Faith Like Making a Phone Call

Can you remember the first time you ever used a phone?   Now, maybe if we can go back far enough, some might remember the first time they ever used a cell phone but that's a different story!  If I was asked that question however, I know I wouldn't be able to pinpoint when I first started to use a phone.

The function and purpose of a phone has been around me my whole life, as it has been for the majority of us.  I can't ever think of a time that I have questioned whether or not it would actually work - meaning that I never doubted that when I talked into one end of the phone, that someone on the other end would be able to hear me and then when they respond, I would be able to put my ear to the other end and hear them.

Dialing the number, hearing the ring, and waiting for someone to respond - that all was very clear to me, I never questioned it.  And if it didn't work, I would then figure that it was due to a problem with my phone, or maybe theirs, or possibly my service was down, or it could have been theirs.  Never would I think though that there was a problem with the invention of the telephone, I've witnessed it work and have used it myself time and time again.  I did not doubt that I could use some sort of device to communicate with others all over the world - I knew it worked.

How does it work though?  How can I speak into this device that runs off of electricity, emitting frequencies received by cell towers, that then direct my call to the number I have dialed?  How does it work?  Well, go ahead! Take apart your phone and look at all the pieces in it, the computer chip and the wires, and figure out how it all works.  I don't recommend it but dropping your phone into a pool or toilet usually gives a person such an opportunity (luckily I've only experienced the first one!). 

How does it work?  I don't have a clue.  Even after skimming over this good article, "How Cell Phones Work", I still feel like I'm in the dark.  I was hoping to be able to describe simply how it works and then shift that into how prayer works but it just was not working out for me.  I did narrow it down to these few things:

• Make sure the phone is on with a charged battery and/or have it plugged into the wall
• Check your cell phone coverage (may require standing on chairs, waving the phone around, running around the house or leaning out windows).  If its a land-line, make sure you have a dial tone.
• If that's all in order, punch in your number and hope its right.  Best of luck to you if you are still using a a rotary dial phone, your going to need it.
• If someone answers on the other end, say "Hello".  Now that's some good advice to heed because  it can be quite awkward when you call or receive a call and nothing is said, all you can hear is just breathing. 
• Have a great conversation, talk about whatever you want, say your goodbyes and then close the phone, press the red button, or hang it up.  This is one of the most important steps!  Don't get caught having the line still connected and then go rant and rave about how much a person talks.  "He/She just wouldn't stop talking....".  That could get you in trouble.

You might have noticed that you learned nothing new from what I "narrowed" it down to.  If so, then good!  Because I know just about as much as how a phone actually works as I do about how my prayers and thoughts are actually heard in Heaven.  But this much I do know: prayer, like making a phone call, works.

Let's switch up the words here.  Can you remember the first time you ever prayed?  Like above, some might remember but most - if you had it around you - probably will not.  Folding your arms, bowing your head, closing your eyes, and praying became a normal process, especially at the dinner table, since it was your ticket and que to begin eating while maintaining your politeness.  As my uncle always jokingly said, "Bless this mess, Amen!".  Usually though, we like to include a little more dialogue then that to express our thanks and love, but it sure would have allowed us to eat our food hot on many occasions, Thanksgiving to name one of them!

So how about prayer?  How does it work?  How can folding our arms, bowing our head, closing our eyes, and then, whether aloud or by thought, form into a spiritually audible dialogue that can be heard by someone we cannot see?  How does it work when all we can do is just say a prayer in our head?  Is either heard differently?  Are they heard at all?  If so, then how?

It all starts with your own, personal faith.  Think about what Jesus Christ taught that if we but had the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.  When the wind blows, what do you see?  You can see it carry objects in the air and move dirt and dust from the ground, and you can feel it.  What other description do we have but to describe this action called wind as just moving air?  How do you know it exists?  You know its real because you can feel it.  You've felt the breeze on a nice summer day cool you and you might have felt the wind chill you to the very bone, bringing on a wind chill factor in the negatives.  No we cannot see it, but we feel it.  We know its there.

