FAMILY TREE OF LOVE

 

We have spread our wings

Like birds in flight

In this world far and wide;

Yet our hearts will nest

In branches seeking the sky above

Forever and ever

United together on the family tree of love.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art Unknown)

OF GENERATIONS

 

I remember hearing a story years ago about a woman who had the habit of cutting off the end of the leg of lamb before baking. When she was asked why she did that she said her mother always did it so she thought that was the right way to bake lamb. When the mother was questioned she said her mother always did it so she thought that it should be done. When the grandmother was questioned she said she didn’t have a roasting pan big enough so she had to cut off the end of the leg. The things we pass on stays in us…..

I have many times recognized things about me that were intergenerational beliefs, attitudes and programming. Many of my European inclinations and characteristics became quite obvious in contrast to the western society norm when my family moved to Australia. I had to change some things about myself to fit into my new environment.

While I was growing up in Croatia, I was very aware of the animosity that existed between the Croats and Serbs. I am sure it went back to the land somehow but nobody of my generation or even my parents’ generation understood why exactly we weren’t supposed to like each other. Even though my parents didn’t fully understand, they were, nevertheless, quick to promote their disdain because it was expected.

We are very much the sum of those who went before us…..the generations whose blood runs in our veins. We are the inheritors of their personalities and characteristics, good or bad. On a personal level, I remember seeing my mother more than once in tears saying: “God created me to suffer.”  And yes I have focused on a lot of my suffering in life because of that. Like mother, like daughter. I also picked up her propensity to criticize others. To this day I am vigilant about this flaw.

I come from generations of poor peasants who lived under the feudal system and then under socialism. My paternal grandmother had six children. When one of them died in infancy she said: “Well, that’s one less mouth to feed.” I never saw this grandmother smile in my whole life. The generations of poverty mentality, likewise, has followed me around for most of my life. Not that I am rich now, but I no longer care.

There are a number of places in the scriptures where God says: “I will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (see Deut 5:9,10; Exodus 20:5,6). It puzzled me why the children would have to be punished because of the sins of their fathers. I came to realise with time that hate very much gets passed down from generation to generation. It begins with someone but never ends with them and it evolves into a serious sin. A classical example is the Middle East.

Generational flaws and sins can end with any generation and this is how. When we are born into this world, we take upon ourselves our father’s name. When we are spiritually born through baptism, we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. We become CHRISTians. King Benjamin explained this means that we become ‘the children of Christ’. He mentions the importance of having Christ’s name 11 times in 6 verses of Mosiah 5 (V 7-12). Why is this important? Because, just as we are genetically predisposed to inherit physical and mental traits of our earthly fathers, so we, when we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, and live his teachings, inherit His spiritual qualities. In other words, we become like Him by the virtue of our newly acquired parental bond (Moroni 7:48). This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘you’re just like your father’, does it not???

I know love existed in the generations of my family. Europeans are passionate people. I have inherited that quality from them. I think deeply and I feel deeply. The memory of them ties me to my homeland. I look forward to meeting those whose names I only know on paper, when I pass on to next life. I want to shower them with love and bring them to God who has given me meaning and understanding of my humanity. I want to resolve their long-held prejudices that have robbed them of their potential. I want to tell them they were not born to suffer.

 

Your life has come and gone

But your footprints remain

And your blood courses through my veins.

I know your smile and your frown

Though we have never met.

They are worn by my children

As gems in family diadem;

You are the root

That reaches the branches,

I am the stem that paves the way.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art Unknown)

A GLIMPSE UPWARD

I have carried with me a sense of powerlessness my whole adult life. I know I did not bring this with me from my pre-existance because I know instinctly this is not who I am. I am not a powerless person yet the sense of powerlessness has been the bane of my life and has held me back from my fullest potential and greater success in this life.  I consider my spiritual life well developed but anything of temporal nature has been a struggle for me and fulfillment in many ways has eluded me. This sense of powerlessness has damaged my self-esteem and robbed me of self-belief to the point that I have many times felt I have been a failure in my life. Recently the frustration of this noose around my neck reached its peak.

I have known for some time that this weakness had come to me from many generations of my family who were poor oppressed European peasants, that had existed from the time of the feudal system to socialism, and who believed they could never rise above their station in life. I had seen this powerlessness perpetrated in my family throughout my childhood and early adulthood in Europe. I have known my family's thoughts, their false beliefs and their words of affirmations that invited suffering into the lives of my immediate family. From the time that I have received the Gospel in my life, I have not been able to understand why I was born into this lineage. I am the different one, the one that seeks and knows and loves God. The one that has largely departed from my roots. My recent sense of frustration over my life sent me to my knees where through bitter tears I spat out to God that I hated my family and all the generations I have come from; that I hated who they were and what they have saddled me with. I had never expressed such venomous thoughts before, to myself or to others, let alone to God. I begged to understand why I was sent into this family and why I carried their burden.  Within half an hour of my prayer, my heart and mind were flooded with immense understanding.

When the Saviour said  'my sheep hear my voice' (John 10:27) he was referring to those who are so spiritually advanced that they  recognise and wholeheartedly embrace the truth when it is presented to them. Bruce R. McConkie taught it is a spiritual gift that was developed in pre-existance. I was 16 when I sought and immediately accepted the Gospel into my life. I count myself as one of His sheep. What has all this got to do with my ancestors? It was given to me to understand that those who are His sheep are often sent to families who need a spiritual shepherd to help them with their unbelief. I came to understand that the sense of powerlessness in generations of my family had blinded them to a 'hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal' (Moroni 7:41); that what once was a temporal has now become a spiritual stumbling block.  I came to understand that no amount of saving ordinances which I can do here in the temple can do anything for them unless this sense of powerlessness was removed  so they can believe that they can rise to godhood.  I came to understand that my long held desire to bring souls unto Christ had more to do with generations of my family than with any other people I can yield influence over living here during my life time. I came to  understand that it is up to me to eliminate this feeling of powerlessness in my life and therefore eliminate it from generations past and generations to come. This made me understand that what we do and overcome in this life reverberates throughout generations that have been and the generations that are yet to come; that it reverberates through the genetic cord which binds us and unites us in a collective effort to rise to our potential; that what we achieve and overcome here in mortality echoes throughout eternity. I came to understand that we are one and that the power to lift one another to higher ground that we might all become co-heirs with Christ is one of the greatest tender mercies of the Lord.

