Are We Not All Beggars

Are We Not All Beggars

My city is Salt Lake City, Utah. Each day as I walk to work I find the same lady at the same place before and after work. She is maybe five feet tall, her hair is reddish, it may have been dyed several times and her face is severely scarred. Her eyes are blue and her voice soft but raspy. She typically has a large straw hat to shade her face from the hot warm summer sun. As people approach her she always say something like, “Do have something, anything will do, a little something to help out.” Most people walk on by as though they did not see her or even worse as though she didn’t even exist. As they pass she says “God Bless”. Her voice is weak and he countenance is forlorn.

In Salt Lake City there are many panhandlers, some very aggressive with their rote story of how they are trapped here and need money for their family so they can take them home. They are very persistent and will press upon you until you give them something or rudely dismiss them. There is something about their eyes that lacks the sincerity of the little lady by Temple Square. Some are borderline oppressive and at the very least invasive. There have been times when I was actually confronted by this type of beggar and felt the force of their aggression to be more than just intrusive. It is hard to tell the difference between those in desperate need and those with much lesser need. Thus some donors simply have slips of paper with information for those in need so than find a place to get assistance.

Some street people play various kinds of instruments, from small portable pianos, harmonicas or guitars and some just sing. Some ride the bus to and from “work” in the streets. The streets are their employment. There are some who have no obvious talent and find themselves in some very dire conditions.

After having the opportunity to visit with Cindy, which is not her real name, many times over the period of a month or more I felt there was sincerity in her manner and in her conversation. One day I asked where she stayed at night, her response was, “Wherever there is somewhere safe.” She didn’t elaborate but the impression I got was it was behind buildings or somewhere outdoors in the city where she was not easy to find.

Then a couple of days later I saw her there was a bruise that covered half of her face and her cheek was quite swollen. When I asked what happen she explained that she attacked, beaten up and all her money stolen. As she explained tears were streaming down her cheek and voice cracking with emotion. It was all the money she had to help pay off a hospital bill when a man beat her up because she “wouldn’t give him what he wanted.”

Another time she had cuts on her forehead from being assaulted by a man with a beer can. Every time after telling me of these experiences she would smile and say, “It could always be worse.” Then as we parted she would always say, “Thank you for talking to me, God bless you!”

Somehow, some way, I was always better for having visited with her. On occasion I would give her a couple dollars when I had the change and tears would come to her eyes as she thanked me.

I learned, as time went by, she had children who were in grade school. She didn’t say how many children but that she would go to visitation days at their school when she could. They didn’t stay with her because it wasn’t safe; there was program for homeless single mothers to house their children from the streets so they would be safe.

While driving home one afternoon from work the very strong impression came to me that I should give her more than just a couple dollars, maybe twenty or thirty dollars. It really wasn’t that much of a sacrifice for me but it might be a great blessing for her. The thought and feeling did not wane but grew stronger each day so I took action.

Going the grocery store after purchasing a couple of item using my debit card I got an extra thirty dollars. For the next three or four day she was not at her usual post and the money remain my wallet. Finally, one as I was walking to work looking down at the ground thinking of Cindy there was a new one dollar bill crumpled on the grass close to the path where I walked. This path was in the middle of a small park where rarely anyone was ever seen. To me was like manna. It was a sweet whispering of the still small voice ratifying what was soon to happen. Taking the dollar I wrapped it around the three folded tens and put them in my pocket.

Cindy was there, we visited briefly and as I handed her the money she said, “thank you very much,” not knowing what she was really getting. It felt good give with no anticipation of reward for doing so. After than Cindy disappeared and was not at her post for a week.

During that time fears arose in my heart, what if I had offended her, or frightened her into thinking maybe I wanted something in return, or maybe she changed her place of “work”. All these things went through my mind and each day there was a new fellow there and in asking where Cindy was he simply said, “I don’t know, she not here . . .do you have some spare change, any thing would help?”

“No pal, sorry I don’t.” And in truth I had no change. Each day the same scenario was played out. Thoughts and concerns continued to swirl through my mind. Then one day I saw she was back and I truly felt excited to see her. She was wearing a little lipstick and she smiled as I approached. We visit for just a moment and then tears welled up in her eyes as she began thank me, her voice broke up in doing so. She explained that she was able to take her children to a nice place stay and she was able to take a bath for the first time in months. She slept  on a confortable bed and her children were able to watch television which they had not done in longer than she could remember. Her sincerity touched my heart and I wanted to give more, and do more. Maybe somehow help find her a job or do something to get her and her children off the streets. That would be much in the future but her joy and gratitude reminded me of us all when we receive gifts from our Father in heaven after, sometimes, long importuning. As well, it reminded me of a scripture that has had powerful meaning in my life. It comes from the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:16-20

And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.

Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—

But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.

For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?. . .

And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.

This blog is not to exonerate my behavior in any way but share a life lesson I learned from the most unlikely source. We truly are all beggars and ought we not at the very least view others with compassion even when we are not able to provide them substance or material blessings. Not all are like Cindy but those who are might just be the tutor we need to see the Lord’s hand in our own lives.

Life’s Journeys

It has been said that life is a journey and is not necessarily a comfortable nor an easy one. The fifteenth president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley once made the following analogy:

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey - delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. (Gordon B. Hinckley, CES Address, 12 June 1973)

All journeys have a beginning place and an ending place. Some are more significant than others but all serve to teach lessons that can be learned in no other way. Each journey provides its own tests, trials, challenges and a measure of joy and fulfillment. Life is not arbitrary; all things have their purpose, reward and instructive properties.

This journey we are all a part of upon this microscopic piece of cosmic dust known as earth, began in a different place than where we now reside. It began in a pre-mortal sphere where our spirits lived and awaited a time to begin this all-important journey through mortality.

The words of William Wordsworth speak of this and ring with a familiarity of their truth:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! (excerpt ODE: Intimations of Immortality)

In mortality we find ourselves engaged in many different kinds of journeys that are a part of this formative but necessary experience here on earth. In my own life there was one such experience. After graduating from high school at the age of seventeen, I found myself in Marine Corps boot camp at MCRD in San Diego, California. That training lasted eight weeks. It was the harshest experience I had ever encountered in my short life but I did learn that I was capable enduring much more pain, stress and opposition than I had ever imagined. There were times when we would run for three miles through loose sand with full pack and rifle and my quadriceps would be in such pain that all I could do was concentrate on one step at a time. Thinking beyond that was inconceivable. After what seemed an eternity the run ended and I had endured, somehow, without giving up or giving in, fear may have been a factor but regardless of the reason I had done something I had never conceived possible.

From there I went to Camp Pendleton, California for further infantry training for three weeks. There were long days and long nights with little sleep. Exhausting forced marches on long dusty roads that went on for more miles than I could count. Again my mind and body were subjected to circumstances and experience that were foreign to anything I had ever known and yet my survival, for me, was a testament of just how much one human body could endure and survive.

After as short leave I was flown Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for six weeks of training in Supply Administration School. What was learned here was nothing like the previous experiences. I learned how I learned. Telling me something taught me nothing but by being involved in practical applications I learned quickly and indelibly. This seemingly insignificant experience would have a life long effect on me, as a student and later as a teacher. When that training was finished I was informed I would be sent to Vietnam.

The leave I had prior to my departure allowed a brief visit home with my parents in Cheyenne, Wyoming. When it came time for me to depart for Vietnam I remember vividly, as I drove south leaving Cheyenne heading to Denver, looking in the review mirror of my father’s car and seeing the city behind me wondering if I would ever see it or my parents again. The experience was at once sobering and haunting.

After finishing Vietnamese language school and a short stay in pre-Vietnam staging battalion, I boarded a plane to Okinawa. Two days later, I was flown to the 15^th Aerial Port outside of Danang, Vietnam. It was May 26, 1967. Looking out the window there was red dirt everywhere. Men were sitting on bunkers wearing heavy soundproof headphones, flack jackets without shirts, and M-16 rifles on their laps. Upon disembarking the airplane, I was overwhelmed by the oppressive heat and humidity, the pervasive smell of rice paddies and pollutants in the air, and the distant rumble of artillery. It was completely surreal.  

In Vietnam there was always the presence of war even though I was never in heavy combat. There were occasions, like R&R, which were a pleasant respite from the conflict and turmoil that were so much a part of the war. There were also beautiful sunrises over the South China Sea giving hope for a new day. The occasional quiet calm of a star-filled night. However, there was a pervasive consciousness of death when driving by a barracks full of soldiers destroyed by a rocket attack during the night, in seeing black body bags lined up at the airport awaiting their return home, seeing severely wounded soldiers covered with blood and in feeling the concussion of rockets hitting jets filled with napalm turning the horizon bright orange in the middle of the night. During the long days and sleepless nights of patrols and other necessities throughout the Vietcong TET offensive of 1968.

I felt the loss of good friends whose families would never see them again in this life. Dealing with the challenge of survivor’s remorse, feeling guilt for still being alive and unharmed. Not the least of the experience was seeing a gentle and sweet people subjected to a war not of their choosing.

Such events and feelings symbolically mirror our journey through this life. Sometimes there are those things that happen that seem unfair, there are people who are defenseless, some are fortunate but not without some trial during their stay on earth. As for my experience I was fortunate enough to have survived, I was unwounded physically but there were emotional wounds that would take some time to fully heal.

