THE STORMS OF LIFE

 

 

I once had a discussion with a group of friends where a question was asked if we chose our parents in pre-mortal life. Many of them agreed that we didn’t because if we did, we would have all wanted to be born in the Church to goodly parents. I disagreed because I do not believe that we wanted to land on  a bed of roses and glide through mortality, otherwise what would have been the point of coming here? I believe we wanted to come to receive further progress and not to languish in worldly ease. We wanted the storms. We wanted storms because we wanted to become big ships at sea and not languish as little boats at the shore. 

 

I get it. Now that we are here, we don’t want the storms. It’s called being human. When we walk out of the baptismal font with hope of a better life, or walk out of the temple freshly wedded to the eternal companion of our choice, we tend to feel that we have made it and are on our way to celestial kingdom. Never in our wildest dreams do we envisage storms that are ahead of us. We do not plan on divorcing when we marry; or plan to bury a child when we enter the labour ward; or schedule chemotherapy when we commit to live the Word of Wisdom. When we commit ourselves to the journey that will take us to eternal life, we often expect, by virtue of our obedience, a smooth ride that will deliver us to the pearly gates.  Obedience, however, is not the teacher but the means of arriving at our chosen destination. The teacher is life. 

 

Every opposition in life is meant to teach us something,  help us overcome something, or make us rise to heights unknown. It all depends on our response. Will we sink or swim in the face of the storm? The ultimate though is to walk on water. Peter had the chance to learn that when he walked towards the Saviour in the midst of the billowing storm. He couldn’t grasp the lesson back then but I am guessing it didn’t take long after the Master was gone. Peter became so powerful that people brought out their sick into the street in the hope that his shadow would heal them (Acts 5:15). Now THAT is a big ship.

 

The naked truth is that God will not spare us the discomfort or hardship in this life if it will be for our ultimate good. We placed that trust in Him long ago. He will, however, be there to lift us up when we can’t go on; when the storms of this life seek to swallow us and the winds combine against our strength to break us. He will come in the final hour after we have learnt to trust, accept and seek His help to overcome. He will come. This is exactly why we were not afraid to come to difficult lives. We knew that He would come and empower us to overcome, to endure, to rise. We had faith back then in His capacity, His ability and His integrity. We did not only have faith that He COULD save us, but that He WOULD, at all cost, without fail.

 

This Christmas may we reflect on the faith that we had in Him long before He was born. May we renew our devotion to the Shepherd who desires to lead us, to love us, to protect us, to honour us, to exalt us. He would have us become our best…..to this end was He born.

 

How dear to the heart of the Shepherd

Is the flock of His sheep!

With tenderness and love

He watches over those in His keep.

How much do they love their Shepherd!

How closely they stay by His side,

With every footstep they follow

To forever in His care abide.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(ART: He Is My Refuge by Yongsung Kim)

YOUR PURPOSE - ODE TO ALMA

 

Here is another person who can teach us about fulfilling our purpose…..Alma the Younger who went about with the intent to destroy the Church became the man who led the Nephite armies in battle (Alma 2:16); who sat naked with Amulek in dungeons (Alma 14:22);  who was spat upon by the unrepentant (Alma 14:21); who dumbfounded an anti-Christ (Alma 30:49,50); who baptised thousands of souls unto repentance (Alma 4:4,5); who the Lord in the end took up unto himself (Alma 45:19).  Most people credit Alma’s eventual success to his repentance but I credit it to forgiveness.

When you look at Alma and his life, do you see a broken man with a past or do you see a powerful prophet of the Lord? The fact that we see a powerful prophet has more to do with forgiveness than with repentance. Certainly without repentance he would have never been set on the path to greatness but it was forgiveness that made him great. I am talking here about two-way forgiveness. The first and most important part is the Saviour’s forgiveness and the second is self-forgiveness. If Alma had never forgiven himself and had beaten up on himself for the rest of his life, he would  never have achieved his life’s purpose. 

If you are still 'harrowed' up by your past sins, you are missing the person that you could be.  If you believe you are no good, the Lord can make nothing of you. If self-forgiveness has not closed the circle of your repentance, you should examine Alma’s life post repentance. It is not enough to just stop doing the wrong things. What matters is doing the right things, the things that invite the spirit into your life so the Atonement can heal you and wipe away your guilt (Alma 24:10).  Abstaining from your sins is only the beginning of repentance.  What comes after is what brings about the change of heart and gives you lasting peace.  

If you have repented of your sins but can't let them go, you are giving them more power than you are giving God. The adversary wants nothing more than for your sins to continue to have power over you. Your forgiveness is not complete until you allow the Saviour to take away your remorse. The power of the Atonement can complete this process.  Believe in it, trust it, ask for it.  The Lord has a purpose for you and He is waiting.

He stood between you

And the gaping jaws of hell,

He cherished your soul

And snatched you from everlasting

Misery of the damned.

He planted the seed of faith

In your willing heart

But you, you tilled the ground

And nurtured the tree of faith

Growing the fruit, so exquisite and sweet.

So heavy in your overflowing arms

You sought to feed the hungry,

The spiritually maimed.

He who stood at the gates of hell

Your soul to save

Gathered the fruit,

The path to His throne to pave. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Artist Unknown)

SERVANTS OF CHRIST

 

When we think of Job, we think of suffering and endurance and a test of faith, all of which is true. What is worthy of mention is the magnitude of his trials. According to God, Job was righteous, upright and perfect in every way (Job 1:8), so not just any little trial would do for a man of such stature, it had to be something big and big it was.

 

How did Job endure all his suffering? In my mind there is one answer to that. In all his ‘uprightness’ Job became Christlike and could not be moved when the suffering came upon him, even as the Saviour could not be when His came upon Him.  Besides his obedience to God, the Bible attributes  the following accomplishments to Job:

 

He strengthened weak hands (4:3)

He supported those who were falling (4:4)

He strengthened the feeble knees (4:4)

He delivered the poor (29:12)

He cared for the orphans (29:12)

He helped those whom no one else would help (29:12)

He gave the widow cause to sing with joy (29:13)

He was eyes to the blind (29:15)

He was feet to the lame (29:15)

He was father to the poor (29:16)

He searched for people in need of his assistance (29:16)

He never found joy in the suffering of his enemies (31:29)

He never wished evil on his enemies (31:30)

He opened his home to strangers (31:32)

 

In short, Job’s life was a life of selfless service. There is not a more sure way of becoming Christlike than the path of service. But not just any service, true service means allowing a measure of Christ’s regard and love for others to reach them through you. It is being servants of Christ. It is acting in His stead. It is being the means of salvation by proxy. It is loving the Saviour to the point where you would desire to bring souls unto Him. It is following Him to the point where you are endowed with His love, the pure love of Christ. 

 

When we are baptised we become the children of Christ. When we live His teachings, we take the saying ‘you are just like your father’ to another level.

Your footsteps, so big and so deep

Swallow my feeble feet;

I try to keep up

To tend Your vulnerable sheep;

To gather the lost,

To clothe, to feed;

So many for my poorly 

Devised shelter to keep.

Illuminate my steps dear Saviour

With Your glorious light;

Grant me Thy mercy and Thy power

To feed them from Thy godly heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

ART: Yongsung Kim