Prayer, The Access To Heaven's Portal

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed
The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast. (Hymns, No. 145)

The words of that familiar hymn have been impressed upon my mind this week. From the dawn of creation prayer has given all of God's children direct access to Him. Prayers do not go through some intermediary like the Virgin Mary, the Savior Jesus Christ, or the beads of a rosary. Prayers are direct communication with our Heavenly Father, even the Great Elohim. We pray to God the Father in the name of God the Son, by the power of God the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the universal language between God and His children. It matters not what color our skin, which nationality we claim or which denomination. The clean, the unclean, the rich, the poor, the mighty and the humble all have an open invitation to pray. All that is necessary is the desire to reach out to our Higher Power for help, anytime, anywhere, and in whatever circumstance we find ourselves.

It was the Apostle Paul who reminded us:

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 3:16, emphasis mine).

Paul has admonished us to have faith in the perfection of Christ's atoning sacrifice for all His Father's children in these words:

"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

"Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

"For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted." (Hebrews 2:16-18).

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma assures us, speaking of Christ's mortal ministry:

"And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

"And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." (Alma 7:11-12).

The Greek equivalent of "succor" is literally "to run quickly to help." Christ descended below all things as a mortal so He would know HOW to succor us when we encountered situations in which we need to cry out in our desperation for help.

Of course, prayer is also a way in which we can thank our Heavenly Father for all our blessings in acknowledgement of His abundant blessings we enjoy during our sojourn in mortality. There are so many people who ignore this facet of the diamond of prayer. It's easier perhaps to cry out in need when things are going badly, but much harder to remember God in the days of our abundance and prosperity. The Book of Mormon is replete with stories about those who turned to God in need, then forgot Him in the very moment they were blessed and turned away.

Try this experiment sometime. When you kneel to pray, spend your time on thanking Heavenly Father for all your blessings, and name them one by one. Don't simply go down your checklist of prayer requests, instead, confine yourself to acknowledging all the blessings you have observed in your life. See how long you can stay in the attitude of prayer. Then when you arise from your knees go about your day with a song in your heart and continue counting your blessings. I would hope you develop a new appreciation for all that God has done to bless you, and cease to view Him as a heavenly vending machine for blessings.

One of my contemporary heroes was always Hugh Nibley. Toward the end of his interview called Faith of An Observer, Nibley concluded that all he learned during his life (and it was a prodigious amount of knowledge) could be summarized into getting really good at two things: repentance and forgiveness. When it is most difficult to forgive another, focus on your blessings and the gifts you have received from Heavenly Father. The first gift He offered to all of us was the Light of Christ, then later the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Those are gifts of inestimable value to assist us on our quest for eternal life. When you focus on gratitude and offer back that gratitude in prayer, it will be much easier to repent of our failings and to forgive others of theirs. 

"And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, that ye may walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received.

"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need; both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

"And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works. 

"And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out.

"And now my beloved brethren, I have spoken these words unto you according to the Spirit which testifieth in me; and my soul doth exceedingly rejoice, because of the exceeding diligence and heed which ye have given unto my word.

"And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women and your children, according to your faith and good works, from this time forth and forever. And thus I have spoken. Amen." (Alma 7:22-27).

Today our youngest grandson was blessed and given his name by his father Michael Litchfield in a home of his aunt on the shores of Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. The blessing was attended by only a hand-fold of relatives from among a huge extended family on both sides. How grateful we were today for the miracle of face-time technology that permitted us to listen in  and watch remotely from many miles away. Nolan Michael Litchfield was blessed by his father in the authority of the Holy Priesthood, not merely prayed over, and it was a beautiful and powerful blessing. 

Tonight, as we do every night, we will thank our Heavenly Father once again upon bended knees in prayer for the blessing of a righteous posterity. Truly we have been blessed abundantly, and we rejoice!

(Look for Mark Pahnke, the handsome young man in a yellow tie, who is also our nephew).

A Heart Filled with Thanksgiving

This year, as we approach another national day of Thanksgiving in America, we have two LDS missionaries from our family who are currently serving. Our eldest grandson, Izach, is serving in the Iowa Des Moines Mission, and our youngest daughter, Merilee, is serving in the Washington D.C. South Mission. Their service, like that of all their counterparts around the world, represents a free gift of love as they share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As their families who remain behind at home, we feel the blessings as they give of themselves.

I share my latest thoughts with both of them here:

Dear Elder Izach:
Dear Sister Merilee:

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s my favorite holiday, I think, since Christmas now more than ever is overrunning any and all considerations in the USA. I couldn’t believe the Christmas decorations and displays in all the retail outlets that began appearing this year earlier than ever – before Halloween!

We sometimes forget to remember to be grateful. Now more than ever I recognize how blessed I am, and how thankful I am for all I have. Chief among those blessings are our children, their spouses and grandchildren. There is no greater gift from God than a righteous posterity in whom we have received so much joy.

The knowledge of the gospel and what it is and how we implement it into our lives individually each day through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ unto repentance, making it possible to lay aside our sins and walk in a newness of life in the Spirit day by day is the very essence of our existence. Imagine life without that precious knowledge!

Faith, giving rise to hope of eternal life, producing the pure love of Christ in our lives is powerful doctrine. I have truly become a simpleton as I grow older – I am constrained to acknowledge that when we distill life into its purest essence it is not difficult or complicated or complex at all – it is simple!

We are all God’s spirit children having a brief mortal probation clothed in bodies of flesh and blood, He loves us, we must learn to love each other, then we return to live in the Spirit eternally. If we qualify through our faithfulness we live Eternal’s life, since Eternal is one of the names we apply to our Father in Heaven.

I know when we were all together in the spirit world before we came to live here, we enthusiastically supported the proposed plan of salvation – there was no wavering on our parts, because we wanted mortality. I know we all shouted for joy at the prospects of coming here, that we embraced our Elder Brother as the Firstborn Son, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, when we raised our arms to the square and sustained Him in the role of Redeemer, Savior and Messiah.

We knew the Gods personally – God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Testator – even the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. We walked with them, we were taught all that we needed to know, then we came to earth. We began life just as little Emma did (she was with us overnight this weekend, along with Andrew and Jessica) did not long ago. As infants pure and innocent, sent straight to earth from the Father of us all to inhabit a mortal body of flesh and bone and blood, they come trailing clouds of glory.

