Happy Valentine's Day!

There is so much good in this world, but so much that tempts us to only see what is bad. On this Valentine’s Day as we focus on people we love, I’m also focusing on all there is around me to love—all that is good and wonderful. But focusing isn’t enough. Giving thanks isn’t enough. I’m focusing on what is good so that I can give a Valentine’s gift to the world. How? By passing on, in any way I can, what is good.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope many good things come your way today. Then pass it on!

The Tree of Life

When Nephi is shown his father’s vision, an angel guides him, commanding him to “Look!” Every time Nephi obeys he is shown something new and the angel asks him a question. They continue like this for some time. Commanding. Obeying. Learning.

At one point Nephi is shown the Tree of Life and the angel asks, “Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?” Since it is the Tree of Life you would expect Nephi to answer that it is about life. But instead he says, “Yea, it is the love of God.”

If you stop to ponder that answer doors of understanding open. Eternal life is love. Jesus Christ, who is the Tree of Life, is love. The gospel, given to us by Jesus Christ, is love. That Tree represents so very much that it could have taken Nephi hours to explain. But he understood all that it represented and summed it up in six little words, “It is the love of God.”

The Power Source

We often hear people say that in order to help others we must first fill our own well. It makes sense. If you have no water in the well, you can’t offer anyone a drink. Unless you first study the scriptures, you can’t teach them.

But the metaphor of filling the well is a little deceiving. It gives the impression that we have to be constantly concerned about ourselves and doing things for ourselves in order to fill the well. It gives a subconscious picture of us as always frantically searching and filling for fear of running dry. Some even use this metaphor as a pretext for self indulgence. Their attitude is something like: “I’ve got to do this for myself or I won’t be happy and if I’m not happy I can’t make anyone else happy!” But in 2 Corinthians 9:8 we read, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

What this verse is telling us is that a better metaphor than the well is a metaphor of electricity. What we need to do to help others is not to fill our well, but to plug into the right source, Jesus Christ. Once we do that by repenting, obeying Him, and trusting in Him then we are connected to Him and His grace flows through us to bless others. His grace, or enabling power, isn’t something that runs dry and needs to be replaced. Instead it flows constantly, and as long as we remain worthy the power source is turned on and is available.

If we “plug” into the source, we will never run dry! We will always have enough to sustain ourselves and plenty left over to offer to others.

Let Me Be Light!

You’ve all heard the verse in Luke that says, “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light” (Luke 11:33). In this King James translation the meaning is that we should not hide our light, but we should let it shine brightly for all to see.

Verse 34 goes on to say, “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light, but when thine eye is evil thy body also is full of darkness.” When we go to the extant Greek copies of the New Testament, we find something interesting here. The word “luchos” that is translated as candle in verse 33 is the same word that is translated as the first “light” in verse 34. Therefore verse 34 could have been translated “The candle of the body is the eye.” Luchos is a metaphor for the eye because just as a candle illuminates the way for us to go, the eye perceives the way to go. Therefore the message here is that when our directing force (our desires and attitudes) is single to God our whole body will be full of directing light. But when our directing force is evil, we will stumble in darkness and have no light to share.

I don’t know about you, but I need all the light I can get. So the secret is to watch my desires and attitudes and keep them single to God. Then I will have plenty of light to put on a candlestick and illuminate my way.

Mighty Prayer

One of Jesus’ disciples once asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In response the Savior gave the people what we now call the Lord ’s Prayer and then went on to teach with a parable. In the parable a man receives unexpected company and has nothing to feed his guests. Frantically, he knocks on a friend’s door and asks for some bread. The friend is already comfortably bedded down for the night and calls out that he can’t come to the door.

But the man persists in knocking, and we are told that though the friend wouldn’t go to the door simply because he was a friend, he finally goes to the door because of the man’s “importunity” (Luke 11:5-10).

Jesus is teaching about prayer and obviously we get the message that sometimes we need to be persistent in praying for what we need and want. But there is something more here. The word importune means “to request or beg for urgently.” Persistence is definitely part of this definition, but in addition we get the feeling that Jesus is explaining that prayer is not just words, prayer also involves emotion.

Sometimes our prayers become routine—just spoken words. But prayer means that we are engaged in the thoughts and intents of our prayer with all of our mind and our heart. The scriptures call this mighty prayer. What Jesus is teaching us here is that mighty prayer is not something uttered; mighty prayer is something felt.

My Imperfect "C"

I have to admit that during the announcements at Sacrament meeting yesterday, I had a difficult time concentrating. I was looking at all the heads in front of me and thinking about which men had hair shorter than mine. There were only two that I could find. That was a little discouraging but maybe someone will get a haircut this week so that I can find three or four next week. I am thankful the speakers were very good or I may have counted through the whole meeting!

Several scriptures have also taken on new meaning for me. I used to read that “there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost” (Alma 11:44) in a rather cursory way. But now it has great significance. The bald “C” on my head won’t always be there because “every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame.” What a wonderful promise that is.

Every time I look at my bald “C” I am reminded of that promise and I want to shout “Hallelujah!!” My “C” is temporary, and until every hair of my head is restored, it will remind me of the Person who made it temporary, Jesus Christ. I hope you are also blessed with something that daily reminds you of our Savior. Otherwise the daily hustle and bustle make it is so easy to forget the promises He has given us.

Sheep and Goats

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, the mother of James and John came to worship Jesus and he asked her what she wanted of Him. She answered, “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom” (JST Matthew 20:21).

Jesus answered, “Ye know not what ye ask” (Matthew 20:22).

At first it would seem like James and John’s mother was asking a very reasonable thing. Wouldn’t every mother like her children near Jesus? But later, in Mathew 25:33, the Savior explains that when the Son of Man comes in glory, He is going to separate the righteous which he compares to sheep from the wicked which he compares to goats. “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” So what James and John’s mother unknowingly asked for is that one of her sons would be among the righteous and one among the wicked.

There is a great lesson in this for me. I must be careful what I ask my Father in Heaven for and remember that when He says no, it could be that I have actually asked for something that would not be good for me!