Learning the Lessons of the Past - Elder M. Russell Ballard sat pm

When you are willing to listen and learn, some of life's most meaningful teachings come from those who have gone before you. They have walked where you are walking and have experienced many of the things you are experiencing. If you listen and respond to their counsel, they can help guide you toward choices that will be for your benefit and blessing and steer you away from decisions that can destroy you.

I really like that comment, especially as a history teacher, because it gives sound advice and is true whether 'those who have gone before you' only recently went 'before you' (like parents and grandparents) or who traveled a more distant trail in medieval or ancient times. I would love to use this quote as a signature line on my emails, but it is probably too long.

Elder Ballard gives a really good analogy and examples of learning from those who are more experienced. I need to remember this for my social studies and even literature students.

It's hard to imagine a scenario in which it would not be worthwhile to consider and learn from the experience of others. Many professions require internships, during which aspiring professionals shadow seasoned veterans to learn from their years of experience and accumulated wisdom. Rookies in professional sports are often expected to sit on the bench and learn by watching experienced players.

Our Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and He wants them all to have the blessings of the gospel in their lives. Spiritual light is not lost because God turns His back on His children. Rather, spiritual darkness results when His children turn their collective backs on Him. It is a natural consequence of bad choices made by individuals, communities, countries, and entire civilizations.

This is a great explanation as to why we have so many troubles in the world today and why individuals become so lost and hopeless (losing hope.) We turn his back on Him. And history bears that out, over and over again. We can turn that around individually by having faith that keeping the commandments and following the prophets and church leaders will turn us towards God. If we do not feel that we have that faith, we need to pray for that faith until we have it.

We live in an era when the boundaries of good taste and public decency are being pushed to the point where there are no boundaries at all. The commandments of God have taken a beating in the vacillating marketplace of ideas that absolutely rejects the notion of right and wrong.

Elder Ballard has a view and perspective on the world that is large, through his travels for business and church. In my limited experience, I would have to agree with his assessment. He then continues by reminding us that we are in the midst of a familiar cycle. This cycle is recorded in the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and throughout human history (as he outlined in an earlier part of this talk.)

Do you see the historical patter emerging again - the pattern of righteousness followed by prosperity, followed by material comforts, followed by greed, followed by pride, followed by wickedness and a collapse of morality?

I like this phrase:

You don't have to spend time as a Laman or a Lemuel in order to know that it's much better to be a Nephi or a Jacob. He continues, You don't have to follow the path of Cain or Gadianton in order to realize that "wickedness never was happiness." And you don't have to allow your community to become like Sodom or Gomorrah in order to understand that it isn't a good place to raise a family.

Another good quote for history students. Perhaps I should include this in my signature line! (I did!)

Learning the lessons of the past allows you to walk boldly in the light without running the risk of stumbling in the darkness.

Nourished by testimony and watered with faith, the lessons of the past can take root in your hearts and become a vibrant part of who you are.

The next two quotes are just a perfect conclusion to this inspiring talk. I have been assigned to speak in the Quatama ward this week (16 Aug 2009) on temple work, with the goal of inspiring members to prepare to attend ward temple night on September 8th. I will probably use parts of both quotes because the hit at the heart of the why and how of preparing to go to the temple and then attend the temple regularly after that.

And so it returns, as it always does, to your own personal faith and testimony. That is the difference-maker, my young brothers and sisters. That is how you know. That is how you avoid the mistakes of the past and take your spirituality to the next level. If you are open and receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit in your lives, you will understand the lessons of the past, and they will be burned into your souls by the power of your testimonies.

And how do you get such a testimony? Well, there's no new technology for that, nor will there ever be. You cannot do a Google search to gain a testimony. You can't text message faith. you gain a vibrant, life-changing testimony today the same way it has always been done. The process hasn't changed. It comes through desire, study, prayer, obedience, and service. That is why the teachings of prophets and apostles, past and present, are as relevant to your life today as they ever have been.

When he talks about 'no new technology, nor will there ever be', I would add that there is no better time to start gaining such a testimony, nor will there be any better time than now to start.