In our mortal bodies are sown the seeds of corruption from the beginning of our existence. Entropy (the tendency of all things to decay and die) took root in us as it does in everything the temporal eye can see.

Satan sought us out from the very moment of our births. We became subject to his temptations, his wiles, his lies, and his deceptions. He sought to destroy our innocence. He succeeded. Until we were eight these things mattered little to us, since we were not accountable before God for our wrong choices, but then we turned eight.

We were baptized, and we took upon ourselves the sacred covenants of baptism and membership in the kingdom of God here upon the earth. The promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost was held out to us, indeed we were commanded to “receive the Holy Ghost.” Only our willingness to submit our lives as true disciples enabled us to fulfill the commandment.

Only when we truly come unto Christ through our faith on Him can we truly be saved and sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost and His sanctifying power to purify our hearts. In and of ourselves we have no power. We do not set a goal to be good, then strive for its accomplishment on our own. There is nothing about us in our fallen condition that is good, virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy or righteous. On our own we are a miserable wreck of carnality and depravity. Without the grace and mercy and love of a God incarnate in the form of Christ, we would be lost forever in our sins.

If there is anything good in us, it is only because of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that has come to dwell in us. We are only pure vessels as a worthy habitation for His presence when we have repented, truly repented, of our sins.

Knowing of our tendency toward entropy and backsliding, the saving ordinance of the sacrament was introduced by a loving Savior the night before His agonizing crucifixion outside the city walls of Jerusalem on Golgotha’s hill.

Each week in sacrament meeting we are put in remembrance of His body which was slain and His precious blood which was spilt for each of us. In His agonizing death and burial, then subsequent glorious resurrection on the first Sabbath morning of the third day, we find hope for ourselves to be elevated from our fallen mortal condition to a resurrection of glory comparable to Eternal’s resurrection.

We aspire as saints and disciples of Christ living in the last days to become as Eternal is in His realm – to become joint-heirs with our Elder Brother, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – possessing (no longer merely hoping) to have all that the Father hath. We aspire to be Eternal Parents, to live in the Eternal’s family forever, to be one with Him, with Christ, and with all our progenitors who so qualified for Eternal’s life.

All of it is possible only because of Jesus Christ, the only true Prototype of Eternal’s life. It is only through and in Christ that the plan of Eternal’s salvation is possible.

Now how do we come to know such a plan? All of it was lost in dark ages of sin and depravity for centuries. Down the corridors of time humanity trudged alone and without hope until the dawning of a new day in the last days.

A boy, only fourteen years old, went into a grove of trees in upstate New York to pray. He was confused by the cacophony of voices everywhere he turned. He sought truth. He determined no one knew what he longed to know. He asked God the Father in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost to reveal the truth about the various religious sects of his day. He was answered. Alone in the grove, a glorious pillar of light descended upon him until he was enveloped (even transfigured) in the light. Without that transforming, transfiguring power transferred to him by the very glorifying presence of the Father and Son, Joseph would have been literally consumed and annihilated as a mere mortal man.

But he survived the light, and from that day forward remained a pure and enlightened vessel, though he continued to struggle in the flesh. He beheld and spoke directly to the Father and the Son that brilliant spring day in 1820. The heavens were opened anew. The Restoration began. Of that fact I am a witness.

After that initial encounter with Deity, there came a stream of visitors from the other side of the veil to instruct and teach. Hundreds of ancient prophets appeared and taught the boy prophet. Finally, in 1827, on the morning of September 22, he was ready. He was led to the plates compiled by the ancient worthies Mormon and Moroni.

How convenient that he was living only a short distance from the hill where the sacred record had lain buried for centuries.

How convenient that the veil of darkness was burst by the very Moroni who had hid them up as his last act in mortality.

How convenient that this mere boy without any formal education was thought to be so clever as to have concocted such a tall tale.

How convenient that when it was brought forth out of the ground that the voice from the dust has withstood all the tests of authenticity without fail all these many years since.

How convenient that we have the record at our fingertips and can examine its contents for ourselves, and not have to rely upon first the words of three witnesses, then later eleven, who saw and handled those plates of such rare quality and saw and heard the angelic ministrant, Moroni, bear record of their truths.

How convenient, yes, but more than convenient – the word is more accurately “how true.”

Imagine the sacrifice, the blood, the sweat and the tears, the human extremity necessary to have produced those plates we now have! Imagine the faith, the painstaking faith, required to have preserved and left for a latter-day boy prophet the task to bring the record forth from the ground to publish it to the world as the saving document, the tangible evidence of the mercy and love of the Father and the Son for all the spirit children of Eternal’s family unit.

Then think about all the billions of Eternal’s children who never had the blessing of learning the truths of the fullness of the gospel while they lived in mortality! Think of the mercy, the justice, to make available to all of them without exception the ordinances of Eternal’s life – to have the same opportunity as those who had actually lived and received the glorious truths of the gospel while they lived in the flesh.

What provision, what foresight, what fairness, what love! I truly can scarcely take it all in.

Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor both testified that there would few IF ANY who, when presented with the gospel message in the spirit world, would reject it. They will be judged the same as us – they will qualify for Eternal’s life too.

For us it remains to improve upon the days of our probation by learning two invaluable lessons – to repent and to forgive – and by so doing put into implementation in our lives the saving power of the gospel so it can truly save us.

When we first embrace the gospel we go through a gate. That gate is baptism. Baptism leads to a path. That path is the strait and narrow path. “Strait” literally means narrow though it sometimes winds hither and thither during our mortal journey. That path leads upward, through mists of darkness, through temptations of all kinds imaginable. We are buffeted, mocked by others, tested and tried in all things.

Along side that path is an iron rod. The imagery is of something tangible, solid, easily within reach, yet it symbolizes something totally spiritual, elusive and often difficult to discern. The word of God is Spirit essence at its best, only to be understood by those who seek it with all their hearts, minds, strength and souls. The promise is that we will have a companion on that journey up the strait and narrow path.

