Helaman 2-3

(November 6, 2013)
So much of our success or failure in life is based upon matters outside of our control.  Kishkumen successfully killed one king, and Helaman was only saved due to circumstances completely outside of his knowledge.  In a similar fashion, the difference between life and death for us may be something so beyond our capacity to change as a gene.

But it isn’t just life or death that these matters pertain to.  In the past few days I been praying desperately for help from the Lord in important matters within my life.  Some parts of this are under my control, and I do everything I can within my area of ability to help things be better.  But some things are outside my control, and this terrifies me.  The wrong conversation from the wrong person, or the wrong advice, or something similar could cost me so dearly.  And there is nothing that I can do about it.

At first I was angry about the situation where these conversations could be so damaging to me, but I realized that the problem was never the conversations – it was the fact that I put myself in a position where such things could be so damaging.  If I had not made the mistakes that I had made, these words would be powerless.

I have learned the importance of building and strengthening to protect from outside dangers that you cannot control.  Praying to the Lord for protection from dangers is no substitute for taking the action necessary to prevent the dangers in the first place.