I give you my patience
That you might follow your path;
I give you my understanding
That you might love you more;
I give you my forgiveness
That you might learn to love;
I give you my tolerance
That you might grow;
I give you my wisdom
That you might have courage.
I give you my witness
Of the fountain of it all
In whom if you believe,
You will never fall.
From my heart to yours;
Forever more
Because a heart can give no more.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
(Art: Mother In Zion by Greg Sargent)
“Idolatry
is among the most serious of sins….modern idols or false gods can take such
forms as clothes, homes, businesses, machines, automobiles, pleasure boats, and
numerous other material deflectors from the path to godhood…
“Intangible
things make just as ready gods. Degrees and letters and titles can become
idols…
“Many
worship the hunt, the fishing trip, the vacation, the weekend picnics and
outings. Others have as their idols the games of sport, baseball, football, the
bullfight, or golf….still another image men worship is that of power and
prestige….these gods of power, wealth, and influence are most demanding and are
quite as real as the golden calves of the children of Israel in the
wilderness.”
-
President Spencer W. Kimball, “Thou Shalt Have No
Other Gods Before Me” , Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Gospel Library Chapter
14
The other
day I happened to see a video clip of a deceased and very famous music artist performing
one of his most known songs. I had never before noticed what I saw in this
video – a frenzied screaming audience with adult men and women crying as this
performer contorted his body in unnatural movements meant to be dancing that reminded me of
nothing less than contortions of evil spirits cited in Jesus’ time (Mark 9:17-29)
This video
brought to my mind the subject of idolatry……so I would like to add the stark
reality of worshiping other human beings to the above list of what we worship…..because
I think they are the most dangerous.
Today our
idolatry has moved into another realm, that of influence. We have even invented
the legitimate title of ‘influencer’ to people we watch and revere on social
media. There are influencers for fashion, home, travel, body and anything that
would make us covet what they have and what they tell us to buy. Who and what
we idolize, we worship.
And then
there are podcasts of people who pass off conspiracies as truth and who persuade
others to their way of thinking whilst earning great amounts of money without
conscience. Technology has made it ever
so easy for many voices of the world to be heard. Many of these voices are
under the influence of the adversary who seeks to sow criticism, division and
hatred amongst us.
If we are
not listening to the voices who promote and inspire us to seek after the paths
that strengthen our connection to God, we are listening to one of the voices of
the world. If we work on our relationship with God, our relationships with
family, friends and the human family will follow. It’s called ‘obeying the two
greatest commandments’, loving God and loving our neighbour. Where these two
commandments are alive and vibrating in our lives, idolatry has no place.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Artist Unknown)
“Ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ was not given us
primarily to PREVENT our pain. The gospel was given us to HEAL our pain. That
is the promise of the scriptures: the Atonement not only heals us – it can
sanctify our trying experiences to our growth.
“Our doctrine is not just that adversity can help us learn
and grow; rather, it is that Christ, because of what flows from the redemption,
gives us the power to make weak things strong, to sift beauty from the ashes of
our lives.”
-
Bruce C. Hafen, “The Belonging Heart”, p 90-1
Thou art my Prince of Peace,
Thou art the God I know,
Thou art the love of my soul,
Thou art my comfort, my guide, my all.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Lord and Master by Greg Collins)
HOMAGE TO
MOTHER EVE 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
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(aRT: Eve by Mandy Jane Williams
-
“As with
many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven
is limited. Nevertheless, we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate
the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern
established for us as children of heavenly parents. Latter-day Saints believe
that this pattern is reflected in Paul’s statement that “neither is the man
without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
“Men and
women cannot be exalted without each other. Just as we have a Father in Heaven,
we have a Mother in Heaven. As President Dallin H. Oaks has said, “Our theology
begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.
“Indeed, as
Elder Rudger Clawson wrote, “We honour woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her
eternal Prototype.”
-
Mother in Heaven, Gospel Topics Essays, lds.org
ODE TO
HEAVENLY MOTHER
You nurtured me so lovingly
And placed me on the godly path;
You bid me follow in Your footsteps,
To bring honour to Your noble heart.
I long to bring You my earthly memories
And tell You of them, one by one;
I hope to bring You endless joy
When home at last I come.
