Fear of losing is what makes competitors so great. Show me a gracious loser and I will show you a perennial loser. As Christmas day is upon us, each and everyone of us should open our hearts to receive once again a witness that Christ was born as the Saviour of the World, that He lives, and that because of Him, we will live again. Despite of al the distractions, Christmas is what we make of it, and at the center of our celebration is Christ. Because we keep the spirit of Christ, we will feel with spirit of Christmas. Christ came to Earth so we would have a perfect example to follow. As we strive to become more like Him, we will have joy and happiness in our lives and peace each day of the year. It is Christ’s example, which if followed, stirs within us more kindness and love, more respect and concern for others. Because Christ came, there is meaning to our mortal existence. Because Christ same, we know how to reach out to those in trouble or in distress, wherever they may be. Because Christ came, death hast lost its sting, the grave its victory. We will live again because Christ came. Because Christ came and paid for our sins, we have the opportunity to gain eternal life. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

Because Christ came, we are gathered here to worship Him and thank God for our lives and salvation. May of Christ’s precious Spirit, we will have a great and wonderful Christmas as we remember the gifts God has given us, and as best we can, we will offer these gifts to others. The spirit of Christmas is something I hope that every young person will have in their heart and in their lives, not only at this particular season but throughout the year. We are all naturally more comfortable when we are reaching out to others like us—likes winning likes—the rich winning the rich, lawyers lawyer, basketball players basketball plays, clerks clerks. However, that is not the ideal set by Jesus and the Early Church. Rather, we are to have a heart so filled with love, so willing to go the extra mile, that we reach out to anybody we come in contact with, regardless of any barriers. How are we to go about this? We must first understand that it is never to be done in patronizing “do-gooder” manner, but rather with a relational egalitarianism informed by God’s Word, understanding that we reach across barriers as sinners, equal to equal. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

The opportunities are virtually limitless: lonely foreign students who long for contact with someone who genuinely cares; marginalized people desperately seeking to find justice as fairness in the mainstream culture; single people alone and in need of sanctuary and protection; the ever-present people at the bottom of the salary scale. It is not natural to cross barriers. It takes the supernatural heart of Christ, a heart which can only come through conscious prayer and discipline. Every believer is called to have a heart that reaches out. Will you pray for this heart for yourself? Will you discipline your heart to reach out? Jesus longs for your heart to beat with His. “The steps of a good human are ordered by the Lord,” reports Psalm 37.23. The ministering heart, like Jesus’ heart, senses that some beings are eternally glorious or lost souls, and treats all accordingly. The heart God uses is disciplined in perspective, seeing all its human relationships as sovereignly ordered encounters with eternal beings. To this heart, all life’s relationships are shrouded with the numinous-pulsating with spiritual potential—part of an eternal drama in which Christ has a special part to play. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

The heart which is disciplined to labour, to reach out, and to see life’s relationship full of divine potential is, above all, a dangerously enlarged heart. Its high ideals and expanded sympathies makes it susceptible to a list of sorrows unknown to a small heart, but it is also open to a catalogue of joys the shriveled heart will never know. Cultivate a small heart and life may be smooth sailing, but you will never experience the exhilaration of the wind of the Spirit in your sails. Humans, the choice is ours. May we discipline ourselves for ministry. The word discipline means to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness,” report 1 Timothy 4.7. The rich etymology of “discipline” suggests a conscious divestment f all encumbrances, and then a determined investment of all one’s energies. Just as ancient athletes discarded everything and competed gumnos (naked), so must the disciplined Christian human divest oneself of every association, habit, and tendency which impedes godliness. Then, with this lean spiritual nakedness accomplished, one must invest all one’s energy and sweat in the pursuit of godliness. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

The lithe, sculpted figure of the classic Greek runner gives the idea. Stripped naked, he has put his perspiration into thousands of miles for the purpose of running well. Even so, the successful Christian life is always, without exception, a stripped-down, disciplined, sweaty affair. The understanding that vigorous spiritual discipline is essential to godliness accords with the universal understand that discipline is necessary to accomplish anything in this life. The legendary success of Tom Brady NFL football quarterback of the New England Patriots has won three league MVP awards, six Super Bowls, and four Super Bowl MVP Award, and is a 14-time Pro Bowler. Brady has also twice led the NFL in passing yards. These accomplishments are a testimony to his remarkably disciplined life. Anne Rice’s massive literary discipline has transformed the way people think of popular culture and has attracted more youth to reading novels. Michangelo’s, da Vinci’s, and Tintoretto’s billion sketches, quantitative discipline of their work, prepared the way to the enduring cosmic quality of the works. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

