TRUSTING HIM

 

Behold Him The One Who Transforms

“On the night of the greatest suffering the world has ever known or will ever know, He said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you….Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:26-27)

“I submit to you that may be one of the Saviour’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be anymore grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart.

“I can tell you this as a parent. As concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my children were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient,  I would be infinitely more devastated if I felt that at such a time that child could not trust me to help, or should feel his or her interest were unimportant to me or unsafe in my care.

“In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Saviour when He finds that His people do not feel confident in His care or secure in His hands or trust in His commandments.”

-          Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Created For Greater Things, A Collection of Inspiring Quotes

 

You come to me to dispel the darkness

And embrace me in the splendour of Your light.

Even in the midst of Your Godly moments

You attend to the needs of my feeble heart.

I give my all to You who are

My wings of protection,

The Saviour of my soul,

The path to my eternal home.

 

- Cathryne Allen 

THE FOCUS

 

“Prophets, priests and kings…..have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung, and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favoured people that God has made choice of to bring about the latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the latter-day glory, ‘the dispensation of the fulness of times’.”

-          Joseph Smith, “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” p 231)

I have been thinking about this for a couple of days. It took me back to when I joined the Church at 18 years of age and I remembered how excited I was as a new member. I was care-free and idealistic. The Gospel was simple: obey the commandments and you will reap the blessings. That was 50 years ago and of course over the years, the hardships of life have taught me that focus is not as simple as that.

We are living in that ‘exciting’ day that Joseph Smith spoke of but this exciting day is not looking so exciting if the focus is on the world. We are surrounded by wars, crime, financial hardship, mental health crisis and more. Sometimes we might think that it is difficult to view our day with all its perils as an exciting time to be alive.

The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times holds within it a big responsibility, a responsibility to build a Millenial society. Like the prophets, priests and kings who looked forward to our day, we might have to look forward to the Millenial Day.

We know it will be a time of peace when the Saviour will reign as the King of Kings so there will be no wars; when all things shall be revealed (D&C 101:23-35); when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord so there will be no persecution of the believers (2 Nephi 30:8-17); when there will be no sickness or death (Isaiah 65:20; D&C 63:51); when Satan will be bound and will tempt no man (D&C 101:28); when ‘whatsoever any man shall ask, it shall be given  him’ (D&C 101:27).

To live in that kind of society means we have to BE that kind of society. We are to survive the turmoil of today by letting God prevail in our lives so that we can enjoy the fulness of tomorrow. If we focus on that ‘tomorrow’, we will see in our mind’s eye peace in turmoil, clarity in confusion, satisfaction in discontent and power in endurance….until the day that we will be able to rest from all our labours and the fulness will be complete…..when He comes to make us free.

 

How can I explain my peace

because of Thee?

Whenever my mind idles,

My thoughts fly to Thee

And I am free;

Whenever my mind empties,

It fills with thoughts of Thee

And I am free;

Whenever my mind wanders,

It finds a path to Thee

And I am free;

Whenever my heart aches

It runs to Thee

And I am free.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Dove of Peace by Doc Christensen)

MEEKNESS OF SPIRIT

 

I have always seen ‘power’ in the way Alma delivered himself and Amulek from prison. Consider the powerful expression of his faith in Jesus Christ by which a miracle of freedom was brought about: “O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ….” (Alma 14:26). This year, however, I saw something else. I saw meekness.

In light of Elder Bednar’s definition of meekness which is ‘distinguished by righteous responsiveness, willing submissives, and strong self-restraint’ (Meek and Lowly of Heart, General Conference 2018), Alma possessed this attribute in fulness. Alma and Amulek were verbally abused for many days by many lawyers and judges and priests and teachers (Ala 14:18,22). It was not until ‘the power of God’ was upon them that ‘they rose and stood upon their feet’ (v25). This should have been a hint for them all to scatter….. Waiting upon the Lord to deliver them showed incredible submissiveness, righteous responsiveness and strong self-restraint.

A close friend of mine defines meekness as ‘strength turned tender’. I love that definition.  Meek is being powerful and knowing when that power should be used and how it should be used. It means exercising incredible self-restraint in your strength. Elder Bednar defines it well: Meekness is strong, not weak; active, not passive; courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash. A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishment of others.”

Meekness is a Christlike attribute. This is the characteristic the Lord used to describe Himself above all others He possessed: “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Imagine if the Saviour did not possess meekness. I think He would have wiped us off the face of the earth a long time ago…. Lucky for us, His self-restraint when it comes to our wickedness, stubbornness and human weakness, affords us time to repent and change the course of our lives before the day of destruction.

The promise is if we walk in the meekness of the Saviour’s spirit, we will have peace (D&C 19:23). Think what that means in relation to righteous responsiveness to others, willing submissiveness to God’s plan for your life; and strong self-restraint when it comes to disciplining the desires of the flesh. Would not all these things give us peace?

Now consider what great gift to us the Saviour’s meekness was when He exercised righteous responsiveness and willing submission as He confronted the agonies of humanity in Gethsemane. And imagine if there was no self-restraint in Him when, despite all His power, He allowed weak, mere mortals to scourge Him and crucify Him. Imagine if He walked off that cross before He could say: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Where would we be today? I think the Saviour was chosen to be our Redeemer on the basis of His meekness as opposed to Lucifer who could never have subjected himself to such an unjust death because of His pride.

Mormon identified meekness as the foundation of all spiritual capacities and gifts and accentuated that none of us are acceptable before God ‘save the meek and lowly in heart’ (Moroni 7:42-44). This is the character of Christ, our Redeemer, who can gift us this attribute by virtue of our discipleship, if we seek it with all our hearts and desire to be like Him.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Be Still My Soul by Mark  Missman)