I will follow Thee my God and My All
When I can see no more;
I will trust in Thee
When all hope flees;
I will praise Thy name
When I am left without ease.
I will nurture the seeds of my faith
With tears of my affliction;
Yet will I look up to heaven
And believe in Thy throne;
I will trust in the strength of Thine arms
To lift me and carry me home.
- CATHRYNE
ALLEN
It seems I cannot stop writing about this subject.
My close friend commented on one of my posts recently
and pointed out how well it was done. I replied: “Of course it was because I’m
a super-duper writer, a scriptorian and a spiritual giant!!! And the humility
is off the charts!!!”
We both laughed but the reality is that I AM a good
writer because I went to the University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in
English; I AM a scriptorian, a miniature one but nevertheless….because I have
studied the scriptures intently for the past 30 years; and I AM a spiritual
giant because I have a gravitational pull towards the truth and anything of the
spirit. I live for all three so I should by all means excel in all three.
Let me explain why this is important to me. I have
come to my 60s feeling very inadequate about myself. I have written before
about the reality of my upbringing in poverty in a socialist country. I was
brought up with an ingrained idea that I am not as good as my friends who came from
better households because their parents belonged to the communist party and
were privy to jobs others could never get. Added to this was my generational
poverty from ancestors who lived under the feudal system with overlords who
subjected them to the idea that they can never rise above servitude. All this
had an impact on me.
Fast forward to the age I became a member of Christ’s
Church and His avid disciple at the age of 18. Since then my eyes have been
opened to who I am and who I have always been as I have studied the teachings
of the Church and the scriptures, endured many trials and difficulties which
afforded growth and learning, and have had many revelations and insights into
my pre-earth life and my character. I am daring to trust that I am much more than I was raised to believe.
I wrote in a previous post about the Saviour’s
necessity to proclaim who He is, and to make His godly attributes and traits
known, so that we can have faith in His saving power. Never at any time when I
have read the scriptures did I get the impression that He was doing so out of
pride. He was simply saying, this is who I am, believe in me.
We should, like Him, follow suit in recognizing our
innate qualities and our growth. Most especially, following Christ and having a
close relationship with Him, should lift us higher than our earthly flaws and
humanity. We need to stand on higher ground so that we are able to lift others,
like He has done. Humility should be just another attribute that we can be
endowed with as we strive to become like Him.
Paul who called himself ‘the least of the apostles’ and
the ‘chief of the sinners’ (1 Cor 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:15), became the greatest
missionary in history because he knew who made a new person out of him and
therefore he could say: “…but by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10)
Humility
springs in my heart
Like
a well overflowing
With
life giving water;
It
quells the pride of my soul
And
helps me see
I
could never be the Me;
But
for Thy grace
And
Thy devotion
To
make of me what
I
am meant to be.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
I will follow
Thee my God and My All
When I can see no
more;
I will trust in
Thee
When all hope
flees;
I will praise Thy
name
When I am left
without ease.
I will nurture
the seeds of my faith
With tears of my
affliction;
Yet will I look
up to heaven
And believe in
Thy throne;
I will trust in
the strength of Thine arms
To lift me and
carry me home.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Autumn's Embrace by Ivan Guaderrama)
Even the Worthy Will Suffer –
“When we
promise to follow the Saviour, to walk in His footsteps and be His disciples,
we are promising to go where that divine path leads us. And the path of
salvation has always led one way or another through Gethsemane.
“So if the Saviour faced injustices and discouragements,
persecutions, unrighteousness, and suffering, we cannot expect that we are not
going to face some of that if we still intend to call ourselves His true
disciples and faithful followers. And it certainly underscores the fact that
the righteous – in the Saviour’s case, the personification of righteousness –
can be totally worthy before God and still suffer.”
-
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Lessons From Liberty
Jail”, BYU Speeches, 7 Sept 2008
I was tempted my burdens
To lay to Your charge;
I considered them acutely unfair.
Then you opened my heart
And showed me Your godly task,
Beyond human capacity to bear.
