WITHERED ROSE

 

Ginko by Jia Lu

I want to remember the beauty

Of life like that

Surrendered by the withered rose;

I want to remember all my memories

Near and far,

I want to take them with me

Like priceless jewels

When I am called to cross the bar.

 

 

-      Cathryne Allen 

ETERNAL BOND

 

In His Tender Care by Jay Bryant Ward

The most comforting of LDS doctrine is one of family eternal bond, especially when it comes to death of children. There is no greater sorrow. It’s the unknown of what could have been had they lived.

The Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma, who had six of their eleven children die, had reason to ask why. The Prophet said: “I have meditated upon the subject, and asked the question, why is that infants, innocent children, are taken away from us, especially those that seem to be the most intelligent and interesting. The strongest reasons that present themselves to my mind are these: This world is a very wicked world…..The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 177)

Emma lived almost 35 years after the martyrdom of her prophet-husband. A few days before she died she told her nurse, Elizabeth Revel, that Joseph had come to her in a vision and said: "'Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come with me'.

As Emma related it, she said, 'I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him; I did not think that it was anything unusual. I went with him into a mansion, and he showed me through the different apartments of that beautiful mansion'. And one room was the nursery.

In that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, 'I knew my babe, my Don Carlos that was taken from me'. She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms and wept with joy over the child. When Emma recovered herself sufficiently, she turned to Joseph and said, 'Joseph, where are the rest of my children?'

He said to her, 'Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children'. Then she saw standing by his side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus Christ." (Gracia N. Jones, My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale Smith, Ensign Aug 1992)

And this is the most comforting doctrine of all:

“President Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918) lost many children to early deaths. He was comforted by the doctrine that little children would be resurrected as little children and raised to maturity by their righteous parents after the Resurrection. President Smith once shared the following: “Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: “You will have the joy, the pleasure and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.”

“There is restitution, there is growth, there is development, after the resurrection from death. I love this truth. It speaks volumes of happiness, of joy and gratitude to my soul. Thank the Lord he has revealed these principles to us.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (1998), 132)

Not only will little children reach full maturity, but they will also reach full exaltation. Abinadi taught that “little children also have eternal life” (Mosiah 15:25). The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “you shall have your children, for they shall have eternal life, for their debt is paid.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (1998), 177)

We owe the payment of this debt to one man: our Creator, our God, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Gethsemane was not only the place of sweat but a place of tears. The payment for the Fall and the sins of the world was paid by the sweat and blood of Him who satisfied the law of justice but His tears flowed in the Garden of sorrow for all the broken hearts of grieving parents to this day.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

AND THE ANGELS SING

Angels by Wendy Keller

I pleaded with you,

In the beginning,

To bring me home again to Thee.

I promised to heed every call,

To avoid every danger,

To abhor every sin.

 

I have laboured, Father,

to bring joy to Thee

and To be worthy

Of Your love for me.

 

When my time comes,

I will come home to Thee

and I will wait

 at heaven’s door knocking

Until I hear the angels sing.

 

-      Cathryne Allen 

 

THE GLORY OF YOUR SPIRIT

 

The more I study the Plan of Salvation, the more amazed I am at what a system of precision and intricate planning it took for us to evolve into a peopled planet with a view of eternal destination, the success of which we very much owe to two people.

There were two things in the Garden of Eden that hung in balance and could have arrested the Plan of Salvation and they were in the form of two trees.

Not partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would have been devastating to the Plan as Adam and Eve could not have had children and thus could not bring about the human family. Partaking of that fruit planted seeds of mortality within them and thus it brought about The Fall. That was the right choice we all expected but partaking the fruit of the second tree, the tree of life, would have been such a dangerous act that God the Father positioned a cherubim with a flaming sword to prevent that from happening (Moses 4:28-31).

Had Adam and Eve partaken of the fruit of the second tree, they would have been doomed forever by becoming immortal prematurely. Had this happened this too would have annihilated the whole Plan of Salvation. Had it happened there would have been no repentance, no redemption, no advancement, no probation, no children, no exaltation. They would have become immortal in their fallen state and been forever miserable (Alma 12:26)

And one other very important thing – no death.

And this is why death is important. Death purifies the physical body, which is a temporal mass of atoms, in preparation for the resurrection (President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Answers to Gospel Questions”, 5 vols [1957-66], 4:185).  The spirit, however, is an eternal matter made of light that goes through refinement, improvement and progress which adds to its glory (B. Grant Bishop, M.D., “The LDS Gospel of Light”, p 106). The spirit is the pilot, the body is the vehicle .

“When the spirit leaves the body and passes into the spirit world, it is entering a kingdom specifically organized to prepare each spirit for the resurrection. Alma had a revelation concerning it and said: “now there must needs be a space betwixt the time of death and the time of resurrection” (Alma 40:6).

