Flames and Faith

I was saddened by the fire that burned the Provo Tabernacle the other day. However, as the clean up begins an intriguing story came out. Apparently the image of Jesus Christ from the classic picture of Second Coming of Christ did not burn even though everything around it went up in flames. Some are calling it a "Christmas Miracle". I don't see it quite that way. Still, it DID serve to remind me that even when it feels like our lives are going up in flames with all the problems of this fallen mortal world, so long as we stay focused on our faith in Jesus Christ we will be able to endure.

Christmas on Temple Square

My beloved and I are in Salt Lake for a holiday get away. Tonight we walked all over Temple Square seeing the magnificent light display and then walked through the visitor center. We watched several of the short films about various stories of the Book of Mormon. We also walked through the Tabernacle - and that's where the spirit hit me hard.

We were there during a down time so there wasn't anything particular going on. No concert. No speaker. Still, just being there in this amazing historical building where every prophet since Brigham Young has had an opportunity to speak felt signficant. I could feel the cumulative truth of the words that have been spoken in that room so strongly I could not help but weep. As I stood there looking up at the amazing pipe organ I thought of different talks I have heard from various conferences over the past 30 years and felt all over again a deep strength from that council that has sustained me and guided me in so many ways.

Too often I get into a rut in my church activity...going through the motions of leading a reasonably righteous LDS life, but losing sight of the power that is the core truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet every now and then I have these peak spiritual experiences when I feel the presence of God in my life in such an undeniably tangible way. I have these sacred opportunities to feel the witness of the Holy Ghost bearing the absolute truth of the teachings to my mind and heart in a manner that awakens my spirit with a sense of coming home. That's when I am reminded all the way to my bones of why I am trying in my fumbling mortal way to follow these teachings.


As we stood before the Christus statue I was able to spend several minutes in quiet reflection, and I was impressed with some answers to prayers that have been in my heart for several weeks. I was humbled by the certainty of the reality of the atonement, and of an overwhelming sense of the Savior's love.

I know that I will continue to cycle in and cycle out of feeling this special sort of closeness to my Heavenly Father. There will still be times I will get caught up with the concerns of every day life and be consumed with things of this world. But I also know that there will be a part of me that will hold on to this moment, just like I do other similar sacred witnesses I have felt over the years. Times like this carry me through to help me always remember the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that I am a child of God. It's real.

What a special gift to get this Christmas season...such a fierce reminder of why we have Christmas at all. It's not just a charming story. It happened. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me these moments. Help me hold on to them. Help me not forget.

Finding Kindred Spirits

I just stumbled on a new blog that I am VERY impressed with.

It is We Seek After These Things

It is a group writing project by some valiant women who aim to keep the spirit in their lives. You can bet I will be going back there again to do more reading of earlier posts. Already I can tell there are some real gems there!

Sanctity of Marriage

I believe in eternal marriage. I believe in making sacred covenants to cleave to one man throughout my whole life and throughout all eternity.

One of the things that sets the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other faiths is our belief in marriage for "time and all eternity". In a time in our society when many think marriage is passe', we believe very strongly in the sanctity of marriage not just "till death do you part" but forever.

Perhaps the basic belief in enduring bonds is not that unusual. I've talked to lots of people from other faiths (or no faith at all) who say they believe they will be with their spouse and family in the hereafter. I've heard it said that they believe their love will endure beyond this mortal walk on earth. However, for the LDS faith, it is a key part of our doctrine. We believe that when worthy men and women area "sealed" as husband and wife in the holy temples, we truly are united for eternity.

HOWEVER.... that does not mean our marriages are bullet proof. Not by a long shot. Living with another person is wonderful and joyful and sometimes just plain hard.

All marriages have good times and tough times. The trick is to learn how to navigate the challenges with grace, humor and compassion for one another so that we can continue the journey to get the joy of the good parts.

Tonight my husband and I went to a church meeting intended for married couples where a marriage counselor gave a really amazing talk on how to build strong unions. The presenter made a key distinction that I think is absolutely vital. He spoke abut COMMITMENT being the critical base of all relationships, with communication coming after that. I agree. While being able to effectively communicate in a relationship is extremely important, if we are not committed to one another and to the union, all the best communication in the word will not save us.

Our Bishop also spoke at the meeting, relaying the story of his grandparents and all the things he learned about healthy marriages from them. He cautioned us to beware of the "deal breakers". Things he spoke of that can ruin a marriage included:

One spouse trying to control or dominate the other
infidelity
selfishness
unrealistic expectations

As he was speaking I thought of my own marriage of 29 years. I LOVE my sweet husband. Yet I know there have been times I have been selfish. I know there have been times I have had unrealistic expectations.

Those are things I can work on in order to improve the strength of our marriage.

Because I am in this for the long haul.
I am in this for keeps.

I am absolutely committed to this marriage for time and all eternity.
What an amazing blessing that is!

Provident Living - Pursuit of Excellence

One of the things I appreciate most about my faith is the many ways it encourages me to set and reach for worthy goals. I've been looking through some old files of mine and pulled out a list of standards that I worked on in a very deliberate way a few years back. Some of the goals I set then I've accomplished entirely. Some I made significant progress on but never QUITE hit the mark I had hoped for. A few things I floundered in hopelessly.

I think it is time for me to polish off some of these, review them, and see where they fit into my life now.




AREA 1: LITERACY & EDUCATION

The STANDARD = To the extent of his/her capacity, each person is able to read, write and do basic mathematics. S/he regularly studies the scriptures and other good books. Parents teach these skills and habits to family members, and both parents and children take advantage of educational opportunities.



>AREA 2: CAREER DEVELOPMENT


The STANDARD = Each young person receives counsel to help select a career in which s/he can use his/her talents and skills in meaningful employment. Each person selects a suitable vocation and becomes proficient through appropriate training.