Sarah Winchester’s beautiful mansion, which was under constant construction for 38 years, and which is currently undergoing some restoration projects shows how one woman’s determination and discipline make her into a historical icon because her mansion is an architectural wonder. Winston Churchill, speaker of the century, was anything but a natural—unless by “natural” we mean a naturally disciplined man who overcame his remarkable impediments through much hard work and extra effort. Ignace Jan Paderewski the brilliant pianist, said it all when he remarked to an over ardent admirer, “Madam, before I was a genius, I was a drudge.” It is an immutable fact that we will never get anywhere in life without discipline—especially in spiritual matters. There are some who have innate athletic or musical advantages. However, none of us can claim an innate spiritual advantage. Some of us are inherently righteous, some of us naturally seek God, and some are reflexively good. To stay that way and help influence others, it takes discipline. Punishment calls for retributive suffering. However, discipline is training that corrects, molds, or perfects. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

We have come to recognize that certain behaviours are love destroying acts and therefore cannot be tolerated. These include things such as sassing, teasing, and name-calling. “Behold, mine is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 132.8. Order is an eternal principle—an important characteristic of the kingdom of God. We are instructed to follow the pattern and set our own houses in order. “And now a commandment I give unto you—if you will be delivered you shall set in order your own house,” Doctrine and Covenants 93.43. This grand spiritual axiom has provided the basis for our examination of sixteen disciplines which are essential to a godly life—the disciplines of: Purity, Marriage, Fatherhood, Friendship, Mind, Devotion, Prayer, Worship, Integrity, Tongue, Work, Church, Leadership, Giving, Witness, and Ministry. It is an intimidating list, to say the least! And it is made even more daunting—in that each of the disciplines has been presented to an intentionally prescriptive “do this” manner. In fact, each of the sixteen headings contain an average of seven recommended disciplines—which amounts to over 100 “do’s!” #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

How then are we to respond? Certainly not with the “do nothing” passivity which has become increasingly characteristic of the American human. For many humans, a challenge is an opportunity to duck—to pull up the covers and stay in bed—“There is so much to do…I do not know where to begin…” –the paralysis of analysis. On the other hand, an equally deadly response is self-sufficient legalism. Admittedly, it is less a statistical danger than passivity. Nevertheless, there are many whose mind-sets could easily appropriate the sixteen disciplines and their multiplied “do’s” as a Draconian structure for a harsh legalistic hybrid. Oh, what possibilities we have for a list! “So you missed some days of reading the Bible this week? Shame! Remember, five pages a day puts the Bible away.” –“If Harry is the husband he says he is he would have gotten the door.” God saves us from the reductionism of such legalism which enshrines spirituality as a series of wooden laws and then says, “If you can do these six, sixteen or sixty-six things, you will be godly.” Christianity, godliness, is far more than a checklist. Being “in Christ” is a relationship, and like all relationships it deserves disciplined maintenance, but never legalistic reductionism. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

God save us also from self-righteous judgmentalism. How easily our sinful hearts can imagine our lists to elevate us, while at the same time providing us with a merciless rack of which to stretch others in judgment. As we said when we began, there is a Universe of difference between the motivations behind legalism and discipline. Legalism says, “I will do this to gain merit with God,” while discipline says, “I will do this because I love God and want to please Him.” Legalism is human-centered; discipline is God-centered. Paul the arch anti-legalist said, “Discipline [train] yourself to be godly”! An orderly home depends upon well-defined and well-understood rules. One way the Lord maintains order in His kingdom is to bless those who obey certain laws. “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundations of this World, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 130.20-21. An orderly home also operates on this important principle. Family rules must be established and observed before the blessing of family harmony can be attained. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

