LIVING WATER

When Christ encountered the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well He told her that He can give her water far superior to the one she was constantly drawing to assuage the thirst of her household. (John 4:5-15).  The water he said he could give her was living water 'springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14) as opposed to water that satisfies the body which is destined to die, thus making the well water 'dead water' with a used by date.

In performing its main object of springing up into everlasting life, the living water also heals here and now.  It heals the broken hearted, spiritual wounds caused by sin, emotional and physical suffering and defects of the mind.  Just before the Saviour returns, the scriptures inform us, "a new spring will appear at the temple in Jerusalem and its waters will flow eastward to the Dead Sea which will be healed of its dead and stagnant condition. The Dead Sea, or any other body of water which is stagnant, is so because of two reasons.  First, it has little or no inflow; and second, it has little or no outflow.  In its stagnant condition it becomes lifeless water.  Since it is not renewed with fresh water, it cannot in turn pass living water onto other streams and bodies of water, nor can it support life within itself". (Larry Keeler, Living Water or Dead Sea) The spring which will appear at the temple in Jerusalem is symbolic of Christ's power to heal anything that is dead, either spiritually or physically.

When I reflect on the incident at Jacob's well, I feel it is important to understand why the person Christ chose to tell of the living water was this particular woman. His solemn invitation to her, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink", was a plain and open claim of Messiahship. In making this claim he identified himself as the very Jehovah who had promised drink to the thirsty through an outpouring of the Spirit (McConkie, DNTC, 1:445-46). This is a pretty serious declaration to make since it either meant that he was a blasphemer worthy of death or he was in fact the God of Israel. What is more astonishing is the fact that He made this declaration to a Samaritan woman rather than a person of authority. Surely the latter would have carried much more weight and bring His claim to more prominence. However, as the Saviour proved with subsequent declarations, those in authority were not meek of heart who were willing to accept His claim. In my mind Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman was not by chance. When all of Jewry chose to travel an indirect and longer route from Judea to Galilee rather than go through Samaria, Jesus chose to travel the direct route and sat himself down at Jacob's well at noon having sent his disciples to procure provisions. There are two facts worthy of notice here:

1. Samaritans were an impure race, remnants of the 10 tribes who had intermarried with Assyrians and other foreigners and even though they boasted that Jacob was their father, the Jews denied this vehemently and considered them 'more unclean than a Gentile of any other nationality' (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 172). Because of this disdain Samaritans rejected the prophetic writings now known as the Old Testament. The ill-feeling between Jews and Samaritans had been growing for centuries, and at the time of the Saviour's ministry, the feeling between the two parties had grown to intense hatred. It goes without saying that a Jew would not be caught dead speaking to a Samaritan.
2. The Saviour knew well the woman who came to draw water from the well. He knew that she had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband. This was a fallen woman who chose to come to the well in the heat of the day rather than the cool of the morning when it was the custom for women to gather and enjoy social interaction. The timing of her visit to the well emphasized her despised and outcast position. In general Jewish men didn't speak to Jewish women much in public, especially not to ones of ill repute. For a Jewish man to speak to a Samaritan woman in public would have been unheard of. And here is Christ, the Messiah, speaking to a fallen, Samaritan, woman.  It is obvious that he was not politically correct on three counts.

Through Jesus's encounter with her, the Samaritan woman became the symbol of the downtrodden and the lowliest of us who can qualify for eternal life. The Saviour came to heal the sick and bind the broken hearted. He did not minister to those who were well and rejected Him in the pride of their hearts. This is why He mixed with the publicans and the sinners. How else could he have demonstrated that His living water could heal us and give us eternal life? When I think of the Samaritan woman and consider His important message, I also see through my 21st century view the Saviour sending a message to the women of our day, a message of healing and hope. A great number of women today feel fragmented and damaged  having been divorced, widowed, abandoned or simply ignored by the opposite sex. Among the damaged are women who have been embroiled in sin, abused and enslaved in oppression. Perhaps they are all depicted in this Samaritan woman. No doubt having had five husbands came at a price. We who live in this modern world where so much suffering abounds feel the oppression of sin, affliction, hardship and temptation. Some of us are barely keeping our heads above the water and some of us are scraping up sludge of dry wells.

