A New Prophet

The time has come.

As all eventually do,

a Giant of a man has passed on,

and thereby passes his baton

of leading and loving-

a worldwide stewardship.


I felt today, as I watched

this reverent process-

The Savior's will has been spoken

and a prophet speaks again.


To President Nelson, I say:

I love you.

I sustain you.

I will stay

on the covenant path.

Set Forth into the Sea...

 I read a passage of scripture today which I had read dozens of times previously.  This time, however, based on the context of my present life, the words became new to me.  DON'T YOU JUST LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS?  Fresh insights flooded my mind and spirit.

The story is of a family who wants to find the promised land, an ocean away.  They have built some barges under the direction of the Lord.  They have come up with some creative lighting options (glowing stones which have been touched by the Lord), and they are one their way.  I will comment in red below...

 2 For it came to pass after the Lord had prepared the stones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount, the brother of Jared came down out of the mount, and he did put forth the stones into the vessels which were prepared, one in each end thereof; and behold, they did give light unto the vessels.
Jared had the idea to offer stones to the Lord to light.  The Lord touched these stones, which became lights for them in their boats.  The Lord has power to light up our lives and help us see in a world filled with darkness.

 3 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 gives this light to all children, regardless of age or gender.

 4 And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them—and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.
I love the last part of this!  We must "set forth" in the voyages of our lives, even though we cannot see what is ahead.  If we "commend ourselves" to the Lord, he will protect us in this journey of life.

 5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.
Sometimes He lets the storms blow.  Sometimes it takes a strong wind to move us and keep us from becoming comfortable and growth-free!

 6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.
At times we may feel absolutely buried as we travel along!  

 7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.
Although I know the experiences of this life can be so overwhelming,  there is such surety and safety in following Christ.  Even when the world is encroaching all around us and threatening to seep into our homes, we can be safe and protected if we maintain our standards.  We can even "come out on top"!

 8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.
Just when we get comfortable, more winds will come, pushing us toward new destinations.  From Thomas S. Monson:

       "Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life."

 

Thomas S. Monson, October 2013 General Conference

 

 9 And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.
It is possible, and good, to be thankful in the midst of trial!  From President Uchtdorf:

"We can choose to be grateful, no matter what.

This type of gratitude transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement, and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2014 General Conference
 

 10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.
 This makes me think of the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:5

" Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."

 11 And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.
For almost a year they were in these barges!  That would get old, really fast.  Sometimes it seems that we will have the problems of mortality forever.  I think of these scriptures when I need comfort:

 1 Corinthians 2:9

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

Doctrine and Covenants 58:3

"Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation."

God looks down on us with loving watchfulness as we journey along.  He has great things prepared for us to experience after our mortal journey, thanks be to the Savior!  
 

 12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.

I KNOW that one day I will bow down before the Lord, shedding tears of joy "because of the multitude of his tender mercies" over me.  He has saved me, blessed me, carried me and loved me all my days.  I am forever indebted to him for his kindness and constant care!

Promptings and Squirrels

Our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, counsels us as members of the church to follow the promptings that come to us.  These could also be described as feelings or ideas that come from our conscience.  We have all had the experience of feeling like we should do something good or say something kind.  When we follow that feeling we are serving Christ.

In one of my FAVORITE scriptures there is the following phrase:

"...the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."  
2 Nephi 32:3

I know this to be true!  The words of Christ come in various forms.  One, of course, is the revealed word of God spoken to us through Prophets.  We have these words in the form of scripture.

Another way Christ speaks to us is through the invaluable, beautiful language of the Spirit.  The Spirit will tell us what we should do and will not lead us down wrong paths.

I have started a simple exercise.  I am keeping a prompting journal.  In it, I write down the things I feel the Holy Ghost is telling me to do. (write a thank you card, give someone a call, treat a particular child with more mercy...)  I will keep this little notebook handy and write down the feelings that come to me.  When I follow through with that prompting, I put a check mark by it.  When I go to bed at night and see that I haven't carried out the Lord's desires and therefore can't mark that thing as done, I will resolve to do that the next day.