Living by faith is a hard road. Glimpses into heaven such as these however make the journey bearable and the road illuminated. They propel us upward and above the world. They open our hearts to the witness of the plan of salvation and the reality of our real home. They make us know who we are; that we belong to Him who has loved us and made us free, to Him who has prepared heavenly mansions for our eternal abode; Him who has spiritually begotten us as His sons and daughters; Him who has made the immortality and eternal life of man possible; the Saviour, the Redeemer, the Everlasting Father, the Almighty God, the Son of Righteousness, the Great I Am, the Lord of Glory, the King of Kings, the Stone of Israel. All glory be His forever.

"Hast thou not known?

Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God,

the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,

fainteth not, neither is weary? 

There is no fathoming of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint;

and to them that have no might 

he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, 

and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk,

and not faint."

- Isaiah 40:28-31

AN ORDINANCE OF LOVE

As Jesus sat at supper with His disciples prior to His fated suffering, He instituted the sacrament through which they could remember Him and through which they could covenant to keep His commandments on the condition of love. Such was the theme of the last supper of His mortal life. In John's account of the Last Supper in chapters 13-15 Jesus used the word 'love' 20 times in 14 verses. This made it clear indeed that what He was about to do for them through His infinite sacrifice was a token of love and should be a token of love forever more. Then the admonition to all who would accept that love through the emblems of sacrament: "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12); "...this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

One might ask why the Lord chose the Last Supper as a discourse on love. What to us became The Last Supper and the institution of the sacrament we observe to this day, was in actuality Jesus' last Passover meal or the feast of unleavened bread which was an ancient festival that commemorated the salvation of Israel from bondage in Egypt. The Passover had been kept by Israelites for generations as a token of the Lord's love for them: "Because  the Lord loved you...hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Deut. 7:8). When Jehovah freed the Israelites from Egyptians, He freed them from physical bondage of slavery and likewise from spiritual bondage by giving them laws and commandments which with the passing of time they had great difficulty in keeping. The atoning sacrifice which Jesus was about to perform for Israel following the last Passover was to free them once more from physical and spiritual bondage, physical being the sting of death and spiritual being the pathway to eternal life through the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. As the Jewish day ends and begins at sunset, thousands of Paschal lambs were killed on the day of the Passover signifying that the lamb was the great and last sacrifice. That same day, before the sun set again, Jesus hung on the cross, in realisation of that significance, the offering of His body grounded in ultimate love for "greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

"Before Jesus introduced the ordinance of the sacrament, He taught His disciples more about love. In order for them to understand the sacrament, they had to first understand the basic principle of love" (Perry, L. Tom, Why Call Ye Me Lord, And Do Not The Things Which I Say?, Ensign Nov 1984). The Lord emphasized several times that only those who are obedient to his commandments truly understand what it is to love Him and others, because the commandments are principles of love. The commandments of God enjoin us to love him, others, and ourselves. Keeping the commandments of God enable us to join together in love as eternal families. Without obedience to these principles of love, there is no eternal life" (Breck England, NT Lesson 23, Love One Another As I Have Loved You".

Jesus predicted that in our day people will not keep the commandments and because 'iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold' (Matt 24:12). But more than that, the love of many within their own families shall wax cold and brother shall rise against brother, and father against the son, and children against their parents (Mark 13:12). We see evidence of this constantly in media where families are torn and at war with one another; where hatred abounds instead of love; where family feuds cause generations to foster animosity and breed bitterness, resentment and ill will; and where blood is thinner than water. The Church is not exempt from this. There we encounter hypocrisy where some members, to be seen of men, are more courteous, loving and kind to other Church members than they are to their own families; where parents allow familiarity to breed disrespect between each other and their children; where parents mete abuse; and where children are so disobedient to their parents that instead of havens their homes become battlegrounds. It has been said 'you hurt the most those you love the most'. Why is it that we are more mindful of hurting the feelings of our friends and strangers than we are of hurting our families? If we are at odds with any family members we will not be fit for the kingdom. Our family members are those that count the most, we cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God without them in the sense that if we harbour unforgiveness, hatred or ill will toward them. I feel that we will be held accountable for any issues we have caused or pain we have inflicted that we do not seek to rectify. In extreme cases where abuse has been involved, there might need to be professional mediation to bring the perpetrator to repentance and the victim to healing.

Most importantly, if we are not bound in love, we cannot hope to have the Lord's spirit with us always as it is promised us through the token of the sacrament. When we are not bound in love to our family members, no matter what their feelings are towards us, we are not fully worthy to partake of Christ's flesh and blood through the sacredness of the sacrament for that which was wrought in love should be partaken in love. No man can confess to fully love God when he does not love his fellow beings for when there is an absence of love, more often than not there is a presence of adverse feelings which are not worthy of true disciples of Christ. Regarding this President Joseph Fielding Smith Jr said the following: "If any of the members are not in good standing; if they have in their hearts any feeling of hatred, envy, or sin of any kind, they should not partake of these emblems. If there are any differences or feelings existing between brethren, these differences should be adjusted before the guilty parties partake; otherwise they will eat and drink unworthily and bring on them the condemnation spoken of by Paul. We should see that our hearts and hands are clean and pure. (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:343)"

The importance of cherishing and honouring family relationships can be seen through the following story:

"Some time ago a friend of mine related an experience that I should like to pass on to you. He said:

'My father's cousin and my father lived in the same community and were competing in the construction business. There grew up over the years a very keen and bitter rivalry between them. This was triggered in the beginning in the bidding of construction contracts, and later in our city political affairs where they opposed each other in very spirited elections. Our immediate families inherited this situation upon the death of my father, for we boys seemed to take over where Dad left off. It was quite a strain on the members of his family and ours even to be civil to one another, even in our Church callings where he served as bishop of one ward and I in another, and later in the high council where we were both members. When we came together it seemed that Satan took over, and I am sure he did, for haven't we been told that where contention is, the Spirit of the Lord is not? 

