Hope Cycle

The Hope Cycle

Hope - Faith - Law - Happiness (-more hope)

Definitions:

Hope: is a belief that you can be happy

Faith: is action based on hope

Law: is action conformed to criteria

Happiness: the result of living certain laws. ( once happiness is obtained, your hope in that course of action is increased )

Examples:

A boy sees a cute girl in an ad smiling and drinking a Coke. The boy believes the girl is happy. He doesn't know for sure, but he has enough hope that happiness might be found here that he decides to act. The law, or criteria of action to obtain this happiness is simple, one must drink a Coke. The boy conforms to the criteria and drinks a Coke. The result, the high levels of fructose corn syrup and sugar spike his insulin levels and and gives him a quick surge of energy. It was a nice feeling, but the result did not fill any of the boy's real needs. The boy realizes that this course of action produces quick surges of energy, but is not the happiness he is in search for.

Someone hears that if they avoid judging others too quickly they will be happy. This person decides to conform to this law by postponing judgement out of a hope that they will be happy because of it. Soon the person finds that because they didn't judge so quickly they have gained several friends that they normally wouldn't have had.

God and law:

The glory of God is intelligence, or light and truth. (D&C 93: 29-30, 36) Truth is a knowledge of how things are, were, and will be.(D&C 93: 24) This includes a knowledge of laws that bring happiness. God knows what actions we need to conform to in order to be happy. God shares this knowledge through prophets: www.mormon.org

Some people wonder why religious people conform to laws. Some assume it is out of fear in something that is not true. If people conform out of fear in something that is false this is sad.

Some religious people conform because they are hoping in something that isn't true, this is also sad.

Finally, intelligent people conform out of hope in something that is true. By conforming they reap the result, and when they realize they are happy this increases their hope, and the cycle continues.

I invite you to find happiness through living the hope cycle. Find a law, live it, and if it brings you true happiness, keep living it!

17 If any man will ^ado his ^bwill, he shall ^cknow of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

John 7: 17

Mustard Seed

Faith as a Mustard Seed

Recently I read this scripture in Matthew 17:20

"...for verily I say unto you, If ye have ^bfaith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this ^cmountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove;"

I was intrigued by the choice of word "as" instead of "the size of."

I think when most people hear this scripture they think of faith the size of a mustard seed. Meaning, if they put forth just a little tiny bit of faith, mountains will move. I believe this can be true, sometimes all it takes is a couple washings in the Jordan River to heal a leper. (2 Kings 5:10) But I was also intrigued by the interpretation this way:

If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed has faith.

Do mustard seeds have faith? I think they do, faith is the agent by which all intelligent beings act, not that mustard seeds are the most intelligent creation around, but they are living things. They exercise that faith in growing, otherwise why on earth would they bother breaking out of that dirt in the first place? The hope that anything is worth while is always the motivation for action. Which action is not based off of a sure knowledge, there is still some risk involved, and this is faith: Acting without a sure knowledge of something. ( and it is after the trial of that faith comes the witness, or knowledge. (Ether 12:6)).

In other words, I'm claiming that faith as a mustard seed is not related to the size of the mustard seed, but to the amount of work that the mustard seed goes through to become a mustard tree.

This seems like a more realistic promise. I'm more apt to believe that God will move mountains for those people who would be willing to pull out their shovels and say, "Somehow, I'm going to move this mountain!" and then start digging. Or as President Uchtdorf explains:

“When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration.”