As we cling to the word of God, as we implement its entreaties in our daily living, as we seek to purify our lives week by week at the sacrament table, making spiritual realities grow out of our physical acts of partaking of the bread and water – then and only then do we receive token down payments along our way of what our state and station in Eternal’s realms of glory. These are the glorious principles of truth we teach.

I have summarized here the essence of what I have said in many, many Sunday lessons, sermons and writings over the years. Missionaries like you often attended those meetings with their investigators. I think of you with your investigators each time I attend Sunday meetings and the temple, as we did last Thursday night with our stake. I always wonder what goes through the hearts of the missionaries and the investigators as they sit in those meetings. When I teach, I am only interested in answering the prayers of those missionaries that the speaker won’t blow it for their investigators. I have always tried to deliver the message the Spirit gives me. I always bear pure testimony. I keep it simple. No matter what the topic of the meeting where we are asked to speak, I try to lay out for investigators my witness of the precious truths they are studying with the missionaries.

For all these things and more I am eternally grateful to my Eternal Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. Imagine life without what we know! Can you even imagine it? It’s no wonder these truths, once embraced, truly change lives with transforming power and cleansing sanctifying effect. That you are engaged in the very essence of bringing these truths to the human family where you labor fills me with gratitude and thanksgiving unlike anything I’ve ever experienced to this point in my life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Love,

Dad

America, The "Good Spot of Ground" (Jacob 5:43)

On the eve of July 4th, eighteen months ago, I wrote a post entitled "Pilgrims, Patriots and Prophets." It went on to become one of the most popular posts on this page. The back story of the celebration of Thanksgiving is outlined here in another recent post, and both are linked to the freedoms we enjoy in this great country of America.

I am routinely assailed from all sides with predictions of the demise of America, or America in decline, or the end of America as we know it. To the critics and the naysayers I say, "Phooey." Become an optimist. Choose to believe that America was, still is, and will yet prove to be unstoppable. America is an idea whose time has come once again to renew and rise from the dire predictions. She may be chastened for a season, but if she will remember her underpinnings and keep God enthroned as the Sovereign, she will never fail.

We are divided now as a nation, much as we were when Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War in 1863, issued his proclamation with these pleading words, ". . . to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him that, for such singular deliverances and blessings; they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union."

George Washington, in 1789, offered his own Thanksgiving Day proclamation. When you read his and Lincoln's words, they leave no doubt these men were devout in their belief in Almighty God.

So today on Thanksgiving 2011, how are things with us, America? I say they are never better, and most certainly better than they were in 1863 by contrast. We just need to be reminded that the lessons learned from the failed collectivist experiment in Jamestown still have merit and are worth remembering when our federal government threatens to become the tyrannical oppressor like the English throne once was in the seventeenth century. We learned lessons early in our history about the need for individual enterprise, self-reliance and personal exertion. Those skills were once honed and enthroned as the means for survival as the colonists carved an existence out of the forests of a continent with nothing but promise and unlimited opportunity as far as the eyes could see. Increased productivity after the near collapse of Jamestown was the result of giving every man a plot of ground (individual property ownership) coupled with the freedom to grow his own crops and work the land his way.

The Plymouth Plantation, once individuals were enthroned rather the collective, became the model for the future destiny of America.

However successful that model was for two hundred years, during the past hundred years or so of American history we have seen the very vocal minority of Americans rise up. They have railed against the American tradition of individual enterprise. The reason? Free enterprise, they say, has not provided an equally successful outcome for everyone. It is as if the statement in our founding documents that "all men are created equal" must also guarantee or ensure an equal outcome for all. This vocal minority has defied the American tradition. They will tell you wealth inequality is not the desired outcome from a free society. They would have us return to a communal experiment like Jamestown.

When we cross the threshold of a belief that wealth belongs to the government to be distributed by benevolent dictators to ensure an equal outcome, we have then reversed course. That is not the American experiment at all. It is a return to the failed policies of the past. We can never assume that anyone in government, even a benevolent dictator, has the requisite wisdom to redistribute wealth. No one is that wise, especially when they are dealing with the wealth others have earned through their own diligence and persistence.

When we cede our American heritage to that vocal minority, we have ceased to live in the American way. The argument was framed long ago, even before the foundation of this earth was laid in the pre-mortal world. Christ acknowledged there would be risk if moral agency were granted to all. Some would abuse their agency. Some would fail. Success could not be assured for everyone. Satan's appeal was attractive -- an equal outcome for all was on the table for a vote. All in favor? One-third put up their hands for Satan, and were cast out. The rest of us put up our hands to sustain the Father and the Son. Jesus Christ would become the Redeemer for all who would voluntarily come unto Him. There was to be no compulsion, no assurances of exaltation. It would be risky and it would require individual exertion and faithful obedience to the covenants of the gospel.

In America we believe in the sovereignty of the individual and private property rights under the Sovereign the founders consistently referred to as "Divine Providence." Though we are perilously close to it in 2011, we as a people, free Americans, have never yet adopted an idea that crowns the sovereignty of the collective. Since the dawn of Earth's organization we have upheld the individual. We have accepted the risk of failure. Until recent years in a desperate attempt to preserve the status quo, as a country we have never said, "They are too big to fail." We traditionally have never embraced the notion that people needed to be bailed out when they failed. Failure was and always has been part of the plan of salvation because moral agency is in play. The idea of government-mandated social safety nets has quietly but persistently lulled us to sleep in the last hundred years.

So on this Thanksgiving Day 2011, I give thanks to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the bounties of this "good spot of ground. . . even that which was choice above all other parts of the land of my vineyard." (See Jacob 5:43). There was intentional design involved to provide bounties in natural resources. There would be a place on Earth where the blessings of freedom could take root and flourish, and those blessings are mentioned in the preamble of the greatest document ever penned by the hand of man, the Constitution of the United States of America.

My thanks this year flow to God for enabling us to continue preserving our liberty. This is still a unique and exceptional country of ours. It was designed to be so if we could apply the choices of our agency to prevent those who would undermine and erode the stated goals of enthroning individual sovereignty here. When we permit the vocal minority who threaten to destroy the foundation upon which America was built, our free-enterprise, private-property system, and displace it with the collective redistribution of resources to equalize wealth, we have forsaken our heritage and squandered our agency.

