Being and Doing

A few weeks ago I went on a retreat with a few friends.  One of the activities that we did while there was to find a place outside and spend some time with nature to, "See what nature would teach us."  I walked up a farm road a few hundred yards, and set up my camp chair next to an irrigation canal. Tall rugged mountains were directly in front of me; an orchard was to my left; farmland was behind me; and a few miles down the hillside I could see the freeway.  I could see cars and trucks flowing past on the interstate system by turning away from the mountain to look down into the valley. In this place I sat for some time and wrote down impressions. One of the impressions that I recorded was: "People are busy--always going somewhere.  Nature just is.  It fulfills its purpose by being not by doing."

I have thought a lot about this lesson that nature taught me since that day.  I keep finding connections to my nature lesson as I study the scriptures and ponder the correlation between being and doing. I made a list the other day of gospel concepts that involve being and others that involve doing. This is my list (it is not exhaustive):

Being:
be humble
be obedient
be pure/chaste
be honest
be faithful
be believing
be still
be prayerful

Doing/Actions:
obey
labor
seek
serve
teach
love
give
walk/run
do good
build up
sew/reap
knock
ask

So today I was thinking about this again and I decided that the being and the doing part of being righteous are inseparable, that you cannot do good unless you are good. Sometimes I think we lose the balance between the two, and we end up doing things without tapping in to the reason that we're doing them.  Then we lose the joy in doing those things, and we end up without root, all top, easy to pull out of the ground.

I have been weeding today.  We have big weeds in our side yard.  Some of the weeds are easy to pull because their roots are shallow and their tops are big and heavy, but others I cannot pull up by myself, I have to dig them up or cut them off because their roots are too deep or too wide and spreading.  I think that we can compare these weeds to my concept here.  The tops of the weeds are the doing part of life.  Everyone can see this part.  There are seeds that grow here, and can spread out and create more of the same thing.  The roots are like the being part.  They keep the tops nourished and firmly grounded.  Both parts of the plant are important, but the roots are hidden away.  Unless you are an experienced weeder, you may not recognize by sight alone which weeds have complex root systems and which are easily pulled up after a bit of rain softens the soil.

I think that in the same way the concept of being righteous grounds us and keeps us strong in doing good works.  Good works naturally spring from the good desires of our "being righteous" hearts.  If our hearts and desires are not good or if we are hiding unrighteousness, we can still do good things, but our actions spring mainly from the desire to appear good rather than from actually being good, and this goodness is shallow.

I have been reading the teachings of Paul lately for Sunday School.  He teaches about the law and the spirit, and that the law cannot save you by itself, that you have to have the spirit.  He also talks about the need to act from a place of charity in order for our works to be of value. Jesus spent a lot of time decrying hypocrites, which were people who appeared to be good, but who didn't actually act from a place of goodness--therefore their works weren't actually accounted to them as righteous acts.

Elder Scott said:"Righteous character is what you are. It is more important than what you own, what you have learned, or what you have accomplished."

I think that nature is teaching me some important lessons here about the importance of being. Taking time to become, not just to act, is something we have to think about today. We have a society full of going and doing, but we tend to lose focus on what people truly are. I think that we have a tendency to get out of balance, and when we lose balance, we struggle to find joy in our lives and purpose for all of our living.

So, in all of your doing today--don't forget to take some time to become, and just to be.