I really enjoyed this verse that I read yesterday in D.C. 36:2.
2And I will lay my hand upon you by the hand of my servant Sidney Rigdon, and you shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom;
Clearly it's great for Edward Partridge (the first Bishop in the church; the one being spoken to here) to have the Lord place his hands upon Edward's head. That's definitely a blessing to have the Lord close. However, I'd like to focus on Sidney. He gets to act as proxy for the Lord and is clearly close to the Lord in this example as well. I believe that this verse teaches that the way to guarantee a close proximity to the Lord is by doing his work. Visit someone. Do your home and visiting teaching. Invite someone to church. Help someone have a better day. Teach your kids the gospel, etc. Learn the names of everyone in the ward and talk to them sometime over the next year (all of them); obviously there's lots of possibilties (so many - brings to mind another verse - D.C. 58:28 - inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward - just do something good and you'll be fine in life; no need to do everything perfectly; besides everyone can help build the kingdom in very different ways - sorry, sidetracked again), but finding ways to be involved in God's work is the surest way to ensure we're close to Him, which is the best feeling in life.
A few other verses that show this: D.C. 84:19,20 - "in the ordinances of the priesthood the power of godliness is made manifest." My translation - you get to experience godliness in some sense when you participate in ordinances (similar to the above verse).
Also, think about Lehi's dream. In 1 Nephi 8:30 its says,
30But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.
How do you partake of fruit after having fallen down? Probably because someone handed it to you. That's our jobs, to hand the fruit.
Perhaps one last verse to illustrate this concept. Isaiah 61 is a great chapter in which Isaiah speaks Messianically (this means he speaks as if he were the Savior - Jesus - speaking). The first two verses are very meaningful speaking about his mission. Then verse 3 says the folowing,
3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
It says that as a result of Jesus' efforts, the ashes of life will become beautiful (i.e., he'll make tough experiences turn into beautiful/useful ones - for example, the hardest area on my mission was also the one in which I had the most spiritual experience of my life), joy for mourning, and praise to replace "heaviness". Why? So that we might become "trees of righteousness". Since we know that Christ can be represented by the tree of life, this is interesting that we also should become trees of righteousness that give off our own fruit (some 30, some 60, and some 100 as told in the parable of the sower - Matthew 13:8). We are to become like him, producers of fruit and givers of love. We can become like Him by practicing the things He does, like serving, or in Sidney Rigdon's case, giving the gift of the Holy Ghost to Edward Partridge (and this principle applies to women as easily as it does to men).
A little long again. Sorry. Have a great day!
These are my thoughts on the scriptures. These are definitely not official church thoughts. I do, however, love the church and hope that maybe someone, someday will find answers to a couple of questions through this. Jesus loves you very much. He knows your name. His Church will help you come to know him better; that's The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., the Mormon Church).
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Regional Mormon Stake Conference for Northern California from Salt Lake
This is my first blog post ever. I really loved our stake conference today (it was a broadcast from Salt Lake to Northern California) and wanted to share my thoughts about it the best way I could with a lot of people I like. Also, my buddy Travis and I had tons of spiritual discussions in BYU that have now been stopped since he's getting a Ph.D in Economics at Northwestern, and I'm here in California trying to help build a startup (just started this week - very exciting). Finally, I've done a lot of thinking about spreading the gospel online after listening to an amazing talk by David Neeleman (JetBlue Founder). I used to think it was a bogus excuse for not actually speaking with those around us about the gospel. Now I think it's an essential part of missionary work. The combination of those three things (and the fact that I'm now becoming more and more of a tech person everyday due to my current job) has led me to finally start this blog. The core point of this really is that I wish everyone had heard Pres. Eyring speak today, so I'd like to share some of the uplifting points that he (and maybe some others) mentioned and my thoughts on them.
Elder Rasband
Elder Ronald Rasband spoke first. I know him fairly well (this is in relative terms; I don't actually know any of the General Authorities). He was the last general authority that spoke at the MTC while I was there. I also ran into him on the way to a church basketball game at the Oakland Stake Center 4 years ago when I lived in Emeryville. He was changing a Stake President for the Tongan Stake that day, and I briefly said hi though mostly spoke to Eric Shumway (ex-BYU-Hawaii Pres) for about 10 minutes. Also, I remember Elder Rasband's talk about doing more spiritual events with our families (he mentioned doing baptisms for the dead with his kids in the London Temple and that he should have done more of that rather than some of the football games and movies they went to) as well as his fairly famous talk describing the process for assigning missionaries to missions. So basically, I have learned some things from him which means I like him.
