Sophi and Corey both spoke in church today. Sophi was the youth speaker, and Corey and his counselors talked as part of the new Elder's Quorum giving messages for our ward. Corey took a selfie of them up on the stand with Bro Max. We like him.
Corey's talk was good. Here is is for your reading pleasure:
This week’s Come Follow Me lesson includes Doctrine and Covenants 15 and 16, which repeat “the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people”. I’ve been thinking a lot about that recently:
· Is that really true?
· How could that really be true?
· If declaring repentance really is the most valuable thing we can be doing, why don’t we do more of it?
· Is it possible to declare repentance without being off-putting?
· Our culture today doesn’t even talk about sin, let alone repentance.
· I spend most of my time taking care of kids and pursuing my life’s goals, money, health, relationships, recreation. I could do more to serve others.
· I don’t really want to declare repentance to anybody – except for my kids. They should repent. ;-)
Sometimes people will ask me about raising a lot of kids saying: “how do you do it?” to which I sometimes respond… “resentfully”. I don’t pretend that my personal trials are harder than anybody else’s but they sure are hard for me – often I feel like I’m just hanging on by a thread with discouragement creeping in. But as I’ve looked around, I think maybe I’m not the only one hanging on by a thread.
Not wanting to call anyone here out, I’m aware of some situations that make me cling to my own struggles with gratitude and even embarrassment. So, while I’m a firm believer that life is easier living the gospel, it seems that the God we gather here to worship prefers to give his Saints a healthy dose of struggle. Reflecting on my personal heroes, I can see that they also – at times – seemed to hang by a thread.
· Young George Washington was singled out in battle and shot at seventeen times, wounding several horses he was riding and leaving four bullet holes in his jacket. Later he led his rag-tag army in retreat from New York City. The American rebellion survived only thanks to an unusual “pea-soup” fog that hid their position from the British long enough to evacuate.
· My late, and dear mother JeNeal lost the use of her legs at age 12 because of polio. She may have felt like her life was hanging by a thread during the many weeks she laid in a hospital bed. After a long recovery, she earned a university degree, married, gave birth to and raised three kids, taught school, traveled the world, and was a church service missionary.
· Nephi “was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do” – his faith gave birth to a new nation.
· Moroni wandered with the gold plates for decades while Lamanites “put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.” Eventually, Moroni deposited the records “by the prayer of faith”. They laid hidden and unknown in the ground for hundreds of years – the instrument God would use to gather His people in the latter-days seemed to hang by a thread.
· After years of preparation, Joseph Smith thought he was finally ready to get the plates when Moroni rebuked him saying he had “one more year to align his will with God’s. If he did not, the plates would never be entrusted to him.” Joseph Smith many times wondered if all was lost.
· He later cried from Liberty Jail: “O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? …Yea, O Lord, how long shall [thy people] suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions”
· Perhaps even Jesus seemingly hung by a thread “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me” before an angel came to strengthen him and later when he cried… “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
So “Hanging by a Thread” is the first of four thoughts that help explain how declaring repentance will truly be of the most worth to us. The other three I’m calling:
· Primary songs
· Book of Mormon “repenting nigh unto death”
· Howard
2. Primary songs
About the time I was looking at going to graduate school I heard a story by Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy. He was in a demanding graduate program in Cambridge, Massachusetts when he was asked to teach primary on a weekday afternoon. He didn’t have time for it but reluctantly agreed. The day of the class, he was in the library absorbed in a book about international politics – which seemed much more important than primary. He procrastinated preparing the lesson and arrived late at the church near campus. He stood in the doorway as the children sang the opening hymn: “Love one another”. Elder Porter was deeply touched by the song. He wrote:
“As I stood there, transfixed in the doorway, the Spirit bore witness that I was looking at the most important class taking place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that day. Back at the university in dozens of classrooms and laboratories, dedicated scholars were pursuing answers to the world’s problems. Yet valuable though such efforts may have been, the university did not and could not hold the ultimate answers to the problems of a troubled world. Here before me was the Lord’s answer: the quiet building up of His kingdom on earth by the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Was that primary class, observed by a reluctant and under-prepared teacher really the most valuable class held that day in a metropolitan area with 64 colleges and universities? It sounds nice to say, but was it literally true? At the time, I couldn’t see how it could be true.
