Roll Up Your Window

As many others have had to do because of today's economy I have had to take on a second job in order to support my family. I found a job a few nights a week delivering pizzas for a couple of hours each night. I spend a great deal of time driving around in my car because of these responsibilities. I don't mind it because while I am doing so I am able to listen to conference talks on my phone. I thoroughly enjoy this time because I am allowed quiet time to listen and then ponder and understand the great words of the prophet and other leaders of the church.

The one bad thing about driving around in my car to do this is that my car has no air conditioning. When driving around a 15 year old car eventually things start giving out. My air conditioning was one of the first things to go, so as I drive around I have my window down for fresh air and to stay cool. Because of the time of day and the area of town I deliver in there is a high volume of cars on the road with me. I have a lot of experiences on the road with other drivers during this time that can often leave me frustrated, but with listening to things of a spiritual nature I find myself calm and collective.

Yesterday I was driving to a home a few miles away from our store to deliver a pizza. In my right ear I had my bluetooth headset to listen to a conference talk from April 2012 conference. My left ear had nothing in it and my driver's side window was rolled down. As I pulled up to the stoplight I could hear the thumping of some music blaring from the car I would stop alongside. The music was loud enough that I could hear and clearly understand the profanities that laced the song. I sat there for a moment not thinking anything of what was happening, but then a thought hit me very clearly. In one ear I had the words of the Lord and in the other were the words of the adversary. Here I was, in a position I had no control of on the road and I had to make the best of this situation. The answer to change this situation was obvious - I had to roll up the window.

How often do we find ourselves in the same place in life? We go about our daily routines with work, school, or whatever we may be doing. The adversary's presence has become more prominent than ever before. The influence of the Savior is widely ignored. We often find ourselves with the words of the Lord in one ear and Satan's in the other. How do we combat this? We simply must roll up our window to block out the evils and focus on the words of the Lord through his servants.

In Matthew 6:24 we read that "no man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." These are the words of the Savior from His Sermon on the Mount. As I sat there in my car this scripture came to mind. I couldn't blindly sit there and listen to the Lord in one ear and Satan in the other. I had to choose who was going to have the greatest influence in my life. I had to turn away from evil and towards the Lord.

I have taught music in a public school for the last five years. As I go about the hallways here I often find myself having to push the evils of the world out of my head here as well. Students walk through the halls saying the most vile of things and without any indication that they understand that what they are saying is wrong. I often find myself engaged in a discussion with a student about the use of words defining our character. As teachers we are told to not teach religious views to our students. I try to share the influence that the Lord has on me with them strictly through my example. This requires me to also make sure that I am turning away from evil and towards the Lord at all times. If we drive down the road of life with our window down all the time we are going to hear things we don't want to hear. We will hear things we shouldn't hear.

In my car when I rolled my window up it instantly became hot and muggy. I had to endure it until the car with the bad music turned off the road that I was on and I could finally roll down my window again. It was such a relief to feel the evening air pour back through my open window and cool me down. Sometimes we have to endure a trial for a period of time. It may be a short period or an extended one. It may be hard to go through. In fact, sometimes it may feel as though we just need to roll the window back down and deal with the noise. To do that would be foolish. It would simply be an invitation to the adversary to enter our thoughts and tempt us. We must be stronger than that. We must endure it well in order to receive the blessings of heaven. After the trial comes the blessings.

There have been many times in my life when I should have 'rolled the window up'. There were times when I rolled it down and I shouldn't have. I always find myself more able to hear and follow the Spirit when there is nothing else on the road of life to distract me from its gentle promptings. The Lord Himself said that if we endure it well He will "open... the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it". Let us all make sure to recognize when we need to roll up our windows in life to protect ourselves. Let us all have the strength to endure the trials that accompany these moments. If these two things are followed eventually our windows will be opened and we will enjoy the blessings of the Lord.