Man Is Nothing

I'll explain my title in a second. As I sit here, I'm eating a fresh peach for the first time ever! I'm not a huge fan of peaches...at least the canned ones; the fresh ones aren't bad but they do take some getting used to I guess. I will say that the fresh peaches are much better than the canned ones!

Church was way busy today as usual - got there at 8 AM to print the Ward Picture Directories - got those done and did my normal plethora of errands for the bishopric and whatnot. It got complicated for a few minutes because one of the ward members got very sick - to the point where she couldn't stand - so the Bishop and Ward Clerk took her home. What that meant though is that there were two counselors that didn't know that the Bishop was gone and tons of people that were coming to ask the Ward Clerk questions...so I had to put out fires for about 15 minutes on top of everything else.

After Church I worked more on the Ward I-Learn (Blackboard) site - and went to have one of the ward members test out one of the new modules...only to find out that it froze up her computer for some reason. I'm not sure why either. It just so happens that I've got a nice crush on her too - so I'm just going to have to get a hold of her this week to get more details...though I did not purposely cause the problem. I was hoping that it actually would work for her and now I'm probably going to be pulling my hair out trying to figure out what's going on.

Stadium Singing was pretty much normal tonight - my arm is a little more sore than normal tonight. I'm getting pressure to change leadership though - so its getting on my nerves at times.

Now - as for my title - it comes from Moses 1 that I was reading today and it just inspired my thoughts today. I came to the realization that Moses could have perhaps been saying that more in depth than we realize. Its not that man is nothing of themselves...even though they are. In reality - what I'm trying to say, is that without the Savior in one's life or his gospel, man really is nothing. Without the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation or the inclusion of the Lord into a person's life - man is nothing. Mortality without that is pointless otherwise!

The other thing that I thought about was the experiences that Moses describes later in the chapter on his confrontation with the adversary. His confrontation occurred right after he was transfigured and could "behold the Savior with his own eyes" - which got me to thinking: We are able to behold Satan anytime we want because we are fallen individuals, as a result of Adam and Eve's decision in the Garden. Because of that, without serious repentance, work, and a good dose of the Atonement, few of us can behold the Savior with our natural eyes. Even though we have this opposition in all things - and can behold Lucifer whenever - we don't! I believe that we struggle to recognize the adversary's temptations - because we see them all the time! We are not used to beholding the things of the Savior enough on our life and we've become too numb to the devil's temptations to fully combat them.

Even the adversary gets to the best though because later on in that chapter Moses is fearful. Fear is not a tool of Savior, but is the tool of the adversary. Thus, even the strongest can fall when tempted and berated enough - but fortunately the Lord has provided us a good many safeguards, the Atonement, and the gospel to help us fight fear.

Finally, I was brought to the thoughts of Lucifer's overall plan. He wanted all the glory - we know this readily, but he did not want to sacrifice himself in the Atonement. this is an attitude that many people even have today - they have the attitude that they want what God has to offer...but not to give up themselves by invoking the Atonement in their lives. Satan recognizes this and not only tries to tempt people into doing things of themselves...but more importantly to shy away from invoking the Atonement in their lives. He realizes that there may be good things in people's lives that may help them progress towards eternity, but that its a fair trade-off if he can allow those good things - but tempt people into not praying, not repenting, and not taking those steps that will assure them communion with the Father.

Those are my thoughts tonight. I'm hopefully getting Volume 3 of The Great and Terrible series tomorrow, so I should have plenty to write on that after that point!