Knowing where you had gone
I would never have to go,
I sorrowed and sought
My arrogance to bury;
In humility I assent,
Your mortal burden,
So valiant, so holy,
I would never in this life
Have to carry.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Gethsemane by Danny Hahlbohm)
I
contemplated the Saviour’s greatness upon awakening today and the scriptures I
have loved and admired came into my mind like Joseph’s admiration and praise of
‘King Immanuel’ which has many times brought me down to my knees:
“Let
the mountains shout for joy and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and
dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and
rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field
praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy!
“And
let the sun, moon and the morning stars sing together and let all the sons of
God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and
ever. And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming
in our ears, glory and salvation, and honour, and immortality and eternal life,
kingdoms, principalities and powers!”
(D&C 128:23)
I
also remembered how His greatness and His power will be manifest when He
returns:
“O
Lord, thou shalt come down to make thy name known to thine adversaries, and all
nations shall tremble at thy presence – Yea when thou comest down and the mountains
flow down at thy presence….And so great shall be the glory of your presence
that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its
light, and the stars shall be hurled from their places.” (D&C 133:40-53)
All
that immense, immense, power yet nothing compares to His love, His compassion
and His mercy. When he comes we shall acknowledge his loving kindness, his love
and his pity on those he has redeemed…….if we follow Him that we might know Him
and be recipients of such now…..
My desire to bring Thee honour
My desire to bring Thee joy
Shall forever through my faith in Thee
With devotion be known.
In the depths of my heart You bid me
follow
My love freely flows from me,
My offering so small but faithful
With honour I give to Thee.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: The Everlasting God by Spencer Rasmussen)
“We need to
develop the capacity to form judgments of our own about the value of ideas,
opportunities or people who may come into our lives. We won’t always have the
security of knowing whether a certain idea is “Church approved”, because new
ideas don’t always come along with little tags attached to them saying whether
they have been reviewed at Church headquarters.” (Bruce C. Hafen, “The
Believing Heart”, p 63)
Elder Hafen
goes on to say how imperative it is for us to learn to govern ourselves with
the correct principles which we have been given and in the process use good
judgment that bridges the ideal with reality. He says that “choosing between
two principled alternatives (two goods) is far more difficult than choosing
when a stark and obvious contrast pits good against evil”.
Often we
come across situations that are gray areas that require our judgment of direction
we would take or ideas we would side with and approve of. Consider the
ambiguity that exists in the scriptures as a great example of this: The Lord
has said that He cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, yet
elsewhere He said, “I have forgiven you your sins” (D&C 1:31; D&C
64:3). To really understand this, we need to know the higher principle of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ which includes the elements of justice and mercy.
The Saviour
also said: “Do not your alms before men, to be seen of them” but He also said,
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works”
(Matthew 6:1; 5:16). Likewise, He said: “In me ye might have peace” (John
16:33). Isaiah named Him ‘The Prince of Peace’, yet the Saviour has also said:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but
a sword.” (Matthew 10:34). Ambiguous scriptures like these highlight the
importance of employing a sound thinking process to understand that two
different concepts are at play here.
I had an
experience of having to choose between ‘two goods’ in my youth. At 17 years of
age I yearned to join the Church but as a minor I needed my parents’ permission.
My father would not consent and told me if I joined the Church I would have to
leave home. I was raised in a very strong patriarchal family and had always
obeyed my father but back in 1975 I had to make a choice between the 4th
commandment of honouring my father and my mother or the Saviour’s call: “He
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me….and he that taketh
not his cross and follows not after me, is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37,38)
I chose the
latter. The ideal would have been to obey my parents but the reality was that they
were not spiritually inspired. The ideal for Nephi would have been not to
commit murder but the reality was that Laban was the stumbling block that would
have spiritually crippled the Nephite nation had they not taken the brass
plates with them to America. The same applies to David who slew Goliath to
prove that there was a God in Israel whom Goliath was defying.
