HOPE OF HAPPINESS

 

I CAME INTO THE WORLD:

To give peace to the suffering

To give hope to the down-trodden

To strenghten the weak

To lighten your burdens

To lift the downtrodden

To give sight to the blind

To give power to the faint

To give might to the weary

To comfort those who mourn

To bind up the broken-hearted

To show mercy to the penitent

To give you living water

To free the captive

To be a refuge from the storm

And a shadow from the heat

To give you rest from sorrow and fear

To break the bands of bondage

To empower the powerless

To conquer the sting of death

To be a light unto the world

To establish truth

To atone for you

To love you 

To help you

To save you.

 

I WILL RETURN: 

To conquer the enemy

To destroy the wicked

To govern in righteousness

To unite the nations

To gather my people Israel

To establish peace

To take away the sorrow

To make all things known

To flood the earth with truth

To resurrect you

To judge in righteousness

To give mercy to the penitent

To take you to the Father

To give you eternal life

To exalt you.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus the Symbol of Hope by Ivan Guaderrama)

MANNER OF HAPPINESS

 

“They (those in the great and spacious building of Lehi’s dream) look happy and free, but don’t mistake telestial pleasure for celestial happiness and joy. Don’t mistake lack of self-control for freedom. Complete freedom without appropriate restraint makes us slaves to our appetites.

Don’t envy a lesser and lower life….the people in that building have absolutely nothing to offer except instant, short-term gratification inescapably connected to long-term sorrow and suffering. The commandments you observe were not given by a dis-passionate God to prevent you from having fun, but by a loving Father in Heaven who wants you to be happy while you are living on this earth as well as in the hereafter.”

-          Bishop Glen L. Pace, Ensign November 1987, p 39

Some years ago I heard a mother in the Church say she just wanted her teenage son to come out of the closet so he can be ‘happy’. That son eventually did come out of the closet but to this day he is not happy. He is an alcoholic with a ruined liver who was told by the medical profession he will not live a long life. It always amazes me how intent some people are to be happy in this life.

The greatest outline of mortal happiness can be found in 2 Nephi Chapter 5. This was the early  period of time in ancient America when Nephi separated himself and his followers from his brothers who sought to take away his life (v 4).

The story begins with Nephi following the Lord’s warning to alienate themselves from those seeking their destruction and thereafter following the path to spiritual prosperity. Nephi begins his account of their new life on the American continent with the most significant pattern for ‘mortal happiness’: “And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statues, and the commandments of the Lord in all things….” (v 10).

Thereafter the story unfolds with blessings of physical abundance of food (v 11); possession of scriptures (v12); building of a temple (v 16); industry of the people ( v 17); and then comes: “And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.” (v 27).

Happiness in this life is a huge subject to tackle. I get it, this life is hard and it is hard for everyone, even those in the Church who are being obedient. I guess the importance lies in your definition of happiness and which happiness you want. Notice that Nephi said "manner" of happiness......insinuating it's not a permanent, complete and iron clad happiness. This kind of happiness can only be found in the eternal presence of God. 

In this life of lack of permanency, the only real 'sense' of happiness comes from being close to God. Nephi accentuates this truth. Whereas Nephi and his people had achieved that happiness, his brothers and their followers were cut off from the presence of the Lord (v 20). Being cut off from God and His influence would have to be the most detrimental and miserable state of being.

When I think of living after ‘the manner of happiness’ I think of Zion. I think this is why Nephi called it so because His people were one and united in obedience and striving for the same outcome. Being in a community such as Zion alienates you from worldly values of destruction and unites you with people who are on the same path of righteousness, with the same goals and the love of God which binds you together. I think this is what Nephi identified as happiness. This is what should be our goal as we prepare ourselves for the return of our God.

He will come and reveal Himself to those who love Him and then we will know what true happiness is…..it is worth waiting for and striving for.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Love and Faithfulness by Chris Brazelton)

THE WISH

 

When in the realms of heaven

You asked me what in mortality

I wanted to be, it was so easy,

I said I wanted to be like Thee.

You warned me of the suffering 

That would have to be equal in measure

To what You would suffer for me;

That my life would not be easy

But that You would make up for everything.

Now I am here,

I fear the refiners' fire of the kiln

When Your potter hands are moulding me,

But I try to be the woman I was who said

She wanted to be like Thee.

Some days I want to change my wish

I am not worthy to bear my suffering,

But then I notice the chains around my heart

Are broken, and I remember:

You will make up for everything.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Clay Full by Ron diCianni)

CREATING ZION

 

“Too many of the people of the world have come to resemble the Babylon of old by walking in their own ways and following a god ‘whose image is in the likeness of the world’ (D&C 1:16).

“One of the greatest challenges we will face is to be able to live in that world but somehow not be of that world. We have to create Zion in the midst of Babylon….

“My involvement with the building of the Manhattan Temple gave me the opportunity to be in the temple quite often prior to the dedication. It was wonderful to sit in the celestial room and be there in perfect silence, without a single sound to be heard coming from the busy New York streets outside. How was it possible that the temple could be so reverently silent when the hustle and bustle of the metropolis was just a few yards away?

“The answer was in the construction of the temple. The temple was built within the walls of an existing building, and the inner walls of the temple were connected to the outer walls at only a very few junction points. That is how the temple (Zion) limited the effects of Babylon, or the world outside.

