GIFTS TO MOTHERS

 

In the Arms of His Love by Greg Olsen

What are children to a mother

If not gifts from heaven’s door;

As jewels from God’s own bosom

Gifted to her heart forever more.

Entrusted with the greatest charge

Sealed with hope of tender care;

From His hands

To mothers given

As gifts of worth beyond compare.

-       CATHRYNE ALLEN

ON CHILDREN

 

Joyful Teachings by Ivan Guaderrama

ON CHILDREN:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children. And he said:

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness; for even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

-          Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet – A Timeless Masterpiece

Come to me, O ye children!

For I hear you at your play,

And the questions that perplexed me

Have vanished quite away.

 

Ye open the eastern windows,

That look towards the sun,

Where thoughts are singing swallows

And the brooks of morning run.

 

In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,

In your thoughts the brooklet’s flow,

But in mine is the wind of Autumn

And the first fall of the snow.

 

Ah! What would the world be to us

If the children were no more?

We should dread the desert behind us

Worse than the dark before.

 

What the leaves are to the forest,

With light and air for food,

Ere their sweet and tender juices

Have been hardened into wood –

 

That to the world are children;

Through them it feels the glow

Of a brighter and sunnier climate

That reaches the trunks below.

 

Come to me, O ye children!

And whisper in my ear

What the birds and the winds are singing

In your sunny atmosphere.

 

For what are all our contrivings,

And the wisdom of our books,

When compared with your caresses,

And the gladness of your looks?

 

Ye are better than all the ballads

That ever were sung or said;

For ye are living poems,

And all the rest are dead.

 

-          Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

SINS OF THE FATHERS

Marching across the pages of the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon, with valiance and fortitude, is a group of young men who came from the land of Jershon which joined the land Bountiful, a land given to their Lamanite fathers by the Nephites in 90 B.C. These young men were men of valour and courage, men of truth and soberness, "men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted'' (Alma 53:20), who "exemplified the type of manhood that all of God's sons should emulate and stood as a witness to the Nephite nation that God would deliver them if they were faithful" (Book of Mormon Student Manual, p 257). These young men chose the prophet of God to be their military leader (Alma 56:5) whom they regarded and addressed as 'father' for the duration of their military service. These young men were 'stripling warriors' who fought Nephite battles with such conviction and trust in the power of God's deliverance that not one of the 2,000 of them was lost. More than their military conquests, these young men whom Helaman affectionately called 'little sons' (Alma 56:30, 39) stand today as a testament of good parenting.

When Ammon and his brothers brought King Lamoni, his father and their subjects to the knowledge of the truth, their conversion was so deep that they buried their weapons of war as a token of their repentance, never to be used again for the shedding of blood. This token also extended to their desire to be distinguished from their brethren the Lamanites whereby they sought to take upon themselves a new name. Being more Lamanites by their biological nature and more Nephites by the changed nature of their hearts, they chose the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehies (Alma 23:16,17). This name also suggests the joining together of the descendants of Nephi and Lehi's other posterity, meaning they were now one: "The name of 'Anti' of 'Anti-Nephi-Lehi' may be a reflex of the Egyptian nty 'he of, the one of''. Thus, rather than having the sense 'against', it has the meaning 'the one of Nephi and Lehi'" (Stephen D. Ricks, "Anti-Nephi-Lehi", in Dennis L. Largey, ed., Book of Mormon Reference Companion [2003], p 67).

It is remarkable to note that not one of the Lamanites who were converted through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, 'according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy' ever did fall away from the truth (Alma 23:6). Rather they went on to raise a righteous generation which became a blessing to the Nephite nation. Helaman's 'little sons' were taught at their mothers' knee the power of God's deliverance and they adopted that conviction as their own (Alma 56:47,48), a conviction with which they gave the rest of the Nephi army 'great hopes and much joy' (Alma 56:17). Whereas their mothers taught them about God, the sins of their fathers and their subsequent conversion offered invaluable lessons to these young men and to us also.