This situation continued to fester. Suddenly I found myself with a call to put aside all worldly things and go to preside over a mission. This was a thrilling experience to contemplate, and yet I subconsciously had a most uneasy feeling about it. I kept asking myself: 'Are you really worthy to accept such an important call?' I was living the Word of Wisdom, I was a full tithe paper, I was faithful in all my Church activities, I was morally clean, and yet this uneasy feeling persisted. I set about immediately to get my business and personal affairs in a condition where others could handle them when we were gone. While returning home from my office one afternoon, it really happened. I didn't hear a voice, but as clearly as if a voice spoke to me something said: 'You must go to your father's cousin and get things straightened out. You cannot go on this mission and teach the gospel of love when this terrible feeling exists between you.' 

I drove to his home, and with great fear and trepidation went up and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. After waiting a few minutes I went back to my car and said silently, 'Lord, I made the attempt. I am sure this will be acceptable.' But it wasn't. This uneasy feeling still persisted. I prayed earnestly about it. The next day as I sat in a funeral service, my cousin came in and sat across the aisle from me. The Spirit moved me to ask him if I could see him at his home after the service. He agreed. This time I went with calmness and tranquility in my soul because I had asked the Lord to prepare the way for me.

When I rang the doorbell he invited me into the living room and congratulated me on my mission call. We talked a few minutes about things in general, and then it happened. I looked at him with the feeling of love, which replaced all the old bitterness, and said: 'I have come to ask forgiveness for anything I have ever said or done that has tended to divide us and our families.' At this point tears came into our eyes, and for a few minutes neither of us could say a word. This was one time when silence was more powerful than words. In a few minutes he said: 'I wish I had come to you first.' I replied: 'The important thing is that it is done, not who initiated it.' At this moment we had a rich spiritual experience, which caused us to purge our lives and our souls of those things which had separated us, which has resulted in our having proper family relationships. Now I could go on my mission and teach the true meaning of love, because for the first time in my life I had experienced its deepest dimension, and now I could honestly say that there wasn't a person in the world that I didn't love and appreciate. Since that day my life has never been the same, for it was then that I learned in a most positive way as I had never understood before the injunction of the Master to his disciples when he said: 'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another' (John 13:34) (N. Eldon Tanner in CR, April 1967, pp 105-6, The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, p. 161)

When Judas left the Passover feast to pursue the path of betrayal, Jesus said to His disciples that He was with them only for a little while longer (John 13:33). Peter was so sorrowful that he said: "Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death" (Luke 22:33). We can imagine the Saviour saying: "No Peter, that won't be necessary, 'whither I go, ye cannot come' (John 13:33). All that is required of you is to partake of this token of love in remembrance of me that you may love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34)

"Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." (John 13:1)

FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS

There are few worth while shows currently airing on the television but there is one that is bound to touch the hearts of all those who view it. This show is called "Who Do You Think You Are?" I have watched this show twice now and each time have wept together with the celebrities who are assisted to trace their family lines and to discover great truths about their ancestors. The second show I watched featured Kelly Clarkson, a very famous and successful singer. She was tracing her three times great grandfather, Isaiah Rose, who as a youngster survived the horrors of the American Civil War and its' infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia and who later became a Republican Senator for Ohio and the champion of the 'temperance movement', introducing ultimately successful legislation allowing individual counties to enact local legislation banning the sale of liquor. The most interesting part of Kelly Clarkson's family history journey is that she considered this experience the best thing she has ever done. Considering the enormous successful career she has had in the music industry, this statement spoke volumes about a very well known scripture that came to my mind as she spoke: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...." (Malachi 4:5,6)

On the evening of 21 September 1823, angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and informed him of important events soon to transpire on the earth. He also told him that Elijah would come. He spoke of 'promises made to the fathers' (JS-H 1:39) in ancient times which would assist in turning the hearts of the children to their fathers. Elijah did come, he came to the Kirtland Temple on 3 April 1836 and brought with him the priesthood keys which were the sealing powers of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the means whereby that which is bound and sealed on earth is also bound and sealed in heavens (D&C 110:13-16).

It is very interesting to me that the scripture which speaks of Elijah's return and mission in Malachi concludes the Old Testament and that this lesson falls to be taught in Church at Christmas time, the time of year when our hearts are turned to our families. We think of Christmas as 'family time' and go to great lengths to get together with our families, some travelling great distances to do so. It seems we make every effort to reach out to each other at this time of the year, to eat together, to play together, to renew our bonds, to rejoice. I wonder how many of us, however, have sent our thoughts to family members that have come and gone, that are very little known to us, if at all, family members that are languishing in the spirit world awaiting deliverance made possible only by us, who have the keys and the priesthood power to open the doors of their prison, to bring them salvation, to offer them hope of redemption and eternal life. How many of them feel forgotten and uninvited, if only in spirit, to our tables bulging with Christmas fare, not feeling a part of our family togetherness? How many are waiting with bated breath for our next temple visit or our next 15 minutes of glancing at our family history? How many are hoping against all hope that we will retrieve from the deep recesses of our minds the promises we have made to one another before this world began, that we will not forget each other, that we will do all that is in our power to bring each other back home?

At this Christmas time, should we not make a promise to come to know those who have paved the path before us, who have made us what we are and brought us to this mortal journey? Should we not commit to come to know them and to liberate them from their prisons of longing to belong to the throng of God? Should we not work our hardest to bring us together as families and ultimately unite us as the human family and children of God? This is God's work and this is His glory, this is the plan of salvation.  The Saviour has made all this possible.  He has not left us subject to the sting of death but has redeemed us both body and soul through one amazing selfless act. Will we honour Him and His birth as we remember our loved ones who are yet to enfold us into their embrace for making available to them the greatest gift of all, the gift of eternal life.

