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I followed all Your footsteps
And I sacrificed everything.
I did Your bidding no matter
What You asked of me.
I trusted, I had faith, I endured
All the pain that was given me.
I kept my love burning like a flame
Until I came to see the reality:
It is not my love for Thee
but Yours for me
That is consuming me.
-
Cathryne
Allen
I
am always astounded by the sacrifices that the women of the past had to make.
We, the women of today know little of sacrifice in comparison. The freedoms and
privileges we enjoy today are unprecedented.
Sarah,
the wife of Abraham, is a woman who knew sacrifice. All the historical sources
attest that she was a close relative –
perhaps a half-sister (the daughter of Abraham’s father through another wife
(Genesis 20:12).
“It is
said that her spiritual attainments matched and in some cases exceeded those of
her remarkable husband, she being gifted with profound “intuitive perception”
of spiritual realities. She had a deep love and compassion for the needy….she
was not merely a strong personality in her own right, but as Abraham’s spouse,
was “an important balancing factor in his life.
“Abraham
and Sarah were not just ‘a married couple’ but a team, two people working in
harmony”, as seen in the Genesis portrayal “of the two as one unit” and “as
equals” – as partners, working together for the same goals, walking together
along the same path, united in thought, word and deed. Or, as told by Philo,
“Everywhere and always she was at his side…his true partner in life and life’s
events, resolved to share alike the good and the ill” and “she was the darling
of his heart” (On Abraham, in Philo VI, 121; E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings
of Abraham, Becoming a Zion People, 59, 60)
Sarah was
the epitome of a “virtuous woman” whose worth was far above rubies (Proverbs
31:10). Her husband trusted her, she was an industrious homemaker, a tireless
worker, and generous to the poor, she spoke wisdom and kindness, was cheerful
and hopeful about the future, and was clothed with strength and splendour, an
ideal wife, worthy of her husband’s highest praise (ibid p 60).
Sarah was
the wife of the covenant and honoured by God for her righteousness. She left
the goodly land of Haran and followed Abraham into the famine-stricken place of
Canaan without complaining and believed wholeheartedly in all her husband’s
revelations including the promise of posterity even when she continued
childless.
“Her love
for her husband was too great, her commitment to her covenants too strong, her
faith in the Almighty too unyielding, to allow her to criticize or complain. In
the words of the learned Muslim sholar al-Tabai, Sarah “was one of the best
human beings that ever existed”. She would not disobey Abraham in any way, for
which God honoured her.” (The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming a Zion People, 107)
This is
the sacrifice of Sarah. According to Bible scholars and modern-day revelation
(D&C 132:34), it was the law for a woman who could not provide children for
her husband after ten years of marriage, to give him another wife to ensure
continuation of his family line. Sarah decided that Abraham's next wife would
be Hagar, a beautiful Egyptian girl who was one of Pharoah’s daughters, given
to Sarah as a servant (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:223, Dead Sea
Scrolls)
Even
though in her heart of hearts she still held onto hope that she would one day
conceive, Sarah obeyed the law that seemed to by-pass her in the posterity
promise. Bear in mind she was 76 years old by this time, Abraham was 86 and
Hagar was a maiden who fell pregnant straight away (Genesis 16:16). How would
you as a wife feel???
According
to a modern Muslim scholar, it was because of this unselfish act of Sarah that
God would eventually reward her with a son of her own (Moyers, Genesis, 193).
A favorable sentiment but one that is superseded by Sarah’s undeniable faith in
God and her understanding that the heir of the covenant had to come through a
legally recognised wife. In other words, she held onto the belief that she
would be the mother of the heir.
This also
was the sacrifice of Sarah. Sarah, who languished until her old age, in
obedience, waiting for her promises to be fulfilled, became a mother of
nations, and ‘kings of people came of her’ (Genesis 17:16) but not before she
paved the way of belief that if God can cause an old, barren woman to conceive,
He can also make a young, virgin girl to do so and bear a Son of God. And so
Sarah waited 25 years for the fulfilment of God’s promise to pave such a way
(Genesis 12:1-3,4; 21:5).
