Son of my body,
Heart of my heart,
I give you to God,
Knowing not despair,
I know my son, you will be safe
In his merciful, tender care.
I know He will watch over you
And honour your faith;
I trust He will guard you
Against the open jaws of hate.
Son of my body,
Heart of my heart,
I will wait with faith
Knowing not despair,
I know you will return
To my loving, tender care.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Divine Call by Sandy Freckleton Gagon)
I’ve
written quite a bit about idolatry this year but felt this was worth
mentioning. Judges Chapter 3 gives us a clear answer as to why ancient Israel
fell into serving other gods once they moved into the promised land:
“And the
children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and
Perizzites and Hivites, and Jebusites….And they took their daughters to be
their wives and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods…..And
the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord
their God, and served Baalim and the groves.”
(Judges 3:5-7)
Both Moses
and Joshua warned the Israelites against inter-marriage with the heathen
nations (Deut 7:3-4; Joshua 23:12-13). Moses accentuated the influence of women
in a marriage in his warning and Joshua warned that inter-marriages would
become “snares and traps” and lead to spiritual and national downfall.
Despite the
warnings, the children of Israel did this very thing which led them to break
their covenant with Jehovah. And this is why…..marriage is a powerful union and
the stronger influence of the one puts both parties on the same path.
There are
some strong examples of this in the scriptures. Solomon married outside the
covenant, and “his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (1 Kings
11:1-4). Solomon married seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines….did
he really stand a chance????
Another
notable example is King Ahab who married the infamous and evil Jezebel from the
land of Phoenicia. This marriage caused the downfall of the northern kingdom of
Israel. Jezebel introduced into Israel the worst forms of idol worship from her
land in place of the worship of Jehovah (1 Kings 18:13,19). Not only did
Jezebel influence Ahab to worship Baal but to kill many of God’s prophets (v 4).
Her nemesis? Elijah. One of my most favourite stories in the Old Testament…..
These
examples show the downfall of a whole nation and of generations to come. We can
also see in the scriptures this power of marital union when used for good.
One of the
most positive examples would have to be Ruth, who converted to the God of
Israel when she married Naomi’s son. Her conversion and union with this Israelite
produced such covenant loyalty that Ruth
entered into a levirate marriage upon his death. Ruth married the next of kin
according to Israel’s law whose name was Boaz. Ruth and Boaz had a son called
Obed who became part of the Lord’s covenant line. Obed was the father of Jesse
who was the father of King David (see Ruth 1 and Ruth 4). That’s a ‘marriage influence’
story in the best possible way. This woman is one of my favourite Old Testament
figures.
The power
of marriage never ends with just two people. It is passed on to the children
and the generations to come. This can be seen in the Book of Mormon with the
‘stripling warriors’. I doubt very much that those boys could have been taught
to believe and not doubt God’s power if their mothers did not follow and
worship the God of Israel (Alma 56:47-48). I am convinced that the fathers were
there in that influence too but somehow I think this is the reason why Moses
accentuated the influence of women within the marital union and the home. Women
bear and rear children and their influence with them is perhaps the strongest.
Who you
marry would have to be the most important choice in anyone’s life because
through this union you create the future. From two people united comes a
family, comes a community, comes a country, comes a nation, comes the future
that extends into eternity. Think of Abraham and Sarah......there is no greater example.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Abraham and Sarah by AI)
-
A couple of
days ago I did a post entitled “Hearts of the Mothers”. I posted this picture
of the painting entitled “Farewell My Stripling Warrior” by Del Parson. I get
highly emotional whenever I think of the inspiration which the artist used for
this painting. This inspiration came to him when he watched his wife and his
son say their goodbyes at the airport as his son was leaving for his mission. His
wife was struggling to let go while the son, who was hugging her, was looking
past her at the plane that was waiting for him. He was ready to go.
Del Parson
said this farewell of his son made him remember the 2,000 Stripling Warriors
(Alma 53:17-22). It is always difficult to watch your children move on but
sending them off to war is another level of apprehension and anxiety. My
daughter had a turbulent teenage-hood so when she went on her mission, it was the
best eighteen months of my life. I knew where she was, what she was doing and
who was watching over her. And she was on home soil. My worries about her completely
ceased. She is now inactive again and the worries have returned as she
navigates her journey through this perilous life.
This
painting has made me reflect on our time on earth. I have wondered how the
tender feelings of our heavenly parents were affected as we ‘looked towards the
plane’, eager for new experiences, eager to prove ourselves, eager to be ‘grown
up’. Did we feel we had outgrown our heavenly home? The question, however, that
begs to be asked even more is, do we feel eager to return? When I reflect on
this question, I remember Alma recounting his conversion story to Helaman
during which he saw God sitting upon his throne and he said, his soul longed to
be there (Alma 36:22).
And now
that we are here, are we being Stripling Warriors exercising faith in God
worthy of our return? In his book, “But A Few Days”, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, spoke
of our home coming in these terms:
“If there
is an imagery upon which I would focus, it is two scriptures from the Book of
Mormon. The one in which we are reminded that Jesus himself is the gate keeper
and that ‘he employeth no servant there’ (2 Nephi 9:41). I will tell you…out of
the conviction of my soul…what I think the major reason is (why he ‘employeth
no servant there’), as contained in another Book of Mormon scripture which says
he waits for you ‘with open arms’ (Mormon 6:17). That’s why He’s there! He
waits for you with open arms. That imagery is too powerful to brush aside….It
is imagery that should work itself into the very center core of one’s mind – a rendezvous
impending, a moment in time and space, the likes of which there is none other……”
(Neal A. Maxwell, “But A Few Days”, p 7).