Freedom has never been free, after all. The warriors on the battlefields of this world have been forever the watchful and protective guardians of freedom's flame. I despise war. As Benjamin Franklin said, "There is no such thing as a good war, and no such thing as a bad peace." But peace has been taken from the earth because of the abuse of agency. That said, we must forever remain grateful to Americans who voluntarily serve us in all branches of the Armed Forces. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. They have valiantly defended this Republic and all our freedoms. They've done it for 235 years and counting.

When we brashly launched the American experiment in 1776 with an audacious accusation against King George III, the British tyrant, our founders penned a "self-evident truth" in the Declaration of Independence. The document states boldly their belief that all men are created equal. Every man is born with the same opportunity to make of his life what he chooses.

That inspired declaration is consistent with every revealed jot and tittle of the plan of happiness we have received from our Father in Heaven. It was never intended either in heaven or here on earth that every man would take the opportunity equally. The inequality of results was always assured. Once you pick agency, outcomes cannot be guaranteed, nor should they be. Guaranteeing outcomes is stripping freedoms. May we never tire of permitting opportunity for success in this country and allowing everyone to keep the fruits of his labor without fear of redistribution by a federal government grown too big, too cumbersome, and too invasive.

Let us give thanks for the colonists who originally discovered the secret to productivity, wealth, and happiness. Let us be vigilant in preserving that exceptional American tradition. Lest we forget, let us all remember these truths today especially. Let us remember that socialism was never, is not now, and never will be the law of consecration.

I am grateful for many things on this Thanksgiving Day in 2011. Most of all I am grateful for the God who continues to bless this "good spot of ground," the America I love, despite the growing evidence we are less and less deserving.

Let us realign our thinking and preserve these precious blessings for future generations.

Can You Imagine?

This time of year is a good time for love and marriage.  Pasty and I were married in December.

The Goates Kids

Back in the day, we imagined having a family.  She always said she wanted a large family.  Her wishes came true.  Having a large family, however, takes a lot more living than merely wishing it into existence.

We were remembering this week, having both recently suffered a mild 24-hour variety of the annual flu bug, that it was a long time ago when either of us suffered that fleeting but uncomfortable malady.  In fact, it was a memorable evening when the flu bug visited our humble abode by striking down one child at a time.  I was the only one who escaped that night, but paid the price a few days later.  Every hour on the hour that night I was up with each in turn, cleaning up the remains, washing sheets, changing beds, mopping bathroom floors and toilets.  It's funny now, looking back all these years, not as funny that night.

We were all together at Thanksgiving, well most of us anyway.  We counted 47 for dinner.  The accompanying picture is the grandchildren who came (some of them).  We were missing three families that day, but saw one family the next day.  Only two families remained at home, one in Montana, the other Chicago.  That condition is soon to be partly remedied, as the Goates family currently living in Chicago is coming home the end of January to live once again among us.  Yippee!

The future is bright.  As I look upon these little grandchildren (we are tending one today), I am always keenly aware of their purity and innocence.  I cannot imagine a man so heinous that he would intentionally harm or injure one of these little daughters of God.  In the expectation, joy and promise in their eyes, we can see the future.  In their countenances we look upon the face of God.

Carl Sandburg once famously observed, "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."

I was amused at a comment Bill Cosby made years ago, when he said, "Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit."

Ten fingers, Ten toes
She's laughter and teardrops
So small and brand new
And amazingly angelic
She's sent to bless you
She's one special Baby
The best of life's treasure
And will grant and bless you
Many hours of great pleasure.
Author Unknown

Like most of our local community in and around Salt Lake City, we have observed Elizabeth Smart's silent ordeal unfold in a very public and intrusive way since she was first abducted eight years ago in 2002.  Can you imagine that she survived alive after nine months of unimaginable daily abuse, terror and rapacious behavior at the hands of her captor?  This is miracle enough.  That she matured gracefully, surmounted her teenage years and decided to serve as a missionary is unbelievable.

Elizabeth Smart

Brian Mitchell

The contrast between her and her perpetrator is stark!  They shared each other's lives for nine torturous months -- one forcing his will, the other surrendering hers to survive day to day.  Her direct testimony against him is credited with the eventual jury verdict of Mitchell's guilt.
  
The details need not be repeated here. They can be found everywhere:  Here's the story of the trial's conclusion.  Here's the story of the jurors' news conference.

It's a human interest story that every parent of every little girl hopes will never be repeated.  The world in which we live is filled with terror, evil of every kind and doom and gloom on every newscast.  It's the stuff of which the nightly news is made.  As long as the evil and the horror is news, we can be assured there is still goodness with which it can be contrasted, and that is a good thing.  When we are no longer abhorred and repulsed by it we are past feeling.  That is a frightening prospect.  News, by definition, should be extraordinary -- out of the ordinary.  The mundacity of life is a sign normalcy is still achievable, even in the midst of unspeakable evil.

Can you imagine an outcome that despite all the adversity and hardship, all the improbable possibilities, all the naysayers and all the prophets of doom and gloom notwithstanding, could be fabulous and achievable anyway?

Can you imagine that overcoming whatever evil (no matter what its label) has grabbed you by the tail and is shaking you about like a rag doll, can be eventually overthrown and that you can one day be victorious?

Can you imagine that no matter how abusive or angry or indifferent or unloving your parents may have been to you that you can chart a completely different course in your life and no longer be held captive by the past through love and forgiveness unfeigned?

Can you imagine the worst thing on earth happening to one of your pure and innocent little girls and still being able to find love and forgiveness for the perpetrator even before the slow demands of justice are fully satisfied?

Can you imagine as a victim of horrific crime modeling your responses and taking strength from the example of one like Elizabeth Smart, confronting her abuser face to face, standing up for the truth, recounting all that was taken from you, and rising above it all to serve others selflessly despite all the damage inflicted?

Can you imagine that no matter how negative the news may be today a brighter tomorrow looms up ahead just over the next horizon, no further away than the next sunrise?

Can you imagine seeing the fulfillment of all your sacrifice and service in the faces of your little grandchildren someday?

Can you imagine?

Then someday, like Elizabeth Smart, you may receive His image in your countenance.  (Alma 5:19).

