Be Holy

"Ye shall be holy; for I am holy."  (Leviticus 11:44)

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. 

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.  (Moroni 10: 32-33)

Everything that is of the Lord is holy.  If we are to be the Lord’s people, our ultimate goal is therefore to be holy.  That is a goal that takes time and effort.  It requires a change of heart, putting off the natural man and becoming spiritual in thought, word and deed.  Even our desires will be changed as we consciously attempt to become holy.    

In order to reach this lofty goal, we must have a clear understanding of what it means and then be completely and consistently committed to advancing toward that state.  To be holy means to belong to God or to conform to His will.  In scripture we read of holy prophets, holy lands, holy objects - especially those used in the temple - holy days, holy works, holy callings, holy purposes, holy desires, holy hands, the holy priesthood, holy faith, holy law, holy kiss, and the holy temple. 

The Sabbath is holy because it is His day.  We keep it holy by doing that which conforms to His will.  If we do not keep it holy, it does not cease to be His day.  We just miss the blessings that come from conforming to His will.  However, the Sabbath day was changed at one time from the seventh day of the week to the first day.  It is the Sabbath because it is the will of the Lord. 

The priesthood does not stop being holy if someone attempts to misuse it.  Such a person loses the ability to call upon the powers of the priesthood, but the priesthood belongs to God and only exists through Him.  It is always holy.  It is the user who may stop being holy. 

A holy temple may stop being holy if it is defiled and the spirit of the Lord is therefore withdrawn from it.  Objects that are to be used in sacred ceremonies in the temple may be defiled and therefore stop being holy.  A holy prophet who stops doing the will of the Lord and follows after his own desires ceases to be holy and ceases to be a prophet. 

So some things are holy because Heavenly Father has made it so, and man can do nothing to change that.  Other things are holy because they are used by man according to the purposes of God and in compliance with His will.  Of great importance to us, as we strive to become like the Savior, are the latter.  We need to develop holy desires and holy purposes and a holy faith by having a change of heart and accepting our holy callings and fulfilling them with holy works by using holy hands.  In other words, we must begin to become holy in our desires, thoughts, words, and deeds.

The second chapter in Happy Like Jesus is Be Holy.  At first I thought it strange that something so all-encompassing and time-consuming, something that we are most likely not going to fully accomplish in this life, or at least not till we near the end of it, would come before other things that are smaller in nature and quicker to achieve, such as being humble, knowledgeable, obedient, forgiving, dedicated or disciplined.  Then I realized that, in order to even attempt to achieve these other goals, one must have the desire to make such changes.  That desire comes from having a reverence for God and all things spiritual.  It is developed through replacing those activities and pastimes that feed competing desires.  In order to move forward in achieving a change of heart, one must begin with the right attitude.  The attitude is one of a holy reverence for all things pertaining to Jesus Christ and His gospel.  To get started on this sacred path that leads to a change of heart, we must seek for a holy desire to do so.  Otherwise, we will never take the first step.

Then we will see that becoming holy is accomplished step by step as we make progress on all the other attributes we are attempting to claim as our own.  With each step in the right direction we become a little more holy.  We will witness our desires becoming more pure and more in keeping with the Lord’s will.  There will come a time when His will is our will.  Then we will no longer be spending our time or energy doing things that make us unholy.  We will be His people.  We will be doing His work.  We will be instruments in His hands.  That which defiles us heart, mind and body will no longer have any appeal for us. 

If this is what we seek, we must live as though it were already a reality.  Everything we do, everything we say, everything we read or listen to must convey the love and respect we have for the Lord.  There is no time that is not His time.  We are never off the clock and therefore free to do things that might offend Him.  It is never okay to be sacrilegious,  irreverent or to mock that which is holy. 

We do not want to be holier than thou or sanctimonious.  We do not want to judge others.  And we have to remember that we cannot become perfect in an instant.  We are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world full of many people who have an effect on us in one way or another.  Don’t forget the first step in becoming like Jesus.  We want to be happy like Him.  That happiness will increase if we can work on self-improvement without offending others or getting weighed down with the enormity of the task and without becoming discouraged when we are not perfect in our efforts.

This is a one-step-at-a-time journey.  Choose a step and take it.  For many just keeping the Sabbath day holy is a perfect first step.  It is one day that is set aside for us to be holy.  Can we be holy one day a week?  I think I can do that. 

Happy Like Jesus

I have decided on a few goals for the next year.  One that I will be sharing through this blog is that I want to be Happy Like Jesus.  That’s the title of a new book I tripped over this morning.  When I saw the chapters, that they are all about taking on an attribute of Jesus so that we can be happy as He is, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. 

