Spiritual Spurs
24 April 2016
The Spur
In the summer of 2002, I shattered my ankle playing
softball. I was taken to the hospital,
where they operated to put the ankle back together, and get me back on the road
to recovery. I spent a month in a
wheelchair, a while on crutches, and eventually got moving again. In October a year and a half ago, I dropped
something on that same foot, and it started to hurt, and didn’t really get
better. A couple of months later, I went
in to get my foot looked at. XRays were
inconclusive, and I ended up getting a cortisone shot in my ankle. This helped things for a little while, but
the pain came back.
I tried ignoring it for a while. Whenever I thought I could, I would try to
not limp. Usually this meant having to
sit down at night and put my foot up for hours.
I came to church on Sundays and did my very best to hide it. It wasn’t the easiest thing to hide all the
time, but I still tried. The ankle hurt
all the time. I finally went back to the
doctor. We scheduled a surgery for the
middle of August. Last summer, I had an
increasingly hard time getting around. I
met with the surgeon one more time, and we decided to delay the surgery until
mid-December or early January. I got
another shot in my ankle, but that didn’t really help things the second time.
I simply couldn’t walk without pain. I could choose to hide it, to a point, but
the pain was still there. If I tried
walking more than short distances at a time, I couldn’t even hide it, and
limped. I did less and less, deferring
where I could in order to avoid walking.
Finally, it came time to have the surgery. The surgeon presented three outcomes, either
he would find something in the ankle that he could fix, he would find something
in there that he couldn’t fix, or he wouldn’t find anything. We were hoping for the first option. I had gotten a blessing from my Dad in August
while back East, and just before I went over to the surgical center, I got
another blessing. I was calm going into
the surgery, not really worried at all.
After the surgery, the surgeon came in, and let us know that
I had a bone spur in my ankle that he ended up removing, along with bad
cartilage and some scar tissue. He was
very positive about a full recovery.
I went reading up on bone spurs afterwards. They are small little growths of bone, that
in the wrong place, like a joint, and at the wrong size, can cause a lot of
issues. You can have a small spur in a
joint that maybe doesn’t bother you at all, or enough to do anything
about. Others, like mine, eventually get
noticed, and are always with you, bothering you.
Spiritual Spurs
While teaching in the Americas after His resurrection, the
Savior taught: “What manner of men ought ye be?
Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”
Brothers and sisters, do we have spurs in our lives, causing
us problems? Maybe spiritual spurs? Are
we carrying around scar tissue from previous mistakes, holding ourselves
accountable to things that we may have repented of, but just can’t forgive
ourselves for? It may not take very long at all to identify a few areas in our
lives that are those thorns in our sides.
We may be good at hiding them from others, but most are perfectly clear
to us.
Don’t let these things discourage you. Yes, absolutely we need to work on them. Yes, absolutely we need to get past our sins,
our bad habits, the natural man.
In Ether 12:27, the prophet Moroni writes the words of the
Lord: “And if men come unto me, I will show them their weaknesses. I give unto men weaknesses that they may be
humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before
me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I
make weak things become strong unto them.” And then, two verses later, Moroni's
response, which is sometimes looked over: “And I, Moroni, having heard these
words, was comforted, and said: O Lord, they righteous will be done, for I know
that thou workest unto the children of men according to their faith.”
It may be sin that we just can’t give up. It may be that we struggle with certain
Gospel topics, we struggle with doubt.
It may be like we heard last week.
It’s not that we are doing bad things, it’s that we aren’t really
engaged doing good things. Maybe our
scripture study or prayers can be deeper, richer, and more meaningful. Maybe we can engage in our callings or home
and visiting teaching assignments more fully.
Maybe we struggle to attend the temple regularly.
The point is that in most cases, we can see these things in
our lives. Yes, there are a few
circumstances where we may have a blind spot, and need help from those that
love us to see. Family, a spouse, your
Bishop; these are all people that love you and can help you know what you need
to work on, when you are just stymied about what is holding you back from
progressing.
Those things we know, we can work on. We can be better. Pick one, and set a goal, if only to
yourself, to start working on it. Then
take it to the Lord and ask His help. It
will take work, but in the end, that work is worth it. We come closer to our Father in Heaven, we
have the Spirit more abundantly in our lives, we become more like our Savior,
step by step.
