Enjoying good

     The sun is shining and it's reasonably warm today in Nauvoo. For lunch, the missionaries who have been here for awhile each hosted at least one new couple. The little houses are within walking distance of each other though not really close. As Russ and I set out to walk to our host's lunch, we could see couples strolling along up and down the streets, all headed to lunch somewhere. It gave us an idea what it may have been like here 60 years ago or so when the Saints had succeeded in draining the swamp and building a lovely, friendly town. I could imagine people walking around town on a lovely spring day, visiting with neighbors. No tvs or computers or noisy vehicles- just smiling, peaceful citizens enjoying the weather and each other's company.
     Here in Nauvoo there are missionaries assigned to man the historic sites (we had thought we might get to do that but not this time), missionaries to welcome visitors at the visitors center, missionaries who perform in the pageants held in July, and missionaries who work in the temple. Most of the people here are our age or older. Last night at a dinner held in the nearby church for all temple missionaries a couple was applauded for being "young" temple missionaries- in their late 50's. Most people need to be retired to be free to spend all their time for 6 months or more serving as missionaries. Everyone here has volunteered and we even pay our own expenses, including rent although the price is incredibly cheap. But these people are so good to be around! Everyone here would do anything for anybody including giving the shirt off their back. After last night's dinner it was just mentioned that we needed to prepare the building for church in the morning and as soon as the closing prayer was over, everyone went into action. We had all the tables, leftover food, empty dishes, and chairs all cleaned up and re-aligned within just minutes. I wish the whole world would be this way. Can you imagine not needing lawyers or even policemen? When asked how he managed to get the Latter Day Saints to work so hard and be so unified, Joseph Smith said, "I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves." If every individual on the planet treated other people the way they would like to be treated and everybody was willing to live by reasonable guidelines just to prevent collisions, it could be so much more pleasant than it is right now. If we all did our best to avoid anger, prejudice, hatred, revenge, lust, envy, strife, and sloth (laziness), everybody could have a lovely life of peace and happiness.
     Years ago, in the 70's, Russ and I longed to find a commune where we could live in peace sharing things and working together. Just wanting to live together in peace won't result in such bliss. Each individual person has to be personally committed to control their own passions, willing to do what they can to apologize or make amends when they have caused a problem, and willing to work as hard as they are able to cover their share- not comparing or judging others in order to justify jealousy or resentment. This sounds like an impossibility to most people. Not to me. I have decided I will do my very best to live as a member of such a society and hope to show others that it's possible to inspire them to do the same. I'm far from perfect but that's okay. I am working toward an ideal goal and it will probably take eternity but I'm closer today than I was 10 years ago. I'll just keep heading in this direction and do what I can to encourage others to do the same.