Abide With Me

My entries on this blog are things that I have learned about during that particular week in my Book of Mormon class.  In this week's lesson there was a video shown with the hymn, "Abide With Me", playing.  It is one of my favorite hymns.  The main idea of the video was that these days the world is full of turmoil and strife.  Everyday you can turn on the news and see someone that has been or is going through some trial.  It seems as if the world is in distress and yet where are we to turn for help and aid?

I have noticed that when times become hard or overwhelming that people do two things.  Either they become hard and numb to all feeling or they turn to God or what they consider to be a higher power.  I choose to turn to God and seek his comfort and guidance.  The hymn, "Abide With Me" brings me great comfort when things become difficult for me.  

The first verse is:  
Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

When you look up "abide" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary one of the definitions is, " to remain or continue".  I replaced "abide" with "remain" in the first verse and so it would go:

Remain with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens. Lord, with me remain!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, remain with me!

It brought to mind the times in my life that I needed someone to be with me. I did not even need them to say anything, just to stay or remain with me so that I was not alone.  I know that there is a God and that He is my Heavenly Father.  As a good parent should, He has remained with me in times that just seemed too hard to get through alone.  

This blog entry is short and sweet, but I just wanted to let whoever reads this to know that there is a God.  He is the one to turn to in both good times and bad. A prayer that I have can not be phrased better than in the last line of the third verse in "Abide With Me":

Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!

"Abide With Me"
Text: Henry F. Lyte, 1793-1847
Music: William H. Monk, 1823-1889

Picture from www.lds.org
 

What kind of candle are you?

 

This day and age we are a people that just go, go, go.  We are constantly moving and going about our business.  We have become a people that doesn't always notice the details.  I am guilty of doing this.  I am so busy going about my day that I am not really looking and seeing what is happening.  Though I can say that that isn't always the case.

I do try to make it a point to watch for kind deeds that are going on around me.  Did someone hold open the door for another person?  Did a car ahead of me kindly let another car get over so that they could make the left turn they needed to make? When someone dropped something, did someone else help the person pick up the item.  I know that if I am watching that there are others that are doing the same.  Most importantly, our children are watching and what example are we setting?  What kind of a candle are we being?

I pose the question of, "What kind of candle are you?" because of what Christ taught while teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  In the Bible, in the book of Matthew 5:15-16 we read:

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Heavenly Father wants us to be an example to others.  He wants us to be a "candle" and to "let our light shine."  He wants us to live in a way that others will see our examples and glorify him.  Christ set the example for us to follow.  It is possible to live in a way that we do good to others, that we don't revile against those that hurt us, and that we can see the good in everything.

The account of when Christ came to the people of the Americas is found in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi.  He is teaching the people what was taught at the Sermon on the Mount.  We see that Christ is teaching a people on the other side of the world the same thing that he taught the people in Jerusalem.  God's message is the same everywhere. We are to set a good example for others.

It doesn't matter what religion we follow.  The message is still the same, how are we treating others?  What kind of an example are we being for others and especially our children.  Are we teaching people to be kind, loving, forgiving, and to be happy?   I have seen first hand the kindness of the people of the world.  I have lived in seven different states, in three different countries, and on two separate continents.  There are amazing people all over the world that are living a life of good deeds and kindness.  They are being an example to others.  So I ask again, what kind of candle are you?

                     

(All images are from www.lds.org)

How Easily We Forget

 

We live in a world where we have so many things at our finger tips.  It is so easy to get information these days, it is almost hard to comprehend how unlimited the resources are.  In high school, for me to write a two page research paper it would take hours to gather all of the information that I needed to write it.  Then having to go to the computer lab to type it and hope that a computer was available to use.  Now, that could be researched, typed, and even published online in less than an hour.  

There are so many things that are easier to do because new machines have been created to ease our work load.  A driveway that took four hours to shovel the snow away from can be cleared in no more than 20-30 minutes by using a snow blower.  There are times that I revel in the fact that I can accomplish so many things in a day, but there are other times that I hate that there is so much more expected of me because of the conveniences of today.  

I don't want to make it sound like I am lazy, because I am not.  I just don't like that if I haven't painted the house, mowed the lawn, helped with my kids' science projects, and have a home cooked meal waiting for my husband when he gets home I have not accomplished enough in the day.  I know, I know, I've exaggerated a bit, but you get my point.  I feel that we have forgotten to appreciate that as a people in the 21st century how blessed we really are and who has made this all possible.  

