, the youngest, needed to find faith in himself and the Lord strong enough to not just be swayed by whatever his elder brother did. Just as Lehi knew what his sons needed the Lord knows exactly what each of us need. Perfectly. We all have individual strenghts and weaknesses, and because of this, the Lord places us in specefic situations, trials, families, and events that He knows will best build us. Sometimes we may be confused by where God wants us but I know that if we seek our own paths instead of God's we will end up like Aquaman out of water or Spiderman in Ohio; we will never reach our divine potential.

2-Often in life we regard not knowing things as a bad thing. I for one find it frustrating when I know what the Lord wants me to do but I don't know why or worse yet, I know that I want to do what the Lord wants me to do but I'm not currently sure what it is He wants me to be doing. Equally as frustrating is trying to learn things within the gospel that I just can't wrap my head around and I'm not getting more information. There have also been times in my life when I know I have to wait for more information or more knowledge. I think the biggest one was growing up and just wanting to go to the Temple. I knew what happened there was sacred, but I didn't understand why the sacred seemed sometimes to mean "secret". I think many people in and out of the Church have felt this way about the Temple and other things. But what I am realizing now is sacred does not mean secret in the way the world views it. Secret in the world can mean witholding information from others because we it is hurtful to them, we don't like them, or we don't trust them. The Lord's "secrets" are not the same at all. Just as Spiderman wears a mask to keep his identity from people to protect them, the Lord often keeps things masked for a time from us to protect us. Were Spiderman to go around without a mask everyone would know who he was and not only would that give evil people power over him it would put good people in danger and give them great responsibility they may not be ready to have yet. Really Spiderman wears a mask to keep his identity "sacred", and it was all out of love for those close to him and all others that might not be ready to know who he was yet.  To me, this is how the Lord works in our lives. He keeps things "masked" for a time until we are truly ready to see them, act on them, and be responsible with that knowledge. He also keeps things sacred from the world to protect these sacred things from being mocked, mistreated, and demeaned.  (3 Nephi 14:6). So really, whether it is personal revelation, gospel study, or other sacred dealings or covenants, the Lord only keeps things masked for a time from us out of love for us and love of the world and love of the sacred. Because I know God knows me far better than I know myself, then I know God will always know when the right time for things to become unmasked to me. I also know He knows best what things need to be kept sacred, and what things are to be public and what things are to be known with time.

So, how is the gospel like Spiderman? Because God knows us perfectly and loves us perfectly, therefore we can perfectly trust and love where God puts us and what God keeps masked to us-He will never let us down!

Weeds and the Brass Plates

So Saturday mornings at the Green household meant work. Nearly every Saturday we would either wake up to my Father repeatedly using the high pitch call button on our intercome or, even worse, the silent call of his work list on the table waiting patiently for us to discover it. I remember one particular morning we came down and discovered one of these said lists. There was a column for each child with a bullet list of chores. Some chores were to be shared by more than one child, and some chores were for all of us to conquer. The only good thing about it was, if all of us finished our Dad would take us to dinner and the movies. Because of this we usually tried to work together anyways so that all of us would be done in time to enjoy the evening with the family. On that fateful day we all had one shared chore; weed the gap between our yard and the dirt horse road behind our yard. The dirt there was hard as rock and the weeds tall and daunting. We decided to tackle that chore last. Working with speed and frenzy through the rest of the list, we quickly reconvened to tackle the chore of the day; weeding.

I remember getting a good grip on one of the weeds and pulling with all my might near the base of it; my reward was that my hand slid all the way up the weed and took off all of its branches yet, the weed hadn't moved from the dirt an inch. After several attempts of this from all of us we had roughly two of two thousand weeds pulled. Needless to say I was discouraged, and I began to "murmer".

Now I would like to pause here because this story came to mind as I read the account of Nephi and his brothers going back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. This was a far more daunting and "unreasonable" task and yet it was required of the Lord. When asked to accomplish the task Nephi's brothers Lamen and Lamuel murmered saying it was "a hard thing" (1 Nephi 3:5). Nephi on the other hand had responded "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3:7). He led his brothers back to Jerusalem where they drew lots to see who would go and ask Laban, the owner of the plates, if they could have them. The lot fell on Lamen who went as asked and was chased out by guards. Essentially, he ran for his life back to his brothers. Like Lamen we had tried one way to get our job done that was asked of us by our Father, and it had failed miserably. At this point of our journey I, like Lamen and Lamuel, began to murmer. And yet I too had a brother to lead and help me to accomplish my goals and tasks. When Nephi's brothers were upset this is what he told them "As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down...until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us." (1 Nephi 3:15). He then suggested they go and get all their money to trade Laban for the plates.

As Nephi sought new ways to accomplish, so did my brother Jared. He suggested we water the dirt until it was moist enough to get the roots of the weeds out. Re-energized we went right to work. Soon the whole area was watered down and excitedly I reached to pull out a weed. To my extreme disapointment I discovered that the weeds still wouldn't budge, and now I was all wet and muddy. Just as Nephi's plan to bring their money for trading failed and caused Nephi and his brothers to again run for their lives, this time leaving behind all their possesions, my brother's idea had backfired too. It seemed we were going backwards... At this point in the Nephi account Lamen/Lamuel began to beat him with a rod. Now I didn't go that far, especially since my brother was a lot older than I, but I did start to wonder if we would ever get done. Exasperated I began again to murmer. But my brother did not. He called my Dad to ask for his advice. Luckily my Dad was on his way home and was able to come out and see our progress and provide council. This is exactly what Nephi did, he sought the Lord's council and left for the city being led by the Holy Ghost, "not knowing beforehand what he would do" (1 Nephi 4:6). But he was led, and he was finally able to get the plates because of his Heavenly Father's guidance...

Now if you are wondering if my own weed story has a happy I'm here to tell you it did. After my Dad poked at some weeds for a bit he got the weed wacker and demolished them all in under an hour. We all showered and were able to go to dinner that night with our job completed. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father in my life that works with us in the same way. We are all asked to do hard things. Sometimes we try and we try and we try and things just get worse. But just like Nephi and his brothers, I know if we do all we know how to do and give the job our best effort, the Lord will ALWAYS step in and provide a way for us to finish it. So, let us like Nephi of old and my brother today, stand up and say in our lives "As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us." (1 Nephi 3:15). I know if we do we will always finish all that is asked of us, and we will in turn recieve the blessings that come with faith, diligence, and accomplishing all we are asked to accomplish.