In all our suffering and stumbling in the dark we tend to turn to the ways of the world to fill us. Sometimes we get so blinded by the glare of this world that we dive headlong into Jacob's well eager to assuage our thirst with that which does not satisfy, benefit or fulfill us. We seek for the corruptible things of this earth that have no lasting power to fill our cracks, heal our sorrows and make up for our lack. We think that this dismal telestial world has treasures to offer us that will somehow make us whole. The truth is that the lustre of this world can only be seen during the day. When the night falls, the emptiness is still there, the pain exposed, the suffering unbearable.

Drawing water from a well used to be a thankless and miserable daily burden designated to women. Water is heavy, hard to pull out of a well and carry home, much like the cares of this world. The water the Samaritan woman drew out of the well was dead heavy water of this earth representing the burdens of this world. If you would but drink from the fountain of living water you would not thirst anymore for you would be filled with that which matters most, that which is lasting, that which will speak peace to the deepest recesses of your soul. Then the suffering will be bearable and even conquerable. Then the lack will not matter and the cracks will diminish and fade. Then you can look forward to the living water within you springing up into everlasting life. Then you can be filled with hope and happiness believing Him who has said, "....eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). He can give all this to you. Be filled and thirst no more.

"Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonder of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever!" (D&C 128:23)

HE WHO HAS PAVED THE WAY

The Inspired Version of the Bible records that at the onset of His mortal ministry and following His baptism, Jesus was 'led up of the Spirit, into the wilderness, to be with God': "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, and had communed with God, he was afterwards an hungered and was left to be tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4:1,2, Inspired Version, italics added). In the King James Version of the Bible, it is recorded that he was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Bruce R. McConkie makes it clear that this was not the case: "Jesus did not go into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; righteous men do not seek out temptation. He went 'to be with God'. Probably he was visited by the Father, without question he received transcendent spiritual manifestations. The temptations came after he 'had communed with God', 'after forty days.' (McConkie, DNTC, 1:128; see also Mosiah 3:7). The King James Version in Matthew 4 continues to record that Jesus was taken by the devil here and there to be tempted of him. The Inspired Version constantly corrects this in the footnotes stating that the Spirit took Jesus and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and an exceedingly high mountain to show him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. This is an extremely important point we need to take notice of. If we did not have the Inspired Version we would be convinced by the erroneous account of the King James Version that the devil had the upper hand with Jesus and that he has the upper hand with us. This is simply not true. The devil has no upper hand in anything. He is simply an upstart and an outcast. He has no power over the children of men except what they give him. He cannot take away anyone's agency or make anyone do his bidding and he most certainly cannot take us anywhere. His only dominion lies in temptation. That is the extent of his power.

I heard an evangelist say on TV recently that the adversary has no power on his best day to take us out on our worst day. This is a sobering thought considering he is so well practiced and considering how well he knows us from pre-existence and from observation. Unknowingly we have taught him where our worst weaknesses lay by our repeated misuse of agency. He knows the traps, the pitfalls, human foibles and all weaknesses. So how can we be more powerful than him? Because of two things:

1. We have a body. This is our biggest advantage. We have kept our first estate and now we are on the second leg of our eternal journey. We stand to gain eternal life. He has already lost that chance. He stands to gain nothing for when all this is over he will be nothing. Isaiah said this of him: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms?" (Isaiah 14:15,16). In the end Satan will be stripped of the limited power he now has and his reign of horror on this earth will be over. For now he is considered 'the god of this world' but he will once again be just an outcast. 
2. We have once before chosen the God of Glory over Lucifer. We have the power to continue to choose Him who delivers us from the sting of sin and death and offers us ultimate freedom. When God revealed Himself to Moses, Moses beheld His glory and was taught of his divine origin as God repeatedly called him, 'Moses, my son'. When God withdrew, the devil appeared on the scene and wanted to be worshipped also. True to his character, he sought to make Moses believe he was lesser than he was by calling him 'son of man' (Moses 1:12). Satan knew that if Moses believed he was the son of God, he would also believe that he had God's power at his fingertips and could therefore resist him. Moses was not to be confused, however, and he pointed out to Satan that he had no glory, only darkness, and therefore he had no power over him (1 Moses:15) and by his conviction he was able to cast him out of his presence. When Jesus resisted the three temptations of the devil He proved to those who follow Him that all power to overcome lay within Him. We as his followers and disciples, through our faith on Him and by the virtue of our agency, have access to this power to overcome and conquer the enemy of all righteousness.