“This space of time is used for the cleansing, redemption and education of the spirit. The spirit is prepared for as high a degree of glory as it is capable of receiving. How the individual conducted himself during mortality determines, to a very large extent, what that degree of glory shall be.” (Clean Skousen, “The First Two Thousand Years” p 70).

Without death there is no resurrection and without resurrection there is no immortality and eternal life. And this is resurrection: “They who are of a celestial SPIRIT shall receive the same body which was a natural body….and YOUR glory (the glory of one’s spirit) shall be the GLORY by which your bodies are quickened.” (D&C 88:28)

A personal view. The most enlightened prayers I have had in my life have been the ones where I had asked for the Holy Ghost to give me the words of my prayer. Some years ago I was given to say that I will “rise to be the glorious being I was before the earth began”. Never before then have I ever entertained the idea that my spirit possessed any glory in any degree. If we could all see ourselves without this body of clay, we would see ourselves in a very different light indeed.

In the end, the real success of our story belongs to only one person, The Saviour Jesus Christ….the Creation, the Redemption, the Resurrection, the Exaltation……all glory be to His holy name!!!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Soul's Surrender by Greg Collins)

ETERNAL BEAUTY

 

I know a Russian lady who had a hip defect in her youth which caused her to walk with a gait. Because of it she grew up thinking she was ugly and yearned to be beautiful. When she immigrated to America some years later she had a hip operation that corrected her impediment and she took up yoga and adopted the raw food diet to make herself beautiful.

She has been a raw foodist for over 30 years now and is nearly 70 years old. She maintains a very regimented beauty protocol which is her main focus in life. As a result she looks much younger with flawless skin and a slim toned body. She turned her pursuit of beauty into a business which she runs to this day and has even written books about it.

You will find such committed and dedicated raw foodists on social media today who have made this lifestyle their main focus. This is not a critique of such people. I have for a long time admired their dedication and self-discipline. I certainly have not been as consistent and vigilant in taking care of my own body.

There is, however, a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that warns against total commitment to the body and negligence of the soul:  “Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body, but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.” (101:37)

I have always thought this scripture means that our salvation is dependent on the state of our souls and not our bodies…..which is true, but there is something else that is dependent on the soul: our resurrection.

We prize physical beauty in this world way too much and we struggle when youth fades and old age and sickness sets in. Despite our efforts to live in an anti-aging world, we cannot escape the fact that we live in corruptible bodies which will one day meet death. How well we have looked after our bodies here will not be the deciding factor of our eternal beauty.

Everything on this telestial plane is in its crude state of existence. Apostle Paul called our earthly bodies ‘vile’ which the Saviour will ‘fashion like unto His glorious body’ (Philippians 3:20-21). In resurrection, our eternal beauty will be the reflection of our soul and our bodies will reflect the glory of the kingdom in which we will dwell eternally.

Those who inherit celestial kingdom will assume the glory of the sun, even the glory of God. Those who inherit terrestrial kingdom will assume the glory of the moon and those who inherit telestial will assume the glory of the stars….(D&C 76:70,71,81). In short, our brilliance will depend on how much darkness is in us.

All in all, our righteousness determines the eternal beauty we will live with forever. Even the most physically beautiful person on the earth today could end up being just average in eternity….so yes, even though it is important to care for our bodies, if you want beauty, the care of your soul, surpasses that care. We live with our physical bodies for a time but with our resurrected bodies we will live forever.

The Saviour is an immortal, celestialised being of light. There is no darkness in Him because of the perfection of His soul (1 John 1:5; D&C 88:6,7). When He returns to earth in His glory, the sun shall hide its face in shame and ‘the need will disappear for the sun and the moon to give light to God’s covenant people (D&C 133:49; Isaiah 60:19,20; Orson Pratt in Journal of Discourses, 14:355-56). Imagine being so pure and so full of light of truth that you shine brighter than the sun.

I am a visual person. I appreciate beauty in many forms. It lifts my soul to be surrounded by the beauty of flowers, nature, people and homes. Yes, I would like to be one of the beautiful people but above the beauty of the body, I value the purity of my soul more. When I am resurrected I want my righteousness to shine and I don’t want any darkness in me. I want love, kindness and truth in the very depths of my soul to shine throughout immensity of time and space. I want it shining forever.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Light by The Land of Dreams)

BEYOND THE GRAVE

 

 

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” – John 11:25

Imagine if death was the marker of finality. Imagine if all the effort of self-improvement and human evolvement became null and void at death. Imagine the futility of the few years that are afforded to us here: the loss of loved ones, the wasteland of our dreams and hopes and achievements of humanity. No wonder so many of us who don’t believe there is anything beyond the grave, cling to this life so tenaciously. What surprise awaits them when they discover there is more, so much more!

