Attitude

"...yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions." (1 Nephi 17:20)

Those were the words of Laman and Lemuel, as quoted by Nephi. Certainly there was nothing unusual about Laman and Lemuel finding something to complain about, and in this case, well, I think most people would consider those hard things to bear. What I find interesting, however, is that just a few verses earlier, Nephi had been saying:

"...so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings." (1 Nephi 17:2)

What others saw as trials, Nephi saw as blessings. His attitude made a huge difference in his outlook, as did Laman's.

Our attitudes have a huge impact on our experience as Scouters. I think, though, that it is even more important to realize how ours attitudes affect those around us. Laman's attitude rubbed off on his brother, his in-laws, and on at least one occasion, even his father, the prophet, had difficulty staying positive when surrounded by so much negativity. In the end, though, Nephi's optimism and faith (in his father, as well as in God) helped his father regain a little faith of his own.

I have noticed that the attitude of Scout leaders definitely rubs off on their Scouts. And the leaders' attitudes are usually affected by the attitude of ward leaders. When a committee chair, primary president, bishop,, etc. is less than enthusiastic about Scouting, it ends up showing in the leaders and boys.

Fortunately, the inverse is also true. When I spoke to the den leader from another ward recently, and she was so enthusiastic about how things were going, attitude was something she mentioned several times. Her attitude had improved (which she attributed to training). The new committee chair had a more positive attitude than the old one. The same went for the new Cubmaster and the primary representative. She kept mentioning how this or that person had "such a good attitude". When I visited a den meeting, I saw boys who were so excited to be there, you could practically feel the energy radiating from them. Several boys were lined up and ready to do an opening flag ceremony several minutes before it was time for the meeting to start. I have no doubt that those boys wanted to be there because their leaders wanted to be there

I know that is one reason I like going to district events, like University of Scouting and Roundtable. Being around other Scouters who are enthusiastic recharges my Scouting battery.

I think the real reason dedicated Scouters end up burning out is not so much all of the work. Scouters get burned out when they are faced with constant negativity and/or lack of interest from their fellow leaders and/or ward leaders. If there are any bishops reading this, please take note. I think the best way to keep your best Scouters from getting burned out is to support them. Support them in their efforts to try and run the program correctly, get them good assistants (and encourage those assistants to get trained), take the training yourself, listen when someone has an idea, take Scouting seriously. When those things do not happen, a good leader can feel like he is banging his head against the wall. When you are banging your head, it does not take long to get a headache.

In the end, it is the boys that suffer when you lose good leaders or when leaders lose their enthusiasm, and that is not fair to the boys.

of God

"...every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God." - Moroni 7:16

Many of you probably saw the mentions in Scouting magazine about the recent Baylor study that compared Eagle Scouts, former Scouts and non-Scouts as adults in various social, physical and spiritual aspects. You can read a more detailed accounting of the results here.

As Byron Johnson put it, "There is no shortage of examples or anecdotal accounts that suggest Scouting produces better citizens, but now there is scientific evidence to confirm the prosocial benefits of Scouting or earning the rank of Eagle Scout..." (source)

Scouting definitely invites men to do good. What about believing in Christ? According to Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone more than 90 percent of LDS Eagles serve full-time missions.* (source)

President Hinkley said, "The promise of the Scout Oath and the twelve points of the Scout Law point young men along the path of being prepared for the 21st century. They provide a solid and powerful magnetic force toward development of a well-rounded and noteworthy character that counts. If every boy [and girl] in America knew and observed the Scout Oath, we would do away with most of the jails and prisons in this country." (source)

And Baden-Powell said, "I have clearly stated that our objective in the Scouting movement is to give such help  as we can in bringing about God's Kingdom on earth." (source)


*It is important to note that the act of receiving an Eagle badge does not automatically make a boy a better person. It is the journey required to get there, and when we push a boy through or "pencil whip" his requirements, we are doing him a disservice. According to the same article sourced just above, only 6% of LDS Scouts earn the Eagle, and only 2% of non-LDS Scouts earn it. Just because a boy does not earn his Eagle does not mean he has not learned or grown as a Scout. President Monson said, "However, we should not put down the young man who does not achieve that high award, but give him credit for the effort he has made."The goal is not a badge; it is to persuade them to do good and help them develop their testimonies of Christ.

Promises and Covenants

Our oldest is is working on his Bobcat badge. The first step on the Bobcat trail is to learn the Cub Scout Promise and complete the Character Connection for Honesty.

Wanting him to understand the promise he is making, I broke it down into parts, which we discussed.

First we discussed what a promise is and how it would be dishonest to say you promise to do something that you do not intend to do. This led naturally into a discussion about covenants, specifically baptismal covenants.

(The blocks in the above picture are something I had on hand anyway - something I made for primary a while back. Obviously you don't need something like that to discuss covenants with your son, but it is a visual representation of how covenants work.)

We talked about some of the things he will be promising when he is baptized. Interestingly, each one related to other things we have discussed relative to becoming a Cub Scout. We had talked about how when he is wearing the Cub Scout uniform he is representing the Cub Scouts and needs to act accordingly so that he represents them well. I told him it is the same when he is baptized and takes on himself the name of Christ; he is representing Christ and His church. Keeping the commandments is the same as doing his duty to God. We even covenant to help other people (give goodwill).

Talking about covenants led into a discussion about Christ and the Atonement. None of us is perfect, but Christ gave us a way to repent and try again. (With the block visual, breaking part of the covenant makes the building fall down, but we can rebuild it when we repent and take the sacrament each Sunday.)

This relates back to when a Cub Scout promises to do his best. He is not promising to be perfect, just to do the best he can. We have tried to ingrain in our son the idea that everyone makes mistakes, and that's okay; that's how we learn. We are here to learn. That's why we have repentance.

Doing your best also means doing your personal best, not trying to be like someone else. This is also something Christ has asked of us. He knows each one of us. He has given us each our own, unique talents. He does not want us to compare ourselves to others.

I love how this all fits together so well. None of this was planned, it all just came together naturally.

Nephi Was An Eagle Scout

Here's a bit of humor for you Boy Scout leaders from Bradley Harris:

Nephi Would Have Made a Great Boy Scout

Preparation

7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study‍ it out in your mind; then you must ask‍ me... (D&C 9:7-8)

We teach our primary children that this applies to the temporal as well as the spiritual. "You can't just pray for God to give you the answers on a test. You need to study first, then pray for help remembering what you studied."

Before sending missionaries out to teach the gospel, we send them to an MTC to receive training, and if it's relevant, to receive a foundation in a new language. Then we rely on the Spirit to guide them as needed.

We know these things, yet we often forget to apply them as adults. Dallin H. Oaks reminded us last year that we should use available medical help and current science in addition to prayer, fasting and priesthood blessings in matters of health.

It is tempting to think, "This is a Church activity, so we'll be safe," or, "I was called and set apart, so I will receive all the inspiration I need," or, "The Lord called me, so that means He feels I am qualified," then to do nothing, save it be to ask for inspiration or for the boys to listen or for the activity to go well and that we'll all be safe.

Get trained. Attend Roundtables. Read the Handbook. Know the rules of Safe Scouting.