After serving a tour of duty all came home; some reluctantly some gladly, some wounded physically some wounded emotionally, some gratefully some angrily, some scarred and some unscathed and some left the war there and some brought it home with them. Having finished the tour of duty no one came home the same person they were before the left to go to war. When I returned to my home I was not the same eighteen year-old boy that drove the family car out of Cheyenne nearly eighteen months before. It would take time to understand and deal with that experience. That transition began in June of 1968.

After some very long flights I finally landed in the small airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming at about 10 P.M. on a warm June night. I got a cab and had him drive me to the corner of the block several houses from my boyhood home. I paid the fair and put a duffle bag on each shoulder and walked the half block to my home. It was with mixed feelings I made that walk; it was peaceful to be home but the effects of the war remained embedded in my mind and heart. It was almost unreal that in what was about seventy-six hours I was transported from a war zone to my home.

When I reached my home the porch light was not on; there was no moon. The front door was open and I could see my father sitting in his easy chair intently watching TV. He didn’t see me. I supposed mother was lying on the couch watching TV as well even though I could not see her. It was a picture that is indelibly etched into my memory. Well over a year before I was wondering if I would ever see this place again and here I was, returned to my home, to my father and to my mother!

Slowly I approached the front steps leading to the front door being careful to make no noise to interrupt this moment that was like no other experience I had ever known in my life. I put down my bags quietly and rang the doorbell. My father was slightly startled as he said, “I wonder who that could be?” Because the porch light was not on he could not see who was standing on the front porch.

When he opened the door and saw who it was he fell upon my shoulders with a bear hug that nearly took my breath away. With tears streaming down his face, he said with great emotion while holding me tightly, “Welcome home, sonny boy!” That was his pet name for me. I could not respond but in my heart I felt a peace that can only come after passing through and surviving a great crisis.

Mother came over, she was a woman not given to tears, but her joy and relief were apparent as we embraced in a way that only a loving mother and a grateful son could. Her love was as powerful as any as I had known to that point in my life. It radiated security where there was fear, doubt or uncertainty. That was, to that point in my life, the sweetest experience I had ever known. I was home! I was safe! I was loved and gave love in return!

That is a very small example of how I see our return from this mortal journey to our heavenly home and our Heavenly Parents who are as real as those we have here in this life. The experience of Vietnam taught me things I could have learned in no other way. In retrospect I saw the hand of God in conflict, I learned much about the frailty of mortality, I learned it was possible to survive emotionally as well as physically in very intense situations.

I don’t know what we knew about this life before we came here but we were anxious to come knowing, then, that it would be our path back to our eternal home. We understood the necessity of coming to mortality and learning all that could only be learned here. The joy we will feel when we complete our time here, having done all we were sent here to do, will be beyond any joy we can even begin to understand in this life. The words of a beautiful hymn called “O, My Father” come to mind.

For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth


And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;

Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, "You're a stranger here,"


And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,


But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.


In the heav'ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!


Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,


Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?


Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,


With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

(Eliza R. Snow, O My Father, bold added)

Because we are eternal beings in a temporal world we have forgotten our place of origin. Wordsworth’s words are applicable as we come to understand this small journey that is part of a much larger one. It is not “in entire forgetfulness” that we ponder either from whence we came or to whence we will return from this time in mortality. And truly our soul is our “life star” and will rise with us after this journey is through and our mortal body is laid to rest. But that separation, like the one from our eternal parents, will be temporary. For as our Lord and Savior had the power to raise himself from the dead in resurrection so by that same power will our body and that “life star” be reunited and then we will begin another journey that will be eternal.

The Foundation Upon Which We Build

The Foundations Upon Which We Build

The choices we make throughout our life determine the foundations upon which we build our lives. Those foundations will in large part determine the outcomes throughout our mortal stay here on this earth. Constantly we have the freedom to choose between wisdom and foolishness, virtue and vice, moral and immoral, honesty and deception, to worship God or to worship the adversary (Satan), to truly follow Jesus by greater emulation or mock Him by cursing His sacred and holy name by acts of blatant denial and rebellion against His teachings.

There are many choices we make every day but we are not without direction in making those choices. Jesus taught the way to live in Matthew chapters five through seven. A prophet of God in our day made the following statement regarding this quintessential discourse:

In his Sermon on the Mount the Master has given us somewhat of a revelation of his own character, which was perfect, or what might be said to be "an autobiography, every syllable of which he had written down in deeds," and in so doing has given us a blueprint for our own lives. (Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, p.56)

Immediately following this discourse the Savior made this statement in reference to how we receive those teachings. Matthew 7:24-27:

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

We are wise indeed when we hearken to and follow these teachings, and very unwise to pay no heed to them. It is a conscious choice we make as we read and study them. By the choices we make we build our lives either “upon a rock” or “upon the sand.”

