What does God say about you?

     I saw an article titled "What does God say about you?"   I started thinking and remembering some of the messages I have received.

I am a child of God.
I have inherited divine characteristics which I am to learn to recognize and develop.
I have to potential to become more like God.
He wants me to come home to Heaven.
God and Jesus Christ love me so much that Christ suffered unimaginable pain to redeem me from death and sin.

Psalms 82:6

I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

Friday the 13th post a day late

On Friday the 13th I wanted to list 13 reasons I feel lucky, but I just couldn't find the time and energy.   I could easily cheat and list 8*5*8 -  my children, their spouses, and their children - which are high on any list of my blessings, but as you can see it is more than 13 and it was Friday the 13th.  No, not every day gets its number recognition, but Friday the 13th is fun.  Anyway, in no order whatsoever -

1. I am lucky that my mother was lying bored in her parents' home recovering from multiple broken bones and having read everything in the house when two young men came to the door with a new book.  Would I have been blessed to find the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints if they had not found her?  Would I have recognized and accepted the gospel?  I hope so, but I am grateful that she read that book, visited with the missionaries, and accepted the gospel.

2.  I am lucky to have been born a citizen of the United States of America.  This is the land of promise, the land I love, a land of beauty, variety, opportunity and freedom. 

3. In the midst of all the fires around the state and news of the devastation and others homeless because of natural or man caused disasters, I am lucky to have a home .

4.  I am lucky to be able to see, hear, smell, taste, feel, and move. 

5.  I am lucky to always have food to eat and to have never known the fear of going hungry.

6.  I m lucky to have an excellent credit rating after escaping a marriage where love had been strangled and starved to a man whose secret spending took us to the verge of a 2nd bankruptcy.

7.  I am lucky because we have infastructure!  Plumbing! 

8.  Good roads

9. Garbage pick up

10.  Electricity

 -  is that cheating?  Should I have left them all under infrastructure?  I am not very consistent am I?   #4 could have been #4,5,6,7,8, and 9. and my count would have been over a while back.

11. Stores near by full of so many wonderful things.  We have so many choices and opportunities.  It is sometimes fun to walk through a store and know so much is available that I don't want or need.  I know, weird, but kind of a nice antidote to envy.

12.  I am lucky to have a nice car, a good, bike, and public transportation available.    (12, 13,14? but it is supposed to be 13.  I know I seem to have problems counting consistently.  You make your list if you want it done right.)

13.  First, last, and always I am lucky to have been taught and to have received confirmation that I am a child of God and He loves me.

I could go on but this was for Friday the 13th so 13. 

What makes you feel lucky?

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To Disobey a King

A couple of weeks ago, I taught the Sunbeams (the 3 year olds at church) about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  Do you remember them?  

About 600 years before Jesus was born, just after Lehi and his family left Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar , king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and took captive many of Israel's finest citizens. Among those were four young men from the tribe of Judah: Daniel, Hanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah..  In captivity, the youths were given new names. Daniel was called Belteshazzar, Hananiah was called Shadrach, Mishael was called Meshach, and Azariah was called Abednego.

 

These four Hebrews excelled in wisdom and knowledge and found favor in King Nebuchadnezzar's eyes. The king put them into service among his most trusted wise men and counselors.

When Daniel proved to be the only man capable of interpreting one of Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dreams, the king placed him in a high position over the whole province of  Babylon. And at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as administrators under Daniel.

As was common at the time, King Nebuchadnezzar a huge golden image and commanded all the people to fall down and worship it whenever they heard the sound of his musical herald. The awful penalty for disobeying the king’s order was to be thrown into a blazing furnace.  

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were determined to worship the One True God only and thus were reported to the king. Bravely they stood before him as the king pressured the men to deny their God. They said:

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)

Furious with pride and rage, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than normal. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound and cast into the flames. The fiery blast was so hot it killed the soldiers who had escorted them.

But as King Nebuchadnezzar peered into the furnace, he marveled at what he saw:

"But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." (Daniel 3:25, ESV)

Then the king called the men to come out of the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged unharmed, with not even a hair on their heads singed or the smell of smoke on their clothing.

Needless to say, this made quite an impression on Nebuchadnezzar who declared:

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God." (Daniel 3:28, ESV)

Through God's miraculous deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that day, the rest of the Israelites in captivity were given freedom to worship and protection from harm by the king's decree.

And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego received a royal promotion.