What of God?  The same applies.  No we cannot always see him, but I know He is there, I have felt His love, peace, and guidance and I know you can too.  How can we build our faith then to have such a conviction that just as we expect our call to go through on a phone, that our prayers can be answered?  Might I offer three suggestions that will increase your faith in Jesus Christ in making prayer seem more real and pertinent to your daily activities?

1. You must first begin praying.  Click Here for a "How-To" Guide to start that prayer.  If someone hands a phone to you for the first time in your life, of course you would be doubting or confused on how or if it would even work. Especially if you have never seen it work before, you would question it entirely. We can't say there is no God if we have not tried praying.  "They said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken . . . And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord? And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us" (1 Ne. 15:7-9).  Its like saying you don't like eating a kind or type of food without even trying it.
2. You must pray with a firm belief that you will receive an answer from God.  "Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Ne. 18:19-20)
3. Once you pray, pray again, and again, and pray some more.  Don't stop at just one.  "I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." (2 Ne. 32:9).

Strive to lead a daily, prayerful life and I can promise you that the reality of prayer will become more and more meaningful to you as you apply these principles and place your faith and trust in the Lord.  And remember, all He requires of you at first is for you to have as much faith as a mustard seed.  Looking at that picture above, that's not too big.  If you have as much faith as that, imagine what you can achieve with your faith in Christ as it begins to grow.  It is because of a humble and sincere prayer, that we can return to our Heavenly Father.

A "How-To" Guide For Prayer

It has become surprisingly apparent that many feel they do not know how to pray or are uncomfortable with praying aloud.  Some also have feelings that they are not worthy to pray or raise their petition to Heaven. If you count yourself one among these many, then I first want to let you know that your Father in Heaven loves you and needs to hear from you daily!

No matter who you are, what circumstance or situation you may be in, whether in happiness and joy or in misery and distress, God wants to hear from you.  There is no distraction, loud overtone, or sound that can drown out His ears - a prayer to Him will always receive attention and notice; your prayer will be heard.  Now before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to come to terms that there foremost is a catch in this process.  What, a catch?  Yes there is a catch, a "small print" to the matter ( I suppose that might depend on your scriptural text size though, it says it right in there).  You might begin to say "Wait a second, I thought God was a loving God!  Why is there a catch?".  Don't stop here because I will tell you what that catch is.  Ready?

 Here it is (and don't over-complicate this for yourself): you have to begin praying!  That's it folks.  There's the catch, nothing more to it until you have first begun.  How do you begin?  Its as easy as 1-2-3!  I guess you could say its a guide for dummies, but that's not a nice word.  Let's say a guide that a child can understand. Here is your "How-To" guide of how to pray.

1. Address your Heavenly Father (for example, start by saying "Dear Heavenly Father, or Dear Father in Heaven, or however you see fit in addressing God) 

2. Express the feelings of your heart (gratitude and thanks, questions for any truth, comfort, guidance, help, support, etc)

3. To close the prayer, say "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Now remember, there is no wrong prayer - all are alike unto God and all are children of Him.  Every prayer is heard and answered by Him.  I hope these steps can help you feel more confident in praying to him, both day and night and all throughout the day.  If you are struggling with your prayers, I promise you that following these simple steps will help you out!

A Mother's Day Tribute: "I'll Love You Forever"

Aren't Mother's just the best?  Proverbs 15:20 sums up my thoughts completely on how invaluable and irreplaceable a mother can be in someones life, especially mine - "a foolish man despiseth his mother".  At times, I have been that fool that did not realize how great things really are because of her hard work and unyielding love.

Think on the Savior, Jesus Christ, when he was performing the act of the Atonement.  Who, since he was a babe, was right there beside him, even to the very end?   "And they took Jesus, and led him away.  And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him ... Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother ..." (John 19:16-18, 25)

Just as Jesus Christ stands by us, his mother stood by him.  And my mother has always stood by me at all times, and in all places, and in all things.  Even during my own, personal Gethsemane's, her guidance and love has never left.  Indeed, she has "loved me forever".

