If the Savior stood beside me . . .

As I read 3 Nephi 18 this morning, one verse stood out.  The Savior is with the people and he tells them he must return to the Father for their sakes.  Why would that be?  To what advantage is it to be without the Savior in our presence? 

In answer to that thought/question, I reflected on the song “If the Savior Stood Beside Me”.  Would I do the things I do?  Would I say the things I say?  Would I be kinder; more thoughtful of others?  Would I serve more?  Although I try ever so hard to do these things, I really believe if I saw the Savior next to me, I would probably step it up a little.  I know when I’m driving, if I’m getting irritated at someone or a situation, and I think about who it is I’m trying to emulate, I kick back and try a little harder to be Christ like.  I yield more readily.  I smile and wave more sincerely.  That said, how could I be judged for my works if the Savior were right here with me?  Probably it wouldn’t be an accurate assessment of my character.

So why did the prophets of the Book of Mormon write?  This is the question posed in Preach My Gospel.  I read the first column of scriptures.  I won’t give the references, but they are on p.105 of Preach My Gospel. 

• They (the prophets) write to persuade us to come unto Christ,
• to record the ministry for those who came after them,
• for the profit of their children,
• so we will know where to look for a remission of our sins,
• so we will know the Law of Moses has been fulfilled and is now dead,
• to clarify and for a witness against the non-believer,
• to teach the right way,
• and to fulfill the promise God made to Abraham concerning his seed.

Does the Book of Mormon persuade me?  Without a doubt.  I feel strongly about reading it daily so I don’t forget this call to come unto Christ.  I’m grateful for its teachings and know they profit me and my family.  I’m ever so grateful for the knowledge that my sins are remitted through the sacrifice of the Savior, and for the teachings in the Book of Mormon which show me the right way. 

They did see and bear record.

This morning I read from 3 Nephi 17.  Jesus teaches some valuable things in this chapter, especially as they pertain to temple worship.  Does He call out temple worship?  Of course not!  This teaching is for all things we are preparing for as they pertain to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  However, he “perceives” they are weak and cannot understand everything he says.  Four things he tells them to do – 4 P’s. 

• Perceive (recognize)
• Ponder
• Pray (ask)
• Prepare 

As it pertains to temple worship, we must take time before going and realize we are being taught more than meets the eyes and ears.  We must recognize that the things of the Spirit are taught by the Spirit and we must ponder what that means in our lives.  Then we need to ask Heavenly Father to show us the mysteries of the temple.  After we have prayed, it’s important that we prepare for this experience.  To just throw on our clothes and race out the door might allow us to feel the spirit, but we must thoughtfully think of where it is we are going, what it is we will be doing, and ask for the blessings we desire before we go. 

I really like the lesson taught by the mission president in the Provo Temple last year as we attended special sessions with the members of the ward for their Ward Conference preparation.  He told us every time he got dressed in the morning, he would say to himself “I am putting on the garment of the Holy Priesthood of God”.  This prepared him for the sacred duty it is to wear this sacred clothing.  

As if in tandem to my Book of Mormon reading, my Preach the Gospel study added further to this by asking the question: How has your study of the Book of Mormon influenced your testimony of Jesus Christ? 

In answer to this question, I will say I always knew the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was true.  I will never forget the first prompting I had with regards to reading it regularly.  It was shortly after General Conference that I was making my bed one morning and said to myself “They’re talking to you, Connie.  You need to be reading the Book of Mormon every day.”  That day began my consistency in reading and I’ve had many opportunities since to learn from others much wiser that I with regards to its teachings.  My testimony has increased and I enjoy studying on my own now.  I have learned to ask myself questions that have brought thought-provoking guidance into my days.

This morning it is one simple verse:  “. . . he wept again;”  Why did Jesus weep for the children?  If anyone in the history of time had a life so full of promise, it was these children.  They had been with the Savior, and he taught them and their parents.  Was he crying for their future?  Didn’t they live in the manner of happiness all their lives?  It was four generations before the people fell totally away from the gospel.  Were they tears of sadness?  Or were they tears of gratitude and joy?  Was he so happy for them he wept?  Have I ever wept from gratitude?  Or joy?  I suppose that is what I’m doing when I bear my testimony and get emotional.  Sometimes I wonder if it is a flaw that I rarely weep.

And where am I going with all this?  I’m not certain.  The Book of Mormon has shaped my life.  I know it is true and I try ever so hard to learn from it so I don’t have to suffer for lack of “knowing”.  It blesses my life as I try to live its principles more fully.  It gives me the rock-solid testimony accompanied by the confirmation of the Holy Ghost, that the Lord is in charge of the details and as long as I live a life worthy of His approval, come what may, my life will be blessed.  

