Where's Jesus?

So today during our sacrament meeting, my three year old (Corban) was sitting on my lap and we had a little kids board book about the stories in the Book of Mormon. The authors had used pictures of young kids to depict some of the characters and stories found in that Book. This post is not intended to be a critique on children's books, but merely to share a few comments on a question that Corban asked me. 

As we were going through the book we reached the story when Jesus appears to the peoples in the Americas and blesses their little children. The picture they use in the story was, of course, adorable, but there was a critical part missing. That critical part was pointed out when Corban said, "where's Jesus?"

His pointed question struck my heart with great force. A powerful question that brought many applications to mind in a very short period of time. 

It is a question to ponder for our lives in general...where's Jesus? Do we allow Him to play an active, central role in our lives? Is He just a figure on a few paintings around the house or the source for a few good quotes or "what would Jesus do" comments to our kids? Or is He the center of everything we are and hope to be, the healer of our souls and the guide in all of our daily decisions? I think my three year old just asked me a question that I hope to make a part of my daily walk and talk from now on... "Where's Jesus?" is now a question I hope to ask myself each day. I hope that I can see Him clearly each day, because I know from many personal experiences that He is there, ready and willing to be a part of my life if I but recognize Him and allow Him in. I encourage all of us to ask ourselves this inspired question from the mouth of babes (Joel 2:28, Alma 32:22-23) each and every day so that we make the Master a focus in our lives.

In addition to our lives in general, Corban's question also brought me to recognize that we need to ask ourselves this same question whenever we share our faith or whenever we teach our children or anyone...if people get done with a conversation with us and they were asking, "where's Jesus?" In our personal faith, maybe we need to take a look at ourselves and see where our faith is focused. Sometimes in all of our talk about miracles and family values and righteous living we neglect The Source in all of our discussions. Let's not forget who made it all possible and who created this beautiful earth for our enjoyment and blessing (DC 88:6-13, Mosiah 3:8, Hebrews 1:1-3). Let's not forget that He is the source of all good (Moroni 7:10-18). Let's not forget that He is the one who brings about eternal families and is The One who inspires the prophets to teach us the beautiful truths of HIS gospel. Let's not forget that He is the one who saved our souls and paid the eternal price for both our bodies and spirits with His pure and innocent blood (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 

I hope and pray that Corban's question will help me to be the kind of person that nobody will talk with me and have to ask of my walk and conversation, "where's Jesus?" The Lord Jesus Christ is my Master, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Healer, my Exemplar and my Eternal Friend. As a man with Down syndrome said in one of our church meetings just a few weeks ago, "the Savior is my best friend! You are all my best friends...but the Savior is my BEST friend!" He has changed my life through His grace, and I am confident that His grace is sufficient to help, lift and save all who are willing to turn to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, ready to let His grace transform them into something better than they could make of themselves through their own limited power. He is the living Son of the living God, and it is by His grace we are helped and lifted in our daily lives and struggles. Ultimately, it is by His grace that we are saved. 

My final thought is that oftentimes we are prone to ask, "where's Jesus?" During our most difficult moments. I believe that He is right there beside us.  He simply IS! I know that we never have to ask where Jesus is during our most difficult moments in this life, because He knows perfectly well what we are experiencing because of His great atoning sacrifice (Isaiah 53, Alma 7:11-13). I testify that He is always there in our most trying times. He runs to us to lift us up and comfort and strengthen us. There are times when it is difficult to see His hand, but I know it is there! He is truly the light and life of the world. To take from the words of the prophet Abinadi: "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death. (Mosiah 16:9)" He will one day wipe away all of our tears and all of the wrongs will be made right through His power and grace. I am so grateful for the peace that comes with this knowledge! He lives and loves us always!

Odd tender mercy from The Lord ...

Ok, so this will sound odd to a lot of people (probably), but we had a very sweet tender mercy at our house tonight. Let me define a tender mercy first as Elder David A. Bednar defines it in his April 2005 conference talk:

"the Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ."

So today we received one such tender mercy in the form of two popcorn seeds covered in baby boogers...yes, it's true, the tender mercies of The Lord come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and tonight they came in a very odd one, but we felt and saw his hand just the same.

Sometimes when you have five kids running around the house you have days when you become very frazzled and frustrated and it can be a little disheartening. Kids aren't listening, house is getting thrashed, etc. today was kind of one of those days for Amber and I. To top it off our little 20 month old daughter Audrey decided to shove what we thought was one popcorn seed up her nose. We couldn't get it out and so determined we would have to take her into an Instacare to make sure she didn't have any problems breathing at night. We were both praying silently that somehow it would work out and she would be able to blow them out, but it didn't seem to be working so we began herding the kids in the mud room to get their shoes on and get in the car.