True discipline, other than determination, is not emotionally charged. Punishment, on the other hand, is frequently accompanied by a tide of uncontrolled emotion. There is no value in screaming at a child for misbehaviour. When parents engage in a shouting match with their children, the emotional temperature in the home rises and parents become guilty of the very thing the scriptures caution against: “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, least they be discouraged,” reports Colossians 3.21. The structure of the Universe is built on two principles which, although opposite in tendency, work together to produce Nature’s harmonious order. The Universe is a conflict of opposites controlled by Eternal Justice. All things in Nature show this polarity of opposed characters. All forces and movements in Nature show it in their striving to adjust, balance, reconcile or unite their contradictory activities and conflicting rhythms. There is hardly any situation which does not have its composition of good and bad, at the same time. A favoured life is faulted at some point, an ill-favoured one compensated for in some way. The inexperience of youth is balanced by its vitality, the accumulated experience of maturity is countered by its infirmities. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

Opposite tendencies co-operate to produce an equilibrium in Nature. The notion that anything outside of God can exist or have meaning by itself is a false one. The Universe is what it is only because it depends on an equilibrium of opposing forces or of pairs of things united in opposition. The objective of Balance is held not only before a human but also before the Universe itself. The movements and forces within it are set for attraction and repulsion, opposition and contrast, so that as they balance themselves its own equilibrium is maintained. The cosmos has its own integral balance, or it could not remain a cosmos. And it must keep this balance all the time and in all places. Abrupt changes in history and brusque changes in ideas came in our time partly because they were due by Eternal Justice, or even overdue, and partly because of pressure from the World-Idea. All this means that the so-called good and the so-called bad interplay again to find a temporary equilibrium. Nature keeps her equilibrium by bringing in counter forces, or complementary ones, to correct or balance any condition where too much has gone too far. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

When the pairs of opposites, the contradictory forces, are brought into a reciprocal unity, equilibrium is established and harmony prevails. The opposites and the different meet here, are held in equilibrium, balance and supplement one another. It includes opposites, reconciles contradictories, unites differences. In this World, everything exists with an opposite. These opposites are contrasts, but also complements and in this sense dependent upon one another. The art of life, so far as these opposites affect us, is to establish a proper equilibrium between them. It is the equilibrium in which the pared opposites and the tension between them come to rest. Experience teaches human beings that life is governed by duality, that like Nature itself, it holds contrast and oppositions within itself. Just as day and night are positive and negative poles, so are joy and sorrow. However, just as there is a point where day meets night, a point which we call the twilight, so in our experience, human experience, the joys and sorrows have a neutral point—and in Nature, an equilibrium. So the mind must find its own equilibrium, and thus it will find its own sense of peace. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

To see that duality governs everything is to see why human life is one tremendous paradox. One accepts the tension that exists between the indivisible and interdependent opposites which compose life but puts it into one’s own inner harmony and tranquility. Opposites are generated by the Heavenly and Earthly energies. They complement each other; although independent, the effect is to work together. The one is positive and the other is passive. Finally, they test and complete each other. The philosophic ideal is to balance the two harmoniously. The polarity of Earthly Justice goes through all existence and therefore all experience. Neither can be destroyed, but what can be done is to bring them together, to reconcile them on a higher place. Here as in all the other dimensions of our life, the progression of redemption in our relations to others depends upon what we do as well as what God does for us and in us. And in order to do our part in the process of spiritual formation of social relations we must deeply identify and understand what is wrong in our relations with others (whether that wrong is coming from us or toward us) and how it can be changed. Thus we have spoken of assault and withdrawal. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

Assault comes first in the development of a child, and it arises primarily from the conflicts of desire. The child wants something that another has. It does what it can to take that thing away from the other. However, the other resists, and the children involved become angry with each other. They therefore try to harm each other. This is the story of Cain, or the Republicans and Democrats. Or perhaps they experience envy and are displeased with one another because of that. Perhaps there is a status that one enjoys and the other does not. Feelings of resentment and contempt may arise and play back, back, forth and forth between them. As we grow older, theft, lying, murder, adultery, and settled attitudes of covetousness fall into place. These are all forms of assault on others. Central to them all is the will to make another suffer and suffer loss. The last six of the Ten Commandments therefore deal with assault, with the primary ways in which we are likely to injure, by aggressive action, those in social relation with us. With the exception of the sixth commandment, they are all explicitly negative—“Thou shalt not…” #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

