"I am like a rough atone rolling down the hill..."

Joseph Smith called himself the "rough stone rolling" at different times in his life and occasionally explained what he meant by that... In 1843 he said that "The hammer and chisel never was heard on me nor never will be. I desire the learning of heaven alone." At another time he commented that the fact that he was "rolling down the hill" meant that as he was moving through life or rolling down the hill, the obstacles and challenges and hard things in life that he would come into contact with would knock a little piece off here and a little piece off there, until, he said, he would be a polished shaft in the quiver of Jehovah!

What he was saying was, if you will indulge me to explain what he was saying (I never actually having spoken with him before...), that he was going to live his life according to the will of God and that he would almost necessarily come-up-against different pitfalls or obstacles that would try to stop him, but that nothing was going to come between him and the object he was seeking (to accomplish God's will). Those obstacles and challenges would certainly try to destroy him and would knock a piece of that rough stone from the edges, until eventually he would be made entirely smooth and he would be "a polished shaft" and be able to do all things that the Lord asks him to do!

Now, I believe that all of us are rough stones rolling down the hill, inasmuch as we are moving towards the will of God! We must necessarily be moving (see 2 Nephi 2 about, in verse 16-Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.) as none of us can be holding still (we must act!!!) and we must be either choosing to follow Christ or we are choosing to move away from him...

As we are choosing to move towards the Savior, we will be stopped by the difficulties of life and we will be forced to make moral decisions... Each time we choose to fight against the incitements of the adversary of righteousness, we will have a "little piece off here and a little piece off there" (quoting myself and not Joseph Smith... Maybe?) until we become that polished shaft in the quiver of God!

I consider these "blogs" an opportunity to have some more of my rough edges knocked off and welcome and invite all people (that means YOU!) that may have a contrary position to speak up and tell me about it... The fact that I am rolling down the hill does not mean that I'm necessarily going to be writing correct things or a piece of the "Gospel of Josh" (Maybe?) and that you wouldn't want to say something contrary to what I have written... Think about it! Like I said, all of us a rolling one way or the other (and you can't help that... Thanks to agency, every choice we make either leads us either back to God or away from him... Even, "Should I shower first or eat breakfast?" will be a choice that will lead to other choices that will make up your day--I am NOT saying that itself is a moral choice, but will eventually lead to other choices and some of them moral).

So, continue to live your life as you feel you must and realize that you are determining where it is that you will end up by every single choice you make!!!

JPS