A Balanced, Righteous Life

This is Day 5 in a challenging new series of posts. Each post will focus on a way to increase spirituality, focus or efficiency in dealing with life. Each post will provide a speech or essay to read, a 5 question quiz and a personal challenge statement or goal. The hope is that through self-directed learning and some coaching from me, you will grow in refreshing new ways.

Life is a journey. I begin as a child and grow into adulthood. My identity is formed by my childhood experiences together with my emergence from youth into adulthood and the definitions that I accept about myself. My identity is strongest when it incorporates a knowledge of my divine worth. Next I must have a safe harbor so that the inevitable storms can't sink my ship. Today I want to discuss the idea of balance. No ship will stay afloat if it has too much weight on one side. Balance is an oft-debated topic and it would be difficult to summarize the theories out there. Today I will propose the ideas for staying balanced from the speech The Tradition of a Balanced, Righteous Life by L Tom Perry.

1. Read the Speech

Speech

2. Take the 5-question quiz

Quiz

3. Personal Challenge Statement: I can succeed in all aspects of life as I balance my efforts to feel, learn, do and share.

4. Goal: I will evaluate my life and focus on one way that I can be more balanced.

5. Dig Deeper into other blog posts on this topic:

Prioritize Spirituality

The Greatest Work

Spiritual Self Reliance

Day 3: Destiny

This is Day 3 of a challenging new series of posts. Each post will focus on a way to increase spirituality, focus or efficiency in dealing with life. Each post will provide a speech or essay to read, a 5 question quiz and a personal challenge statement or goal. The hope is that through self-directed learning and some coaching from me, you will grow in refreshing new ways.

It is important to know there is a purpose to this mortal life. A meaningful purpose to life means that no effort is wasted and no challenge is pointless. Everyone who has lived knows how challenging life is. Yet not everyone knows that their decisions matter. The steering wheel is not controlled by an unknown destiny. While there may be circumstances outside our control, each of us has a steering wheel that determines how we perceive what is happening. When we understand that there is purpose to life, it is easier to believe that what is happening is for a greater good. It is possible to explain how a challenging situation may lead to something good. Those with faith, explain life in this positive way and good things do come to them. In fact, good arrives whenever we look for it. It is everywhere. The speech I have for you today was given by a man who has this positive way of looking at life. His example will show you how to think this way.

1. Read the speech

Speech 

2. Take the 5-question quiz

Quiz

3. Personal Challenge Statement
Despite the turmoil of daily living, I will choose to have faith that everything in life can teach me how to be a better person.

4. Goal: Explain one of my most challenging life experiences in a positive way emphasizing the choices that I still can make to learn and grow.

5. Dig Deeper by reading another speech by the same person
"Yellow Canaries with Gray on Their Wings"


Image credit: Walking the Labyrinth by GPS/Flickr

Day 2: Purpose in Life

This is Day 2 in a challenging new series of posts. Each post will focus on a way to increase spirituality, focus or efficiency in dealing with life. Each post will provide a speech or essay to read, a 5 question quiz and a personal challenge statement or goal. The hope is that through self-directed learning and some coaching from me, you will grow in refreshing new ways.

While the beginning of spirituality is in understanding one's true identity. The next crucial step is to know of a purpose to life and to believe it is greater than just survival of the fittest. God has shared with prophets the purpose of life. It is bigger than love, the greatest virtue. It spans an eternity of time and potential. God's purpose is to give humans immortality and eternal life.  He takes each little human heart and change it so that it has the capacity to love in God's way. Then he makes it unbreakable (immortality) and able to love for eternity.

1. Read the speech
Always in the Middle

2. Take the 5-question quiz
Quiz

3. Personal Challenge Statement
Think about what gives your life meaning. Try to encapsulate that idea in a personal mission statement.

4. Set a goal to do something related to your personal mission statement in the next week. I'd love to hear about your goal. Post your progress in the comments.

5. Dig deeper into other blog posts on this topic:
Why does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?

Choose to Be Happy

The Ideal Man

There is good and bad things about idealism. Good ideals capture our imagination. For example, everyone wants to go on vacation to a place that looks picture-perfect and so when people go on vacation, they only post their best pictures. Mommy bloggers have presented a picture-perfect image of crafty DIY motherhood. This has both entranced readers and disgusted them. Jesus said “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:48) Some have discounted this as obviously impossible. I say that the Father is the ideal and we should strive for the ideal.

