Tight Like Unto A Dish

This week as I have been reading in the book of Ether I was moved by the story of the building of barges and the coming to the land of promise by the Jaredite people.  There are lots of details about the barges and how they were constructed.  As I have thought about why that is included in the Book of Mormon  I have come to an understanding about how the barges and the journey are symbols for our lives here in this dispensation.

As the Lord commands the brother of Jared to go about building the barges he continues to describe the construction of the barges as TIGHT LIKE UNTO A DISH.  He describes each part of the barge and then comments that it is to be tight like unto a dish.  What does that symbolize in our lives?  I believe that we are like the barges that will set out on the journey to our promise land, that of eternal life with our Father in Heaven.  We need our lives to resemble that of the barge.  Tight like unto a dish.  There will be many winds and waves that will crash upon us as we travel the water of this earth.  And we will need to have our vessels tight as unto a dish to withstand these trials. 

One of the greatest ways that we can fortify our lives against the storms of this life is to seek the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.  The Holy Ghost protects us from temptations, it makes the good things of this life more appealing and the temptations less attractive.  The Holy Ghost gives us the power to discern truth from falsehood.   President Henry B Eyring teaches us this about the power of the Holy Ghost, “confirmation of truth comes to a son or daughter of God who has claimed the right to receive the Holy Ghost.  Since falsehoods and lies may be presented to us at any time, we need a constant influence of the spirit of Truth to spare us moments of doubt.” The Apostle Peter warns, “Be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  President Monson encourages us to “Open your hearts, even your very souls, to the sound of that special voice which testifies of truth.”

As we navigate the waters of life we will need to gain knowledge and light that can only come through the Holy Ghost.  It is like unto the light that was sought by the Jaredites as they began their journey.  In Ether 6:3 it reads, “And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness.”  The Lord does not want us to travel the waters of this life in darkness and will provide the light that we need to have peace and joy in our journey.  We also have the obligation to share the light that we are given to others that are traveling along the path.  Sister Ardeth G Kapp said this about the light that is in our lives, “You have light within you.  You can shine in darkness.  You can light up the world.  You can dispel the darkness; you can make a difference.”  

The Refiner's Fire

“For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (3 Nephi 24:2-3)
I was touched by this scripture this week and thought a lot about the times that I have been tried in the refiner’s fire of life.  As I pondered on this scripture and looked for greater understanding I was reading in the LDS institute of religion student manual the following explaining this verse: “Malachi employed powerful symbolism by describing the Messiah’s coming “like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap”.  A refiner is “a man who separates the precious metals from the dross with which in nature they are usually found mixed. Part of the process consists in the application of great heat, in order to bring the mass into a fluid state, hence the term ‘refiner’s fire’” (Bible Dictionary, “Refiner,” 760)
The Savior is like a refiner. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained: “His mission is to cleanse, purify, and refine the human soul so that it can return to his Father’s kingdom in purity, free from dross. (3 Nephi 27:19–21)  His cleansing power ‘is like a refiner’s fire, … And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver’ in that great day when he comes to judge the world. (Malachi 3:2–3; 3 Nephi 24:2-3; D&C 128:24)” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 624).
There have been different times in my life that I have felt pain and loss.  When my testimony was struggling and I was not sure what the outcome would be.  But in those times I have often thought back to a dear friend from High School that one day asked me a very simple question, “Are you saying your prayers?”  My answer then was no, and his council was that if I was struggling then maybe I should go ahead and pray.  That simple advice has stuck with me for a very long time and I have called upon that advice more than once.  When things are difficult, am I calling upon the Lord to help me through the refiner’s fire?  Do I turn to His words in the scriptures to find the Balm of Gilead to help me soothe and to heal?

“There are many kinds of challenges. Some give us necessary experiences. Adverse results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan. The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God.” (Elder Quentin L Cook, 2011) Although it is hard to face the trials that come to us in this life, I know that the Lord will bless us for remaining faithful and by relying on Him.

Children of Light

I have a confession to make. I do not like the dark. I have never really liked the dark; in fact, it may be appropriate to say that I am afraid of the dark. I will sometimes turn on lights unnecessarily because of my feelings of fear that come from being in the dark. I know at my age this is probably not the most rational of fears, but when are most fears rational? However, I have learned that when I turn on the light the fear that is with darkness goes away.

Consider a flash light, can it be both on and off at the same time? Can we have both light and darkness in our lives at the same time? No, light and darkness cannot exist in the same place. It is either light or it is darkness.

