Dont be Seduced by the Coolness

I am so not perfect. I might be creative and spiritual but I am not perfect. I was in the foyer (because I was late to church) and I had forgotten to turn off my phone ringer and the darn thing began chiming telling me that I had a tweet (or something like that) and I realized that this could have been embarrassing if I had been in the chapel. Then it hit me, I was looking at my phone while I was ‘listening’ to people bear their souls in testimony and was not feeling the Spirit! Again… embarrassing… I wanted to justify my behavior initially because I was a visitor but the Spirit came to me and told me that although I was not telling my testimony, I should pay attention; that perhaps for a second I could feel the Spirit and learn something. I had become seduced by the coolness.

I am not sure who has or who has not heard of the phrase. It comes from a television show called Phineas and Ferb. In ‘Put that putter away’ Candace warns her friend Stacy to not be seduced by the coolness. It’s interesting how something in a funny and witty cartoon could stick to me so much that I encouraged my family to make that one of our house rules (rule 6) because it could be applied to so many things and is so simple to remember.

All day I thought about the lesson learned and how I could make it stronger for me. It was during priesthood that I think I heard the answer. In life there is so many distractions and our lesion was on plotting your course in life. It was not enough to avoid sin but to create barriers (emotionally spiritually and physically) to avoid sin and to  keep an eye single to the ‘Glory of God’ as it were and through little goals and coursing your mindset you could avoid the ‘Coolness’. How easy it has been for Satan who is also a goal minded person to pull us under because what we thought, saw, sang, etc was ‘cool’ or ‘harmless’. A navy oriented person would tell you that it only takes one degree to be off course and that could be the case with being seduced. Sailors daily and (perhaps by the minute) not only chart their course (set goals) but monitor their course to insure safety and success.

When things rattle the course they do not give up but assess the situation and reestablish their bearings so that they can get back on course. We must be just as vigilant in our lives to do the same and learn from the sailor. Our lives will have rocky water and sometimes we will need to repent and correct our course but if we are prepared for the road ahead our need for correction is minimal and our course then can stay true. 

Heavenly Father asks us to hold to the Rod of God (the word) and hang on because there will be times when the Coolness will be so enticing that you will be tempted to be near the Rod without holding it tightly. Those are the most dangerous times because when the storm comes you are not prepared and easily swept away by every enticing thing that would keep you from your Father. I would exhort you all to check your course again and check your compass; are you on a Celestial path? If not, ask yourself why and then why not. You have the potential to be on the path and whatever it takes from climbing out of the filth that you have heaped upon yourself or merely dusting yourself off you can be on that path again. God wants you to succeed. Don’t be seduced by the coolness.

Image is found here.