Skip to main content

A Little Grace

So today was ward conference. It was surprisingly good. All of the talks were right on - not too long winded or anything... Ha! That coming from the king of long wind...

In second hour I have been attending our ward's gospel essentials class. It is really good. Since most of our class is quite knowledgeable in gospel topics, we have the luxury of going quite deep with some of the discussions. I am convinced that this is more palatable than the pabulum they could be getting...

Today President Howard led the discussion. He started out talking about what is real. A good question! Is reality based on what we can perceive, can measure, even describe accurately? Can one accurately describe the taste of salt? The short answer is no. There are experiences we have that are sublime and beautiful if impossible to describe. Our inability to express what is in our heart does not make it any less real. I would submit that it makes it MORE real. Our eyes and senses can be deceived, while experiences with the divine cannot be faked.

He then went on to talk about the Atonement and how, even though we cannot decribe how it works, it is nonetheless very real for us. I mentioned how I thought that the grace of God not only saves us from the ultimate effects of our sin, it saves us from the short term effects of those sins as well. This means that when we sin, we are offending justice, which demands immediate restitution in order to maintain balance. We do not feel the immediate - or even the entire results of our actions because of the mercy and GRACE given to all of us. President Howard said that it was like expecting to drop off a building and not receive the effect of that fall. Nevertheless a space is granted through the GRACE of God that enables us time to repent and thus not face the full impact of the results of our decisions. As long as we are alive, we are able to experience this grace.

I need GRACE. I need it now and every day. I am afraid to think of my life without grace. It would be one without hope and joy and peace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t...
1 comment
Read more

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

A Romantic Encounter

Him (tears in his eyes, heartbroken): I want you to know that I love you, that I'm sorry for my weakness and frailties, and that I will try and do better. I think I am doing better than I was before, and I just want to please you and make you happy. I am very grateful for your continued patience as I try to be the kind of man I want to be. Her: You need a haircut. It's getting a little long.
15 comments
Read more