The bad about idealism is when it is used to hide from reality. People often hide by painting a picture of perfect bliss beneath which they live a dual life. Idealism can cause disenchantment. People often express disappointment with my church because the people don’t live up to the ideal that is preached from the pulpit. Every girl who has wanted to marry a “prince charming” has had to face the reality that men are imperfect and women aren’t princesses.

This post is about the ideal man. It is for those who want to live the ideal not for criticizing people who are less-than-perfect. Without ideals, we would never prioritize good, better and best. With ideals we put our effort towards tasks that match our priorities.

Best Family Councils

Have you ever said this? “We know better, but we haven’t yet made ourselves, as a family, get down on our knees each morning and evening for family prayer.” (De Platt)

Working or praying together as a family is only possible when there is a decision to do so and the resolve to implement that plan. Family councils are a strategy for regular communication about decisions that create healthy relationships. A family council can be a formal meeting with all members of the family or an informal conversation between a parent and one child. Obviously, differences in the formality of the council are reflected in the type of conversations one would expect to have and the decisions that are made. When parents involve their children in decision-making, problems may resolve in ways that involve everyone taking a role in the solution. Family councils can help unite a blended family. (Larson) “The correction of family members in front of others is to be avoided.” (Ashton) But praise and gratitude for family members should happen in front of everyone.

The Lord’s Pattern For Families

There are many parents who care for children in traditional families. These families, made of a husband and a wife who nurture and protect children, are the ideal.

“Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. …

“Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. … Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another [and] observe the commandments of God.” 

(Source: Family Proclamation)

Choose to Stand For God

The Prophet: Thomas S Monson

I love the words of this scripture, “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.” (Mosiah 18:9)

There are many great people in times past who stood their ground such as Joan D’Arc, Mother Teresa, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith. Which people inspire you to stand as a witness of God?

This post is about intentionally standing with people of faith. It is crucial that we identify people who are standing as a witness of God and join with them. Together we are stronger and more confident.

Transcend Problems Spiritually

I have lots of problems. They make me cry. If I tell you all about them, you might respond in one of two ways: empathy and understanding or the “suck-it-up” mentality which is to say, “no whining.” Your response doesn’t matter. I can detach from how you respond to me. What matters is my response.

This post is about using spiritual eyes to transcend problems.

I just learned this, so if you’ve never heard me talk about this, it’s because I didn’t know it until now. Spirituality can supply the tools for going two dimensions past any problem to where the problem isn’t the reality. Here’s how it works:

For any problem add a statement of faith and to go to the next dimension add a statement of vision. In math that would look like this:

Problem + faith + vision = something dimensionally different than the original problem

So how would a statement of faith affect a problem? Well first of all, a real problem is going to feel very permanent, unchangeable, impossible and stagnant. A statement of faith acknowledges that the problem is 99% unlikely to budge but focuses on the slim chance or 1% possibility of escape.

Take any problem and describe it. Say, “I see this problem (describe it)” then add something like

1. I’m making it one day at a time
2. I’m staying calm
3. I’m good 
4. I’m cool under pressure
5. There’s a chance this will resolve in time
6. There’s hope 
7. I’m not afraid of this problem

A statement of faith takes a negative and turns it positive. It doesn’t negate the problem. It just doesn’t emphasize the problem. A statement of faith is not a solution. There may or may not be a solution. This is not about finding a solution only about transcending the problem. Now take the problem with one of the above statements of faith (or one of your own) and add a statement of vision.

A statement of vision is going to describe the potential or the goal for the present reality. So if I’m having trouble with a teenager now, my statement of vision would focus on the potential of that teenager. A statement of vision can describe the desired state or the imagined state of happiness. A statement of vision allows the problem to be while at the same time looking forward to a state without the problem. A statement of vision can give you “positive stamina.” It means that the problem is not permanent and impossible. It says, there is some other state that is possible. I am going there.

My response to problems can be negative and depressing or positive and courageous. My response is what matters. My happiness is tied to my response not your response. I take responsibility for responding with my spiritual eyes. I’m going to hit that third dimension one more time. You can too.

If you liked this post you might also like The Battle of Jericho Revisited.