And so the Nephites saw the Savior and did bear record.  So too do I.  I see now many of the mysteries of heaven as they apply to my life.  And this is my testimony:  The things I see I know to be true.  They are not feelings of a frenzied heart, but things the Holy Ghost has made known to me.  It is worth every effort to attain this knowledge and to maintain it by daily studying to grow and understand even more.

There was a Storm.

My thoughts this morning are as much political as they are spiritual.  I went to bed last night very disappointed over the outcome of our presidential election.  How can the voice of the people be so blind to what I perceive as deception and evil in the leaders they have chosen?  These are some of the thoughts I had as I pondered.

There was a storm (Sandy).  Our Heavenly Father is in charge of these events.  It didn’t have to happen.  What became of its devastation?  Somehow, the political swing seemed to go to the man who had the opportunity to show his presidential muscle.  Yes, he looked good for a few days – just long enough to take the attention off his blundering excuses and political diatribe with regards to the events surrounding the massacre in Benghazi.  The Lord knows everything, and this is where I find my comfort.  For some reason, He allowed these things to take place.  I see His hand in this (D&C 29:21).  I don’t understand why, but I don’t have to understand.  I will trust in His wisdom and plan and continue on in my efforts to help build the kingdom and serve wherever I am needed.  I will continue to prepare for a future that is somewhat uncertain as far as political safety are concerned.  I will continue to love my family and do all in my power to make us whole once more.  For in the end, it is truly only the family that will matter.  Are we all present and on board for our Savior’s second coming?  That needs to be my main focus.  

While I'm posting, I want to give gratitude for our Prophet who sets the example we must follow.  Reading the Church's position on the political events of yesterday helps me move forward.  Perhaps you'd like to go there:  http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/statement-on-election-result

Remember

I had an interesting and random thought this morning as I started reading 3 Nephi 15.   Where is it in the history of man?  33 A.D.  Who were some of the prophets before this time?  Isaiah and Moses from the Bible, but Lehi, Nephi are two in the new world.  We have writings from these prophets, and they were shown marvelous things by the Lord.  They saw worlds without end (Moses).  So they knew many truths, not the least of which is the fact that the world as well as other worlds had to be round.  So at what point in time did the world not know the world was round? 

I just did a quick check on the Internet to verify what I thought I was taught in elementary school.   "Washington Irving's 1828 biography of Columbus popularized the idea that Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because many Catholic theologians insisted that the Earth was flat."

Another quick look on the Internet to remind myself what the Dark Ages was all about.  It was the concept of a period of intellectual darkness and economic regression that supposedly occurred in Europe following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.  Time ran out before I could really wrap my brain around it, but my original thought was this:  “How in the world did Satan erase the memories of the people that they would believe the world would be flat  - not to mention a host of other questions?” Some day I want to study this.  For sure, it is evident to me Satan has the power to erase memories. 

Now where do you think I’m going with this?  Frequently you see the life of a good person fall apart.  They’ve received their covenants and they had knowledge of a lot of things pertaining to gospel principles.  Yet for some reason, they seem to forget.  Put this into a larger setting and you can see entire families not being raised with knowledge that was once taught to a nation.  It becomes a movement of darkness. 

I’m not certain why these questions came to mind except I’m seeing entire families who once had the gospel, and are now being raised without it.  These children will then raise families of their own and the beat goes on.  Because we have scripture that gives us a pretty good understanding of what the end of this world is going to look like, it is not difficult to see how it will happen and why we work so hard to keep it from happening. 

The gospel is full of light and understanding.  I am so grateful to have it in my life and grateful my children are teaching it to their children.  I pray fervently this will always be the case.  It doesn’t take long for a family to be in utter darkness, and it's not hard to see why our prophet has repeatedly told us that REMEMBER is the most important word in the English language.

You Cannot Force the Spirit

I have the luxury of time this morning, and a blockage on words – or at least how to organize them. 

The first thing that happened this morning was an email from my daughter I saw on my phone as I was getting out of bed.  The light wasn’t even on yet!  What a miserable world she has created for herself.  The sad thing is that she can’t see she has created this world.  Of course, as I’m showering and getting dressed for my meetings, I’m thinking of all the rebuttals I have for her.  I want so badly to tell her the gospel is true and is the only way to find the joy she seeks.  And then I open my scriptures for the chapter of the day.  The Lord always seems to put in my path those things I need for the moment.