JOSEPH, THE PROTOTYPE

In early Christian Syriac literature there are 56 comparisons of Joseph's life with Christ's.  They are incredibly explicit and clearly developed and formulated by historians determined to show Joseph as a Type of Christ.  Throughout centuries, Christians have mainly hailed Joseph for his sexual purity turning him into an icon of strength and example to us all.  There are many more lessons, however, that we can learn from his life but even more so from his character which makes him a perfect prototype of the Saviour. Besides his impeccable self control, what I admire most about Joseph is his regard for his fellowman , no doubt born out of Christ like compassion that was central to his character. Out of this compassion was born his willingness to serve his fellowman and his willingness to forgive.   Both of these traits are essential for us to develop in order to be saved in the kingdom of God.

Careful reading of Joseph's servitude in Egypt makes us come to the conclusion that Joseph did not rise to authority by deviousness or self serving tactics but by being mindful of his fellowman which endeared people to him.  I imagine it was not only the fact that the Lord was with him but also his disposition to care about people that made people trust him.  For this reason Potiphar was willing to put all his affairs into his hands (Gen 39:4); the keeper of the prison was willing to put all prisoners into his charge (Gen 39:22); and Pharoah was able to commit all of Egypt into his administration (Gen 41:41).  Even though Pharoah gave credit to God for making Joseph wise enough to interpret his dreams, he surely would have known of Joseph's character and reputation which would have come before him, otherwise he would not have trusted that Joseph's interpretation of his dreams came from God.

I am certain that Joseph's attitude was to be the best of whatever he had to be in whatever circumstances. When he was a slave in Potiphar's house he must have made up his mind to be the best slave he could possibly be.  For this reason he came to the attention of the master of the house and for this reason God made him prosper.  The same was probably true when he was flung into prison.  I imagine when he found himself there, he determined that he was going to be the best prisoner he could possibly be and do whatever he could to alleviate the suffering of his fellow prisoners, to help others bear their burdens, 'to succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees' (D&C 81:5).

When Joseph was in charge of the prisoners, one day he noticed that the butler and the baker were sad (Gen 40:5,6).  Think about this.  They are in prison.  Should they be leaping about being merry instead? Obviously Joseph being in charge, had tried his best to make the conditions as pleasant as they could possibly be for the inmates, to maximise their peace and joy as much as he could, under difficult conditions, so of course it matters to him that two of those inmates are sad.  He obviously cares about their well being. And this attitude of caring works for his highest good as the butler and the baker confide in him and reveal their dreams to him.  And dreams of course, are Joseph's specialty.  Do you think if Joseph was a tyrant prison keeper, looking out only for himself, he would have secured for himself a release from prison through the butler of the king of Egypt?  Instead of being a tyrant, Joseph was a loving man of God who inquired of his inmates: "Wherefore look ye so sadly today?" (Gen 40:7,8)  This one question speaks volumes about Joseph.  This one question was also his path to freedom.

Just as Joseph sought to rescue the physically captive from their emotional burdens, Jesus came to rescue the spiritually captive who languished in prisons of sin and pain, "...to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound..." (D&C 138:42).  The scriptures are replete with accounts of Christ's compassion towards those he served, healed and even raised from the dead.  The man who proclaimed himself to be 'the resurrection and the life' (John 11:25) wept when brought to Lazarus' tomb, not because he sorrowed that Lazarus had died as witnesses supposed but because he had compassion for those whose hearts were breaking.  He knew where Lazarus was,  and was he not in a far better place than here?  It was out of his compassion for his broken-hearted sisters that he brought Lazarus back to life.  For was he not 'a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief'? (Isa 53:3)

"Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
"And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still.  And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise."  (Luke 7:11-14)

Jesus' compassion was not only for this widows's tears but for the hardships she would live with on daily basis had she been left without a son to take care of her. In the day and age where women were totally dependent on men and where a woman without a husband looked towards her son to care for her, this widow whose son had been taken away from her too was facing a very bleak future.  The Saviour knew and he acted and he saved.

"While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.
"But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
"And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden.
"And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth". (Luke 8:49-56)

Twice, before he raised Jairus' daughter, the Saviour addressed the parents first for he had concern for them and their sorrow.  The daughter was raised from the dead and Jesus was able to bind the broken-hearted.

Joseph's love for his family activated his ability to forgive his brothers for selling him into a strange land to endure years of hardship and servitude.  The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha which comprises the ancient Jewish and Jewish-Christian documents, tells that Joseph had such high regard for his brothers despite what they had done, that he repeatedly affirmed to the Ishmaelites that he indeed was a slave because he didn't want to bring disgrace upon them:

"For my brothers know how much my father loved me, yet I was not puffed up in my thoughts.  Even while I was a child I had the fear of God in my heart, for I understood that all things pass away.  I did not arouse myself with evil design, but honoured my brothers, and out of regard for them even when they sold me I was silent rather than tell the Ishmaelites that I was the son of Jacob, a great and righteous man.
As I was going with the Ishmaelites, they kept asking me, "Are you a slave?" and I replied, "I am a slave out of a household", so as not to disgrace my brothers.  The greatest of them said to me, "You are not a slave, even your appearance discloses that." (James H. Charlesworth, Ed., The Old Testament Pseudephigrapha, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, p. 822)

We should be able to relate to Joseph who was taken away from his family that he loved. Would he not want to be reunited with them? Would he let his lack of forgiveness stand in the way of that reunion?   Joseph wept and embraced his brothers and he forgave to the point that he tried to convince them that it was not their fault, but that the Lord brought him to Egypt to save them all  (Gen. 45:5).

Jesus, like Joseph is the 'birthright' son, the first born of the Father, the rightful heir of all that the Father has but Celestial Kingdom can be a lonely place without the ones you love, and He has loved us and wanted us there with him.  Just as Joseph's love for his family activated his ability to forgive his brothers,  Jesus' love for us activates his ability to forgive us of our sins.  We too have been 'taken'.  This telestial life is our Egypt and our slavery.