Today he mentioned 2 things that were particularly poignant considering what President Eyring mentioned. He quoted from a message the First Presidency sent that said roughly, "we ask members to give up some of their leisure time to attend the temple." It reminds me of a quote given in the April 2005 Conference. A member asked Brigham Young, "how are we going to get all of the temple work done when we have so much to do." Brigham replied, "in the future the Lord will develop things that will make it so that people don't have to spend all of their time working in fields. With that extra time, they'll be able to accomplish a lot more temple work." Anyway, we need to figure out a schedule (and get a babysitter) so we can get to the temple once a month.
He also read from D.C. 52:14 (which he mentioned Pres. Packer quotes a lot).
14And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth adeceiving the nations—
Elder Rasband taught that we need to develop positive patterns of going to the temple. Agreed.
Sister Rosemary Wixom
She made a few good comments. Here's one. She mentioned that small daily habits can really make a difference in our children's lives. She used mealtime prayers as an example. Since I have kids now and a slightly different perspective on prayers, I appreciated that example. If we could really show gratitude every meal for the food we have, that would instill more humility in my kids, I believe. I remember learning this on the mission. When I was a kid I thought, "whether we bless the food or not, the food's still going to be there and will still give us the same nutrition." It wasn't until the mission that I learned it's not a foregone conclusion that food will be on the table. I hope to teach that to my kids earlier than I learned it. Mealtime prayer can potentially do this.
Pres. Packer
He quoted something I've heard at least 2-3 times now from him. Terrific line - "the entire purpose of the church is to make it so that a man, his wife, and their children, can be happy at home." He said roughly, be wise choosing what you decide to participate in, even some church activities, as the purpose of the church is to build the home and family. Interesting comment. The gospel is simple. He also suggested we should be prayerful about which activities we decide participate in. I don't do that but should. In general I need to be more prayerful about things (and plan my prayers better).
Pres. Eyring
The grand finale: SO GOOD!!! First of all, if you took away every spiritual experience I've ever had and only gave me those associated with Pres. Eyring, I still think that the only conclusion I could come to is that the church is true and Jesus Christ lives and there's a prophet on the Earth. Between this talk today and the time I listened to him live back at BYU in a group of about 200-300, I've had some powerful spiritual experiences listening to the man.
He started by saying that his purpose for the talk was to help us better follow the living prophet. He said that most would not have the chance to physically be in the presence of the Prophet but that they could still come to know He is God's living prophet by reading his words and listening to him with faith. With ears to hear, we can hear God's instruction through them. Often prophets simply make statements or give subtle opinions. Those are things we should listen to. One example:
Pres. Eyring was a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric in charge of the church's investments. One day the First Presidency were talking and he overheard their conversation about how the stock market was likely inflated and that there would be a correction in the market. They gave no specific counsel or instruction, but he decided to shift the church's equities into more safe investments. Just as they finished making the transition, there was a market correction (I'm thinking this was in the late 80's, but we could research that some more.) and the stock market fell. A guy from a Japanese fund that handled some of the church's investments flew to Utah to ask Pres. Eyring why he moved his money away from stocks as the church was the only one of their clients who made the transition out of stocks before the market fell. The man wanted to know why Pres. Eyring had shifted the money from equities to safer investments. Interesting. My main takeaway is: know all the words of the prophets and follow them. Know the "subtle" suggestions very well. Know the prophet's last few talks. Follow his counsel.
This reminds me of another story Pres. Eyring told recently. He said that he heard the counsel of the living prophet to get out of debt and felt that he should try to pay off his house. He could find no way to do it, but then he remembered that he had a property in Palo Alto (where he lived when he taught at Stanford) that no one had been interested in, but perhaps he could sell it. He called the agent in charge of the listing, and the agent said, "no one has called about that thing in a couple of years, but just this weekend someone came in and made an offer." The offer was for exactly the amount needed to pay off the Eyring's house and get them out of debt. Those who have eyes to see and eyes to hear the words of the prophet and want to follow them will be given the means to do so.
Back to today's talk:
Pres. Eyring also shared this story at the beginning of his talk: he was flown in to see the First Presidency when they interviewed him to become the president of Ricks College. He met in the First Presidency's room. First he was talking with President Harold B. Lee and President N. Eldon Tanner, counselors in the First Presidency. After a while, President Joseph Fielding Smith, the prophet, slowly walked in and sat between his counselors. Pres. Eyring said that there was nothing spectacular or splendid about seeing him. He felt nothing unusual. Then Pres. Lee recapped their conversation to Pres. Smith. Pres. Smith simply listened. Then Pres. Lee tapped Pres. Smith on the left knee and asked Pres. Eyring, "do you believe this man is a prophet of God?" Pres. Eyring then felt a warm feeling come over him, and he said, "I know this man is a prophet of God." He realized that it was through the previous experience he had had listening to Pres. Smith and feeling the Spirit and not actually seeing Pres. Smith (for Pres. Eyring felt nothing upon seeing the Prophet) that allowed Pres. Eyring to say with honest conviction, "I know this man is a Prophet of God." Great lesson for those of you who like myself won't ever be in the physical presence of the prophet.