My (not so fancy) little notebook.



It is sooo easy to get distracted by the "shiny" things in this world, and to lose focus on the fact that there are people to serve all around us!

In the movie "Up", by Disney, there is a darling dog who is constantly distracted by squirrels.  He can't seem to focus on what he should be doing if there is a squirrel around! 

 

 I think we are all similar to this dog.  There are different distractions which appeal to each of us.  These distractions keep us from doing those things that are precious and important.  

Examples:  

We spend time flipping through our smart phone notifications when we are with people we rarely see (smartphones are the biggest squirrels sometimes!). 

We hesitate to do something for someone because the timing or our appearance or the climate or our mood isn't just perfect (perfectionism: squirrel)

We focus so much on how to decorate our homes that we don't pay enough attention to the people living in them. (home beautification websites can be a squirrel for me if I let them).

Today,  I'd like to try really hard to pray to know what the Lord would have me do with my time and then to do it!  

Here is a sweet story from the life of Thomas S. Monson, when he was serving as an Apostle:

One weekend in August 1974 an unexpected change of conference assignment came, sending Elder Monson to the Shreveport Louisiana Stake. The Saturday afternoon schedule was filled with a busy slate of meetings. Rather apologetically, the stake president asked Brother Monson if time would permit him to provide a blessing to ten-year-old Christal Methvin, who was afflicted with cancer. Brother Monson said he would be pleased to do so and then asked if she would be coming to the conference meetings or if she were confined to a Shreveport hospital. Almost reluctantly, the stake president said Christal was unable to leave her home many miles from Shreveport. 

 Elder Monson examined the meeting schedule and found that there simply was no available time. As an alternative, he suggested that she be remembered in the public prayers which would be offered throughout the conference. Surely, he consoled, the Lord would understand and bless the Methvin family accordingly. 

 Prior to the stake conference, and unbeknown to Brother Monson, Christal had lost her leg to surgery, only to discover later that the cancer had spread to her tiny lungs. A trip had been planned to Salt Lake City, where she might receive a blessing from one of the General Authorities. The Methvins knew none of the Brethren personally, so they placed before Christal a picture of all the Church leaders. She pointed to the photograph of Elder Thomas S. Monson and said, “I would like him to give me a blessing.” 

 But Christal’s condition had deteriorated so rapidly that the flight to Salt Lake City had to be cancelled. She was growing weaker in body but not in faith. She said, “Since a General Authority is coming to our stake conference, why not Brother Monson? If I can’t go to him, the Lord can send him to me.” At about the same time, Brother Monson received the unexpected change in his stake conference assignment which sent him to Shreveport. 

 As one final favor to Christal, the family agreed to kneel by her bedside and ask for just one more blessing; the chance to enjoy Brother Monson’s personal visit. 

 After receiving word from the stake president that Brother Monson would be unable to visit Christal because of the extremely tight meeting schedule, the Methvins were understandably very disappointed. They knelt again around Christal’s bedside, pleading for a final favor on her behalf: that somehow her desire for a blessing at the hands of Brother Monson would be realized. 

 At the very moment the Methvin family knelt around Christal’s bed, Elder Monson was shuffling his notes, preparing to speak at the concluding portion of the Saturday evening session. However, as he began his move to the pulpit, a voice whispered in near-audible tones a brief but very familiar message: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” 

 His notes became a blur. He attempted to pursue the theme of the meeting as outlined, but the name and image of Christal Methvin would not leave his mind. Then, ever faithful to the precious gift so demonstrably his, he responded to the spiritual message. He instructed that changes in the next day’s conference schedule be made, whatever the cost in confusion and disruption. Then the meeting continued. 