Chapter 23 of Leviticus contains a series of holy days
that the Lord commanded all Israel to observe. Three of the most important are:
1. The Feast of Trumpets; 2. The Day of the Atonement and; 3. The Feast of the
Tabernacles.
The Feast of Trumpets in particular signifies: 1. The beginning
of Israel’s final harvest; 2. The day God had set to remember His ancient
promises to gather Israel; 3. A time for new revelation that would lead to a
new covenant with Israel and; 4. A time to prepare for the Millenium.
This is the significance of the Feast of Trumpets as
it relates to us and this last dispensation. The final harvest of Israel began on
22 September 1827, the very day Israel celebrated the Feast of Trumpets. This
is the day that Moroni gave the golden plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The
timing of its deliverance was not coincidental. This was a carefully
orchestrated and rehearsed event for four years prior. Picture Joseph receiving
the golden plates from Moroni whilst trumpets blew in Israel. (see The
Golden Plates and the Feast of Trumpets by Lenet Hadley Read, Ensign 2000)
We know that many truths have been lost and taken away
from the Bible, but none more significant that the prophecies of the restoration
of the gospel in the latter days missing from Isaiah 29 and which Nephi quoted
in its completion in 2 Nephi 27 as were contained on the brass plates:
1.
Letter-day
context of the prophecy (2 Nephi 27:1)
2.
A
‘book’ that Isiah prophesied would come forth in the last days (verse 6)
3.
The
book would be ‘sealed’ (verses 7-8)
4.
Roles
of Moroni and Joseph Smith in bringing forth the Book of Mormon (verses 9-10)
5.
‘Three
witnesses’ who would behold the ‘book’ and testify ‘to the truth of the things
therein’ (verses 12-13)
I stand in awe of God who orchestrates His work with
such perfect precision to fulfil His purposes which cannot fail. The adversary
might be working hard to ‘pervert the right ways of the Lord that he might
blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men’ (1 Nephi 13:27)
but he cannot win. God’s plan for our salvation runs like clock-work with every
step put into place long before its’ reality.
So ordered are the events that will transpire upon
this earth that they cannot possibly fail, because ‘God created all things
spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth’ (Moses 3:5).
Everything was designed, proven and tested before it came into being.
The Final Harvest is under way and in our hands we
hold the book that is gathering Israel…..
We
Israel, His chosen seed
will
come to Zion
With
songs of everlasting joy
To
worship our Lord and our King
And
to Him forever our praises we will sing.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Reaping the Harvest by Nathan Greene)
I wept today to
feel Your touch
As You lifted
me on wings of faith
And brought my
soul to heaven’s gate.
My grateful
heart burned within
When I felt,
that for me,
You rose above
Gethsemane.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: His Glorious Light by Greg Collins)
It has been
over 2,000 years since the Lord’s first advent. Many of us are eager to see Him
return. I have heard a lot of anxious members of the Church speak of it as if
it could happen within months. I understand. We are all tired of the wickedness
of this world, however, He will not come until all the prophecies of His return
are fulfilled, “…nor until everything for the Bridegroom is ready (“History of
the Church” Volume V, p 291).
The readiness
of the Kingdom is very much dependent on the readiness of its members : “He
told his disciples that the day would come when men were unawares, as the thief
in the night. For this reason we should watch and pray, “For as a snare shall
it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
There is no excuse for any of us, then, not to be prepared, for we have been
fully and frequently warned.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Church History
and Modern Revelation”, 1:157)
And here is
something very important: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the
Lord so cometh as a thief in the night…..But ye, brethren, are NOT in darkness,
that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are children of light, and the
children of the day: we are NOT of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians
5:2-5).
This is our
advantage…. We as members of His Church, are not the ones that are unaware…..we
live in the light as opposed to many in the world who do not have that
advantage and live in darkness. Our advantage is the Holy Ghost, the scriptures,
continuous revelation and the living prophets.
I am always amazed when I hear a teacher at
Church ask this pointless question: “If you knew that the Saviour was coming
tomorrow, what would you do to prepare?” I am equally amazed by some answers
such as, missionary work. I ask, how much missionary work could you do in one
day to make up for years of not doing it? My answer is, you could do nothing in
one day to prepare for His coming. The time to start preparing is yesterday.
