Testing..1..2..3..Testing

Well, here we are. Another week. Another chance to VIVO! Are you excited? I have to tell you, I tried the little experiment. And it sort've worked. I had a lot more prompts put into my head. A lot more clear signals about virtue or the lack. I have to confess that I didn't always choose virtue, but the battle isn't over. You have to be aware of the moment first. If you've ever taught or gone door to door for some reason, then you know what I mean. You learn to listen to people, listen for the opening in a conversation. And even when you don't do that job or that service any more, you still know how to listen and look. It's a skill you acquire. Same thing here. Once we learn how to listen to the prompt and look for the opening to ACT, the VIVO prompt will happen more and more. The tricky part is to not ignore VIVO when it is difficult or when you want to be GIGO. And we all have those moments. The moment where you choose to stop being patient and just let someone really 'have it' because 'they deserve it' and you don't want to take the time and energy required to find a better way to resolve the conflict. We've all done it. And if we're really honest, I think we would all admit that our method of handling things didn't handle things very well. It didn't improve the situation. It either created worse feelings and escalated the conflict or it created walls and separation. Neither of which was what you were actually hoping for. There are no easy bail-outs. Easy bail-outs are the lie. Why? Because in all the lists of virtues I read from all over the world not one had anything to do with the easy way out. The general consensus is, it's not a virtue. And it also doesn't work. So what does work? Well, work. ("It's genius in its sheer simplicity.")

"Since 'he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls' (Proverbs 25:28), how could we develop and test our capacity to govern ourselves without the specific opportunities for growth and failure that daily life affords? In fact, is not managing life's little challenges so often the big challenge? Those who wait for a single, spectacular, final exam are apt to fail the daily quizzes!

"We are to strive to become perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. But this is not just generalized goodness; rather, it is the attainment of specific attributes. (Matthew 5:48.)" (We Will Prove Them Herewith, Introduction, Neil A. Maxwell)

This is our proving ground. It's a process designed to develop character and develop it to such an extent that, given the powers of God, we would still demonstrate that character consistently. Can you imagine if God decided to be selfish for a moment? It will never happen, of course, because to have such powers you must be proven absolutely trustworthy of them. But we can all see exactly why that is so essential. Heavenly Father is no Zeus. And it's absolutely essential we aren't either. Elder Maxwell points out that if souls had tree-like growth rings, the widest rings measuring greatest personal growth would reflect the moisture of tears, not rainfall. "Most of our suffering comes from sin and stupidity; it is very real, and nevertheless, growth can still occur with real repentance. But the highest form of suffering appears to be reserved for the innocent who undergo tutorial training." (Id.) Martin Luther King Jr. concurred when he said that 'unearned suffering is redemptive'. No matter what you go through, with God, it can be for our experience, for our good.

Elder Maxwell continues "How many times have frustrating, even grueling experiences from which we have sought releif turned out later to have been part of a necessary preparation that led to much more happiness?...How many times have we impatiently expressed our discontent with seemingly ordinary and routine circumstances that were divinely designed, shaping circumstances for which, later on, we were very grateful?...Thus it is that our faith and trust in our Heavenly Father, so far as this mortal experience is concerned, consists not simply of faith and gladness that He exists, but is also a faith and trust that, if we are humble, He will tutor us, aiding our acquisition of needed attributes and experiences while we are in mortality...Our response to the realities of the plan should not be resignation or shoulder-shrugging fatalism, but reverential acceptance. If at times we wonder, we should know what it is to be filled with wonderment. Why should it surprise us that life's most demanding tests as well as life's most significant opportunities for growth in life usually occur within marriage and the family? How can revolving door relationships, by contrast, be a real test of our capacity to love?...Should it surprise us that in striving to acquire and develop celestial attributes, the greater the interpersonal proximity, the greater the challenge? Is not patience, for instance, best developed among those with whom we interface incessantly? The same is true with any of the other eternal attributes." We must not run away, as he points out, trying to avoid self-confrontation by losing ourselves in other endeavors or lifestyles. We must face ourselves, bravely, daily, and let our own 'rough stone, rolling' become smooth. We must trust. We must have faith.

And therefore, we will examine Matthew 5:48, the perfection of our Father in Heaven, and the virtues we must have to be with Him (and like Him). Now that we can see why faith is so essential and is, in fact, the bedrock upon which to allow the development of all other virtues, we will start there.