THE ONLY ONE

 

Some years ago, another divorced, single mother moved into my Ward which made us the only two women of that marital status in that ward. We struck up a friendship and I was grateful that there would be someone around who would understand me and my life. This proved more difficult than I thought.

The sister in question was vastly different from me. She was a career woman managing her own business and I was a lowly office worker, with no professional aspirations, struggling to make ends meet. She was a very strong, independent individual who handled her four children with ease and trained them well for a life of independence. I was a self-sacrificing mother who turned herself into a taxi driver for my young teenagers and who did everything in my power to spare them any discomfort and difficulty.

With time it became apparent to me that my new friend and I were reading the same book but we were not on the same page. In other words, we were two different individuals in the same situation but with different responses to that situation. We were different people and the same difficulties were affecting us differently. This taught me that it is futile to seek understanding from other people because of our differences.

I also came to understand another truth. Be careful of turning a close friend into your mentor. I had a handful of close friends that I used to seek advice from which I narrowed down to one confidant who I considered understood my spiritual journey more than anyone else but even though we had a very strong spiritual connection, our lives were vastly different. She was married and I was single, she was well and I was sick. I noticed with time that her advice was often, if not always, from her frame of reference and her experiences in life. I used to value whatever she said until I noticed that some of the advice she was giving me was not applicable to me.

When I became sick two years ago, I retreated into myself a lot and became very alienated from people I knew because I felt nobody understood what I was going through. Pain has a way of teaching you that. I had never been in a more isolating situation before in my life. All of a sudden I was incredibly alone with something I was dealing with that was very difficult. I knew it was futile to expect others to understand because nobody else had ever experienced what it is like to live in my skin……except only one..

I came to understand the Saviour’s lonely road He trod when He was here. This scripture seared my heart: “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69:20). I understood a fraction of what He felt during the crucible of His life when He was forsaken by all. If Christ’s Atonement was a descent into the ‘bottomless pit’ of human agony, then I know that He alone understands my life and my sufferings…..because in that bottomless pit was my agony too.

I met You on the lonely road

And heard You say to me:

You will ever be mine

If you walk with me.

 

Your presence enthralled me,

Your exquisite love nearly ripped me apart;

I walked away from all else

Just to have You in my heart.

 

I walk now with Your hand in mine,

The lonely road paved with tears of love

Oh, if only everyone knew where to find You

And long for You to come!

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown) 

KINGDOM OF OPPOSITION

 

There is a directive in Section 18 of Doctrine and Covenants which begs for our serious consideration. It says: “Contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil” (v 20).

When we think of the term ‘church’, we usually take it to mean a religion. Satan’s church, however, denotes a ‘kingdom’, the sphere of his influence, which spreads throughout the earth. This is his domain and so he is viewed as the god of this world.

In the scriptures, Satan’s kingdom is known by various names: Babylon, the great and abominable church, the mother of harlots, the church of the devil, and the kingdom of the devil (see 1 Nephi 22:22; 2 Nephi 28:18-19; Mormon 8:28-38; D&C 10:56; 18:20).

The Dictionary defines the word ‘contend’ to mean both “struggle to surmount a difficulty” and it also means to “assert something as a position in an argument”.

The second meaning directs us to the 11^th Article of Faith which states that we allow all men the privilege to ‘worship how, where, or what they may. In other words, we are to respect the religious beliefs of those around us and not argue on points of doctrine. We are also told not to contend within the Church regarding the doctrine of Christ as contention leads to division (D&C 10:63; 3 Nephi 11:28-29)

The first meaning, as in a personal struggle to overcome, suggests resisting an influence, principle or persuasion that does not align with our knowledge of the truth and therefore not assimilating it into our lives. It means holding on to the iron rod without taking leave to travel on questionable roads that take us away from God.

The devil’s kingdom spreads far and wide throughout the earth and has infiltrated a lot of organisations and causes. His methods are subtle and often presented under the guise of something good.

President Nelson has issued us a warning to avoid Lucifer’s cunning snares who has ‘through eons of time honed his craft. He is skilled at distraction, distortion, deception and misdirection.” (Russell M Nelson, A Prophet’s Voice)

Last time we studied the Doctrine and Covenants, I took particular notice of what I was learning about this foe of humanity who was once ‘a son of the morning’ (D&C 76:26; Isaiah 14:12; 2 Nephi 24:12). Did you know that his pre-existence name of Lucifer literally means ‘the shining one’ or ‘lightbearer’? (Bible Dictionary).

So great was he in the beginning that he was in authority in God’s presence until his pride led him to thirst for prominence and power (D&C 76:25-6). He was so great that the heavens wept over him when he fell. When I reflected on this I sorrowed that we had lost someone with so much promise, who now seeks to make all men miserable like himself (2 Nephi 2:27).

I sorrowed so much that I penned this poem. May we remember that fall from grace and what he has become that we might not follow him in his misery…….but rather may we remember that the Saviour called Satan ‘a thief in the night’ who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). May we instead walk with Christ in whom the grace of salvation lies.

 

Like a thief in the night,

He seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

He is the collector of ruined lives,

The Master of ravaged souls.

 

He is the Son of the Morning,

His pride yielded irreversible cost

In the beginning we sorely wept

When his soul was forever lost.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Whispers of Whispers by Ivan Guaderrama)