Today I read 3 Nephi 14.  The first commandment from the Savior is to “Judge not”.  Okay.  Maybe I’m judging.  Then the Savior says (v6) “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”  I have to say every time I try even a little to show her gospel principles, my efforts are turned against me.  [sigh]

If this isn’t enough, then in my Preach My Gospel reading, I read (p102) “You cannot force spiritual things.  Such words as compel, coerce, constrain, pressure, demand, do not describe our privileges with the Spirit.  You can no more force the Spirit to respond than you can force a bean to sprout, or an egg to hatch before its time.  You can create a climate to foster growth, nourish, and protect; but you cannot force or compel; you must await the growth” (Boyd K. Packer)

Okay.  So I’m wrong.  Am I trying to compel, or am I only defending my position?  Having an adult child who so totally has turned against all those things she was taught as a child is not the easiest thing I’ve had to do in my life.  It was bad enough being married to a nonbeliever.  This is much worse, because I have invested so much of me.  So what do I do?  What guidance is given that will help me be a better mother of a non-believer?

Stop judging.  I haven’t a clue what goes on in her life that she doesn’t tell me.  Maybe there are good things, and she chooses not to share those. 

Work on my own sins.  Those I have some control over.

Stop sharing spiritual things she is not ready to hear.  That’s a hard one.  But it is true, every good thing I try to share, she tramples and turns against me.  Give it up! 

Stop trying to coerce her to feel the Spirit.  Well, I didn’t think that was what I was doing, but maybe I am.  I promise this though.  I’m not the one who brings up the topics of discussion.  It is usually the other way around.  But I will stop rebutting with spiritual things.  That’s going to be hard, because that’s who I am. 

So how do I create an environment that fosters growth, nourishes, and protects; but doesn’t force or compel?  Just love her.  Love her for who she is.  Listen with my spirit; my heart.  Accept who she is now.  That’s difficult given the mother capacity I have to see her as the Lord sees her, i.e. a beautiful daughter of God with capacity to do so very much.  

Teach from my Writings

My thoughts this morning come from my study of Preach My Gospel.  Interestingly enough, I have had heavy on my mind our meeting in February for the stake Relief Society sisters.  So far, we don’t have a plan – not from lack of trying though.

The questions posed and studied seemed to match up very well with the first thought I had when I awoke this morning.  They were:  “Had I known then what I know now, I would have removed her from that toxic environment.”  Of course, I was thinking of my sweet daughter who struggles so with just about everything there is to struggle.  It began with her self image and has been a “ride” like non other.  It continues, of course.

I immediately got that thought written on paper.  (Well, my computer.) 

I have been praying fervently to know the Lord’s will for our meeting in February.

How do we conduct meetings?  All three scriptures say as moved by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. 

What do we write?  We write as God directs, in the very moment and speedily.  We must be faithful to the commandments and do all things in meekness.  Certainly, I have no preconceived self-aggrandizing plan.  I have no choice but to move by the spirit.

The scripture that brought me to attention was Moses 6:6 where Adam is commanded to write the things given by the Lord in verse 5.  Then the next verse is the one Preach my Gospel led me to.  Their children were taught to read and write by the things Father Adam recorded.  If everything I wrote were the material my children were taught from, would they learn the things of God?  Would they learn the proper way to write?  Obviously, I’m not a prophet of the Lord, but I should have my writings be as inspired as possible. 

The Godhead

3 Nephi 11

I want to remember this chapter – to have it be one of my “go to” scriptures.  There are a few things that help us explain some complicated doctrine to the rest of the world.

• For one, it is the mode of baptism, i.e. immersion.  (v26)
• Two, it is the explanation of how the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three separate individuals or beings.  They are one in purpose, making them the Godhead because they are Gods. (v27)
• Three, this chapter explains the Lord’s position on contention and that it should be no part of us for it is of the devil. (v29)
• Four, we are commanded to repent and believe in the Savior.  In doing so, we will inherit the kingdom of God. (v33)   

What does it mean to “inherit the Kingdom of God?”  This is something I need to study.  I know the answer from my studies, but where are these answers?  Believing in the Savior requires accepting the ordinances that will allow us to inherit His kingdom.  If we believe in the Savior, we will become his disciples and do good always.  We will have no disposition to do evil.  We will serve.  We will become as He is.  There is a path to follow, and although we’re told repenting and believing will get us there, it is those two things that will compel us to want to do more.

From my own experience, I know these things to be true.  I was eight when I was baptized, but I don’t think I really “believed” yet.  Once I really believed, it was a natural progression of chipping away at the “natural man” and trying ever so hard to be more like my Savior.  I believe this process has made my life happier and will qualify me to someday inherit the kingdom of God.  Prior to believing, not only would I not have qualified, I wasn’t really desirous of being there.  It is a progression.  I tell my family all the time that life is a process and we are all processing.  It is a spiritual thing we must all be about.