Used to believe that to know something meant you need to study it consistently until you master it. That it was all about allocating information, stockpiling an ever-growing mountain of details to hoard for the future. There are ledges to this type of thinking.

As a society, we are captivated with grabbing on to whatever facts or figures come our way in order to promote ourselves over the masses, to win arguments over our neighbors. This creates unnecessary stress, worry, and strife. We then wonder why we have so much conflict in our lives when we spend so much of it stirring up selfishly-based observations. This creates inner prisons layered with systematic procedure.

To know, in the scriptures, means to have a personal relationship. To experience someone or something so closely that you can connect with that person or thing. A faithful judge, for example, relates with the individuals involved in the case when the evidence has been fully laid. Picture an investigator, who knows the investigation so well it is as if they were present during the moments of question. This is what the word means.

The problem today is we do not relate with anything other than our personal desires. We see that because a few of us have taken an oath to be a guardian of peace and justice, it means we are here to openly flaunt learned abilities. Abilities are there to “be able”, to respond at those precious moments when one of us needs to make a stand.

Standing for truth is never convenient. It requires a candid defense.

In the scriptures, the Messiah confirmed we are to love the Father with all our heart, soul, and mind, and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. To love someone is to know them well. Are we willing to speak about things which may not be entirely pleasant? To care so much we are willing to scorn against actions that are unhealthy?

Parents must be willing to chastise their children because they love them. Today, many children are left alone to do their own thing without a finger to go against them. It has led to a society who mirrors this apathy… to the point many aren’t willing to lift a finger to do anything for anyone else.

Until we have regained our connection with the Father, we aren’t going to know who we are and what we are meant to do. We’ll be seeking out a vain experience. We’ll be wondering as lost sheep in a desert of sorrow.

Yet he is willing to find us if we are willing to call out to him. For his sheep know his voice.