It was after the Saviour had made his covenants with the Father through baptism that Satan came to tempt Him. So it is with us. Often when we are baptised into the Church, we think we are safe and have 'arrived'. Nothing could be further from the truth. The adversary will work on us, the covenant people, more than he will work on those who have not made sacred promises to God. More often than not his temptations will come in three ways that he tempted the Saviour with: 1. a temptation of the appetite; 2. a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; 3. a gratifying of the passion, or a desire for the riches of the world or power among men (David O. McKay in CR, Oct 1911, p. 59). We who are his targets need to be vigilant at all times to recognise the subtle slide into sin that he constantly lays before us. Why? Because by it we stand to lose a lot. Here is a clear explanation of this fact:

"Repentance is, frankly, just plain smart, because sin makes you stupid. Stupid because you are deaf, dumb and blind to the ways of the Lord. Stupid because habitual sin drives the Spirit away, leaving you outside the protective influence of the Holy Ghost. Stupid because it makes you incapable of drawing upon the powers of heaven. Being stupid costs a lot. Sin costs a lot too. It can cost time, money, peace of mind, progress, self-respect, your integrity and virtue, your family, the trust of those you love, and even your Church membership. Sin is just plain stupid. And the cost is off the charts. So repent now. Repent daily. If you want to be sanctified, repentance is not optional" (Sheri L. Dew, You Were Born to Lead, You Were Born for Glory, BYU Speeches, December 2003)

We are powerful beyond our capacity to understand. This power is shown in the moments of our choices. The power within us comes from God. It is His gift to all those who commit to follow Him. We cannot afford to give this power away for it has the potential to crown us with eternal life and endless glory. We want this, we have always wanted this. We are His children who are destined to wear the crowns of godhood. He has paved the way and by it made us powerful enough to conquer and overcome through His sinless sacrifice. The path is straight, the road smooth, the journey easy if we walk it following the footsteps before us. The Atonement is the key and it can make us brilliant and holy and glorious beyond anything we can ever imagine (Cathryne Allen, How to Use the Power of the Atonement, November Blog 2013). Use it, call upon it and trust in it. The reward is yours and it is waiting.

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."  (Moroni 7:33)

TO LOVE AND BE LOVED

"A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said: 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.' The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said: 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said: 'I don't understand.'  'It is simple', said the Lord, 'It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other.'

- Author unknown

When the Saviour comes again, the saints who will be ready to meet Him will be a Zion people. They will be the people who have learnt to feed each other, care for each other, carry each other's burdens and who have shown and given love. In latter-day scripture the Lord admonishes the Church to  '......succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees' (D&C 81:5). The fact that there are people in the Church who are weak and whose hands hang down and who have feeble knees would suggest that the Church is full of members who are struggling. It also suggests that the Church is not perfect for the Church is US. We, the members who make up the Church of Christ live at many different levels of moral development and spiritual awareness. Our tendency, however, is to act as though everyone has a common understanding of the gospel and an equal ability to live its principles. This leads us to criticism and judgment of our fellow brothers and sisters who we believe should live by our personal view of what the Church should be. This view tends to make us believe that we should exclude from our fellowship those we do not consider worthy of our elevated circle. Included in the group we deem 'unworthy' are also those we consider 'different' from 'normal' church members, those who do not fit the so called 'Mormon mould'.