All images in public domain

Modern Prophets

Benjamin Franklin boasted attending church five times in a row.  His opinion of the minister was that his sermons were “dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc’d…”  Being disgusted, he composed “a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own private use.” This made up his private religious practice. (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,  pp. 70-71)

The minister of his Presbyterian church admonished him to attend the services being the only minister of that sect in the area. Probably the minister was trained in religious instruction and felt authorized to administer the various sacraments.

I share both of these scenarios as examples of unauthorized religion in America.  The first, Ben Franklin, created his own religion for his own use.  The second, the minister, administered the sacraments without finding out first if God would honor those sacraments.

The Lord has said, “And if they be literal descendants of Aaron they have a legal right to the bishopric, if they are the firstborn among the sons of Aaron; For the firstborn holds the right of the presidency over this priesthood, and the keys or authority of the same.” (D&C 68:16-17)

Of course it is doubtful that an American colonial minister was also a literal descendant of Aaron. The authority to officiate in the church comes from someone who has the authority. When Joseph Smith was commanded to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he asked God a question about the authority to baptize.  In answer to his prayer, John the Baptist, a resurrected being came down from heaven and gave to him and his scribe Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic Priesthood which is the authority to baptize.  That authority has been handed down to the present day. Explore more on this topic here.

Notably, the authority to act as a spokesman for the Lord on Earth with the title of Prophet, has been a guiding force in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This post is about the prophets from Joseph Smith to the present.

“A prophet is one who has been called and raised up by the Lord to further God’s purposes among his children. He is one who has received the priesthood and speaks with authority. Prophets are teachers and defenders of the gospel. They bear witness of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prophets have foretold future happenings, but this is not the most important of their responsibilities, although it may be some evidence of prophetic power.” Source

All prophet testify of Jesus Christ. Starting with Joseph Smith, “God has spoken anew and continues to provide guidance for all his children through a living prophet today.” ibid

So how have prophets guided the Saints and what has been revealed to be the will of the Lord?

Joseph Smith (1805-1844):  was a visionary who both restored ancient practices and organized the Saints into a Church.  He saw the Zion of the last days and the building of temples.  He built two temples under the direction of God the Father. One of his great works was to translate an ancient record into English that retold the stories of prophets and the coming of Christ to a civilization in the American continent.  This civilization is long gone but their words were preserved to prepare and guide believers back to the truth in a world of so many choices and voices.

Brigham Young (1801-1877):  He was a visionary who saw the Saints new home in the Western territories of North America and directed them to begin colonizing the land.  Instead of allowing the saints to all bunch together for survival at first, he immediately sent them out to distant places in the West to begin settlements.  He began the construction of three temples.

John Taylor (1808-1887): He was a scholar and spokesperson for the Church as it faced opposition in other parts of the United States. He helped translate the Book of Mormon into French and oversaw the expansion of religious settlements in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Canada and Mexico. Source

Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898): He was the prophet who decided to formally end the practice of plural marriage with a document called the Manifesto. He kept extensive journals which give a first-hand account of life on the frontier and the dealings of the early church.

Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901): He was the prophet to bring financial stability to the church by emphasizing the payment of tithes. His efforts were to bring the church stability just 30 years before the Great Depression. He envisioned the world-wide expansion of the church which took many years to become a reality.

Joseph F Smith (1838-1918): He encouraged the Saints to stay in their homelands where previous converts had all emigrated from their homes to the United States. In response to public interest in the theories of evolution, he issued a statement affirming that men are created in God’s image. He had a vision of the the nature of the “Spirit world” where the dead reside which can be read here. He envisioned future Church programs such as Family Home Evening, seminaries and the use of priesthood counsels in local government which were implemented fifty years later.

Heber J Grant (1856-1945): As members of the Church grew, he organized the first stakes outside the Western territories in California and New York. To communicate with these Saints he used phone networks and radio broadcasts.  Following the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, he organized the Church’s Welfare Program.

George A Smith (1870-1951): As the prophet who saw the end of World War II, he expanded missionary work. He reconciled with disaffected Saints in the Mormon colonies in Mexico.  He was an avid genealogist.

David O McKay (1873-1970): He was the prophet who formed the first stakes outside the United States.  He broadcasted the General Conference of the church worldwide.  He sent the first home teachers to individual member families to teach the gospel and assess needs.  He introduced Sunday School manuals and the Family Home Evening program to the Saints.

Joseph Fielding Smith (1876-1972): He announced the Youth programs of the Church and coordinated the participation of Church youth in the Boy Scouts of America program.  He began a training program for Bishops, (lay leaders of the Church).