The crowning glory of the Atonement is the Resurrection. If the Saviour did not overcome the sting of death, the suffering of Gethsemane would have been useless, the humiliation of Calvary even more so. What good would all His suffering be if we ceased to exist when mortality lays its claim on us and sends us to Mother Earth? If there is no ‘tomorrow’, ‘yesterday’ was a waste and ‘today’ is futile.

I give thanks to the Father of my soul who created me, who created the plan for my eternal existence, who sacrificed His Son so that I might live and have joy eternally. I give thanks to the Son who considered nothing was too hard to bear in ensuring this plan worked for my advantage and my eternal destiny. He is the truth, the light and the way, He is the resurrection and the life…..

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Silence would have wept at Calvary!

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

As death would claim me eternally.

 

If You were not,

I would not be,

Joyless would be my destiny.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: On The Third Day by Chris Brazelton)

WITH LEHI IN THE DESERT

 

 

I was reading the prophecies of Joseph of Egypt regarding the Lord's promise to him that He would raise up a righteous branch of the House of Israel through his children and I came across these words which impressed me the most: "...and I go down to my grave with joy" (JST Genesis 50:24). As we know Joseph had a terribly hard life. In his own words:  "My brethren hated me...they wanted to kill me.....into a cistern they lowered me....they sold me into slavery.....I was taken into captivity....I was overtaken by hunger....I was alone....I was in weakness...I was in prison.....I was in bonds....assaulted by bitter words of the Egyptians...a slave" (The Old Testament Pseudepigraha, p 819) This is not to mention being cut off from his family whilst in his youth and suffering isolation and spiritual peril in a heathen land. Upon reflection I thought that Joseph was most likely happy to go to his grave to rest from all the challenges and labour he performed in his life time but then a thought struck me that only a man who had lived a good and righteous life and was at peace with God could afford to say such a thing. And this is definitely true of Joseph for he also wrote: "....the Lord loved me....the God of my fathers preserved me...the Most High raised me up....the Lord of all set me free....the strength of His hand came to my aid....the Lord himself fed me generously....God came to help me.....the Lord showed His concern for me...the Saviour acted graciously in my behalf......He rescued me and He exalted me." (The OT Pseudepigraha, p 819)

The scriptures highlight one very important thing through people that have gone on before us....we do not come here to a bed of roses, but more often than not, to a bed of thorns. Even the most noble do not escape. Consider the story of Lehi. He did everything he was commanded of the Lord to do. For that he was forced to flee into a desert "so compelling that even the hardened Bedouins avoid like the plague...detestable certainly describes the place in the eyes of Lehi's people, who 'murmured' bitterly at being led into such a hell." (Hugh Nibley, Lehi In the Desert, p 51). It is in this 'wilderness' of his life that Lehi watched his family suffer constant hunger, being the rule of the desert; danger from encounter with ever warring Arab tribes; loneliness from isolation; taxing marches down the Arabian Peninsula;  fear from possible camp raiders; and constant recurring rebellion of his children. And this was Lehi's life and the life of his family for 8 years. Add on top of this, crossing the Indian Ocean and starting from ground zero in a foreign land.  And what did Lehi say about it all when his time came to cross the bar? No complaints. He recounted how great things the Lord had done for his family in bringing them out of the land of Jerusalem and how merciful He had been (2 Nephi 1:1,4). And then this glorious summation of his life: "...the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" (2 N 1:15). I think like his forefather Joseph, Lehi was 'happy to go down to his grave', not to rest from his labours but to meet his God.

When our time comes will we be just happy to be rid of this life or will we eagerly rush to meet the God who has loved us, preserved us, led us, blessed us, sustained us and redeemed us? When our time comes, may we be able to say:

"Twilight and evening bell and after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell when I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crossed the bar."

(Lord Alfred Tennyson)

 

- Cathryne Allen

(Art: Come Unto Me by Yongsung Kim)

"HE WHOM THOU LOVEST IS SICK"

During His mortal ministry Jesus performed many miracles: he opened the eyes of the blind, cast out devils, cleansed lepers, calmed storms, walked on water, fed thousands with a few barley loaves and fishes and raised the daughter of Jairus and a widow's son from death. All of these acts of kindness and mercy were truly miraculous but none as meaningful as was the raising of Lazarus, whom Jesus loved. The death of Lazarus was not just another miracle but the final testament of Jesus' divine sonship through which He as the Son of God was glorified. It was also an act of faith, an act of love and an act which sealed his fate and sent Him to Golgotha.

