Saturday, November 21, 2009

GO TO BED AND ARISE EARLY...TO BE HAPPY!

If you want to be successful, if you want to be healthy, if you want to get more inspiration and direction in you life, if you desire to accomplish great things, and if you want to see things clearly, then listen to Ben Franklin. “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Listen to General Authorities. "Elder Lee spoke about the necessity of receiving personal revelation in order to be effective and said: “If you are to be successful as a General Authority, you will need to be inspired. You will need to receive revelation. I will give you one piece of advice: Go to bed early and get up early. If you do, your body and mind will become rested, and then in the quiet of those early-morning hours, you will receive more flashes of insight and inspiration than at any other time of the day.”

"President Romney said: “From that day on, I put that counsel into practice, and I know it works. Whenever I have a serious problem, or some assignment of a creative nature with which I hope to receive the influence of the Spirit, I always receive more assistance in the early-morning hours than at any other time of the day. Following that counsel has helped me a great deal through the years.”

Listen to the Lord. “Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” (D&C 88:124)

It really doesn’t matter whether you are a “night person,” if there is such a thing. It doesn’t matter if you are ADD or ADHD. It doesn’t matter whether you have “same gender attraction.” It doesn’t matter if you have a “violence gene,” or if any of these weaknesses really exist or are just excuses. The thing that matters is, you CAN’T have the blessings that come from DOING what is best and right unless you DO what is right.

We all have weaknesses. It is part of the plan here on earth. Will we look for excuses, or will we find ways to help ourselves be happy? Disobeying some of the above mentioned choices are sins. Others won’t keep us out of the temple, but they may very well keep us out of the highest heaven!

The Word of Wisdom was not initially a commandment. It was just very good advice from a loving Father. It became a commandment to protect us from the increasing evils in the world. Caffeine is not mentioned, so some drinks with this drug are not part of the temple interview. But if we abstain, we still will be in a better position to both have the attitudes we need to gain the highest levels of happiness and to avoid the outer grasping forces of that spiritual black hole. The same is true with going to bed early and arising early. We should remember not to condemn someone for going to bed late or sleeping late. Just as important though, we should not dismiss our incorrect behavior with excuses.

We were given these weaknesses, so that by continual effort we would develop endurance, consistency, and dependability. It doesn’t come overnight. With some it takes years or even a lifetime. The more we keep on trying, the stronger, AND HAPPIER, we become.