greater is the value of an endless happiness

I always get bummed out by this part of the Book of Mormon. The Nephites get completely wiped out by the Lamanites, Mormon gets killed, and Moroni is left alone to wander, write, and hide up the plates. It's a bummer.

However, this is also the time that Moroni writes down some of the most precious truths in the form of his own sermons, letters from his father, and the book of Ether (holy moly, I love Ether.) Mormon 8 is one of those personal sermons of his that minces no words and leaves no doubt in my mind that he could see our present day from back then. He just has too many (painful) details correct about us and how we live.

It was these verses at the end of the chapter that caught me:

37 For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

 38 O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?

"Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ?" Ouch.
"Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies -- because of the praise of the world?" OUCH OUCH!

I thought of some of the things that I obsess about, or try not to obsess about. The point is, I spend way too much soul real estate tied up with these things...personal appearance (and how I hate my own), money (in the guise of provident living, but mostly stressing about having enough when I PLAINLY have enough), what other people think (especially my non-member friends for various reasons)....man. SO much of my energy is wrapped up in that stuff. I don't have much left over for the good stuff. And Moroni is like 'SILLY PERSON! You can have endless happiness if you stop worrying about all that crap!' It's not that I don't believe Moroni. It's just hard to tear myself away. But I'm working on it.

And then the next couple verses:

 39 Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?

 40 Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?

 I love that phrase "Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life..." That is a good way to think about it. You can't take it with you. There is no connection you can possibly have with the STUFF that will enrich your life in a meaningful way. I'm not obsessed with stuff or keeping up with the Jones' (my car is old, I don't own a house because I know I can't afford it, I wear shoes for several years and use the same purse until it falls apart) but there are a few things I won't let go. I don't need 8 zillion books and DVDs...collecting them for collecting's sake isn't necessary or smart. :-\

However, I do pay a full tithe and fast offering, which I think I always hoped was 'enough' with regard to what Moroni is talking about in those verses. Am I doing my part for the orphans and widows, the sick and the afflicted, by paying those things and letting the church take care of them as they will? I don't know. This is a hard one for me. I have been taught in a rather conservative vein that folks get what they work for, blah blah blah, and that we shouldn't rely on a nosy government to take care of us. And in some cases, I truly believe that. HOWEVER, I notice that Moroni doesn't mention those cases. He mentions those folks who have no recourse (orphans, sick, etc) and I know he has already predicted these arguments of mine. So it's hard for me to know where and how I can do more for the types of people he mentions. I hope that I can do for those who are in my ward as needed (but I can do better), and I guess I will just pray for more opportunities (or that I will SEE existing opportunities) to help others outside of that realm.

I so desperately want to do 'enough', but I think the point is, that we never really can. We just have to keep it up until we all end up in the presence of God again. That scares me, but it's one more thing that I will try out to see...