The Nelson Challenge: Prophecies of Christ

I've been following President Nelson's challenge to study the words, actions, doctrines, prophecies, and commandments of Christ every week. Here is something I studied recently.

Lesson #3

Who Will Wait for the Savior? (Steven Kapp Perry, "From Cumorah's Hill")

I read through the references in the Topical Guide under the heading "Jesus Christ, Prophecies About." My favorite is Isaiah 25:9, which reads, "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

Of course, Isaiah had the most prophecies about Christ out of all the books in the Bible. But this prophecy means something special to me, because I feel like I live in a spiritual waiting room. I'm always waiting for blessings, waiting for the right calling, waiting for the right time (waiting for the right guy, but you didn't hear that from me). Everyone has to wait for blessings. Think of Job or Sarah or Ruth or Esther. The whole parable of the ten virgins was about being prepared to wait. The doctrine of Christ teaches us that we must endure to the end. We must wait, but we should not wait idly. I believe that God uses the waiting room as a classroom. We grow and learn while we wait.

"This is our God; we have waited for him." What do we do while we wait for Christ? Here are a few things I'm trying to do to improve myself while I wait.

• Serve within my "human orbit." God has placed me in my current circumstances for a reason; the people I'm around now are the people I'm supposed to be serving. I'm going to pay closer attention to the service opportunities that are in front of me right now. Every person I meet or know is a chance to serve.
• Study, study, study. The Nelson challenge is a major part of that. 
• Write, write, write. We wouldn't have scriptures or conference talks if people didn't write down their spiritual experiences, inspirations, and witnesses. This blog is part of my attempt to write my own personal scriptures.
• Repent! Every day, with planning and preparation not to make the same mistakes again. I don't want to be caught off guard when the waiting is over.

The Nelson Challenge: Tongue of Angels

I've been following President Nelson's challenge to study the words, actions, doctrines, prophecies, and commandments of Christ every week. Here is something I studied recently.

Lesson #2

Messengers in Christ's empty tomb.

2 Nephi 31:13, which continues to explain the Doctrine of Christ (the gift of the Holy Ghost, in particular), declares that "ye shall receive the Holy Ghost...and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels." The next verse refers to the tongue of angels as "a new tongue." So what does that mean? What exactly is the tongue of angels, and how does it fit into the bigger picture of the Doctrine of Christ?

2 Nephi 32:3 clarifies that "angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore they speak the words of Christ." So maybe the tongue of angels means that our words are directed to the hearts of the listeners, like the promptings of the Holy Ghost. To speak to someone's heart or feelings, you must know their heart. Sometimes that means that we can empathize or we have had similar feelings. But we are not perfect empathizers; we have finite mortal minds. God still knows all and Christ has felt all feelings and the Spirit thus empowers us to speak to the heart even when we personally don't understand. It is enough that Christ understands, and we can simply speak his words.

I also like the end of this verse: "wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ." Having the gift of the Holy Ghost does not automatically allow us to speak the words of Christ. We must contribute by studying the words of Christ. We need to give the Spirit material to work with. If the doctrine and wording and love of the Savior's teachings are always in our minds, it will be so much easier to share his words with others.

So, the content of the tongue of angels is the words of Christ. What about the delivery? In a regional conference a few years ago, President Nelson himself shared that angels are messengers. Think of every instance of an angel in the scriptures: that personage was there to share a message. Who else would like to share a brief message with you? The missionaries! It follows, then, that one way to speak the tongue of angels is to spread the gospel through missionary work. Of course, Preach My Gospel has much to offer by way of instruction. Perhaps it is truly a manual on speaking "a new tongue."

Lastly, as far as my study went, I turned to Elder Holland's conference address, "Tongue of Angels." In this talk, he defined the tongue of angels as speaking with faith, hope, and charity. This kind of speech encourages and uplifts the listener. It is not biting or fiery but is bridled and sacred. I imagine that this speech requires a lot of thinking beforehand, probably even prayer so that the words are spoken with care and love. We are to be gentle and humble in our speaking. Similarly, the Savior speaks peace. The voice of the Spirit is still and small. We can learn a lot about divine speaking from their examples.

