Faith, Hope, and Charity

One of the most marvelous things about taking the time to earnestly study the scriptures is that I learn from the spirit throughout my day so much more than when I let my scripture study slacken.

One morning, I learned about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ while carrying laundry to my sons' room and listening to the theme song to Clifford the Big Red Dog as it entertained Josie.  In the song it says:

"Clifford needed Emily, so she chose him for her own, and her love made Clifford grow so big that the Howards had to leave their home."

I thought to myself that if I were a very little child and didn't know better, I might falsely believe that if I loved my dog enough, I could make him grow as big as Clifford.  Then, because such a thing can't happen, I would be disappointed and might even feel that I had done something wrong.  I might conclude that if I had raised my dog right, he would have grown to be a giant.  This is like putting your faith in something other than Jesus Christ, like for example, believing that if I had faith enough in myself, I could overcome all my weakness alone.  This is not so (Moses 1:10).  It is not faith in myself that will cause a real transformation from weakness to strength.  Believing such a thing would almost be like believing that love can tranform a tiny puppy into a dog that is larger than a house.

That Wednesday morning, the spirit turned a child's cartoon into a teaching moment, and suddenly, I understood what years of repeating the fourth Article of Faith had failed to get through to me.  It is not simply the concept of faith that is so important, it is "faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" that is essential.

I learned about hope from the spirit years later, also from an unexpected place.  It came in the form of a book written for children by Lloyd Alexander called The Black Cauldron.  In this book, the hero, Taran, and his friends have been captured and have been told their demise is eminent.  They are told they will be thrown into the crochan (or black cauldron) which will turn them into living dead warriors.  Taran and his friend, Fflewddur Fflam, have this conversation:

"He will not succeed in this," Taran said.  "Somehow, we must find a way to escape.  We dare not lose hope."

"I agree absolutely,"  Fflewddur answered.  "Your general idea is excellent; it's only the details that are lacking.  Lose hope?  By no means!  A Fflam is always hopeful!  I intend to go on hoping," he added ruefully, "even when they come and pop me into the Crochan."

I recognized myself in Fflewddur's words.  I try to convince myself I have hope because hope is one of the big three--no, boys, not Zeus, Poseiden, and Hades.  I mean the big three that you really need to have in order to gain eternal life--faith, hope, and charity (1 Corithians 13).

For me, Paul's counsel to hope has always seemed a bit like Taran's--very general and lacking in detail.  I, like Fflewddur, might at times insist I have hope, even though I still feel the inevitabilities of life telling me that I can't possibly become what I want to become.  I, who am so imperfect, can't possibly hope to live with my Father in Heaven again.  But, as I thought about Fflewddur's statement I realized I felt that way only because I wasn't putting my hope in Christ.  Hope seemed very abstract to me and somewhat difficult to understand until I realized that I trust Jesus Christ completely to do what he says he'll do.  He is here, his arms outstretched in mercy and grace.  He lived as a great example, he conquered the grave and was resurrected, and, most amazingly of all, he suffered for all our sins that we might not have to suffer--he performed an infinite and eternal Atonement for mankind. 

It was hard to do, even for him, but he truly did it.  And, now, he has every right to offer us hope.  Our part in it is to keep his commandments and humble ourselves enough to call on him and learn to use the Atonement.  That is real hope--specific, spelled out, and hard won.

Charity is a wonderful thing, and I don't have an excellent grasp on it, but I caught a glimpse of it the other day in the temple.  I think the key to charity is to love God with all your heart.  I think loving Heavenly Father helps us to love others because we are the beneficiaries of our love for him--it sounds backwards, I know.  But, if we love him, we have his spirit always with us.  We have someone who is always there for us and that knowledge helps us to love others and be there for them.

My Eben-ezer

Lately, around the house, my husband has been whistling Come Thou Font of Every Blessing.  I love it!  It reminds me of when I was going to school at Ricks College.  I volunteered in a nursing home with some really fun guys that always went aroung humming hymns.

If you've never heard it sung by the Tabernacle Choir, it's on youtube.  It is a very pretty hymn, but one part puzzled me because I had no idea what an Ebenezer was except when referring to a man named Scrooge.  The stanza says:

"Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood."

I looked up Ebenezer in the Bible Dictionary.  The definition says:

"Stone of help.  A stone set up by Samuel as a token of gratitutde for deliverance from the Philistines."

I thought it was interesting because I had just written about deliverence through divine help in my blog.  My blog that I started because one day I was studying the scriptures and felt such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and excitement over what the Spirit was teaching me I just had to share it.  Yep--I suppose if one were to accept a loose translation of the word you could call this blog my Ebenezer.

Mosiah 21 and 22

When reading the story of how King Limhi and his people escape the Lamanites this last week, I suddenly saw it differently.  I was able to liken it to my life more clearly than I had been able to before.

Mosiah 21:5 says:

"...there was no way that they could deliver themselves out of their hands, for the Lamanites had surrounded them on every side."

In my scriptures I circled the word Lamanites and wrote in the margin--sins or afflictions.  Sometimes it feels like I am surrounded on every side by imperfections and afflictions, either caused by my own sins or by circumstances beyond my control.