The
difficult choices we make in the midst of ambiguity are essential for our
spiritual maturity else what’s the point of being here? It reminds me of this:
“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things, for he that is
compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant;
wherefore he receiveth no reward.” (D&C 58:26)
It also
reminds me of people who pray about every step they take in their lives and ask
how to do it. I don’t find this overly productive to our spiritual growth. We
need to be wise in our dealings and choices and seek God’s approval in
directions we take after we have assessed and made the decision (D&C 9:8).
And always we should choose the higher good that aligns with the reality we are
in.
Perhaps the
greatest guide should be that simple question: “What would the Saviour do?”
Because
after all, He is the light, the truth and the way……
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Divine Meditation by Greg Collins)
I awoke at
3 a.m. this morning because of the painful state of my body and a scripture of Apostle
Paul came into my mind that speaks of the ‘fellowship of His sufferings’ (Philippians
3:20). This led me to recount all the lessons I have learnt since my experience
with pain and how I am gaining a glimpse into the soul of Him who descended
into the pit of human agony and suffered the effects of every infirmity known
to man.
I turned to
Philippians 3 and read the whole chapter. In my opinion this has always been
one of the most important chapters in the New Testament and this is why:
Philippians
3:4-6: “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the
flesh, I more.” Paul, who was the cream
of the Jewish society, of the tribe of Benjamin, a “Hebrew of all Hebrews” as
he called himself, and a stout Pharisee had a firm foundation in his life. He
was sitting pretty. The Jewish law considered him blameless of all the misery he
caused to humanity as he persecuted the Church, and by doing so he rose in
Jewish estimation. He was climbing the ladder of respect and leadership. But
something significant happened to Paul.
Philippians
3:7-10: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ….for
whom I have suffered the loss of ALL things, do count them but dung that I may
win Christ….that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings…..”
Paul’s
spiritual awakening brought the realisation that all things he lost in the
worldly sense were nothing compared to the excellent knowledge of Christ that
he gained. All else became as nothing compared to knowing the Saviour. This
knowledge became embedded in his heart through the suffering he himself went
through for the sake of the God that he persecuted.
Paul lost ALL,
as he said: his social and religious standing, his Jewish family, his safety
and security… but in reality he gained everything. Imagine the isolation and
the severing of all he knew up to the time of his conversion. Volumes could be
written about Paul and his life, the change in his soul, and his relationship
with the God he found and served until his death.
Following
his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was without sight fasting
for 3 days, exacting the change of his heart that repentance brings. Think
about the significance of 3 days…..Paul was also 33 when this happened. Think
about that too. When the Lord said to Ananias to go find Paul that he might
rise to his calling, this was His reasoning:
“For I will
show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” And suffer he
did: he was scourged and persecuted by the Jews, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked
during which he suffered hunger and nakedness, imprisoned three times by the
Romans and killed by them in Rome at the age of 68 (Acts 14:19; 17:5-10,13,14;
2 Corinthians 11:24-27). I rather think ‘the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ’ was born out of ‘the fellowship of His sufferings’…..
Now that I
have experienced a minute portion of human suffering, I cannot but help feel
the kinship with Christ who has suffered it ALL and understand a bit deeper who
He really is. If we have achieved
nothing else in this life but this understanding, we have arrived because
NOTHING else matters. Knowing Christ makes us love Christ and loving Christ
makes us follow Christ….all the way to eternal glory.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Designed by UpliftYour Feed)
There is a
principle of the Gospel that paved the way to my Church membership. I have had
a very strong testimony of this principle ever since.
When I was
looking into the Church I was only 17. I obtained information about it from my
local library. Everything I read seared my soul and I knew I had to be a member
of such an amazing community of saints. I knew the Church was true and longed
to be a part of it.
One Sunday
I arrived at the nearest chapel to see the Church for myself. What I saw was the
saints coming in and out of the building and I longed to be one of them but
presumed that I couldn’t because I wasn’t a member.
What came
into my mind as I looked on longingly was the principle of tithing. I thought
to myself, I would gladly give the Church my entire pay if I could just sit in
that building. I was working full time by then and earning my own money. I was
at the threshold of becoming my own person but it would seem what I wanted more
was God and His Church.
