1 Nephi 16: 10 states:
"And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness."
I wonder what the other spindle pointed to...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Pinocchio
What, you ask, does Pinocchio have to do with the gospel? Lots.
If you've never read the book by Carlo Collodi, the first thing you must know is that it is different than the Disney movie. For one, Jiminy Cricket shows up in chapter four, and two pages later is smashed by a hammer (thrown by Pinocchio). The cricket does show up a few other times throughout the book (as a ghost), and is one of the voices of warning.
The Blue Fairy is different in the book too. We first meet her as a child with blue hair. Later she is a woman with blue hair, and occasionally she is a goat or other creature with blue hair. She acts as "momma" to Pinocchio, and shows up much more frequently than the cricket (who has no name).
Geppetto is Pinocchio's father and loves him dearly. He is also dirt poor, and sells the coat off his back in order to buy a spelling book for Pinocchio.
One night, towards the beginning of the book, Pinocchio was getting himself into a scrape (it was not the first time either, because he was not a very well-behaved puppet), but just at the moment when all hope would be lost, he calls out for his father.
"Humph!" I thought. "That is so presumptuous of him, to go against all his father's counsel and then call out to his father in his hour of need."
Then I said, "Oh." I do that too.
The book is a wonderful allegory for the plan of salvation, and our time on earth. Pinocchio's goal is to become a "real boy," a human like his father. He messes up a lot, sometimes because he's innocent, sometimes not, and he struggles and repents and makes up for it, and ultimately he is rewarded by becoming a real boy.
I'd go into more detail, but I think you get the idea. You should read the book. I loved it.
If you've never read the book by Carlo Collodi, the first thing you must know is that it is different than the Disney movie. For one, Jiminy Cricket shows up in chapter four, and two pages later is smashed by a hammer (thrown by Pinocchio). The cricket does show up a few other times throughout the book (as a ghost), and is one of the voices of warning.
The Blue Fairy is different in the book too. We first meet her as a child with blue hair. Later she is a woman with blue hair, and occasionally she is a goat or other creature with blue hair. She acts as "momma" to Pinocchio, and shows up much more frequently than the cricket (who has no name).
Geppetto is Pinocchio's father and loves him dearly. He is also dirt poor, and sells the coat off his back in order to buy a spelling book for Pinocchio.
One night, towards the beginning of the book, Pinocchio was getting himself into a scrape (it was not the first time either, because he was not a very well-behaved puppet), but just at the moment when all hope would be lost, he calls out for his father.
"Humph!" I thought. "That is so presumptuous of him, to go against all his father's counsel and then call out to his father in his hour of need."
Then I said, "Oh." I do that too.
The book is a wonderful allegory for the plan of salvation, and our time on earth. Pinocchio's goal is to become a "real boy," a human like his father. He messes up a lot, sometimes because he's innocent, sometimes not, and he struggles and repents and makes up for it, and ultimately he is rewarded by becoming a real boy.
I'd go into more detail, but I think you get the idea. You should read the book. I loved it.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Preach My Gospel: 1
I recently read this section in the first chapter of Preach My Gospel, and wanted to share it. I've edited it to apply to members who are not serving full-time missions:
A Successful Missionary
Your success as a missionary [or member, or person, or anything] is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.
Avoid comparing yourself to other [people] and measuring the outward results of your efforts against theirs. Remember that people have agency to choose whether to accept [you or who you are or the things that you do and represent]. Your responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they can make a correct choice. Some may not accept your message [or agree with you] even when they have received a spiritual witness that it is true. You will be saddened because you love them and desire their salvation. You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit.
You can know you have been a successful [person] when you:
• Feel the Spirit testify to people through you.
• Love people and desire their salvation.
• Obey with exactness.
• Live so that you can receive and know how to follow the Spirit, who will show you where to go, what to do, and what to say.
• Develop Christlike attributes.
• Work effectively every day, do your very best to bring souls to Christ, and seek earnestly to learn and improve.
• Help build up the Church (the ward) wherever you are assigned to work.
• Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments. [This is harder when you're not a missionary or a prophet, but can include speaking out to family members, and extending commitments to others you are involved with, such as those you visit/home teach.]
• Teach and serve other missionaries.
