Going Back to the Basics

I sit in the middle of my piano lesson.  I finish the last chord in my song, still nervous about how my piano teacher will feel about the piece I have been practicing for the past week.  I'm on the tip of my toes as I play, for I came without sufficient practice for this particular song.  Too many things to focus on.

I finish, and my teacher congratulates me.  She still acknowledges the multitudes of mistakes I made, and offers a few suggestions in correcting them.  Then, she repeats the sentence, "go back to the basics."

I often go back and reflect on that sentence, "go back to the basics."  It's so simple, yet it holds so much truth.  In pondering that idea, I have come to realize just how important the basics are.  Picture this: thousands of years of one subject/topic being taught to people.  The most important, solid things are normally taught first, right?  Well, through the thousands of years, with the process of trial and error, the teachers try to decide what elements to teach first.  Well, what is being taught now is the result, thus far, of that trial and error.  Millions of peoples' minds have gone into the decision of what to teach first.  They know that those first elements are the ones that need to be drilled into the minds of the students.  Those are the things that the pupil needs to have learned rock solid.

Take piano lessons for example.  The basic building blocks that my teacher has drilled into my mind are these; finger technique (lifting, curving, and pushing in), counting evenly, and just being strict with yourself while playing.  This parts have become a part of my practicing as I work to get better at the piano.

Just as there are in piano, there are also basics within our religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The basics are found in the 4th Article of Faith, in Preach My Gospel, and in many other places.  The basics of our worship are:

1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
2. Repentance
3. Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins
4. Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost
5. Enduring to the End

These basic principles and ordinances of the Gospel are our basics that we need to live by.  These are the things that have been drilled in our minds, so that we can focus on them and keep them in mind.

However, this idea of going back to the basics, can apply to anything.  Even in life.  Often, as humans, we tend to complicate ordinarily simple things.  If we're ever faced with a situation where we don't know where to go, often the simple explanation and location of the solution is this; "Go back to the basics!"  I have experienced this countless times.  When faced with a decision, if I step outside of my normal life, and look at things how they really are, the correct choice is a no-brainer (That is a good talk by John Bytheway, by the way.  No Brainers by John Bytheway.)

I know that if we just focus on what's really important, then a lot of our lives will simply fall into place.  I know that God lives, and that he loves us.  He loves me.  He loves you.  More than anyone of us can ever imagine.  I know that this is the true Church on this earth today.  I love my Lord, and I love my Father.  I would like to say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.