Because of their past sins, the fathers of the stripling warriors had to rely on their teenage sons and Nephite's mercy to provide them with protection they could no longer give to their families. Herein lies a great lesson for us. In our unwise efforts to exert our right to choose, we very often act on the theory, 'this is my life and I'll do what I want', not realising that we are not the only ones who bear the brunt of our sins. Imagine with what trepidation the fathers of these young men sent them off to war to fight in their stead. Such was their keen sense of responsibility that they considered breaking the covenant which they had made to never again shed human blood. Had they broken that covenant, however, they would have become vulnerable to Satan's attempt to exploit their memory of any previous guilt and would by this lure them back into his influence.  Through guilt the adversary might have succeeded in making them believe that they will never be better than the sins they have committed and that it is useless to forsake them. Had the Ammonite fathers broken their covenant and succumbed to their previous sins of murder, all would have been lost.  Any spiritual headway they had made up to then would have been in peril, and not just for them but for the generations to come. By adhering to their covenant instead they ensured that "their humble, lifelong commitment to forsaking their sins did more to protect their families than anything they could have done on the battlefield" (Elder Richard G. Scott, Personal Strength Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign Nov 2013). The positive ripple effect of not breaking the covenant they made is felt even today amongst countless people who have studied the Book of Mormon and have been edified by the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors.What an amazing example they are to the youth of this Church, an example that is so badly needed in our world.  Had these boys' fathers broken their covenant and regressed in their spiritual journey, we would not have this example to draw on today.

The legacy of sin is always short or long term consequences. More often than not, weaknesses are born out of those sins and sometimes these weaknesses do not stop with us. For a long time I have been troubled by the fact that I have not been a better parent to my children and also that my parents were not better parents to me.  I have agonized over the issues and hang ups that have followed me from my childhood and weaknesses, incorrect teachings and false thinking that have been passed down to me by my parents.  Likewise, I have worried about all the bad 'stuff' I have passed on to my children.  I read many years ago about 'inter-generational sins' and how easily we can pass them on to generations of our posterity; seemingly innocent weaknesses and false traditions that somehow end up being serious stumbling blocks to someone down the line.  In other words, how we live not only affects us but many others whose lives we impact.

Would it have been better for the stripling warriors that their fathers had never sinned? Of course, but a sinless life is something that escapes all of us in mortality. Even before this world began it was decreed that we would be born to imperfect parents and in turn become imperfect parents ourselves.  What is more, I think we chose which imperfect parents we would be born to according to what weaknesses they could give us so that by overcoming them we could develop the strengths that we needed. Being born into mortality to parents who are less than perfect offers us opportunities to grow from overcoming those imperfections, learning accountability for ourselves and learning how to make wise choices independent of what our parents before us have done. We knew long ago that we would sin in this fallen world and God knew too so provision was made for assistance to be given and that through this assistance we would come to Him: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).

In all of this there is good news and hope: "The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of consequences of past poor choices is that the Lord sees weaknesses differently than he does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment, when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy" (Elder Richard G. Scott, Personal Strength Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign Nov 2013). It is with mercy He looks upon the weaknesses we have inherited from our parents, it is with mercy He looks upon the weaknesses our parents have inherited from their parents, and it is especially with mercy that He looks upon the weaknesses of the penitent, those who always seek to do better, for those who seek to do better understand this important truth:

"In light of the ultimate purpose of the great plan of happiness,

 I believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven 

are our children and our posterity." 

- Dallin H. Oaks

TO RESCUE AND TO SAVE

 

After a few of the usual Sunday hymns, the church's pastor stood up, walked over to the pulpit and, before he gave his sermon that evening. briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.  In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak:

A father and a son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized. 

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. The aged minister continued with his story.

Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life - to which boy he would throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out. "I love you son!", he threw the life line to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells in to the black of night. His body was never recovered.

By this time, the teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for he next words to come out of the old minister's mouth.

The father knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend. How great is the love of God that he should do the same for us. Our Heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten Son so that we could be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line He is throwing out to you.

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story", politely stated one of the boys, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see, I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend."