The signs
of His coming are too numerous to mention here. It is the responsibility of
each of us to search them in the prophecies that we might know them and recognize
them as they come. We are the chosen for this time and this place to usher in
the greatest event of the history of mankind. The winding up scenes will not be
easy, they will not be pleasant, but they will be worth the sacrifice, the
perseverance, the wait…..and when He comes, the tears of the faithful….
When
in clouds of glory I see you come,
I
will run….
I
will run to meet You with hope of
Everlasting
life.
I will
bend the knee and offer You my heart,
Lived
these many years in Your glorious light.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Behold He Comes by Danny Hahlbohm)
“He came
into the world in time’s meridian to put into full operation all the terms and
conditions of his Father’s plan: to bring to pass immortality and to make
eternal life available to man; to abolish death and bring life and immortality
to light through his gospel.
“And he
shall come again……These are the most glorious events in the whole history of
planet earth. From Adam to John, called the Baptist, all the prophets looked
forward to both of these comings; and from Peter to the last apostle who shall
rise up in this dispensation, all have and shall testify of his destined return
in power, attended by the hosts of heaven, to bring surcease from all care and
sorrow to those who have been valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness.” (Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah”,
Deseret Book 1978, p 2)
“And
I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True…..
“His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns….
“And
he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word
of God.
“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)
And the
beast who said in the beginning, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God
and I will be like the most High”, and who fought to dethrone our God is
fighting still but when this earth is rolled as a scroll, he will ascend out of
the bottomless pit he will be thrown into when the Lamb of God appears and will
go into perdition (Isaiah 14:13-16; Rev
17:8).
The
scriptures and the writings of the prophets indicate that during the Millenium
people living a terrestrial level of righteousness will be on the earth, but
eventually all will have the opportunity to receive the gospel (see Isaiah
11:9; Habakkuk 2:14; Jeremiah 31:34). Those who do not receive the gospel will
be swept off the earth (see Isaiah 65:20). Zechariah taught that the heathen
nations who will not come to worship in Jerusalem will eventually be destroyed
from the earth (Zechariah 14:16; see also “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith”
pp 268-9)
Think about
what it means to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It means to become like Him
and with Him an heir to all the Father has. It means to inherit eternal life.
Refusing His gospel means the opposite. Think about who would want to stop people
from accepting the Gospel.
Next time
you hear the cry of ‘no kings’ know that it has nothing really to do with the
governmental power of the promised land today but everything to do with the
adversary subtly sowing in the minds of people rejection of the KING OF KINGS
who is yet to come and is ‘even at the doors (D&C 110:16). This came to me with great
force the other day. How clever he is to echo that proclamation upon the very
land which is the Millenial seat of Him who will come to subdue all kingdoms
under his feet (D&C 103:7).
I testify
that Christ is THE KING (Psalms 5:2;10; 16;44:4; 47:6-7; 89:18; Isaiah 6:5;
43:15; Jeremiah 23:5; 46:18; 1 Timothy 1:17). The only King who can bring peace
to this troubled world and the hearts of men. He will come and He will reign
and He will embrace all those who believe in Him. And when He comes we, who believe
in Him, will be ever so grateful for the real King.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: The King Is Coming by Danny Hahlbohm)
Some of my regular readers will know that I have been in acute pain for almost two years. The lessons I have learnt in that time have come deep and fast. For that alone my suffering has been worth it.
The doctors I consulted outlined the medical path which would end in surgery. I didn’t want to get to that point and over the counter pain medication was not doing much. Being heavily invested in scriptures, and having been impressed with healings in Jesus’ day, I decided that I would also be healed.
Even though I have not seen any miraculous healings in the Church, I reasoned we have the priesthood and there are many scriptures that speak of healing in our dispensation (D&C 35:8,9; 42:48-51). I became perplexed that we, the Church members rely more on the medical profession than we do on the priesthood and concluded that most of us lacked faith to be healed and I was going to be different. I fasted for three days and asked my ministering brother to heal me. The blessing came but without a healing. I had five subsequent priesthood blessings over time and no healing. I concluded that none of the brethren had the courage to say: “rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).