I tired of the traditional goals of exercising more and losing weight and other such ideas that get overdone years ago.  A few years back I decided from now on my goals are going to be more meaningful and have an eternal perspective.  That first year I just wanted to have more faith.  I’ve been working on that ever since and have seen quite a bit of improvement as well as a need to keep going.  Last year I tackled two big ones: stop judging others and forgive quickly.  Again, seen improvement, need much more. 

A big stumbling block for me in the last year or so has been that there are so many things going wrong in this country and the world that I’ve started to worry and to lose sight of how faith drives away all fear.  In an effort to stop the fear, I have wanted to stop looking at the news, but then I don’t want to be ignorant of what is going on.  Quite a dilemma.  With that quandary in the back of my mind, I found this book and read the intro and first chapter which tackles the question: How can Jesus be happy when all around Him, He sees sin, pride, disbelief, hatred and even personal attacks on Him?  Heber C. Kimball said, “I am perfectly satisfied that my Father and my God is a cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured Being. Why? Because I am cheerful, pleasant, lively, and good-natured when I have His Spirit.”  So am I.  I am at my happiest when I can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost. 

So if God and His Son, knowing all that is, that ever was and that ever will be, are happy, I can be happy too.  My goal this year is to find that happiness that exists in the midst of trials and suffering.  That happiness is found by living as a true disciple of Christ.  Jesus said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  In the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5, He tells us that we are blessed or happy if we are humble in spirit, mourn and are compassionate, are meek, hunger and thirst after righteousness, are merciful and pure in heart, are peacemakers, and if we are persecuted because of Him.

As D. Kelly Ogden said in Happy Like Jesus, “True disciples of Christ have an obligation to be cheerful, hopeful, and optimistic about the future.”  We just celebrated Christmas, in which we were reminded that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is glad tidings of great joy unto all people.  Instead of focusing on all the bad things that are happening, we need to focus on all the good that is happening.  We need to be talking about and furthering the work of the Savior.  We need to follow His example and be positive and optimistic.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has said that, with the comforting words the Savior has spoken to us, we should not be unhappy, worried or gloomy.   He reminds us that, “On that very night [of Gethsemane], the night of the greatest suffering the world has ever known or ever will know, [the Savior] said, ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’ (John 14:27). I submit to you that [this] may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed.”

Those who have an eternal perspective are optimistic and happy despite all the horrors playing out around us now.  They know that good will triumph over evil, that Jesus has conquered sin and death and that Satan will be put down. 

After Jesus washed the feet of his apostles at the Last Supper, He said, “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you….If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  (John 13:15, 17) 

If we follow His example, we can and will be happy, no matter what.  Next year I am going to stop focusing on Satan’s side of the war and focus on the Lord’s side.  I will do my best to become more like Jesus.  For someone who has suffered depression as much as I have, saying I am going to be happy like Jesus is very significant.  I can do it.  I know I can, and if I can, I know others can as well.  I invite my followers to take this journey with me. 

Merry Christmas

I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.  (2 Nephi 33:6) 

It is easy to love Christmas.  Beautiful lights are strung on homes, buildings and trees.    Joyful music is heard on the radio, in stores, and even in commercials.  Movies about love, hope and giving are aired constantly.  Shoppers spend more time buying for someone else rather than themselves.   Brightly colored packages are piled under trees adorned with beautiful ornaments.  The Salvation Army reminds us that others are worse off than us and offers a chance to help them.  The Angel Tree and Toys for Tots are opportunities to truly feel the spirit of Christ as we give to a child who otherwise might do without.  Homemade cookies and candy are prepared to share with friends and coworkers.  Strangers smile and say merry Christmas or happy holidays.  Everyone is having a party. 

Some say all these things are reason to dislike the season or to fret over the commercialization of Christmas or the secularization of the celebration of Christ’s birth.  Anyone can take a negative view of anything.  As followers of Christ, let us take a positive view and love the opportunity to share in a celebration of His birth with those who reverence his life and mission as well as those who just use it as an excuse to have another party.  Choose to be happy for this time set aside to remember the Savior’s birth and take the time to enjoy the peace on earth and goodwill to men that we are celebrating. 

The purpose of the season is not to exchange gifts.  It is not to be with family and loved ones.  It is not to show off our homes and how much we can give.  For years now, every December stories start to pop up about a war on Christmas.  Complaints abound about some person or organization trying to take Christ out of Christmas.  Christmas is a season to remember Christ, and that can only be accomplished or disregarded by each of us individually. 

Take control of your emotions and allow the natural joy of the season to lift you.  Focus on the great wonder that God came to earth to receive a body, that He had a miraculous birth.  Remember that His birth was foretold and anticipated for centuries by prophets.  Celebrate along with the hosts of heaven who announced His birth to the shepherds.  Go with the shepherds to the manger and worship the Lord.  Glory in the true meaning of Christmas, the fact that the Savior came to earth so that He could atone for us and lead us home again. 