At the time
I didn’t realise the significance of this but now, years after obeying the law
of tithing, I do. Money is a tangible symbol of the world we live in and on
that fateful Sunday, God was calling me out of the world.
Besides
opening the windows of heaven, our commitment to live this commandment, takes us
out of Babylon. It is the beginning of our faith in God rather than the mortal
world we are placed temporarily into. It is the deciding factor of our path to
either God or Mammon (Matthew 6:24). Mammon being an Aramaic word for riches
(Guide to the Scriptures, Gospel Library)
I am sure
we are all familiar with the scripture that says: “He that is tithed shall not
be burned at His coming” (D&C 64:23). This is how failure to pay tithing
becomes a slippery slide to this demise: “This is what it means…when a man who
ignores the express command of the Lord, by failing to pay his tithing, the
Spirit of the Lord will withdraw from him; it means that the power of the
priesthood will withdraw from that man…..He will drift away into darkness,
gradually but surely, until finally he will lift up his eyes among the wicked.
“That is
where he will finally land; and then when the destruction comes and when the
burning comes he will be among the wicked and will be destroyed; while those
who observe the law will be found among the righteous, and they will be
preserved…..” (Elder Rudger Clawson, In CR Oct 1913, p 59, Doctrine and
Covenants Student Manual p 138)
That we may
know that our faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death (D&C 121:44),
the Lord requires ‘the hearts of the children of men’ (D&C 64:22) because ‘where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also’ (Matt 6:21; Luke 12:34). We
cannot possibly love God and love the world at the same time. We either obey
one or the other.
In all our
earthly sojourn we are deciding between God and the world. One has the power to
lift us to eternity, the other leads to corruption of both body and spirit: “….for
I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon”
(D&C 64:24)
The Saviour
died that He might save us from the world. If we are of the world, we give the
world more power than we give Him. This is a mockery of Him who descended into
the pit of agony that He might rescue us from the clutches of evil and death. No
such sacrifice has been offered by the God of Mammon.
Remember what
Jesus said about the rich young ruler who rejected Christ by choosing to hold
onto his wealth: “….how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God! With men that trust in riches, it is impossible but not impossible with men who trust in God and leave all for my sake for with such all these things are possible.” (Mark 10:17-24; JST 27a)
Tithing is one
mortal journey worth taking. It's a journey that will in the end help you
discover the real treasure…..
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: The Rich Young Ruler)
In his
farewell address to the children of Israel, just before they entered the
promised land and before Moses was taken from them by the Lord (Deauteronomy
34:56), he outlined the commandments Israel was to live by in great detail. The
very first and most important commandment was that there is only one God who
should be loved and worshipped which was in contrast to the many gods
worshipped by those in neighbouring lands. The existence of only one God became
the Jewish credo and it began like this:
“Hear, O
Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6). This commandment
became the dogma of Judaism to be recited both morning and evening by Jewish
males. It is called SHEMA, the very first word of the declaration, which is
HEAR.
So sacred
is SHEMA to Jews “that the pious in Israel have always sought to die with it
upon their lips. This has been true down through the ages, even to the
Holocaust death camps, where Jews who were being put to death recited the SHEMA
in their last moments on earth.” (Marshall D. Isaacson, “Children of the
Covenant” p 56).
Have you
ever heard of anything more soul wrenching? Perhaps there is this: Because
Jesus claimed to be co-equal with God when He said “I and my Father are one” (John
10:30), the credo of SHEMA became the very reason why the Jews rejected Christ.
Thus the Jewish staunch belief that there is only one God became the dogma of
Judaism and their conversion to Christianity one of the great improbabilities
of this life.
When I first
read about SHEMA, I was immediately transported to the Sacred Grove and Joseph
who was told: “This is my Beloved Son, HEAR Him!” (JSH 1:17). To me, this word “Hear”
seemed incredibly significant. It was a confirmation to the world of the
Saviour’s Sonship and Godhood, that He is indeed one with the Father and the
awaited Messiah. And all with just one word, HEAR!
