“The Flaming Poo Bag of Life”

Yesterday I posited the following question on Facebook:

Why is it that every time I have a tremendously spiritual weekend, the next week begins with life ringing my doorbell and leaving a flaming paper bag of dog poop on my doorstep?

Conference weekend was wonderful. It was peaceful, deeply spiritual and very much needed. Then, Monday came and brought with it all sorts of bad things. Tuesday tagged in and continued the beat down.

It isn’t really just a post-Conference anomaly. It seems that there have been many times that a spiritual experience or period of increased spiritual growth is often followed quickly by disaster. The disaster can be a medical emergency, family crisis, things start breaking, work problems, unexpected financial problems, etc.

– Before I go on, it occurred to me that some of you might not understand the flaming bag reference. Here it is in a nutshell: It is a classic prank that I may, or may not have participated in in my youth. You take an ordinary paper bag and fill it with some dog poop. Then you put it on someone’s doorstep, set it on fire, and ring the doorbell. Oh, and run!

The unfortunate victim opens the door, sees the fire and immediately stomps the fire out. Get it? I know it is a terrible, immature thing – which is probably illegal and immoral. (Kids who are reading this, do NOT try this at home.)

But that’s sometimes how I feel the day after Conference. I open the front door on Monday morning, expecting to find beautiful rainbows and happy, chirping birds, only to look down and see a flaming bag of dog poop at my front door. (Metaphorically speaking.)

After posting this crude analogy on Facebook yesterday, I learned something fascinating:

I am not alone.

Apparently, many of you experience the same thing: A post-spiritual high smackdown. Somehow, that makes me feel a little better, knowing that God, or Satan, didn’t single ME out, but that lot of others have the same challenges.

At last count there were well over 100 comments on that Facebook thread. Some of them were quite profound, and I figure that I might as well share some of them. They offer different viewpoints on why the smack down happens, and what to do about it.

(Mindi came up with the title “The Flaming Poo Bag of Life.” So blame her, not me.)

• Velva Williams: First you learn the material and then you are tested on it. Thats just how it goes.

Very matter-of fact approach, and very true. We do get tested on the things we learn- sometimes sooner than we would like.

• Chris Butler followed up by citing a Elder Bednar’s Conference talk that was given just days earlier: Because your 4×4 needs a load to keep you moving. The test is-can you keep that same spirit you felt this weekend, even in the face of this new trial?

Of course some people don’t listen to Conference as carefully as Chris. Case in point:

• Cathy Smart: The Flaming Poo-Bag of Life…Another GREAT conference talk by Pres. Uchtdorf. I wonder where the plane will fit in. OHHHH the anticipation has me in it’s grips already!!

• Leonard Browne made an interesting suggestion: Life: “Knock, knock. . .good morning. . .Beelzebub suggested I stop by to check on you. Anything you don’t need today?”

• Margaret Ellen Floyd was on the same track when she said, God and Christ and Holy Spirit which we all were privileged to feel this weekend; the Adversary just has to poke his nose up and say “I am here too!!!!”  But that’s just my opinion.

• Cliff Merrill added, Life tries to find a way to put the spiritual fire out as quickly as possible. The good news, it means you were well feed spiritually because I know others who commented it was just another weekend and a normal week. No pain, no gain.

I assume there are multiple reasons for the challenges we face immediately after a spiritual high.

• Satan. He desires to knock us down a peg, because he hates us and doesn’t want us functioning at a higher state of spirituality.

• Coincidence. Bad things do happen in life. Maybe the are just more noticeable immediately following conference because of this:

• Contrast. Spending the weekend in my home, with my family watching God’s chosen servants teach me how to have a better life, sustaining those leaders, and eating an occasional donut – what wouldn’t feel like a downer after that?

 

Does knowing that it happens to other people make the challenges any less real? No, but knowing that we have a shared struggle, and that we can laugh about it does make the burden lighter.

Do you know what helps even more? Returning to the things we were taught just this past weekend. It seems that turbulence and tornados were a major theme in this Conference.

Elder Nelson talked about how our faith will be tested. President Uchtdorf talked about how we need to find gratitude in our circumstances. Elder Bednar went as far as to say that those burdens are good for us, and give us “spiritual traction.” And those were merely three of many talks that specifically relate to the topic.

The Lord has blessed us with such wonderful counsel, that we really shouldn’t be surprised that we are immediately put to the test to see if we learned anything.

I do get points for consistency: Last year, the day after Conference, I wrote about how my “Post-Conference High” took a beating the very next day. LInk: Wow, That Was Fast.

Derek Crimin posted a link to a terrific talk from Elder Holland that addresses this very subject, without referencing flaming bags of anything. He does reference Moses and Joseph Smith. (Further clarifying the tremendous gulf between Elder Holland and me.  I highly recommend this talk: “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence.”

Conference weekend is gone. Thankfully, we get six-months to take it our for a spin and let it bless out lives. Or, we can act like it never happened,.