ALIGNMENT WITH GOD

 

Jesus Christ’s primary purpose is to bring us to the Father. This achievement comes in two parts: His Atonement and His advocacy that would eventually, through our repentance and acceptance of His sacrifice, align us again with the Father, to last for eternity.

For many years after my baptism, I could only see the Saviour. I prayed to the Father but the Saviour was the one I saw in the scriptures and the one I got to know through my personal understanding of the living word and my revelations from the Holy Ghost. Then, after many years, all of a sudden the Father came into my life so clearly and the Saviour took the back seat. Ever since then, the Father became more real to my mind than ever before. I gained an incredible desire to return to His presence and to bring Him joy through the life that I live.

Since this has happened, I have been given the privilege of having a few ‘discussions’ with Him, mind to mind, spirit to spirit. I wrote about my latest one in a recent blog. It helped me understand His power of discernment and intuition to such a degree that I understood perfectly there is nothing He does not know about His children. It’s almost like we are transparent and He can see into our very souls. I was amazed by this. When I shared this experience on social media, one of my readers asked me if I felt love in His presence.

This made me reflect on the other occasions I was privileged to hear Him speak to me. I realized that I did not feel the love…..not because He doesn’t love me or I was preventing the feeling of it, but because of something very logical that I believe to be true.

It’s a matter of something inherent in us that this story is a good example of. Some years ago, my then bishop in his talk told us how his young son came to him with skinned knees. He assessed the damage, told his son it wasn’t that bad and that he’ll be ok. The son went on his way. A few minutes later, the bishop’s wife appeared with their son in tow alarmed demanding that they take him to the hospital because he had skinned both his knees. We all laughed because we could see the difference in the gender response.

Women are by nature emotional and subjective and men are pragmatic and objective. Because of their inherent nature, men’s judgment is not clouded by emotion. God the Father is a man, He assesses the skinned knees and can cope with our sorrow and this is why….. He is a God whose primary objective is eternal salvation of His children. He is not interested in rescuing us from life’s difficulties at the cost of our eternal progression. He instructs, He disciplines and He chastens those He loves to bring them to higher ground. He wants us to learn from our falls and to get tough enough to soldier on. In every instance I heard Him, I was corrected, I was instructed and He kept me in line. This is love, perhaps the best love there is.

I learnt how important this is when I was a single mother raising my two daughters. I am an emotional female and a self-sacrificing one at that. I did everything I could to protect my children from any pain or discomfort. I realized later they were ill equipped to handle the harsh realities of life because they had no father’s influence in the home to toughen them up. From this experience I also understood why Heavenly Mother is not in charge of our earthly probation. I am convinced she would sabotage our growth left, right, and center. I know I would, because I am a woman and a mother who cannot bear the suffering of my children.

God the Father looks at the overall picture….from a different vantage point than we do. He looks ahead to see how we will ‘grow up’. This is love. And it might not be felt until Judgment Day when our Advocate will step forward and reveal our difficulties that need mercy applied to. This is the partnership: the Father is justice and the Son is mercy.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Father and Son by Danny Hahlbohm)