Mormon Folklore

Fast and testimony meetings are my favorite Sundays every month. I wish we could do it every week, but then we wouldn’t get to hear the high counselor and his assignments as much, so I guess I should just be happy with things as they are.

Yesterday, a sweet sister - who is home on break from BYU - stood and said that having the gift of the Holy Ghost is kind of like cheating – like you already have the answers to all of life’s tests and you are guaranteed an A+. And you know what? She is absolutely right!

See, when you have the gift of the Holy Ghost, he will guide you in every decision. So if you listen to him for every decision, you will never make a mistake. Ever! Because the Holy Ghost would never lead you down a wrong path.

That may not seem fair for people who do not have the gift of the Holy Ghost, but they can get if they will but repent of their false traditions and accept the restored and everlasting gospel which is the same yesterday, today, and forever, amen. When people make mistakes, it’s because they don’t listen to the spirit and they don’t have enough faith. It’s as simple as that.

See, the Lord loves each and every one of us so much and He has so many blessings to pour out on us all. The only thing holding him back is our own lack of faith. If we will but have faith, we will have more blessings than we know what to do with. It doesn’t matter if we are American, or Canadian, or ethnic. It only matters that we have enough faith, and that we are members of his church.

So if you are not getting the blessings that your loving father is holding back from you, just show more faith. It’s a tried and true formula you can use throughout your life. What, still no blessings? More faith. Still none? Your faith is too weak – step it up.

Of course, you should also remember that sometimes the Lord blesses us by sending us trials and tribulations, so maybe you are being blessed and you just don’t have enough faith to see it. But if you will just have more faith, you will see all the blessings that are really in the tribulation, and you will learn from it and you will have even more faith and you’ll be able to get even more blessings.

In other words, it you have enough faith, good things will happen to you. And sometimes bad things, too. But those bad things are really good things, as long as you have enough faith.

But if you lack faith, then only bad things will happen (the real bad things — the ones that you don’t learn from because you don’t have enough faith). Or maybe some good things will happen, but they will be the bad kind of good things, like worldly success which will not really make you happy because it is so shallow and of the devil. Maybe those worldly things will make you temporarily happy, but they will not bring you real joy.

But if you have faith enough to recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost, and if you have faith enough to follow His every prompting (yes, the Holy Ghost is a man – of course He is), then you won’t even have to worry about it, because you will never ever make a mistake and you will always be happy (the good kind of happy — the kind with real joy), unlike those who are not faithful enough to have the gift and therefor have to struggle through life in virtual ignorance every day. Gee, I would hate to be one of those guys. They hardly know anything. They don’t even know what they are missing (and the really bad ones don’t even know that they aren’t really happy). But if you have the Holy Ghost, you will know, even when everyone else around you doesn’t. It’s almost unfair, really. Almost like cheating.

But it’s not.