Sometimes the Lord must brings us low before He can lift us higher. -Joseph Smith
For I have gone and hurt myself
Almost as deep as bone
Lost in the pain and darkness
Lo! I do not weep alone.
Right by my side I find
In my heart a warmth
Soft and gentle, loud and clear
Even as I soar.
For it is not the people that drew me here
And it was not the community that caused me to stay
I joined because the gospel, the doctrine, rang true
The people are not the meat and potatoes of my religion
How can I allow them to deny me my faith?
To listen as you describe
Reality for your week outside
Even now sends chills down my spine
Knowing this was in remembrance of ancestors mine.
My niece went on Trek this past summer (she was able to go last summer as well, so this was her second time which isn’t something always available to the youth of our church). I was never able to go on Trek and was always really sad about that because I’d watched most of my elder siblings and even my younger siblings prepare and then go on Trek.
For those that don’t know, Trek is when a Stake in our church prepares handcarts and dresses in the appropriate style of clothing and then drives out to a part of the Mormon Handcart Trail and walks, while pulling handcarts, parts of the Trail. It’s long and grueling (I’ve been told), but I’ve also been told how worth it, it is, how much closer it can bring you to your ancestors to know even a little bit of what they went through.
My niece hadn’t wanted to go this year after how difficult it was last year, but in the end she decided to go. When she returned I asked her if she was happy that she’d gone after all.
“Yes I’m glad I went, but no I’m not glad.” Was her answer. She’d enjoyed it, she said, but she wasn’t going to miss pulling a handcart in a skirt.
Something new I did learn about Trek this year was that each person can choose who they are going to ‘participate as’ in their Trek families. (Trek families are the ‘Ma and Pa’ that are called along with a bunch of teens who are the ‘kids’ in the family who all trek together.) My niece chose to trek for her great grandmother, Marie Barbara Luker. Both she and I received our middle names from her; she had received it from her mother or grandmother and the name actually goes back for a bit in her line like that for a while.
Listening to my niece talk about Trek and what it was like to walk in the footsteps of those who were followed their faith even into weather and conditions that most would call the height of foolishness, yet they lost no more than any of the others that left during the best of seasons. For some, the trial of their faith is a great stress upon their bodies, for others it is one upon their minds and still others it is upon their ability to provide for themselves and/or their family. We never know what our trial will be until it has either come or already gone.
“The Good Lord would not have given me anything that He knew I couldn’t handle.”
That was something my mom often would say, but she would just as easily follow it up sometimes with, “But sometimes I wish He didn’t have such faith in me.”
But if He didn’t have the faith that we could do something, even something so incredibly difficult that we believe it is forever out of our reach, how will we ever complete our time in this life? After all, He had the faith that we could come down here and learn what He wanted us to learn in the first place and we trusted in that faith enough to agree to come here. Why should we lose faith in the His own faith in us?
Today I am thankful for the miracle of healing. We have a new kitten named Shadow in the family and almost a week after he joined us he darted under my sister’s youngest’s feet at the last, and worst, moment. Now it’s fairly normal for animals to get stepped on in one way or another and to recover just fine. There’s just one thing. Shadow’s head was stepped on while they were on tile. I won’t go into detail on how Shadow looked or what he sounded like. We asked our neighbor to come and give Shadow a priesthood blessing and fasted and prayed as well.
“Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save. Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him. Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks…But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness. Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.” (Alma 34: 18-20, 26-27)
Shadow is shortly recovering. The Lord was merciful to our little kitty and for that I am forever grateful, but I know that this is not all. The Lord has been very good to my family, has blessed us in many things, though Shadow’s life is one of the greatest to me right now.
“For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.” (D&C 82:3)
“And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and they naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.” (Alma 34:28)
We have been given much this past week and now it is our turn to give as well.
Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able.)
Worship
What does it mean?
Does it change from time to time?