3. Book of Mormon “repenting nigh unto death”
The Book of Mormon has this strange pattern of people falling or fainting “nigh unto death” and then (moments or days later) rising up, testifying of Christ.
· Alma and the sons of Mosiah (Mosiah 27:18): “And now Alma and those that were with him fell again to the earth, for great was their astonishment…”
· King Lamoni (Alma 18:42): “And now, when he had said this, he fell unto the earth, as if he were dead.”
· King Lamoni’s wife (Alma 19) “and the queen also sunk down, being overpowered by the Spirit.”
· King Lamoni’s father (Alma 22:18): “And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead.”
This is a curious phenomenon; and what do they do when they do wake up?
· Alma the Younger says: “I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit… I was like to be cast off. Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God. My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.”
· King Lamoni: “and as he arose, he stretched forth his hand unto the woman, and said: Blessed be the name of God, and blessed art thou. For as sure as thou livest, behold, I have seen my Redeemer; …and he shall redeem all mankind who believe on his name.”
· King Lamoni’s wife wakes up and says: “O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people!”
· King Lamoni’s father: “And the king stood forth, and began to minister unto them…insomuch that his whole household were converted unto the Lord.”
The way I interpret these stories of people falling to the earth “nigh unto death” is that they get a glimpse of what is coming after death –similar to what we call a near-death experience.
When I was in high-school, my grandmother had decided she had lived a good life and it was time to move on. She introduced me to books on near-death experiences and sometimes expressed disappointment that she was still here; she did this for about the next ten years. I’ve read books on the subject that I don’t believe, but I’d like to share a bit from one I find credible.
4. Howard
A researcher of near-death experiences converted to Christianity while examining over 1,000 accounts of near-death experiences. There are several commonalities: those who pass through the veil feel heightened sensations, are more conscious and more “alive” then when in the flesh. They have spirit bodies in the likeness of their mortal bodies, are frequently greeted by relatives, have a life review, and are filled with light and love. A significant percentage of the documented cases describe hellish experiences. One case is the story of Howard Storm who wrote this book called “My Descent into Death”.
Howard didn’t realize he had died because, as he said “I felt more alert, more aware, and more alive than I had ever felt in my entire life. All my senses were extremely vivid”. After some time in the hospital room, Howard heard voices pleasantly calling him by name, saying they had been waiting for him for a long time. They led him out of the hospital and into a thickening and darkening fog, assuring him that if he followed his troubles would end. Confused, he follows. This experience is detailed in his book, but to sum it up, he descends into hell and his growing number of guides become his tormentors. Eventually they physically and emotionally assault him in “a wild frenzy of taunting, screaming, and hitting”. Howard has tried to suppress the memory because the details are traumatizing.
I’m quoting from his book, though cutting out much of the story:
As I lay on the ground, my tormentors swarming around me, a voice emerged from my chest saying "Pray to God.” I remember thinking, "Why? What a stupid idea. That doesn't work. What a cop-out. Lying here in this darkness, surrounded by hideous creatures, I don't believe in God. This is utterly hopeless, and I am beyond any possible help whether I believe in God or not. I don't pray, period…
Tentatively, I murmured a few lines—a jumble from the Twenty-third Psalm, "The Star-Spangled Banner," the Lord's Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and "God Bless America," and whatever other churchly sounding phrases came to mind…For purple mountain majesty, mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Deliver us from evil. One nation under God. God Bless America."