"In a sense we are all captive 'in Egypt".  Because of the idolatry of Egypt and because it was the place of Israel's captivity, the prophets of old used the land of Egypt as a symbol for the telestial world in which we now live.  The entire world today is a spiritual Egypt, 'the land of our affliction', in captivity to the 'god of this world' (2 Cor 4:4) who is Satan.  The Apostle John spoke of this world as 'spiritual Egypt' because here the Lord was crucified (Rev 11:8)."

The spiritual Egypt we are in has only one Saviour.  Jesus, like Joseph of old, offers forgiveness and the bread of life from which we never need to experience a famine.  When Joseph sent for his father and the rest of the family to join him in Egypt, the Lord told Israel that he need not fear to go to Egypt 'for I will there make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again" (Gen 46:2-4).  The Saviour descended 'into Egypt' to bring us up again if we are faithful.  We miss the mark if we don't recognise the prototypes when we study the scriptures, who can turn our hearts to Him who can quench our thirst with living water and appease our hunger with the bread of life.  Joseph is one such prototype of the Saviour and his power to save.  We too can be prototypes to our children and their children as we walk in the footsteps of Him who knows the way out of 'Egypt' and into eternal life.

HOPES AND PROMISES

The other day I had an opportunity to spend a day with my 3 year old granddaughter.  Just she and I, together for the day, playing with abandon.  It always touches my heart that she wants to be with me and that we can have such a good relationship, that she trusts me to take care of her.  Before she was born I had decided that I wanted to be called Grandmummy.  My granddaughter though decided otherwise.  When she was 2 she declared that my name would be Damma.  I am convinced she brought this name with her from pre-existence.  This is the name her mother used to call her paternal grandmother when she started to speak. She could not pronounce Grandma so Damma it was for awhile but the name remained a special reminder in the family of my daughter's early life.

My daughter and her grandmother had a very special bond.  Her grandmother, my mother-in-law, was a wonderful person and a unique grandmother.  When I started to look forward to being a grandmother myself I hoped ardently that I would be a grandmother like her.  This special woman passed away while my daughter was still pregnant with her first child, my granddaughter Addy.  Before Addy was born her paternal grandfather had a dream about his mother who had passed away and in that dream saw her instructing a little girl about earth life.  We all knew Addy was going to be Addy before she even appeared.  I could not be more sure that my mother-in-law told Addy about the name 'Damma' and that Addy remembered it when the time came in her life to put a name to me.  I sometimes feel that this is a special message to me from beyond the grave.  Addy had never heard anybody else use this name and she can pronounce Grandma perfectly so I feel that this name could not have come from anywhere else. Such a simple thing but such a strong cord binding us together in this great adventure of mortality made possible by the plan of salvation.

When Abraham had a vision of the intelligences that were organized before the world was created he found himself standing among the 'noble and great' ones and was told by the Saviour that he was chosen before he was born. (Abraham 3:23)  Among these noble and great spirits Joseph Fielding Smith identified prophets of our dispensation whom he saw in his vision of the dead who he declared 'were reserved to come forth in the fulness of time to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work....I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God". (D&C 138:53-55)  These great spirits were 'prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labour in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men' (D&C 138:56).  Joseph Smith taught:

"Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabits of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was.  I suppose I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council" (TPJS, p 365)

How would you feel being one of the great spirits chosen to come to earth to do a specific job and one of great importance and magnitude?  Would you feel important?  Would you understand the gravity of your responsibility and live up to it every day?  How would you feel if you knew you were responsible for salvation of the souls of men?  What Joseph Smith said is true.  It is true of every one of us.  We have all been called to minister to the inhabitants of the world in one way or another.  Looking into my granddaughter's sweet face, I am convinced that I could not have a more important calling in life than that of being her grandmother.

As I considered our relationship the other day, I wondered what promises I had made to her in pre-existence.  I have always believed that we choose our parents but I never gave it much thought to grandparents and beyond.  Did we know each other as such back then?  My patriarchal blessing tells me that my time of coming to earth was set that I may fulfill the promise I made in my pre-existence and that I had fulfilled that promise by entering the waters of baptism.  It goes on to say that many of those spirits who were with me had rejoiced when that promise was fulfilled.  Could it be that those spirits were my ancestors and my posterity who depended on me to assist them in working out their salvation whilst in the flesh?  Were they watching me beyond the veil as I progressed through my life hoping against all hope that my promise will one day bear fruit?  I am a convert to the Church and by my conversion and acceptance of the truth, I have not only been instrumental in redeeming the dead in my family, I have also paved the path for my granddaughter to be born a child of the covenant.  This has given her a great start in life. If I continue faithful, my love, my example and what I can teach her will be the priceless legacy I will leave her when I am gone. Is this my work of any less importance than the one of 'the great and noble ones'?

We are not here just for ourselves.  I am certain we covenanted with one another through the bonds of love before the plan of salvation unfolded that we would contribute to the salvation of each other's souls.  I am certain our hearts were turned to one another and bonded through the promises that knitted our souls together.  It is not by chance that we have a responsibility whilst here to love and serve one another and to become 'saviours on mount Zion'.  When fulfilled, this responsibility in turn makes us like the Saviour, possessors of the pure love of Christ without which we cannot be saved.  (Moroni 7:46-48)

Contrast this pure love of Christ that binds us together to the self-serving objective of the adversary's plan which had no capacity to bring us together in love and unity.  Satan had only one goal, to exalt himself above everyone else.  He had no regard or love for any of us and even his dysfunctional plan to save us was for his own benefit and not ours.  His goal to draw away after him as many as he can is purely to make us as miserable as he is, his promise of eternal life based on a lie, a plan that could never work.  Why did so many in our pre-existent state fall prey to his empty promises?  Consider the following:

"When we talk about our relationship to the Savior and our redemption, we must begin with the pre-mortal life.  I think we often miss the real issue of the contention in the spirit world that eventually led to the War in Heaven.  We talk about it as though Lucifer was going to force everybody to obey.  Most people don't want to be forced.  As I see it, the real issue is that Lucifer would guarantee their salvation.  He promised salvation without effort, without excellence, without hard work, without individual responsibility.  That's the lie that he promulgated in the pre-earth councils.  That so-called shortcut to salvation captivated many gullible and lazy spirits.  They wanted something for nothing.  We have certain aspects in our life today where things are awkward.  Something for nothing - a free lunch, we sometimes call it - with certain kinds of subsidies which promise to guarantee the reward without the effort.  On that basis Lucifer led away many spirits."
(Robert J. Matthews, "The Price of Redemption", The 11th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium - New Testament, January 29, 1983)

Redemption is not for the faint hearted and we know that we are not of such disposition because we chose Christ's plan which comes with a price.  Some of us can afford to pay more than others, some of us are stronger, more capable and some of us need help but none of us can make it alone.  Even the strongest of us need help to hold onto the iron rod at some point in our lives.  We all need succor, guidance, positive influence, inspiration, motivation, a righteous example, a kind word, to be loved, to be cherished. None of us can do without any of these and yet all of these are given and provided by another.  You would not be you without the people you have had in your life.  Both of my granddaughters have the same birthmark as I do on the back of their heads.  It makes me feel like this is evidence that they are mine but more than this physical proof of our kinship I hope that their spirits will bear resemblance to mine as I strive to be an example of faithfulness to God and show them the path to righteousness.  I feel as responsible for their spiritual welfare as I did for my children's.  I cannot afford to let go of the iron rod, small eyes are watching and small hearts hoping that I will not fail in my promises.

Whilst attending our new ward yesterday, my daughter was introduced in Relief Society with significant reference to her grandparents who are well known far and wide for their faithfulness and Church service. Her grandmother who I believe passed onto Addy the famous name of 'Damma', is highly regarded in the Church in Sydney by many saints who knew her.  My daughter whispered to me: "Gram and Grandpa are famous in the Church" and I whispered back: "Wherever you go, you will be associated with their good name. This is the legacy they have left for you".  I hope that one day Addy will be introduced somewhere as my granddaughter and that she will be proud of that fact.

KNEE DEEP

 

Last Sunday our Sunday School lesson was entitled "Zion - The Pure In Heart".  I thought as I studied the lesson how much becoming a Zion person is at the other end of the spectrum of someone who is an inactive member of the Church.  Somewhere between being a Zion member and an inactive member we encounter all sorts of members.  Ones who sit on the fence and come to Church because they know they should and do little else about their membership, ones who consider the Church to be a social club and somewhere to belong, ones who choose what commandments they will live and live the gospel as it suits them.  Some members have barely wet feet and others are knee deep in the Church and strive with all their might to live the Gospel.  These members are Zion people.

  

In D&C 6:6, we are admonished to 'seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion'.  This should make every member feel the need and urgency to put their life into order and strive to become a Zion person.  One only needs to consider the condition of this world to be convinced that the time of the Saviour's coming is near, even at hand.  "For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, the time is soon at hand that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory" (D&C 34:7)   When the Saviour comes we will not stand to experience the Millenium if we are not a Zion people. I've reflected a lot on my own worthiness during the past week and have sadly concluded that after nearly 40 years of Church membership I should be much further ahead than what I am.  Thank goodness for repentance and hopefully enough time for improvement before the Saviour makes an appearance because right now I am not sure I am yet a Zion person.

 

The Saviour's call for the Church to rise in strength of Zion is found in D&C 82:14: "For Zion must increase in beauty and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments".  President Franklin D. Richards explained: "What are these beautiful garments?  These beautiful garments are the clothing upon with the authority and power of the Holy Priesthood.  It is that which makes people beautiful; it is that which makes people useful...." (Journal of Discourses, 21:195).   President Eyring made clear the purpose and destiny of those who have the holy priesthood upon them in this dispensation:  "The destiny of the rising generation of priesthood holders is far more than to be ready to bring God's power down to heal the sick.  The preparation is to be ready to go and do whatever the Lord wants done as the world is preparing for His coming".  (Eyring, "Be Ready", Ensign, Nov. 2009, 59)  I don't know all things the Lord will ask of us before He comes but I know we need to be so knee deep in the Gospel and so committed that we will do anything.

 

 

 

To be Zion people, we cannot sit at the door of the chapel hoping the holiness will rub off on us, but need to be so far into the Church that its' principles and teachings dictate our every action.  We need to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost to have him purify our hearts and sanctify us and form us into the image of God.  Our hearts need to become pure and free of any malice and selfishness and full of love for our fellowman.  If we do not become like this we will not be able to abide the Zion community and the Zion way of life in the Millenium.  Here's what President Spencer W. Kimball had to say about this: 

 

"Zion can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart, not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people.  Not a people who are pure in appearance, rather a people who are pure in heart.  Zion is to be in the world and not of the world, not dulled by a sense of carnal security, nor paralyzed by materialism.  No, Zion is not things of the lower, but of the higher order, things that exalt the mind and sanctify the heart". (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p 363)

 

I've concluded that there are three qualifications needed to belong to a Zion society: 

 

1.  Personal righteousness;

2.  Love of fellowman;

3.  Detachment from worldliness.

 

If we strive to obey the two greatest commandments on daily basis we can accomplish this . The Saviour made clear what these commandments are:

 

"37...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38.  This is the first and great commandment.

39.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."  (Matthew 22:37-40)

 

Why does everything depend on obedience of these two?  Because if we obey these two, we will be obeying all the rest too.