The Church
has sent the proclamation only recently to the membership of the House of
Israel to: Hear Him! It’s a call to alertness and attention, a call to
obedience and repentance and to focus on the one and only way to salvation. When
I remembered the First Vision whilst reading about SHEMA, I also remembered
investigating the Church fifty years ago. I HEARD every word of the
restored Gospel with my very soul. It resonated with me like whispers from home
because I felt that’s where I was.
Ever since
I heard, I have been following, and all glory be to the One who has led me.
Because I have followed, I have endured much and prospered much spiritually and
gratefully I have learnt that indeed there is only one God, the Father and the
Son who are one……
I
hear Your voice in empty silence
When
loneliness envelops me;
I
hear Your voice in violent storms
That
plague me in mortality;
I
hear Your voice in my struggles
That
never let me be;
I
hear Your voice when You pilot me
On
dangerous journeys of earthly seas;
I
hear Your voice beckoning me
To
stay the course because
You will never abandon me.
I
hear Your voice getting louder
And
more distinct on the narrow path
That
leads me home to Thee.
I
see Your arms wide open
Waiting
to welcome me.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Guardian by Kelsy and Jesse Lightweave)
Bethlehem,
where Jesus was born, was famous for its’ unblemished lambs which were used for
the temple sacrifice. The shepherds in the field ‘who watched their flock by
night’ were in actual fact priests and the flock they watched over were atoning
lambs.
The new
born perfect lambs without blemish were wrapped tightly in cloth and placed in
‘the manger’ which was an animal feeding trough made of stone. They would be
kept safe there until they were taken to the temple. They were lambs that were
cared for with love and devotion ‘because they were destined for sacrifice on
the great altar in the Lord’s House, in similitude of the eternal sacrifice of
Him who would atone for the sins of the world. (see Bruce R. McConkie, The
Mortal Messiah Book 1, 347)
When Jesus
was born, an angel appeared to these shepherd priests and announced the birth
of the Saviour ‘which is Christ the Lord’, he told them the sign, or proof of
His birth will be finding ‘the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a
manger” (Luke 2:9-12). This the shepherds would understand for they had wrapped
many lambs in swaddling cloths and placed them in a manger. They knew that the
baby they would find in there would be the perfect Lamb of God.
I am amazed
how the whole life of Christ is associated with symbolism. One year as I
studied the Old Testament I became fascinated with the rituals of animal
sacrifice performed by ancient Israel. I looked at it in depth to satisfy my
fascination but I did not expect it to take my understanding of the Atonement
to the next level.
I learnt
that the horns on the ark of the covenant symbolized the power of Jehovah and
sprinkling the blood of the animal on them suggested forgiveness can only come
through His power. My greatest fascination with animal sacrifice, however, became
even more personal to me. It was the practice of applying the sacrificial blood
of the animal, by the priest, to the right ear, right thumb and right toe of
the person that was to be consecrated to God.
These three
parts of the body represented hearing the word of God, acting according to it
and walking in His paths according to His commandments, that thereby the
consecrated person might be sanctified through the power of the Atonement (see
Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary, 1:2:387-88 as quoted by the Old Testament
Student Manual).
Learning of
the significance of applying the sacrificial blood for the purposes of
sanctification and consecration had a great impact on me. I incorporated the
practice of consecrating myself to God, through thought, word and deed, in my
morning prayers.
As I did
so, the image of the priest applying the sacrificial blood to my ear, thumb and
toe would come into my mind to accompany my words. This practice of daily consecration was
something that strengthened my resolve to obey the command of ‘practicing
virtue and holiness before God continually’ (D&C 46:33) and my obedience became
more exact and finely tuned.
I
contemplated this week on the principle of ‘the sacrificial lamb’ and wondered
why a lamb was chosen to represent the Christ. My research for an answer didn’t
yield any startling results so I offer my own understanding here.
The Saviour
was and is a dutiful Son. Did He not say: “I do always those things that please
him”? (John 8:29). Even His power to lay down His life and take it up again was
performed out of perfect obedience to the Father who gave Him the commandment so
to do (John 10:18).
Every lamb
has a shepherd. So does the Lamb of God who is Christ. His Father is the Shepherd
who leads and the Son is the lamb who follows. He does this in perfect
obedience because He is the perfect Son.
