“When filled with God’s love, we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand. Filled with His love, we can endure pain, quell fear, forgive freely, avoid contention, renew strength, and bless and help others in ways surprising even to us.”
John H. Groberg
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Daily Scripture
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.
3 Nephi 31:20
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Daily Thought
“The word intelligence, as used in common speech, means readiness in learning, quickness of mind.
The intelligent man is he who seeks knowledge and uses it in accordance with the plan of the Lord for human good…..When men follow the light their knowledge will always be well used.
…Thus it often happens that a person of limited knowledge but who earnestly and prayerfully obeys the law, rises to a higher intelligence or wisdom, than one of vast Gospel learning who does not comply in his daily life with the requirements of the Gospel. Obedience to law is a mark of intelligence.”
Elder John A. Widtsoe
The intelligent man is he who seeks knowledge and uses it in accordance with the plan of the Lord for human good…..When men follow the light their knowledge will always be well used.
…Thus it often happens that a person of limited knowledge but who earnestly and prayerfully obeys the law, rises to a higher intelligence or wisdom, than one of vast Gospel learning who does not comply in his daily life with the requirements of the Gospel. Obedience to law is a mark of intelligence.”
Elder John A. Widtsoe
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Mosiah 9-17
Nancy Baird - February 22, 2011
"The modern reader should not see the Mosaic code... as simply a tedious set of religious rituals.
This historic covenant, given by the hand of God himself...was...a guide to spirituality, a gateway to
Christ...It...included many basic parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had existed before it. It was
never intended to be something apart or separated from, and certainly not something antagonistic to,
the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, pp. 136-37, 147.
"In the sixteenth century, the great Kabbalistic rabbi Isaac Luria offered a profoundly beautiful
cosmology of the world...The world...[began when] the vessel holding [the Source of all light] shattered
and broke open, and the light of God was scattered throughout the universe into an infinite number of
holy sparks. These countless sparks of holiness are hidden deep in everyone and everything.
...The purpose of human life is to uncover these sparks of light and restore the world to its original
wholeness. Everyone and everything we encounter is a shell or container for a hidden spark of holiness.
It is up to us to help free the hidden holiness in everything and everyone....Every act of lovingkindness,
no matter how great or small, repairs the world."
Rachel Naomi Remen, My Grandfather's Blessings, p. 326.
"Dancing [for the Jew] is no mere expression; it is an achievement...if the dancers could persuade
a melancholy person to join them, his sadness would lift. And if you are that melancholy
person...persuade yourself to dance, for it is "an achievement to struggle and pursue that sadness,
bringing it into the joy."
Theologian Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's Reform congregation in Sudbury Mass....holds a
celebration on Simchat Torah, when the synagogue completes the whole year's reading of the Torah.
It is a thrilling sight, he wrote. "People come from far and wide. The dancing goes on for hours.
"I once asked a newly-arrived Soviet Jewish refusenik what he thought of our Simchat Torah
celebration." The man said it was fine, but better in Leningrad. Rabbi Kushner, who admitted to
being "curious and a little insulted," asked how it was better.
"'In Leningrad,' he explained, 'if you dance in front of the synagogue on Simchat Torah, you must
assume that the secret police will photograph everyone. This means that you will be identified and
sooner or later your employer will be notified. And since such a dance is considered anti-Soviet, you
must be prepared to lose your job! And so you see,' he went on, 'to dance on such an occasion, this is a
different kind of dance.'"
Annie Dillard, For the Time Being, pp.144-145.
Mosiah 9-17 - Nancy Baird - February 22, 2011 (Audio)
This historic covenant, given by the hand of God himself...was...a guide to spirituality, a gateway to
Christ...It...included many basic parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had existed before it. It was
never intended to be something apart or separated from, and certainly not something antagonistic to,
the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, pp. 136-37, 147.
"In the sixteenth century, the great Kabbalistic rabbi Isaac Luria offered a profoundly beautiful
cosmology of the world...The world...[began when] the vessel holding [the Source of all light] shattered
and broke open, and the light of God was scattered throughout the universe into an infinite number of
holy sparks. These countless sparks of holiness are hidden deep in everyone and everything.
...The purpose of human life is to uncover these sparks of light and restore the world to its original
wholeness. Everyone and everything we encounter is a shell or container for a hidden spark of holiness.
It is up to us to help free the hidden holiness in everything and everyone....Every act of lovingkindness,
no matter how great or small, repairs the world."
