Bridled

Larry Doyle Crenshaw

Elsewhere we have written, “Behavior is not just what we do --- our physical actions.  Behavior is also what we think --- our thoughts.  It is also what we feel --- our emotions.”  Behavior then is movement of the body and movement within the body.  This meditation explores the relationship between our body and our spirit and suggests that it is often the paradoxical case that we need certain restraints in order for both body and spirit to grow.

Let us remember that it is our spirits who come to earth to obtain a body ---- it is not our body that comes to earth to obtain a spirit.  It is the spirit, given of God the Father that should govern our behaviors in communion with the body. One without the other leaves the other either dead or encumbered, at the least.  The spirit governs successfully only when it brings the body under its subjection. Conversely, the body, and its parts and passions, is enriched when our spirit has the opportunity to enlighten and enrich it.  One is able to love with a purer and more powerful passion when the spirit is unencumbered by bodily passions dulled by unrestrained indulgence.

In the Bible the Apostle Paul speaks to this subject.   “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  (Romans 7:18-23) This passage, while a little awkward in its English language construction, clearly suggests that our thoughts and our feelings can lead us into wrongdoing.

Now let us be clear.  Just having a momentary improper thought or feeling is quite a different thing than creating a welcoming, encouraging, nurturing place for base and unworthy thoughts and feelings to dwell within us.  Most of the time we can remove bad thoughts by our own mental and spiritual efforts.  However, for some, who have made improper thoughts and feelings welcomed guests, prayer and the help of family and trusted Church leaders and counselors may be needed. 

Now allow me to insert a disclaimer here.  There are those who suffer from specific mental and emotional disorders for whom intrusive thoughts and feelings are not sin, but from faulty biological processes in the brain or from past episodes of abuse.  For such people, counseling and not repentance, is generally the prescription.

When our brain becomes filled with impure and improper thoughts, there is no room for the warm, loving, peaceful feelings to come forth from the spirit.  This is what is meant by the scripture that says, “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.” (James 3:2-4)

Our meditative verse encourages us to bridle ourselves in temporal things that we may experience spiritual things.  In doing so we achieve a greater fullness in both body and spirit.

Bridled

12 Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love;
Book of Mormon   Alma 38:12

To bridle all my passions

That love may fill my soul

Challenges a popular perception

That passion is our principal goal

Passion unrestrained from the beginning

Has been the downfall of mankind

One way or another, this form of sinning

Weakens agency and puts me in Satan’s bind

When I am overwhelmed with improper passion

There’s no room for refined or purer emotions

Passions that fire the soul become an imposition 
If only lustful desire is the focus of my devotions

There’s space for only one within my soul

Room for pure love or unfettered passion

As only one can conquer and take control

For neither can coexist or endure cohabitation

I would be self-mastered in all things

Self-possessed but not to overbearance

Loving virtue and feeling the power it brings

Leading my bridled soul to a holy inheritance

Larry Doyle Crenshaw