And don’t forget that message when the season ends.  As I was looking at my Christmas tree this morning and listening to one of my favorite new seasonal songs, I realized that instead of feeling regret at seeing this season draw to an end, I am anxiously looking forward to Easter. 

So Merry Christmas and may you take the joy and peace of this season with you throughout the coming year and the rest of your life.

Seeing the divine potential

I watched a movie today that I had seen several times before, so there was no surprise coming at any point for me.  As I watched people doing things that made them seem mean, harsh, unforgiving and unlikeable, I thought of them as the good people that they would turn out to be later in the movie when circumstances changed.  I knew that an unexpected turn of events was going to soften their hearts and allow them to see their needy neighbor as someone worthy of their compassion and assistance, not their scorn.  I knew they would turn out to be caring neighbors, not just greedy, selfish businessmen and women who refused to extend credit to a single mother with a sick child.  I knew that their excuses of hard times and survival of the fittest would cease when they came to see her as a caring, hard-working, inventive young woman instead of a penniless beggar.   I waited with happy anticipation for the moment when they would, one by one, learn that she had given from her meager means to help a stranger, even while facing losing her ranch just one year after her husband had died.  I enjoy seeing those who denied her any kind of help start to offer assistance and reach out, not only to this poor mother but to other neighbors as well, with a renewed sense of community.  

As the movie ended, I realized that it would be wonderful if I could see people I deal with in my everyday life the way I saw those people in the beginning of the movie.  I don’t know what will happen to make people change their harsh ways.  It’s impossible to know when someone’s heart will be softened and undergo a change, but I do believe that most people have the good part of their personality surface at some point in their life.  It may then remain as the controlling power over their actions, or it may only make a fleeting appearance.  The important thing for me is to remember that all have that goodness in them because we are all children of God.  Some just do a better job than others of allowing that goodness to guide the way we treat our brothers and sisters. 

Not knowing when anyone’s goodness will come to light, I wish that I could always think of everyone as who they will be when that happens, just as I did when watching the beginning of that movie.  I would like to be able to forgive them their meanness even as it’s happening, because I know that at some point in eternity they will be wonderfully loving.  It would be incredibly liberating to be able to see everyone as who they will be once they realize who they really are and learn how to live up to their divine potential, seeing each person as who they are eventually going to become.  That is how I want to see my family, friends and neighbors and even the strangers who cross my path. 

Unfortunately I haven’t seen the movie of this life before.  So I have to rely on faith in accepting that there is good in all of us because we are all God’s children.  With that faith, I can love and forgive and leave vengeance and punishment where it belongs, in the Lord’s hands.  I have been working for some time now on forgiving quickly and not judging.  What I realized today is that those two things come together and are easier to do when I think of others as they someday will be, not as they are now. 

Are Mormons Christians or not?

One of my gifts of the spirit is being able to ponder.  I’ve been pondering a lot lately about attacks on my faith by people who don’t know me and don’t even know they are attacking me.  I’m speaking of people who attack everyone who believes what I believe, that Jesus Christ is alive and well today and that He still talks to people who are trying to find their way through this mortal life, that He loves us as much as any people who lived on this earth at any time and that He still leads and guides us through a prophet just as He did for so many others.  With many others, I also believe that He meant it when He said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.”  I do not believe that means He expects us to never make a mistake but rather that we are to try to become like our Heavenly Father, progressing little by little towards that lofty goal.  As Paul said in the third chapter of Philippians, I am trying to live according to what I have already made a part of me, leaving behind that which I have overcome and reaching for what still lies ahead, pressing toward the mark for the prize, knowing that if there is anything I yet need to change, it will be revealed to me. (Philippians 3:12-15)

I know that Jesus is the Creator of everything.  I know He is the Savior and Redeemer of mankind.  I know He lived as a mortal and gave His blood -- that part of Himself that made Him mortal, that made Him like us -- so that we could become like Him.  He came to live as a mortal so that He could be one of us, so He could know what we go through, so that He could teach the pure and simple gospel that provides the way to return back to our Heavenly Father.  I know that Jesus lived a perfect life, never giving in to temptation, never faltering in His knowledge of the plan He was sent here to carry out.  I know that He was always obedient to the Father and did His will, no matter how hard it proved to be.  I know that Jesus started a church that he called Peter to lead, after He was gone, with the help of James and John and the other apostles.  I know that He took the sins of all of us upon Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane where He prayed with such effort that He shed drops of blood.  I know He willingly died on the cross, finishing the atonement that was required so that our sins were paid for, so that we could all then be forgiven if we would just do as He said.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:24-27)

I know that none of us can earn our way into heaven.  No one can do enough good to overcome the errors he has made in order to gain entrance into the kingdom of God.  There would always be a stain on us because of our failure to be perfect if not for the cleansing sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  I know that because of that blood He shed for us, because He, the one perfect soul to live on this earth, paid the price of sin, we can be forgiven.  I “believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,” (Acts 14:26) and I “believe we have received grace…for obedience to the faith.” (Romans 1:5)

I know we will all be resurrected, meaning our spirits will reunite with our bodies, never to be separated again, because Jesus overcame death when He was resurrected. 