This week as I was studying my scriptures I read in 3 Nephi 12 about being a light and began to think more and more about what is light and how can I gain light in my life. I also found a wonderful talk by Elder Robert D Hales in titled “That Ye May be the Children of Light”. Here Elder Hales teaches this simple truth, “Light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Satan and his disciples cannot tolerate the spiritual light of the gospel; they must immediately depart. When we live the commandments, our countenance is surrounded by gospel light.”

There have been many times in my life that I have felt fear and darkness around me, and the more I have been searching the scriptures for the things that the Father would have me do I am finding that when I put my life in line with his teachings my fears and darkness are no longer there.

In Thessalonians 5:5 Jesus teaches us about being children of light, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness”. We must be faithful and believing to be in the light and come out of the darkness. Elder Hales teaches us this about becoming children of light, “It is important that we understand the significance to each of us when Jesus taught ‘believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light’ We must have faith and know that we are children of light and that through faith in Jesus, our Savior, and obedience to his commandments we may have his Spirit, his light, to be with us to guide us always. If we are to be children of light, we must walk in the light and, with our agency, choose the right. Yes, walk in the light and shun darkness; we must choose the right and defend the right when the choice is placed before us.” How wonderful it is to be able to choose the light of Christ in our lives by being obedient to his commands.

We also have an obligation to share our light with others. “Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Therefore, let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. “(3 Nephi 12:15-16). As disciples of Christ we must share our knowledge of the Father and our Savoir, Jesus Christ, with everyone. I would never want for those that I love to walk in darkness because I was not willing to share with them that which brings light into my life.

I am thankful for the opportunity I have to have the light of Christ in my life and that I do not need to have fear or darkness. I know that as I grow my relationship with my Father and brother Jesus Christ I will be able to grow that light brighter and brighter in my life. I am also grateful that I have the opportunity to share that light with others. That I can share His light and bring other to His light.

Increasing My Faith

This week I have been studying in the last chapters of Alma. Through these chapters I have seen many definitions of what faith is. I have chosen to study Faith over the last few weeks and see how faith can make a difference in my life. As I have read these chapters these are the things that I have come to understand faith to be:

Faith is Obedience (Alma 57:19-21)
Faith brings Protection (Alma 57:25)
Faith is the Power of God (Alma 57:26)
Faith is Trust in the Father (Alma 57:27)
Faith is Peace and Hope (Alma 58:11)

Faith is Patience (Alma 60:26)

As I have thought about these things and what a difference they could make in my life I was moved by all that the Lord has promised us in return for our faith in Him.  The examples of the young men that served to fight for their liberty and freedom alongside Captain Moroni are ones that I am very aware of and want to grow those attributes in my life. 

In Alma 56:46-48 we read, 

“For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” 

In these verses we read of the great faith that these young men had and that they were without doubt.  This reminded me of the talk given by President Uchtdorf:

“My dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Faith and doubt cannot exist together.  I am learning every day in my life.  If I want to become closer to Christ, I need to turn away from my doubts and look with faith unto Him. I hope that as I continue on my journey to discipleship that I will find the blessings of faith and that I will let go of those things that I doubt in my life and in my relationship with my Father and his son Jesus Christ. 

Repentance and Charity

In Alma 34:31-36 Amulek teaches us what we should be concerned about in this life.  He teaches us that this life is a time for us to perform our labors.  What does he mean by our labors?  I believe that this means the good works that we do in the name of Christ.  He also tells us in verse 32 that it is a time for us to prepare to meet God.  For us to prepare to meet God we must be humble and repent.  In verse 33 Amulek pleads with us saying, “…I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end.”  As we work in our lives to come to know the Father and the Son we must repent. If we are repenting of our sin and working to become more obedient the Lord will be able to send blessings to our lives. 

Amulek also challenges us to be charitable and to harden not our hearts.  There are so many voices in the world that would have us believe that we need to do for ourselves and that we need not worry about others but the example of Alma and Amulek teaches us differently.  We must come to love the Lord and desire to serve him and his children. This is where we will find happiness.  There have been many times in my life that I have found peace in the charitable service of others.  When I am having problems, either physical, temporal or spiritual I have found that when I turn to serving others I can find peace and resolution to my problems.  One of the ways that I have found peace in service is in doing family history. 