“There may be a lesson here for us. We can create the real Zion among us by limiting the extent to which Babylon will influence our lives…..

“Wherever we are, whatever city we may live in, we can build our own Zion by the principles of the celestial kingdom and ever seek to become the pure in heart….

“We do not need to become as puppets in the hands of the culture of the place and time. We can be courageous and can walk in the Lord’s paths and follow His footsteps.”

-          Elder David R. Stone, in CR April 2006, 94-97; or Ensign May 2006, 90-93)

I remember talking to one of the sisters in the Church years ago. She said she had gone to the department store to buy some needed dinner plates and she encountered beautiful expensive china there. She inspected it and her concluding thought was: “This is so Babylon”. She decided against buying that china and settled for something more serviceable and less valuable. I was a young and relatively new member of the Church back then and I was in awe of her because she happened to have the financial means to own anything I deemed expensive. I had never forgotten that.

 Now when I see some popular fashions and expensive ware, I remember this sister and think to myself: “This is so Babylon”….. This one thought has over the years taken away all my inclination to follow world trends and seek after the things that are passing and of no spiritual value.

It must be my age but the older I get, the less appeal Babylon has for me. I cannot bear swearing in movies so I have given up on watching them. The novels I used to love getting lost in now speak nothing to me but the voices and values of the world so I have stopped reading them. The shows I used to love watching on streaming services lost their appeal too once I realized most of them centered on crime and murder. I decided I could do without that energy in my life too. The less influence of the world I have in my life, the greater my spirituality and thirst for eternal life.

I want to live in Zion and I want to live with the nobles of heaven one day. Babylon the Great will fall. Nothing in it is permanent and lasting. The world will be done away with but the kingdom of God will go on forever.

Remember, there is no iron rod to the great and spacious building….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

PERFECT FAITH

 

For now I walk unsteady steps

On this earthly soil beneath my feet

But one day I will come to You

With perfect faith in waves of deep.

 

And when in distance Your glory beckons,

When You come to take me home,

I will run into Your arms

And forever be Your own.

 

-      Cathryne Allen

(Art: Serene Saviour by Ivan Guaderrama) 

PREPARING FOR ZION

 

I was working at the Church Office in Sydney when Elder Bruce C. Hafen was the Area President here in Australia. He was generous enough to share some knowledge with me which I valued highly. He told me that the directive of the Church at the time given to the leaders was to prepare the members for Zion. That was some 25 years ago.

This made me see how important the Church is as an organisation because of its leaders who are implementing this preparation. We are told certain conditions need to be met before Zion can be established as ‘the bridge between the world as it is and the world as God designed it and meant it to be’ (Hugh Nibley, “Approaching Zion” p 4).

Section 105 of the Doctrine and Covenants speaks in detail of the needed preparation of the saints before the Lord can ‘redeem Zion’ but the very first requirement is relative to the elders of the Church which are to be endowed with power from on high so that we, the members, might be taught more perfectly what God requires of us (D&C 105:10,11). The structure of the Church is based on leadership. The leaders are to be taught and trained as much as the members below them. The leaders are meant to learn to lead and we are meant to learn to follow.

There are some who believe they can be inactive in the Church and in the end show up at New Jerusalem’s gate expecting to live a Zion life. Imagine arriving to Zion without any experience behind you that would have taught you to be obedient to the leaders’ instructions and to be united with other members of the Church community. I have wondered how they could become obedient to the leaders overnight when they didn’t value their leadership beforehand. I know some wonderful and good members of the Church who are inactive and are highly critical of the leaders. There are some who do not support the general authorities of the Church and tend to believe they are ‘nice old men’ but not prophets, seers and revelators.

The leaders might not be perfect but the Lord values their leadership of His saints. This is how important it is to honour the administration of the Church in preparation for the Second Coming:

“The coming of the Son of Man never will be – never can be till the judgments spoken of for this hour are poured out: which judgments are commenced. Paul says, “Ye are the children of the light, and not of the darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief in the night.” It is not the design of the Almighty to come upon the earth and crush it and grind it to powder, BUT HE WILL REVEAL IT TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS (Amos 3:7)” (Teachings of Joseph Smith, p 286)

The leaders of the Church might not know the exact day and the hour but the proximity of it will be very real to the Church because of the preparation that the leaders will have put into place for the readiness of the Kingdom. The New Jerusalem for one will have to be ready and peopled to receive our King.

We, the children of light, have more information regarding the Second Coming than the rest of the world. The signs of the times are clear in modern day revelation as contained in Doctrine and Covenants. We know the sequence of events that are to take place. We are not dumb sheep without knowledge and without untrained shepherds. The Lord has not left us unawares and clueless. He wants His people to be ready and He wants us all in Zion to welcome Him.

There will be no excuse if we are not there on that auspicious day….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Second Coming by Ron DiCianni)

SELF-WILL

 

I pleaded with you on bended knee

My fears to dissolve.

You sat in silence

Hoping I would give You

what You yearned the most to own,

My self-will,

My hesitance to relinquish control.

In the end I gave it up

And found solace to my soul.

 

Yes, You said,

Now you understand.

I paved the way

In Gethsemane long ago.

                          

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Thy Will Be Done by Jay Bryant Ward)