The people of King Limhi, finding themselves surrounded, decided to go to war against the Lamanites.  I too have headed into the fray in the attempt to conquer all that has troubled me.  Limhi's people were defeated.  Three times in a row.  I too often feel as though I have lost the battle.

In Mosiah 21:14 something changes for the people of Limhi, it says:

"And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions."

Why do I so often forget that Christ's Atonement is always there with real and true power waiting to be called upon?  Whether it be sin, affliction, sorrow, the need to forgive someone or be forgiven Christ has provided for us an infinite Atonement.

The Lord sends Ammon, and those with him, to help Limhi's people.  The people experience "exceedingly great joy." (v.24)  The Lord can also turn my frustrations into joy.

The people of Limhi come up with a plan and act.  With the help of Ammon and his brethren, they get the Lamanite guards drunk and escape into the night with all their people, flocks, and herds.  It says in Mosiah 22:16 that the Lamanites try to follow them, but lose their tracks after two days.  They lost the tracks of a whole village traveling with flocks and herds?  Sounds like divine intervention to me. 

I know the Lord will also intervene to help me escape from those things which surround me if I will humble myselves like the people of Limhi and pray "mightily."  I need to follow that humility with faith to act on promptings both big and small.  I need to be willing to leave behind that which would hinder my escape and always keep a prayer in my heart.

Mosiah 18:10

I like Alma's simple way of explaining why someone would want to get baptized.  In Mosiah 18:10, he asks his followers:

"...what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?"

It says his followers actually clapped their hands with joy and proclaimed their desire to be baptized.

I like their enthusiasm.  I hope I can have some of that as I renew my baptismal covenant each week by taking the sacrament.

Our Suffering Might Not Be

I have been thinking much lately about the Atonement.  When Abinadi is standing before King Noah, he tells them that he will not be taken before he has said all that Heavenly Father wants him to say and he speaks much of the Savior, his Atonement, and the resurrection.

He teaches us in Mosiah 16:10-11 that all will be resurrected and judged according to what we have become during this life:

"Even this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruption shall put on incorruption, and shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him according to their works whether they be good or whether they be evil--If they be good, to the resurrection of endless life and happiness; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of endless damnation, being delivered up to the devil, who hath subjected them, which is damnation."

I have been thinking much lately of the choice that needs to be made.  Will I forsake the sins that so easily beset me?  The word 'forsake' seems to capture the necessary feeling best.  I need to not only refrain from committing my 'favorite' sins, but I need to turn my back of even the desire to do them.

Kenneth Cope is the composer that wrote Women at the Well.  A line from one of those songs has periodically been running through my mind this past week.  In Miracle from Heaven it says:

                                          "He has drenched Himself in our suffering

                                           That our suffering might not be..."

It is the words "might not be" that have really caught me attention.  I heard them soon after reading Mosiah 16:12 which says:

"...for the arms of mercy were extended towards them, and they would not; they being warned of their iniquities and yet they would not depart from them..."

I know that the consequences of my sins cause me pain now.  So it is not only the next life I am thinking of when I remember that the Savior is there, arms extended, waiting for me to hand him my burden and trust that he has the power to take it upon himself--in fact, has already taken it upon himself.  My refusal to acknowledge and use his great gift would be like insisting on paying my mortgage payment every month even though a kind benefactor has already, though great hardship on himself, paid for my house in full.

My suffering "might not be," but only if I, with faith and hope in the Savior, acknowledge the gift of the Atonement and use it.

Mosiah 14 and 15

Mosiah 14:10 reads:

"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

This is talking about Jesus Christ and his Atonement.  Abinadi is quoting Isaiah.  In chapter 15, Abinadi explains this to the wicked priests of King Noah.  In Mosiah 15:10 he asks:

"...And who shall be his seed?"

In Mosiah 15:11, he answers the question:

"Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord--I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God."

Isaiah can be confusing sometimes, and I love when the Book of Mormon prophets explain things.

We Are All Lost Sheep

Mosiah 14:6 says:

"All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all."

Michael McLean, the author/composer who wrote the Forgotten Carols, has a song called "Ninety and Nine" in which he sings--

I'm one of the ninety and nine                          

I'm not perfect but basically I'm doing fine     

I have not lost my way, I have not gone astray

I'm just one of the ninety and nine.                  

I do like this song and, because I saw him at Time Out for Women, I know he wrote this song for his Sunday School class full of good teenagers, people who hadn't experienced much of life's ups and downs yet.  The song goes on to say that the Savior reaches out for us all, even those safely in the fold.  All that said, I don't really like the part where it implies we can "do fine" on our own.  The scriptures make it abundantly clear that there is no other way to exaltation, except through Christ.  We cannot go to church, hold our ward calling, basically stay out of trouble and call it good.  I think that would be striving to gain exaltation through our works alone.  We NEED the Savior.  We all need him.  The need for him and his Atonement in our lives is basic and essential, it is not only set in place for those people who are really serious sinners. 

Christ's Atonement is amazing.  It allows me to be forgiven as well as makes is possible for me to forgive.  I have a personal testimony that utilizing the Atonement in both ways can bring about miraculous results.