Thoughts on Thoughts

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."
- J.R.R. Tolkien

I find it interesting how even the happiest of persons can feel depressed over matters that hold little importance in the grand scheme of things. Interesting that the human mind can fret over the smallest of things and turn those miniscule issues into a towering giant of a problem.

I have spent most of today contemplating this (well, the part where I wasn’t sleeping anyway, ….I took a long nap). I consistently find myself going through this cycle, partially because I battle depression and partially because I simply become lazy in directing my thoughts. In my mind, I know that I am being nonsensical, and yet I still continue to act on it. I’ve concluded that this weakness of mine is known by the great devil and he is constantly using it against me. Why wouldn’t he? After all, he is smart and cunning. What is a better way of bringing down one of God’s children than to plant a thought and let it grow on its own? This process is everywhere throughout the world: the need to be rich, have the next best technology, the next best “toy,” the perfect figure; even the American Dream is deceiving. The world is such that planting these thoughts makes it quite easy. In fact, it is done for Lucifer; he doesn’t even have to lift a finger anymore.

In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape, a devil, writes to his nephew, Wormwood, about how to best win over the mind of men. Here, talking about prosperity Screwtape says, “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is “finding his place in it,’ while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of self importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of really being at home on earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old.”

Prosperity, while certainly not evil in and of itself, has been the start of steep downhill spirals throughout all of time. It is a re-occurring cycle throughout the scriptures. Whole civilizations that were righteous and close to God, found pride in prosperity and then slowly but quickly fell to Satan’s sword. How do we combat it? How do we shield ourselves? How do we become immune to the enemy’s advances? Well, we don’t. We won’t ever become immune because of our natural tendencies, but we can guard ourselves if we so choose. Our goal should then be to be prosperous in God’s work and to remain humble. We cannot do this alone, but with God all things are possible. With the help of our Father in Heaven and His son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we can win. We will win. We just have to make it the thing we want most.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen said, “We can have eternal life if we want it, but only if there is nothing else we want more.” So, we have to examine ourselves, take a deeper look. Is there something else we want more? What are our “little darlings,” those things we hold onto that are keeping us from progressing towards Christ? We all have them, those “little darlings.” They could be anything, TV shows with inappropriate materials, the music we jam out to, movies, practices, words we say, mannerisms, anything that drives away the Holy Spirit of the Lord, desensitizing us and fogging our minds to what is right and what is wrong, causing us to take two steps back instead of one foot forward. After all, if we are not progressing, we are moving backwards; there is no stand still.

Satan will never stop trying, he will never stop fighting to win us over. Again, on this point, C.S. Lewis shared great insight to this through The Screwtape Letters, “For as things are, your man has now discovered the dangerous truth that these attacks don’t last forever; consequently you cannot use again what is, after all, our best weapon — the belief of ignorant humans that there is no hope of getting rid of us except by yielding.” It may seem true, in any circumstance, that the easiest way is to give in rather than fight on and on with no win in sight. But really, giving in makes it that much harder, not easier.

I know I’m kind of all over the place in my thoughts; I apologize if this made little sense to you. I guess my reasoning for discussing this is because I feel myself giving in to those small thoughts, allowing them to grow before my eyes and I don’t want it. I know that even if I fight hard to cut them down, the thoughts may still grow and I may find myself stuck between hedges of weariness, but I am determined to not let it take over my mind and put me in a dark place. I have this quote from Elder John Taylor that reminds me of hope and strength in the face of darkness:

"In relation to events that will yet take place, and the kind of trials, troubles, and sufferings which we shall have to cope with, it is to me a matter of very little moment; these things are in the hands of God, he dictates the affairs for the human family, and directs and controls our affairs; and the great thing that we, as a people, have to do is seek after and cleave unto our God, to be in close affinity with Him, and to seek for His guidance, and His blessing and Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in the right path. Then it matters not what it is nor who it is that we have to contend with, God will give us strength according to our day."

Sheri Dew put if perfectly when she said, “Satan knows exactly what he is doing. But do we? Are we sleeping, or are we creating places of security where we may insulate ourselves from this advances?”

We have to shield ourselves, put up a good fight, no, a great fight. And should we feel weak in the face of battle, God will give us strength. That is a promise. We have just to stretch out our hand toward Him who is mighty to save.