By This Shall Men Know.........Take Time Out.....to listen

John 13: 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
36 ¶ Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.
38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

In all the noise and contention in the world -  it's going to get worse before it gets better unless we keep the precept above  - I thought I'd post something different from the noise - something that gives me hope.

Often mankind looks to the heavens and says "If there is a god....he wouldn't have...." or "why doesn't he....?" 24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. 2 Nephi 2:24

Matthew 18:7 ¶ Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Opposition is a part of this life.  We've been given a time to test ourselves in mortality. A chance to test our spirits against our weak flesh.  We were given the freedom to choose and to learn for ourselves.  Without opposition or the possibility of it, there is no freedom - and without freedom there is no growth - and without growth......what is there?

If opposition is intended to be a part of this life - and opposition stems from God giving us the freedom to create opposition - what do we do? 

Rail back? Rant and rave?  Or quietly go to work, studying, learning, and embettering ourselves and preparing for what's to come? 

The calamities that will sweep over mankind have already been foretold.  It's pretty obvious by looking around that they are already here.  Record numbers of earthquakes, tsunamis, economic and social upheaval.....so what do we do? 

Go turn ourselves to Him who created us.  Find peace in knowing we've done what's right.  Find comfort though storms blow around us.  Refuse to be corrupted by the influences of the world.  "Be still and know I am God" (D&C 101:16).  All things I struggle with.

So we know where the cards lie.  We've already got the cheat sheet.  We've already been told what's going to happen.  We know how it ends.  Do we know what to do?  We've been told that too. 

I've posted this before but it's inspiring to me to hear a prophet's voice (or several prophets' voices) calm and collected in these times of troubles.  Men who've even fought in WWII and seen the overthrow of nations and been around to build them back up.  Men who know God.  Men who bring a message of peace in troubled times. 

This weekend is General Conference.  A time when we will hear words of comfort.  Words of peace when peace is so hard to be found in this world.  And it will become harder in many ways in years to come.  I guess I'd invite anyone who reads this to listen sometime.  Take the time.  Turn off the soundbite-world with it's fast-easy-obvious answers that still leave things as troubled as they were in the beginning.  Take time to listen and ponder. Tune out the noise.  Lift our minds up beyond the troubles of the world and hope for something better.  If you do - I hope you enjoy.

That's just my thoughts for the day as I prepare to go to work.