Close To the Heart

In class today as we discussed the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I shared my experience with Grizelda and what I have learned about the Atonement from that experience. Sharing the story brought back a lot of emotions and feelings that are riding close to the surface of my heart right now. But, today added something more to those feelings.

I brought my cage to class to show the students, and as soon as I pulled it out of the sack a student on the front row burst into tears. He continued to weep as I told the story and finally got up and left. He returned a few minutes later trying to compose himself, but it wasn’t until after class as I spoke to him that he told me that his mother died two years ago of a brain tumor and she, too, had a cage like mine that fit only her, that had been used when she went through radiation.

Obviously this brings up many questions such as why I was spared and she wasn’t. Why was I so blessed and not her? I have no answer to that question, and can only trust in the wisdom of God. But I feel the weight of the question someplace deep in my stomach. Where much is given, much is expected and I was given so much . . . so what is expected?

In a few minutes I will go into another classroom and teach the same lesson to a different class. I want them to feel the essence and importance of the Atonement. I want them to understand the love Jesus Christ has for them, but I also hope I won’t cut as close to anyone else’s heart as I did this morning.

Word Power

The more I study words the more amazed I am at the power they have. You can discover this yourself. Close your eyes so nothing distracts you and repeat out loud about ten times the word ugly. Afterward, examine the feelings that have come over you as you did this.  Then close your eyes again and repeat out loud about ten times the word beautiful and then identify the feelings that have come over you.

If you are like me the difference was striking and surprising. You weren’t thinking about anything ugly or beautiful only saying the word and yet the words created feelings. In addition, these are simple words that we use every day.  Words stir emotions and feelings within us when we simply say them and those feelings can change the way we interact with the people around us.

Watch the words you use today and discover whether you use positive words that build and encourage or negative words that dissipate and discourage.

The words you choose to say and think have power.

Down With Negative Emotions!

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but the word emotions never appears in scripture. Instead the word spirit is used. For example in 1 Timothy 3:7 we read: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” The 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster gives this as two of the definitions of the word spirit: “Powers of mind distinct from the body,” and “That which hath power or energy; the quality of any substance which manifests life, activity, or the power of strongly affecting other bodies.”

The Random House Webster's College Dictionary of 1996 gives 24 definitions of the word spirit. The ones that best capture the King James usage of the word are “an attitude or principle that pervades thought, stirs one to action, etc.,” and “feelings or mood with regard to exaltation or depression.” The definition of the Greek word for spirit is “the vital principal by which the body is animated; the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides; the soul.”

What all this helps me understand is that the negative emotions that send us into the Pit of Illusion are not part of God’s plan for us. That is why when the Savior encountered these bad “spirits” in people, He healed them. And He will heal us as we turn to Him and let Him do His work.