In December of 1971, President Boyd K. Packer (then Elder Packer), gave a masterful talk in which he used the analogy of the piano. In his speech, he said in part:

The gospel might be likened to the keyboard of a piano—a full keyboard with a selection of keys on which one who is trained can play a variety without limits; a ballad to express love, a march to rally, a melody to soothe, and a hymn to inspire; an endless variety to suit every mood and satisfy every need.

How shortsighted it is, then, to choose a single key and endlessly tap out the monotony of a single note, or even two or three notes, when the full keyboard of limitless harmony can be played. - The Only True and Living Church

I have always loved seeing this talk, because in the talk, Elder Packer, repeatedly plays one note while he drives home the idea of monotonous, or singular truths found on the earth. After 5 minutes of playing this one singular note, he then says the final part mentioned above, and plays a grandiose arpegiated chord. Listening to that chord  versus the singular, monotonous note was a welcome sound to my ears.

As I have mentioned in several blog posts before, I never took formal lessons but taught myself to play through a couple Schirmer level books. But if one starts at the very beginning of the method books, it teaches young and old the absolute basics of playing the piano. And, as I did take formal lessons on violin, I can attest that those basic principles apply there too.

The universal first song that is played in most method books is "hot cross buns". Three notes; E D C, E D C, C C C C, D D D D, E D C. That's it. These three notes begin a regimen of discipline and understanding. For the pianist, the notes are right next to each other. For the violinist, the same excepting those three notes have to be played on a stringboard in precisely the exact spacing otherwise the notes will be flat or sharp. But with both, it is learning to master those three notes before others can be learned. Those three notes form the basics of a (hopefully) lifetime of music.

If you're a blog regular, you might be asking, "ok Rick, where is the Spiritual parallel?" And here it is.

We are placed here on earth all starting out as young children. We learn things through encouragement and example. A child is given the "do's and do not's" by parents. The child may quickly learn that the stove is indeed HOT. And when they do things that they know are not right, their parents will get CROSS with them. And later find out that a hotdog does taste better on a BUN. :) The child is shown how to take care of themselves through example. The A B C's are the first letters learned by the child via the parents. The child learns to associate an apple begins with the letter A, and so forth. Learning happens through repetition. Beautiful, harmonious relationships are built upon the constant repetitions we have learned as a child. And the most ironic thing about this process is that, as parents - we were once children and taught by parents. And the cycle continues. It all starts out from the A B C's.

We all start out in the gospel with the basics. We learn to appreciate the gospel and gain testimonies through reading, studying, and praying - the basics. We learn the spiritual "do's and do not's" through parents and those that we sustain as our leaders. We learn how to take care of our temples by spiritual nourishment. We all can progress to knowing more and more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the "deeper doctrines", but (in my opinion), when we have mastered the gospel "A B C's". And we learn those A B C's of the gospel by repetition - doing them over and over. Here are my A B C's of being and child and a parent:
  • A - Always know you are loved. You are of divine origin. You have divine potential. Always repent. Always be patient. Always be positive. Always have the light of Christ in your countenance.
  • B - Become the person that your Heavenly Father knows you are. Become one in purpose with your spouse. Become the true friend to your children that will last a lifetime and beyond.
  • C - Create a home of love, understanding, and learning. Home is the learning laboratory of the eternities. Cleanliness (of thought, deed, and action) is truly next to godliness. Call upon The Lord daily.
Is it any wonder why The Lord places us in family units. Where we can all work together as a family bit to strive for that glorious arpegiated chord that will reverberate through life and beyond. So we can teach others and learn things ourselves along the way. So we can teach our children the temporal and, more importantly the spiritual A B C's of life and eternity and how they, our children will one day become parents to teach those same A B C's that they learned as children themselves.

Continue reading at the original source →