Never Forget the Things That Are Important to Remember, and Never Remember the Things That Are Important to Forget

I seen a lot of posts today with the catch phrase "Never Forget".

Today is the anniversary of 9/11. I do not believe there is an American who was not touched emotionally bad day. I remember the sadness and the hopelessness I felt as I sat holding my two young daughters that morning. I remember the heartache that I felt as I visited the 9/11 Memorial in Washington DC and the crash site of Flight 93.

"Never Forget" is an interesting sentiment. I don't think any of us who live through that day could ever forget. However, I feel it is very important that we remember what we should remember,  and forget what we need to forget.

No one needs to remember the hatred and the anger. I was recently sitting in a lecture by Michael Wilcox, a LDS teacher, and a man who has tremendous insight into Christ and His life and mission. Brother Wilcox spoke of his great amount of time traveling the world, especially in the Middle East. He spokes of how with each person he is met, he can see the light of Christ in them. He can see the divine nature that comes with being a child of God, even when they don't know that they are such. He repeated something numerous times during the lecture that stuck with me. He stated the solution to the wars and turmoil of this world could be solved in one generation if only the parents love their children more and they hate their enemies.  I never heard such a concept, so I pondered it for quite some time.  As I pondered my love for my children, as well as the anger I feel towards those who have hurt me, I think I finally understand.

As I let my love for my children and my family touch every part of my heart and every part of my life, I become changed.   I begin to recognize others as someone's child, as someone who does not need to be perfect, just as my children and I am not perfect. I can make peace with their shortcomings, as I realize God accepts me, and my shortcomings.   I began to recognize each person as a Child of God. Frustrations I feel towards anyone (be it someone who has hurt me, or someone  who simply cuts me off) become less, and the love I feel  towards everyone grows.  As I watch the disasters in the world, I find my heart looking for do what I can to help and ease their burdens. I find myself wanting to protect everyone I can in anyway possible.  This means I believe any wars should be entered into very hesitantly, because the soldiers fighting are simply someone's children.  I do believe that if we all honestly loved our children more then we hated our enemies worldwide, the world would find peace. I will be forgetting the hatred and anger, but "never forgetting" to love.

There is some sadness that comes when we remember, and unlike hatred, there is good that comes from holding onto the sadness. The sadness reminds us at the pain and hurt that is found when we let hatred lead the way, such as those who committed the crimes on that day. The sadness reminds us to show love and sympathy to those hurting, whether it be due to this tragedy,  or any other tragedy in their lives. The sadness reminds us to act with compassion. The sadness reminds us to act like Christ at that time when Mary and Martha were crying over the death of Lazarus.  Jesus wept.  He knew in the long run everything would be fine; He knew He had arrived to help; and yet,  Jesus allowed His compassion and His love to show, and allowed Himself to share in their burden and their pain. The sadness I will remember.

I choose to remember the heroic acts. When we hear the acts of Flight 93,  who decided to take down the plane rather than let those trying to hurt others succeed; when we hear the stories of the rescue workers going in and out of the buildings; when we hear those stories of the every day men and women saving each those around them who needed help;  these are stories that should never be forgotten. These are stories that remind us to act heroically every day of our lives.  These stories remind us that there are things more important then even our earthly life. They remind us of the brother and sister hood that we should all feel towards each other. They remind us to act with love and charity. They remind us in the face of disaster, to bond with one another and unite. They remind us that we not only need to show love to those we know well and care for,  but we need to show love to the strangers, and to any brothers or sisters who stand in need of our help.

Michael Wilcox also spoke of the dream he had.  In this dream, he was seated speaking with Jesus. Brother Wilcox stated Jesus would ask me how I did with loving my fellow men.   I would state "I tried".  Brother Wilcox said, they would sit and watch parts of his life, and Jesus would say "You succeeded". Brother Wilcox stated,  he would then reply, "Master, sometimes I failed." Then enumerate to his Savior all of the shortcomings and failures he felt he had committed.  The Savior would turn to him, and state "I do not remember that."

  Never forget what's important. Never forget those things that lift us up and bring us closer to being like our all loving Heavenly Father. Never forget the lessons we have been taught in showing charity and love to all of our fellow man.