Seeing progress
Back to my recent ankle surgery. Shortly after the surgery, I noticed
something interesting happening. I
started seeing, day after day, just a little bit of progress. Little small things. The ability to move my toes one day. Getting out of the cast, and able to move
around a little easier day by day. Being
able to bend the ankle a little. After I
was allowed to start putting weight on the ankle, feeling each and every day
that I was able to put more and more weight on it, and go just a little further
than I could the day before. Really little things.
Does that mean that every day was easy? No.
There were days when I did too much, pushed too hard, and paid the price
for it. There were days where I was just
so sore, I didn’t want to get moving.
Days where my shoulders were just shredded, and I dreaded getting back
up on the crutches. What do you do in
that case? Say a prayer, ask to have a
good day, and keep going.
I still tried to hide the issue the best I could, especially
on Sundays. I traded Brother Selway
months to conduct Sacrament meeting. I
got sat down on the stand before most of the ward arrived for Sacrament
meeting, stashed the crutches, and sat there until most were out at the end of
the meeting.
Despite that, day after day, things were getting
better. One day, I decided it was time
to ditch one of the crutches. Eventually
the other. When I was walking halfway
decent, I started tackling stairs. One
step at a time, small improvements that stacked on each other.
Seeing Progress
As you work to improve yourself, to work on that thing that
you most want to improve, you too can see small improvement in yourself, day
after day. The Savior is our perfect
example, but he didn’t come to that all at once. We are not asked to be perfect all at once,
either. It is, however, a pattern or
goal for us to strive for as we go about our lives. The Savior learned and grew, just as we are
all doing now. We read in Luke 2:52:
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
man.” It was a process for the Savior,
just as it is a gradual process with us.
In D&C 93:13, we read: “And He received a fullness not at first, but
continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness.”
There is a pattern there for us. That thing – the one thing - that biggest
issue for you – you don’t have to overcome it all at once. You may not be able to. We can however, take a step in the right
direction, do the best we can do, and then take another step in the right
direction. When we fall short of the
example the Savior has set for us, or struggle to really and truly progress, we
have the Atonement that lets us repent, that lets us lean on Him for support,
to give us strength to carry on, and He gets us put back on course to continue
changing and being more like the Savior, day after day.
As we work on our weaknesses, which we are all personally
aware of, taking them to the Lord, we will slowly but surely work those things
out. It may be a one step at a time, a slow but sure pace, but it will
eventually happen. Perfection, or being like Christ, is not a quick process.
It's not meant to be.
I am surprised by the number of temple recommend interviews
that I do, where we go through all the questions, the member is living a good
life, really striving to keep the commandments, which makes them temple worthy,
and we get to the last question that says “Do you consider yourself worthy to
enter the Lord’s house and participate in temple ordinances”, and the member is
not confident enough in themselves to give a definitive yes answer, even though
we have already reviewed that they are living a good life and really
striving. It’s not everyone, but it is
definitely some. They just don’t see the
progress they are really making, I guess.
As you go to the Lord to work on these weaknesses, of which you are
painfully aware, ask him to allow you to see the progress you are making along
the way. In the same way I saw little
tiny improvements in the state of my ankle, you can certainly see the good
progress you are making, the Lord can certainly open your eyes to see that.
Striving for
‘perfection’
Where am I at with my ankle today? This week was interesting. I was in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday, I
walked 4 or 5 miles each day. This is
more than I have walked in a very long time.
I expected to have a lot of swelling, and wake up in the morning sore
each day. To my surprise, there wasn’t
that much swelling, and it wasn’t sore.
I’ve turned a bit of a corner this week.
I don’t think I am trying to get my ankle rehabilitated anymore. It’s certainly much better than it was before
the surgery. On Friday, I went to help
my brother pour 10 yards of concrete. I
expected to come back sore and swollen, but Friday night, when I thought about
it, I was fine. I am suddenly past the
issue, without even realizing it.
Does that mean the ankle is perfect? No. I
went more than a year walking funny on it, so it will still take a while to get
a full range of motion. If I walk too
fast, I can still feel it a bit, I certainly have not started running yet. When I get on an incline, I can feel it a
little. What I do know is that I am past
the issue, well past where I was when I had the surgery, and headed towards
100%. I’m not going to worry about it
anymore, I will keep going, and look for another area of my life to focus on
really improving. The ankle doesn’t need
the intense focus on it for it to continue to improve.
