Miracles

“For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith” (2 Nephi 27:23). I quote this verse of scripture because I’ve been thinking a lot about miracles lately. It used to be that when I heard that word, miracle, I immediately thought about sightless eyes being able to see or lame legs made strong. In other words, I thought about physical impossibilities changed into possibilities. Those kinds of miracles seem so incredible and yet I’ve never had trouble believing in them. I’ve seen some. I’ve experienced some. I know they can happen.


But lately I’ve realized that there are miracles far greater than blind eyes seeing that while being greater are at the same time more possible.  Those are the miracles of the heart, the miracles that change carnal people into saints, the miracles that make mortal beings into righteous Christ-like beings. Those are the most important and the greatest miracles of all and those are the miracles that every one of us need. But most important, those are the kind of miracles the Savior most often offers. Not all the blind who want to see will be made to see in this life, but ALL the carnal who want to be righteous will receive the miracle of change and be made saints.

A change of heart is a miracle that everyone who wants it and seeks after it will obtain. So why do I sometimes doubt that I can change? Why do I sometimes think others can't change? That is faulty thinking. We can change because there is someone who has the power to change us, if we seek after Him.

Patience Please . . . I'm Growing

I’m looking at the age spots on my hands. Poised to type, as my hands are now, the spots are very obvious and make it seem to me like these aren’t really my hands at all. My hands are young and strong and . . . but then I remember that just two days ago I couldn’t unscrew a bottle cap. No, these are my hands.

Aging is a strange thing. I don’t feel older, but my body looks and reacts older. I wish I had understood that better when I was younger. I used to think that the old people around me were somehow different, not at all the same as me. But now I know that the old people around me felt exactly the way I did. They may have had a few more physical pains and wrinkles, but they dreamed and had goals and sorrowed and laughed just like I did.

I hope this doesn’t sound morbid. I’m not at all feeling sorry for myself. I’m only reflecting on how much in life I have learned and how as I grow more experienced and closer to the Spirit my understanding grows. In other words, I’m thinking about how spiritual growth is as much a process as physical growth. And process always requires patience. There are some things we just can’t understand until we have more life experience and growth. Therefore, patience with ourselves is as important as patience with others.

Walking West

In the days of Moses the Tabernacle, which was their temple, was always assembled so that it faced East. This means that as the priest entered the temple and proceed he was walking toward the west, or in other words he was following the sun. I’ve always loved that analogy that I, too, should be traveling West or following the light. So for me the phrase “Traveling West” is synonymous with following the path of righteous or following truth and light.

Just recently I began to think that Walking West is a better metaphor. Too often the thing that gets me down is that I feel like I’m not progressing fast enough or that I’m not perfect enough. But the phrase Walking West is what the pioneers did and they did it one step at a time, ten to fifteen miles a day, but eventually they arrived. How silly it would have been to sit down at the Muddy, and start to cry, “I’m not there yet. I’m never going to be there. This is too hard. I can’t do it.” Instead they just kept putting one foot in front of the other. They kept pushing on to the West knowing that if they continued to follow the light they would eventually arrive.

The key is to remember that it doesn’t matter how fast you go. All that matters is that you never turn your back on the sun but constantly walk into it. So I’m going to keep walking West—one step at a time.

Picture: http://miriadna.com/desctopwalls/sky%20&%20clouds/max/Follow%20the%20sun.jpg

Rejoice in the Process

There are a lot of lessons to learn from the creation account we find in Genesis. But one of the most important to me is how God teaches us the concept of process. Life is meant to be a process-not an incident.

In the beginning God organized the world by doing one thing at a time. When He was finished separating the water from the land, He didn’t sit down and cry about how He didn’t have plants or animals or a finished world yet. He stepped back, enjoyed the work of the day, and said, “It is good.” He rejoiced in what He had accomplished.

There is a lot we have to learn from this. Instead of going to bed each night frustrated over what didn’t get accomplished or upset at ourselves for things we said or did wrong, or feeling like there is still so much growth we need to make that we will never be the person we want to be, we need to make it a practice to each night look at what went right that day, what we accomplished, what we learned and rejoice in the growth. Often the very days when we did or said things wrong are our best learning days. Instead of fretting over what went wrong, we should concentrate on the lessons and rejoice in them.

Like God, we need to see the progress in each day, then step back and rejoice because, “It is good."

Musings While I Sewed

I was sewing yesterday. My better half went to California (He went there to run a half marathon and came in second in his age group!), and with him gone I could take up the whole kitchen with machine, cutting board, ironing board, and mess. I made Roman shades for my den and since I didn't have a pattern and was just "winging it" I also did a lot of unpicking.

While sewing and unsewing and sewing again I had a lot of thinking time and I began to realize the metaphor in sewing. One little stitich at a time that material soon became a functional window dressing. It took awhile, but stitch by stitch it was accomplished. Mistakes were made, but like the repentance process, I unpicked the incorrect stitches and started over. Process. Patience. Repentance. Begin again. Process. Patience. Isn't that how you make a good life?

I think that now every time I look at those shades, I'm going to think about life. But with life I have a pattern given to me by the Savior and if I just follow it, I won't have any unpicking to do! What a blessing!