But Forget the hatred.   Forget the anger.   Forget the prejudice. There is no need to pollute our minds and souls with such feelings.  Those feelings don't bring us any closer to our Heavenly Father, nor to Jesus Christ. Forget those feelings, and let them wash away. Let your soul soar on the love from our Heavenly Father,  rather than be shackled down by hatred and anger.

Never forget the things that are important to remember; And never remember the things that are important to forget.

The quotes by S. Michael Wilcox were from his talks Defining Femininity and The Crystal Staircase, BYU Education week 2014.  Any discrepancies were due to the authors lack of an eidetic memory.

What I Learned from Ordain Women

Lately the LDS Church has been in the news a lot over a little thing called "Ordain Women".  It is a movement by a group of women who decided that they should hold the priesthood, and should protest against the church in order to change how things are handled in the church, and get it all changed.  Now, there are countless articles on both sides of the fence over if this is right, or not. And personally (although I would happily send my friends to countless articles on the subject showing my point of view, including http://www.ldsmag.com/article/12563 , and http://thestyleofbeing.blogspot.com/2014/06/mormonism-feminism-and-being-snarky.html)  I want to focus my blog on something a bit different. 

Awhile ago we changed how we did family scripture study (ok.. I am not the best at doing family scripture study, but we try!).  Instead of just reading the scriptures over and over, we started reading smaller chunks, sometimes not even a whole chapter, and then just asking the kids "Why is this part of the scriptures? Why was this story important enough to include in here? What are we suppose to learn from this?" It made a huge difference! My kids had insight I had never seen.  Each of us could learn a new and different part of God's plan because someone had something different going on in their lives, or some past experience that just let them see a different side, a different angle, a different perspective.  It was amazing to me how God could talk to any of us, even my young daughters, in such diverse ways, and guide us each in a way we personally needed to be guided.

Well, since I have never been one who believes in coincidences, I decided to put this practice to use in other parts of my life.  Instead of just going through life, and hoping I learned something along the way of God and his plan for me, I started activity looking.  I was trying to turn my perspective into more of a learning experience whenever I could.  And that is when all of this hit the news.

Personally, I have never had a problem with men having the keys of the priesthood. Never bothered me one little bit.  I am sure part of that is due to the fact that I have always felt more than respected and valued by those who I have had the chance to serve with.  But obviously, others felt this so strongly, they were willing to let it tear them apart, and lose the testimony they had.  This isn't the first time I have watched this happen.  I have watched those I love turn away for many reasons.  Guilt, confusion, even sadly even inconvenience.  So often I am stunned as people, whom always appeared to have such a strong testimony have something that bothers them, and somehow lose their testimony, sometimes quickly sometimes slowly.  It seems to be a pattern I see time and time again, and it truly saddens me.

So, what can I learn from this? What does God want me to learn? 

I have no doubt that everyone I have watched follow this path have not woken up one morning and thought, "I think I want to turn away from God today!  I think I am going to leave."  That just doesn't make sense.  I think what happens is they find one little thing they don't understand, or one little thing that someone does which offends them.  Satan loves those kinds of small things.  He tends to help us dwell on it, constantly reminding us to be upset.  He tries to get us completely focused on that one item, and tries to make us see it as more powerful, or more overwhelming than everything else we have.  We slowly lose sight of what really matters, and with it, we can lose our testimony.

So what can I learn? How can I grow from this? I think the most important thing is for me to remember to be strong, and daily work on what I need to help my testimony to grow. Never do we hit a point where we are strong enough that Satan will give up on turning us away. In fact, as we grow stronger, chances are he will work harder against us.  Even when we think we are strong enough, we aren't, and we need to keep working. 

The second thing is to remember, God knows more than me.  Yep, I know, hard to believe, eh? When you have faith in something, you believe it, even when there is a part you don't understand.  Does that mean you just have to take that and cram it down your own throat? Nope! You have an option, and option to discuss it with God and ask for personal insight.  It doesn't mean he will change anything to fit your "opinions". He doesn't work that way. But he has the ability to help you discover why things are how they are, he can open your eyes to see the big picture, and realize why he made things how he does.  If we remember to let the little things be little, and take them up with God without hardening our hearts, we are able to use those little pesky things, that could end up driving us out of the church, to instead bring us closer to god.