Rachel Naomi Remen, My Grandfather's Blessings, p. 326.
"Dancing [for the Jew] is no mere expression; it is an achievement...if the dancers could persuade
a melancholy person to join them, his sadness would lift. And if you are that melancholy
person...persuade yourself to dance, for it is "an achievement to struggle and pursue that sadness,
bringing it into the joy."
Theologian Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's Reform congregation in Sudbury Mass....holds a
celebration on Simchat Torah, when the synagogue completes the whole year's reading of the Torah.
It is a thrilling sight, he wrote. "People come from far and wide. The dancing goes on for hours.
"I once asked a newly-arrived Soviet Jewish refusenik what he thought of our Simchat Torah
celebration." The man said it was fine, but better in Leningrad. Rabbi Kushner, who admitted to
being "curious and a little insulted," asked how it was better.
"'In Leningrad,' he explained, 'if you dance in front of the synagogue on Simchat Torah, you must
assume that the secret police will photograph everyone. This means that you will be identified and
sooner or later your employer will be notified. And since such a dance is considered anti-Soviet, you
must be prepared to lose your job! And so you see,' he went on, 'to dance on such an occasion, this is a
different kind of dance.'"
Annie Dillard, For the Time Being, pp.144-145.
Mosiah 9-17 - Nancy Baird - February 22, 2011 (Audio)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Mosiah 4-8
Diane Adair - February 15, 2011
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your picture would be in it. He gives you flowers every spring. He sends you a sunrise every morning. Face it, my friend, He's crazy about you!
Rescuing Hug
A news article details the first week of life of a set of twins. Apparently, each were in their respective incubators, and one was not expected to live. A hospital nurse fought against the hospital rules and placed the babies in one incubator. When they were placed together, the healthier of the two threw an arm over her sister in an endearing embrace. The smaller baby's heart rate stabilized and her temperature rose to normal. Let us not forget to embrace those whom we love.
Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter.
Give a soft answer. Encourage youth.
Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise.
Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize.
Try to understand. Examine your demands on others.
Think first of someone else.
Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
Speak your love and then speak it again.
President Howard W. Hunter
"You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands... Your calling is to bless lives. That will be true even in the most ordinary tasks you are assigned...You see, There are no small callings to represent the Lord."
President Henry B. Eyring
"No sign, no work of art...is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the Living Christ. He told us what the symbol should be when he said...'if ye love me keep my commandments'. As His followers, we can't do a mean, shoddy, or ungracious thing without tarnishing His image. Nor can we do a good and gracious and generous act without more burnishing brightly the symbol of Him whose name we have taken upon ourselves. And so our lives must become a meaningful expression, the symbol of our declaration of our testimony of the living Christ, the, Eternal Son of the Living God."
Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter.
Give a soft answer. Encourage youth.
Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise.
Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize.
Try to understand. Examine your demands on others.
Think first of someone else.
Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
Speak your love and then speak it again.
President Howard W. Hunter
"You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands... Your calling is to bless lives. That will be true even in the most ordinary tasks you are assigned...You see, There are no small callings to represent the Lord."
President Henry B. Eyring
"No sign, no work of art...is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the Living Christ. He told us what the symbol should be when he said...'if ye love me keep my commandments'. As His followers, we can't do a mean, shoddy, or ungracious thing without tarnishing His image. Nor can we do a good and gracious and generous act without more burnishing brightly the symbol of Him whose name we have taken upon ourselves. And so our lives must become a meaningful expression, the symbol of our declaration of our testimony of the living Christ, the, Eternal Son of the Living God."
President Gordon B. Hinckley, 2005
"I consider charity—or “the pure love of Christ”—to be the opposite of criticism and judging. In speaking of charity, I do not at this moment have in mind the relief of the suffering through the giving of our substance. That, of course, is necessary and proper. Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient.
I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.
There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere.
Needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports of misfortunes that come to others, unless by so doing, the unfortunate one may be benefited. The American educator and politician Horace Mann once said, “To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is godlike.”
Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.
Charity, that pure love of Christ, is manifest when a group of young women from a singles ward travels hundreds of miles to attend the funeral services for the mother of one of their Relief Society sisters. Charity is shown when devoted visiting teachers return month after month, year after year to the same uninterested, somewhat critical sister. It is evident when an elderly widow is remembered and taken to ward functions and to Relief Society activities. It is felt when the sister sitting alone in Relief Society receives the invitation, “Come—sit by us.”
