Success

            Thomas Edison was a great man, no doubt one of the greatest of our time. He invented many things from the motion picture camera, to the phonograph to the light bulb. He has 1,093 US patents to his name and many others in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, making him one of the great inventors in the history of the world. To add to his credentials, he is credited with coming up with the idea of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses and factory buildings. He was very successful and enormously helped the world become what it is today. He is an inspiration to us all. However, what is even more inspiring is how he became this great man.

            Edison was born in the town of Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliot. In school young Edison was not very successful. His mind often wandered and never really stayed focused. After three months of official schooling he was done. However, Edison’s mother did not give up on the boy but had the greatest of faith in him and homeschooled him herself. Edison would later say of his mother, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.” Much of his schooling came from reading R.G. Parker’s School of Natural Philosophy and The Cooper Union. However, to add to his heartache in learning, Edison developed hearing problems at a young age due to a spell of scarlet fever and recurring untreated ear infections. However, Thomas Edison was strong willed and he did not let trials nor set backs keep him down. To add to his accomplishments mentioned earlier, he is also the founder of General Electric which is still in existence today.  He was not a genius nor was he the smartest kid in school. What set him apart from the rest was his attitude and outlook on life. He never gave up. He never gave in; and he did not fear failure but instead welcomed it.

Edison attempted over 10,000 different times to invent the light bulb. Right around attempt 9,000 he was asked by a reporter if he felt like a failure and if he was going to give up. Puzzled by this question, Edison responded, “Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” When at first you don’t succeed do you look at the glass half empty or half full? Do you feel like a failure or do you respond like Tomas Edison and say, “Success is almost in my grasp.” Giving up is the only way to fail.

Fighting Strong

In the Book of Mormon there are a lot of chapters about the wars between the two main groups of people, the Nephites and the Lamanites. For the majority of the Book of Mormon, the Nephites are God-fearing people who strive to do what’s right, serving others and keeping the commandments of God. On the other hand the Lamanites are the complete opposite, known as a “blood-thirsty people” who have forgotten their God who created them. Being a guy, it can be quite entertaining to read these war chapters and learn how battles were fought and won in their days. However, there are also many wonderful lessons to be learned from these chapters about how to be better husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, friends, and people. These lessons are taught to us as we read with “an eye of faith” and “real intent” and then listen to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost which will touch our hearts, inspiring us to be better and letting us know what we should change in our lives.

The other night I was reading the scriptures in these war chapters and had one of these “lesson learning” experiences. In the 43^rd chapter of Alma there was a big war going on between the Nephites and Lamanites. The Lamanites had come upon the Nephites and attacked them for the sole reason to take over the Nephites so that they could have power over them and have their lands. The Lamanites were a very wicked people and their warriors were very well-trained and conditioned in the art of war. They were killing machines and they were good at it. In comparison to a modern day army they were a lot like the Nazi’s of Germany during WWII; a well-trained killing machine. The only flaw with these two armies, the Lamanites and the Nazis, is that God was not with them. They were strong, very strong, but their strength was a worldly strength.  

On the other hand, the Nephites were a righteous people who worshiped God and always tried to do what was right. They did not want to go to war. They wanted to be with their families and friends and raise their kids in a loving environment. Their strength came from God. Since they wanted to protect these rights and liberties they had to fight against the Lamanites. So they went to battle and the battle was fierce.

In verse 44 we read, “…yea, they (the lamanites) did fight like dragons, and many of the Nephites were slain by their hands, yea, for they did smite in two many of their head-plates, and they did pierce many of their breast-plates, and they did smite off many of their arms; and thus the Lamanites did smite in their fierce anger.” Man the Lamanites were tough. They were the big guy and the Nephites were the little guy. A classic David vs Goliath, Rocky vs That Russian dude.

However as we read on we see what happens. In verse 45 it says, “Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.”

As I read this it brought to mind what is most important in life. My family, my wife (te amo mi amor), my friends and my Heavenly Father. I realized that in these days we are fighting a war just like the Nephites. Although the Nephites were fighting a physical war, we are fighting a spiritual war. It is a war against evil, immorality and sin. As I pondered upon this these questions came to mind: How am I doing in this war against sin and evil? Am I on the Lord’s side? Am I striving to do what’s right each and every day? Am I helping others along the way? Am I surrendering to the army or am I fighting with all I got? And most importantly, Am I worthy of the Lord’s support and help?

Sometimes life can be scary and hard as it was for these Nephites fighting the Lamanites. In verse 48 we read, “And it came to pass when the men of Moroni (the capitan of the Nephites) saw the fierceness and the anger of the Lamanites, they were about to shrink and flee from them.” The Nephites were scared but their Captian, Moroni, inspired them and encouraged them to keep fighting.

Indeed the Nephites were worthy of the Lord’s help. They were a righteous people and even though the Lamanites were tough, the Lord was tougher and gave them the strength to overcome. In verse 50 we read, “And they (the Nephites) began to stand against the Lamanites with power; and in that selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them.” And in 51 we continue, “Now, the Lamanites were more numerous, yea, by more than double the number of the Nephites; nevertheless, they were driven insomuch that they were gathered together in one body in the valley, upon the bank by the river Sidon.” In the end the Nephites defeated the Lamanites and peace was once again restored in the land.

How wonderful is that! The Lamanites were stronger physically and more numerous than the Nephites but the Nephites still won! They fought their hardest till the end. Their faith in God never faltered. And Why? Because of their Righteousness they knew they could count on Him for support. Moral of the story, Do what’s right, trust in the Lord and then go conquer your Lamanites one day at a time.