A Short One

We attended sacrament meeting with my Uncle and his family. After the blessing of the sacrament, Hurricane announced in his outside voice, "That was a short one" in reference to the prayer. We smiled to ourselves that he was paying close attention. He later fell asleep.

What strikes me is that the sacrament helps me remember the covenants that I made at my baptism to always remember Jesus Christ. Even though the prayers are short, they help me to keep myself close to God and the promise given that he will forgive me as I repent and continue to keep the commandments during the week. I hope you felt God's love today in your church service to be better for the coming week.

Just Stand

Have you ever felt betrayed or forgotten or hated? Have you ever had to stand up for something with your personal image on the line?

In the Old Testament, many heroes stand for events such as these. Usually they were not in the land of their inheritance. Esther did. Daniel did. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego did. Each was faced with a death sentence for what they stood. 

Consider that for just a moment. Are there things we face death for? People? Morals? I have not been threatened with physical death. I have though felt some of the sting of spiritual death. In my heart, I recognize the times I didn't want to stand up because I didn't want to look foolish. Those events are very clear in my memory. That is embarrassing to admit. I knew the truth and feared what others would say.

How can this great change occur? Howard W. Hunter gives encouragement saying,

A successful life, the good life, the righteous Christian life requires something more thaan a contribution, though every contribution is valuable. Ultimately it requires commitment—whole souled, deeply held, eternally cherished commitment to the principles we know to be true in the commandments God has given. We need such loyalty to the Church, but that must immediately be interpreted as a loyalty in our personal habits and behavior, integrity in the wider community and marketplace, and—for the future’s sake—devotion and character in our marriages and homes and families.

If we will be true and faithful to our principles, committed to a life of honesty and integrity, then no king or contest or fiery furnace will be able to compromise us. For the success of the kingdom of God on earth, may we stand as witnesses for him “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death.” (Mosiah 18:9.) (source)

Source

 As I ponder where this might begin, I am struck by how my behavior is magnified by my sons. The place to start to stand as a witness in our homes with our families.

Home is strongest and most beautiful in which we find each person sensitive to the feelings of others, striving to serve others, striving to live at home the principles we demonstrate in more public settings. We need to try harder to live the gospel in our family circles. Our homes deserve our most faithful commitments. A child has the right to feel that in his home he is safe, that there he has a place of protection from the dangers and evils of the outside world. Family unity and integrity are necessary to supply this need. A child needs parents who are happy in their relationship to each other, who are working happily toward the fulfillment of ideal family living, who love their children with a sincere and unselfish love, and who are committed to the family’s success. (source)

 With the idea that it starts at home, the parents of Esther, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego must have taught them the law, and at some point they made their decision. As I have participated in our advent this season, I have found areas in where I need to better myself as an individual, spouse, and parent. The hope for this change comes through knowing Jesus Christ better and having faith in the atonement that I can repent and change to truly stand as a witness.

The Giving Tree

Isaiah talks about how the "stem of Jesse" will come to judge us in righteousness. Olive tree are and were very common in Isaiah's area.

Source

Here are a few things I learned from a talk called The Olive Press:

• The olive tree is a perennial, not a deciduous tree. Its leaves do not seasonally fade nor fall. Through scorching heat and winter cold they are continually rejuvenated. The tree is thus evergreen, or “everolive.” 
• Without cultivation it is a wild, unruly, easily corrupted tree. Only after long, patient cultivating, usually eight to ten years, does it begin to yield fruit. 
• New shoots often come forth from apparently dead roots. 
• Today some trees, still productive on the Mount of Olives, are known by scientific measure to be at least 1,800 years old. ^a 
• Even after the harvest, the olives are bitter, useless to man or beast. To make them edible, one must place them in a large stone box, layer them with salt and vinegar, make more layers of olives, and add more purgatives. Slowly the bitterness is purged from them.
• To produce olive oil, the refined olives had to be crushed in a press. The mellowed and seasoned olives were placed in strong bags and flattened on a furrowed stone. Then a huge crushing circular rock was rolled around on top, paced by a mule or an ox and a stinging whip. Another method used heavy wooden levers or screws twisting beams downward like a winch upon the stone with the same effect: pressure, pressure, pressure—until the oil flowed.