Harold B Lee (1899-1973): A prophet for only one and a half years, Lee did much to support earlier prophets in their inspired leadership.  He was a dynamic speaker and defender of the faith.

Spencer W Kimball (1895-1985): His great contribution to the spirituality of the Saints was the annotated King James Translation of the Bible with footnotes, dictionary and appendix.  He also standardized the additional texts of the Church into a bound book of three texts with footnotes and appendix.  These tools helped the Saints study the gospel on their own and increase in faith. He condensed the worship services scattered throughout the week to one three-hour block on Sundays. He opened the work of spreading the gospel in Africa with his “Revelation on the Priesthood” allowing all worthy males to receive priesthood authority from someone who has been duly ordained.

Ezra T Benson (1899-1994): He reemphasized the study and use of the Book of Mormon and dedicated nine new temples. He was an advocate for freedom and the US Constitution.

Howard W Hunter (1907-1995) Another prophet to only serve for nine months, he helped to draft the Proclamation on the Family which was released the year after his death and he encouraged the Saints to worship more often in the temple closest to them.

Gordon B Hinckley (1910-2008) A energetic prophet who envisioned the construction of “Little Temples” after visiting Saints in Northern Mexico who could not travel across the US Border to Arizona to worship in the closest temple. He constructed a new Conference Center.  He added six quorums to the seventy who administer the world-wide church.  He also introduced the Perpetual Education Fund which helps Saints in foreign countries receive a micro loan  to get a higher education. He increased the standards of worthiness for missionaries to serve.

Thomas S Monson (1927-present) He has been known as the Rescuer who sent more local saints out to find apostate members and also increased the number of missionaries serving by lowering the age at which they could serve.  His most recent address to the Saints can be read here.

Thanks to Wikipedia for providing the dates when these men were born and died.

The Revelation: Part 2

John Sees Believers

John depicted with a Church leader

In my last post, I explained how John the Revelator saw God and the glory of Heaven.  This post will cover the part of John’s vision concerning the variety of believers at the time of global destruction before the second coming of Jesus Christ.  What he saw is hard to understand because he spoke of the believers using geography words reflective of the church in his day.  Today believers are sprinkled among every nation.  Some live in poverty under the thumb of a ruthless dictator.  Some live in freedom.  While John did not judge believers based on what he saw, his vision shows that God is aware of the many who believe and the circumstances in which they live.

This post is only about the believers John saw. I’m going to assume that most are Christians.  However, based on the words in this chapter, I think Jews are considered believers even though they only believe half of the Christian Bible.

The first group of believers John names “Ephesus.”  You can substitute any nation, creed or minority group.  I won’t speculate on who John saw.  This group has leaders who have lied to them.  These believer have not fainted but they are weak.  They have left their “first love.”  I’m going to take a guess at what their first love was:  The Bible.  In taking that guess, I’m assuming that these believers are in an area that was founded on Biblical principles and virtues making it their “first love” or founding principles.

The second group of believers John names “Smyrna.”  This group has corrupt leaders.  John calls them Jews.  My guess is that they are Jews.  They live in poverty and tribulation.  John counsels them to fear not the suffering of the body because the “second death” or suffering of the soul after the final judgement is worse.

The third group of believers John names “Pergamos.”  These believer live “where Satan’s seat is.”  The clues to these believers circumstances are in the doctrine of Balaam expounded in 2 Peter 2:10-22 and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.  The Nicolaitans were a mafia-like group.  In some countries this looks more like a drug cartel.

The fourth group of believers John names “Thyatira.”  These believers are full of good works, faith and charity.  That’s good!  However, they have allowed adultery to continue among them unchecked.  John foretells great tribulation and death among them in the last days.

The fifth group of believers John names “Sardis.”  These believers are spiritually dead.  To understand what he means by “spiritually dead” I found a few other contemporaries who used similar language.  James says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26)  Paul says, “purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Heb 9:14) I wonder if being spiritually dead means that faith is dead, works are dead or both faith and works are dead among these believers.  John counsels this group to strengthen the believers who “remain.”  This leads me to suppose that many of these believers no longer believe.

The sixth group of believers John names “Philadelphia.”  These believers have the Key of David.  They are weak but they are promised protection in the hour of tribulation.  The Key of David is a heaven-bestowed priesthood authority to act in God’s name.  These believers are the Latter-day Saints because we definitely have the Key of David.