 

I've pondered on why some of us fail to make this preparation for Zion a priority in our lives and why we get so immersed and lost in the business of living in this telestial world rather than 'seeking for the things of a better' as Emma Smith was counselled to do (D&C 25:10).  The only answer that comes to my mind is that we give little thought to what life in Zion during the Millenium will really be like.  Imagine a society free of crime, war, pestilence and natural disasters;  a government with  a member of the Godhead  at the helm; where food is plentiful without hard labour, where there are no poor among us and people live in happiness.  Wouldn't you want that?  If anything, rather than being attached to this telestial world where there is so much suffering and evil and life is just plain hard, we should be wanting to let go of it and look forward to a better way of life a hundred times over.  We should heed Alma's admonition: "....come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things..."(Alma 5:57)

 

Zion starts in one's heart. You can be a Zion person here and now.  And you can exert so much righteous influence on those around you that you could have Zion anywhere: in your home, in your community, in your country, and eventually the world.  It all starts with a handful who are willing.  The Church was organised with just 6 members.  Now we number 15,000,000.  Without the work of those 6 members we would not be numbering into millions now.  According to the Parable of the Ten Virgins, half of us will not be invited to the wedding feast when the Saviour comes, remembering the 10 Virgins represent the Church members only.  This means a lot of us will miss out. With tongue in cheek,  I guess it all depends on whether you like weddings.

 



 

 

 

DIVORCED IN A MARRIED CHURCH

This week's Sunday School lesson is entitled "The Family is Ordained of God".  Whereas the Church lesson manual focuses solely on the importance of family, I know there will be a lot of discussion brought into the lesson about the evils of divorce.  I know because I have sat through many such lessons in the 18 years I have been alone.  It used to wreck me back in the beginning. Even though divorce offered me much needed relief back then, I am and always was deeply passionate about the plan of salvation and the importance of family.  All I ever wanted in life was to be married and to have children.  And I did get that but I also lost it.  That loss of that dream was excruciating and forced me to re-define my whole standing in the Church and to evaluate the strength of my testimony. 

I agree with everything that is said about the evils of divorce. Why? Because I have lived through those evils.  The repercussions and consequences  of that one event of my life have been enormous and ongoing for more years than I care to admit.  My divorce has had a devastating effect on me as a woman. It has created a sense of inadequacy when around other Church couples to the point that I have largely refrained from Church social life.  I have gone to great lengths to make myself irrelevant as a woman to the opposite sex so I do not run the risk of being hurt again. Raising two children alone and providing security for them when I had none for myself was a challenge I struggled with every day.  It was not just the emotional and financial security that at times seemed overwhelming but the physical one as well.  When my children were still little our home was broken into 4 times.  The third time my daughter found the intruder in her bedroom upon our arrival home.  The fourth time they came through the front door.  It was the most unnerving incident that stayed fresh in my mind all these years because this single event of my life taught me how much women need the protection of men and what it means to be without a husband. It's not what was taken from our home but it was the fear of no security that came with that broken door that paralysed me.  I called the real estate agent who told me that because it was Friday the door would not be fixed until the following Monday.  I called my Bishop who was also our home teacher and left a message for him explaining what had happened but he never called me back.  I called my sister and asked if my brother-in-law who was a very capable handy man could come over and help but he refused.  I so desperately needed to feel the presence of a man in the house at that moment even if he could not fix the door but that man was not to be found.  I felt so alone, uncared for and worthless during that experience.  I was too scared to sleep that weekend fearing the intruders would come back during the night through a poorly secured door of my making and I would be unable to protect my children.  It was one of the lowest points of my divorced life and there were many more. 

My daughters too have suffered greatly from my choice to divorce.  The absence of the father in the home is devastating to children and I believe all the statistics that come from the broken home surveys. My children are now adults but they are still resolving issues they inherited from their childhoods and lack of their father's involvement in their lives which I was largely responsible for.  The guilt I carried all those years for taking their father out of our home led me to overcompensate in ways that have led to complications I never imagined.  The list is long and too personal to recount.

I worry that the years of my solitude have made me tough, not needing a husband anymore.  I worry that I have in the process discovered and developed strengths that only a husband should provide in a marital union.  I worry that I have to attract a man now that I am in my middle age.  I worry that might never happen and I will journey through this life a wanderer belonging to no one and having no home. But most of all I worry about all the mistakes I have made during my imperfect mothering, that I haven't empowered my daughters enough, that out of guilt I have overcompensated and done too much for them sabotaging their growth.  I worry that I have made the most common mistake of single mothers by turning my children into my best friends and making them privy to too many of my hardships.  I worry that even though I have worked very hard to come to love and respect their father as a human being and to be on good terms with him, I have somehow lessened him in their eyes. I worry that my children's every problem dates back to the divorce and that I am responsible for it all.

It appears as if I am worrying all the time but it is not quite true.  The thoughts of failure in all these areas come to me from time to time but I am more and more learning to forgive my humanity and to be kinder to myself.  My intentions and the intents of my heart were always in the right place, even if my behaviour wasn't.  I hope for the Saviour's mercy because of that.  I believe I did what I could with who I was at the time.  I was told in a priesthood blessing following my divorce that the Lord would not have asked any more of me than what I had given in my marriage.  This gives me hope.  I know He knows my limitations and how much I am capable of so He will not hold me accountable for more. 

Now that I am middle aged and my children are grown, I have found myself in a really undesirable place.  I need to change everything.  At the age that most married women are starting to wind down and enjoy their grandchildren, I find that I have to re-invent myself and create a whole new life. Up to now I was so heavily invested in my children that now I have to find myself all over again.  I have no career, no financial security, no home of my own, no marriage prospects.  The task to rise above my circumstances seems overwhelming at times but rise I must.  I still have so much to do.  My mission is not complete and I want no regrets when I return home.

I am a big believer that something good always comes out of something bad, if you look for it and are willing to learn the lessons the bad situation offers.  The greatest blessing that has come to me from my divorce is that I have come to know God.  This painful situation led me to study about the Atonement and test its' power to heal us.  Even at the height of my emotional pain following the divorce, I didn't want to be a toxic ex-wife.  I had a desire to be free from resentment and blame and anger.  I wanted to be accepting of my ex-husband's new life.  I didn't want to run away and dodge him for the rest of my life.  The Atonement made this possible for me.  As I called upon its' power, it truly healed my broken heart and it took away all my negative feelings and replaced them with the ability to be the person I wanted to become because of this experience.