I fear that instead of working together to make the Church a more charitable institution some of us are ostracizing and even persecuting those who are different and do not conform to our way of thinking, desiring to prove them wrong. I have heard of many such cases over the years, instances that have driven people away from the Church and that have left them expecting a higher level of Christian behaviour from its' members. Even though we are in the Church primarily because of the covenants which we have made with God, acceptance is something we all need to feel a part of the body of Christ. Even though some of us may have different opinions, passions or ideals "....the Church includes all of us who have taken upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and given our allegiance to His restored gospel. The Church includes the limitations, weaknesses, and prejudices as well as the faith, hope and charity of all of us who call ourselves Mormon, from the apostles and prophets in Salt Lake City to the latest converts in New Guinea, Nigeria, and the Ukraine." (Robert A. Rees, Forgiving the Church and Loving the Saints: Spiritual Evolution and the Kingdom of God, Sunstone Magazine, February 1992)

How can we come to the point of total acceptance? The answer is simple: love. When Nephi wanted to know the interpretation of his father's dream of the tree of life the angel that came when summoned asked Nephi if he knew what the tree represented. Nephi said it was the love of God. The angel confirmed this truth and as soon as he did Nephi was given the vision of the Saviour's ministry among men. Why? Because Jesus is the embodiment of God's love for us. The Father cannot show his love for us in a greater way than to sacrifice His Only Begotten Son for the sake of the rest of us. Jesus is our mediator between us and the Father. We cannot go to the Father but through Him and so the exchange of love between us and the Father passes through Christ. How can we show the Father that we love Him as He has loved us? Jesus himself gave us the answer: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15)  What is the very first commandment? To love God with all our might, mind and strength. And the second? Like unto it, to love our neighbour as ourselves. In other words, first love God and second, love that member in your Ward that you think is slightly weird. When we enter the Celestial Kingdom, we will not enter it alone. We will walk through those pearly gates with our families first and then with those we have saved. The trick is, we never know which member of our Ward needs saving because we are not in a position to completely know the heart of another. A former bishop came to realise after many years of counselling people that some of us due to some trauma or excessive hardship have an impaired ability to live certain commandments and are feeling it is beyond them to develop into morally responsible adults. Of the more stronger of us, it is expected to 'succor the weak', not drive them away by our judgment, criticism and intolerance. He recounts the following story:

"Two years ago an attractive woman moved into our ward. She dressed and carried herself in a provocative manner. She attracted men quickly and was openly flirtatious, even with me. Through a series of interviews her troubled history unfolded. I discovered that she had been born out of wedlock, abandoned by her mother at an early age, sexually abused by a grandfather and uncle while still a toddler. She was taken into several foster homes in which sexual abuse continued. She was promiscuous in her teens. She was taken in by an LDS family where the father made sexual advances toward her. Yet when she was twenty-one, she served a successful mission. One would have thought that her life had changed completely. Following her mission she became engaged to a fellow missionary with whom she later became intimate. Her self-esteem crumbled and the engagement was broken. Six months later she was working as a prostitute in Los Angeles. This woman was given a new beginning when she began to work with a psychotherapist. It was clear that it would be very difficult to overcome the burden of such an abusive and troubled past. Through long hours of counseling with me and with her therapist, loving attention from home and visiting teachers, financial assistance, and various other forms of fellowship, we supported her efforts to break the pattern of her desperate and self-destructive need for male attention. After some time, she made a carefully planned move to be near her mother in another state. Unfortunately, I learned recently that she was back in Los Angeles working as an escort for rich businessmen. While she was in our ward, this sister was the subject of criticism by other ward members who only saw the surface of her behaviour. Being aware of her history, I knew it was completely unjust to judge this woman by normal standards of morality, and yet I couldn't betray her confidence by telling others why she should be treated with greater patience and charity." (Robert A. Rees, Forgiving the Church and Loving the Saints: Spiritual Evolution and the Kingdom of God, Sunstone Magazine, February 1992)

