Attention to Detail

When a person goes into a job interview, a highly coveted skill on a resume would be if the interviewee could claim they have fine attention to detail.  It's not something every person is born with, but imagine how this skill might be important.

Imagine the heart surgeon who does not know how to pay attention to details.
The mechanic that cannot pay attention to details.
The book editor who cannot pay attention to details.
The drunk driver who cannot pay attention to details.
The drug maker who does not pay attention to fine details.
The spelling bee competitor who cannot pay attention to details.
The mathematician who does not pay attention to details.

There are a wide variety of details that we can or cannot pay attention to in our lives.  Keeping focus on one thing at a time is something that we are hard wired to do, but the detail with which we focus is always variable, depending on a myriad of things.

For some, it could be interest level that keeps or displaces our focus.  For others, it's brain chemistry, or sometimes brain damage or excess growth.  For others, it's simply time and energy, for if these are lacking, sometimes the other factors don't even matter.

I, for one, have special arenas where I am good at keeping focus, and others where I am not.  As a young girl, I was criticized for always being late.  So I have fine attention to time ever since, however it is still difficult for me to show up places on time.  Many of the involved factors have little to do with me personally, but I can always find ways to improve in arriving on time.

I am also good at caring about how to spell people's name.  My first name is Jennifer, so this can be hard, as there are even multiple ways to spell this as a nickname.  Jen, Jenn, Jenni, Jenny, Jennie.  But don't get me started on my last name.  Inevitably no matter where I go, it is spelled wrong.  My children will receive certificates of completion or other awards, and it is a rare occurrence to have it spelled correctly.  It's gotten to the point where I laugh about it and rarely bother to correct anyone, but I also notice that whoever is spelling it has not paid attention to detail.

One detail that I notice increasingly is eye contact.  Also in an interview, eye contact is crucial.  I tease my husband because he has an extremely hard time looking anyone in the eye for more than a moment at a time.  He is more comfortable looking away from me during a conversation, than directly at me.  Why?  No idea.

I also notice this at church.  Growing up in a small town, I knew everyone's name at church.  Walking down the hall, I took great enjoyment in being able to say hello to everyone, and having them look me in the eye.  There were probably only a few exceptions to this, and it was probably the cute-ish boys that I was too awkward to say hello to.  Beyond that, I knew everyone, and for the most part, we greeted one another.

Now, I know almost everyone still, but it's a crap-shoot to know if those walking past me will look me in the eye and say hello.  It's not just in my growing ward, but in my previous ward as well.  The church is growing larger, however I don't know if it's because we just don't have time to get to know everyone, or the lack of caring to express basic greetings or recognition of one another.  I suppose sometimes it's because we don't want to get to know everyone, or perhaps we don't want to have the chance to be stopped for communication.  So we put on the blank stare and carry on walking down the hall with tunnel vision.

But the commandment is to love God, and then love our neighbor as ourselves.  If we don't have capacity to look people in the eye and simply say hello, what does it say about how we love them?  If we don't have the care, concern, or capacity to love others, even for a moment in a greeting, what does that say about how comfortable we are with ourselves?  Do we love ourselves?  Do we consider God's love for us?  Are we willing to look at ourselves with such detail?  Is it uncomfortable?  Why?  Is it possible we'll find things we don't like, and don't know how to address or overcome them?

(photo source)

We can compare just about anything in life to an iceberg.  In this case, I'll compare our weaknesses to one.  We see a small piece of ice above water (liken it to ourselves), but a giant piece of us is hidden underwater.  As it's hidden, it may be hard to recognize that it's even there, much less take a moment to examine it.  If we consider that the unknown areas might contain hidden weaknesses, what does it take to examine it in full, to help those weaknesses to be rectified?

Christ says

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27)

As in all things, Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, the light.  To get to the Father, we must examine our faults, our weaknesses, and apply Christ's grace.  For it is sufficient for those who will humble themselves.  It's like an equation.  Jesus' grace + our humility = strength through Christ to ourselves.  
What are your weaknesses?  Do you dare take them to Christ?  

Helaman 4:13 - Boasting in Strength

Dear Josten,

I know this is probably strange, reading a letter from your mom.  But I hope you enjoy how the verse I read might apply to you.  Today's verse is Helaman 4:13.