“As
stated in the New Testament, the blessing of Isaac came on the strength not
only of Abraham’s faith – “who against hope believed in hope” (Romans 4:18) –
but also of Sarah’s, who “through faith…herself received strength to conceive
seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged
him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11)” (E. Douglas Clark, The
Blessings of Abraham, Becoming a Zion People, 178)
Such was
Sarah, a woman who would sacrifice everything of herself to be a witness that
God fulfils His promises.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Will
I be lost in crowds of heaven
When
my mortal shell at last I leave,
And
will this earthly life appear unreal
When
my true home is to me revealed?
Will
I come to see Thy face
I
so often sought on bended knee,
And
forget all the lonely moments
I
suffered with merciful help from Thee?
My
heart will rend within my chest
When
I kneel before Thy throne;
I
will weep with grateful heart
For
cherished truths that I have known.
-
CATHRYNE ALLEN
Proverbs
31:10-12: Who can
find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her
husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She
will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Proverbs
31: 25-31: Strength
and honour are her clothing…she openeth her mouth in wisdom; and in her tongue
is the law of kindness…..her children arise up and call her blessed; her
husband also, and he praiseth her….favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but
a woman who reveres the Lord, she shall be praised.
The ‘prince of this world’, the adversary of all that is good, is seeking to dull our inherent spiritual natures that we as women are born with by using the world and its ideals to weaken and eliminate our influence to the great detriment of our families and the society at large. He does this by devaluing marriage and motherhood; reinforcing the lie that a woman’s sexuality is what defines her worth; erasing of differences between the masculine and the feminine and even convincing us that we don’t know what a woman is.
Women today are encouraged to be more aggressive, tough and confrontational yet the Father made us gentle, kind, tender and loving. Nurturing our spiritual selves and putting aside the values of this 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. When we know who we are and don't allow the world to confuse us, we are being single minded, in other words, we are being at one with God who made us.
In
today’s world where women who murder their children are hailed as heroes, I
want to celebrate women whose womanhood exceeds the price of rubies. These are
women of God whose example endures forever. These are women who will get a seat
in the kingdom of God because of the goodness within them. What price would you
put to the value, contribution and example of these women:
·
The
suffering of Eve
·
The
sacrifice of Sarah
·
The
courage of Esther
·
The
devotion of Hannah
·
The
loyalty of Ruth
·
The
motherly protection of Elisabeth
·
The
submission of Mary
I will start with the suffering of Mother Eve. The woman who had no luxuries to retreat to, no appliances to make her life easier, no girlfriends who understood her difficulties and offered support, the woman who only had a willingness to start from scratch. Not only did Eve’s spiritual acumen lead her and her husband to leave the Garden of Eden and initiate the Plan of Salvation, but the courage to enter the world of suffering is beyond admiration….and suffer she did…..
A woman with much insight into Mother Eve by the name of Arta Romney Ballif paid this poetic homage to her who was the first woman to know sorrow:
God
said, “BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY”
And
God said, “I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY THY SORROW”
Thy sorrow, sorrow, sorrow –
I have gotten a man from the Lord
I have traded the fruit of the
garden for fruit of my body
For a laughing bundle of humanity.
Adam, where are the boys?
Where is Abel?
He is long caring for his flocks.
Are the ewes lambing in this storm?
Why your troubled face, Adam? Are
you ill?
Why so pale, so agitated?
Dead? What is
dead? Merciful God!
I am trying to understand.
You said, “Abel is dead.”
But I am skilled with herbs….
Herbs will not
heal? Dead?
And Cain? Where is Cain?
Listen to that thunder.
Cain cursed?
God said, “A fugitive and a
vagabond?”
But God can’t do that.
They are my sons, too.
I gave them birth in the valley of
pain.
This is his home
This the soil he loved
Where he toiled for golden wheat
For tasselled corn.
To the hill country?