“If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen, and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-17)

So we will be raised even as Christ was raised, when the women and apostles went to the tomb and found His body not there because He was risen.  We will be raised with physical bodies, even as Christ was raised with a physical body, as He proved when He had his disciples touch His body and give Him fish and honey to eat. 

I believe the Bible to be the Word of God and therefore true.  I believe Jesus said “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34) Perhaps He was referring to Psalms 82:6 which says, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”  We are gods in embryo because we are literally the offspring of Heavenly Father, because we have been commanded to be like Him.  We will never be God.  We will share in His glory.  We will never have His glory. 

There is a new campaign out in which random, everyday people introduce themselves and then reveal that they are Mormons.  There is another campaign afoot in which people claim that Mormons are not Christians.  It’s being said on TV, on the radio, in newspapers, on the Internet.  Just another example of you can’t believe everything you see and hear.  I’ve heard some say that a well-known celebrity who is open about being a Mormon talks like a Christian in spite of his membership in that church.  Well, it’s time for me to take a stand.

I am a former missionary.  I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a minor in English.  I am a teacher, a wife, and a mother.  I have written a book on depression.  I played flute until I could no longer breathe well enough due to asthma.  I love to do water aerobics.  I love thunderstorms.  I enjoy nature, especially trees.  The best times in my life are spent with my family.  Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  If I could live at anytime in the history of the world in any area of the world as any person who ever lived, I would be one of the women who served Jesus as He performed His earthly ministry.  I am a Mormon.  I am a Christian. 

And I am not a Christian in spite of being Mormon.  I know my religion.  I study my religion.  I live my religion.  Perhaps my definition of Christian is different than that of others.  I claim to be a Christian because I worship Jesus Christ as my Savior.  I know He died for me.  He paid for my sins.  He was resurrected, and I know I will be too.  I know that He is still very active in today’s world, and I seek to know His will so that I can do my best to make it my own.  That is the Mormon teaching of Christ.  Mormons are Christians.  No matter how many people say otherwise. 

Loss of Innocence

Loss of innocence comes all at once for some, usually for those who experience some terrible trauma.  For most of us it probably comes a little at a time.  I saw some of my son’s innocence evaporate yesterday. 

We were watching a TV show about a time when 98% of the population of the country had been wiped out by a virus and the survivors were all gathering together.  One man, who was apparently very much into government processes, asked three men for their Social Security numbers.  They just looked at each other and laughed because of how preposterous it was under those circumstances.  Kique asked me, “What’s a Social Security number?”  I told him everybody has to have a number.  It’s the way the government keeps track of us.  I said, “You have one.”  He said, “I’m a number?”  He didn’t say, “I have a number,” but “I am a number.” 

Kique is barely 11 years old but for some reason has become fascinated with World War II in the last year.  I think it started with Raiders of the Lost Ark and references to Hitler.  It spread from there to wanting to know all about the war and the countries involved.  The first time he ever heard of someone being a number was in the Holocaust when, as he said, “They put numbers on their arms.”  The only other time he heard of someone being a number was in the Sarah Connor Chronicles where the freedom fighters, who had been prisoners of the machines, had barcodes tattooed on their arms. 

With that frame of reference, imagine how he felt to learn that he too is a number.  Numbers were given to innocent people who were taken prisoner and dehumanized.  He sounded a bit shocked to learn that something that was portrayed as something so terrible has just been accepted by all of us as the way things are. 

I know when I went to college I memorized my number easily because I had to use it all the time for absolutely everything.  I was a number and didn’t even realize it.  It just made sense that they had to have some way to identify records and keep track of everything.  It seemed normal, even natural.  I’ve used that number throughout my life.  I’ve tried to guard it so that the wrong people don’t get their hands on it, because if they do, they could steal my identity.  They could become me.  I am a number!

When I was a missionary and had to report how many people I had taught, taken to church, how many of them we were still teaching and how many had been baptized, I felt really uncomfortable.  I didn’t like reducing it all to numbers.  We were often reminded that the numbers were just to track progress but that the important thing was the individual.  They each have a name.  Each is a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father.  And yet the statistics continued to dog me. 