Lazarus lived in the Judean town of Bethany, two miles east of Jerusalem. In this same village lived his beloved sisters, Mary and Martha. These particular siblings were devout disciples of Jesus who often offered Him refuge from rejection and surcease from toil and rest from his labours. It was in their company and in their homes that Jesus found acceptance and kindness which no doubt fed His sensitive soul and made His labours seem worthwhile. It was this Mary who anointed His head for His burial and His feet with costly spikenard and bathed them with her tears just before the Fourth Passover. Lazarus, Mary and Martha were three of the most intimate friends Jesus had on earth. As such friends,they knew of His whereabouts and where His ministry took Him from day to day for when Lazarus fell ill Mary and Martha sent for Jesus who was in Perea, which was a day's journey away. The message they sent was one of tenderness and supplication to the one they were sure would come and rescue them from imminent pain like He had done to so many others: "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick" (John 11:3). Imagine then how they felt when Jesus showed no apparent concern and continued His labours in Perea for another two days without attempting to leave, knowing full well that Lazarus was dead by the time He received the summons.

Jesus knew why Lazarus got sick and He offered this explanation: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11:4). Lazarus had a special mission and purpose, to die so that Jesus could be glorified by raising him from the dead. This was not a matter of repelling death when it came knocking on one's door, this was a precursor of the power of resurrection which only the Saviour possessed. Lazarus was foreordained to die; it was part of the eternal plan that he should do so and remain in paradise until his tabernacle of clay began to decay, until corruption and decomposition were well under way so that his return from the dead would be a testament of Christ's power to resurrect us all and give us eternal life (Bruce R. McConkine, Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 271) . It was likewise a witness of Christ's ability to raise Himself from death as He had foretold. Thus Lazarus became a witness of Jesus' divinity.

When Jesus returned to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Running out of her house to meet Him was Martha who met Him not with words of accusation but words of faith: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee" (John 11:21,22). Mary's salutation was not one of benign and flattering words but of such faith that can only come by the power of the Holy Ghost. That her salutation was born of the Spirit and not of her own faith is evidenced by the fact that she was subsequently reluctant for Jesus to enter Lazarus' tomb pointing out that Lazarus had been dead four days and the smell of decay had begun to set in (John 11:39). Up to this point in history, resurrection was only a principle in theory. The raising of Lazarus was akin to resurrection as his body had started to decay and was no longer fit for the habitation of his spirit which had already entered the spirit world where spirits who had ended their mortal probation resided. This Jesus confirmed by saying: "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). Lazarus was fully restored to mortality, to a body of flesh and blood. Jesus, however, was resurrected to a body of flesh and bone only thus making Him the first fruits of resurrection.

Surrounded by sorrow and grief Jesus displayed utmost tenderness towards those He loved and He himself wept as He proceeded to the tomb which would prove that Jesus indeed is the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One who can grant life to all who believed. None but the Son of God could do what He was about to do. He had prayed and prepared for this moment and the Father had heard and granted His plea and thus 'with the hearts of Martha and Mary perfectly united with that of their beloved Lord; with the body of Lazarus lying in the dust, eaten by worms, every vital organ in process of rotting away; with the spirit of this man of divine destiny, in paradise, awaiting the Promised Voice - at this moment the Lord of Life spoke: LAZARUS, COME FORTH' (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 279).  Not just anybody chosen for this most special of all moments of Christ's life, but Lazarus whom Jesus would love and who would love Him; Lazarus, whose faith and no doubt his valiance in his testimony of Jesus in the realms above, qualified him before this world was to be a special witness of Christ; Lazarus came forth from the tomb and glorified the Saviour of the world.

'The shock waves of the emergence of Lazarus from the tomb rolled from Bethany across the Mount of Olives, spanned the Kidron Valley, and beat against Caiaphas' Palace' (Ted Gibbons, NT Lesson 19: Thy Faith Hath Saved Thee). As Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin considered this most important of all miracles they concluded once and for all that He who subverted their Mosaic religion and ran counter to the tradition of elders had to die: "If we let him thus alone", they reasoned, "all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation" (John 11:48). "Their dilemma was both religious and political. 'If this man's gospel is true, the day of Moses and the law is past, and we shall lose our prominence and power as rulers in Israel. The people will rally round him as their Messiah and Deliverer, and Rome will then destroy us with the sword" (Bruce R. McConkie, Mortal Messiah Book 3, p 281). In a nutshell, better that one man die than a whole nation, even if it requires the death of a god.

When the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy, you are I were among that happy throng giving praise to Him who would rescue us from the sting of death. Because of our faith in Father's Firstborn we knew we would not be eternally lost and alienated from home. We trusted He had the power to redeem us, to sanctify us, to make us whole and fit for exaltation. In return we promised our all. We promised we would glorify His name whilst in mortality through the life that we live. May we be faithful to that cause and when the time of resurrection comes may we be found amongst those who will hear the first trump sound and the beloved Saviour's voice saying: "Come forth".