To my amazement, the cruel, merciless beings tearing the life out of me were incited to rage by my ragged prayer. It was as if I were throwing boiling oil on them. They screamed at me, There is no God! Who do you think you're talking to? Nobody can hear you! Now we are really going to hurt you." They spoke in the most obscene language…But at the same time, they were backing away. I could still hear their voices in the utter darkness, but they were getting more and more distant. I realized that saying things about God was actually driving them away. I became a little more forceful with what I was saying. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, God is going to get you. Leave me alone, the Lord is my shepherd, and one nation under God,..." Retreating, they became more rabid, cursing and screaming against God. They claimed that what I was praying was worthless and that I was a coward, a nothing. In time they retreated back into the distant gloom, beyond my hearing. I knew they were far away but could return.
I was alone, destroyed, and yet painfully alive in this revoltingly horrible place. I had no idea where I was…The all-consuming physical pain was secondary to the emotional pain. Their psychological cruelty to me was unbearable.
I was alone in that darkness for time without measure. I thought about what I had done. All my life I had thought that hard work was what counted. My life was devoted to building a monument to my ego. My family, my sculptures, my painting, house, my gardens, my little fame, my illusions of power, were all an extension of my ego. All of those things were gone now, and what did they matter? All those things that I had lived for were lost to me, and they didn't mean a thing.
All of my adult life I had been strong and confident that I could take care of myself. Now I was a worm cast into the outer darkness and had neither any strength nor power, nor my inner rage, to protect me….How ironic it was to end up in the sewer of the universe with people who fed off the pain of others! [But,] I had had little genuine compassion for others. It dawned on me that I was not unlike these miserable creatures that had tormented me. …
I knew then that this was the absolute end of my existence in the world, and it was more horrible than anything I could possibly have imagined…Little strength was left to resist becoming a creature gnashing his teeth in the outer darkness. I wasn't far from becoming like one of my own tormentors…
Then for the first time in my adult life a very old tune from childhood started going through my head. It was my voice, but it sounded like a little boy singing the same line over and over again. The child that I had once been was singing full of innocence, trust, and hope. “Jesus loves me, da da da …” There was only that bit of the tune and those few words that I could remember. We had sung those words in Sunday school when I was a child.
….For the first time in my adult life I wanted it to be true that Jesus loved me. I didn’t know how to express what I wanted and needed, but with every bit of my last ounce of strength, I yelled out into the darkness, “Jesus save me.” I yelled that from the core of my being with all the energy I had left. I had never meant anything more strongly in my life.
Howard recounts his coming to know Christ, having a life review, learning the purpose of life, and eventually was told he needed to return to his body. After a long recovery he became a Christian pastor, remarried (because his first wife had divorced him thinking he was crazy), and has since emotionally told his story many times – emphasizing God is love.
The turning point for Howard was his very weak, and (I think amusing) prayers to God. It wasn’t until reading this story that I came to understand how Elder Porter’s story about the primary class could really be true. Perhaps one of those primary children in Massachusetts would later be in a similar position and have nothing to cling to except the faint memory of a song they song as a child: “Jesus loves me, da da da”.
Howard’s lifeline to Christ was as weak as a thread. Similarly, when Alma the Younger was “racked with torment, … harrowed up by the memory of my many sins” it was only a memory of his father talking about Jesus Christ that reversed his own descent into hell.
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
Almost certainly, Alma’s father had no satisfaction from his rebellious son at the time he declared repentance to others. The scriptures don’t say “the thing which is of the most worth unto you today is to declare repentance unto this people” – its value isn’t obvious right now. Instead, it says “the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people”. When the fog of this mortal probation clears our calls to repentance will prove to have been the most valuable thing we did here.
This is because (as Elder Neal A. Maxell has said)
“If, in the end, you have not chosen Jesus Christ it will not matter what you have chosen.”
Or, as President Ezra Taft Benson said:
“The greatest events of history are those which affect the greatest number for the longest periods.”