- Author Unknown

The Father gave us the perfect example of sacrifice when He sent His only begotten Son so that we might through Him be saved. Such a sacrifice might be unfathomable to our finite minds but to Him, sacrificing the one that all might be saved was worth the momentary pain. Imagine as a parent standing to lose all your children to eternal death never to feel their presence again. By not sacrificing one, the Father stood to lose us all. This was unthinkable to Him who desires not only to save us but to make us equal to Him in might, power and glory. As a parent you want the very best for your children; the best house, the best job, the best companion, the best situations in life, and most of all you want them to be happy. Does your heart not break when your children are suffering? You want to save them from the dangers and harshness of this world and so you want to give them everything to ensure their well being and happiness. What we can give our children though is not even a tenth of a tenth compared to what the Father can give us. Paul said to the Corinthians that "....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)

If God so loved us that He would sacrifice his only begotten Son, should we not love one another "...for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).  This law was decreed by Him who has also loved us with a perfect love which enabled His sacrifice for the souls of men for "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). The Son, "having finished his preparations unto the children of men" (D&C 19:19), having saved them from the depths of the deep, has charged us to love and save one another, for if we labour all our days and save even one soul, how great shall be our joy with him in kingdom of our Father (D&C 18:15).

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

KNOW THYSELF

As the children of Israel progressed towards the promised land toward the end of 40 years of wandering, they found themselves in Moab country having already taken possession of the land of  the Amorites. By this time in their travels Israelites had become so numerous that it seemed to king of Moab that they covered the whole earth (Numbers 22:11).  Not only were their numbers frightening but their ability to take over was terrifying.  The king of Moab recognised that the Israelites were powerful because of the god they worshipped.  This point of Israelites' history brings us to one of the most interesting stories of the Old Testament.  Balak, the king of Moab knew he had to enlist some help if he was to withstand the Israelites so he sent for Balaam, a Mesopotamian diviner (Deut. 23:4) who had an international reputation.  Ancient Aramaic texts refer to Balaam as a 'seer of the gods'.  It was believed anciently that diviners could speak for any god.  Balaam received his instructions from God during the night (Num. 22:8) and then rose in the morning to reveal them.  It is not known whether or not Balaam was a true prophet of God holding the powers of the priesthood authority but his geographical position suggests he could have been one of the few scattered people such as Jethro, who held the priesthood and exercised its power (Old Testament Student Manual, p. 207).  The Bible suggests that he had a true knowledge of God and was susceptible to receiving revelation from Him, hence the title of a 'prophet'.

The story of Balaam is referred to by Elder Bruce R. McConkie as 'the madness of a prophet'.   Balaam was petitioned by Balak, the king of Moabites, to travel to Moab to curse Israel so they would not prevail against Moab and in return he would bestow on Balaam riches and great honour.  If Balaam heeded the first directive which he received from the Lord to decline the request and stay put, he would have faded into obscurity there and then but because of the choices which he made, three chapters of the Old Testament are devoted to his story and he is referred to a number of times throughout the scriptures.  Balak was persistent in his petitioning and Balaam was persistent in his hunger for riches and honour that were so easily offered. Because of this he kept pushing the Lord to allow him to go. So Balaam went to Moab against the Lord's displeasure even though the Lord allowed it and he importuned the Lord several times through offering of sacrifices to allow him to curse Israel.  Each time instead of a cursing came a blessing on Israel.  You would think that Balaam would at this point get the message that Israel was favoured of the Lord and that he should be on their side but Balaam wanted both, to please the God of Israel and to please the king of Moab. How wonderful it would be to be rich and powerful as well as having the prophetic powers that already were his. This is a classical example of being at two minds, with your feet in two camps, attempting to serve both God and mammon. This double mindnedness proved to be Balaam's downfall both spiritually and physically.

There are a number of lessons we can glean from this man and his choices. When Balaam couldn't get the Lord's permission to curse Israel he thought of another way to get his way. He came up with an ingenious plan to obey God and still get the riches. He told Balak that he can't curse Israel but God can.  He advised the king of Moab to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel by enticing them to commit sin through practices associated with idol worship. Through his advice, Moabites seduced the children of Israel into participating in the fertility cult associated with Ba'al worship. "And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor" (Num. 25:1-3) Here is a prophet who truly is mad thinking that he can retain God's favour while he is advocating such great sin.  Balaam met his death shortly thereafter while aligned against Israel in the camps of the Midianites where he was slain with the sword. Here is something interesting though. While he was on his way to Balak an angel of the Lord tried three times to stop him.  The donkey that Balaam travelled on halted each time and refused to travel further but Balaam was so fixed on his purpose that he could not see the angel and hurled such abuse on the donkey that the Lord opened the donkey's mouth and spoke to him.  Donkeys are known for their stubbornness. It is plain in this instance to see who was the real donkey.  Sometimes we are like Balaam and we insist on pursuing a destructive course of action with such exceeding stubbornness that we do not recognise the warning signs that God places before us.