And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.

I read three verses before I came to this one, and this one seemed to be the one I should write a about for you today.  To set the stage, Mormon is talking here, about what's going on.  He's abridging the plates at this part, and narrating.  It's about 31-30 B.C., and Jesus has not yet come to visit the Americas, but the leaders of the people - specifically noted as Lehi, Nephi, (not the original Lehi and Nephi, but Helaman's sons) and Moronihah (Captain Moroni's son) are actively preaching and prophesying.  They are actively warning the people, giving messages directly from God.  This verse lets us know why this preaching and prophesying is going on.

One last thing - a few verses prior to this, we are told that the criticism given is to not only the Nephites, but more specifically to those who "professed to belong to the church of God."  (vs. 11)  That's us.  We profess to belong to the church of God, don't we?

Ok...  so...

Because of their great wickedness - this is the Nephites being referred to.  They were supposed to be righteous, but at this time, they were being directly called wicked.  I bet they thought that so far, they had been God's "chosen" people, so they probably thought that they would always be safe and clear from being condemned, or put down for their faults.

Part of their great wickedness included their boastings in their own strength.  What does boasting mean?  It means they bragged, and made it clear that they could do things on their own.  Sometimes we like to think we can do things all by ourselves.  We think that it's good to be self-sufficient, and our society usually thinks "pride" is a good thing.  We say, "Oh, I'm so proud of you for _______."  In actuality, being proud is never referred to as a good thing in the scriptures, and always is a negative quality.  So when the Nephites boasted in their own strength, it meant they didn't rely on God anymore.  They thought they could do it all by themselves.  This isn't to say we don't do the best we can, but it's always important to acknowledge God's hand in our success.  Without doing so, we are boasting in our own abilities.

Because of their wickedness and boasting in their own strength, they were left in their own strength.  I like to think of this in terms of group projects at school.  One person can say, "I'll do it all by myself," and they'll complete the group project on their own.  When they get a sucky grade, they realize that if they had asked the rest of the group for help, it would have likely been a better grade.  That's completely how it is with Heavenly Father.  Except that He does most of the work, and we like to think we're doing something much more than we are.

Therefore they did not prosper - this is a direct result of them trying to do the group project on their own.  They got an F.  I bet they wished after the fact that they had asked for a little help.

Due to all this, they were afflicted and smitten.  Do you wonder what that might mean?  How have you been afflicted and smitten in your life?  Do you remember how or what happened?  I remember sometimes feeling afflicted when I got sick for months on end with mono in college, and on my mission.  I knew I could be healed in a Priesthood blessing, but blessing after blessing, I waited for healing.  I wondered if I was doing something wrong, or if maybe God was punishing me for doing something wrong, whatever it might be.  No one would tell me that, but I still wondered.  Eventually I did get better, but it took time.  It wasn't like watching those guys on tv, hitting your head and telling you to "be healed" or "be saved".  I know some people have quick results with Priesthood blessings, but for me, time was always a factor.  Maybe Heavenly Father wanted me to learn something by being sick?  I think so.  Maybe it was a result of my body saying it needed more rest than my mind would give it.  Anyways...

And what does smitten mean?  I think it somewhat goes hand in hand with the next line, which is that they were driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.  I imagine being smitten means being beat up.  We're very fortunate and extremely blessed to have been born to live in a country where we don't have to live in fear of being smitten.  But this freedom is not necessarily guaranteed, and if the people in this land seek wickedness and to ignore the Lord – like what happened to the Nephites after they had been here in this promised land – we too might find ourselves smitten and driven before our "enemies", until we lose possession of almost all our lands.  It might be gradual, or it might be more direct, through war.  Thus far in our lives we have never experienced war, or fear which many in other countries have to worry about.  It is so important that we do everything we can to not forget God in our lives, daily, so that we may enjoy freedom.  

This is not to say that we won't ever experience being affliction or being smitten or driven from our homes or land.  Life is not guaranteed to be pain free.  But on the whole, and in general, I feel that no matter what, God can at least give us peace while we endure trials.  And I still have hope, that as a whole, the people of this land could achieve a state of Zion if they wanted to.  It happened in Enoch's time, and there is nothing in our time saying this is impossible.  

Love you babe.
~Mom <3