Hey folks!
I had to write a little bit of my thoughts as an assignment for my religion class, so I just sat down and
wrote it all out and decided to also post it for Spiritual Thought Sunday. It's not really concise or a
formal essay, but it's more formal than my usual writings. So here it is if you'd like to read it! Also
hopefully Faustino is forgiving because my ideas about indentations and punctuation are also a little
more flexible than they should be. Shucks.
Tener una
conciencia historia
“To have a historical
consciousness”; an expression that I heard for the first time this last week.
It came up during our religion class in Alcalá, (“Los Mormones En España” aka
REL C 350R). We were having an introduction to the class including learning about
our professor Faustino Lopez when he brought it to our attention. What does it mean to have a historical
consciousness?
My first thoughts were simple:
don’t be asleep in class when they’re telling you about the world. Those
who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it. You have to know a
bit of history to understand a bit of the present, and I felt like these were
pretty concrete thoughts. I kept going
and thinking in how it could pertain to our religion class, and it seemed an
easy transfer: don’t be asleep in Sunday school when they’re discussing the
history of the church. Those who don’t
understand the Church’s history are doomed to misrepresent it. Or have a really
hard time defending it when confronted by sharp comments. You have to have
at least a basic understanding of the beginning of the church in order to
appreciate how it came to be.
While there
are certain things God asks of us-find and cherish your own testimony, follow
the commandments, love one another-if it doesn’t already say somewhere in the
scriptures that this is important, I really do think that it is. We all have a
basic understanding of our nation and how it came to be, I think we need to
have the same for the Church. As Latter-Day Saints, we take a lot of heat from
those “outside of the faith” who go to unreliable sources to learn about the
Church. These conversations may be with people we live with, people we’re
friends with, or just strangers on the bus.
We need realize that it is a responsibility we should take upon
ourselves to share with them truth to the best of our abilities. And I’m not
saying we need to always be carrying a
soap box to preach upon at any given moment, but instead we need to be able
to make factual and simple statements and the spirit will take care of the
rest. I know that Joseph Smith received revelation and direction to restore the
Lord’s church on the earth. I know we have prophets on the earth today to guide
His people exactly as He did as in the times of the Old and New Testament.
Simple and non-aggressive statements that I know to be true.
The discussion
in class however took a different turn that I wouldn’t have thought of on my
own. To have a historical consciousness also applies to our own lives. But let
me say it in a different way. Those who
do not share spiritual moments of their past are doomed to forget them. I
tried to think of a more impressive way to write that, but that’s the best I’ve
got. And suddenly, there we were: having a 30 minute discussion on why it’s
important to keep a diary. But hear me out.
I keep a journal because it’s easy.
I like knowing what I’ve done, I like telling stories accurately-because I also
have a talent for unintentionally embellishing. I like being able to put down
exactly how I’m feeling in the best way I know how and being able to share
quite literally whatever I want and I don’t have to worry if my audience wants
to even hear it. Of course they want to hear it. It’s me: I wrote it. And if I
wrote it I will likely read it at least one more time before I die if for
nothing more than to laugh.
I also keep a journal because I
know I’m changing. I think I tried keeping a journal as a kid, but had an
incident (what other women who aren’t writing this as an essay might call THE ULTIMATE
BETRAYAL!!!) where my little sister always read my embarrassing 10 year old
thoughts and then brought them up as conversation pieces. It’s been a decade,
and I’m over it now- but I also keep my journal closer to me now haha. But what
I was trying to say: I started keeping a journal again in college pretty
regularly. And a little bit irregularly just before as I was joining the
church. And I’m incredibly grateful for these embarrassing little notebooks
with my babblings and stories and insecurities.
I had to teach Sunday school this
past summer, and for one month I had a few lessons on keeping a diary. If I had
the time back, I would tell them something a little more concrete:
The reason you should write is for you. You will go back to
these books and see where you were. You will remember your experiences. You
will see what you wanted. Did you get there? Did you fall? Did you stand back
up? Do you have new goals after trying
something new? Did you get discouraged? Did you triumph? Are you where you want
to be? What do you want out of your life?
Of course you’re free to write
about whatever you’d like, but I write about these things on somewhat of a
daily basis. And I’d like to encourage you to try it. In whatever way works for
you, write when you can about the only history that only you can tell fully:
yours.
Faustino then shared with us a powerful quote from a talk by
Elder Henry B Eyring.
“When our
children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what
happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from
a Church assignment. It was after dark. My father-in-law, who lived near us,
surprised me as I walked toward the front door of my house. He was carrying a
load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work
clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream
below us up to our property.
He smiled,
spoke softly, and then rushed past me into the darkness to go on with his work.
I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and
just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: “I’m not giving you these experiences for
yourself. Write them down.” I went inside. I didn’t go to bed.
Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write.
And as I
did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record
for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God
blessing our family. Grandpa didn’t have to do what he was doing for us. He
could have had someone else do it or not have done it at all. But he was
serving us, his family, in the way covenant disciples of Jesus Christ always
do. I knew that was true. And so I wrote it down, so that my children could
have the memory someday when they would need it.”
I
included more in the blog post version of this essay so you wouldn’t have to
read the whole talk, but you’re welcome to! The
talk is called “O Remember, Remember” from October
2007.
This
is the last and most important thing we need to remember. In telling our own
stories, we must not forget to share our spiritual experiences. Faustino
included one last slide in his slideshow that really impacted me, and it’s a
lot more concise than how I would have been able to say it:
I am important.
The history of my life is part of the history of
the church, and of the world.
I should keep a record of my experiences.
I should live in a way that my life may be worthy
of being told.
My life is influencing others.
And so with this I’d like to end. The scriptures
are just like this: personal records and things that
happened to ordinary people. Sometimes normal happenings,
sometimes big spiritual changes. I know I can improve on noticing God in my life and
writing it down, and I will start with something simple:
I know God lives.
I know he hears our prayers.
I know that sometimes we think God is deaf to our prayers,
blind to our tears, and unaware of our
needs. But He isn’t. I know He is watching over me
carefully and attentively. And I know He is doing
the same thing for you. I don’t know how He does
these things simultaneously, but I don’t have to.
God can do so much more than I am even capable of
understanding. And it’ll all make sense one day,
so I don’t worry about it. I just try to float
along and be me. And love who I am and where I’m at. And if I’m not loving it, be patient with myself.
Anyhow, that’s a lot for one day. But thanks for
reading this far.
Love always,
Jessie
Bonus link:
Jason Reeves- "Like The Sun"
No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!