Source

Truman G. Madsen spoke on this topic better than I about how Jesus Christ is the stem of Jesse and how Christ is similar to an olive tree and the fruit it produces. I encourage you to read Madsen's words.

My own paralells from the point above are:

• We are forever living. Because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we will gain immortality. We may grow and change with time but our spirit lives on.
• Today we tied Ruth and Boaz to Obed to Jesse to David. Each was given the promise that Jesus Christ would be born through their lineage and what an honor it was for them. They were taught the commandments and given the choice to choose if they would follow Jesus Christ. "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ" (source). 
• The gift of the atonement makes it possible for new life to come to each of us. We can repent and make a better life.
• We lived before we came to earth, and we will live again after this earth life.
• Some times we are bitter and mean, time, care, and experience helps each of us to be more specific in how we want to be better to ourselves and to each other.
• The refining process comes to each of us in our trials. We can either choose to reach out and ask for the aid of the Savior or suffer on our own.

All things denote there is a God even the new growth from an apparent dead stump and the hope that comes with new life.

Too Hard to Try

Have you ever been paralyzed because of fear of failure so you don't even try? Now consider for a moment an event or task that you knew would be hard, and you accomplished it. For me, I can think of many things that I am fearful in even starting because I'm not sure of the outcome like teaching my child to read. It seems overwhelming and instead of having patience that he is learning I get frustrated with my inability to teach him. I will purposely put up obstacles so I don't have to do it.

Instead of getting on my knees and asking heaven for help, I act like the children of Israel in the desert. Twelve spies were sent by Moses to look at the land of Canaan. They came back with a glowing report that the land "floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." The fruit was of grapes that had to be carried by two men, figs, and pomegranates (Genesis 13:23). The land was ideal. Yet 10 of the 12 spies said, "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we" (source). Caleb and Joshua (the other 2 spies) were ready to go and claim the land. The people voted in favor of fear and were left to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

Source

40 YEARS! What blessings am I delaying because of my fear? Why do I not trust in the Lord to make the pathway bright so he will help me on this journey? Joshua eventually said, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." Joshua was to lead a new generation into Canaan. Only a few who left Egypt came into the promised land.

Day 9 Advent

Caleb came into the land also. He was to defeat the Anakims, the giants. He showed his faith by saying, "Give me this mountain." He said to Joshua, "as yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me [at least in the spirit of the gospel and its call and needs]: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, … both to go out, and to come in” (Josh. 14:7–8, 10–11).

Spencer W. Kimball compared our journey now to Caleb's journey,

This is my feeling for the work at this moment. There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, “Give me this mountain,” give me these challenges.

Humbly, I give this pledge to the Lord and to you, my beloved brothers and sisters, fellow workers in this sacred cause of Christ: I will go forward, with faith in the God of Israel, knowing that he will guide and direct us, and lead us, finally, to the accomplishment of his purposes and to our promised land and our promised blessings.

“And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). (Source)

With the examples of the past, I can teach my son to read. I can conquer my giants. My friend, Suzette, says often, "I can do hard things."

Source

What blessings do you want but fear to ask for because of the figurative or literal giants in your way?

Rain, Rain Go Away....

We have had rain the last 3 days. In Arizona we get most of our rain during the monsoon season. (Our average is less than 12 inches of rainfall a year. When we lived in Pennsylvania we got just under 40 inches a year.) It has turned "cold" here (50 degrees), and we have bundled up. I know that is nothing to complain about when it is mid-30s other places.

My Gamma Rae LOVED to talk about the weather. She also loved talking about being obedient to prophets. So in honor of the rain and my Gamma Rae, we opened our advent ornament about Noah.

The rain just drips off the roof in sheets.

Noah did his best to teach the people to follow Jesus Christ, but God commanded Noah to build an ark. And Noah was obedient. The people thought evil and acted upon their evil thoughts by being violent or carnal. With the ark finished and loaded with all its animals, no rain fell for seven days. Then the heavens opened and dumped for 40 days. Then it took about 11 months for the water to go down.

God promised that he would never flood the earth again. He gave us a symbol of the rainbow. All things testify there is a God (Alma 30:44). The rainbow is a specific covenant made by God to us his children that the earth will never be flooded again.