 After a very early Sunday drive over many miles, Elder Monson gazed down upon a child too ill to rise, too weak to speak. Her illness had now rendered her sightless. Deeply touched by the scene and the Spirit of the Lord which was so prevalent, Brother Monson dropped to his knees and took the child’s frail hand in his own. “Christal,” he whispered, “I am here.” 

 With great effort she whispered back, “Brother Monson, I just knew you would come.”

President Monson has a special gift of seeing the ONE.  One person who needs his love and ministry at that moment.  Is this not unlike our Savior?  There are sweet scriptural scenes of Christ serving one person, which led to great good:

Healing the woman with an issue of blood.

Speaking to the woman at the well.

Teaching Nicodemus of being born again.

Raising Peter from the depths of the sea.

Appearing to Mary after his resurrection.

Can you imagine how each of these people felt after having this interaction with their Savior?  Their lives were never the same as a result!  I hope to follow Jesus and seek for a moment with someone who needs lifting today. 

What do we do with our time?

Time use is fascinating to me.  Time use and mind use.

We really have a very short life, even if we were to live a century.

There is only so much we can accomplish and become.

However, within our short days and years we can choose to consecrate ourselves to good causes.

 

A quote from our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, puts things into perspective for me:

"In this fast-paced life, do we ever pause for moments of meditation—even thoughts of timeless truths?

When compared to eternal verities, most of the questions and concerns of daily living are really rather trivial. What should we have for dinner? What color should we paint the living room? Should we sign Johnny up for soccer? These questions and countless others like them lose their significance when times of crisis arise, when loved ones are hurt or injured, when sickness enters the house of good health, when life’s candle dims and darkness threatens. Our thoughts become focused, and we are easily able to determine what is really important and what is merely trivial.

I recently visited with a woman who has been battling a life-threatening disease for over two years. She indicated that prior to her illness, her days were filled with activities such as cleaning her house to perfection and filling it with beautiful furnishings. She visited her hairdresser twice a week and spent money and time each month adding to her wardrobe. Her grandchildren were invited to visit infrequently, for she was always concerned that what she considered her precious possessions might be broken or otherwise ruined by tiny and careless hands.

And then she received the shocking news that her mortal life was in jeopardy and that she might have very limited time left here. She said that at the moment she heard the doctor’s diagnosis, she knew immediately that she would spend whatever time she had remaining with her family and friends and with the gospel at the center of her life, for these represented what was most precious to her.

Such moments of clarity come to all of us at one time or another, although not always through so dramatic a circumstance. We see clearly what it is that really matters in our lives and how we should be living.

Said the Savior:

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

^{("The Race of Life, April 2012 General Conference)}

^{In the Screwtape letters, C.S. Lewis writes in the voice of devils who seek to bring men and women down.  Some of their tactics are illustrated here:}

“As the uneasiness and reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness, and as habit renders the pleasures the vanity and excitement and flippancy at once less pleasant and harder to forgo...you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday's paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but also in conversations with those he cares nothing about, on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say...'I now see that I spent most my life doing in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

The object of the tempters in this story was to keep a man comfortable doing nothing and thinking of nothing very significant.  To literally waste his life away.

The challenge for all of us is to see the significance in our daily lives.  To seek to bless others in the few precious days we have on the earth.  

An apostle, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, gave a great talk on priorities entitled "Good, Better, Best".

    

"A childhood experience introduced me to the idea that some choices are good but others are better. I lived for two years on a farm. We rarely went to town. Our Christmas shopping was done in the Sears, Roebuck catalog. I spent hours poring over its pages. For the rural families of that day, catalog pages were like the shopping mall or the Internet of our time.

Something about some displays of merchandise in the catalog fixed itself in my mind. There were three degrees of quality: good, better, and best. For example, some men’s shoes were labeled good ($1.84), some better ($2.98), and some best ($3.45).

As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all."   (October 2007 General Conference)

Goal today:  try to make the best choices in the way I use my time and mind.