Hedging My Bets?

These days we rather despise the hedging of bets. The practice of betting on both sides in an effort to protect ourselves from losses has become pervasive, even institutionalized in the stock market. We get all upset about the devastation the practice has had on the economy, but hedging in our own personal lives is more common and even worse.

Let me give you a few examples of how we hedge our spiritual bets. When I was serving a mission in the Philippines we were instructed to live on $100.00 a month. Our parents were told the same. Before I arrived, missionaries had discovered that if we cashed our checks on the Black Market we could get 600 pesos for $100.00 as opposed to 350 pesos if we exchanged our dollars at the bank. We used the Black Market. For a while we went each month to see the China Man in Quiapo in his dark hole in a shady part of town. It seemed so adventuresome to sneak through the dark alleys and up secret stairs to conduct our clandestine errands. Later, for our safety, the China Man began coming to the Mission Home on P-Day. He was doing so when Elder Ezra Taft Benson came for a visit. Clearly, that gentle Apostle was not pleased.

Elder Benson admonished us to have faith. He counseled us to refrain from this illegal activity and promised that if we went to the bank and trusted in God we would manage just fine. We did so. In other words, we quit hedging our bets. The next month the Philippines floated their peso on the international money market and thereafter, and for the remainder of my mission, the bank yielded 650 or so pesos in exchange for $100.00!

A friend once told me that she would pray each morning for the strength to quit smoking and then (just in case God was too busy) she would slap a nicotine patch on her shoulder. She was hedging her bet. When she realized what she was doing, she repented, put her trust in God, quit hedging and, exercising her faith, quit smoking too!

I am aware that Brigham Young admonished us to pray as if everything depended on God and then to work as if everything depended on us. There is merit and blessing in this counsel. But too often we use such counsel as an excuse for our own lack of faith. Exercising faith in God is not the same as gambling. Laboring in the vineyard is not the same as hedging.

If we are short on funds enough to pay the bills, keeping back our tithing is hedging, even if we promise to make it up next month.

If we truly accept Joseph Smith's declaration that, "I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves," we won't teach correct principles to our children and then hedge by controlling their lives. Joseph wasn't a control freak and neither is God.

Today, I have been offered a job, that, in my heart, I know I should not accept. Still, I am tempted to accept the offer because I have no other present prospects. In other words, I am tempted to hedge my bet. The thing is, it is not a bet. I know what God expects of me and I must trust that He has something else in mind for me. While I am not privileged to know what lies in the future, I am clearly assured that this job is not for me. I am grateful for what knowledge God has granted me and that must be good enough. If it is not, what does it say of my faith and trust in God. If not, it says I don't truly trust Him and that I feel I must rely on the arm of the flesh to ensure my survival.

Trusting in the arm of the flesh is always a case of hedging our bets. It means that we have yet to come to trust God sufficiently that we are confident that he is true and faithful. It means that we feel we must have contingency plans in place in the event that God doesn't come through for us. Trusting in the arm of the flesh does not mean we should not prepare. It is an expression of our faith in Him when we follow the Prophet and store a year's supply of food, for example.

When the saints were leaving Nauvoo, Brigham Young gave very explicit instructions as to what each family should prepare and take with them. Many were unwilling or unable to fully adhere to those instructions. Brother George A. Smith was one who followed Brother Brigham's instructions to the letter. Weeks later President Young encountered Brother Smith while crossing Iowa. George A.'s wagon was bogged down in mud up to its axles. He anxiously asked Brother Brigham what should be done, whereupon the prophet told him his load was too heavy and that he ought to lighten it by giving much of his supply to the poor. George A. Smith, didn't flinch, didn't hedge his bet, he simply, humbly, trustingly complied.

Today, I want to be like George A. Smith.

Movie Review - The Kid

This great little Disney movie has an outstanding message. When an adult Russ Duritz discovers an eight year old version of himself standing on his front porch, he doesn't recognize his boyhood personage. He has grown to become a markedly successful loser, a markedly successful liar.

He and his younger self embark on a journey of discovery in which Russ digs out unpleasant memories from his past, examines them from an adult perspective and files them away understood and resolved.

It is a painful, humorous, emancipating process told with a delight and whimsy that is sure to make the movie a classic. When I first watched it, I found it enjoyable, heart warming. As I've watched and imagined it since, it has become cathartic and catalyzing. I too, have baggage I've carried from childhood that I've not examined from a more mature perspective. I too, have given up on core dreams and values that might have fulfilled me and brought me joy. I too, have struggled with relationships that have been harmed by lack of perspective and unfair judgments. I too, have fears and prejudices that keep me from taking the plunge into full and purposeful living.

My childhood dreams were not the same as Russ Duritz's but they were just as real and just as vital to my present happiness as his were to him. There is great comfort in the message of The Kid; which is that it is never too late to reconnect with those dreams. In a very poignant way, I think this is part of what Jesus meant when He admonished us to "become as a little child."

Watch this movie, if you already have, watch it again. See if it doesn't stimulate a heart deep longing for what you always knew really matters.

Family Excursion to Ely Creek Falls in Jones Hole

The Rasmussens, Rodericks, Coutures and Webers combined for a wonderful excursion to Jones Hole today. We played in the Ely Creek waterfall enjoying the world famous Power Shower. We also swam in Jones Creek below the bridge. A fun five mile hike, great picnic and tons of fun had by all. To see even more photos, click on see full album at the end of the slide show! Or click here!

Dump Runs

I've hauled a lot of trash to the dump this week. I cleaned out two sheds and was amazed at the volume of junk I had hoarded over the years. One shed in particular was like an archaeological dig layered with 20 years of stratified detritus from our lives in this location. Some of it, I might have used, had I remembered it was buried under accumulations of other stuff.

I could hardly get into that shed and the pile had essentially rendered the shed useless, not to mention it's contents.

Now, after a thorough cleansing, the shed is able to serve me. I have easy access to all of it's contents. It's contents are only those things I need. The trash, overburden, worthless and rotten is all gone, buried in a growing mountain of stuff others have similarly discarded. In fact a scraper, loader/compacter and bulldozer are kept busy full time just managing that mountain of once priceless rubbish.

I guess at one time, I must have thought that trailer load of stuff was worth keeping. What has changed? Perhaps the realization that if I hadn't used it again in 20 odd years, what makes me think if might in the next 20. Perhaps I kept it because having exchanged it for money, which represented hours of labor, I somehow needed to justify it's expense in the first place. As the money was no longer hoarded in the Bank, I needed to hoard it's results somewhere else.

All I really know today, is that it was liberating to toss it all and be done with it. It was a burden I took on long ago. One I took on so gradually that I didn't notice the weight of it until it had practically buried me. It was so liberating in fact, that I'm looking elsewhere for more baggage to unload. I love the dump for it's open maw, so willing to receive my burdens allowing me to leave so empty and light, happy to return to tidy, useful, swept out sheds.

I was tempted to call this a metaphor for life, living, repentance, redemption, healing, salvation, all provided by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is not so much a metaphor as a real manifestation of life. For Atonement is both spiritual and temporal. Mortality is both spiritual and temporal. Eternity is both spiritual and temporal. Cleansing the sheds of valueless garbage is no different than cleansing our souls of the same. Both foul our lives. Cleansing is cleansing.