In a hundred small ways, all of you wear the mantle of charity. Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. May we recognize that each one is doing her best to deal with the challenges which come her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out.
Charity has been defined as “the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love,” the “pure love of Christ … ; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with [her].”
“Charity never faileth.” May this long-enduring Relief Society motto, this timeless truth, guide you in everything you do. May it permeate your very souls and find expression in all your thoughts and actions.
I express my love to you, my sisters, and pray that heaven’s blessings may ever be yours. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
President Thomas S. Monson, "Charity Never Faileth", Ensign, November, 2010
"I consider charity—or “the pure love of Christ”—to be the opposite of criticism and judging. In speaking of charity, I do not at this moment have in mind the relief of the suffering through the giving of our substance. That, of course, is necessary and proper. Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient.
I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.
There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere.
Needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports of misfortunes that come to others, unless by so doing, the unfortunate one may be benefited. The American educator and politician Horace Mann once said, “To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is godlike.”
Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.
Charity, that pure love of Christ, is manifest when a group of young women from a singles ward travels hundreds of miles to attend the funeral services for the mother of one of their Relief Society sisters. Charity is shown when devoted visiting teachers return month after month, year after year to the same uninterested, somewhat critical sister. It is evident when an elderly widow is remembered and taken to ward functions and to Relief Society activities. It is felt when the sister sitting alone in Relief Society receives the invitation, “Come—sit by us.”
In a hundred small ways, all of you wear the mantle of charity. Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. May we recognize that each one is doing her best to deal with the challenges which come her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out.
Charity has been defined as “the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love,” the “pure love of Christ … ; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with [her].”
“Charity never faileth.” May this long-enduring Relief Society motto, this timeless truth, guide you in everything you do. May it permeate your very souls and find expression in all your thoughts and actions.
I express my love to you, my sisters, and pray that heaven’s blessings may ever be yours. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
President Thomas S. Monson, "Charity Never Faileth", Ensign, November, 2010
Mosiah 4-8 - Diane Adair - February 15, 2011 ( Audio)
Mosiah 1-3
Nancy Baird- February 8, 2011
Jeremiah 22:13-19
v.15 "If your cedar is more splendid, does that prove you a king? Think of your father: he ate and drank, dealt justly and fairly; all went well with him. He dispensed justice to the lowly and poor; did not this show he knew me? says the Lord. But you have no eyes, no thought for anything but gain, set only on the innocent blood you can shed, on cruel acts of tyranny."
The New English Bible
"You do not have the right to eliminate yourself, you do not belong to you. You belong to the universe."
"So I vowed to keep myself alive, but only if I would never use me again for just me..."
John Love, "Buckminster Fuller," Quest, 1979, p.104.
"To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?" Thoreau, Walden
"The unpardonable sin in Campbell's book, was the sin of inadvertence, of not being alert, not quite awake."
Bill Moyers, writing about Joseph Campbell
"Over the years I have seen the power of taking an unconditional relationship to life... a sort of willingness to show up for whatever life may offer and meet with it rather than wishing to edit and change the inevitable...
When people begin to take such an attitude they seem to become intensely alive, intensely present. Their losses and suffering have not caused them to reject life, have not cast them into a place of resentment, victimization, or bitterness...
From such people I have learned a new definition of the word "joy." I had thought joy to be rather synonymous with happiness, but it seems now to be far less vulnerable than happiness. Joy seems to be a part of an unconditional wish to live, not holding back because life may not meet our preferences and expectations. Joy seems to be a function of the willingness to accept the whole, and to show up to meet with whatever is there...
Joy seems more closely related to aliveness than to happiness."
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., Kitchen Table Wisdom, pp.169-170
" If we eat an apple, could we taste the rain, tell what dirt it was planted in, what part of the country it came from? That would be being completely present."
From "Li-Young Lee," Poets & Writers, Nov/Dec, p.25,26.
"We think of children as vulnerable. In my experience, they're giants. Their bodies and souls are amazingly resilient. What we often mistake for fragility is their openness..."
Fred Epstein, pediatric neurosurgeon, "If I Get to Five: What Children Can Teach Us About Courage and Character."
McCARRISTON: I am blessed by life. I am blessed by consciousness. I am, at root, a profoundly joyful person. I know great sadness, which is often with me, but I feel as if I wanted so much to get in, and I'm one of the lucky ones who knows that I got in. And, of course, it's optional whether you're going to get in...