Amos teaches that God reveals his plan to His prophets. Noah was a prophet and tried to teach the people. The people did not choose to listen and got drowned. We believe that we have a prophet who speaks today to warn us as Noah did. Thomas S. Monson recently spoke about Standing in Holy Places. He reviews the Ten Commandments and how we can be strong.

We are happy to know that God loves his children to give us prophets to lead and guide us as he has for his other children in different ages.

In the beginning....

After staring at the colorful bags on the wall, THE DAY HAS COME to open the bags one by one for the next 25 days. Underfoot was so excited this morning he was motivated to get ready faster than usual.

Our advent is here!

The Advent Jesse Tree starts with the creation of the world and goes through the prophesies in the Bible (mostly Old Testament) of Jesus Christ's birth and  what his mission on the earth will be. We use the scriptures and devotionals from the book and add the passages of scripture from the Book of Mormon and statements from living prophets.

We opened the first "present" and found a globe or a picture of the world.

Our story starts with the pre-earth council with God presenting to us His marvelous plan. He wanted to create an earth and to have His spirit children come to earth and gain a body and to choose if they wanted to return to live with Him. God knowing that we would make mistakes wanted to provide a Savior for us. Jesus Christ volunteered to be the Savior. Lucifer also volunteered. Jesus wanted to follow God's plan of creation and let us make our own choices. Lucifer wanted to compel everyone to return to God's presence and have the glory and honor of God. We made our first choice to either follow Jesus Christ or to follow Lucifer in that pre-earth council. A war ensued where Lucifer and his legions were expelled from the presence of God. Lucifer became Satan or as Mary Ellen Edmunds says, "what's his no face."

Then came IN THE BEGINNING! The world was created in and is recorded Genesis 1 and John 1:1-5. The earth was created for US!!! In the Book of Mormon we are taught that the creation is for us to bring about the eternal purposes of God.

Our beginning came before the world was created. God created the world for us His children with Jesus Christ as our Savior. The formation of the earth was the start with the sun, moon, stars, land, water, plants, animals, and Adam and Eve to follow. This was the beginning of God's plan taking shape. The earth is marvelous, beautiful, and provides everything we need to live and to serve others.

My favorite part is that God's plan is He took each one of in consideration and had a perfectly detailed plan. He gave me choice, and even though I am not perfect, God the Father planned and provided a Savior in Jesus Christ. 

What is your favorite part of God's creation for you?

Wheat Consequences

Sweetheart and I took a few minutes to ourselves on Saturday. Underfoot came to use the restroom and said that Hurricane had gotten a lot of food out. We walked around the corner and found this small pile of wheat. We looked down into the kitchen and found half of the 5 gallon bucket out and on the ground. He liked the feel between his fingers and toes.

Hurricane was informed he needed to clean it up (with help of course). He was not pleased. So much so he took a handful of wheat and threw it into the front room and then the entry.

He was obedient and helped clean. It gave some feed to our chickens too. He was trying to be service-minded, I'm sure.

Some wonderful lessons have come from this experience for me:

• For the first time in a long time that Hurricane has done something outside the boundaries we have set like don't get into the food, I chuckled instead of getting frustrated and having my own tantrum. Not a belly laugh but chuckled about what he did. I chuckled at his reaction. I hugged him and helped him. So I had a glimpse into what Heavenly Father feels as a parent when I "get into the food" or do something wrong and need a hug and help to return to feeling peace again in my life.
• Clean up like repentance takes time. And some times help from other people. Hurricane could not have clean up the wheat mess by himself. I cannot be "clean" all the mistakes I've made without Jesus Christ as my Savior. He will help me sweep up the piles of wheat so I can vacuum it up.
• Hurricane thought it was unfair about having to clean up, but he did it. I think that my trials are not fair some times. I can do it too.

Hurricane's temporal lessons are spiritual lessons for me. Jeremiah talks about how God knew him before he came to earth and had a mission for him to perform. All lessons are spiritual and temporal. God knows us and allows us to have experiences temporally to bring us to Him spiritually and vise versa. God repeats this lesson over again in the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and through modern day experiences. Paul talks about how we are natural and spiritual in Corinthians. God is merciful to care for all his children through all different times.

How have you seen God's hand in your life in a temporally and spiritually?