This Lamb has the greatest shepherd of all, the Eternal Father, the God of Heaven, the fountain of all love and righteousness. He is the Shepherd and the Saviour is the Lamb……the sacrificial Lamb of God given by the sacrificing Father for all His children, a worthy Lamb and a mighty Shepherd to follow.....
I watched from heaven
And heard the angels in the field
Sing praises to Your name;
And I sorrowed knowing, like holy water,
Your love would spill on sacrificial
altar.
I will follow….
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Sweet Sleep In the Manger Lowly by Greg Collins)
Moroni’s discourse
on love is legendary. And not just any love but a love without which we are
nothing; a love that survives hatred, animosity, harm, racism, sin, abuse, evil
and all the inhumanity we are capable of; a love that ensures salvation at the
last day (Moroni 7:44). Moroni called this love charity (v 47).
This love
is unique to Christ and cannot be developed by others. It is therefore a gift
bestowed upon those who are true followers of Christ and it must be sought
through prayer (Moroni 7:48) . This love ensures that we become the sons and
daughters of God so that when He appears, we shall be like Him (v 48). This
love is the foundation of the glories of heaven and the cradle of eternity.
This love
is the pure love of Christ, a love that endures forever and ever (v 47).
I have been
praying for this love for some time now. I knew I was on the right path when I
started seeing people as God’s children in the literal sense. Being a parent
myself, I could relate to this and I began to understand why it is sinful to
disparage anyone. I know how I would feel if someone thought ill of my children
or considered them of little or no worth. So I began to understand and I began
to think and feel differently about people around me.
I didn’t,
however, expect to have a foretaste of the pure love of Christ through my own
child. I thought I already loved her. Let me explain the difference between the
two.
Over a year
ago my daughter, who is no longer active in the Church, estranged herself from
our family for no known reason. She merely said she needed space. She lives in
another state so we could not understand this need. I went through
bewilderment, sorrow, anger. And then an unexpected understanding of where she
was standing came to me and all of a sudden I entered the space of forgiveness
and compassion and I forgot about myself. She became more important than my
feelings.
When Moroni
identified its’ characteristics, he said that charity ‘seeketh not her own’
(Moroni 7:45). This means charity is not self-centered but is selfless. It puts
the welfare of others before oneself. Christ exemplified this love through His
atoning sacrifice.
When the
Saviour came forward in pre-existence and said, “Here am I, send me”, He asked
for nothing for himself. His only desire was to preserve the Father’s glory and
to bring each one of us to His own station of perfection, glory, power and
dominion. His motive was our salvation. He had no hidden agendas for
self-advancement. His love was not contaminated with self-interest. It was
pure. Unlike Lucifer, He did not seek to elevate himself through the work of
salvation.
Without
this selfless love the Atonement would not have been possible.
When we are in possession of this love, we are able to
by-pass our egos and bless each other's lives with its' power that makes a
difference to the struggling other. Through this difference we start to assume
the role of ‘saviours on mount Zion’.
May we reach across boundaries, limits and fears and
shrink not from the love that will bind us together and lift us to that place where we will at last, once more,
once again and forever, see the face of God. Without this love, we cannot abide
in His presence.
I long to be
where I once was,
A child in my
eternal home.
I long to see
the God of love
And with Him
walk the heaven’s floor.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: He Lifts Me Up by Danny Hahlbohm)
I might have
difficulty in expressing myself today as
I recount the influence of the spirit of which I wish to bear witness.
A week ago
I had a priesthood blessing to receive some clarity regarding my health and the
path I need to take next. I felt I didn’t receive any answers regarding my present
earthly sojourn. Instead I was told that my ‘eternal rewards are stacking up’.
I felt guilty because I did not appreciate this as much as I should have
because I know after all, this is most important, but I badly needed some
comfort and clarity regarding my present condition.