A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:

 I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be. 

The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. 

He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet.  Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"

But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:

                  

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

my baby you'll be. 

The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!


But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:

 

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living 

my baby you'll be.

 

The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo! But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. 

If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:

 
I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.


 

That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man and was called on a mission. He left home and now lives all across the state of Montana, teaching people about Jesus Christ.  But sometimes on dark nights the mother would get out of bed and on her knees.

With all the lights out in the house, she opened her heart to the Lord.  No longer could she crawl across the floor, and look up over the side of his bed. No longer could she tell if he was really asleep or pick him up and rock him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth; like she had always done.  Despite all of this, her song carries on:

 

 I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

my baby you'll be. 

My Father's Baseball Glove

The first sport that I got involved in during my early years was baseball.  When we lived in the Bay Area, we had both the A's and the Giants  to watch and going out to a ball game was a common outing for us.  My mother's company offered her free box tickets to A's games and my father often worked at the S.F. Giants games as a paramedic on standby.  There even was one night when my Mom and I were watching the Giants play at Candlestick Park when we saw my Dad on TV assisting a woman who had been hit in the head by a foul ball.  Luckily, she turned out to be alright.

From the age of about 5, our spring time activities were controlled by little league baseball practices and games.  My father was always there encouraging and teaching me techniques and skills that were needed on the field.  In addition, he was also the head coach for a number of teams that I played on.  He had grown up playing baseball and I suppose I decided to follow suit.  Dating back to the days when he played baseball, he always used a good ol' tan, Rawlings baseball glove.

If you know much about baseball gloves, then you might understand that when you first purchase a new glove, it is very stiff and hard to bend.  Catching baseballs with it is next to impossible.  The glove requires conditioning - lathering it in Vaseline, Saddle Soap, or running it over with a vehicle ususally does the trick.  My father's glove seemed as if it had gone through all of that and then some.  The glove was very comfortable and did its job well - at least as well as its operator could use it.  It was this very glove that I would always throw into my father's lap and beg him to play ball with me.

Since my Dad had coached me often during my younger years, it was not uncommon for me to keep my father's mitt and bat in my own bag, seeing that we were going to the same place.  This carried on as I continued playing, even when my father was no longer the coach of my team.  Occasionally, if someone had forgotten their baseball glove, I would let them borrow my Dad's and require it back afterwards.  This didn't happen too often but when I allowed it, I supposed it was alright and thought nothing bad would come of it.

One Saturday morning, as I was preparing for a game, I wanted to warm up and play catch with my Dad.  Looking in my bag, I could not find it.  Scrounging around our garage, the glove still remained lost.  I can't recall telling my Dad at the time, but I knew I didn't tell him I had lost his glove.  Over the course of the next few weeks, I went around to players and coaches, asking if they had picked up a tan, worn, Rawlings glove.  This might fit the description for most gloves, but I knew I would be able to recognize it.  Despite searching through many teams' equipment bags for a number of months, the glove was never found.

Eventually I had to admit to my father that I had lost his glove and expected punishment.  Indeed, I felt I had rightfully deserved it - I mean, I had lost my father's baseball glove from when he was a kid and that's tragic news there!  Losing it made me feel very bad and despite my efforts to find it, I was never rewarded with discovering it. 

Losing his glove and allowing it to be used by others without his permission was wrong and I have learned my lesson.  But my father, instead of reacting as he rightfully could have, decided to teach me about what "matters most". 

Surprisingly, he was not angry and the impending consequences I feared never came.  While I knew he was disappointed, he forgave me for losing it.  Better yet, he taught me that we should "never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." (Thomas S. Monson) 

I am grateful for the lessons I have learned from my father, even when it involved losing his prized baseball gloved.  Through his example, he has taught me the true power and way to love a son, no matter the situation.