I gave a talk at church on Sunday and since I don’t really have much to blog about, I thought I’d share a bit with you.

I developed an equation that demonstrates the promise of blessings from the Lord (D&C 82:10):

C + A = R

(In the original talk ‘R’ was ‘B’, but I think ‘R’ works better, so I’m changing it. I made it up. I can do that.)

Elements of the equation:
C = Commandment. It’s how the Lord starts the equation. He gives us a commandment.
A = Action. It’s what we do with the Lord’s commandment. (Action is perhaps a bad word for this variable because we have the option of doing nothing with the commandment which would not be an ‘action’)
R = Result. It’s what you get when you combine the Commandment with the Action.

Perameters for the equation:
1 = Action, a good one. Use a 1 to represent moving forward in a good direction. (yeah, I already used ‘action’, but just go with it, okay?)
-1 = Inaction. Again, not the best representation, but think of it like rebelling. Inaction (doing nothing) is kind of like rebelling which is the opposite of the good action (1).
0 = Nothing (obviously)
2 = Superaction. It’s double the Action! It’s a blessing.

The equation at work:
The Lord gives us a commandment: 1 (that’s an action on the Lord’s part)
We obey the commandment: 1 (that’s our good action)
What do we get?: 1 + 1 = 2, a Superaction. A blessing.

The Lord gives us a commandment: 1
We ignore the commandment or rebel: -1
What to we get?: 1 – 1 = 0, Nothing.

It’s important to note that when we ignore the commandment we don’t have something bad happen to us. We’re just left with nothing. Good stuff can still happen. Bad stuff can still happen. But we’re left up to our own devices. When that’s the case … bad usually happens.

(For those of you smarties out there that want to use A = 0 rather than 1 or -1 … you end up with 1, which represents the Lord’s commandment left hanging. You can put that 1 back in the equation as C and let the loop continue until we either move ahead, 1, or against, -1)

Conclusion
So there it is folks. We can all do addition so we can all understand how blessings work. The Lord promises us blessings if we obey. It’s as simple as 1 + 1.

Now go keep some commandments!

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