So, it is okay if we’re just hanging on by just a thread – as long as that thread is faith in Christ. Jesus healed a woman, diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, when she touched the hem of his garment – it could have just been a thread. A latter-day saint wrote about a faithful friend who confided that while she was keeping her faith, at times she felt that she was hanging on by a thread. Without thinking he was impressed to reply, “A thread is all the Savior needs. And as long as we hold onto our end of the thread, He will forever hold onto His end, and that thread will bind us to Him like a mighty cord.” From Elder Holland: “To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve.”
It has always bene this way. God sends a baby to a forsaken, teenage mother, calls a boy prophet, and sends children, called missionaries, out into the big, bad world six years after primary. And he also calls you and me, “the weak and the simple”, – busy with work, school, kids, and a million dizzying distractions – to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ by declaring repentance.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
------ other thoughts ----
Perhaps preaching repentance would be easier if we talked about how great it is:
· Elder Boyd K. Packer: “The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. … It just heals, and what it heals stays healed.”
· “… The Atonement … can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated.”
We could emphasize how repentance gives us power:
· Elder Dale G. Renlund: “blaming others, even if justified, allows us to excuse our behavior. By so doing, we shift responsibility for our actions to others. When the responsibility is shifted, we diminish both the need and our ability to act. We turn ourselves into hapless victims rather than agents capable of independent action.”
And, in most cases, repentance can be fast:
· “Come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.”
· “One morning, as he was getting ready to translate, Joseph became upset with Emma. Later, when he joined Oliver and David in the upstairs room where they worked, he could not translate a syllable. He left the room and walked outside to the orchard. He stayed away for about an hour, praying. When he came back, he apologized to Emma and asked for forgiveness. He then went back to translating as usual.”
· Martin Harris: “You have got to humble yourself before your God this day,” Joseph told Martin specifically, “and obtain if possible a forgiveness of your sins.” He did, and soon saw an angel and the witness he had longed desired.
------
What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week,
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
_____________________________
Good stuff, huh! Back at home after church, Katharine made me smile when she protested about life being unfair. Peter was not sharing his legos with her and she said "SEE?!?!" which totally made me laugh as she gestured toward him with her upward facing hand -
SEE?!?! Do you not see the injustice being done here!?!? She's been saying that a lot lately when she doesn't get what she wants, even if there is no justifiable reason for whoever to give her what she is claiming rights to. She drank some chocolate silk too ~
Upside down, haha. Careful sweetie, don't spill all over that white dress. We think everything Katharine does is cute. Mel came home last night after attending a basketball game with Christian. She came to church with us, and then Christian came by to get her for his grandpa's bday party this afternoon. They came back tonight to play with us for a little bit before heading back to Provo. "Play" with us = play with the little boys.
Mel and Christian borrow some ski stuff - Mel trying on a ski coat. They are going skiing at Sundance this week. After fun visiting, they got ready to leave and so we all stood up and continued to visit, but standing. The kids started laughing at Corey and I, cause we were both standing there with our arms folded the same way and wearing the same shirt (Corey's is large, mine is medium. It was a Costco find and it's a good comfy shirt for winter).
Boys still having fun using Christian as their indoor gym - hanging on him like two little monkeys!
- What are the most important elements of success in your relationship?
- How do you go about nurturing your relationship?
- In what ways have you each needed to change personally to benefit your marriage?
- What advice would you give to someone, who is dating, about selecting a partner?
- Looking back, are there any aspects of your engagement that you would do differently?
- Looking back. are there any aspects of your engagement that you would do differently?
- What do you wish you knew about marriage before getting married?
- How do you deal with differences when they arise?
- How have your individual lives improves as a result of your marriage?
We did the best we could, but sometimes after talking and talking for a few minutes, we'd come back and say "Wait, what was the question we were answering??" Hopefully it was helpful. It was fun to talk to them. I remember interviewing Corey's parents once for a marriage and family class, when Corey was gone on his mission. I went over there to interview them on their "successful marriage" haha, all part of my plan to get in good with his parents.
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