Free to Choose Eternal Life

Last week we were in the Salt Lake Temple for a stake temple day.  We have many ordinance workers from our stake who volunteer their time, most of whom are elderly and not in the best of health.  They arise early in the morning, even the middle of the night for most of them, to perform that sacred service for the patrons who come to do the work of saving souls.

In all of this they are agents on an errand from the Lord.  No one compels anyone to do anything in this Church.  We are free to choose.  There is no way God at this late stage in the earth's temporal existence, having put in place the plan of life to include the gift of agency, can reverse course and do it some other way.   

Lehi said it well:  "Men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Nephi 2:27).

The plan ensures even God must bow before the immutable effects of agency, but we also have the assurance that despite the rigors and demands of the law there will be mercy as well.  It was President J. Reuben Clark Jr. who reminded us:

"I believe that in his justice and mercy [God] will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose" (Conference Report, October 1953, 84).

In our stake temple day session I was taught a profound truth about the Father.  

We read the verse about how Lucifer does not understand "the mind of God."  (Moses 4:6).  Because it is true, there was no way Lucifer could comprehend or accept the way agency and joy would someday intertwine in the hearts and minds of the believers who would embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior and Redeemer.

There is no such thing as "avoiding" agency.  Even choosing no decision is a decision. Delay is a delusion. Procrastination is joy deferred, but it is still a decision.

Conversely, actively choosing to be obedient is a choice.  Obedient Jesus, for example, chose to let His will be "swallowed up in the will of the Father."  (Mosiah 15:7).  It was His deliberate choice — a choice on this Thanksgiving Day for which we all became immensely blessed everlastingly and eternally.  Our gratitude extends beyond this life into the eternities up ahead because of His choice.  

Elder Neal A. Maxwell once wrote:  "Being obedient is a way of life, but it is also the way to eternal life."  (Moving in His Majesty and Power, "Free to Choose").

Without being able to choose among many alternatives, wouldn't "life" really be no life at all?  We are told things would "remain as dead," having "neither sense nor insensibility."  (2 Nephi 2:11).  Only agency and the freedom to choose activates life before, here and hereafter.

We are informed further by Father Lehi that God's creation would have been wasted and would have served "no purpose," but for the freedom to choose.  (2 Nephi 2:12).  What if?  What if there were no agency?  I wonder if we know what might have been in the absence of agency.

The lesson from Lehi continues:  God wants us to have joy, which is the purpose of His creation (see 2 Nephi 2:25).  We cannot do that if we "remain as dead."  (2 Nephi 2:11).   We must be free to choose to become like Him.

Now for the temple lesson the other night.  I was reminded in the endowment drama of just how hard the lessons of the Gods must be.  There is such a profound profusion of doctrine associated with what it means to be the parent of a rebellious son who abuses his agency.  In two verses we learn so much:  "And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil -- for, behold, the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; and they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels."  (D&C 29:36-37).  

Note the word rebelled.  Lucifer "rebelled against me" (Moses 4:3; italics mine).  Maybe it was just a foretaste of that which was to come on this earth -- all the unresolved father-and-son differences and angst.  One-third of Heavenly Father's children were turned away from Him!  Parents often lament the rebellious children who reject their teachings.  But all must do as the Father did to become as He is.  We must embrace agency in spite of the pain and anguish it often evokes.  There is a common misperception among us that there were two plans presented in what gave rise ultimately to the "war in heaven."  However, Lucifer wasn't putting forth a plan.  Instead he was rejecting and rebelling against the established plan of the Gods, the very same plan under which our God achieved his godhood.  

The other night I was reminded again this was an agonizing personal loss to the Father.  The "heavens wept over" Lucifer, His "son of the morning" (D&C 76:26), who rejected the Father and turned away from Him a third of His children "because of their agency."  I caught a brief glimpse of the agony in one word:  "Depart!"  (D&C 29:36).

It's the irony that is so inescapable.  Lucifer used the very agency he was given (see Moses 4:3).  The bitter pill is part and parcel of parenting, then, now and forever.  It is godlike in every dimension.  Were it possible, Lucifer really would have destroyed our agency as part of achieving his ascendancy, all the while using the agency God had given him.

I saw the agony even for a brief instant the other night.  Imagine the personal rejection the Father must have known in that moment when the plan was rejected!  What did the Father experience that is so crucial to our individual growth into godhood?  Wouldn't most of us shrink in the fellowship of that suffering?  Becoming like God is so euphemistic it is almost axiomatic.  But did we really comprehend the suffering to get there?  And later would come the ultimate parenting agony of standing aside when His Firstborn Son suffered for all in Gethsemane and at Golgotha.

Much later in the recorded scriptural record, we are reminded that Enoch saw the God of heaven weep.  Why all the tears?  Because of human suffering resulting from man's failure to keep His commandments to love Him and one another (see Moses 7:24, 28).  When Enoch saw the heavens weep, they reflected the same agony of the Father (see Moses 7:29, 33).

Still, even in the agony of such ultimate rejection, we see "God moving in his majesty and power."  (D&C 88:47).

He is still moving in that direction for all of us today.  For that we may be truly grateful on this day of gratitude and thanksgiving.

The Parrot

John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, obnoxious, and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music, and anything else he could think of to clean up the bird’s language.

Nothing seemed to work. One day, he was so fed up that he yelled at the bird. The parrot yelled back. John shook the fowl but the bird got even more rude and angry. In desperation, John grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes, the parrot squawked and screamed. Suddenly, it was totally quiet—not a peep for over a minute.

Fearing he’d caused harm to the bird, John opened the freezer door to see what had happened. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John’s hand and said, “I believe I may have offended you. I’m sorry for my rude language and actions. I intend to do everything I can to correct my nasty attitude.”

John was surprised at the quick change in the bird’s demeanor.

As he was about to ask the parrot about this sudden change in behavior, the bird politely inquired, “May I ask what the turkey did?”

--unknown source, circulating on the Internet

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Separatists, Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means today to be considered a "Separatist" or a "revolutionary." Who are the revolutionaries today?  Who are those who seek freedom and are willing to die for it?  Who will live their religion at all costs, counting all things but dross for the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord?  I'm wondering if America in its latest attempt to redefine itself in this bi-annual renewal of national elections granted to us by our founders isn't just a way of hearkening back to our origins a little bit. If the pushback we've been observing in the recent election results is any indication, maybe it's a sign we're reaching back to our roots for a bit of the revolutionary spirit left within us.