From there I decided to appeal to God to heal me himself. I was certain that we had the right to be healed just like people of the past and one day I would wake up without pain. Months went by and no healing and I was getting worse but I kept persisting thinking all I needed was the faith of the Brother of Jared…..I was sure I did not need to go down the medical path.
When I started questioning God and His mercy for me then a certain scripture came to me with incredible force: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5). I knew straight away that I had mis-understood. With that realisation came the proper understanding in two parts.
The first was that the miracles of the past had a specific purpose for that time and that today we cannot be ‘a Church of miracles’ as some evangelical ministries claim today. If we were, people would flock to the Church exclusively for this purpose and not for the eternal truths and salvation the Church represents. Even in His day, Jesus admonished some who were healed to ‘tell no man’ (Matthew 8:4; 9:30) and rebuked some for coming to Him for this purpose alone.
The second was about grace which came to me in the form of another scripture: “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (2 Nephi 25:23). I understood in that moment that I had not done all that I “could do” by seeking all the available help and understanding of my condition. I didn’t want to put in any of the work needed on my part. I wanted the magic wand.
The second part was the most important lesson of all. All that I was taught was not really about miracles or healing. God merely used this stage of my life to teach me about grace for one reason….He wanted me to remember on my darkest days when mortal exhaustion of pain sets in and I am tempted to distrust my power of endurance, that grace will only secure my salvation in the end ‘after all I can do’…….this was about enduring to the end….no matter what….at all cost.
I
still believe in miracles because I believe in the God of miracles who is the
same yesterday, today and forever and ‘ceaseth not to be God’….(Mormon 9:8-10,19)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Reflections of Grace by Ivan Guaderrama)
As
I reflected on my life recently I had a surreal experience where I saw myself
before the Father who was asking me questions about my mortal experience. As I stood
before Him I could not answer one question such as: How did you enjoy your
mortal probation, what do you think you learnt from it, how do you think you
did overall? Every time I opened my mouth, I could say nothing.
I
understood there and then that there was nothing I could hide or tell half-truths
about because He knew the very essence of my being: my innermost thoughts and
intents, my sins, my rebellious moments in response to my sufferings, the times
I had questioned Him and His goodness, my dislikes and likes, my conduct, my
earthly indignities, my ingratitude, everything that made me tick….there was
nothing, absolutely nothing about me or in me that He did not know.
I
felt He was not watching me but looking into the very depths of my soul. It was
as if He was inside me. I understood clearly as I understand that day follows
night because I can see it, that God is so inter-connected with His children
that it defies our mortal understanding. We, here and now, do not know and
cannot fathom our spiritual origin or the Father’s connection with His
children. God is beyond our understanding.
Then
hope flooded my being. I had nothing to say and would not need to. There was
someone who would absorb the totality of my life to answer all the questions
the Father would have of my conduct, my intentions, my achievements, my
failings. It would all be absorbed in the atoning blood of The Advocate who
suffered for my soul. He would with His strength make up for my fragility.
This
is grace, the ultimate all-encompassing gift, second only to eternal life. This
grace too is beyond our understanding. We will fully come to know it when we
are face to face with justice of the Father. We will know then who the Saviour
truly is…a sacrifice that none of us could give, a hope of salvation, another
God we are yet to comprehend.
When
those who accept the gospel stand before the judgment bar of God, the Lion of
Judah, the protector, will step forward in all His majesty and might as the
guardian of our redemption. He will then ask the Father to judge His
righteousness instead, to appease justice, saying:
“Father,
behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well
pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou
gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my
brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have
everlasting life.” (D&C 45:4,5)
I
marvel that you could perceive
every
thought of my heart,
Long
before you gifted one to me;
That
you trusted my will to obey
With
You so dim in my memory.
I
stand amazed at Your sufferance
Of
the struggling sinner like me,
And
the steadfast flow of help you bestow
From
the merciful heart that is in Thee.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Strength and Fragility by Greg Collins)
The year I studied animal sacrifice in depth, I came to understand the Atonement at a deeper level. I was absolutely mesmerised by this practice and being a visual person I wished I could witness it in the flesh. Understanding animal sacrifice has made me see the necessity of the principle of consecration in my life.