Are numbers really evil?  Well, I’m not a big fan of math.  I took a class that my professor called How to Lie With Statistics.  I think that’s the name of a book as well.  I don’t like the numbers that tell how much I weigh.  The ones that reveal my age are not always pleasing.  I hate numbers when April rolls around and I have to figure out my income tax.  I want to make a lot of money to live off of, but then when it’s time to make sure I paid enough taxes, I want the number to be lower.  Numbers never satisfy me.  The worst event in our nation’s history has been reduced to a number.  I hear 9/11 or think it and immediately I feel the fear and shock that I felt on the day of the attacks. 

Numbers are used in the scriptures but they’re a bit confusing.  We’re supposed to forgive 7 times 7 but do we really count how many times we forgive someone and when we reach 49, that’s it?  Of course not.  It means we’re supposed to forgive as many times as is required.  There are three members of the Godhead: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and yet there is only one God.  How are three one?  It can be very confusing.  If you’ve ever read the definition of the Trinity that came out of the Council of Nicaea, you have seen the ultimate example of confusion.  Every Christian knows Jesus was resurrected after three days.  That’s what He said.  “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)  Yet he died late on Friday and took up His body again early Sunday morning.  In our way of reckoning, that’s more like a day and a half. 

And if you still doubt that numbers are evil, especially when applied to humans, let’s just review what John said in Revelations 13.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.  (or 666)

The number 6 refers to labor in the Old Testament.  Six days you labor, and the seventh, you rest.  Six years you work the land, and the seventh the land rests.  A servant serves six years, and the seventh he goes free.  666, work, work, work.  Hum.

A loss of innocence: numbers are confusing and maybe even evil.  And each one of us must realize at some point:  I am a number.

Going through hell in peace

A lot of people go through tough times, some tougher than others.  Many people allow those tough times to determine how the rest of their life plays out.  Many people turn to drugs, alcohol, or crime and blame it on their childhood or the trials they went through in their teen years or their first failed marriage.  Some people become abusive in their treatment of children or spouse, some even criminally abusive, and say that it’s because they were abused as children.  In fact, we have a society that seems to find it difficult to hold anyone responsible for their actions.  That could be because they’re thinking they wouldn’t want to be in that position, or because they believe that outside factors pushed the individual to commit the act.  All kinds of excuses are made by those who do horrible things, and many accept those excuses as valid. 

Well, life is hard.  Bad things happen.  Every one of us is afflicted with something at some time or other in our life.  None of us gets to finish this life without having some kind of challenge or trial that just doesn’t seem fair or warranted.  As one of my college professors, who died of a brain tumor the year after I took his class, said, life isn’t fair, and we’re all going to hell in a hand basket.  That’s pretty much part of the deal when we’re born.  If we live long enough, something bad is going to happen to us.  The only way to avoid hardship of some sort is to die young. 

I think when my professor said the part about going to hell, he was talking about the things we were going to experience in this life.  He was actually a very moral and religious man.  I don’t think he thought he was on his way to hell for eternity.  He was going through his hell at that time with his health.  We didn’t know that.  We just thought he was in a really bad mood all the time.  Off the top of my head, I can’t remember what class I took from him.  I can’t remember anything he taught me other than life isn’t fair and we’re all going to go through some hell. 

So what’s the point?  Well, the point is that we can choose how we’re going to react to those horrific things.  We can let them embitter us.  We can become angry and hostile.  We can become poor pitiful victims.  We can lash out at others to make them as miserable as us or just because we don’t care if we make someone as unhappy as us.  Or we can allow our trials to bring out something good in us.  We can learn to forgive and to exercise mercy.  We can use our experience to help others who might face the same challenge.  We can use the trip through hell to build up our spiritual muscles as we fight to come out of the darkness into the light. 

Many people use their past as an excuse for wrongdoing.  I’m not going to give any examples of that, because I think everyone can probably think of many of those on their own.  I do want to share one example of someone who came through one of those terrible experiences and is going to use what she learned to help others.  Everyone has probably heard of Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped from her bedroom at knifepoint when she was 14.  She was raped and held captive in the woods for nine months before she was rescued.  I recently saw a story about her taking a job with a TV station to work on cases dealing with missing people.  It’s not her story that impressed me so much.  It was the picture I have posted below. 

She does not look like someone who has suffered something more horrible than I ever want my children to go through, worse than anything I’ve ever been through, worse than anything anyone I personally know has gone through, to my knowledge.  She looks like someone who has been blessed with the best things in life, someone who has been protected from the dirty, nasty things in this world.  She looks like she is one of the happiest people in the world.  She recently worked for a year and a half as a missionary, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with people, giving of herself unselfishly.  She has overcome her nightmare and been blessed with the peace that only Christ can give us. 