Hopefully I can follow my own advice, and continue to progress closer to God as he teaches me, so that I can always be strong enough to stand tall for my god and my church.

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25:40

 

 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 

Recently I had an amazing awesome experience.  First let me give you a bit of background, just in case you aren't Mormon.  We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. (Article of Faith 6).Yep.. we do. It is pretty awesome, amazing, cool.  I know, to some people that might seem weird, but honestly when you get a chance, which I have only on limited occasions, to even just be around these people, you feel it. You can't deny it.  It is like that feeling when you go out on a sun shiny day and just feel the power of the sun.  It warms you to your core, and just makes everything seem so perfect, and right, and good with the world.  Yep. That is how it makes me feel.  So, to start my story one of these wonderful leaders came to speak with us.

 

 

Now forget anything you might think about great church leaders. This guy was the kind of guy, that although you could get into a very deep religious conversation with, he was also just a nice guy! A smiley guy! He opened the meeting, and discussed how he wanted everyone to participate because each of us had something to contribute. Now, realize this meeting probably had a few hundred people in it, ya, most of us didn't get to talk.  One subject lead to another, and then he read this scripture. Matthew 25:40.  Verily, I say unto you, Insomuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.   Ok.. a bit more of "lesson" time for those who don't know what we believe in.  We believe in personal revelation through the Holy Ghost. After all, our entire church is formed because a young boy followed the direction given in James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  We believe any of us can get direction.  We can personally talk with God, and have the Holy Ghost lead and direct us.  The awesome thing is I don't only believe that, I know that with every breath inside me.  It is amazing, and great, and opens so many doors for you in life to always be able to ask, and be guided by a loving father who knows everything.  Anyway, I babble... So I sit in this meeting, discussing scriptures, and this scripture is shared, and suddenly I feel so strongly of what I am suppose to say. Now, this isn't like a huge intellectual light comes on, and I want to share with the world how brilliant I am. Sorry, but the thought wasn't really mine to claim. It came as a huge, heart pounding, I better say this before I die of a heart attack because I feel it so strong, prompting of the Holy Ghost. I don't know how else to describe it, but I also don't want to forget it. So here it is, for all the world, and hopefully it will help me in years to come remember what I learned on that night.

 

It is a simple thing.  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  Hopefully here, I can put it more concise, more eloquent, and more correct that I could form into words that night. (To any who might have been there, sorry. I love the spot light, but not when I am discussing scriptures with others hundreds of times more "brainiac" than I am. I just come off as a bumbling fool then.  Maybe I will here too, but then I guess you can stop reading, or laugh at me  and smile, either is perfectly acceptable to me).  Anyway, so God gave me the opportunity to stand next to such an amazing, loving man, and share my thoughts, that hopefully someone could understand, and hopefully leads to more love in the world, even if it is just by me.  

 

Least.. Hmm.. who are the least in our world?   I think the world could give us a long list.  There are those least in money, homeless and struggling.  There are those least in spirit, who feel they have no one to turn to, and no idea of how much god loves them.  There are those least in morals, where they might lie, steal, or hurt others.  There are so many who the world would label as least.  There are those on drugs, those who have made grievous decisions, leading to a life of crime. There are those whom we can't even tell are least in any manner.  There are a LOT of leasts in the world, and I think at one point or another, all of us fall into the "least" category somehow.

 

I have heard this scripture quoted over and over and over and over. Every time I have taken the meaning to be if you serve others, you serve me.  And, ok. I don't want to argue here to not serve everyone.  We can never see inner pains, or struggles, honestly we can never know that someone is NOT part of a "least" category.  But sometime we can see that someone is. Sometimes it is so obvious, to deny it would be as ridiculous as arguing that a perfectly blue sky was really red, or orange, or cabbage. Sometimes it is that obvious.  