This is what touched me the most: A part of the animal sacrifice ceremony included the priest applying a small amount of animal’s blood to the tip of the right ear, the right thumb and the great toe of the right foot of the person to be consecrated. This is what it meant:
·
On
the tip of the ear: sanctifying the organ of hearing God’s word;
·
On
the thumb of right hand: sanctifying the organ of action;
· On the great toe of right foot: sanctifying the organ of walking and following God.
When I read this I wondered how I could apply this symbolism to my personal consecration to God and it came to me that just as Christ sacrificed Himself totally and completely for my sake, my sacrifice to God must be equally so: through my thoughts, my speech, my attitudes, my beliefs, my desires, my intents, my actions.
I began to consecrate myself verbally to God in prayer daily through thought, word and deed and promised to walk in paths of righteousness. As I uttered those words, the image of the priest applying sacrificial blood to my ear, thumb and toe would come into my mind. That image of the priest became indelibly impressed upon my mind. I have been doing this for a long time now and it has made a significant difference to my daily conduct.
The Saviour expects nothing of us that He himself did not do. Consider His total consecration to the Father which made Him ‘the lamb without blemish’ (1 Peter 1:19): “Had there been one thought in the mind of Jesus which was not perfectly given to God; had there been but one affection in the heart of Jesus which was not yielded to His Father’s will; had there been one step in the walk of Jesus which was taken not for God, but for His own pleasure; then He could not have offered Himself or been accepted as a ‘whole burnt- offering….but Jesus gave up all: He reserved nothing. All was burnt, all consumed, upon the altar.” (Jukes, Law of the Offerings, pp 63-64).
I kneel before Thy
throne each day
Never knowing what
first to say.
Then I remember what
my soul foremost needs
Is my heartfelt
devotion to only Thee.
My thoughts, my
words, my earthly deeds
I consecrate as a
memorial in prayer to Thee.
I spread my heart
before Thy feet,
As the sacrificial lamb I come to see.
I see You smile, I
hear You say:
You are in my heart
today.
The sacrifice was
mine to give,
Your soul I purchased
that you might live.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: The Lamb by Stephen Sawyer)
When Moses ascended Mt Sinai for the second time,
Jehovah descended in a cloud before him and passing by him, He proclaimed:
“ The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon
the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6,7)
This is so significant. This was not someone stroking
his ego by listing His amazing qualities. This is a proclamation of someone who
knows who He is and what His purpose is. Take notice of the attributes and
qualities the Saviour listed: mercy, grace, longsuffering, goodness, truth,
forgiveness….these are all qualities that benefit the human family. The
proclamation was and still is: “I am your God and I am here to save you.”
But make no mistake, He is also a judge, as he
indicates at the end of His statement, and He seeks accountability for the sins
we commit and pass on to our children for generations to come. In other words, He
is also a God of power, truth and justice. There is no fault in Him, only
balance.
Moses wrote down how Jehovah described himself and no
doubt He shared that description with the Hebrews he presided over because it
was imperative that they knew who the source of their salvation was and what He
was like.
“We live in a day of restoration when we know that God
exists. However, the knowledge of his existence is only preliminary to our
knowing his characteristics and attributes. When the challenges and traumas of
life arise – and they are a natural part of this mortal experience – though we
know there is a God, the issue will depend more critically on what He is like.
“The questions in those difficult times will center on
whether I can depend on and trust in Him implicitly. Does He, for instance,
have knowledge and power sufficient to save me? And for that matter, does he
have the mercy and desire to do so?” (Jerry A. Wilson, “The Great Plan of
Happiness – Insights From The Lectures on Faith” p 27)
Some years
ago I determined that I would get to know what the Saviour is like through the
Book of Mormon. I noted all His attributes and qualities I could see in the
margins of my book. Mercy was the most prevalent attribute and it was just
about on every page. I don’t know where I would be today if I didn’t know that
He would be merciful towards my blunders, my imperfections and my humanity.
