What Manner of House Am I Building?

The Story of the Three Little Swine, although a seemingly simplistic child’s tale, poses a very important and profound question that we should all periodically ask ourselves: What manner of house am I building?

What manner of house am I building? Have I foolishly supposed, as the swine that built their houses of straw and sticks, that I can construct my own house using the materials of procrastination and idleness, and that the big bad wolves and the storms of life will not be able to blow it down? Or have I realized, as the wise swine that built his house of bricks, that I must construct my house with hard work, perseverance and sacrifice, in order to make it strong enough to withstand the trials and adversity that come to us all?

Even more importantly, what manner of spiritual house am I building up unto myself? Am I constructing it using materials that will be able to protect me from the evil one who “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour?”¹ Have I, as the wise man, built my house upon the rock of the word of God, which is able to resist the winds, rains and floods of the adversary? Or have I, as the foolish man, erected it on a sandy foundation which cannot weather the spiritual storms of life?² Am I doing that which is necessary to reserve unto myself a mansion in the Kingdom of Heaven?³ Or am I feeling my way toward the great and spacious building, whose foundation is nothing but thin air, and whose destiny is to fall?⁴

Is my tent pitched toward Sodom (worldliness), as Lot of old, whose end was disaster and ruin?⁵ Or is my tent pitched with the door toward the temple of the Living God, as the people of King Benjamin, that I may continually be strengthened by the words of Christ, as delivered by his appointed servants?⁶

These are questions that we should all ponder. As we do so, let us remember that “it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”⁷

1.       1 Peter 5:8

2.       Matthew 7:24-27

3.       D&C 72:4

4.       1 Nephi 11:36

5.       Genesis 13:12

6.       Mosiah 2:6

7.       Helaman 5:12

Personal Giants

Why have fairy tales endured through the ages? Why do they continue to be popular today? I believe it is because they teach us a lot about the human condition. We identify with them because, although they come from a time far removed from our own, they deal with the same struggles and problems that mankind has dealt with since Adam and Eve ate that fruit.

Take Jack and the Beanstalk, for instance. Who hasn’t had a giant or two to conquer at some point in their life? I know I’ve had my share, and continue to face them on a daily basis. It seems I’m constantly being pursued by one or more of them, as I strive to make off with some blessing or other of which they would deprive me.

One of the giants I’ve been struggling with lately is the giant of self-doubt. Sometimes I doubt that I’ll achieve the temporal goals that I’ve set for myself. I doubt that I’ll become the kind of husband and father that I so desperately want to be. Or I sometimes even doubt that I have the capacity to be what the Lord wants me to eventually become.

Self-doubt is a particularly ugly giant. It would deprive you of the great treasures of self-confidence, motivation and faith, without which it is impossible to please God, or anyone else for that matter. Doubt and faith cannot exist in the same heart or mind at the same time, and a lack of faith in ourselves is simply a lack of faith in God. It is a lack of faith in that Perfect Being who created us with the capacity to succeed, and who paid the ultimate price to ensure that success.

The fruit of faith is power, while the fruit of doubt is powerlessness, fear and despair. Fortunately, there is an effective weapon with which we may battle this formidable giant: the weapon of belief.

Belief and faith are closely related, but are not the same thing. Faith comes as we exercise our belief and see the positive results that flow from it. This is what the apostle Paul calls the “evidence of things not seen”.¹ But how can we believe before we have seen those results? It is a simple matter of choice, one of the most precious gifts that our Heavenly Father has given to us. We can choose to believe, first in God and then in ourselves through Him.

The prophet Alma said that even just a simple desire to believe is enough, as long as we act upon that desire.² But how do we act upon the desire to believe? A very wise man said, “We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.”³ In other words, if you desire to believe, then act as though you do believe. Adopt the attitudes, say the words, and do the deeds of one who believes. This is not hypocrisy, for you are not pretending to be something you are not. You are striving to become something that you want to be. As you do these things, your desire will turn into belief, and then as you experience the evidences that your belief is not in vain, that belief will turn into faith, and then all doubt and despair will disappear.

So when I find myself struggling with self-doubt, I simply choose to believe. I choose to believe in the God of my fathers, who descended below all things, to lift me above them all. I choose to look that giant in the face, and say as David said to his giant, “I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand… that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel… and that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give [thee] into [my] hands.”⁴

^{1.               Hebrews 11:1}

^{2.               Alma 32:27}

^{3.               Richard G. Scott, in Conference Report, October2010}

^{4.               1 Samuel 17:46-47}