Above All Else, Let Us Think Straight

 Recently I came across a 1983 talk to BYU by Elder Ballard.  He tells of his Grandfather Ballard being in a coma for some time prior to his death.  Before he died he sat up in bed and plainly said, "Above all else, let us think straight."  Elder Ballard said these words hang on his wall as a guide.  I see this statement as an invitation to me to seek out and hold on to truth, in a way that truth will be my guide.

For example, on Mother's Day I looked up the word "honor" as in "Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother."  What I learned is that the word means in Hebrew "to glorify," as in glorifying God.  I also read an article that used the words "fear and revere" (not meant to rhyme.)  The author made me think of my relationship with my kids.  Is it too casual?  If they revere and glorify me, how am I living in order to be worthy of that?  How am I bringing honor or glory to my parents?  If every family did this, how would the world change, the church change?  What is wrong with casualness in that relationship?  Where is friendship in all this?  As I continue pondering this one point of truth I feel like it has changed and will continue to effect some important factors in my life.

My point in all this is that the truth, "thinking straight" in this case, seems to elevate all involved and give clarity and purpose to my earthly relationships.   Whereas without this truth, I could live without direction, and my life becomes a case of the blind leading the blind.  

In 3 Ne. 24:15 it says, "And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered." As the world becomes more confused about what is right and wrong, and is filled with less "straight thinking," the very next verse gives an antidote:

"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard; and a book of rememberance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name."

Perhaps it is no "book of remembrance," but I see A Gospel Conversation as a place to "speak often" with others that "think upon his name," in order to keep truth as our standard, or keep us thinking straight.