"Mormon Thinking"

"I'm not superstitious, but..."

This is how a gal at church started a conversation the other day.  She continued to talk about how she believes that some things, like lightning hitting a house for sale, may not mean anything; but she wouldn't buy that home. 

She ended by asking, "Does that make me superstitious?"

 I responded,  "No, that makes you Mormon." 

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we can't help but be a little superstitious. 

We may not believe that it is "bad luck" to walk under a ladder, see a black cat, and so forth, but we would wonder (whether we voiced it or not) why lightning struck that house.  Was it a message from God?  Did the previous owners practice Satanism?  Or perhaps God just doesn't want us to live there; He wants to guide us to another home, another neighborhood, to fulfill our path in life. 

Be honest.  You've thought things like this before, haven't you.  We all have.  It is part of our Mormon DNA.  Part of what we've been taught.  We are flooded with testimonies of "Everything happens for a reason" and "God can bring about his work through trials."  We believe in signs of the times, in evil forces, and that Satan is in charge of water.  (Here's a little background into that little diddy). 

(  D&C 61 (Preface) says: "Revelation given through Joseph Smith he Prophet, on the bank of the Missouri River, McIlwaine's Bend, August 12, 1831. On their return trip to Kirtland the Prophet and ten elders had traveled down the Missouri River in canoes. On the third day of the journey many dangers were experienced. Elder W.W. Phelps, in daylight vision saw "the destroyer riding in power upon the face of the waters."

Then later in verses 14-16: "Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.

"Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters.

"And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart."    )

I certainly don't make light of many of these things, because I believe a lot of them myself.  But sometimes we lose ourselves in the murky waters  (no pun intended) of what is God's voice, and what is our strangely wired "Mormon Thinking." 

I believe that some things are meant to be.  I also believe that God can bring great and wonderful things out of trials and tragedy.  But I do not believe that we need to find a deeper, more significant meaning to everything we see.  Sometimes, lightning is just lightning.  And God lets it be.  Other times, things happen to us that make us take notice of ourselves, to refocus and recharge, and to become better.  The difference in those two situations is the presence and guidance of the Holy Ghost.  If you see a bolt of lightening, know you are doing good in life, and feel nothing prompting you otherwise, by jove move into that house!  If you feel a prompting about that home, telling you it is not right, then it probably isn't.  The trick is to LISTEN to what God has to say, not to PLANT superstitious ideas into your own head.  After all, God's ways are not our ways. 

He is not always telling you what you think He is though.... 

Feelings of self-doubt and sadness are not always because of sin.  When they are, you know it.  When they aren't, you need to let them go.  Listen.  Take a moment.  Are you becoming better from those feelings?  Or are they just dragging you down?  Either start repentance, or stop with those feelings.  They aren't healthy.  They aren't for a greater cause.  God wants you to be happy.  So repent, or start loving yourself and thinking positive, HEALTHY thoughts.  

"The Lord’s thoughts and ways are higher than the thoughts and ways that come from men.  The Lord said to man: “… my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, … for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8–9.)  God’s way was to create man, male and female, in his own image and likeness.  Man’s way is that man came from a lower form of life. God’s way justifies self-respect.  God’s way provides man a divine way of life. The Lord promised his children salvation in the kingdom of God if they would live and follow his ways. It is important to know that man can become godlike through the thoughts and ways of the Lord."  Bernard P. Brockbank

What God must be thinking constantly!

It is okay to be a Mormon Thinker.  We aren't all that dumb, just a little jumpy and introspective.  So listen to the Spirit.  It will tell you whether that lightening is worthy of panic. And the next time you see a black cat in your path?  Pick it up and give it a cuddle, 'cause my guess is God wants you to.  ;)