 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ( John 14: 27)  “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

A few thoughts on the day

In trying to think of something to write today, I realized I was starting to feel anxious.  I couldn't think of anything important to opine about.  Most of what's going through my mind has been useless stuff or more of the same old stuff that I don't want to rant about.  Then it hit me.  I don't have to write about something important every day.  If I push for important, I'm going to either run out of things to talk about very quickly, or I will find myself talking about the same things over and over.  Not my cup of tea. 

I gave up listening to local talk radio years ago because it was all about illegal immigration every single day.  We need to stop giving those who are here illegally any form of welfare.  We need to secure the border to protect us from terrorists and the horrors happening in Mexico.  We need to allow our border patrol to do their job without fear of prosecution.  Enough said. 

I don't want to hear anymore about how a murderer got off scott free and how could the jury do that.  Our system is not perfect, but I do believe it is the best the world has right now.  If the jury said not guilty, then that's that.  The guilty will pay for their sin even if they don't pay for their crime.  God's judgment is perfect every time, and no one gets away with anything, even if they seem to for a time.  Other than that, judge not that ye be not judged but judge righteous judgment.  I wouldn't let her babysit or watch little kids in a pool in other words.  That's all. 

We spend too much as a country.  We cannot ever get enough taxes to solve our debt problem.  We will have to suffer to fix this problem.  We can start suffering a little now, or we can wait and suffer a lot later.  It's all about do we want to control how it goes or not.  Our president does not seem to take anything seriously.  He just walks around looking cool and pretending that everything is great.  That would be wonderful if he were president in say any other period of our history than now - except maybe World War II or World War I or the Vietnam War or 9/11 or the Great Depression or during the struggle for civil rights.  Maybe he should have been the president in the 1950s. Oh, wait.  That was the Cold War when everyone was afraid Russia was going to bomb us.  When did we have a period of time when the president could play and travel and visit and strut and party and live like a rock star on our dime and it not matter?  I don't think there was a time like that.  Not during my lifetime anyway. 

Oh, I know.  The other presidents have played also.  They  made mistakes in judgment and at times made matters worse.  Maybe they blamed others for pressing issues that persisted, and maybe they didn't know how to solve problems.  But I just don't think we've ever faced problems like we have today at this level of seriousness and at this frequency of threat to our security and economic stability.  I want a president who looks and acts and talks like he realizes the seriousness, one who is ready, willing and able to say the buck stops here.  One who will make the tough decisions and say it doesn't matter if he gets re-elected, because what matters is that someone restore what we've lost in this country: the hope that our future will be better than our past; the security that no matter what happens, we will come out on top; the faith that no matter how bad the economy gets, it will recover.

I used to be a Republican.  I have never been a Democrat.  Now I just feel lost, because I don't see anyone who can make things better.  I don't see anyone willing to fight the battle that will have to be waged, one that will mean unpopularity because everyone will suffer when the correct actions are taken.  The games have got to stop.  When the talk comes around to cutting spending, the first thing we hear is that there will be no Social Security, Medicare, veterans' disability checks, Medicaid.  The military will suffer.  Well, can we go down the list of all the useless things we spend money on, like protecting worms and fish and studying the sexual habits of whatever animal someone is interested in today?  Can we stop giving grants completely?  Because we can't afford it.  If you can't sustain life as it is, you can't afford to try to press ahead and improve it.  We have to get rid of everything that is not essential to life and pay off our debt.  Is there really no one among our elected officials who will admit this and look at the real budget for where they can cut without hurting the weakest and sickest and without getting rid of our military protection?   That's really all I want, someone with the guts to tell the kids we can't go to Disneyland or even the movies or McDonald's until we pay the bills. 

Don't get me started on foreign policy.  We would be here all day.

Turns out I did have something to opine about.  It's another great day.

Great are the words of Isaiah, and funny and confusing

This may be the day I do it, the day I define what this blog will be.  It may be that I lose some of the few who have joined me so far.  It may be that I start a chain reaction that will bring more readers to this page.  It may be that I find I am writing to no one other than myself, my conscious and my heavenly reader who keeps the records of all I say and do here so that they may be brought forth on my day of judgment.  It may be that this will be the day I would like a censor to black out certain things before that day when all will be shouted from the rooftops for all to hear.  Not that many will listen then if they chose not to read now.  So of that I have no worries.

Today I spent the majority of my time studying the words of Isaiah, that profound prophet in the Old Testament who has driven off more readers than I ever hope to attract.  I know people fear getting mired in his words and therefore may not finish reading this, but please give me a minute.  I enjoyed this day so much.  I found some very beautiful, poetic entries that I could actually understand.  I found some things that truly stumped me.  I found some wonderfully funny things as well. 

Let's examine the last first.  Isaiah 26:18 says, "We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth..."  I'll let you just think about that on your own. 

