Category: Book of Mormon

On the docket

Spring and winter have been at war all week. Sun and snow, wind and mild. Even our daffodils have hung their heads a bit in the fray. I went for a walk one afternoon that made my eyes water and my ears ache for the bitterness of the elements. But we must keep moving, keep our heads up (not just talking about the daffodils), and hope for the Easter weekend of our dreams. Next week, my siblings and parents will be gathering for the first time since Paige’s wedding in December 2019. We (and the world) could use some togetherness. So, let’s all hope for sunshine so we can stay outside for long talks as we watch our families hunt for Easter eggs.

On the docket for this weekend:

Get back to weekly scripture appointments with a friend.

Begin our family Easter study.

Make more edits for my dad’s book.

Read more from these books: My Antonia, Theodore Rex, and Dusk, Night, Dawn.

Make more guacamole.

Identify the function of each room of the house so I can tweak the design to reflect this season of our lives. I think I want to move the bookshelves to a completely different area of the house. This plan may also include getting rid of the elementary school science supplies, I don’t know.

Perform a scented candle intervention for this house.

Thanks, steady friends. I saw significant traffic on the post I wrote about fear, another evidence that sharing experiences is one of the important things we need to do. We are getting through these times together, despite distance.

Most of these are gifts from my children. They are tiny and sit inside an heirloom glass case at my kitchen window.

Not acted upon by fear

In my earliest months of middle school, I struggled a lot. One day, as I sat in the cafeteria waiting for an assembly to start, a woman gently got my attention and told me she noticed that I kept holding my breath. She invited me to breathe.

That experience keeps coming back to me as I notice that I have been holding my breath lately, just as I did as an anxious seventh grader.

Satan wants us to be miserable, and his tactic is to lie.

Anxiety is an investment in lies. It is a focus on things that have not happened, and therefore not grounded in truth.

In contrast, God’s goal for us is joy through a full exercise of agency. When we “act for ourselves” rather than allow ourselves to be “acted upon” by fears or other influences, this is an important step to joy. (2 Nephi 2:18-27)

A favorite line from the movie Mulan is, “There is no courage without fear.” I don’t think I will ever be free from some degree of fear, but I am learning to manage it.

Lately, when I play the violin for people, I try not to focus on myself, but the service I am trying to give. I identify the people who are listening, and direct my efforts to their needs. An outward focus is one key to shaking anxious thoughts and feelings.

Another thing I do to have courage is to act according to my beliefs, not my fears. I want to serve, not cower inside my house in fear of a virus or any other thing. So, I take precautions and try to do things for people.

Most of what we read in the news is designed to peddle fear and division. It is worth the effort to avoid sensational coverage of events that is meant to stir up anxiety.

I read and re-read 1 and 2 Nephi. It is full of honest encounters with fear. Even the very best feel like their trials are more than they can handle sometimes. The difference between those who triumph and fail is not how they feel, it is in how they act. I try to be like Nephi.

Other simple actions that keep fear and anxiety at bay: prayer, playing calming music, staying hydrated and working on getting adequate sleep, coloring books, walking outside, connecting with a friend on the phone, and reading my stash of Reminisce magazines. It is okay to be gentle with ourselves. It is okay to identify the essentials and simply focus on those when we are in a fog. My mom likes to say, “Rest, then keep going.”

The ministering of angels

Agony in the Garden by Frans Schwartz

I draw a lot of comfort from the doctrine of the ministering of angels. If you need some reminders that angels are all around us and helping us, here are just a few of my favorite scriptures on the topic:

2 Nephi 31:13-14

2 Nephi 32:2-3

Alma 32:23

3 Nephi 17:24

Moroni 7:29-30, 36-37

2 Kings 6:15-17

Luke 22:43

Angels serve as witnesses and guides to what is really important. “Look,” “Fear not,” and “Behold” are some of the simple words they use to redirect our attention to Christ. They are with us. They show themselves “to those of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness” (Moroni 7:29-30). We may not see angels, they but I believe they play a part in leading us to every holy and pure thing we can experience in this life.

Advent Day 24

And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold, I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

Moroni 7:40-41

Advent Day 19

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

2 Nephi 31:20

Keep looking up to keep your hope bright and shiny!

Advent Day 13

And I also remember that thou hast said that thou hast prepared a house for man, yea, even among the mansions of thy Father, in which man might have a more excellent hope; wherefore man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which thou hast prepared.

Ether 12:32

In ancient Jewish tradition, an engaged bridegroom would build or prepare his own home within his father’s property, a house in the “mansion of his father” to present to his bride. In figurative terms in the scriptures, Christ is the bridegroom, and his church is his bride.

About the custom of building a home for the bride,

“The new home was built under the direct personal supervision of the groom’s father. In that culture, a son is considered to be a representative of his father, and everything that the son does reflects either favorably or unfavorably on the father. Every aspect of the son’s daily life was considered an extension of his father’s training and teachings.” (Beloved Bridegroom by Donna B. Nielsen, p. 34.)

The house he prepares for us is with the toil of His Atonement. As the bride, we are to watch and wait in worthiness for his coming. In Jewish tradition, the arrival of the bridegroom was a surprise, as the coming of the Savior will be someday. Our task is to wait, with hope, for all the good things he has prepared for us.

Advent Day 10

Mormon’s Miraculous Book by Joseph Brickley

My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may the showing of his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

Moroni 9:25

I really love this video. I like how they convey music transporting them to another time, and experiencing the same feelings as the shepherds and wise men. “May Christ lift thee up.”

Advent Day 8

This December, my Advent theme is Hope. It’s my plan to share something each day leading up to Christmas. Today, I include some words by Elder Jeffrey R Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Hebrews 6:18-20

“Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. Moroni spoke of it in the Book of Mormon as ‘hope for a better world.’ For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs to be able to look forward to some respite, to something pleasant and renewing and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance ahead. It is enough just to know we can get there, that however measured or far away, there is the promise of ‘good things to come.’

“My declaration is that this is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us, especially in times of need. There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the ‘light that is endless, that can never be darkened.’ It is the very Son of God Himself. In loving praise far beyond Romeo’s reach, we say, ‘What light through yonder window breaks?’ It is the return of hope, and Jesus is the Sun. To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His ‘more excellent ministry’ with a future of ‘better promises.’ He is your ‘high priest of good things to come.‘ -Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “An High Priest of Good Things to Come,” Ensign, November 1999

Advent Day 6

This December, my Advent theme is Hope. It’s my plan to share something each day leading up to Christmas. Today, I share one of my favorite stories of a person who brought hope to others.

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Ether 12:4
Hello Sarah and Bryan at minute 12:21!

“From little things come big things…”