Don’t manage people. Lead people and manage systems.

And so begins the 2010-2011 seminary year. It actually started 8 days ago but I’ve been on vacation with my family and at the Restoring Honor rally in Washington D.C. so my first teaching day is tomorrow.

Teaching seminary is a consecration of time, energy, and heart in the service of the youth in my class, about 20 hours a week. Totally voluntary. It’s an act of service that feels great!

It’s so awesome to be able to do this again. This is my fourth year teaching and it’s been amazing.

What informs how I teach and conduct myself in the class?

We are free to act and not to be acted upon (Alma 2:26-27).

Manage systems not people. Lead people. I’m a leader not a manager.

Be humble, submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, patient, long-suffering, temperate in all things, have faith, hope, and charity (Alma 7:23-24).

I don’t assign seats, don’t force anyone to do anything, and put the learning responsibility directly on the shoulders of the youth. From what I can tell after doing this for 3 years, they like being treated like responsible people and they respond positively to it.

Focus Changes Everything

Heather wrote a profound post about the importance of choosing your focus. And she uses her photography skills to bring it alive. Wow, you’ve got to read it!

http://athermusic.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-illustrated.html

How Do You Know?

We are faced each day with the need to figure out what is good and what is evil.

If we judge incorrectly our lives can get messed up. If we judge correctly everything goes better. Given the importance of getting it right, it’s helpful to understand how.

Moroni said it’s very clear and straightforward to judge correctly between good and evil. “The way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.”

And here is how to do it: “every thing which inviteth to good and persuadeth to believe in Christ” is good. “Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God” is of the devil and evil.

I asked my seminary class what specific areas in their life would it be helpful to apply what Moroni is teaching. They all strongly agreed that they should apply it to their friends. And the other was school.

- Moroni 7:14-17

Determined to be Bad

If you’ve ever wanted to be bad, really bad, think about what happened to these two guys, Coriantumr and Shiz.

They fought literally to the death and caused the death of millions of people in wars just because they chose to be bad and wouldn’t stop being bad.

Coriantumr actually tried a couple times to fix things up but he just went right back to his bad ways.

“He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart… and [he] repented not of [his] iniquity.”

Being determined to be bad, is bad.

- Ether 15:1-34

Faith Gets Results

To get something you desire you first need faith. Faith first, results second.

There is no cost in choosing to believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. If you first choose to have faith that he is then you will receive witnesses that bear it out and confirm it.

Some examples of faith as articulated by Moroni:

• Law of Moses given after faith.
• By faith Alma and Amulek caused the prison to fall.
• By faith Nephi and Lehi converted the Lamanites.
• By faith Ammon and his brothers changed the hearts of the Lamanites.
• By faith the brother of Jared saw the Lord.

What great thing do you desire, what result are you looking for? First have faith.

- Ether 12:7-20

Use Your Intelligence, Think!

Use your intelligence. As long as we have it, we ought to use it.

Suppose you are asked by God to accomplish something difficult, like take a group of 50 people across the ocean in small boats that are sealed shut so the water can’t come in during huge storms.

You recognize two major problems. First, you’ll run out of air and suffocate and second, you can’t see anything in the pitch black.

So you ask God to help you solve those problems. He gives you the solution to the first problem but doesn’t even address the second one.

You ask again. He agrees with you that having no light is a problem, and expounds on why, and then asks you what you want him to do about it.

Have you ever asked God for help and it seemed like you weren’t getting an answer, he wasn’t telling you what to do? Sometimes he wants us to use our reasoning and intelligence to figure it out.

This is exactly what happened to ‘the brother of Jared’. And figure it out he did!

- Ether 2:19-25; 3:1-5

Don’t Trade Long-term Happiness for Short-term Praise

Hanging dead stuff on your body to impress other people doesn’t make any sense.

But that’s what people do who trade long-term happiness for short-term worldly praise.

These words from Moroni are powerful:

“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 do you 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?”

- Mormon 8:37-39

Dirt Poor and 100% True to the Core

Imagine you are very poor and for all your hard physical labor have just enough money to pay for the necessities of life. A humble home, bread, minimal clothes.

Now in that circumstance you are given gold coins worth $5,000,000 and told you can’t do anything with them but hold onto them for a year, protect them from people who are going to try to steal them from you, and then you need to return all of them in perfect condition.

Also, you aren’t going to be paid or compensated in any way. In fact having them will bring a lot of trouble and challenges.

How tempting would it be to use them (at least a few!) for your personal benefit? There probably aren’t very many people that have the integrity and self discipline to stay true.

Joseph Smith though was someone that did. He was in custody of ancient writings on metal plates made of pure gold. Purely based on the value of the gold alone they must have been worth millions in his day. Based on the fact they were thousands of years old as a collectors item they must have been worth quite a bit as well.

Yet he was tasked with protecting them and received no financial compensation. He was dirt poor yet he never did anything with them but stayed true to what he was entrusted with. That accomplishment is worthy of our respect!

- Mormon 8:14-16

Slow Down!

Rush rush rush. We run around from one thing to another rarely slowing down to consider the importance of what we are doing. What is important anyway?

When Jesus was teaching several thousand people he and was just getting ready to leave, having told them he was leaving, but rather than rush off to his next assignment he slowed down and perceived that they longed for him to stay longer.

He decided to stay and one of the most beautiful experiences in the history of the world occurred. He invited them to bring their sick, lame, and in any way afflicted to him and he healed each of them.

This was just a day after he had suffered all the pains of the Atonement, a completely selfless act that brought excruciating pain on himself. He said his joy was now full and wept several times.

Then he gathered their children around him and they were visited by angels. He blessed each one individually.

It’s beautiful to read about this and inspiring to know that it occurred because he paused and didn’t run off the next thing on his list.

- 3 Nephi 17:4-25

Taking the Time to Explain

Have you ever been trying to learn something that just isn’t making sense?

It’s the difference between night and day if someone will patiently take the time to explain it. As a learner we appreciate this tremendously.

Jesus was teaching a group of people who were not understanding something he had said, that “old things had passed away, and that all things had become new.”

He patiently explained what he meant, didn’t show any frustration, and didn’t put them down for not understanding. It’s a great example for us to follow.

- 3 Nephi 15:2-10