To feel God's love, we must first experience love of other human beings. It is extremely difficult for people to feel the love of a person whom they cannot see when they do not feel loved by people that they can see. Those who doubt God's love are usually those who doubt the love of their parents and others. These are they who feel unlovable. It is our responsibility as fellow saints and disciples of Christ to make the Church fulfill its' central mission - to bring love to every human being by bringing them unto Christ. The Celestial Kingdom is reserved for those who have learnt to love God, themselves and their fellow beings. We cannot abide in the presence of Father's pure love if we have not learned to love purely ourselves. To live with Him, we have to be like Him. In the process of striving to be like Him we never know whom we can rescue from some dim corner of the chapel. 

It is true that no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of heaven (3 Nephi 27:19) and therefore we need to live righteous lives. However, keeping ourselves unspotted from sin alone will not ensure eternal life. The real deciding factor on judgment day will be whether we have learnt to love through our faith on Him who has beloved us. We who carry His name should be beacons of God's love. We are the light by which suffering hearts can find the shore. We must reach out to the unloveable, the different, the downtrodden, the weak. We must provide the shelter from the storm and put our loving arms around each other for we are all broken, afflicted, weary and tempest tossed. May we find the love of God in each other's arms and may we keep those arms ever open and our lights ever burning to light the way for those who are lost.

Brightly beams our Father's mercy

From His lighthouse evermore,

But to us He gives the keeping

Of the lights along the shore.

Dark the night of sin has settled;

Loud the angry billows roar.

Eager eyes are watching, longing,

For the lights along the shore.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;

Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed,

Trying now to make the harbor,

In the darkness may be lost.

Let the lower lights be burning;

Send a gleam across the wave.

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman

You may rescue, you may save.

- Philip Paul Bliss, 1838-1876

FOR THIS PURPOSE

When President Joseph F. Smith received the revelation regarding the spirit world in 1918 it was concluded by his vision of spirits who were reserved to come forth in the 'fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work'. These he stated 'received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men' (D&C 138:55-57). The Prophet Joseph Smith affirmed this truth with the following statement: "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 (TPJS, p 365).  Whenever I look at people throughout history who have accomplished something great I am convinced they were chosen for that particular task in pre-mortal life. We of the last dispensation are fortunate enough to have history yield worthy examples for us to follow. We learnt of one such example in Sunday School this past Sunday. Her name was Mary and she was a young girl living in Nazareth.

I cannot imagine with what trepidation a young girl like Mary received angel Gabriel's announcement of her life's purpose, to be the mother of the Son of God. Scripture tells us that when Gabriel finished his announcement, she quickly reminded him that she was a virtuous young lady and that she was without the perimeter of intimacy with any man. Gabriel then proceeded to explain how the baby would be conceived and perceiving the alarm that must have arisen within Mary he quickly told her about her cousin Elizabeth who also was recipient of a miraculous conception. What comfort that would have been to such a young girl who had to explain to others of her condition with fear that she would not be believed. But there was another, her cousin Elizabeth, who had conceived by a miracle so this too was possible. Elizabeth, who languished for years in 'the waiting room' with her husband Zacharias, longing for a child, must have at times wondered what her purpose on earth was for she was being denied the role all women were appointed to before this world began. As years passed and motherhood eluded her she must have felt worthless and forsaken somehow not knowing the important role she was to play, that of being a mother to the forerunner of the long awaited Messiah. Elizabeth's role of giving birth to and raising John the Baptist was not her only purpose. Her other purpose was to be a witness of God's miraculous power. Gabriel attested to this when he referred to Elizabeth by saying: "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).  Another woman who served the same purpose was Sarah.