To pray
To sing
To do everything
Reverent honor
Homage paid to the Most High
Title of respect
To each it is different
Moment to moment
Person to person
Personal
Public
Individual versus the crowd
Is it just a moment?
Is it time well spent?
Does it ever have an end?
A breath of silence
A moment of peace
Found within and without
A chapel made of cement
A temple of marble
A forest full of trees
There are too many ways to do it
Tithes and offerings paid on schedule
Time given and service rendered
Faith
Hope
Charity
The greatest of all
Is the last which is first
For charity never faileth
To have charity is to have faith in another
To give charity is to have hope for the future
To be filled with charity is to be filled with the pure love of Christ
—–
To me, worship is never just a single moment in time, but the continual choice to do good in the world.
This was inspired by the Dungeon Prompt: Take Me To Church.
‘Fear not, I am with thee
Oh be not afraid
For I am thy God
And will still give thee aid
I’ll strengthen thee,
Help thee
And cause thee to stand
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.
–LDS Hymn Book #85 – How Firm A Foundation
I’m human, I fear things and I worry about things a lot.
I worry that the next litter of rabbits will die before they can grow old enough. We’ve already lost 2 of the 3 litters that our rabbits have had.
I worry that the littlest chickies won’t survive as we’ve already lost one of the new six.
I worry that the chickens that are almost full grown will die as we just lost one of them last week due to illness though the rest of the flock are doing well.
I worry that the goats will get loose and I won’t be able to track them down in time to get them to come back.
I worry that the boys will miss their bus to school and I have no other way to get them the twenty miles from our house to the school building.
I worry that my mom will fall over and we will have to wait, at best, almost an hour for an ambulance to arrive.
I worry about people that I don’t see every day or even once a month.
I worry a lot. It’s something that I have struggled with throughout the majority of my adult life.
But one thing that I never fear is that the Lord will not answer my prayers. That He will not send the Comforter to be with me in my time of sorrow when I hold seven little bunnies who didn’t make it through the night. That He won’t prompt a neighbor to randomly drop by when I just need someone to talk to about nothing in particular. That He won’t find some other way to send me the aid I need even if it’s only my cat curling up on me at night and purring me to sleep after several sleepless hours.
I don’t fear His abandonment and so long as He walks with me then I know that I will not fall. Or if I do, He will be there to offer me a hand and pull back onto my feet and into His arms.
This little rant was brought to you by the Dungeon Prompt: Fear, How Do You Use It?
Faith is not something to joke about.
It is something serious.
It is not to be taken lightly.
It is a part of you who are even if you are not religious.
Faith is something that is like an obsidian blade.
It is sharp and strong when well cared for, but brittle when left to dust.
It needs nourishment, use, practice.
It is not something that sits on a shelf, pretty and occasionally dusted only to be looked at, but never (never) touched.
Faith is stepping out into the darkness.
It is leaving the light behind.
It is continuing to walk where one you trust has asked.
It is being fearful, but moving forward just the same with your eyes open though you can see nothing in front of you.
Faith is a part of our very physical makeup.
It is something that we have even when we don’t know about it.
It is like the transport proteins that exist within our very cells.
It is there as we believe that our hearts will keep the blood flowing through our bodies.
Faith is in the world around us.
It is the water cycle working and water staying in our atmosphere instead of evaporating out into space.
It is the gravity that holds us down as the world continues spinning.
It is always there for we have to believe in something even if it is only believing that the sun will rise in the East in the morning.
image: from martha0stout’s phone
Don’t give up on what you feel in your bones
Remember that it helps you to breathe
Even when you’re bruised and broken
A moment with this is more than enough
Maybe that vision is who you really are
If only you let yourself dream you’d learn that you can still breathe
Written sort of for the Dungeon Prompt: Faith, Tolerance and Mutual Appreciation. Check out Sreejit’s post for this prompt as well! Also, finally learned how to embed a video on my blog.
Breathing In 