DAY 1 of 21 Days - Come and See

THE INVITATION - Come and See...

The first passage of the 21 Days closer to Christ book talks about invitations. So, throughout this past week I have read and reflected on passages of Christ inviting us to come unto him:

3 Nephi 9:14
Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

Ether 4:13
Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief.


Luke 9:23
¶And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Doctrine and Covenants 38:22
Wherefore, hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people, and ye shall have no laws but my laws when I come, for I am your lawgiver, and what can stay my hand?


My main focus for this week has been on Mark 1:16-18.

Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.


It is so easy to get caught up, to be more concerned with the things of this world than of the things which would bring me eternal life. It is so easy to say "just a minute, Lord, I'll be with you in a bit..." How can I be more like those fishermen who STRAIGHTWAY put down their nets and followed?

What things do I need to put down, like the fisherman's nets, in order to follow Christ?

These are things I will continue to pray over and ponder as I work my way through my 21 days(weeks) of drawing closer to Christ.

Photo credit: Jesus calls James and John while they are mending nets by O.A. Stemler Found at Biblical Art on the WWW HERE

21 Days Closer to Christ

Two or three years ago I bought the book "21 Days Closer to Christ" by Emily Freeman, with paintings by Simon Dewey. I was very impressed by the beautiful pictures and uplifting message of this book. However, I have to admit, even thought I read through most of it at the time I purchased it, I never applied the book the way it was intended.

So now I am going back to the book again, this time with a more deliberate purpose. My intent is to not just read, but STUDY, PONDER and PRAY about each of the sections in the book over a period of time.

Today for Gospel Doctrine class (adult Sunday School class for my church) I had been asked ahead of time to share a favorite scripture from the New Testament and explain why it was meaningful for me.

The passage I turned to was Mark 1:16-18 which says: "now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew- his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him."

In the margin of that page I had written:
What things do I need to put down like the fisherman's nets in order to follow Christ? How can I straightway forsake all that stands in my way?

I spoke about the importance of not just removing myself from sin and evil, but also of recognizing when GOOD and WORTHY things may be taking so much of my time, focus and attention that I lose sight of what is eternal. I talked about how this scripture reminds me of the danger of distraction. While I cannot just walk away from earning a living at this point, I CAN walk away from having my thoughts focused so much on things of this world.

When I read this for the class I noticed that over at the top of the page I had written: Day One: 3/8/08 - "Come and See..." Apparently back then I had started out studying the scriptures with the Freeman book as a guide. Unfortunately, I know I never got very far with it. I plan to do better this time.

Over on Mind-Muffins, my primary blog, I recently wrote a post about the power of persistence. Too many times in the past I've started various projects or goals but have given up on them when they got frustrating or difficult. As we begin a new year I am deliberately NOT setting myself up with any specific resolutions, mostly because of all the many times in the past I've started out with grand hopes and plans only to watch myself dwindle in resolve when I got too busy, too bored, too distracted or too frustrated either by lack of immediate results or mediocre outcomes from my early attempts.

If there is one area in my life I would really like to improve it is this -I want to become more consistent and develop greater follow through on the things that I start. I want to strengthen my ability to "endure to the end."

I managed to stick with it on my sock project. I know how rewarding it was in that case simply to start out with a worthwhile goal and see it through to completion, even though there were times I really did want to quit. Strengthening my knowledge about and testimony of Jesus Christ has the potential to be far more powerful in my life that creating fuzzy socks. So in this I am determined to stay with it this time all the way to the end.

I am beginning again with mindful, deliberate study of the scriptures, following the outline of this book. By incorporating what I learn from this study into my blog it will give me a level of accountability - as well as a record I can refer back to later. However, rather than trying once more to do something I know I'm not likely to follow through on consistently, this time I am going to go about it just a bit differently to be a better fit for my life. Instead of doing this every single day, I am going to focus on one section each Sunday after church. When I have the time and the interest I will post on other days throughout the week. But I am COMMITTING to doing it AT LEAST every Sunday.

This feels like a good way to start out the new year...way better than the stacks of resolutions that in the past have gone flapping in the wind by Valentine's Day.

So I begin with the Invitation spoken of so often in the scriptures, and in the hymn "If With All Your Hearts" (Children's Songbook 15):
"If with all your hearts ye truly seek me,
Ye shall ever surely find me,
Thus saith our God."

D&C 86:63
"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Psalms 105:4
"Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore."

Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Praying with all my might

One of my very dearest friends on this planet is having some major health challenges. She has clearly been walking step by step through the refiner's fire. Tomorrow she will have a medical procedure that we are all hoping will bring her some relief from the unrelenting, excruciating pain which has been her burden for some time now. Will it work? No way to know. So tonight and tomorrow I will pray for her with each and every breath. Breath in - Dear father - Breath out - be with my friend. Breath in - Dear father - Breath out - be with my friend.
It's times like this that saying "Thy will be done" is especially difficult.
I just want her well. Even though I trust that God does know what is best and it will all work out however it is supposed to, I just want her well. Even though I accept that pain and adversity are intended pieces of this fallen mortal world, I just want her well. So I breath...Dear father... be with my friend. I hope for comfort, I hope for healing. But no matter what else happens, I hope for her whole spirit to be suffused with love. Breath in, breath out. Hold fast to prayer with each and every breath. Dear father... be with my friend.

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!