Riveted
Some thoughts about thoughts
“The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer.”
I recently discovered a feature on my phone that revealed some unpleasant truths about myself. You likely already know about this, but hey, I’m old. It’s found in Screentime on an iPhone. I assume Android users have something similar that tracks usage.
Each day my phone is recording the total amount of time I spend on the device, broken down by each application. It also records how many times I pick up my phone each day and how many notifications I receive.
For Monday, February 10th:
Screen time: 9 hours 17 minutes
Pickups: 102
Notifications: 79
It also breaks down average usage per week and sends me a summary each Sunday.
Not good, ya’ll.
(Side note: After writing the last sentence I went to look up something to use for this post and got sucked into an article about AI deepfake videos; an also-scary topic. But I digress 😬, er…I digressed)
There’s a quote that goes something like this: “If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.”
Overlay that idea with the number of social media or “free” apps on your devices and ponder the implications. Even paid services like Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime, etc. are monetizing their customers’ attention and interests in exchange for billions of dollars of access to you and me.
What is lost when so much of our time and attention is spent on shopping, browsing, and entertainment? Said differently, who is lost?
Now, for those who’ve made it this far and may be worrying that this is going to be a rant about the dangers of using technology or addiction to devices, worry not. I have something different in mind.
“If you go on a mission to preach the Gospel with lightness and frivolity in your hearts, looking for this and that, and to learn what is in the world, and not having your minds riveted—yes, I may say riveted—on the cross of Christ, you will go and return in vain.”
This quote was found in my mission handbook when I served as a full-time missionary over 40 years ago. As a young missionary, I would sometimes ponder what it meant to have my mind “riveted...on the cross of Christ.” Controlling my thoughts at times seemed impossible. I worried that my service would be “in vain” if I couldn’t learn to rivet my thoughts on the cross of Christ.
Forty years later, not much has changed. Still working at it. Still not perfect at it. Those forty years have taught me a bit about grace, both the grace offered by Jesus Christ and also the grace I need to give myself. I understand better now that I was divinely designed with “bugs” in my spiritual software that are intended to push me towards the Savior. This weakness includes the ongoing struggle I have with unwelcome thoughts about my competence as a [fill in the blank].
Every one of us struggle with these kind of thoughts. Some I know and love seem to be under a near-constant assault with thoughts of unworthiness, incompetence, and self-doubt. Ironically, these are some of the best people I know.
I was reminded of Brigham Young’s quote recently when reading one of the accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision which was published in Germany in 1842 by Orson Hyde in a book titled A Cry out of the Wilderness.
On one occasion, he went to a small grove of trees near his father’s home and knelt down before God in solemn prayer. The adversary then made several strenuous efforts to cool his ardent soul. He filled his mind with doubts and brought to mind all manner of inappropriate images to prevent him from obtaining the object of his endeavors; but the overflowing mercy of God came to buoy him up and gave new impetus to his failing strength. However, the dark cloud soon parted and light and peace filled his frightened heart. Once again he called upon the Lord with faith and fervency of spirit.
(This video is where I was first made aware of this quote)
“He filled his mind with doubts…”
I believe Satan continues to use that same tactic with each of us. If he can plant seeds of doubt about our worth or identity, we sometimes add water and soil that help those doubts to grow.
What is to be done?
Don’t you love it when you find something new in the scriptures that you’ve read countless times before? This happened to me recently while reading in the 11th chapter of Luke in the New Testament, which includes an account of the Lord’s Prayer.
1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, (JST 11:5-6 Your heavenly Father will not fail to give unto you whatsoever ye ask of him. And he spake a parable, saying,)
Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
I don’t remember ever reading the parable the Savior added immediately after teaching His disciples to pray. I think it is also significant that He responded to their request to “teach us to pray” in this way. Who goes to a neighbor’s house at midnight to ask for three loaves of bread? The friend’s response seems very fair, basically saying “We’re in bed! Come back at another time. Of course we don’t have any bread to give you right now.”
This is the moment where I think the Savior is teaching His disciples, both then and now, how to get help from God:
Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Importune: a : to press or urge with troublesome persistence. b : to request or beg for urgently.
In Joseph Smith’s moment of greatest need, when he believed he was literally about to be destroyed, he poured out his soul for rescue:
But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
Joseph Smith - History 1:16
When the Savior was in Gethsemane, suffering for our sins, Luke tells us “Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly” (Luke 22:44.)
More earnestly.
Put simply, when we are filled with doubt or fear, desperate for help, keep praying. Pray harder, more fervently - with our whole souls. Importune God. If thoughts of doubt, anxiety, or fear crowd in, “press…with troublesome persistence.”
I still haven’t mastered the skill of having my mind riveted to the cross of Christ. Somedays I do better, and some days my thoughts are a wild and untamed bronco, unwilling to be bridled. The work is never done.
I believe the Savior’s ability to heal includes the healing of our minds - both how we think and what we think of.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2
I can say that when I try to think of Him, to reflect on His Atonement, His teachings, and His ministry, my doubtful thoughts are replaced with a deep, quiet peace. This takes persistent, daily effort.
Perhaps this is what it means to “rivet” my thoughts on His cross. I hope so. I want to make God happy most of all.