The six commandment, “Honour your father and mother,” deals with a relation so intimate in its nature that the command with reference to it must be positive, for to omit the positive here would amount to an injury to both parties involved. That also is why this “the first commandment with a promise,” as Paul said (Ephesians 6.2). Violation of it disrupts the human soul and makes dysfunctional people as nothing else does. Now we can see immediately that spiritual formation in Christ will mean becoming persons who would not, and therefore do not, assault those whom they stand in relation, those whom they are with. Of course the overall teaching of the Bible about assault is much more profonde and subtle than just these six commandments, which can be regarded as the rock bottom essentials for right relations to others. However, there are many ways of assaulting people and these merge into our other category of wrong in relationships, that of withdrawal. Here we see again, for example, the power of the tongue. A verbal assault (which can be done in very refined as well as brutal ways—we speak of a “cutting remark”) is specifically designed to hurt its object and to inflict loss of standing or respect in their own eyes and before others. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

You will find many people who never in their lifetime recover from particular verbal assault, or a pattern thereof, or from other nonverbal forms of harassment or degrading treatment they have received. Most often this happens to people while very young or otherwise weak and unprotected. However, withdrawal within a relationship, like assault, also wounds those involved. And the tongue, as is well known, can assault by withdrawal, by not speaking. So, to reemphasize an essential point, we do not want to draw too sharp a line between assault and withdrawal, for withdrawal is often by intention a form of assault or attack. Some forms of it are not, however, and may instead be motivated by weakness, fear, uncertainty, or even aesthetic considerations (“pretty,” “ugly,” and so on), rather than any direct will to harm. Often our own weakness and limitations make us withdraw without intending injury or even recognizing its possibility. Yet injure it does. To those without full consciousness of God’s enfolding love and power, no combination of good motives and explanation can prevent or heal the wounds of withdrawal. Without God, we can at most become hardened against them and “carry on.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

So far from assault and withdrawal, the social area of our life is meant by God to be a play of constant mutual blessing. Pain and dysfunction result from the lack of this. Of course there are degrees of “withness” or involvement that human beings have with one another, and these make a difference in the precise character of the “mutual blessing” appropriate in the given case. However, every contact with a human being should be one of goodwill and respect, with a readiness to acknowledge, make way for, or assist the other in suitable ways. Important to remember is the solemn truth: Obedience to God’s law will bring liberty and eternal life, whereas disobedience will bring captivity and death. In has been said by one, years ago, that history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. Our lives will depend upon the decisions which we make—for decisions determine destiny. Decisions have their eternal consequences; for example, the decision made by the people at the time the prophet Noah, when they laughed and they mocked and they jeered as this prophet of God erected a vessel called an ark. However, when the rain began to come and when the rain failed to cease, they ceased from their laughing and their jeering. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

The people who mocked Noah has made a decision contrary to the instructions of God’s prophet, and they paid for that decision with their very lives. Each youth, indeed all of us, have the responsibility to make vitally important decisions. Our decisions may not be to invade the coast of Normandy, and they certainly will not be to ride with the Mongol hoards towards the gates of Riverlake; and we will not be called upon to make quite the same decision as did the people at the time of Noah. However, there are certain decisions that you young people make. They are all important. However, we should be our faith in the Heavenly Father, that each one should have the responsibility to find out for oneself whether or not this gospel of Jesus Christ is true. As we read the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the other standard works, as we put the teachings to the test, then we will know to the doctrine, for this is our promise; we will know whether it be of human or whether it be of God. Our quest can have far-reaching consequences. The World-Idea is not like a human architect’s planning. It is a mighty creative idea, pressing forward into activity, or retreating inward to repose, according to cyclic need. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

