Chaos and Order

 This morning I was thinking about chaos and order.  Chaos so close to home and events so close together is cause to pause and think. The assassination of Charlie Kirk,  the Michigan church shooting, and an Orem Jr. High student suicide on a school field trip have been sources of great anxiety.  How do we calm our own hearts? Where do we turn for peace?  How do we move forward?  How do we keep the children safe? 

I have my primary song answers.  I first turn to God through prayer.  I cling to my covenant relationship with Christ and his gospel. I find safety in keeping the commandments. I try to make a difference in my own little corner of the world in spreading light, life, and love.  I find refuge and peace as I gather with the Saints at church and in the temple. 

A day before the shooting, President Russel Nelson, our prophet died at age 101. In all this commotion, members of the church of Jesus Christ gathered around the world and tuned in to General Conference for answers, for peace.  There was some speculation about a new prophet and a new apostle and how the church would respond to the recent chaotic events around the world. 

What impressed me about this General Conference and our current president of the Quorum of the Twelve, was a profound sense of order.  There is a certain way the Lord does things through his priesthood.  There was no frenzied rush to call a new first presidency, appoint an additional apostle, or announce new temples, policies, or procedures.  The messages are rooted in Christ and his gospel, preached by His authorized servants.  There is no panic.  The church is prepared and is helping all of us prepare.  

I am so grateful for this measured, calm, orderly response.  Not impulsive, but grounded in prioritized values and eternal realities.  I'm like a child looking at his parent to figure out how to respond to all this stress-all this mess.  The church is that parent for me.  I watch and try to emulate the calm as I navigate chaos. There is so much I cannot control, but there are things I can influence and even put in order.  

Though God is in control, I'm glad he does not control our choices.  It makes for a messy, chaotic world but for everything and everyone who will listen and respond to His voice, there is a great ordering.  For that is how the Great Creator brought the cosmos into existence-order from chaos.