As Mormons, we have a fondness for saying, “Bring the good you already have and we will add to it.”
We’re more cautious about saying “Bring the good you already have and add to ours.”
It’s a thought I’ve had before, and it surfaced again this week as I was reading a recently released quote book from Covenant Communications called “I Will Not Leave You Comfortless.” (Note: Covenant has published a couple of my books).
The quote book seems based on those old Ideals magazines. It is filled with photographs of flowers and other natural wonders, with each quote set off in fancy styles of type.
What I like (keeping with the flower theme) is the way the editors have arranged the quotes. There are large blooms from refined LDS hearts and minds such as Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Sister Chieko Okazaki and President Gordon B. Hinckley; and those are embellished with small, bright blossoms from Mark Twain, Confucius, Laura Ingalls Wilder and others.
It seems like a fine way to let others add to the good we Latter-day Saints already have.
The book even shows a flair for daring. Setting a thought from “Winnie the Pooh” next to quotes by Dostoyevsky and President John Taylor takes some spunk.
As for mixing and matching LDS thinkers with the insights of others, the truth is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a long history of such things. Many memorable phrases in Mormon life — from “Because I have been given much” to “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” — were penned by people of other faiths.
At times, even our ordinances, such as the sacrament, are set against a background of inspiring words and music written by our fellow Christians.
As an institution, the church seeks things of good report found in other faiths.
As LDS individuals, however, we’re a bit more skittish about it. Like the vineyard workers in the parable, we’re uneasy about grafting foreign limbs onto a healthy tree. We're afraid we'll contaminate what we have. At times we just don’t know enough about the source to trust it. We worry that we haven't been called as “branch grafters.”
So, over time, I’ve learned to see things in a different light.
I don’t think of myself as being on a quest to find new material to add to the LDS faith. I see myself as going out and finding things that are already part of the gospel but have simply turned up in other people's gardens.
I simply notice things that are already part of what I have.
And, to come full circle, I suspect that was also the approach of the anonymous editors behind the book “I Will Not Leave You Comfortless.”
The book has a full array of thoughts from men and women not in the church, such as lines from the author of “Peter Pan,” James M. Barrie:
“God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.”
Catholic writer Henri Nouwen shows up:
“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion … that is a friend who cares.”
So does Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Anglican Church:
“Grief is the price we pay for love.”
When I read their words, I never feel I’ve stumbled on something new to add to LDS beliefs. I feel I’ve found something ancient and true, something I already knew but didn’t know I knew it.
I feel I’ve found a familiar flower from my faith, but it was growing in the garden of a neighbor.
Email: jerjohn@deseretnews.com