This study has made me think about my own speaking. Do I speak with the tongue of angels, or am I living below my privilege? How could I better bridle and temper my speech? Here is my plan to revise my actions:

1. Continue President Nelson's challenge and feast on the words of Christ.
2. Pray (when possible) before difficult or significant encounters, like sharing the gospel or working at the temple.
3. Listen to the Spirit when talking to someone one-on-one.
4. Be generous and honest with compliments.
5. Speak up to people and not down to them. In other words, speak to them as the gods and goddesses that their spirits are. As C.S. Lewis said, "the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship."

The Nelson Challenge: Baptism by Fire

In January, President Russell M. Nelson issued a challenge to the young adults of the Church: to take time each week to study Christ's actions, words, laws, and doctrines as recorded in the scriptures. He recently wrote a blog post about how he fulfilled this very assignment. He included pictures of the notes he typed up and the markings in his Topical Guide.

As I am ever in search of a better way to study the scriptures, I have accepted this challenge. I confess to giggling with glee at the sight of President Nelson's scripture notes (so organized! so thorough!). I started by snatching the nearest copy of the Book of Mormon and searching for Jesus Christ in the index. There are several pages of entries for this subject, which is no surprise when you consider the Book of Mormon to be Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Anyway, I read a few snippets of verses right there in the index, and came across some interesting things that led me to deeper study.

Lesson #1

2 Nephi 31 covers the Doctrine of Christ from faith to repentance to baptism to the gift of the Holy Ghost and finally enduring to the end. I've heard these repeated over and over in Church lessons, but I wanted to go deeper and find a way to live the Doctrine of Christ better. I paused over the verses describing the gift of the Holy Ghost as a "baptism by fire." Why is the Holy Ghost so frequently compared to fire? I mean, the Spirit of God like a fire is burning. But why?

Feel the burn.

We know that the Holy Ghost is a cleansing agent, meaning that the Holy Ghost purifies us in the same vein as the washing of baptism. Fire burns away impurities (think refiner's fire) and is often associated with ordinary things becoming holy (think Moses' burning bush). Fire also produces light, which is associated in the scriptures with glory and truth and intelligence. After all, Christ is the light of the world. So, the Holy Ghost can make us holy and more like the Savior.

I also associate the Holy Ghost with receiving inspiration from God. The word "inspiration" contains the root "spirare," from which we also get the word "spirit." Inspiration literally means to breathe into. Breathing is what gives us life; therefore, inspiration is God giving us life, both physically and spiritually. We breathe oxygen, and what else needs oxygen to endure? Fire. The Holy Ghost ties us to the life-giving force that is our Heavenly Father.

Application: if you are feeling less than holy, seek the fire of the Holy Ghost. Create circumstances around yourself that invite the Holy Ghost to be your constant companion and, like the missionaries, never go anywhere without that companion. Seek inspiration more. Seek it in better ways. Ask questions as you study the scriptures. Set down the electronic device that consumes your quiet moments and reach out to the Spirit instead. Be still. Breathe. Burn.

Plot is super amazingly tremendously important, or is it?

In Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing, he describes (among other things) his writing process and writing philosophy. I appreciated his commentary about plot and its relationship with the characters. Many writers will describe themselves as a Pantser or a Plotter: they either write by the seat of their pants without planning ahead, or they prepare a plot to follow before they start page 1. Bradbury seems to be more of a Pantser. I'm an avid Plotter: I have to know where I'm going when I write. Last year, I tried to Pants-write, and it ended poorly for me. The project was awful and uninteresting to me, and I lost track of the things I loved.

However, I believe in Pants-writing while I Plot. When I have thought through main plot points and who the characters are, I listen to those characters about what they would do or how they would respond in certain situations. And I revise as necessary. Heck, I even revise after the plot has been written in stone. That chapter outline is only a guide to keep me going, a reason to wake up and write. But to have a truly authentic plot, I need to bend to the wills of the characters I created. I let go of the logic and embrace the emotions of the story.

"Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.... So, stand aside, forget targets, let the characters, your fingers, body, blood, and heart do."

Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing