I have been thinking about the power that is in
momentum and the advantage of using that power in our lives.
The law of Inertia as I remember is that any object
that is stationary tends to stay that way until power is applied that
is equal to its weight or a little more to make it move, if there is
no resistance. If there is resistance then it is necessary to apply
enough power to over come the resistance plus the weight of the
object. Once the object is moving it tends to move in the same
direction at the same speed unless that speed and direction is
overcome by resistance and (or) the pull of gravity. This is an
eternal law that we constantly use without even thinking about it.
Thus it is much easier to roll an object rather than drag it in the
dirt. The law of gravity makes it much harder to go uphill than to go
downhill. The law of gravity can overcome a great deal of resistance
especially if the object is heavy and is given a little start or
momentum downhill.
Most of our worthwhile goals in life are usually uphill
with plenty of resistance. Therefore it requires plenty of power to
get started and power to keep up our momentum even after we get going.
If we stop it requires much more power to get going again especially
on a steep incline near the top or near to reaching our goal.
When I was a young boy I went hunting with Dad and
Uncle Steve Farnsworth. On one of these hunts as we were sitting
around the campfire in the evening, Uncle Steve challenged me to a
contest of standing broad jump.
He drew a line and told me to jump first. I stood with
my toes at the line and jumped as far as I could landing in a
squatting position to increase the distance. My heel marks marked
where I had landed leaving what I thought was a hard mark to pass.
Uncle Steve was about 65 years of age at the time but very active and
had lived his active life of work and hiking in the mountains. He
stepped up the line and easily jumped a few inches past my heel marks.
He laughed and said that he was going to teach me how to jump two feet
farther than I had jumped. I was very interested in learning to do
that and accepted enthusiastically.
Uncle Steve then picked up a big rock that weighed
about forty pounds. He walked to the line spread out his legs and
began to swing that heavy rock up in front of him and down between his
legs then with a mighty swing upward with the rock he jumped up and
out letting the rock pull him. Then in the middle of the jump he
pushed the rock down and back propelling himself a little farther with
the push. He landed at least two feet farther than his old mark,
making his total jump over eight feet. Then it was my turn to learn to
use that rock to help propel me through the air. At first I didn't do
so well but soon got the hang of it literally, because I had to learn
to hang on to the rock and let it pull me then just at the right
moment push it down and back to send me on in the air. It took plenty
of power to swing the rock up and out and jump at the same time
letting the rock pull me with its momentum. Then pull down and back
hard enough to get a little more time and distance in the air.
On many explorer hikes I would challenge to boys to
contests of Triple Jump and you guessed it, Standing Broad Jump. I
don't think I had any of the boys beat me at either contest. I was in
good shape physically and had many years of experience on any of them.
Many years of running the Basket Ball court had given me the power to
win the Triple Jump. I had learned to control the rock so that I could
give it momentum and have it pull me then use the power of stopping it
and throwing it back to propel me forward. It takes more power to
throw the rock forward and jump at the same time and them still more
power to throw it back, but it is certainly worth it to gain an extra
two feet of distance in the jump.
In our lives we need to develop our spiritual power to
begin our climb and gain momentum to carry us along overcoming the
resistance and the pull of gravity. We need to keep our spiritual
power constant through spiritual experiences and keeping the
commandments of the Lord so that we don't lose the momentum. Many
times the rough places in the road will slow us down and it is then
that we need to rely on the Lord to help us increase our spiritual
power and overcome all adversity or resistance.
We can use the weight of a calling in the church as a
rock to propel us farther on our spiritual climb if we learn to give
it enough momentum to pull us a ways, but we need to give it all of
the power we have to get it going and build up the momentum.
I went with Anthony and a group of explorers and scouts
on a trip to the mountains. We camped at our property down by the old
Corral under some big cedar trees. It was a good rainy year and the
whole country was running water. We pulled into camp on little high
place near the edge of the hill. I was the first one there in
our old red Volkswagen Van. I chose to back into the shade out of the
water because I was going to sleep in the van. I asked Anthony if he
wanted to sleep with me in the van and he declined saying, "No Dad you
snore too much". The rest of the group arrived in two pick up trucks
loaded with boys and their camping gear. They both backed their trucks
onto the high place forming a cozy camp.
It continued to rain every afternoon but we enjoyed
each day that we stayed there. Each day we would ride out to different
places on horses and we all enjoyed it very much . We ;road over to
the Gavilan river fishing a couple of times. The day we were to leave
we had an early breakfast and packed up. The two pickup Trucks were
all loaded and started out to go home. They just moved of the high
place a few feet and sank into the mud and stopped. The spinning of
the back wheels and the roaring of the powerful motors just dug them
deeper into the mud. All of the boys piled off the trucks to push to
help the trucks get out but nothing happened. I told them to take it
easy and that I would pull them out. They looked at my Van and shook
their heads doubting my statement and thinking that it was impossible
for that little van to pull a big pick up truck loaded with gear.
I backed up a little on the high place and got a run on
it and with the momentum I crossed the soft place filled with water
and pulled onto solid ground about thirty feet in front of the stuck
trucks. I got out my Nylon tow straps that I always carried and tied
them all together. That made the tow line long enough to reach the
stuck trucks and to spare. I hooked one end to the trailer hitch on
the van and told the driver of the first truck to hook the other end
onto the truck so that it would not be cut when I pulled. I gave them
instructions to start the motor of the truck and when I hit the end of
the tow line to pull forward with power. I gave myself about 15 ft. of
slack in the tow line so that I could get up plenty of momentum. I put
the van in low gear and gave it all of the power it had to get up good
momentum.
When I hit the end of the tow line the nylon strap
stretched slowly bringing the van to a stop under full power. The
weight of van plus the power of the momentum and the pull of the motor
pulled the pick up truck along in the mud for about six feet. After
repeating the process a few times the truck finally came on to solid
ground and could travel under it's own power. Next came the second
truck and we pulled it out amid the cheers of the boys. The Nylon tow
strap let us use the momentum and the weight of the van to move the
truck through the mud with the help of the trucks motor. We
could not have used a chain because the shock would have been too
great and would have broken something and probably would have put me
through the windshield.
We must learn to build up momentum in our lives in all
that we do so that we can overcome the resistance in the form of
the opposition of Satan. We can learn the lesson of the Nylon
Tow Strap and use the flexibility yet the ultimate strength in helping
other people out of difficult situations.
We must also have very good brakes in order to stop the
momentum if we start going down hill. The pull of gravity or the
pull of evil can build up too much momentum and take us to destruction
if we don't have the power in the forn of good brakes to stop the
downhill momentum.
The Lord advises us to not run faster than we have
strength. This includes building up too much speed that we cannot
control. If we learn to use momentum for our help and benefit it can
be a big help in our lives. We must use prudence and wisdom in all
things. Too much of anything is not good. Even in our spiritual and
religious lives we must not shoot beyond the mark. It takes patience
and practice to use momentum for our good.
May the Lord's blessings be with you all. Accept our
love and best wishes for you. Use wisdom in all that you do and follow
the council of the Prophets of the lord.