There was a time when my son was a teenager that we were experiencing a lot of tension in our family and in our relationship with him.  I was eager to find some way for us to bond and grow closer.  After much prayer and study, I was inspired to ask my son to join me in doing family history work.  He was very hesitant at first and I had to do lots of arm twisting.  Once we got started I found that we were spending time together working to find names on our family line that needed their temple work done.  The more time we spent in this charitable work the closer we became and the tension in our home became less and less.  It was wonderful when after receiving his endowment we were able to return many times and do the temple work for those names that we had worked to find together.  Now as my son is gone serving a full time mission I am able to continue to attend the temple and often as I look at the name that I am doing proxy work for it is one of those names that we found together.   

I am thankful for the lessons that we learn in the scriptures, and the teaching of those ancient prophets.  As we are striving to become more like Christ and to learn how we can return to him I am grateful for the words of Amulek.  

The Healing Power of the Atonement

The Healing Power of the Atonement

This week as I was reading the beginning chapters of Alma I came to a set of verses that have had a big influence on my life in the past few years.

Several years ago I was introduced to a book by John Bytheway entitled “When Times are Tough, 5 Scriptures That Will Help You Get through Almost Anything”. As I read this book I was moved by the lessons taught about the Savior and his love for us and his knowledge of what we will experience here on this earth. Little did I know at the time how much these scriptures would come to help me through my own tough time.

A few months after reading this book a very good friend of mine became very sick. I was blessed with the opportunity to spend time taking him to Dr’s appointments and to clinics. During this time we spent lots of time talking about life, family and things of the gospel. Although he was sick I was not prepared for the phone call I received from his wife one morning early, telling me that my friend had passed away. How could this be, he was young, he had a young family and wife. I felt so much grief for his children, for his sweet wife and for myself. I had grown to enjoy our talks and his advice and friendship and now he was gone. I had never been so sad. I was not sure how to help his wife and children and deal with my loss at the same time.

That is when I remembered one of the scriptures that I had read in the book by John Bytheway. It is found in Alma 7:11-12. “And he (the son of God) shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities”

This is when I truly understood all that was the Atonement. It was not just for sin, in fact sin is not listed in these verses. The Savior knew what I was feeling, He understood what sorrow I was feeling and if I would allow Him he would help me through those feelings and help me to understand  his plan.

As I came to understand that he would succor me, or he would come to me and take from me the pain then I was able to let those feelings of sadness and pain go. I was able to be with his sweet wife and to, I hope, be her friend and to help take some of her pain from her.

Elder Oakes teaches us this: “The Savior teaches that we will have tribulation in the world, but we should "be of good cheer" because He has "overcome the world." His Atonement reaches and is powerful enough not only to pay the price for sin but also to heal every mortal affliction.” I am thankful for the power of the Atonement and that He freely gives to us His sacrifice. I know that his atonement is for all of us if we will just reach out to him and accept his love.

Worship...my responsibility

This week as I have been reading in the beginning of Mosiah a particular theme caught my attention and that was WORSHIP. As I read about King Benjamin and how he called the people to him and what he taught them I was very interested in that theme of coming to meetings and learning and worshiping

The first verse that impressed me was Mosiah 2:5, “And it camp to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate from each other.” As I read this verse I was so thankful that we worship as families. That we as a family have always sat together at church, not with friends or apart but as a family and “every family separate from each other”. In an article by E. Jeffrey Hill a contributor for the Church News gave several ideas about ways that we could worship as a family on the Sabbath. They are as follows:

1. Get to bed early on Saturday Night- family members can better worship together if they are rested.
2. Pray and read together- “just because Sunday is different, do not get out of the weekday routine of family prayer and scripture reading”
3. Give Priesthood Blessings- this is a day to turn our hearts to each other, also share patriarchal blessings with each other.
4. Fast as a Family- There is strength and learning that happens as we fast and pray together
5. Proclaim the Gospel
6. Redeem the Dead- Sunday is a great day to do family history work as a family

The next verse about worship that I as drawn to was that of Mosiah 2:9, “…for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you would harken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.” As I read this verse I thought about my own personal worship and how do I come to hear those things being taught in my meetings? Have I prepared myself to hear, understand and have the mysteries unfolded to me? A quote from President Kimball explains that our personal worship is our responsibility. “We do not go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or even solely to be instructed. We go to worship the Lord. It is an individual responsibility, and regardless of what is said from the pulpit, if one wishes to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, he may do so by attending his meetings, partaking of the sacrament, and contemplating the beauties of the gospel. If the service is a failure to you, you have failed. No one can worship for you; you must do your own waiting upon the Lord”

My worship is my responsibility. I must come to church each week prepared to be taught by the spirit and to have His mysteries unfolded to me.