Quick, we must find him
I worry, thinking of him wandering
With no place to lay his head.
Cain cursed? A wanderer, a roamer?
Abel, my son dead?
And Cain, my son, a fugitive?
Two sons Adam, we had two sons
Both – oh, Adam – multiply sorrow.
Dear God, why?
Tell me again about the fruit.
Please tell me again, why?
- Arta Romney Ballif
I weep for Mother Eve and all she experienced,
endured and suffered. This, my friends, is a ruby far above price…..
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Lift up your aching heart
And seek your release in me.
I am the sacrifice that was paid
For your years of pain to cease.
My mercy shall spill from Me
And erase every tear
You have wept seeking peace.
Come unto me,
In me you will find release.
-
Cathryne
Allen
Alma
of the Book of Mormon taught that God grants unto men according to their
desires, whether it be unto salvation or unto destruction (Alma 29:4). Elder
Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught our
desires affect our personal development and eventually determine our eternal
blessings:
“Desires…become
real determinants, even when, with pitiful naivete, we do not really want the
consequences of our desires….therefore, what we insistently desire, over time,
is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.
“Righteous
desires need to be relentless, therefore, because, said President Brigham
Young, ‘the men and women who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom,
will find that they must battle every day’ (in Journal of Discourses, 11:140.
Therefore, true Christian soldiers are more than weekend warriors…
“Remember,
brothers and sisters, it is our own desires which determine the sizing and the
attractiveness of various temptations. We set our thermostats as to
temptations. Thus educating and training our desires clearly requires
understanding the truths of the gospel, yet even more is involved. President
Brigham Young confirmed, saying, ‘it is evident that many who understand the
truth do not govern themselves by it; consequently, no matter how true and
beautiful truth is, you have to take the passions of the people and mould them
to the law of God’ (in Journal of Discourses, 7:55).
-
Neal
A. Maxwell, According to the Desire of our Hearts, in CR Oct 1996,
Ensign Nov 1996
I
have for a long time now believed that our righteous desires come with us into
mortality because they are God given. They correspond with God’s plan for our
development, growth and work we have been sent here to do. If those desires
align with Gospel principles then we can be assured they are innate desires ‘trailing
clouds of glory coming from God’…..
If
our desires closely match with the values of the world, we can be assured they
will not lead us to God. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes warn about such desires
extensively:
Proverbs
21:25: The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Proverbs
21:26: He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and
spareth not.
Ecclesiastes
5:10: He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that
loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
Ecclesiastes
11:9: acknowledges that people feel drawn to follow their ‘heart’ and ‘eyes’,
but adds accountability: ‘walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of
thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into
judgment. In other words, because what you wish for.
Proverbs
14:12 gives a stark warning that desires that feel right in the moment can lead
somewhere dark: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death”.
Proverbs
11:19 stands in contrast to the destination of death: “As righteousness tendeth
to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.
This
is my testimony of the power of desire. For years and years I could only really
see the Saviour in my mind as I studied the scriptures and lived the Gospel.
Then only a few years ago all of a sudden the Saviour took the back seat and I
could see the Father and my longing for Him became uppermost in my mind. I
wanted to be with Him, remember Him as I knew Him from my premortal life, and
live by His side forever. On some days the desire to be in His presence was so
strong I would shed tears. This, of course, is the way it is meant to be. The
Saviour came to reveal the Father to us. I could write pages about this based
on scripture (see Jeffrey R. Holland’s conference talk “The Grandeur of God”
October 2003).
I
noticed something very significant after I came to desire the presence of the
Father. Obedience became a much easier road to be on. I was elevated in the
direction I should go that would lead me to where I wanted to be. I realised
desire is the great motivator. If the
desire is strong enough, we will do anything to fulfil it. The destination is
the focal point to remember.
Proverbs
10:24: The fear of
the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be
granted.
Like the rising sun that melts into the sea,
Like the night that kisses early dawn,
Like the river that meets the shore;
You bid me come to Thee
In sweet communion forever more.
-
Cathryne Allen