The World-Idea contains the twin forces of evolution and involution—the two go together—but although they are simultaneously present in the whole, they act separately and at different times on each individual cell, entity, creature, or substance. Their presence and activity can be seen both in Nature and in human life. This history of universal events, the ceaseless developments and evolutions as well as the retrogressions, cataclysms, and destructions, the energies and substances, express the World-Idea. It is inherent in all things, latent in all laws of Nature. We must hold that the will of God is the cause of things; and that God acts by the will, and not, as some have supposed, by a necessity of His nature. This can be shown in three ways: First, from the order itself of active causes. Since both the intellect and nature act for an end, the natural agent must have the end and the necessary means predetermined for it by some higher intellect; as the end and definite movement is predetermined for the arrow by the archer. Hence the intellectual and voluntary agent must precede the agent that acts by nature. Hence, since God is first in the order of agents, He must act by intellect and will. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

This is shown, secondly, from the character of a natural agent, of which the property is to produce one and the same effect; for nature operates in one and the same way unless it be prevented. This is because the nature of the act is according to the nature of the agent; and hence as long as it has that nature, its acts will be in accordrance with that nature; for every natural agent has a determinate being. Since, then, the Divine Being is undetermined, and contains in Himself the full perfection of being, it cannot be that He acts b a necessity of His nature, unless He were to cause something undetermined and indefinite in being: and that this is impossible has been already shown. God does not, therefore, act by a necessity of His nature, but determined effects proceed from His own infinite perfection according to the determination of God’s will and intellect. Thirdly, it is shown by the relation of effects to their cause. For effects proceed from the agent that causes them, in so far as they pre-exist in the agent; since every agent produces its like. Now effects pre-exist in their cause after the mode of the cause. Wherefore since the Divine Being is His own intellect, effect pre-exist in Him after the mode of intellect, and therefore proceed from God after the same mode. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

Consequently, they proceed from God after the mode of will, for His inclination to put in act what His intellect has conceived appertains to the will. Therefore the will of God is the cause of things. As God communicates His goodness, it is not merely to certain things, but to all; and as election implies a certain distinction. Because the essence of God is His intellect and will, from the fact of His acting by His essence, it follows that God acts after the mode of the intellect and will. God is the object of the will. The words, therefore, “Because God is good, God is great, we exist,” are true inasmuch as His goodness and greatness are the reason of His willing all other things. Even in us the cause of one and the same effect is knowledge as directing it, whereby the form of the work is conceived, and will as commanding it, since the form as it is in the intellect only is not determined to exist or not to exist in the effect, except by the will. Hence, the speculative intellect has nothing to say to operation. However, the power is cause, as executing the effect, since it denotes the immediate principle of operation. However, in God all these things are one. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

Adequate preparation enhances the ability to think and decide, which is why school is so important. However, we find many people who are willing to alibi or who make excuse for failure. I urge you not to take counsel of your fears. I hope you will not say, “I am not smart enough t study chemical engineering; hence, I will study something less strenuous.” “I cannot apply myself sufficiently well to study this difficult subject or in this comprehensive field; hence, I will choose the easier way.” I plead with you to choose the hard way and tax your talents. Our Heavenly Father will make you equal to your tasks. If ne should stumble, is one should take a course and get less than the “A: grade desired, I hope such a one will not let it become a discouraging thing to one. I hope that one will rise and try again. Remember, you are a superstar. If we strive for it, all can have the guidance and direction of our Heavenly Father. “The manner of their elders and priests administering the flesh and blood of Christ unto the church; and they administered it according to the commandments of Christ; wherefore we know the manner to be true; and the elder or priest did minister it—and they did kneel down with the church, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

“What they said during their prayer was, ‘O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the same of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen,’” reports Moroni 4.1-3. Dear Lord in Heaven, please do not withhold you lightning spears, God whose own is true, shower the Earth with an abundance of rain and snow so we will have a wonderful spring and summer, and a bountiful harvest. God, please here the words of the one who loves you. And God, being full of compassion forgiveth iniquity, and destroyeth not. Yea, often He turneth His anger away and doth not stir up all His indignation. Thou, O Lord, wilt not withhold Thy mercies from me; Thy loving kindness and Thy truth will continually preserve me. Please, remember, O Lord, Thy mercies and Thy loving kindness for they have been from old. Ascribe power unto God. His majesty is over America, and His strength is in the Heavens. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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Getting everything prepped for the festivities! How do you like to spend your Christmas Eve? 🎄✨

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