In America we apply the term "Pilgrim" to those who first settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the 9th day of November 1620.  The Pilgrims who landed on that bleak New England shore at Cape Cod were "Separatists."  They were not the Puritans — they settled in Massachusetts.  But the Separatists settled at Plymouth.


Governor William Bradford

Thanksgiving Day originated one year later in 1621.  Imagine landing on these shores as religious people with little more than the clothes on your back and having to eke out an existence from nothing but abundant but untamed natural resources all around as winter is fast approaching.  It's a stunning tale of survival in hostile surroundings.  Governor William Bradford appointed the day for public praise and prayer after the first harvest.  This is what one account gives of that first thanksgiving:

"In the fall of 1621 the first harvest of the colonists was gathered. The `corn' yielded well, and the `barley' was `indifferently good,' but the peas were a failure, owing to drought and late spring. Encouraged with the harvest of their fruits, but needing more eatables for feasting, the leaders sent four huntsmen for food of the forest, and at their return, `after a special manner,' the Pilgrims rejoiced together, feasting King Massasoit and ninety men for three days, and partaking of venison, wild turkeys, water fowl, and other delicacies for which New England was then famous."

The first Thanksgiving was but a formal manifestation of the spirit of praise and thanksgiving that actuated the hearts of the pilgrims during that first terrible winter in the new country.  One wonders if the infamous "nor'easter" storms were discovered and named during that first winter. 

We are informed by historical accounts that of 102 immigrants who landed on the bleak rocky coast of Cape Cod in the winter of 1620, nearly half died before the following winter had begun.  In December six died; January, eight; February, seventeen; March, thirteen — a total of 44 in four months!  Even despite the ravages many are suffering in the wake of this protracted recession recovery, we are by contrast in our comfortable homes surrounded with peace and plenty.  Awakening this morning to a 20 degree temperature in Pine Valley reminds me it is well for us to pause and try to imagine the suffering of the survivors mid-winter, both from their destitution and inclement weather. 

These earliest American refugees were not all of hearty stock.  Among them were delicately nurtured and refined men and women.  They hastily laid out two rows of huts for nineteen families in that first colony to protect themselves from the ravages of the oncoming winter.  In the first year they had to make seven times more graves for the dead than houses for the living.  Despite their grieving for the loss of their dead relatives, these survivors were to become the progenitors of a great and glorious nation.  They still felt inclined to be thankful for all their blessings and appointed "an especial day on which to give special thanks for all their mercies."

It is instructive for us during this Thanksgiving season to recall it was the Indians who kept the Pilgrims from starving that first winter.  The Pilgrims had insufficient food.  They saw some mounds into which they dug and found corn, and they appropriated it to their own use.  They reported it, however, to King Massasoit, and told him that as soon as they learned to whom the corn belonged, they would recompense them for it.

I have always retained a deep sense of gratitude for the integrity, fortitude, and faith of the Pilgrims.

I am grateful for their strength of character and for the attributes of true greatness which they exemplified. They chose the right with invincible resolution.  They resisted the sorest temptations from within and from without.  They bore the heaviest of burdens cheerfully.  They were most fearless under threat of constant menace and frowns, and their reliance upon God and truth was most unfailing.  In this day when so many are willing and eager to rewrite our history or to ignore it, consulting the original documents will yield the truth of our origins anchored in Divine Providence and the deep faith of our forefathers upon this continent.

Governor Bradford, on the day after they landed, gave an address to that little company aboard the Mayflower.  It is useful to observe they drew up a plan for their fledgling government and set forth their principles for government.  Here's the final paragraph:

"May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say, Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversities."

Their faith in God was real to them.  You can rewrite history if you choose, but we are informed by their accounts that their foundation was pure and holy to these refugees.

Fast forward to President George Washington, "the father of our country," when he signed the official proclamation of a Thanksgiving Day in America.  Note, here again, how the element of divine faith is underscored:

Whereas, it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his Will, to be grateful for his Benefits, and humbly to implore his Protection and Favour; and whereas both houses of Congress have by their joint Committee, requested me "To recommend to the People of the United States, a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful Hearts the many Signal Favours of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Form of Government for their safety and Happiness."

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday and the twenty-sixth Day of November, next, to be devoted by the People of these States, to the Service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficient Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be: That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind Care and Protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation; — for the signal and manifold Mercies and the favourable Interpositions of his Providence in the Course and Conclusion of the late War; — for the great Degree of Tranquility, Union, and Plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational Manner in which we have been enabled to establish Constitutions of Government for our Safety and Happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; — for the civil and religious Liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; — and in general, for all the great and various Favours which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And Also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our Prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our National and other Transgressions; — to enable us all whether in public or private Stations, to perform our several and relative Duties properly and punctually; — to render our national Government a Blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and Constitutional Laws, directly and faithfully obeyed; — to protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us) and to bless them with good Government, Peace, and concord; — to promote the Knowledge and practice of true Religion, and Virtue, and the increase of Science among them and us; — and generally to grant unto all mankind such a Degree of temporal Prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York, the third Day of October, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty nine.

Flashback to Father Lehi:  "Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring.  And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.  Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves.  And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever." 

With such a promise, however, also comes the attendant warning:

"But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord — having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise — behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them." (2 Nephi 1:7-10).

The very foundations and the ongoing perpetuity of this nation depend upon faith.  I raise my voice on this page to make the obvious assertion:  There is an influence undermining the very basic structure of this great nation.

Atheism, the very well-spring of the spirit of the anti-Christ, has spread its tentacles throughout America.  You can label any way you wish -- "secular humanism" is but one manifestation.  These proponents are seeking to eradicate from their minds at the earliest ages of our children the naturally occurring and deeply religious inclinations we share from our common heritage, as illustrated in our most formative written expressions as a foundering nation.  These enemies would destroy if they could all belief in God, all interest in Church or its activities, all hope, aspiration, and faith outside the political doctrine of a few who have seized the national power.