Then Pres. Eyring quoted Henry D. Moyle who said roughly, "as more and more time goes on I give gratitude for current scripture. Adam's words did not tell Noah to build a boat, and so it is in our time. We need current scripture, and that's the scripture I care most about." Interestingly, that quote makes me think a lot. The emphasis on knowing the words of the current Prophet and adjusting life according to his words is something I have to do. Also, perhaps I need to lead my discussions about the church more often with, "we have a prophet like Moses or Noah and this year he has taught us about X, Y, and Z."
Pres. Eyring then mentioned that when he was 14 his family moved from Princeton, New Jersey to Utah. At the time, a friend told him that it would be tough to move to Utah because as he came to know the Brethren (term for the top church leaders) more personally he would find it more difficult to believe what they taught. However, his experience was that the opposite has happened. As he has come to know them better, he has only become more convinced that they are literally Prophets of God.
He told a few more stories. Pres. Monson gave a talk several years ago suggesting we need to not make our wants needs and that it's vital to live within our means. He specifically cited the need to not buy a house that requires two incomes because things change, people lose jobs, children are born, and the house that requires two incomes can quickly cost too much and ruin finances. That was very timely advice considering our current economy.
Pres. Eyring once listened to President Kimball speak at BYU-Idaho when Pres. Eyring was President there. As a younger man Pres. Eyring had read the first few chapters of "The Miracle of Forgiveness" and felt like it was very harsh. He even asked people if they liked the book. When the people he asked said they did, Pres. Eyring thought, "did they really read that book?" At BYU-Idaho Pres. Kimball shared many of the same messages as were in his book and did so very well. Pres. Eyring enjoyed the message. After speaking, Pres. Eyring noticed that Pres. Kimball took a pill and was shaking quite a bit. He was clearly in very poor health but nevertheless spoke for over an hour. Also, after Pres. Kimball spoke, he asked Pres. Eyring, "how did I do?" Pres. Eyring said, "wonderfully." Pres. Kimball replied, "that's not what I want to hear. Did they hear me, or was I too tough?" He was extremely concerned that his message was heard, not that he'd given a great speech. He was incredibly concerned. Pres. Eyring lamented that it had taken him so long to realize that the words written by Pres. Kimball were words of love and guidance, not words intended to crush him or make him feel guilty.
Also, Pres. Eyring found himself reporting to Pres. Kimball and Pres. Benson when they both were too sick to get out of bed a few days before they died. Each time after he reported on his journey to do the work of the Lord, both of them said, "Next time please take me with you." Even though they were hurting so badly, they wanted to be with the people. Pres. Eyring clearly conveyed that prophets care deeply about the children of the Lord throughout the earth.
Another piece of counsel Pres. Eyring gave is to read as many accounts as possible of those who have been in the physical presence of the Prophet and their interactions with him. I want to do that more. This brings to mind a couple of things. I listened to Pres. Monson's devotional he gave at BYU a couple years ago.
In it he speaks about his interactions with the prophets. It's worth going back and listening to that again and considering what messages he was trying to get across. In particular, he would never speak about himself and say, "I'm so important. Listen to me because God speaks through me." However, by focusing so much on the past Prophets, perhaps he was giving insight into how vital that calling is or how much that calling has changed him. Also, I recently listened to an interview of Susan Easton Black on the Mormon Channel.
She tells the story of when she snuck into Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) and knocked on every door until she got to the Prophet's door and her experience talking with Pres. McKay. Very cool story.
Anyway, this was a long post. The point was to share the stories that Pres. Eyring told about the living prophet. I really loved the talk. He was captivating. I believe everything that guy says because of how I feel when he speaks and the terrific lessons he teaches by sharing personal stories that provide insight into the gospel. If any of the stories don't make sense or cause a question, it's because I've poorly repeated the story and not because of anything he said.
I'm going to try to post one brief scripture thought per day. Feel free to comment if you'd like but I'm really writing this for three reasons. 1) It'll help me study better. 2) It'll keep the gospel more at the forefront of my mind. 3) Perhaps someone will read it someday and it will answer a question or inspire them to ask more about the church or have more faith in the Savior and his gospel and church on the earth.
LaDon