AREA 3: FINANCIAL & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT



The STANDARD = Each person establishes financial goals, pays tithes and offerings, avoids debt, pays obligations, uses family resources wisely, and saves during times of plenty for times of need.





AREA 4: HOME PRODUCTION & STORAGE












The STANDARD = Each person or family produces as much as possible through gardening, sewing, and making household items. Each person and family learns techniques of home canning, freezing and drying foods and, where legally permitted, stores a one-year supply of food, clothing, and, if possible, fuel.



AREA 5: PHYSICAL HEALTH







The STANDARD = Each person obeys the Word of Wisdom and practices sound principles of nutrition, physical fitness, weight control, immunization, sanitation, mother and child health, accident prevention, dental health and medical care. Members live in a healthy and clean environment. In addition, each member acquires appropriate skills in first aid safety, home nursing and food selection and preparation.


AREA 6: Social / Emotional & Spiritual Strength

The STANDARD = Each person builds spiritual strength to meet life's challenges with confidence and stability by learning to love God and communicate with Him in personal prayer; to love and serve his/her neighbor, and to love and respect her/himself through righteous living and self mastery. Social emotional and spiritual strength is increased by living the principles of the gospel.

Conference Sunday

What would you do if you heard that there was an opportunity to hear Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel or Jonah or some of the other biblical prophets giving talks at a local venue? What sacrifice would you be willing to make to be sure you were there?
This weekend I am going to have that very sort of opportunity. It will not be BIBLICAL prophets. It will be living, breathing modern day prophets. While that may lack some of the novelty of hearing from Noah or Joshua, to my way of thinking, that has even more value since they will be prepared to address folks about the challenges of TODAY.

One of the unique characteristics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we believe that God speaks to prophets today much the same as he did anciently. We sustain the presidents of our church as prophets. We believe they truly receive messages from God which are meant for all the world. We also consider the members of the Quorum of the Twelve to be prophets, seers and revelators.
I have had many experiences of listening to these inspired leaders and have felt the witness of the Holy Ghost telling me their words were true and truly from God.

Some may think that is just more than a little wacko. For me, it is something very sacred.

This weekend my church will be holding a world-wide conference, which they do twice a year. Speakers from among the general authorities (meaning leaders whose assignment is worldwide rather than specific to a particular area) will address us from the conference center at Salt Lake City. It will be broadcast live by satellite, TV, radio and internet to hundreds of countries throughout the world. Some will get a delayed recorded feed with translation. In addition, the messages given will be written and printed in the Ensign magazine, which can be accessed both in print and online at lds.org

This conference isn’t just another church meeting. It truly is a gathering of prophets giving the precise council to the world that the Lord has inspired them to know as what is most needful for this time. I think that is pretty significant.

Different people have different attitudes about general conference. For some, it is treated like an LDS holiday. It is one of the few Sundays when people don’t have to worry about preparing lessons or doing their “calling”, whatever work assignment they may have in the church which could range from leading music to tending the library, caring for toddlers in nursery or counting the number of people who attend sacrament. Because it is so easy to access the messages later, a lot of people skip out on conference Sundays. I’ve certainly been known to be among that group.

In years past, I must admit, I found conference to be pretty boring. It was just a bunch of old white men (for the most part) talking on and on and on about things I had already heard a hundred times.
Pray.
Read Your Scriptures.
Pay Tithing.
Follow the commandments.

There was nothing sparkling or new.

So, way more times than I care to admit, I would pass on the live sessions of conference, with the best of intentions of viewing it later, or at the very least reading the messages with they came out in Ensign. Sometimes I followed up. Sometimes I did not.

In recent years, however, my attitude has changed about general conference.
Now I find myself getting genuinely EXCITED at the prospect of hearing these messages.

This time I am working to prepare myself to be open, ready, alert and worthy to not only hear what these leaders will share, but especially to get my own witness from the Holy Spirit of the truth of those words.

I believe in living prophets.

I believe they will have a message that will apply specifically to ME, that will help me to address the challenges in my own life – perhaps even some things I have confided to no one, but which surely my creator knows.

The degree to which I will receive those answers will be directly proportional to the extent to which I come to conference SEEKING personal revelation and ready to be led.

I am so grateful for the modern technology which allows me to sit in the comfort of my home and listen to living prophets.

I am eager to discover what it is that God has in store for me and for the world right now.

Windex Lessons

Today I spent some time cleaning the church where I worship each Sunday.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is no paid ministry.
In like manner, most of the janitorial duties done at the thousands of chapels and temples throughout the world are done by assignment to the the members who benefit from those buildings rather than by someone paid to do the job.

I like that.

I believe by having a system wherein the members themselves take care of the buildings they worship in helps us to better appreciate the blessing those buildings are.

Beyond that, there are plenty of other lessons I learn every time I go to clean at the church or in the temple.

For one, the rooms I vacuum are never really all that dirty. Oh sure, there are the occasional dust bunnies or a bit of chalk dust. Sometimes the primary room has some left over glitter or cracker crumbs. But for the most part, (especially in the temple) I am vacuuming rooms that to the casual glance appear pretty clean.

That serves as a reminder to me to be vigilant in maintaining cleanliness in my heart and mind on a regular basis rather than waiting for a big bad stain.

Another thing I learn is that my service is accepted even when it is not perfect. Today I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the hard water stains off the glass in one of the entry ways. The sprinkler system splashes there and it has left sediment on one of the side panels around the door. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. It looks better. But it still has hard water spots that I can see.

I gave it my best effort. That's all God ever expects.

Giving service is a large part of what living my religion is for me. I'm truly grateful I had the opportunity to do this work at the chapel today. Now if I can just train my heart to feel that much joy in scrubbing my own floors....