• Go about doing good and serving people at every opportunity, whether or not they accept your message [or service].
When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself. You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you.
Isn't that a great message? I love it. Don't get discouraged. Success is measure by commitment. That applies to so many aspects of my life, not just the gospel.
A Successful Missionary
Your success as a missionary [or member, or person, or anything] is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.
Avoid comparing yourself to other [people] and measuring the outward results of your efforts against theirs. Remember that people have agency to choose whether to accept [you or who you are or the things that you do and represent]. Your responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they can make a correct choice. Some may not accept your message [or agree with you] even when they have received a spiritual witness that it is true. You will be saddened because you love them and desire their salvation. You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit.
You can know you have been a successful [person] when you:
• Feel the Spirit testify to people through you.
• Love people and desire their salvation.
• Obey with exactness.
• Live so that you can receive and know how to follow the Spirit, who will show you where to go, what to do, and what to say.
• Develop Christlike attributes.
• Work effectively every day, do your very best to bring souls to Christ, and seek earnestly to learn and improve.
• Help build up the Church (the ward) wherever you are assigned to work.
• Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments. [This is harder when you're not a missionary or a prophet, but can include speaking out to family members, and extending commitments to others you are involved with, such as those you visit/home teach.]
• Teach and serve other missionaries.
• Go about doing good and serving people at every opportunity, whether or not they accept your message [or service].
When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself. You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you.
Isn't that a great message? I love it. Don't get discouraged. Success is measure by commitment. That applies to so many aspects of my life, not just the gospel.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
James 1:3: Patience
James 1:3 is a short verse (in order to form the complete sentence, I've included verse 2 as well):
2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
I find it interesting that James mentions it is the trying of our faith that "worketh patience," and not the trying of our strength, or talents, or intelligence.
As my faith is tried, ultimately I receive the reward for remaining faithful. This helps to increase my faith, so that next time my faith is tried, I know that by patiently remaining faithful, I will see the promised blessings.
A trial of any sort requires patience, but perhaps the best way to gain patience is by exercising faith.
2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
I find it interesting that James mentions it is the trying of our faith that "worketh patience," and not the trying of our strength, or talents, or intelligence.
As my faith is tried, ultimately I receive the reward for remaining faithful. This helps to increase my faith, so that next time my faith is tried, I know that by patiently remaining faithful, I will see the promised blessings.
A trial of any sort requires patience, but perhaps the best way to gain patience is by exercising faith.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Supreme Being
I sometimes think about whether or not there is a God or whether or not there is life after death, and that sort of thing. This is not because I am doubting, but because I like to try to see things from many points of view, to test out the various theories to discover truth.
I do not understand why anyone would choose to not believe in God.
If I did not believe in God, all I would have to believe in would be myself, and heaven knows that's not very encouraging news at all. I'm not the fastest or the strongest or the smartest or the most brilliant or the most beautiful of anything. I'm weak, if you want to know the truth. If I don't believe in God, I will never be enough. One person is so pitifully small. What can I do? I can never accomplish everything that I want to accomplish in this life. I will always be overwhelmed and overcome.
But if I do believe in God, I have something more than my own strength upon which to rely. If I am weak it does not matter, because Heavenly Father will make me strong enough to meet my challenges. If I am sad there is always hope in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection and eternal life and the love of God. If I am wronged I know there will eventually be a right. Everything balances out. Faith blossoms in the soul. Life is laced with hope.
In the Book of Mormon, when the people forgot God and boasted of their own strength, they were left to their own strength (Helaman 4:13). But the people who remembered God, who believed in God and made him an active part of their lives, those people were strengthened beyond their own capacity.
For me, I must believe in God. Nothing else makes sense. How else could justice prevail and all wrongs be righted? I cannot believe that everything in this earth is just random, that strength and wealth and popularity really are the best ends to strive for, that although I feel and think and love and exist it is all worth nothing because eventually I'll die. No. There must be a point. There is a point. There must be someone in charge, and there is.
Of course there's a God. It only makes sense.
I do not understand why anyone would choose to not believe in God.