Some things I like to learn and remember from this story – 

Isn’t that just crazy?! To make something and then to worship it?!  But sometimes I think we do that with our “things.” We don’t bow down and pray to them, but we give them all our attention and thought instead of thinking about being kind and obeying Heavenly Father.  Having and enjoying our stuff sometimes seems more important to us than praying, studying scriptures, serving, doing our chores, etc. 

I taught this story to the Sunbeams in a lesson about obedience.  But! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego DISOBEYED the king.  Why is that a good thing to remember?  We should be careful to obey Heavenly Father and righteous leaders, but when someone in authority tells us to do something wrong, we should obey Heavenly Father and not the other leader.

That leads me to think about when the Spirit told Nephi to kill Laban (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 4).  Nephi had been taught that killing was wrong.  So he checked back with Heavenly Father and told Him that the idea of killing someone really bothered him.  God told Nephi why He wanted Nephi to kill Laban.  Nephi was in the habit of praying to and LISTENING to Heavenly Father so that he knew the voice of the Spirit form his own thoughts or the voice of Satan.  I am sure he had a spirit of confirmation when he prayed about this.  This whole conversation took place in just minutes or seconds.  We need to learn to talk to and LISTEN to Heavenly Father so that we learn to know his voice. 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that Heavenly Father COULD save them from the fire, but they did not know if He WOULD.  They said “But if not”.  I hear something like  “Even if we suffer in this life for obeying God, we will obey Him and Him only, trusting in His love and justice that all well be right EVENTUALLY. “  We need to learn to trust and obey Heavenly Father even when it seems to cause us trouble here and now.  

I hope we can learn to be more like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  

by the way - the kids loved it

thoughts on litter

A scrap of paper lying in the hallway creates a nearly irresistible urge to pick it up.  You would think that I must be a wonderful house keeper with a spotless home. Unless, of course, you know me.  Then you know that my home is not quite bad enough to be on “Hoarders” but …..  

Why?

Going past my building I notice a lot of litter in the landscaping.  I do not stop to pick it up.  

It doesn’t take a lot of time to pick up one or two items.  When there are several, it takes more time and energy.   

And my house?  A LOT more time and energy.  Plus decision making.

Striving to live a righteous life is like that sometimes, too.  The more there is to work on, the harder it seems to be to do.  Instead of being overwhelmed by it all, we need to learn to to just do one thing at a time. It IS possible. So I tell myself.  Now I need to listen.  and DO.

The best funeral

It seems that I have been to many funerals. I have sadly been to funerals where the officiator clearly did not know the person or his family. Did not say the name correctly. Said nothing personal. I have been to celebrations of life. LDS funerals tend to be positive times of shared memories and testimonies of the Plan of Happiness and Salvation that assures us that death is not the end. When my great-uncle Esque died last December,  I attended probably the most personal and joyous memorial of all.

The officiator was warm, gracious, skilled, personal. We very surprised to learn later that he was not their long time friend and pastor, but that Kathryn had only met him after Esque died.

My Great Uncle Esque passed away on Dec 17th - a week before Christmas and 11 days before his 85th birthday. His wife Kathryn was not dismayed about the timing. They had celebrated together earlier.

Esque was the baby brother of Aurora Frost who married Gillette George McGinness, my grandparents. He often told my children and I of the love and kindness my grandparents showed him and brother Tom.

We were asked to wear bright colors as we rejoiced in his life rather than mourned. Some of his favorite music played before the services began. We were invited to share memories if we so desired. Person after person spoke of his kindness, work with California State Police, what a gentleman he was, and the great love he shared with Kathryn. Notable – his mother-in-law who is weeks younger than he is. Naturally she had some concerns when her daughter became involved with him, but he won them over with his love for Kathie and qualities of character. His neighbor almost could not speak as she wept – how many people even know their neighbors – let alone weep at their funeral? - She spoke of him as a dear friend and surrogate grandfather for her little girls. He was an expert marksman. I remember when he was in bomb disposal. A man of courage and dedication, generosity, and always good humor. As one of my sons said, when you visited with Esque, you always left with a smile.

The officiator eventually had to say, “This is the last one.” Then we enjoyed a slide show that began with a newspaper clipping of when their mother saved Esque and Tom (and Esque's Micky Mouse) from a fire and included him handsome in his uniform, and many other pictures from his life.

The service concluded with the Lord's prayer.

Esque was buried with other of my relatives half a mile from my house at St Mary's Cemetery during the worst part of a rainy, windy storm. Mourners huddled and shivered as Esque was honored by the military, the grave was blessed, and the casket lowered.

Later we met at The Cheesecake Factory where the hostess exclaimed, " I love Esque!"

Kathryn has been strong and brave. She chose to celebrate life and love.