Balaam's unwise course of action was not only to his detriment but to the detriment of others. Because of his craftiness the children of Israel were enticed into idol worship and whoredom with the Moabites and they paid dearly for it.  As a result they were cursed with a plague and 24,000 people died (Num. 25:9).  How often do we stop to think if our choices are going to be to the detriment of others?  We very seldom stop to think if they will be detrimental to ourselves let alone those who are within our influence.  Another lesson for us to learn from this story. It's a terrible thing to be the cause of someone's demise, whether physical or spiritual. This is why fornication is a sin with a double edge sword. When committed, you are not only damaging your spiritual welfare but are endangering the spiritual well being of another person.

The greatest lesson we can learn from Balaam is to trust God to direct our path. God knew that riches and prestige were Balaam's Achilles' heel and the adversary did too. In other words, God knew Balaam but obviously Balaam didn't know himself. Very often like Balaam we don't understand why God won't let us have something we want and we rationalise that we can handle that which we seek or that we can handle the temptation and so we flirt with disaster. We think we know how far we can go but we don't know how Satan will take that daring to his advantage and bring us to the point of no return.  If Balaam had trusted God he would have known that he couldn't handle the lure of riches and he would not have come to the point where he abandoned all common sense and ended up being an enemy to the god who once favoured him enough to reveal things of importance to him.  We are just children and God as our parent is trying to keep us away from the fire so it doesn't consume us. We need to trust that and we need to know our most prominent weakness which has the potential to take us away from Him.  We need to seek to know ourselves.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.....how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matt 23:37).  How appropriate that the Lord would use a mother hen as a metaphor for his parental tender care. It is only under His safe wings that we can find refuge and safety. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. He can save us from our personal 'madness' by guiding us in the paths that we should go. His paths are sure and his protection never failing.

DIVORCED IN A MARRIED CHURCH

This week's Sunday School lesson is entitled "The Family is Ordained of God".  Whereas the Church lesson manual focuses solely on the importance of family, I know there will be a lot of discussion brought into the lesson about the evils of divorce.  I know because I have sat through many such lessons in the 18 years I have been alone.  It used to wreck me back in the beginning. Even though divorce offered me much needed relief back then, I am and always was deeply passionate about the plan of salvation and the importance of family.  All I ever wanted in life was to be married and to have children.  And I did get that but I also lost it.  That loss of that dream was excruciating and forced me to re-define my whole standing in the Church and to evaluate the strength of my testimony. 

I agree with everything that is said about the evils of divorce. Why? Because I have lived through those evils.  The repercussions and consequences  of that one event of my life have been enormous and ongoing for more years than I care to admit.  My divorce has had a devastating effect on me as a woman. It has created a sense of inadequacy when around other Church couples to the point that I have largely refrained from Church social life.  I have gone to great lengths to make myself irrelevant as a woman to the opposite sex so I do not run the risk of being hurt again. Raising two children alone and providing security for them when I had none for myself was a challenge I struggled with every day.  It was not just the emotional and financial security that at times seemed overwhelming but the physical one as well.  When my children were still little our home was broken into 4 times.  The third time my daughter found the intruder in her bedroom upon our arrival home.  The fourth time they came through the front door.  It was the most unnerving incident that stayed fresh in my mind all these years because this single event of my life taught me how much women need the protection of men and what it means to be without a husband. It's not what was taken from our home but it was the fear of no security that came with that broken door that paralysed me.  I called the real estate agent who told me that because it was Friday the door would not be fixed until the following Monday.  I called my Bishop who was also our home teacher and left a message for him explaining what had happened but he never called me back.  I called my sister and asked if my brother-in-law who was a very capable handy man could come over and help but he refused.  I so desperately needed to feel the presence of a man in the house at that moment even if he could not fix the door but that man was not to be found.  I felt so alone, uncared for and worthless during that experience.  I was too scared to sleep that weekend fearing the intruders would come back during the night through a poorly secured door of my making and I would be unable to protect my children.  It was one of the lowest points of my divorced life and there were many more. 