With the dominant trait of our pilgrim fathers, faith in God, however, we can correctly govern ourselves.  We must continue to love the stars and stripes, and accept, defend and promote the Constitution of these United States as divine.  We must never hesitate to choose the right path, as our Pilgrim forefathers did.  It is fashionable to disavow those divine inspirations, but the founders attributed their success to the Divine.

Love of freedom is deeply innate within each of us.  It comes to us as a pre-existent condition we valued and championed before we ever came to live upon this earth.  When we see these traits exhibited in the earliest documents of our tradition, it is easy to understand how they came to their conclusions so readily.

In 1604-5-6, Shakespeare was writing his plays. Four "classes" or "parties" in England dominated the scene.  The Catholics remained true to Rome; members of the English Church (later they formed The Church of England) had drawn away from the Catholics; the Puritans would become the founders of the Massachusetts Colony; and the Separatists later became the founders of the Plymouth Colonies. 

The Puritans and Separatists withdrew from the English Church, because they thought the English Church had not separated themselves far enough from the Catholic Church.  The persecution of these sects or groups was very intense, particularly under James the First who is described as "the greatest pedant that ever sat upon the English throne."  He was "arbitrary, capricious, tyrannical, and unprincipled, he trampled upon the most solemn oaths, and seemed never better pleased than when torturing or anathematizing the victims of his vengeance.  Hence at Hampton Court Conference, at the close of the second day, speaking of the Puritans, he said: `I shall make them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land, or else do worse.'"

That statement alone would qualify for the founders' collective statements about "tyranny" they would one day write into the Declaration of Independence describing King George III!

Finally he issued a proclamation, July 16, 1604, ordering the Puritan Clergy to conform before the last of November, or to dispose of themselves and families in some other way, as "unfit for their obstinacy and contempt to occupy places."

The Separatists waited awhile, and finally one group under a man by the name of Robinson took a boat to Holland where they might worship free of this autocracy.  Those who remained in England received the promised treatment from the clergy -- they were "harried," persecuted, imprisoned and driven out for their religious beliefs.

Once they determined to leave England, the King said they couldn't leave.  "It is conformity we demand."  It got worse.  After extensive preparations to leave England in the middle of the night one night bound for the Netherlands, they were finally taken on board in the darkness only to learn they had been betrayed.  Governor Bradford in his account says:  "But when he had them and their goods aboard, he betrayed them, having beforehand plotted with the searchers and other officers so to do who took them, and put them into open boats, and there rifled and ransacked them, searching them to their shirts for money, yea even the women further than became modesty; and then carried them back into the town and made them a spectacle and wonder to the multitude, which came flocking on all sides to behold them."

Their plight of three hundred years ago remains a cautionary tale for all who love freedom.

Finally, Governor Bradford is able to report:  "The Dutchman seeing this, swore his country's oath, `sacramente,' and having the wind fair," sailed away with the husbands aboard, and the women and children left stranded.  Imagine their extremity.  They had nothing with them but the shirts on their backs, their wives and children left helpless.  They should have made the trip in seven days, but they were out fourteen days because of a terrible storm which threatened to engulf them.  Governor Bradford then reports:  "But when man's hope and help wholly failed, the Lord's power and mercy appeared in their recovery; for the ship rose again, and gave the mariners courage again to manage her.  And if modesty would suffer me, I might declare with what fervent prayers they cried unto the Lord in this great distress, (especially some of them), even without any great distraction, when the water ran in their mouths and ears; and the mariners cried out We sinke, we sinke; they cried (if not with miraculous, yet with a great height or degree of divine faith), Yet Lord thou canst save, yet Lord thou canst save; with such other expressions as I will forbear. Upon which the ship did not only recover, but shortly after the violence of the storm began to abate, and the Lord filled their afflicted minds with such comforts as every one cannot understand, and in the end brought them to their desired Haven, where the people came flocking admiring their deliverance, the storm having been so long and sore, in which much hurt had been done, as yet masters friends related unto him in their congratulations."

Remember, these are religious people fleeing persecution.  It was not unlike a voyage undertaken by the Apostle Paul on his way to Rome.

What I've outlined here is only a brief summary of what our Pilgrim forefathers suffered and endured for the love of freedom.  Their heroism in defense of freedom is well-documented, and ironically lays the predicate for what came later in their intolerance of the Indians who occupied the New World.  But none of it alters their persuasions and inclinations toward God's will for them.

So tell me, fair citizens of America in 2010, is there an enemy today in our country that threatens our freedom?  There are those who cry out, "Rescue the Constitution from what?"  I am persuaded the leaders of our country do not want more war with any more foreign enemies than those with whom we currently contend.  No, our most determined enemies lie within America's borders, not those we seem so inept at keeping out.

There is a desperate debate and a growing conflict between freedom and government-mandated entitlement programs that would rob us of our freedoms in the name of "spreading the wealth around."  There is a growing and swelling tide of the attitude, "Do as little as you can and get as much as you can."  And that is wrong.

In my view the antidote to recapturing the spirit of freedom and independence exhibited by our Pilgrim ancestors is faith — faith in God our Heavenly Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A love of freedom embodies the innate desire to worship, to work, to think and to live.  To feel a sense of earning what we receive, free from an invasive autocracy or government that will dictate what we pay to them and what we will buy from them as the purveyors and masters of all the elements of production.

In spite of it all, I remain thankful.  I'm thankful for our country, for those who live under its heavenly banner of freedom.  I am even grateful for the federal government and its leaders for whom I pray constantly, while wishing it were smaller and they were less intrusive.  I am grateful for the Church, thankful for living prophets who live among us to guide us, comfort us and give us hope for a future when Zion will be established and Babylon will be thrown down.  That day cannot be far distant at the speed we are travelling.  I am grateful for family, for children and grandchildren, for true friends to love (who love me), and for trustworthy men and women whom we can trust this Thanksgiving Day.  Among those who are not trustworthy and for whom I am not grateful this year are certain employees of the Bank of America.  But I digress.

We thank Thee, O Father, for all that is bright —
The gleam of the day and the stars of the night,
The flowers of our youth and the fruits of our prime,
And the blessings that march down the pathway of time.

We thank Thee, O Father, for all that is drear —
The sob of the tempest, the flow of the tear;
For never in blindness, and never in vain,
Thy mercy permitted a sorrow or pain.