Striving for
perfection
Doctrine and Covenants 50:24 reads: “That which is God is
light; and he that received light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light;
and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” Brothers and Sisters, there is a perfect day
ahead. There is a perfect day for that
one thing you want to work on right now, there is a perfect perfect day. What
there isn’t is a timetable for that perfection.
The scriptures do not say that we need to be perfect by our 23rd,
or 40th, or 72nd birthday. It doesn’t say when the perfection needs to come, just that it needs to come.
We have to understand that the process of improving
ourselves, the process towards perfection, takes time. It takes a lot of effort and humility on our
part. We may fall short of our
expectations, and see the same thing happening in others. In this process, we will continue to make
mistakes, need to seek forgiveness from the Savior. We also need to forgive both ourselves and
those around us. I know I can be my own
worst critic. I also have to understand
that I am trying, that the Lord has not given up on me, and when I make
mistakes, I can pick up from there and carry on. Our Savior is always there for us. He is always ready to take our sufferings,
our setbacks, and our sins upon Himself.
The Lord is able to take all of it on, no matter what the
problem is. The person struggling with
paying a full tithe might first decide to pay some. Then they find they can pay more. They continue to have faith, and one day take
the step to pay a full tithe on an income. And the Lord blesses them. Then they
do it again on another income, maybe the next check, maybe a few checks later.
They continue to ask the Lord for help, continue to act in faith, and
eventually they find that they can always pay a full tithe. It's not a problem
for them anymore. They've become a perfect tithe payer. Suddenly the title
perfect fits with something in their lives. They've taken steps to become more
like the Savior. It's not a problem for them ever again, because they have seen
the difference paying a full tithe has in their life. Then they work on something else in their
life.
Sometimes we sin. Everyone makes mistakes in their lives,
some come under the category of 'sins'.
When this happens, we need to repent. Sometimes we need to visit with
the Bishop about it. We most definitely need to overcome our sins. There is
nothing better in the world than to know that our sins have been forgiven. The
process of laying those sins at the feet of the Savior and overcoming them
brings us closer to him.
Conclusion
We all have things in our life that we struggle with, that
keep us from reaching our full potential, that we can work on and improve. It can feel daunting, especially when we are
in the middle of them. In Lehi and
Nephi’s vision of the tree of life, they saw multitudes of people pressing
forward along the path that lead to the tree of life. Lehi says some of the people lost their way
on the path as a mist of darkness came, wandering off and becoming lost. Others pressed forward and clung to the iron
rod, which Nephi interpreted to be the word of God, until they came to be able
to partake of the fruit of the tree.
I imagine these people, of which we are a part, all had
their trials and struggles along this path, even while they held firmly to the
rod of iron. Others may not have had
quite the same grip, but stayed close and eventually found their way back to
the straight path. Others may have
temporarily lost their grip, and wandered for a while before finding their way
back, or getting help from those around them to return to the path. I will say it again, we are a part of those
people that Lehi saw on the path. The
fact that you are here today is an indication that you are somewhere along the
path that leads to Eternal life. You are
not totally lost.
Brothers and Sisters, it doesn’t matter where we are in this
path, where we feel like we are in this path, no matter what our circumstances,
and what all we feel like we need to work on, we can always turn to our Father
in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ for help.
They love us, and want the absolute best for us. Our Savior truly understands our pains, our
trials, our struggles, and is always there to help us. He knows us, and knows how to help. He can help us see clearly both where we are,
where we need to be, and can show us the progress we are making along the way,
even when that progress is small amounts at a time.
When we have a problem, we can take that problem to the
Lord. We plead with him to help us overcome our problem. We decide on ways we
can improve that day, and go out and try. Then we come back and review with the
Lord how we did. The next day, we try to do just a little bit better. Sometimes we have a setback, but we keep
working on it. Eventually, we find that it gets easier and easier to overcome
the problem. We build confidence in ourselves. We thank the Lord for His help.
We suddenly find that whatever the problem was is no longer a problem. The Lord is able to take all of it on, no
matter what it is.
We live in a hard time.
It can be hard to live the way our Father in Heaven would have us
live. It can be incredibly easy as
well. We have the path before us, and
our Savior will always be there for us.
We also live in a wonderful time.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the Earth. The Priesthood is real. Our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ
love us very much. They can and will
help each and every one of us, as we stretch and do the work to reach out for
their help. May we all have the strength
and humility to work to remove those spiritual spurs from our life. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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