Another latter-day apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ has given this sage counsel:

Let us remember that there is an adversary who personally seeks to disrupt the work of the Lord. . . We must choose who to follow. Our protection is as simple as deciding individually to follow the Savior, making certain that we faithfully remain on His side. (Boyd K. Packer)

Jesus came to this life not for His sake but for ours, He came to teach not only those who were present with Him but teach all who would come after Him how to live in peace and happiness. His life was one of rejection, a man of sorrows, He suffered not only His own pains, sorrows and trials but all of ours as well. He came to bear the burden of all the sins, weaknesses, infirmities, frailties, sicknesses, inadequacies and incapacities that come upon us during this mortal life. He taught us the principles by which to live that we have joy, peace and happiness in this life in spite of all the challenges we inevitably would have to face. He was not spared the grueling torture of the cruel Roman soldiers, the taunts of the apostate Jewish leaders, the rejection of most of the people He taught even one of His closest associates, an apostle, would betray Him and consent to His crucifixion. But through it all it was never about Him, it was about us, He came for our sakes not His.

Into every life come rain and wind and storms, if a life has not been built upon a solid foundation spiritually it will crumble no matter how high a societal, political, or financial position that life holds. The fall may not be public, it may not come while still living but it will come that is most assured according to the words of the Savior.

It is an incontrovertible truth that little decisions over a period time lead inevitably to major decisions that have significant impact in our lives for good or for ill. Every choice we make contributes to the foundation of life, some are more significant than others but all make their contributions.

An ancient prophet by name of Nephi said this:

Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. (2 Nephi 10:23 BOM)

The Lord allows us our agency to choose what we desire be it for good or for ill. He will never rob us of our most priceless gift, the agency to make our own choices; He never forces us to do anything. Thus, we are free to choose as we desire but the consequences are ours also. Another Book of Mormon prophet said:

I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.

(Alma 29:4-5, BOM)

God is a perfectly just God, He does not condemn anyone who does not know good from evil or does not comprehend His laws and commandments. Because He is Omniscient He knows better than we what we do and what we do not understand, comprehend or know.

The world in which we live finds a dubious comfort in what is determined to be legal through proper legislative edicts that do not conform to God’s eternal unchanging laws. What man may “make” legal does not change the dictates of a loving, benevolent God who desires to protect us from the foolishness of designing men. The Decalogue, ten cryptic statements, includes the profound wisdom of God and gives us direction in our lives in all areas. 

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me; the Gods we worship come in many forms but none can replace the God that created us and is our Eternal Father and has the power to save within the confines of His given laws.

2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I The Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My Commandments; cars, material possessions or anything of this world has no power to save us in any condition thus God is a jealous (intolerant of rivalry). He is the God over all such things because they cannot save us and bring us back into His presence.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain; to take something in vain is to make of it no worth or of no value. It is not just profaning the Lord’s name but to have no reverence or respect for His name.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it; worship God on this day with all your heart, might, mind and soul. Keep the day holy as is fitting and needful but some may be required to labor and they keep it holy in their hearts and be sanctified by such.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; families are intended to be made up of a loving father and mother who are worthy of that honor.

6. Thou shall not kill; to kill in this sense is an act of the heart, there are many such as soldiers, police force, those defending their family and loved one when killing may take place. When are we held accountable for killing? Killing takes place in the heart long before it becomes an act that is condemned by God. He and He alone will be the judge for He only knows fully our intentions in the action we take.

7. Thou shall not commit adultery; the Savior taught in His ministry that, “King James Version: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."   (Matthew 5:27-30) Also we read in the Jerusalem Bible: "You have learned how it was said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you: If a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart."  And in the Book of Mormon: "It is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart." (3 Nephi 12:27-30)  The world we live in seems to be saturated with the breaking of this vital commandment in the name of lust as if it were a pardonable sin.

8. Thou shalt not steal; Theft has reached all new heights with in our technological world where our own identity is not even safe.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour; Scores are the victims of those who had witness born against them falsely and great are the miseries thereof for all so afflicted. This commandment begs the question; Who is my neighbour? Maybe the answer is; all mankind.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's; the word covet, as defined in the dictionary, means; to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others. Greed and selfishness are the parents of covetousness.

An ancient Book of Mormon prophet offered this very sage counsel:

And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.

 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not. (Mosiah 4:29-30)

When we actively build our life’s foundation upon our Savior, Jesus Christ, we cannot fall and we will always be firm in doing that which is pleasing to Him, beneficial to others and to ourselves as well.