The seventh group of believers John names “Laodiceans.”  These believers are neither hot nor cold.  They are rich in terms of money but poor in terms of spirituality.  John counsels them to buy “gold tried in the fire” and to overcome their spiritual blindness.

All groups of believers will go through the Last Days.  John sees that the believers in all categories who “overcome” or endure the destruction with their faith intact will be blessed in the next life. John counsels us all to “hold fast” to that truth which you have.  If what John saw is all fulfilled, and I think it will be, we’re in for a rough ride.

This post references the Revelation of John chapters 2-3  In my next post I will discuss the destructions John saw before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Read The Revelation: Part 1 here

Image credit: Flickr/psyberartist

The Revelation: Part 1

John Sees Heavenly Glory

I have not seen heaven, but John did.  When I read John’s Revelation, I see many interesting details about heaven.

First there is a description of a glorified being who is later identified as Jesus Christ.  He has white hair, bright eyes, and a bright countenance.  The number one characteristic mentioned is light.  He has no darkness in him.  We learn that he is the “first begotten of the dead” which means he is the first to overcome death and be resurrected.  He “washed us from our sins in his blood” which means that his blood was spilt to ransom us from the just effects of our sinful actions.  He will come again to this Earth in glory. (Revelation 1)

John describes a throne (presumably God’s). (Rev 4:2-5,10)  Around the throne are seated 24 elders.  In front of the throne is a “sea of glass,” and an altar where the prayers of sins rise like incense before God’s face. (Rev 4:6, 8:3)  Many angels are around the throne worshiping God.  (Rev 5:11-12) Heaven is also filled with many people of all nations and peoples dressed in white robes. (Rev 7:9)  They serve God day and night in a heavenly temple.  (Rev 7:15)

While John’s Revelation gives more details than any other prophet on the beauty of heaven, he was not the only one to see this realm.  Every age has had a prophet to lead them who was given a vision of God and a mission to convey that knowledge to others.  Adam led his children with the knowledge of God he had from the Garden of Eden.  Enoch led his people and their faith was so great that their city was taken to heaven.  Noah led his children after the flood to believe in God.  Abraham and Moses both recorded part of their great visions of God.  The age known as the “meridian of time” was when Jesus Christ himself walked among men and taught them of God, our Father.  After Christ’s death, believers were hunted and killed, which led them to “hide in the wilderness.” (Rev 12:6) As leaders of nations became more tolerant, Christians worshiped more openly while continuing to suffer persecution at the hands of others during the Middle Ages in Europe.

In 1820, a boy named Joseph Smith, received a vision of God the Father and his son Jesus Christ when he knelt in prayer to ask what church he should join.  His vision included a mission to convey his knowledge of God to others in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ.  He began to tell people about what he had seen and was immediately reproached.  During his life he was taught incrementally what God wanted him to do and how to organize a body of saints.  He was killed by opponents while imprisoned in a jail on false charges.  For more: click here.  Joseph is the prophet called to lead people in this the last dispensation before the second coming of Jesus Christ. If you are ever in New York, you can stop by his home and see the forest where he had his first vision. There is a holiness about that forest to this day.

Joseph’s visions of heavenly glory are recorded here:

First Vision

Vision of Heavenly Glory

Vision of Jesus Christ at dedication of the first modern temple

John in his Revelation describes many events of the “last days” before the second coming.  His witness warns all who read his words of the destructions planned and promises the eventual return the Jesus Christ.  In my next post, I will explain the part of John’s vision where he saw the believers.

Image credit:  painting by Carlo Innocenzo Carloni

Joseph Smith: Prophetic and Personal

There’s nothing worse than reading a biography to know a person better and coming away disappointed.  This happened when I read a biography about C.S. Lewis having already been blown away by the depth and clarity of his words.  The biography followed the timeline of his life and left his heart out.

Joseph Smith by D A Weggeland - used with permission

This post is about Joseph Smith, an American prophet.  There is much written about the timeline of his life.  I won’t go into that.  I want to share with you his heart.  As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)  The ideas that came out of Joseph’s heart were beautiful.  I love how his earnest, generous, loyal, and courageous character is revealed.

