Things as they really Are

My weblog essay of January 27, 2013 was titled Things as they really Aren’t.  Having just re-read it after 3 ½ years I would say that it was pretty insightful.

 

Today I will briefly treat things as they really are.  This phrase is taken from The Book of Mormon, Jacob 4:13, part of which reads, “. . . the Spirit speaketh the truth . . . it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls.” My earlier essay was a paraphrased variation of the same scripture.  This little nineteen page book (the book of Jacob from which the phrase came) goes on to speak of those things.

My treatment of the topic today, however, will not be primarily theological but simply observational—insightful, I hope, in a different way.  It will be because of a rather common occurrence experienced by people of my age.  I had cataract surgery recently that has restored my sight to what it was many decades ago. 

 

One of the first things that I observed came when I first looked in the mirror following the surgery.  I saw all the wrinkles and increasingly hoary gray hair. I am getting old, something now observationally validated but performancally (I know that I just coined a new word) denied until just the last couple of years. It was brought home to me that being limited in one of your senses limits you other ways. For the last 2-3 weeks I have just been walking around observing things (not just myself) with ‘different eyes.’

This brings me back to the scripture cited above.  Read it again.  It brings us to the point of this essay. 

    

The things in our world that are occurring around us, and that could be “manifested unto us plainly,” if noticed, should be a wake-up call to us that we must get our lives in order while we still can.  As we age and as the world comes closer and closer to the abyss and chaos that will precede the ultimate deliverance and victory by the Prince of Peace, there still are things we can do to protect and improve ourselves (“for the salvation of our souls”) and to be helpful to others who could benefit from our help and contribution to them—physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. 

 

Look at things as they really are in the sphere of our influence and see where we could better fit in to be useful as long as we are still around and competent to “act and not be acted upon.” 

Fences

The astute religious writer G. K. Chesterton made the observation that one should “never take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”  Another great thinker, Alexander Pope, put it this way: “Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.” 

These are not just clever sayings, but illustrate the truth that there are some foundations, some standards, some foundational principles, some basic qualities of character that are firmly fixed, and fixed for a reason, and are dismantled only at our peril.

 

Such values and virtues as honesty, kindness, morality, respect for law, the value of work, charity—such things do not go out of force even if, with some, they seem to go out of fashion.  It is so easy to tear down, so easy to reject, so easy to discredit, but the commandments are still there, and the consequences will still come to pass.

 

If we tamper irresponsibly with the basic laws of life, we shall find to our sorrow why the fence was put up in the first place.  Don’t be among the people who tend to remove time-honored safeguards, the reasons for which they do not know and do not make the effort to find out.

 

There are, among other things, decency and good taste to consider, but in our time they have been, alas, among the first to go.

But be warned:  the strongest fence, Divine judgment, will not be dismantled.  It is coming and will yet serve its purpose in the life of every person.