If I could shout from the rooftops, my message would be one of warning to all married couples to do all they can to save their marriage.  But what if you have done all that you could possibly do or you are a victim of an abusive situation or you had no choice in the matter?  Then you are unfortunately a statistic in the Church. But even statistics belong.  You just have to believe it. It might take you a while to stop feeling fractured. This feeling is more prevalent when you have little children and the absence of a father and husband is insanely evident.

It is never easy to be alone in the Church. You just have to value yourself enough so that others will too.  I have carved a place for myself in the Church where I believe people see my strengths more than my cracks which are still in the process of healing.  I found that place one day on my visit to the temple.  I used to attend with trepidation after my divorce but this one day I noticed something very significant in the temple - men and women sit separately.  They do not sit together like they do at Church projecting a picture of marriage and family.  I understood then, the temple is as much about individual salvation as it is about marriage and eternity.  The Church is about the individual as much as it is about marriage and family.  The gospel is as much about being a disciple of Jesus Christ as it is about finding someone to share your eternal destiny. The Saviour values you because he has died for you personally, irrespective of your marital status.  When he visited the Americas, He invited the multitude to come to Him one by one to feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. (3 Nephi 11:14) Why?  Because he wanted them and us to know that the Atonement is personal and that He had atoned for each one of us individually and not for the humanity collectively.  His sheep are numbered and there is not one that is overlooked. We all belong in the fold.  There is a pew at Church with your name on it. Visualise it and own it.  You have the right to sit in it.

THE POWER OF YOU

 

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies"

Proverbs 31:10

 

"The colour of rubies varies from vermilion to red. The most desired colour is pure red with a hint of blue.  If the colour is too pink, the stone is a pink sapphire.  The same is true if it is too violet - it is a violet sapphire.  The best rubies and star rubies are bright red....The Mogok Valley in Upper Burma  was for centuries the world's main source for rubies.  That region has produced some of the finest rubies ever mined, but in the recent years very few good rubies have been found there....."(Wikipedia)

 

A virtuous woman, as valued as a bright red ruby, is fast becoming a rare possession in today's world.  The glare of the telestial world has blinded so many of us to the inherent spiritual nature we as women are born with.  In his last conference talk, Elder D. Todd Christofferson pointed out that 'women bring with them into the world a certain virtue, a divine gift, that makes them adept at instilling such qualities as faith, courage, empathy and refinement in relationships and in cultures'.  This statement suggests that women have been gifted in this way because they have a particular responsibility in this life to lift others to higher ground.  The adversary knows this and he also knows that if he works on women to dull their spiritual natures, they will not accomplish this divine responsibility.  He uses the world and its ideals to weaken and eliminate our influence to the great detriment of our families and the society at large.  Elder Christofferson mentions three ways as a caution and a warning:

 

1.  The devaluation of marriage and of motherhood and homemaking as a career.  I remember some years ago I heard a woman of prominence discuss child care on the radio.  Her suggestion was that women use the cost of child care as an excuse to stay at home and 'do nothing'.  It saddened me greatly to hear a woman say such a thing.  The attitude that homemaking and rearing children is unimportant and demeaning to women is getting more and more prevalent in our society. 

 

 

 

2.  Sexual immorality which reinforces the lie that a woman's sexuality is what defines her worth.

I think that women have played a large part in the undermining of marriage by becoming sexually available to men.  Elder Christofferson says this:

 

"There has long been a cultural double standard that expected women to be sexually circumspect while excusing male immorality.  The unfairness of such a double standard is obvious, and it has been justifiably criticized and rejected.  In that rejection, one would have hoped that men would rise to the higher, single standard, but just the opposite has occurred - women and girls are now encouraged to be as promiscuous as the double standard expected men to be.  Where once women's higher standards demanded commitment and responsibility from men, we now have sexual relations without conscience, fatherless families, and growing poverty.  Equal-opportunity promiscuity simply robs women of their moral influence and degrades all of society.  In this hollow bargain, it is men who are 'liberated' and women and children who suffer most."

 

3.  Erasing of differences between the masculine and the feminine.  Lara Croft, as gorgeous, wealthy and adventurous as she is, has done much to push women to adopt more masculine traits.  Through the media's influence women are encouraged to be more aggressive, tough and confrontational.  It is so common now to see women in terribly violent roles, leaving dead bodies and mayhem in their wake.  Elder Christofferson goes on to say that it is "soul-numbing to see men in such roles and certainly no less when women are the ones perpetrating and suffering the violence".

 

 

Former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld taught:  "The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender.  There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind.  There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined.  We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith.  We have enough greed; we need more goodness.  We have enough vanity; we need more virtue.  We have enough popularity; we need more purity".

 

 

 



The only source of our moral power is God the Father.  Elder Christofferson says that Jesus' power came through His single-minded devotion to the Father's will.  Submitting ourselves to Him in likewise manner can endow us with power also.  It is only through this relationship that we can continue to cultivate the spiritual divine nature we were born with.  The Father made us gentle, He made us kind and tender and loving.  These are all attributes that the Saviour possesses.  Nurturing our spiritual selves and putting aside the values of the telestial world will ensure that we sharpen these attributes and become powerful enough to lift others to higher ground.  This means our children, our spouses, our extended families, our friends, our co-workers, our communities.  We all know how to immerse ourselves in things of the spirit: prayer, scripture study, fasting, temple attendance, church attendance, service and living the commandments.  All this goes a long way towards enabling us to identify with our spiritual identities from day to day.  When we know who we are and don't allow the world to confuse us, we are being single minded, in other words, being at one with God.  Having our feet in two camps never works.  Being double minded often finds us sitting on the fence not being truly committed to either masters.  Know who you are and do everything you can to uphold that knowledge and you will be a power for good.


"Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels".
(D&C 101:3)

 

(RS lesson taught in Mortdale Ward 24 November 2013)