Sarah too languished in 'the waiting room' until it seemed that the promise of an heir could not be fulfilled. Imagine waiting for a promised child for 37 years and arriving to the day when you could plainly see that the time was past. What thoughts would run through your mind? Would you wonder if you had done something wrong and displeased the Lord? Sarah was infertile to begin with and well past the child bearing age when she conceived Isaac. Why such a long wait?  Why not give Sarah a son when she could have conceived normally, without divine intervention? Among other explanations that might come to mind,  Church Father Ambrose offered the most plausible one:  "An aged woman who was sterile brought (Isaac) to birth according to God's promise, so that we may believe that God has power to bring it about that even a virgin may give birth". (Didymus the Blind, On Genesis 2:41, in Oden, Ancient Christian Commentary, 2:45). I wonder where it would have left Mary if Elizabeth and Sarah had not served their purpose in being witnesses of God's miraculous power for they surely prepared the way and ministered to the inhabitants of the earth by the roles that they fulfilled as mothers of notable men. And what of Joseph, Zacharias and Abraham? What amazing men they must have been to be chosen to be protectors and providers of these amazing women who had been given such important missions. Joseph must have been a good man because he wanted to break off his engagement to Mary privately not wishing her to be exposed to public scorn (Matthew 1:19). Then when he was given instruction regarding her, he obeyed and fulfilled his task of being Mary's husband and her child's protector and guardian.

How would you feel knowing you are 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? Would it influence you to live a better life? All three women mentioned above fulfilled their life's purpose because of their steadfastness and obedience. Elizabeth and Zacharias were a temple going people, 'righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless' (Luke 1:6). Gabriel told Mary she was highly favoured of the Lord and blessed among women (Luke 1:28). She would not have received such a salutation had she not been as virtuous as she was. In fact she would not have had any salutation or visitation from an angel at all! Sarah, in her desperation to fulfill the law and her duty as an honourable wife, complied with the law of her day and gave her husband another wife so he would have offspring. What heaviness of heart must have been hers as she did so.

One cannot help but wonder if the course of history would flow as smooth if the noble and valiant failed to carry out the missions they brought with them. One thing I am sure of is that the Lord had chosen those valiant enough who He knew would not let Him down. His choice to reserve the strongest of us for the last dispensation of time must have been made with amazing foresight. The Saviour would have foreseen our day for all things are continually before him (D&C 130:7). Moroni stood as witness of our day when in his solitude he said: "Behold, I speak unto you as if you were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing." (Mormon 8:35). The Saviour knew our day also and He knew who would oppose and withstand the forces of evil that threaten to destroy His works. We, the possessors of truth, have been called out of the world to build, pave and prepare the path for mighty events of history that are yet to happen. We cannot fail in this. The Church needs us, the Saviour needs us, the world needs us. We are the valiant ones who have kept our first estate. Now we are on the second leg of our eternal journey. It is our destiny to perform mighty works in preparation for the Second Coming and it is our destiny to go on to eternal life. The adversary will do everything he can to stop us in our tracks but we must press on. We are yet to see marvelous events unfold in the history of this earth. We will see the dawning of a glorious day if we continue to be as valiant as we were in our first estate. And what were we valiant in? In our testimony of Jesus. Our lives need to reflect this testimony so that when He appears we shall know Him for we shall be like Him (Moroni 7:48). Then when we are caught up to meet Him we will welcome Him back with tears of joy knowing we have fulfilled the purpose for which we were born and we will rejoice to have been chosen to be His faithful servants.

MUSIC IN THE SOUL

"Oliver Wendall Holmes said:

 'Many people die with  their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.'

Tagore expressed a similar thought in these words:

'I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung'.

My plea therefore is this: Let us get our instruments tightly strung and our melodies sweetly sung. Let us not die with our music still in us. Let us rather use this precious mortal probation to move confidently and gloriously upward toward the eternal life which God our Father gives to those who keep his commandments"

- President Spencer W. Kimball, 'The Miracle of Forgiveness'


I love opera. My favourite operatic piece is 'Casta Diva' from opera 'Norma' by Vincenzo Bellini. I have a recording of it sung by Renee Fleming which is just beautiful. I love listening to it. The high notes sung by this opera diva are exquisite and would truly exhilarate anyone who would listen to it. I also have the recording of this musical piece by Joshua Bell who is a violinist. When I listen to his rendition of Casta Diva I am convinced that this piece needs no lyrics because the violin has a voice of its own. It speaks to me the same as if it had vocal chords. I have often reflected on how such different renditions of the same piece of music can be equally thrilling. I have concluded it is because each of these artists has a different voice by which they can perform the same task in their own unique way. So it is with us. Each one of us has a unique instrument inside us ready to perform the song we came here to sing.

