CHOOSE not to SNOOZE!

Spiritual “Alarm Clock”

You know those mornings where that blasted alarm goes off and you fumble for the ‘snooze’ button, not just once, but over and over? Or maybe you sleep through the alarm, too tired to hear the shrieking pitch that should sound similar to the scratching of nails across a chalkboard. You just cringed, didn’t you? You should! Alarms are there for awakening, warning, and protection. Their purpose is not to be ignored.

Today in one of my Sunday school classes we talked about being “awakened” by our spiritual alarm clocks and how important it is to never hit the “snooze” button.The following are some of my extended thoughts on the subject.

As stated in my last post, one of Satan’s best tools for winning includes ‘silencing’ the armies of God. There are so many ways he can do this; I won’t attempt to list them. You know what they are, or at least you have an idea. If you take each and every one of those things that just popped into your head, consider each one as a chain that will tether you to Satan. But this isn’t a heavy chain I’m talking about. No, these chains are so light in weight you don’t even realize just how tethered you are until you try to move/change. It is only heavy in the spiritual sense, and even then, it’s a while before you realize what is happening. Our family once had a lesson on this. My dad wrapped one thread of string around our wrists and then told use to break it. It was easy. Then he walked around and wrapped around our wrists the same string over and over and over again. Then, when we tried to break it, even the best effort of strength was not enough; the bands were too strong. It didn’t make sense that such a breakable strand of thread could become so strong. So it is with those seemingly harmless little things Satan wraps around our souls, one link at a time, until we are bound.

In The Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi, the Prophet Lehi is giving his last words to his children. He admonishes them to awaken and change. In chapter 1 verse 13 it reads, “O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.”

In Charles Dickens’ story, The Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s old partner’s ghost, Jacob Marley, visits him in the night. During the visit Scrooge observes the chains Marley wears and says, “You are fettered, tell me why?” Marley replies, “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”

One of the greatest of God’s gifts is our free will, or free agency. God will never force us to do or believe anything. This is a beautiful gift, one that shows a glimpse of the wondrous mercy of our God, but it goes two ways. How you use your agency will affect your soul eternally. God’s hope is for us to use our agency to choose the path back to His presence, so that we can live with Him again. However, the choices we make may lead us down another path, down the path to eternal misery and endless suffering. Jacob Marley said that the chains he wore were put there of his own free will, and they stayed there of the same effect. Marley’s acknowledgment of wearing the chains of his own free will shows how he had the option of discarding them, and he knew it, but he CHOSE not to. Because He loves us so, God gives us the warnings, the “spiritual alarms” to help guide us back to him, but if you aren’t willing to listen and follow Him, those alarms will ring fainter and fainter until your heart can no longer recognize their sound.

But there is hope! Because of our loving Heavenly Father, we have the opportunity to change. He gave His son to us to help remove those stumbling blocks in our way. Jesus Christ’s atonement for us pays our debt and makes up the difference in what we cannot give. This doesn’t mean we can lay back and let it all happen for us, we have to do our part. We have to have a broken heart and contrite spirit, and go to the Lord in repentance. Only through the atonement can those heavy chains be broken and we can become weightless again. How beautiful that promise!

Returning to Lehi’s words unto his children, he gives counsel on how to “shake off the awful chains.” He says, “…arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity (2 Nephi 1:21). . . Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust (2 Nephi 1:23).”

*For the list of the armor of righteousness, see Ephesians 6:1-18.

There is never a time too late to change. God will never abandon us. If we feel far from our maker, it is because we have strayed, no Him. Christ is our constant Sheppard, and if we allow Him to be, our constant friend in whom we can confide in on the good days and the bad and on whom we can lean when we are weak.

President Gordon B. Hinckley once stated, “…We are engaged in a great eternal struggle that concerns the very souls of the sons and daughters of God. We are not losing. We are winning. We will continue to win if we will be faithful and true. We can do it. We must do it. We will do it.”

It is a long road, but it can be a happy one if we make it so. President Hinckley’s wife, Marjorie Hinckley said, “You do not find the happy life, you make it.”

If you become discouraged, there is always help along the way. In closing I will share my current favourite quote by Elder Jeffery R. Holland:

“Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come ‘til heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."

If you hear your spiritual alarm clock sounding, listen to it. It will change your life.