I had everybody in mind when writing this post. Surely we all go through our won bouts of murmuring as we question the path we are on and wonder why the Lord has seen fit to give us the experiences through which we are passing. Nobody is immune from the temptation to murmur during times of doubt, present company most certainly included. :)

I, for one, have felt a twinge of resembling the image he has portrayed. While I do not believe I am an habitual murmurer, I am profoundly aware that I am certainly a frequent visitor to the realm of some of the siblings of murmuring.

I will admit to being somewhat defensive at times when I post responses to the posts Connor presents to his adherents. While it is, quite sincerely, not my intent to be so, I just seem to have difficulties at times with those who, unlike myself, cannot or will not give many of the things Connor posits a reasonably fair chance to get off the ground before his detractors are poised to pounce upon his thoughts with, what I believe is, reckless abandon.

I am well aware that Connor is quite capable of fending for himself both intellectually, spiritually, and scripturally. I envy his ,and many of the followers of his blogs abilities in these areas as I am woefully inept in many ways, comparatively speaking.

My greatest deficiency, however, is not, I believe, in the spiritual realm of understanding. I sincerely believe, when I am properly receptive to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, I seem to be inundated with things which I know are not coming from the realm of the adversary. That being said, I also know that when I am possessed with the spirit of contention, the spirit is grieved and will flee from my presence posthaste.

Oftentimes when I respond to a comment which seems to me to be antithetical to the spirit in which Connor has presented it, I likely fail to stop and consider the position of the opposing commenter’s viewpoint. I suppose what happens in these cases is that I emotionally become bewildered wondering; “Just what is it that you don’t understand? Are you seriously so blind as to not see what he is telling you? Do you have any concept of the consequences you may face by being so obstinately opposed to the information presented? to name a few. Quite honestly, I consider words which are far more tainted with the adversary’s vocabulary at times also.

I hope Connor will forgive my making comparisons without his consent, but I’ll take the chance that he will offer me the opportunity to seek forgiveness should he feel I have misrepresented him in any way. I believe Connor and I have a couple of things in common. One of them is the passionate love we have for things which are uniquely American such as the originally inspired and blessed Framers Constitution of the United States of America. We feel we understand the original intent of the Framers and recognize that any attempt to alter that intent would be detrimental and destructive to the retention of the power imbued spiritually by our Savior Jesus Christ. We likely feel the incremental alterations accomplished over time have been brought about by evil conspiring men/women who either intentionally or unwittingly have brought us to the uncomfortable position in which we find ourselves today. I also feel we have the common belief that what we are attempting to tell others is crucially important and because we love our brothers and sisters (all of Heavenly Father’s children) with a profoundly deep (trying to emulate our Savior Jesus Christ) love. We simply cannot bare the thought of anyone being lost to the insidious and powerful enticings of Lucifer who is the sworn enemy of God. Perhaps, to some, this may be considered a rather sanctimonious pretension, but I assure you that our motivation is purely and simply love for our brothers and sisters whom we have known, not only in this life, but the life we enjoyed previous to this, our second estate. Once again, I pray that Connor will consider my thoughts with a compassionate ear and forgive my taking such liberties.

Now, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest apologies to anyone who has found anything I have said, or may yet say in the future (providing Connor doesn’t ban me for “thread jacking” or other wanton lapses of courtesy) offensive or otherwise, seemingly insensitive, abusive or just plain ignorant.

I thoroughly enjoy this newly acquired opportunity to engage others concerning topics which I believe are crucially and even eternally important.

I should like to think that some day after the Savior has returned and evil has been vanquished that we are all able to look back upon these experiences with a sense of gratitude for each other’s efforts to be charitable to one another even when what we said may have seemed less than inspired, or charitable.

Well, I have pontificated long enough so I’ll declare my resolve to really try to relegate my sarcastic, defensive nature to the back of my mind where it can eventually be discarded by the power of the Savior’s Atonement. Until then, I hope all will remember that I, like yourselves, are works in progress and that some of us are still in the infantile stage of our progressive journey to the Celestial Kingdom of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

To those who may not have the same goal, I offer my respect for your agency to choose your own path, and will ever defend your right to be free according to your understanding of the term.