Perhaps more clearly funnny is 37:36, which says, "Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses."  Love that one. 

And finally, Isaiah 14:8 says, "Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us."  I thought Isaiah was talking like a redneck until I saw in the footnote that a feller is a tree cutter.  Still makes me laugh.

For being stumped I give you 24:1, "Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."  To make the earth empty and still have inhabitants to scatter abroad in the waste is something I could think about for a long time if I wasn't already contemplating so deeply how he turns the earth upside down.  I think I've got a handle on that, but it's one of those things that there are no words to describe, at least for me. 

And finally the truly beautiful.  There are so many I could choose for this part, but I decided to go with three verses from two pages facing each other. 

32:17 "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." 

33:6  "And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure."

33:22 " For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us."

The Savior said, "Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah. For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles. And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake." (3 Ne 23:1-3) 

I've been playing with the scriptures here because I do study them and take them to heart, and they make me happy.  They even make me laugh and wonder.  I find entertainment in them.  I find knowledge and wisdom, but most of all I find what I believe will lead me back into the presence of my Heavenly Father and His Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ.  The scriptures are anything but boring.  Isaiah is truly a beautiful book of poetic teachings that tell us how to find ourselves in the right place when the end is upon us.  "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." (Isaiah 12:2)

My daughter, my friend

Someone said this was National Daughter Week.  I decided to check on that and Googled it.  I got responses that claimed that special week is in January, February and June.  If I looked farther, I might have found more.  I didn't bother to look, because for me every week is Fabulous Daughter Week.  Nineteen years ago at this time I was awaiting the birth of my first child, who I knew would be a girl, even though the doctor said he couldn't tell from the sonogram.  I had known from the moment my home pregnancy test confirmed I was pregnant that I was having a girl, which is strange, because up until that moment I had wanted to have a boy first.  My older brother had always meant so much to me that I just felt like every girl needed a big brother.  But when my baby started to form inside of me, I knew immediately that it was not to be.  I would have a girl first, and that was fine with me.

Her birth wasn't without complications.  She was reluctant to leave the womb and refused to budge, even as her oxygen started to be a problem.  The doctor said we had to do a C-section.  I didn't care.  I just wanted her to get here.  Once she did, she had to be in ICU for a few days.  I went to her when it was feeding time because they couldn't bring her to me.  It seems our blood was incompatible, which is funny, because in every other way, we are not only compatible but seem to be so much the same.  Only she's prettier than me and smarter and sweeter and more fun, more loyal and more active. 

Her reluctance to leave me has proven to be a constant in life.  I tell people that the doctor forgot to cut the umbilical cord.  Her attachment to me has not lessened, not even through those emotionally charged teen years.  She clings to me even now, saying I'm her best friend and she will never leave me.  I would love to believe that will always be, but I know that eventually she'll realize she has to leave me in order to become the great person she is meant to be.  I feel that time is quickly approaching as she does more and more without me and has begun to look toward going away to finish her education.  I feel her slipping away and wish I could turn back the clock, but life isn't like that.  I know that wherever she goes and whatever she does, she will make me proud as she leaves a beautiful footprint on this world. 

For now, she is my helper and my friend, the person I spend my nothing special time with, making even the most insignificant moments a bright spot in my life.  I hope I've had an influence on her.  I know she has on me.  She made me a better person.  She taught me to love unconditionally and completely.  She taught me how much my mother loves me, something I never imagined before I became a mother myself.  My daughter has shown me unselfish service, a love for life and an appreciation for the little things.  I hope she has a daughter like herself some day so she can experience what I have been through - a life brightened by the natural light shining through the eyes of my biggest fan. 

I love you, Tirzah.  Happy Daughter's Week, whenever it is.

What miracles may come

I just recently read Seven Miracles that Saved America.  I enjoyed it, learned some things and got an added bonus that I'll get to at the end of this post.  I just want to focus on two of the miracles, one that has been with me my entire life and one I lived through and never thought much of, certainly not that it was a miracle.

The first is the constitution of the U.S.  I believe it is a divinely inspired document.  I know that it established a governing system that far exceeds all others that have ever existed in the world.  I know that it created a country that has, by virtue of the rights and freedoms we are given, allowed us to enjoy life in a way most people who have lived on this planet never even dreamed of.  I have had my eyes opened to how special this country is several times as I was able to see it through the eyes of people who had just come from another country.  I probably felt the strongest sense of patriotism and pride in being an American when I witnessed my husband and hundreds of others being sworn in as new citizens. 