Joseph was both a prophet and a man.  As a prophet, he spoke of heavenly visions and repeated verbatim the words God gave him.  As a man, he was quick to tell people that he wasn’t perfect.  “I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.” (45:522)

Here is something he said about himself, “It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind.  Oh! how I would delight to bring before you things which you never thought of!” (45:520)  He was a serious student of the Bible.  He also spent a lot of time as a student of the Holy Spirit learning directly from God.

Be Free!

Depression is the surest sign that you are stuck.  Growth is not happening.  I've been there and it feels so impossible -- like trying to push an elephant uphill.

The weeds of evil seem impossible to remove when they've been growing for a long time.  Until we acknowledge evil and face it head-on, there is no chance to fly away.  The truth is, we want to blame someone else for the losses incurred by stuckness.  And someone else may have locked us in a cage.  However, the answer doesn't lie in blame.  If it did, we'd be waiting endlessly for the person who locked us up to come along with the key.

God gave each of us "wings."  They are the ability we have to choose.  No one can take away our ability to choose.  They may try to convince us that we have no choice.  We may believe them for a time.  The truth is that we choose to believe them and we choose to stay in the cage.

How is this possible?

The cages we're in have to be identified.  That is why we can't just fly away.  Introspection may help us to identify our condition.  But just as quick as we know the lie that the cage represents and replace it with the truth, we are free.

That is the power in Jesus' words, "I am the truth" and "The truth shall make you free."

That all sounds so simple. So lets have ourselves a real life example.

CS Lewis had a number of tragedies early in life that put a literal cage around him.  His mother died when he was ten.  He was immediately shipped off to a horrible boarding school, Wynyard, where he witnessed repeated physical child abuse.  The images of abuse tortured him. But what is worse, these images got twisted into his emerging sexuality.  They stimulated a sexual response that trapped him in an imaginary world.  Other situational events put pressure on him to choose evil which he resisted as best he could.

Through a process of writing a mythological tale called Dymer, Lewis was able to discover that he had created the monster in his mind through some of his choices.  (I would argue that he was also given a monster at Wynyard).  He faced the monster and "killed" it.  The result was that he was able to begin resolving his issues of faith and gradually he came to accept Christianity.  (Source:  Jack by George Sayer)

Some of the cages I've identified are emotions.  Some are false "I am" statements.  Some are based on false assumptions we make about ourselves that protect another person.  Some are taught to us by someone we respect.

Vincent Van Gogh said: "In the springtime a bird in a cage knows very well that there’s something he’d be good for; he feels very clearly that there’s something to be done but he can’t do it; what it is he can’t clearly remember,and he has vague ideas and says to himself, “the others are building their nests and making their little ones and raising the brood,” and he bangs his head against the bars of his cage. And then the cage stays there and the bird is mad with suffering. “Look, there’s an idler,” says another passing bird — that fellow’s a sort of man of leisure. And yet the prisoner lives and doesn’t die; nothing of what’s going on within shows outside, he’s in good health, he’s rather cheerful in the sunshine. But then comes the season of migration. A bout of melancholy — but, say the children who look after him, he’s got everything that he needs in his cage, after all — but he looks at the sky outside, heavy with storm clouds, and within himself feels a rebellion against fate. I’m in a cage, I’m in a cage, and so I lack for nothing, you fools! Me, I have everything I need! Ah, for pity’s sake, freedom, to be a bird like other birds!

An idle man like that resembles an idle bird like that.…You may not always be able to say what it is that confines, that immures, that seems to bury, and yet you feel [the] bars."  Source

One key to unlocking the cage and being free is in the truth.  So if I assumed I am ugly, the key is in seeing the truth about my intrinsic beauty.  If I assumed that I can't do it, then I need to be brave and try to do the thing I fear.  I can be free and being free is worth it.  I've made a short video about this.
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Jesus offers us hope when he says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)  He is stronger than all the evils of mortality.  His way will take us through this world and into a better one.  I'm sure of this.

Another key unlocking the cage is forgiveness.  Forgiveness releases blame and anger and allows you to move on to other life experiences.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” 

– Lewis Smedes

A third key that might be helpful is finding a reason to leave the cage.  Mission is the God-given assignment to act on the gifts God has given us.  It is a reason for living.   I've written about mission here.

Jesus offers us hope when he says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)  He is stronger than all the evils of mortality.  His way will take us through this world and into a better one.  I'm sure of this.

If you liked this post you might like Beaty of Holiness

Birdcage image courtesy Frank Serritelli/Flickr