If I did not believe in God, all I would have to believe in would be myself, and heaven knows that's not very encouraging news at all. I'm not the fastest or the strongest or the smartest or the most brilliant or the most beautiful of anything. I'm weak, if you want to know the truth. If I don't believe in God, I will never be enough. One person is so pitifully small. What can I do? I can never accomplish everything that I want to accomplish in this life. I will always be overwhelmed and overcome.
But if I do believe in God, I have something more than my own strength upon which to rely. If I am weak it does not matter, because Heavenly Father will make me strong enough to meet my challenges. If I am sad there is always hope in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection and eternal life and the love of God. If I am wronged I know there will eventually be a right. Everything balances out. Faith blossoms in the soul. Life is laced with hope.
In the Book of Mormon, when the people forgot God and boasted of their own strength, they were left to their own strength (Helaman 4:13). But the people who remembered God, who believed in God and made him an active part of their lives, those people were strengthened beyond their own capacity.
For me, I must believe in God. Nothing else makes sense. How else could justice prevail and all wrongs be righted? I cannot believe that everything in this earth is just random, that strength and wealth and popularity really are the best ends to strive for, that although I feel and think and love and exist it is all worth nothing because eventually I'll die. No. There must be a point. There is a point. There must be someone in charge, and there is.
Of course there's a God. It only makes sense.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Alma 1 and 2: The Amlicites
I flipped to Alma 1 the other day (v. 19-33), and found it rather interesting:
The Nephites were persecuted for their humility, but some of them were proud and fought back (v. 22). Because of the growing contention, many members were excommunicated or fell away (v. 24). This was a trying time for the steadfast members of the church, but the good news is that the people who bore their trials with patience, and who exercised Christ-like love to their neighbors, were sustained and prospered.
Things got more interesting in chapter 2:
Amlicites versus Nephites: Amlici wants to be king (I wonder how many of the apostate Nephites were Amlicites...), but according to Nephite law, such a step would have to be voted upon.
A vote was taken.
Guess who won? Not Amlici.
The Amlicites were upset. They didn't like the way the vote had turned out. So instead of accepting the vote of the people, they decided to call Amlici their king anyway, and kill anyone who disagreed with them.
There was a battle. A few battles, actually. I'll spoil the ending for you and tell you who won: the Nephites. Even when the Amlicites joined up with the Lamanite armies, the Nephites won.
Why? Because the Nephites were righteous, so "the Lord did strengthen the hand of the Nephites" (v. 18). They were obedient. They didn't fight except to defend their lives and their families. Thousands of Nephites died in the battle, but they did ultimately win, and the Amlicites eventually gave up and ran away.
What can I learn from this? Keep the commandments, be faithful and obedient, love my neighbor. The Lord will take care of the rest.
The Nephites were persecuted for their humility, but some of them were proud and fought back (v. 22). Because of the growing contention, many members were excommunicated or fell away (v. 24). This was a trying time for the steadfast members of the church, but the good news is that the people who bore their trials with patience, and who exercised Christ-like love to their neighbors, were sustained and prospered.
Things got more interesting in chapter 2:
Amlicites versus Nephites: Amlici wants to be king (I wonder how many of the apostate Nephites were Amlicites...), but according to Nephite law, such a step would have to be voted upon.
A vote was taken.
Guess who won? Not Amlici.
The Amlicites were upset. They didn't like the way the vote had turned out. So instead of accepting the vote of the people, they decided to call Amlici their king anyway, and kill anyone who disagreed with them.
There was a battle. A few battles, actually. I'll spoil the ending for you and tell you who won: the Nephites. Even when the Amlicites joined up with the Lamanite armies, the Nephites won.
Why? Because the Nephites were righteous, so "the Lord did strengthen the hand of the Nephites" (v. 18). They were obedient. They didn't fight except to defend their lives and their families. Thousands of Nephites died in the battle, but they did ultimately win, and the Amlicites eventually gave up and ran away.
What can I learn from this? Keep the commandments, be faithful and obedient, love my neighbor. The Lord will take care of the rest.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Faith To Be Healed
When we receive a blessing to be healed from a physical ailment, we are told that it is by our faith that we are healed, in addition to the power of the priesthood and God's will. I wonder if that faith part means not only faith in the fact that we will be healed, but faith in Christ in general. As we are healed, we have to continue exercising faith in Christ to heal all aspects of our lives, not just the one illness we have overcome.
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