In the Book of Mormon the two major civilizations, the Nephites and the Lamanites, lived their lives in what we in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints call "The Nephite Pride Cycle".  It seemed that when the people started to remember God, worship Him, and follow His commandments they would be blessed.  They would be blessed so much that they would prosper exceedingly in their wealth, their flocks would increase, their crops would be abundant, there wouldn't be as much war, and all would seem to be well in their lands.  Then, slowly, but surely their pride level would increase.  They would stop giving God any credit and then the divisions within the classes would start and life would not be so pleasant and harmonious.  Things would get so bad that God would have to step back in and remind the people that it was Him that had blessed them and given them all that they had.  He was the reason that life had been so good.  There is a verse in the Book of Mormon that sums it up nicely.  In Helaman 12:3 we read:

"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."

I just hope that all of us that are old enough to remember how much harder work could be help our children and grandchildren realize how blessed we really are today.  I dare say that from my grandparent's generation, those that were around for WWII, to my children's generation, we have so easily forgotten what it was like to not have.  We have so very quickly forgotten God and the hand that he plays in all things.  It's just something to think about, how easily have you forgotten what you have been blessed with.  Then ask yourself, who has blessed you with all of that?

Title of Liberty

In the Book of Mormon, in the book of Alma, there are a lot of wars that are going on between the people, it's not unlike what is going on in the world today.  There are so many things that you can say about war.  There are a lot of questions that you can ask.  Why is the war being fought, what benefits will the people gain after the war is won, is the war for a just cause, and the list can go on and on.  People are always quick to point fingers at each other as to who started it and why they had to retaliate.  I am not here to get into all of the politics that accompany a discussion that focuses on war. What I am asking is, what do you feel is worth defending?  What is your Title of Liberty? 

In Alma 46 there was a man, Amalickiah, that was making trouble in the land, he wanted to be king.  The chief commander of the armies of the Nephites was Moroni.  Although he was the leader of the army he was also a man of God, a man that believed there was more to fight for than just a position or a section of land.  When he learned of things that Amalickiah was doing he got angry.  The following verses in Alma 46 tells us what he did:

 11 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah.

 12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

Moroni was reminding them why they were fighting, what they were defending.  The rest of the chapter goes on to say that he went and took this Title of Liberty throughout the land to show and remind the people of all that they had promised to defend.  In verse 21 is states, 

"...the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God..."

As stated above, what is your Title of Liberty?  What righteous thing are you fighting for?  I am not even really talking about an actual, physical war.  What are you standing up for or against?  My Title of Liberty would say something pretty close to Moroni's.  I go throughout my day trying to set the example to others that we need to make choices that will benefit, defend, and strengthen the things that we hold most dear.  As long as the cause is a righteous one, God will help us succeed in protecting that which is most dear.  I am not stating that life will be perfect or that nothing bad will happen.  I am just wanting everyone to know that we are not alone in this life here on Earth and that there are things that are worth fighting for and defending.  

Prayers Are Our Link To God

I am excited to have started another semester in the Pathway Program.  In my religion class we will now be covering the rest of the books of the Book of Mormon.  We will be going from Alma 30 - Moroni 10.  One of the topics that we covered in this week's class is prayer.  Prayer has always been one of my favorite topics to study and discuss.  I feel that there are so many people that don't understand what prayer is.

Prayer is a way that we communicate to God, it's our link to him.  Our Heavenly Father has always wanted us to communicate or talk to him.  He wants to know about everything that is going on in our lives.  My daughter, who is 8, has asked me, "Why do we need to talk to God and tell him about our day if he already knows everything that is going on?".  It is a good question. What I tell her is that it's like when I am watching her and her sisters playing outside through our kitchen window.  I have seen everything that has gone on.  I know that you have hit the ball over the fence, that you pushed your sister, or that you were laughing as you were yelling into the wind, but I want to hear from you what your favorite part of the day was.  What will you always remember about the afternoon outside? She understood what I was saying and she has actually wanted to say a prayer every night since that discussion.

I talk to Heavenly Father throughout the day. I am a stay at home mom and so it's easy for me to pray out loud, but when I am out and about I am holding full conversations in my head with Him.  I use respectful words to address him like "thee" and "thou", but I talk to him like he is right next to me.  I seek his counsel, I vent to him, I bring my heavy heart to him when I am burden with the weight of the world, and I sometimes just cry and am comforted in the knowledge that there is someone there with me as tears are rolling down my face.  We are taught in the Book of Mormon in Alma 34:27,  by a missionary, Amulek, when we should pray: 

 27 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.

What I think is important for people to remember is that God is there when were are frustrated, stressed, mad, and going through a tough trail, but he is also there waiting for us to bring to him our joys and things that we are thankful for.

I thank him for a breeze that comes when I am mowing the lawn and I am dying because it's so hot.  I thank him for one of my favorite songs coming on the radio when I am cranky.  I thank him that many of the things on my grocery list are on sale on a week that the food budget is a bit tight.  God is mindful of all of us and of all that we are going through.  I hope that we all just remember that prayer is powerful, it works, God is listening.  All we need to do is to start talking to our Creator, our Father, and our Friend and he will be there listening and ready to respond.