On Days when the Sun doesn't seem to rise
all the day is dusk
it is easy to get discouraged
if we lose sight of our hope
when all seems lost
mount one last defense
go out with glory
gird your armor about you
raise your standard
sound your trumpet
Ride out!
And there on the east horizon
like the dawn
The White Rider
with legions of Angels
come to our aid
But first we must ride out
Today for lunch we were meeting with the lady in charge of the Pequot Lakes Food Shelf. She was telling us about how she has interviewed a lot of people about their needs and situations and how each situation is a set of unique and extraordinary circumstances. And then she told this story:
I talked with a homeless woman, her situation just broke my heart and I invited her to come to my house (which I don't do very often because I am not allowed to) and then I was called into the office for some reason and when I came back she was gone.
I worried about her and prayed for her every night. She came back about 6 months later and gave me a big hug. She said because I had shown her kindness, she had decided she could get a job. After searching for a while she found one, and then she started saving money and was finally able to find a place to rent and stop living in her truck.
What an amazing example of what President Monson meant when he counseled us to "Never let a problem to be solved be more important than the person to be loved."
D&C 121
Sorry, I'm writing this with kids literally sitting on my computer, because yelling at them to get off my lap so I can write about the principles of righteousness seems kind of self-defeating.
VS 34-36
35: heart set on the things of the world... honors of men
And I pause and ask myself why do I seek to grow this business?
and my answer is simple: I seek to grow it so I, and the other people in it, will not have to worry about magically finding money for retirement, kid's college, or health care, in many respects it is to secure those dignities for myself and my children that many other countries provide for their people. I do not have my eyes on prizes of riches, no fancy cars or houses, or even East Coast Colleges, but just enough not to have to worry about the budget every time we want to do something.
And another reason to grow it is because it will be an adventure.
Vs 36 though is what caused me to post. The concept that the principles of righteousness control the powers of heaven. Is that like the laws of physics to control m movement in this mortal existence? Then of course what are they? We probably know what they are, but just haven't classified them as such.
My guess would be charity, kindness, long suffering, purity.
let me ponder that a bit more
Will you abide in my covenant, or will you give?
at the slightest pressure?
a bagel on fast Sunday
When teased at school or questioned by a friend
what is religion good for anyways?
When I ask for more than you think you can give
time on a weeknight?
How about nap time on Sundays?
Raise another child?
Transform your home to be a place to teach the gospel? Hold Sacrament? Sew masks?
Maybe request money
All good? You are strong enough?
level up
persecutions
pollutions
Even unto death
Will you abide this covenant?
That is the name of the game
not wealth, not ease, not happiness or peace as the world giveth
by as I give you
Abide with me
in the covenate
Build a new world
The old one is passing away'
So our focus should not be on extending the life of the old, but the ushering in of the new
and that is what we should teach our kids, not how to live in the current world (unless that is what they are navigating, but that's just the adults) but the building of the new.
Shan should do geneology/indexing every day for schoolwork. Along with writing and math.
In D&C 88 there are verses depicting events before and after the second coming, then it details the resurrection. How are those of the first resurrection chosen? I think we will choose ourselves. At the first trump, those who are anxious to serve Christ will rise and show up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to work in his kingdom, they will be so excited they won't even think about what it means about their rating or eternal salvation. They will do it because Christ called them.
The ones that wait for the second trump need more prodding. They are not as anxious but will do what is right if prodded enough.
Those who wait until the third trump are not anxious in the good way, but the bad, they know they don't want to serve, they know that their results will not be as cool as they could have been.
talking to the kids about how Covid is back to its winter glory, and they were asking "When will it end?"
I replied, according to my study in the D&C and NT this week "Probably not until Christ comes."
5-year-old pipes up "Christ is coming? Hurray!!"
Hurrah indeed, now to make sure we are standing in Holy Places to survive all the fun until then.