Can you
imagine such a reunion? The crimson drops of Calvary would become the happy
tears of home coming……
I
yearn to see the dwelling of Thy heart
And
remember the splendour of my home;
I
yearn to feel the closeness of Thy presence
And
the warmth of Thy embrace.
Grant
me Father eyes that I might see,
And
a heart that it might understand
The
power of Thy love and Thy eternal grace.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Farewell My Stripling Warrior by Del Parson)
“Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear
death…..yeah, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not
doubt, God would deliver them.” (Alma
56:47)
“The reliance, of course, by these young men on their mothers
is touching and profound, but the mothers first had to know ‘it’ in such a way
that the young men, observing them closely and hearing them (as is always the
case with children observing parents), did ‘not doubt’ that their mothers knew
that ‘it’ was true.” (Elder Neal A.
Maxwell, That My Family Should Partake, p 59)
There is only one way that a woman can be an example
of such staunch faith to her children and that is for her, herself, to be
grounded in the firm foundation which is in Christ. Her knowledge and her
conviction of His help and deliverance from any adverse situation in life has
got to come from experience and her partnership with Christ, and not just from
theory. In the most challenging role on earth, we as mothers, should desire and
seek this partnership above all else. He is the protection, He is the power, He
is the source of all wisdom, knowledge and foresight that our children will
invariably need in their lives. We want them to have this and it starts with us
and this is how:
“Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever.
And ‘press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness
of hope’. You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is
blessing you and He will bless you, even – no, especially – when your days and
your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously,
meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way
through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will
say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their
responsibility as mothers, ‘Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made
thee whole’. And it will make your children whole as well.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Because She Is A
Mother, April 1997 General Conference).
From the mother’s heart comes the love, the care, the
self-sacrifice akin to that of the Saviour’s. I know not of a mother who would not step in
and give her life for that of her child. Not physically nourishing her children
is beyond comprehension but feeding her children with ‘the bread of life’ is
the next level of accomplishment she will be crowned for forever. The mother
whose child recognizes Christ in her has succeeded in her God given role.
Victor Hugo’s 1874 novel “Ninety-Three” explored the
counter-revolutionary revolts which occurred during the period of the French
Revolution. At the beginning of the book, a group of military men encountered a
woman with her baby and her two young children who were starving. The sergeant
took some regulation bread from his pocket and gave it to the mother. She broke
the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children.
“She has kept none for herself”, grumbled the
sergeant.
“Because she is not hungry”, said a soldier.
“Because she is a mother”, said the sergeant.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Farewell My Stripling Warrior by Del Parson)
Marching
across the pages of the Book of Mormon, is a group of young men who came from
the land of Jershon, a land given to their converted Lamanite fathers by the
Nephites in 90 B.C. These young men were men of valour and courage, men of
truth and soberness, "men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing
they were entrusted'' (Alma 53:20). These young men chose the prophet of God to
be their military leader whom they
regarded and addressed as 'father' for the duration of their military service (Alma
56:5). These young men were 'stripling warriors' who fought Nephite battles
with such conviction and trust in the power of God's deliverance that not one
of the 2,000 of them was lost (Alma 58:39). These young men stand today as a
testament of good parenting.
It is
remarkable to note that not one of the Lamanites who were converted through the
preaching of Ammon and his brethren ever did fall away from the truth (Alma
23:6). Rather they went on to raise a righteous generation which became a
blessing to the Nephite nation. This generation was taught at their mothers'
knee the power of God's deliverance, a conviction which gave the rest of the
Nephite army 'great hopes and much joy' (Alma 56:17; 47,48). Whereas their
mothers taught them about God, the sins of their fathers and their subsequent
conversion offered an invaluable lesson to these young men and it does to us
also.
Because of
their past sins, and their covenant of repentance, the fathers of the stripling
warriors had to rely on their teenage sons and Nephite's mercy to provide them
with protection they could no longer give to their families. Instead they were
‘compelled to watch their brethren wade through their afflictions’ and with
trepidation send their young men off to war to fight in their stead (Alma
53:15). Such was their keen sense of responsibility, and I would imagine guilt,
that they considered breaking the covenant which they had made to never again
shed human blood. Enter Helaman, and his fear they would lose their souls
should the covenant be broken, that prevented that disaster (v 15).
I have at
times reflected on our actions and subsequent impact of them on our children. I
have been troubled by the fact that I have not been a better parent to my
children and also that my parents were not better parents to me. I have
agonized over the issues and hang ups that have followed me from my childhood
and weaknesses, incorrect teachings and false thinking that have been
passed down to me by my parents. Likewise, I have worried about all the
bad 'stuff' I have passed on to my children. I read many years ago
about 'inter-generational sins' and how easily we can pass them on to generations
of our posterity; seemingly innocent weaknesses and false traditions that
somehow end up being serious stumbling blocks to someone down the line.
In other words, how we live not only affects us but many others whose lives we
impact.
Would it
have been better for the stripling warriors if their fathers had never sinned?
Of course, but a sinless life is something that escapes all of us in mortality.
I see hope when I read about the Stripling Warriors because I see how they have
removed their stumbling block and ended the inter-generational sins with them.
Now I look
at my daughter and see the spiritual guidance and teachings she is giving to
her children that I never received in my childhood from my parents and I think,
I have done a bit better and she is doing better still. The covenant of
obedience that I made with the Saviour when I was baptised and entered the
hallowed walls of the temple, stand as an example of hope to my daughter who
has followed in my footsteps and my grandchildren who are following in hers. That
hope is in Christ, who has overcome the effects of sin for all human family. It
is because of Him that our hearts can be turned to our fathers with forgiveness
and love that endures forever.
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: Stripling Warriors from the LDS BOM Seminary Student Manual)
