Skip to main content

On faith and love

So Nephi, after having heard his father's dream, decided he wants to hear and see and experience for himself. It occurs to me that faith is the desire to know things, the belief that those things CAN be known, and the action required to obtain that knowledge. Sometimes it's as simple as being still and pondering - this has often been the case for me. Some of the sweetest experiences I've had in my life have come when I was pondering scripture, the words of Church leaders, my parents, or life in general. The communication that takes place between me and my Father in Heaven will often transcend verbal communication and I send Him feelings, hopes, desires, and even images from my mind. He gets them and responds in kind.

The angel that is guiding Nephi through the visions he is having asks him if he knows the condescension of God. Condescension is almost always used as a negative term, as in - Oh, she is SO condescending... Where the implication is that someone is haughty and arrogant. For a long time I struggled with that word. Then I started to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Jehovah, truly did condescend to put on Him the form of a man, to become subject to the frailties and weaknesses we share, and to experience even death and alienation from His Father so that He might succor us better - so that He might know how we feel and what we are going through. He was (is!) perfect, yet it pleased Him to come to this sphere and take on imperfect physical, mortal characteristics in an effort to draw us closer to Him. We can trust Him. We can love Him perfectly because He has descended below all things. And God be praised for his infinite love and mercy.

Nephi's response is interesting - he says he knows God loves His children, but he (Nephi) does not understand the meaning of all things. It is not required or even necessarily desirable for us to understand all things. It may even be impossible. But if we believe that God loves us (and surely He does!) then that knowledge forms the foundation for everything else we want and need to know. If He loves us, and knows our names (as He called Nephi by his name), He will answer our prayers and give us what we need. If He loves us, we can seek Him and His will, bending ourselves to Him and abandoning everything we think we want to Him - finding then that we have what we really need. If He loves us, we must love each other if we would be like Him. If He loves us, He will teach us truth and peace and comfort. If He loves us, surely He has a plan for us to be like Him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Other Art

I'm not sure we appreciate photography as much as we do other art forms. Part of this comes from the reality that surrounds and permeates a photograph - it's very, very real, and the photographer strives for clarity and crispness in the representations. Perhaps this is why black and white images continue to be relevant - they strip away extraneous information (color) and leave us with something that is at once familiar and also non-existent - for nothing exists in black and white. Nothing. I also think that pictures are becoming too common-place... Everyone has a camera in their pocket, and while that's a very democratic thing (everyone can express themselves in a picture easily and readily, and can find an audience for these images, which are casually taken and casually viewed, and perhaps just as casually forgotten) I think that we embrace that casual attitude, and it spills over to all aspects of the media, making it impotent. So I read this article this morning: h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lucky!

So Tomorrow is Amie's birthday. The 12 th is Andy's. The 14 th is Alex's. And the 26 th is mom's. Happy birthday everyone. I recently found that a member of our ward has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer has a survivability rate of less than 5% and you never, ever kick it, even if you live. Once diagnosed, people are expected to live about six months. My wife and I were talking about this wonderful woman. There are very few (too few) people in this world who shine. Literally. This sister shines with a light that is perceptible and discernible . The world will literally be a darker place without her in it. Life is short, folks. Too short for hard feelings, too short for pain and misunderstanding. I love you all so much. Sorry this one is such a downer... I don't mean to be lugubrious on your birthdays... I consider myself lucky to be your brother. You have and continue to bless me and my family in many ways, for which I will be eternally gra...
4 comments
Read more

Excommunication

My heart is heavy this morning. I read that Kate Kelly and others are being brought up on Church disciplinary action. For those who are unfamiliar with the process/proceedings of LDS Church discipline, it can be a bit mystifying. There are several levels of censure that the Church may impose. These range from a simple removal of some privileges for a short period of time to the most severe action - excommunication. When one is excommunicated, the person's membership in the Church is terminated. It is a very extreme measure, and for the faithful it can be a very difficult thing to consider. What people don't understand - what is nearly impossible for someone outside the proceedings to understand - is the amount of love felt. It's discipline. It's intended to be harsh (at times). And it's intended to be unpleasant. But it is done with love and care for the person. Since excommunication is such an extreme measure, it is really only very rarely applied. There are ...
18 comments
Read more