After I read about how the constitution came to be and how it solved all the issues that each state had when considering a federal government that would unite them, I was amazed at how perfect it is.  It seems inconceivable that mere men could come up with such a simple and short document that would be the supreme law of the land, granting the federal government power only in so far as it is spelled out in this document, leaving the rest to the states that are united by it.  How could men with different opinions and desires come up with this powerful system that could unite what would become such a large and diverse country, population-wise as well as geographically?  It even wisely included the way it could be changed, not impossible but not too easy.  Having grown up under this rule of law, it just seemed natural, but looking at what happens in other countries, I can see why it's so special.  This perfection didn't just happen.  It really was a miracle that it came together at the time that it did in the way that it did. 

The second one was the miracle of Ronald Reagan surviving being shot two months after his inauguration.  The bullet missed his heart by one inch.  He lost half of his blood.  He could have died.  Somehow I didn't think about that at the time.  It was just a failed attempt on his life.  It didn't seem so bad since he survived.  I also didn't understand how important it was for our country and the world that he did survive.  Everyone has been talking about how he told Gorbachev to tear down that wall and brought on the end of the Cold War.  His economic policies are credited with improving what had been a very troubled economy.  His desire for a strong military reversed the trend to downsize and helped to bring about that end to the Cold War.  His charm and aggressiveness is said to be the difference between him being able to do those things and someone else with similar policies not being able to do the same thing.  For that reason, the authors of the book believed him surviving that shooting to be a miracle.  

These two I had not thought of as miracles.  Yet in reading of them, I see how important they were and what an impact they had on our country.  And I see how much we need similar miracles right now.  Our constitution is being ignored on a grand scale.  I miss the old days when someone tried to do something and it was loudly decried as unconstitutional and therefore stopped.  Nowadays unconstitutional activities are being carried out by our federally elected officials, and nothing is being done to stop them.  Instead of the cry, "That's unconstitutional," what we hear is, "The constitution is an outdated document."  We need a miracle to save our constitution.

Our economy is in utter turmoil.  Our military is stretched too thin.  There is never a concensus on if we are doing the right thing with our troops.  We are making friends with our enemies and supporting them until they turn on us.  They don't even hide their hatred for us.  The desires to destroy us are declared loud and clear, and yet our leaders ignore those statements and offer aid and comfort.  We desperately need a miracle of a leader who will take the necessary and most likely unpopular steps to correct the course we're on. 

The bonus I got from reading this book, and from the other examples of miracles especially, is hope.  I realized that when things were at their worst and all seemed lost, that there was no way to win, something inexplicable happened that allowed those who were trying to do the right thing to succeed and come out on top.  We seem to be heading for the greatest catastrophe we could imagine, economically as well as disasters of nature and man, war on the largest scale ever seen.  It seemed like I either had to ignore what is happening and live in ignorant bliss as long as possible or I could pay attention to everything going on in the world and live with fear and dread.  After reading of the miracles that saved America, I now know I can live with hope for the miracles that will come to save us again, not just America but all the people of the world who are living worthy of divine protection and guidance. 

As the song says, "I am not afraid anymore."

Freedom of belief

I just heard of another ridiculous rule or law or whatever they choose to call it about God and Jesus being prohibited.  This time it is in a funeral at the national cemetery in Houston.  The last time I heard about this topic, it was a valedictorian in Vermont who was told he could not talk about how Jesus had changed his life.  I understand that there are those who are afraid of Christians speaking, even though they believe that what they say is not true.  What I don't understand is why Christians keep allowing their freedom of speech and their free exercise of religion to be violated. 

If someone says you can't mention God and you do, what is going to happen?  Are you going to get a ticket?  Are they taking you to jail?  Are you not going to get your diploma?  Are they not going to bury your loved one?  Is this the United States or Nazi Germany? 

If someone tells me I can't say God, my whole speech is going to be about how I was told I can't talk about God in a country with a constitution that has guaranteed me that right.  I'll talk about the amendment that says congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion.  And that is all it says about religion.  It says nothing about what I as an individual can and can't do with respect to my religious beliefs, unless they intrude on the rights of another, and then that's a different story. 

I am a Christian.  You can't tell what my religious beliefs are by the way I dress or the way I walk down the street.  There is nothing in my clothing or my accessories - I don't even wear a cross - that reveals how or what I worship.  I display my religion in the way I act, whether someone is observing me or not, in the way I speak and even in the topics I choose to talk about.  I will not stop talking about the One I revere as the Creator and Savior of the world. I will teach my children to do the same and will stand by them any time they get in trouble for doing so.

I am an American.  I will let no one tell me I cannot worship the Lord in the way I want to.  I will not give away this right or any other.  I will also allow those of different religious beliefs to enjoy the same freedom I am exercising, whether I understand their beliefs or not.  I allow those who do not believe in God to do the same.  I do not attempt, in living my life my way, to in any way force, manipulate or influence others to do the same if it is not their choice.  I just claim the right to the same consideration.