Monday, July 19, 2010

The spiritual application of horoscopes

Today at FHE, the person assigned to give the spiritual thought was stuck on a train and was unable to make it; so literally at the last minute, another member volunteered to do it. The thought was short and to the point, but as someone sitting next to me commented, it was probably the best FHE thought he had ever heard. I had to agree. And since it was quite a perfect syzygy of events and connections, I thought I'd share it here.

First, the speaker shared a scripture he had come across in his scripture reading the night before:

For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.
-1 Nephi 10:19

Second, he recounted a discussion he had with his sister at the breakfast table this morning. Apparently she is big into horoscopes and had the paper out to read about how her day would go. The speaker admitted that he feels horoscopes are a 'load of stuff and nonsense' and said he told his sister as much. When she protested, he explained his opinion:

You read the horoscopes in the morning, so of course that's what you're going to think about during the day. You process everything that happens in reference to what you read, and so you MAKE your horoscope come true. One day try not reading your horoscope until the end of the day and then see how 'true' it is. I think you'll find that it's not really accurate at all.

And that, he said, is when the penny dropped.

So third, he remembered his scripture reading from the night before. (A miracle. For though he usually reads his scriptures at night, he often wakes up in the morning with the page still open where he began, having failed to internalize what he'd read.) He then applied his logic about the worth of horoscopes to the worth of daily scripture study:

If he were to read his scriptures in the morning, that's what he'd think about during the day. He'd process everything that happened to him in reference to what he had read, and thus he would stand a better chance of DOING what they commanded and MAKING the promises of kept covenants come true. By reading at night, there was still the possibility that some of his actions during the day might be reflected in the scriptures, but much of their power and value would be diminished.

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So what I got from his thought is this: As the scripture states, when we diligently seek for spiritual manifestations to strengthen our faith, answer our questions, and give us comfort, the Lord is fully prepared to bless us with what we need and even what we want.

This is the best argument I have ever heard in favor of morning reading, and as a night-reader myself, I've made a goal to switch the the morning and see if I can make myself a good horoscope or two (:

3 comments:

Liesl said...

Very wise. You know what else I'm thinking about? I'm thinking about the scripture James 1:5. You know, the "Let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally" one...ringing any bells? ;)

But anyway, I particularly enjoy that because James 1:5 and 1 Nephi 10:19 both show that you find what you look for, and that God really will give you the right answer.

Also, the word verification for this was "linfub." You can't get much better than that.

tblanch said...

Loved this. Thanks for sharing.

Adriane said...

that is genius! I'ma have to switch too. Cute new background!