Building on the Foundation

Mental health, or lack thereof, is a hot topic in today's world. People, especially young people, seem to be struggling with their mental health more than ever. Experts say there are many factors at play, the increasing complexity of our modern world, guns, politics, bigots, and intolerance, just to name a few of the things that get the blame for poor mental health.  The National Institute of Health estimates that 23% of American adults suffer from some sort of mental health issue, and I'd like to put forth that it's far more than that once you realize what mental illness actually is. source The mental health crisis in America and the World as a whole is far more severe today than it has been at any time in history. The majority of the people you might meet, even in the Church, are dealing with a mental health issue. People are suffering even to the point of committing suicide because of the strain placed upon their mental faculties, and no one seems to know what the answer...

Multiple commandments just seem to get overlooked, and I think that’s a real tragedy. Most of these commands are little commands, the smallest of commands, even, but they are still direct instructions from our Father in Heaven, which means we should take them seriously.  Faithfulness in the little things demonstrates our readiness to handle the big things and the things we consider to be important. We should take the little things a bit more seriously than we do, and instead of trying to moralize everything, as Christianity has been trying to do for generations, we should be absolutely obedient.  Most of these commands aren’t that difficult to follow either, and following them teaches us something important, both in diligence and in the actual command itself. God didn’t tell us to do things arbitrarily, and this knowledge of His nature gives us the ability to trust that His instructions are for our good.  One of these often overlooked commands is found in the instructions...