Entropy

Entropy.

My new favorite word.

Last summer as I was studying for my Praxis exam and studying anything and everything, I got to the section about the second law of thermodynamics which states that everything naturally moves towards a state of disorder and chaos. The word for this is entropy. You know when you go on vacation and come back to a lawn that needs mowing and a house that needs dusting and weeds that need pulling. Things will naturally decay over time unless we actively maintain them. The solution to entropy is work. 

Erik's room will never become organized and clean without some degree of work. Tyler's puzzles will never naturally fall together to form a picture without someone to put it together. We work to overcome that natural state of disorder. 

As I've thought about this word over the last eight months, I've come to the conclusion that if everything is spiritual to the Lord (D&C 29:34), then entropy must be an eternal principle and that there surely must be spiritual entropy as well. Lehi tells us in 2 Nephi that "there must be an opposition in all things."

Life and death.

Health and sickness.

New and old.

Growth and decay.

Love and hate.

Entropy and work.

Our bodies fight daily against this principle of entropy as they age. Are our spirits fighting daily as well?

It is the natural tendency for men and women to drift away from God and his commandments. This turning away brings disorder and chaos to our lives and in order to return, work must be involved. It is hard. It is not comfortable. It is not easy. Just like we must work to restore things to their original state, we must also actively and regularly look for ways to restore our relationship with God EVERY DAY (and I might add all relationships in our life). 

It isn't good enough to simply stop doing something to become converted to God and his commandments. Nephi didn't tell us he would go and believe what the Lord had commanded him. He didn't say he would go and think about it. No, he said, "I will go and do . . .," do being the key word. I know when my life become comfortable, I need to work harder at doing something to fill my soul with light or it will gradually slip back into the darkness.

I guess it's safe to assume that in the physical world, entropy always wins. But in matters of spirituality, I don't want to assume anything. We get to decide who will win: entropy or us.