A week
later the clarity came in amazing force….and it wasn’t what I expected. I felt
the influence of the Holy Ghost so strongly that I could not hold back the
weeping. I was taught, I was born witness to what I was told and I knew what my
path needed to be. As I expressed my gratitude through prayer, over and over my
words pointed to the footprints of the Saviour of the world that I needed to
follow. Once again the tears flowed. I had my answer. He was the Shepherd and I
was the sheep.
When I had
my blessing, I was anointed with holy oil. I read recently a wonderful analogy regarding
anointing and sheep:
“Sheep can
get their head caught in briers and die trying to get untangled. There are [also]
horrid little flies that like to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils
which turn into worms and drive the sheep to beat their head against a rock,
sometimes to death. Their ears and eyes are also susceptible to tormenting
insects. So the shepherd anoints their whole head with oil. Then there is
peace.”
I can
relate to the experience of the sheep. I felt tormented too. The writer, who to
me is unknown, continued on to say that if we have mental and physical torment,
God can anoint our heads with oil so we can fix our hearts and mind and have
our eyes on Him always.
The Bible
Dictionary defines the anointing oil as ‘a symbol for purity and for the Holy
Spirit and its influence’. The most important anointing that makes this
possible is this:
“The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives….to comfort all that mourn….to give them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the
planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:1-3)
He is the
Shepherd and we are the sheep. As we follow, through His spirit, He anoints our
heads with oil to give us beauty for ashes and everlasting peace. And He
watches over you and me because He has promised He knows His sheep (3 Nephi
18:31).
How grateful to know Your voice
In this world of utter despair
And hear it echo
In Your loving tender care.
How fiercely You watch,
How tenderly You care,
How safe You make me feel
Knowing You are ever there.
How grateful I am to be in Your flock,
How grateful to be in Your keep;
You are my shepherd
And I am Your sheep.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Eva Koleva Timothy)
I have a ‘rearview
mirror syndrome’. I am forever evaluating and re-evaluating my life to see if I
had followed God’s plan for me properly or if I have missed opportunities to
make my life better or if I have plain and simple, made blunders. The dictionary
defines this word as a stupid or careless mistake. I know I have been faithful to
God’s commandments my entire life but it’s those finer things that always have
me questioning. It doesn’t help that I am an idealist and a perfectionist which
is a double challenge to live with and be kind to yourself at the same time.
I am
fascinated with Alma’s insight into the function of the Liahona, a compass
prepared by God and given to Lehi and his family which was to guide them to the
promised land (Alma 37:38). The first point of interest is that the Liahona
didn’t work without any effort of the people who possessed it. There had to be
faith in God for the compass to work (v 40). The second was that Lehi’s company
became ‘slothful’ in exercising their faith hence the eight years of travel in
the wilderness where they suffered hunger and thirst (v 42). The inference here
is that they would have travelled the direct course and avoided the affliction
they suffered had they not become complacent about their faith in God. No
doubt, however, the journey would still have been difficult enough through 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 was not, however,
necessary to wander in this wilderness for eight years suffering 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 and fear from possible camp raiders. The lesson here is that we
make our lives harder sometimes than they need to be. Isn’t life hard enough
without us complicating it more through complacency and disobedience?
Alma’s most powerful insight came
as he compared ‘the words of Christ’ to the Liahona (v 44-45). He pointed out
that the way which has been prepared for us to obtain eternal life is the easy
part. Our complacency and slothfulness in being observant of Christ’s words, and
living by them, will not make our life’s journey as easy as it could be, but if
we will ‘look’ on Him as the Liahona of our lives, we will ‘live forever’ (v
46)
I guess it comes down to what
we ultimately want. Some of us are content to wander through this life and
never arrive at our destination. Some of us are content to live in the
wilderness. If only we could have a glimpse of the destiny which awaits us. We
are told that ‘the glory of the telestial world surpasses all understanding’ (D&C
76:89). Imagine what life with God the Father and His Son would be like. I don’t
think we are capable of that kind of imagination. We shouldn’t want to imagine
it anyway, we should want to live it.
I long to be where I once was,
To return to my eternal home.
I long to see the God of love
And with Him walk the heaven’s floor.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Guiding Light A Serene Encounter by Ivan Guaderrama)
