A Lesson on Course Correction

Today was a great Saturday, if only for the fact of what I learned this morning.

I went to the baptism of my friend's son, Seth.  He is their oldest child and this caused both Ben and Kristin to be sentimental.  I cannot believe their son is now 8 years old!  They had Brother Greg Young talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  I really consider these talks to be for the children and listen politely to them.  However the lesson taught today left an impression on me that went really deep considering what I have been reading in my personal scripture study.  Brother Young talks of when he was a young pilot learning the basics of flight.  It was drilled into him to ALWAYS trust his instruments. When other things fail, the instruments do not lie.

One time while Brother Young was in flight school, it was a cloudy/rainy day.  He took the plane up into the sky, above the clouds and was amazed at the pure white horizon and bright blue sky.  It was white for as far has his eye could see. The flight instructor told Bro. Young not to look at his instruments but to straighten out the plane. Bro. Young used the clouds to orient himself against the horizon and got the plane just perfect.  The wings were perfectly level and they were flying straight ahead.  The flight instructor told Bro. Young to look at his instrument panel, they were significantly off.  The plane was tilting to the right and slowly making a large circle.  When Bro. Young corrected the plane, it felt off.  The horizon was tilted.  The feeling inside the cockpit was such he was severely tilting to the left.  But looking at the instruments, when the clouds cleared he was able to see for himself that they were correct and he was wrong with what as level.

What an amazing concept to really think about.  What would our perspective be if we did not have constants in our lives?  I think I understand more fully when Nephi said:

     "And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may
     preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; And also that we may preserve
     unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets,
     which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world
     began, even down unto this present time" (1st Nephi 3: 19-20).

With traditional values and centers of morality, ethics, and a common core of right vs wrong I wonder if we, or if I, am willingly loosing constants in our lives.  The constants and compass that help point the direction for us to navigate our lives.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland put it this way:

     "...It is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all,
     they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable
     gods, smooth gods who not only don't rock the boat but don't even row
     it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run
     along and pick marigolds.
     "Talk about man creating God in his own image!"

The Cost - and Blessings - of Discipleship, April 2014

This country was built upon religion.  There were definitive line in what was right and what was wrong.  Now, I know there are some people in religion that give it a bad name however, religion should not be blamed just because there were some bad people (just like I don't want to be associated with Timothy McVeigh for America) .  With that said, there was a definite feeling of right and wrong. There was a constant center, while basic tenants might differ, that people would agree to. Imagine if we no longer have this constant center.  What would hold us to continue to do the right when people who do wrong get the promotion, get the last item we wanted, seem to get ahead while we fall behind?  I saw it in my job as an insurance adjuster.  I knew someone was lying but because they lied and someone else was trying to remember the truth, the person that was trying to do good would get pushed aside for the liar.  I hated it and tried to find ways to prove otherwise, but more often than not the good would falter.  If we do not have a constant center, how would we even be able to judge good and evil, right and wrong?  

I keep thinking back to what Brother Young said.  It is powerful.  The fact that everything around him told him he was correct.  His feelings, his sight, his balance, his horizon.  Everything felt and seemed like he was correct, but in all actuality, Brother Young was simply going in circles, not going anywhere.  

I am grateful and count myself as blessed for going to the baptism of sweet Seth.  I had a course correction.  I hope I have not moved too far out, but as in sports, it's always good to go back to basics. I will make a deliberate effort to change my course, find my center, and move forward.