Aside from
the scriptures, our convictions of who the Saviour is and what He is like, born
from personal interactions with the spirit would have to be our greatest
knowledge. Consider this tender image President Heber C. Kimball had of God:
“I am
perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively,
and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively and good-natured
when I have His Spirit. That is one reason why I know and another is – the Lord
said, through Joseph Smith, “I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful
countenance.” That arises from the perfection of His attributes. He is a
jovial, lively person, and a beautiful man. (“Journal of Discourses” 4:222)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Jesus Loves Me by Chris Brazelton)
“God can
provide miracles instantaneously, but sooner or later we learn that the times
and seasons of our mortal journey are His and His alone to direct. He
administers that calendar to every one of us individually. For every infirm man
healed instantly, as he waits to enter the Pool of Bethesda, someone else will
spend 40 years in the desert waiting to enter the promised land.
“For every
Nephi and Lehi divinely protected by an encircling flame of fire for their
faith, we have an Abinadi burned at a stake of flaming fire for his. And we
remember that the same Elijah who in an instant called down fire from heaven to
bear witness against the priests of Baal is the same Elijah who endured a
period when there was no rain for years…one’s life cannot be both faith-filled
and stress-free. It simply will not work…..
“Christianity
is comforting, but it is often not comfortable. The path to holiness and
happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time
and tenacity to walk it…..
“The point
is that faith means trusting God in good times and bad, even if that includes
some suffering until we see His arm revealed in our behalf. That can be
difficult in our modern world when many have come to believe that the highest
good in life is to avoid all suffering, that no one should ever anguish over
anything. But that belief will never lead us to “the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ.”
-
Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Waiting On the Lord” GC October 2020
You
tell me I must
stay
and conquer
Like
You conquered
Your
turbulent sea;
I
understand,
But
oh how I long to see
The
shores of eternity.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Deep Calls to Deep by Aeron Brown)
Your truth pierces my soul
And binds me to Your loving heart.
Your teaching moments
Find my hungry mind
And feed me like a bird in flight
Searching for a morsel
That gladdens its hungry heart.
Your mysteries are laid at my feet
And I, when I come home, will be
Clutching these riches that are mine to
keep.
- CATRYNE ALLEN
(Artist Unknown)
I love
symbolism in the Old Testament. Reading about the ritualistic administration of
the priesthood in the wilderness of the Israelites’ journey toward the promised
land convinces me how essential that was to keep them focused on the God who
led them because every minute detail was highly symbolic of Him. Consider just
a few such symbols:
-
EPHOD: sacred garment akin to an apron that was worn
by the high priest had gold settings on each shoulder where onyx stones
engraved with the names of 12 tribes of Israel were placed. These stones fastened
the ephod on the priest’s shoulders symbolizing that he as a representative of
the Lord, carried Israel on his shoulders (see Exodus 28:12);
-
THE BREASTPLATE: made of fabric and attached to the
ephod with golden chains and fasteners, it served as a pocket in which were
placed precious stones inscribed with the names of each of the tribes of
Israel. “Thus, the high priest bore ‘the names of the children of Israel in the
breastplate of judgment upon his heart….for a memorial before the Lord
continually’ (ibid v 29).
-
THE GOLDEN DIADEM AND THE MITRE: The mitre (or hat)
was made of fine linen and each priest wore one. The high priest wore a golden
band on the front of his mitre on the forehead. Engraved on the band were the
words “Holiness to the Lord” (ibid v 36-38)
-
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE: “Hot coals were placed on the
altar and each morning and evening the high priest would burn incense. This
ritual seems to signify that one can approach the presence of God only through
prayer, for scriptures elsewhere indicate that incense is a symbol of prayer”
(see Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4; Psalm 141:2; The Old Testament Student Manual Book
1 p 153)
We also
have a place designated which symbolically points to the foundation of our
salvation. It also reminds us that holiness belongs to the Lord and that He
leads us to OUR promised land. The more we can enter its doors the more
symbolism of the power of His salvation will become imbedded in our minds and
hearts.
Consider
this privilege that the rest of the world has no access to. Our temples are
beacons of hope, knowledge and endowment of His grace for His spiritually
begotten children, the ‘apple of His eye’ (Deut 32:9,10), the rubies in His
diadem (Exodus 28:17-21; Malachi 3:17; D&C 60:4; 101:3)….His people Israel.
How great our
God of Israel
Who carries us
on His shoulders
And in His
godly heart;
We are the
rubies in His diadem
We are Israel,
children of light.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Holy One of Israel by LDS Art)
