4/13/2017 - Section 11:15-30

April 13, 2017

Section 11:15-30

Life Plans, Service, Bloom Where You Are Planted, Priorities, When Life Gets In the Way, Daily Life,

I’ve felt myself in an interesting place this last bit of time. I kept thinking that in coming to Bend we were putting our life on ‘hold’ while acknowledging the highest priority of our family: that of helping Alex in her fight with stomach cancer. We came here with everything we would need for our missions, and planned to process mission papers from here in Bend when Alex no longer had need for our support. I also came with serious projects that I would work on during the times Alex did not need me. But I’m finding that it is impossible to put a life on ‘hold’. Church callings continue to come. We started out talking with our bishop and telling him we would support the ward all we could, but wanted to keep our time available for Alex and the kids. So we had no callings for 6 weeks, except for Bob’s home teaching assignments. Then a temporary stake calling came for me. It was time consuming. It had lovely aspects and frustrating aspects. It was completed in 3 months. But by then we found that neither Alex nor the kids ever needed our help on Sunday mornings. We both felt we should make ourselves available for a Sunday calling. Now I am teaching relief society just once a month, but the preparation takes me so long. And as of last Sunday, I’m a visiting teacher with a companion who seems not to want to be contacted. Oh, and there’s the missionary meal calendar so I plan and cook a big meal just once a month for the sisters. We’re trying hard to stay healthy, so we add an hour or so a day for exercise. Then we have house cleaning for two families and laundry for two families—but that’s fine for that’s what we came here for. My scripture studying usually keeps me spiritual grounded, but that grows to an hour plus when I think I’ve only been here 15 minutes.  Oh, and there’s the 60 CEU’s I decided to do online just so my nursing license wouldn’t expire until 2021. So basically, what I’m trying to say is that there is no way to put one’s life ‘on hold’. Life continues. Being part of a family AND part of a community AND part of a neighborhood IS life.

But I’m feeling that I have so very little time for my family history and genealogy projects that I thought would blossom here. And there are many times I feel that I irritate Alex & the kids more than I help them. I ask the Lord what more I can do, but at the same time I’m thinking that I can’t do any thing more. I feel stopped and unproductive (at least unproductive in the things I had so much hope to accomplish).

And then I read “…according to your desires, yea, even according to your faith shall it be done unto you.    Keep my commandment; hold your peace; appeal unto my Spirit….Yea, cleave unto me with all your heart, that you may assist…be patient until you shall accomplish it.   Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea , with all your might, mind and strength.  Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word…then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word….But now hold your peace; study my word….treasure up in your heat until the time which is in my wisdom that you shall go forth….. Behold I speak unto all who have good desires, and have thrust in their sickle to reap.” (my own selections from v’s 17-27)

I have my plans for my life. I work to make those plans a reality. And yet, other unexpected things come into play. This is not a detour, it is MY life. It doesn’t matter where or how I do good, just that I work to do good wherever I am. My job now is to look at all the unplanned things simply as ways I can serve. Service is my desire. Why should I worry about the form it takes, or where it takes place? I should only worry about doing my best, about being able to maintain--and grow—my relationship with the Lord, and about listening for the promptings of the spirit and reacting to those promptings immediately.

V 25: “Deny not the spirit of revelation, nor the spirit of prophecy…” Hugh B Brown (it is while reading his book that I felt I should marry Bob) said: “The things of God can only be understood by the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God is a revealing spirit.”

P 25: “In Moses 1:39 the Lord says, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” whereas to Hyrum the Lord says, “This is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength” (D&C 11:20)….Only by keeping the Lord’s commandment can one show love for the Lord and accomplish His work.”

And so I end today, so thankful that, again, the scriptures have brought more light to my understanding and to my path: v 30 “…verily, verily [truly, truly] I say unto you, that as many as receive me, to them will I give power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on my name. Amen” And I do truly believe—not only on His name—but on His power and His wisdom and His guidance and His love, for I feel it when I am on my knees and at times when I’m simply about the business of my day—a thrill that I am forever thankful for.

2/5/2021 - D&C 11

I’m going a bit slower with my scripture studies on this time through the D&C. I am going through the section, as I usually do, but now I often try to go back to that section the day after I have studied it and see how others have seen these same scriptures. Like today, I found a quote from Joseph Fielding Smith, who gave a wonderful explanation of the nature of Hyrum’s gift: “The Lord declared that Hyrum Smith had a gift. The great gift which he possessed was that of a tender, sympathetic heart; a merciful spirit.” I never thought of that as a gift, but what a wonderful gift to have. I think that description is a good definition of charity. And v 10 gives us a very important view and reminder: Hyrum’s gift was not promised unconditionally. It would come only after he exercised faith in Jesus Christ—which Hyrum most certainly did…in his thoughts and in his actions. 

In v’s 12-14 the Lord tells Hyrum to “put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.”  President Lorenzo Snow taught of the powerful influence that following the Spirit can have on one’s life: “There is a way by which persons can keep their consciences clear before God and man, and that is to preserve within them the spirit of God, which is the spirit of revelation to every man and woman. It will reveal to them, even in the simplest of matters, what they shall do, by making suggestions to them. We should try to learn the nature of this spirit, that we may understand its suggestions, and then we will always be able to do right. This is the grand privilege of every Latter-day Saint. We know that it is our right to have the manifestations of the spirit every day of our lives. … From the time we receive the Gospel, go down into the waters of baptism and have hands laid upon us afterwards for the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have a friend, if we do not drive it from us by doing wrong. That friend is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, which partakes of the things of God and shows them unto us. This is a grand means that the Lord has provided for us, that we may know the light, and not be groveling continually in the dark.” 

I loved Daniel Ludlow’s view of v’s 15-16 where the Lord gives Hyrum Smith several steps to be followed in preparing for a mission—but I think these steps would help me at any time during my life because they merely bring us closer to the Lord, and the Holy Ghost. (This just puts the scriptures into a step-by-step process which is very much like my mind works.)

1. Desire to serve the Lord. (11:10, 17.)

2. Live worthily to receive the Spirit of the Lord so it can ‘enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.’ (11:13.)

3. Keep the commandments of the Lord, assisting in the work of the Lord in any way that you might be asked. (11:18–20.)

4. Seek to obtain the word of the Lord through (a) studying the word of the Lord that had already gone forth—the Bible—and (b) studying the word of the Lord that was then being translated—the Book of Mormon. (11:21–22.)

5. Build upon the gospel, denying not either the spirit of revelation nor the spirit of prophecy. (11:24–25.)

The Lord indicates further that these suggestions are for ‘all who have good desires’ to serve. (11:27.)

2/6/2021 – D&C 11

The yearly Come Follow Me program gives us plenty of time for study on most of these sections. So I get to look at yet another angle in D&C 11. 

The following is from Emily Belle Freeman’s book Don’t Miss This in the Doctrine & Covenants. “If you feel prompted to do something good, you can trust it is the Spirit. If you feel inspired to choose right over wrong, most likely the Spirit. If you are filled with humility or you are led to discover the good in someone, there’s a good chance it’s the Spirit. In those moments when your mind fills with inspiration that isn’t your own, or when you feel an increase of joy, you are most likely feeling the Spirit. Every time I read that list, I realize that the Spirit is playing a larger role in my life than I often realize. It is a gift for which I am intensely grateful.” 

V 12 of this section sums this up pretty nicely: “Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good…”