MOYERS: To get in?
McCARRISTON: Into the field of time. Here. Briefly. In the garden. Here. It's just so beautiful, it's so beautiful.
MOYERS: Even though you were abused and beaten you can still celebrate the moment, the garden?
McCARRISTON: Oh yes, but that violence isn't the garden. That's evil.
MOYERS: The evil in the garden?
McCARRISTON: The evil in the garden, yes --our human capacity for blindness to our own cruelty...
Human blindness to human cruelty does not come from the hand of God, it is not just human nature, it is definitely not inevitable. It is learned. So I feel that if by making my poems beautiful my work can contribute one little stone to this generation's efforts to illuminate and enlarge our understanding of evil and human suffering, that would be a great joy."
Bill Moyers, interview with Linda McCarriston, The Language of Life, pp.284,285.
Mosiah 1-3 Nancy Baird - February 8, 2011 (Audio)
v.15 "If your cedar is more splendid, does that prove you a king? Think of your father: he ate and drank, dealt justly and fairly; all went well with him. He dispensed justice to the lowly and poor; did not this show he knew me? says the Lord. But you have no eyes, no thought for anything but gain, set only on the innocent blood you can shed, on cruel acts of tyranny."
The New English Bible
"You do not have the right to eliminate yourself, you do not belong to you. You belong to the universe."
"So I vowed to keep myself alive, but only if I would never use me again for just me..."
John Love, "Buckminster Fuller," Quest, 1979, p.104.
"To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?" Thoreau, Walden
"The unpardonable sin in Campbell's book, was the sin of inadvertence, of not being alert, not quite awake."
Bill Moyers, writing about Joseph Campbell
"Over the years I have seen the power of taking an unconditional relationship to life... a sort of willingness to show up for whatever life may offer and meet with it rather than wishing to edit and change the inevitable...
When people begin to take such an attitude they seem to become intensely alive, intensely present. Their losses and suffering have not caused them to reject life, have not cast them into a place of resentment, victimization, or bitterness...
From such people I have learned a new definition of the word "joy." I had thought joy to be rather synonymous with happiness, but it seems now to be far less vulnerable than happiness. Joy seems to be a part of an unconditional wish to live, not holding back because life may not meet our preferences and expectations. Joy seems to be a function of the willingness to accept the whole, and to show up to meet with whatever is there...
Joy seems more closely related to aliveness than to happiness."
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., Kitchen Table Wisdom, pp.169-170
" If we eat an apple, could we taste the rain, tell what dirt it was planted in, what part of the country it came from? That would be being completely present."
From "Li-Young Lee," Poets & Writers, Nov/Dec, p.25,26.
"We think of children as vulnerable. In my experience, they're giants. Their bodies and souls are amazingly resilient. What we often mistake for fragility is their openness..."
Fred Epstein, pediatric neurosurgeon, "If I Get to Five: What Children Can Teach Us About Courage and Character."
McCARRISTON: I am blessed by life. I am blessed by consciousness. I am, at root, a profoundly joyful person. I know great sadness, which is often with me, but I feel as if I wanted so much to get in, and I'm one of the lucky ones who knows that I got in. And, of course, it's optional whether you're going to get in...
MOYERS: To get in?
McCARRISTON: Into the field of time. Here. Briefly. In the garden. Here. It's just so beautiful, it's so beautiful.
MOYERS: Even though you were abused and beaten you can still celebrate the moment, the garden?
McCARRISTON: Oh yes, but that violence isn't the garden. That's evil.
MOYERS: The evil in the garden?
McCARRISTON: The evil in the garden, yes --our human capacity for blindness to our own cruelty...
Human blindness to human cruelty does not come from the hand of God, it is not just human nature, it is definitely not inevitable. It is learned. So I feel that if by making my poems beautiful my work can contribute one little stone to this generation's efforts to illuminate and enlarge our understanding of evil and human suffering, that would be a great joy."
Bill Moyers, interview with Linda McCarriston, The Language of Life, pp.284,285.
Mosiah 1-3 Nancy Baird - February 8, 2011 (Audio)
Enos - Words of Mormon
Diane Adair- February 1, 2011
DVD viewed during class - "Book of Mormon DVD Presentations 1-19; #8 And My Soul Hungered
Enos - Words of Mormon - Diane Adair - February 1, 2011 (Audio)
Enos - Words of Mormon - Diane Adair - February 1, 2011 (Audio)
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