My daughters too have suffered greatly from my choice to divorce.  The absence of the father in the home is devastating to children and I believe all the statistics that come from the broken home surveys. My children are now adults but they are still resolving issues they inherited from their childhoods and lack of their father's involvement in their lives which I was largely responsible for.  The guilt I carried all those years for taking their father out of our home led me to overcompensate in ways that have led to complications I never imagined.  The list is long and too personal to recount.

I worry that the years of my solitude have made me tough, not needing a husband anymore.  I worry that I have in the process discovered and developed strengths that only a husband should provide in a marital union.  I worry that I have to attract a man now that I am in my middle age.  I worry that might never happen and I will journey through this life a wanderer belonging to no one and having no home. But most of all I worry about all the mistakes I have made during my imperfect mothering, that I haven't empowered my daughters enough, that out of guilt I have overcompensated and done too much for them sabotaging their growth.  I worry that I have made the most common mistake of single mothers by turning my children into my best friends and making them privy to too many of my hardships.  I worry that even though I have worked very hard to come to love and respect their father as a human being and to be on good terms with him, I have somehow lessened him in their eyes. I worry that my children's every problem dates back to the divorce and that I am responsible for it all.

It appears as if I am worrying all the time but it is not quite true.  The thoughts of failure in all these areas come to me from time to time but I am more and more learning to forgive my humanity and to be kinder to myself.  My intentions and the intents of my heart were always in the right place, even if my behaviour wasn't.  I hope for the Saviour's mercy because of that.  I believe I did what I could with who I was at the time.  I was told in a priesthood blessing following my divorce that the Lord would not have asked any more of me than what I had given in my marriage.  This gives me hope.  I know He knows my limitations and how much I am capable of so He will not hold me accountable for more. 

Now that I am middle aged and my children are grown, I have found myself in a really undesirable place.  I need to change everything.  At the age that most married women are starting to wind down and enjoy their grandchildren, I find that I have to re-invent myself and create a whole new life. Up to now I was so heavily invested in my children that now I have to find myself all over again.  I have no career, no financial security, no home of my own, no marriage prospects.  The task to rise above my circumstances seems overwhelming at times but rise I must.  I still have so much to do.  My mission is not complete and I want no regrets when I return home.

I am a big believer that something good always comes out of something bad, if you look for it and are willing to learn the lessons the bad situation offers.  The greatest blessing that has come to me from my divorce is that I have come to know God.  This painful situation led me to study about the Atonement and test its' power to heal us.  Even at the height of my emotional pain following the divorce, I didn't want to be a toxic ex-wife.  I had a desire to be free from resentment and blame and anger.  I wanted to be accepting of my ex-husband's new life.  I didn't want to run away and dodge him for the rest of my life.  The Atonement made this possible for me.  As I called upon its' power, it truly healed my broken heart and it took away all my negative feelings and replaced them with the ability to be the person I wanted to become because of this experience.

If I could shout from the rooftops, my message would be one of warning to all married couples to do all they can to save their marriage.  But what if you have done all that you could possibly do or you are a victim of an abusive situation or you had no choice in the matter?  Then you are unfortunately a statistic in the Church. But even statistics belong.  You just have to believe it. It might take you a while to stop feeling fractured. This feeling is more prevalent when you have little children and the absence of a father and husband is insanely evident.

It is never easy to be alone in the Church. You just have to value yourself enough so that others will too.  I have carved a place for myself in the Church where I believe people see my strengths more than my cracks which are still in the process of healing.  I found that place one day on my visit to the temple.  I used to attend with trepidation after my divorce but this one day I noticed something very significant in the temple - men and women sit separately.  They do not sit together like they do at Church projecting a picture of marriage and family.  I understood then, the temple is as much about individual salvation as it is about marriage and eternity.  The Church is about the individual as much as it is about marriage and family.  The gospel is as much about being a disciple of Jesus Christ as it is about finding someone to share your eternal destiny. The Saviour values you because he has died for you personally, irrespective of your marital status.  When he visited the Americas, He invited the multitude to come to Him one by one to feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. (3 Nephi 11:14) Why?  Because he wanted them and us to know that the Atonement is personal and that He had atoned for each one of us individually and not for the humanity collectively.  His sheep are numbered and there is not one that is overlooked. We all belong in the fold.  There is a pew at Church with your name on it. Visualise it and own it.  You have the right to sit in it.

