“You can pray all you want, you can hope all you want, but until the law is fulfilled upon which that blessing is predicated, it won’t happen.” – President Russell M. Nelson
As a pioneering heart surgeon Russell M. Nelson experienced both remarkable success and tragic failure. Early open-heart surgeries were extremely risky and weren’t always successful. He and his colleagues were treading new ground and they recognized they had a lot to learn.
As described in the great book Insights From a Prophet’s Life, by Sheri Dew, during this period of his life Dr. Nelson was both enlightened and comforted by several verses of scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that teach about laws and blessings.
One of them was Doctrine and Covenants 88:36-38, which reads:
“All kingdoms have a law given; And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or lesser kingdom. And unto every kingdom there is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds and also conditions.”
Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 sheds further light on the topic, stating:
“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated – And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.”
From these scriptures Dr. Nelson concluded that there were laws, bounds, and conditions governing the operation of the human heart, and the only way he could successfully heal hearts was to learn and obey those laws.
With this vision Dr. Nelson set out to learn all he possibly could about the laws controlling the human heart and how he could operate on and heal hearts by obeying these laws. Dr. Nelson became a highly successful heart surgeon because he was willing to learn and obey natural laws, and through this skill he was able to bless countless patients by healing their hearts.
Speaking of this principle President Nelson later said:
“In other words, whenever a blessing is received, it’s because a law has been obeyed. And that means certain procedures will always work – not just most of the time, not just some of the time, but every single time without exception. That takes the pressure off an individual who is willing to study the laws that govern the physical body and be obedient to them. Otherwise we’d be crazy to take these patients down to death and back every day.”
Emphasizing how important these scriptures were in his development as a heart surgeon President Nelson added:
“It was through the understanding of the scriptures and ‘likening’ them to this area of interest that the great field of heart surgery as we know it today was facilitated for me.”
The Fundamental Law of the Temporal Gospel
Just as there are laws governing heart surgery that must be obeyed to receive blessings, there are also laws governing money. The fundamental law of the temporal gospel is:
“Spend Less than You Earn.”
To receive temporal blessings it is necessary to understand and obey this law. If we honor this law temporal blessings are sure to follow, and if we can’t or won’t obey this law temporal blessings are impossible.
To paraphrase President Nelson, you can pray all you want, you can hope all you want, but until this law is fulfilled temporal blessings won’t happen.
The good news is that the Lord will help us as we strive to obey this law.
This law is also known as The Micawber Principle. It is named after Wilkins Micawber, a character in the novel David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens. In the book the young, orphaned David Copperfield is sent to work in a factory and arrangements are made for him to live with Wilkins Micawber. Mr. Micawber is fond of giving advice to his young houseguest and not long after David moves in Micawber confidently tells the young boy:
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”
David is impressed with this advice but soon learns that Mr. Micawber is a complete failure in following it. David learns about the power and truthfulness of this principle by watching Mr. Micawber fail to live it and become miserable in the process. Mr. Micawber is loosely based on Charles Dickens’ own father, John Dickens, who also struggled to live within his means.
Learning from Wilkins Micawber
There are several lessons we can learn from Wilkins Micawber and his struggle to live the principle that now carries his name:
- Knowing the principle is meaningless unless we live it. The power of the principle comes not from repeating it but by living it.
- Little things matter. The difference between making progress and falling further behind is often small. Live on just more than you make and over time you are headed for disaster. Live on just less than you make and over time you will be financially secure.
- You have to keep score. Because the difference between progress and disaster can be small you have to have a plan and you have to keep score. As President Monson was fond of stating, “When performance is measured, performance improves.” Yes, this means living on a budget.
- Direction is more important than speed. Avoid get rich quick schemes. Develop a plan that will allow you to make steady, sustainable progress. Speed is nice but progress is essential.
- Spend less or earn more. To state the obvious, if you are struggling to follow the Micawber Principle you can either spend less, earn more, or some combination of these strategies. Although every situation is different, if you have stable employment spending less is often the best place to start. This is because until you learn to control your spending no amount of income will be enough for you.
It’s Never Too Late to Start
The final lesson Wilkins Micawber teaches us is that it is never too late to start living the Micawber Principle.
After struggling with debt the entire novel, at the end of the story Wilkins Micawber and his family move from England to Australia. The fresh start does him good. He becomes a respected lawyer, achieves financial success, and continues teaching the principle that bears his name, now by deed as well as by word.
Principle and Action
Principle: Blessings come through obedience to laws and the fundamental law governing temporal blessings is to spend less than you earn. If you do your part the Lord will assist you in obeying this law but temporal blessings cannot come any other way.
Ark-Building Action: If you are struggling to live the fundamental law of the temporal gospel determine whether your biggest problem is not earning enough or spending too much. Then develop a plan to improve. Write your plan down and pray about it with faith. If you do your part the Lord will assist you in your temporal affairs.