We thank Thee, O Father of all, for the power
Of aiding each other in life's darkest hour;
The generous heart and the bountiful hand
And all the soul-help that sad souls understand.

We thank thee, O Father, for days yet to be;
For hopes that our future will call us to Thee.
Let all our eternity form, through Thy love
A heart of Thanksgiving in the mansions above.

-- Will Carleton

Thanks, Elder Holland

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

After President Monson's opening remarks at today's opening session of the 180th semi-annual General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland expressed his gratitude for all the members of the Church and their quiet and dedicated service to others.

His gentle spirit this morning prompted many feelings of gratitude within me.  We are coming into that season of the year set aside for remembering and for being thankful.  We may not be able to do all things, but we can all be grateful.  In this we are all equals.

My feelings of gratitude extended this morning to my family first.  When one becomes a grandfather many, many times (up to 35 and counting!), life becomes more filled with memories that push out expansive hopes or fears for the unknown future.  I have outlived all my fears now.  I don't get too worked up about what might happen now, because I have a lifetime of experience behind to whisper reminders that those things I feared most as a young man never happened.

The story of the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament is filled with the word "remember."  I was reminded frequently by Richard Holzapfel that perhaps it could be said "Thou shalt remember" might be considered the 11th commandment.

As Elder Holland reminded me this morning, remembering what others have done for me and counting my blessings is humbling.  I am more frequently aware than ever before how much I have to be thankful for and for God's goodness.  I find my prayers are more populated with gratitude than ever before.  Of course,  partaking of the sacrament is the essence and centerpiece of my gratitude, as we partake "in remembrance," so that we may "always remember" what Jesus has done for us (3 Nephi 18:11; Moroni 4, 5).

Sometimes, like the ungrateful and forgetful mortals we tend to be, we ask God if not always just rhetorically, "What have you done for me lately?" Alma reminded his people to ask themselves whether or not they had "sufficiently retained in remembrance" His deliverance and blessings (Alma 5:6-7). Later he reminds them at the judgment day we will all have "perfect remembrance" of all we have forgotten (Alma 5:18).

Best to remember here and now to be grateful. 

Elder Holland cited President James E. Faust's lifetime agony over his "sin of omission," when he neglected to show his gratitude for his grandmother by failing to carry in the tinder box filled with firewood she used to prepare all the family meals.  Then Elder Holland publicly thanked his aged mother for her sacrifice so he could serve his mission and for his parents' preservation of his savings so he'd have a financial cushion to begin his education after his return.  He lamented he would have to wait to tell his father, who died 34 yeras ago. 

The important theme of remembrance occurs routinely in the Old Testament -- over two hundred times.  It appears in The Book of Mormon dozens of times also.  Whenever the gospel has been upon the earth in every dispensation, the call to remembrance is part of it.

It seems if we fail to live in "thanksgiving daily" (Alma 34:38), God finds a way to help His forgetful and backsliding children frequently by "prompting" them to remember their gratitude.  "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him" (Helaman 12:3).

"Because of the word" and our many blessings, we have testimonies and gratitude in varing stages of development (Alma 32:14).  Elder Neal A. Maxwell was fond of reminding us of our need for meekness in our discipleship.  Without it, our view in present deprivations or afflictions may prompt forgetfulness instead of gratitude.  Even Joseph Smith had to be reminded about how his suffering compared with Job's and the Savior's -- "Thou art not yet as Job" (D&C 121:10); "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:8). 

I am routinely humbled when thoughts of "poor me" invade my remembrance of them and others like them.  Remembering our gratitude can bring the much-needed perspective.

Alma's suggests we must remember to "sing the song of redeeming love" about the days in which we now live, as well as the days gone by (Alma 5:26; 34:38).  Remembering what the Lord has done in preserving us in past days inspires courage in our present circumstances.

There is a wonderful treatise on "bread" in the gospel of John.  I love the symbolism in the sixth chapter.  Christ had just miraculously produced loaves and fishes for the hungry multitude of several thousand (see John 6:1-14).  We learn there was "enough and to spare," and they were "filled."  But like even the best and most expensive meals we consume today, the next morning some of those who had partaken and been eyewitnesses were hungry again.  The Savior reminded them, "Your fathers did eat [similarly miraculous] manna in the wilderness, and are dead."  He was telling them they would have remained forever dead, too, but for His offering the Atonement to them, an infinite and eternal blessing.  In the wilderness the children of Israel were impelled to gather the manna daily because of its perishable nature, but in Christ they would have the "true bread from heaven," filling them so that they would "never hunger" again (see John 6:31-58).

I must routinely pull myself back from excesses and hyperbole when I tend to get caught up in the heat of political rhetoric.  As you can no doubt discern from these pages, I am deeply concerned as a citizen of the United States of America that we are losing ground in preserving our precious constitutional liberties.  I see slippage everywhere, including the freedoms of religion, speech, and press.  Events in our country, and those around the world remind me of my need for thanksgiving for all the liberties we enjoy as Americans.  When I have rational thoughts, I remember that throughout recorded world history most mortals who have come to live on planet Earth have not had any such constitutionally protected liberties. 

Property rights here and now in America have always been vouched safe as a core element of the Constitution.  However, they are being trampled upon now and can be easily revoked, non-existent, or easily lost through the foreclosures we have witnessed in escalating numbers in recent months.  But wonderful as those property rights may seem now, they pale into insignificance when compared with even one of the least of the many mansions we may someday inherit from our Heavenly Father.  I have to remind myself to keep it all in perspective by remembering what I've been promised if faithful.

After the bread lesson, soon came the "light" lesson.  Fresh from the celebration of the great Feast of Tabernacles featuring illuminated candelabra in the courtyard of the temple at Jerusalem, the Savior taught His followers He was the Light of the world and they would never need to walk in darkness (see John 8:12).

Walking by the light of the Restoration can dispel all the darkness and clouds of political deception currently permeating our existence.  Even the minions of darkness cannot threaten its illuminating relevance in our lives.  I have been reminded this morning that overthrowing the divinely-given principles of the Constitution is not easily achieved.

Thanks, Elder Holland for reminding us to remember to be grateful for that assurance.