Often we think our contribution to the world does not matter so we do nothing and our song remains unsung. We tend to get lost in the multitude of people thinking we cannot possibly make a difference and we overlook the responsibility which is ours to discover our talents which can serve us and mankind. This is a gross mistake for we of the eleventh hour have been sent here with a specific song to sing in preparation of this earth for the millenial glory. Consider this quote from Elder Neal A Maxwell:

"When we say God has a plan, he truly has a plan - not simply a grand scale, but for each of us as individuals, allocating some special talent for this dispensation and some to another. I regard God as the perfect personnel manager, even though He must work with and through all of us who are so imperfect. I assume, gladly, that in the allocation to America of remarkable leaders like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, the Lord was just as careful. After all, if you've got only one Abraham Lincoln, you'd better put him in that part in history when he's most needed - much as some of us might like to have him now".

- Neal A. Naxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, p. 46

So all of us are needed but a lot of us stagger about from year to year allowing our weaknesses to be our stumbling blocks which prevent us from fulfilling our divine destiny. As the new year has rolled around once more we are again reflecting on new year's resolutions which we need to make. Most of those resolutions for a lot of us are of temporal nature, some weakness we want to give up, some physical improvement we want to make and a lot of the time we forget to look at our lives long term and what we need to improve on today that we will be grateful for 30 years from now. We were born to this earth to basically fulfill two purposes: 1. To achieve something unique to us and; 2. to qualify ourselves for eternal life. The Saviour Jesus Christ offers a pattern for achieving both of these. The Saviour was a God before he was born into this world yet his birth caused him to forget all that He was before he entered mortality, just the same as us. He had to start just as all other mortals do and gain his knowledge line upon line (Luke 2:52, D&C 93:13). In other words, the Saviour of the world himself had to discover who He was and what His mission was. This knowledge came to Him by revelation and visitation of angels but it had to come line upon line, precept upon precept, and He had to seek it to receive it. So it is with us. If you do not know what your purpose on this earth is, seek revelation to educate yourself on the matter and then do everything in your power to fulfill that purpose, just as He did. Jesus also had to qualify Himself for eternal life by fulfilling and living all the laws and commandments of the Father. In the words of Joseph Fielding Smith:

"The Saviour did not have a fulness at first, but after he received His body and the resurrection all power was given unto Him both in heaven and in earth. Although He was a God, even the Son of God, with power and authority to create this earth and other earths, yet there were some things lacking which He did not receive until after His resurrection. In other words, he had not received the fulness until He got a resurrected body."

- Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of  Presidents of the Church, p. 315

This year we are studying The New Testament and the life of Christ. This course of study is the most spiritually charged course of study we have in the Church. It educates us as to who Christ was, is and always will be. It offers us knowledge about the Atonement and how we can access its power to overcome this world even as He has overcome it. We cannot make it back to our heavenly home unless we become as He is. It makes sense then that we need to study His life in order to pattern our lives after His. The Saviour did not leave His song unsung. In His holy words: "....I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men" (D&C 19:19). The task was overwhelming, the pain unthinkable, the gift priceless. For a few excruciating moments He has felt your sorrows, endured the wrath of God for your sins and learnt what it is like to be you. Now that He knows you, He can succor you, in every weakness, in every way and He can make you powerful enough to release the music of your soul. He can make you what you came here to be. Trust Him, turn to Him, accept Him.

"You did not come into the world to fail. You came into the world to succeed. You have accomplished much so far. It is only the beginning. As you move forward on the trail of life, keep the banner of faith in self ever before you. You may not be a genius. You may not be exceptionally smart. But you can be good and you can try. And you will be amazed at what might happen when in faith you take a step forward."

-  Gordon B. Hinckley