THE POWER OF YOU

 

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies"

Proverbs 31:10

 

"The colour of rubies varies from vermilion to red. The most desired colour is pure red with a hint of blue.  If the colour is too pink, the stone is a pink sapphire.  The same is true if it is too violet - it is a violet sapphire.  The best rubies and star rubies are bright red....The Mogok Valley in Upper Burma  was for centuries the world's main source for rubies.  That region has produced some of the finest rubies ever mined, but in the recent years very few good rubies have been found there....."(Wikipedia)

 

A virtuous woman, as valued as a bright red ruby, is fast becoming a rare possession in today's world.  The glare of the telestial world has blinded so many of us to the inherent spiritual nature we as women are born with.  In his last conference talk, Elder D. Todd Christofferson pointed out that 'women bring with them into the world a certain virtue, a divine gift, that makes them adept at instilling such qualities as faith, courage, empathy and refinement in relationships and in cultures'.  This statement suggests that women have been gifted in this way because they have a particular responsibility in this life to lift others to higher ground.  The adversary knows this and he also knows that if he works on women to dull their spiritual natures, they will not accomplish this divine responsibility.  He uses the world and its ideals to weaken and eliminate our influence to the great detriment of our families and the society at large.  Elder Christofferson mentions three ways as a caution and a warning:

 

1.  The devaluation of marriage and of motherhood and homemaking as a career.  I remember some years ago I heard a woman of prominence discuss child care on the radio.  Her suggestion was that women use the cost of child care as an excuse to stay at home and 'do nothing'.  It saddened me greatly to hear a woman say such a thing.  The attitude that homemaking and rearing children is unimportant and demeaning to women is getting more and more prevalent in our society. 

 

 

 

2.  Sexual immorality which reinforces the lie that a woman's sexuality is what defines her worth.

I think that women have played a large part in the undermining of marriage by becoming sexually available to men.  Elder Christofferson says this:

 

"There has long been a cultural double standard that expected women to be sexually circumspect while excusing male immorality.  The unfairness of such a double standard is obvious, and it has been justifiably criticized and rejected.  In that rejection, one would have hoped that men would rise to the higher, single standard, but just the opposite has occurred - women and girls are now encouraged to be as promiscuous as the double standard expected men to be.  Where once women's higher standards demanded commitment and responsibility from men, we now have sexual relations without conscience, fatherless families, and growing poverty.  Equal-opportunity promiscuity simply robs women of their moral influence and degrades all of society.  In this hollow bargain, it is men who are 'liberated' and women and children who suffer most."

 

3.  Erasing of differences between the masculine and the feminine.  Lara Croft, as gorgeous, wealthy and adventurous as she is, has done much to push women to adopt more masculine traits.  Through the media's influence women are encouraged to be more aggressive, tough and confrontational.  It is so common now to see women in terribly violent roles, leaving dead bodies and mayhem in their wake.  Elder Christofferson goes on to say that it is "soul-numbing to see men in such roles and certainly no less when women are the ones perpetrating and suffering the violence".

 

 

Former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld taught:  "The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender.  There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind.  There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined.  We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith.  We have enough greed; we need more goodness.  We have enough vanity; we need more virtue.  We have enough popularity; we need more purity".

 

 

 



The only source of our moral power is God the Father.  Elder Christofferson says that Jesus' power came through His single-minded devotion to the Father's will.  Submitting ourselves to Him in likewise manner can endow us with power also.  It is only through this relationship that we can continue to cultivate the spiritual divine nature we were born with.  The Father made us gentle, He made us kind and tender and loving.  These are all attributes that the Saviour possesses.  Nurturing our spiritual selves and putting aside the values of the telestial 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.  We all know how to immerse ourselves in things of the spirit: prayer, scripture study, fasting, temple attendance, church attendance, service and living the commandments.  All this goes a long way towards enabling us to identify with our spiritual identities from day to day.  When we know who we are and don't allow the world to confuse us, we are being single minded, in other words, being at one with God.  Having our feet in two camps never works.  Being double minded often finds us sitting on the fence not being truly committed to either masters.  Know who you are and do everything you can to uphold that knowledge and you will be a power for good.


"Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels".
(D&C 101:3)

 

(RS lesson taught in Mortdale Ward 24 November 2013)