As soon as I put Audrey's shoes on and started to grab the door handle to bring her out to the car, she suddenly did a little snort and a little popcorn seed flew out into my hand...Amber heard it and came over and found a second popcorn seed hanging from the end of her nose and got that one.

Call it silly or call it a coincidence, but I call it an answer to a prayer and a tender mercy of the Lord. Too many of these kinds of things happen for me to label them as coincidences.  He recognized out need for a little pick me up and responded with just enough to keep us going. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us and is aware of us and answers our prayers because of His bounteous mercy. Those mercies are real and we can recognize them when we look carefully at each day of our lives. I testify that God does love and really does answer prayers! He loves us and will give us the little pick me ups when we need them most!

Interested in truth...not error

"We recognize the fact that the world is full of good people, that they have their religious convictions and traditions, traditions that are deeply rooted from ages past. We do not ask them to give up any truths that they have, but we do ask that they re-appraise their faith and their religion, their church, to see if they harmonize with that which was taught by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our missionaries do not present a message of a new church; it is a message of the restored Church. We do not have a new gospel. It is the gospel that was preached by Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Our position as Latter-day Saints is that we are entrusted with the responsibility of establishing the kingdom of God in the earth, that it may prepare mankind for the kingdom of heaven that is to come. We feel that there is no greater message that can be brought to the children of men than one that will make men conscious of error and turn them to the truth." -Clifford E. Young, October 1953 General Conference

As Latter-Day Saints, we are interested in truth, no matter the source.  As President Brigham Young once said, "...we believe in all good. If you can find a truth in heaven, earth, or hell, it belongs to our doctrine. We believe it; it is ours; we claim it."  Whether is "scientific" or "spiritual" in nature, we hope to recognize and believe all truth.  On the other hand, President Young also explained that, "If you find an error… I ask you to leave it, pass it by, let it alone; do not embrace it in your faith, do not practice it in your lives." (Journal of Discources, Vol. 13, No. 40).

It begs the question of how to determine between truth and error.  In the New Testament Jesus taught that "by their fruits ye shall know them."  In another time and place He revealed to the prophet Mormon instructions on how to determine between truth and error (found in Moroni 7:12-18):

12 Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.

 13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.

 14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.

 15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.

 16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

 17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

 18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.

I thank the Lord for His mercy in giving us His light to help us discern between truth and error and to have direction in our lives.  This light is given to ALL of God's children...no matter their race, color, gender or religion.  My prayer is that we can more fully hearken to this light of Christ that will lead us to do good and to be better in all aspects of our lives and to be able to discern between truth and error.

Trees, Wind and Trey

Mondays are sacred and wonderful to me because of Family Home Evening...an opportunity to have my family together, learning together of gospel truths and enjoying one another's company.  We each take turns sharing a spiritual lesson, doctrine or principle and last night it was Trey's turn.  He is coming up on his eighth birthday and I have noticed that he has a wonderful ability to understand spiritual things.  Last night was no exception.  His topic was a talk from General Conference by Elder Neil L. Andersen (April 2014).  A link to the full talk is found here: Elder Andersen, April 2014

I was helping Trey to prepare his lesson after he had watched the talk a couple of times.  I asked him what he remembered most and it was an analogy that Elder Andersen had given regarding wind and trees.  To quote: "In nature, trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds whip around a young sapling, forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread farther. Second, the forces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexible to the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure to return.

You are infinitely more precious to God than a tree. You are His son or His daughter. He made your spirit strong and capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life. The whirlwinds in your youth, like the wind against a young tree, can increase your spiritual strength, preparing you for the years ahead."

Trey related this analogy in his own words and then I asked him what lessons he could take from it for his life.  He replied that our faith is like the trees and that the winds are like temptations and that when we stand up to temptations our faith gets stronger.

Needless to say, I was very impressed!  It is a testimony that "the Lord God...speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." (2 Nephi 31:3) and that "little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned." (Alma 32:23).  You cannot tell me that God's spirit working in my son is not real! To continue the words of Alma: "O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good."

I testify that God is real, that He knows us and speaks to each of us in a way that we can each understand if we are willing to put forth the effort.  He is our ever-loving and forgiving Father, and wants the very best for each of us and is willing to give us all that He has if we will but choose Him (Romans 8:16-17).