Everybody is Dumb Today

Not today, specifically. Nobody is dumb today, but it’s still early. Do you ever have one of those days when EVERYBODY seems dumb? You know, when everything you read or the people you talk to grate on your nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard? Lame jokes, pointless conversations, and it’s all you can do to keep from running screaming to an isolated cabin in the woods?

No? Then you are a better person than I am. I guess I shouldn’t confess it, but on some (rare) days, most everyone seems to drive me nuts. (I did consult some people I trust, and they admitted to the same occasional bouts of being driven crazy.)

Then the next day, as if by magic, everyone is back to being nice and insightful and witty, leaving me to wonder what was wrong with them the day before.

What about this: Have you ever had a day where everyone in the world is fighting for the title of the “World’s Worst Driver?” I wear out my horn on those days, but magically, the next day, I never even honk because everyone is driving just fine.

Some nights we want to go out to dinner but can’t decide where to go because NOTHING sounds good. The next time we can’t decide because EVERYTHING sounds good. (“You decide.” “No, you decide.” “No, it’s your turn.” Ad infinitum.)

One more: I have thousands of songs at my fingertips and on some days I can’t find ANYTHING to listen to. The next day EVERYTHING sounds great.

You get the idea. Now I am not inferring that I have some kind of dual personality disorder, but I am pretty sure that my surroundings and the people I interact with are not on some massive pendulum swinging back-and-forth from enjoyable to irritating.

I have come to the conclusion that the wildly swinging pendulum is inside of me. Head or heart, or both.

Bummer. What I perceive that what I lack is constancy – a deeper quality than consistency. My father had the trait of constancy. He was the same – in a good way – all of the time. I don’t remember him being oddly “up,” or strangely “down.” He was not moody – he was just “Dad.”  I have grown to admire that constancy over the years.

I would like to be considered someone with the trait of constancy, but I think I already revealed that I am not that person. This, of course, begs the question: What lack I yet?

Are there just some days that I have an ugly heart, and in turn everything and everybody looks ugly to me?

As I was reading over material for Sunday school, I came across the well-known teaching from the early apostle Parley P. Pratt.

The gift of the Holy Ghost … quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being. (Key to the Science of Theology, 9th ed. [1965], p. 101)

Gulp.

There is quite a listing of benefits applicable to my specific situation:

• Fine-toned sympathies
• Fine-toned tastes
• Kindred feelings
• Social feelings
• Music to the ears

Those are just a few gems mined from that amazing paragraph.

Could it be that closely linked? Could my perception of the world have everything to do with the influence – or lack of influence – of the Holy Ghost?

If we dig into the Book of Mormon, we can find reinforcement of this idea:

“And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”  (Moroni 7:45)

There are days when I don’t suffer fools lightly, or the guy who misses the arrow because he is playing on his phone. Charity sufferereth long and is not easily provoked. What lack I yet? You got it: Charity.

I have referred to charity before as God’s Antihistamine, which can keep our irritations at bay, but it can also do more. Not only can charity take those irritations away, coupled with the Spirit, it can give us an enhanced life. Enhanced feelings, thoughts, tastes, passions, etc.

What is the link between charity and the Holy Ghost? Charity is a gift of the Spirit that we can get by asking for in prayer. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love…”(Moroni 7:48)

Am I making a black and white statement that when I am having one of those days it is because I don’t have the Holy Ghost with me?

I sure hope not, but maybe? Probably? However, I will concede that maybe I’m not listening to His influence on those days. He doesn’t care much for being ignored, so I presume one day could lead to two, and snowball from there. (Taking ownership of our moods can be a tough pill to swallow, but who else owns them?  Good reading on this here.)

And away goes the constancy that I desire. The constancy I admired so much in my father.

Yes, this is somewhat introspective, but I imagine there are one or two of you out there that have experienced one of those days. The best solution that I can find in a quest for constancy is to recognize when the pendulum has swung to the wrong side, When I sense this, I need to seek after the Spirit. He, in turn, can do the heavy lifting of changing my heart.

Paul seemed to understand this, and expressed it with two short comments:

Quench not the Spirit. (link)

… I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. (link)

I would like to be content everyday – but I have to earn it, and deserve it. The requirements? Be clean enough to have the Holy Ghost in my life, listen to Him, and pray for charity.

It is doable.

PS: Walking through life with contentment does not mean that there still aren’t dumb people out there, it just means that they won’t bother me. (See? I didn’t need to add that, but I did.  I’m a work in progress.)

 

 

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