 

The world seems to deal with these people in a very non-Christian way.  We believe that they brought it upon themselves.  If they would work harder, if they just had some self control, if they didn't choose evil, if they.. if they.. if they.   They are seen as they got what they deserved.   Now, for some of the other leasts, we give them our sympathy. We reach out to them whole heartedly.  I don't think you will ever find someone saying that a child who has cancer made bad choices, but an old smoker who has cancer?   See what I mean? We judge, we worry.  How many times have we heard, "Don't give a panhandler money! They will only buy alcohol or drugs!". Honestly, they might. I don't know.  I never followed one to see. Or have you heard panhandling is just a ploy, and they are probably richer than me, so don't give to them.  Now, this isn't a lecture on panhandlers. Please make your own choice.  But let me offer a different way to look at this.  Did Christ ever say "Only give to the least of these if they don't have any addictions, because those other ones are just a bit too least for my love."  Did he ever say "Don't give to people who might scam you, because they are just beyond saving in my book."  What if we looked at a panhandler who used the money for drugs, and realized he was so depressed, so sad, stressed beyond belief , that he gave into his addiction, and maybe even he had issue with that.  Hasn't the world beat him down enough, that we don't need to?  What about someone trying to scam you? Personally, to me, that doesn't sound much above the "least".  

 

The amazing thing to me was realizing Christ said the least. He didn't reference anyone else in this case.  We also believe in a loving Heavenly Father who loves us so much, regardless of how we have goofed up in the past. Isn't that amazing? But with that belief, we have to believe that every other person on this world, regardless of the "least" circumstances  they find themselves in are loved just as much as we are.   However, as most of us go along in our happy little lives, full of love, family, houses, food, and usually enough money to at least scrape by; where most of us can go to the store and no one gives us a second glance as far as judgment goes; others are beaten down constantly.  They are judged whenever anyone looks at them.   They probably feel very unworthy of God's love, why, because we the world tell them they aren't worthy. 

 

Why did Christ say least, instead of  "if you have served any of your fellow men". He said least. 

 

We have become a society where everyone feels they need to judge.  They need to judge your actions, your clothes, your everything.  I recently saw an article asking if people were dressing down too much. I read through a few of the comments, and was simply amazed. People were saying how there was never a need to run to the store in your pj's, how yoga pants were worn too often, how you could tell how lazy a person was based on their clothes.  It shocked me.  We have become a society where we are so concerned about what other people wear to the grocery store?  Why do we care?   

 

What if this happened instead.  What if when we went to the store, we were more observant? What if we saw someone, and at the checkout they were removing items as they watched the total, trying to decide what not to buy? What if we judged people plainly on the whole scale of "what can I do to serve?" How would that change the world? Ya, wishful thinking that everyone in the world will do that tomorrow, not that I would complain, or that I think it is beyond anyone. 

 

So maybe I should say this instead, how would it change me? What if every situation I was placed in, I entered with a "why does God have me here? Who can I serve? Who is the least? Who needs me the most".   Will I change the world by becoming that person? Probably not.  Will I change me by becoming that person? Definitely!  Yep, it is a long road ahead of me.  Yep, no doubt Satan will be there every step of the way trying to get me to judge. He will try to have me judge the person who cuts me off on the freeway. He will try to have me judge the person who breaks my daughters heart.  He will try to have me judge those who have hurt me.  Will I make it to being non judgmental? Who knows, but I am willing to try. 

What I do know, is God gave me that chance, that opportunity not for the others of hundreds of people there listening to me babble, but for me to take a good hard look at me, and to figure out how I can help the least, and to remind me I don't always know who the least is, so better serve them all.  Heck, I can't see anything bad coming from this, so here we go! And maybe someone else will read this, and decide to join me on this journey. Maybe God had you stumble upon this for just that reason, after all I don't believe in coincidences.    I hope when I meet Christ again, I can be placed on his right hand, and my offering will be satisfactory to him.

 

 

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

 



You Asked Me Not to Judge You, But I Still Do

Last Sunday, I sat in church waiting for Stake Conference to begin. I noticed you right away. You seemed fairly young to be speaking, which to me, means you must have an amazing story, and I eagerly waiting to hear from you.

When you began to speak, you kept repeating the same phrase, "Please don't judge me".  You said this several times, and my heart broke knowing that in the past, you have probably felt you were judged many times.  You told us of your life, of the trials you had conquered.   You told us how your mother left early in life, and you helped care for your younger siblings. You poured out your heart as you told us of how you had to pick up the pieces in your home, and become a grownup while many of us listening were out being typical teenagers, somewhat selfish and self minded, as you gave so selflessly to your family. You told us of how you didn't judge those who were close to you,  and how although your trials may have been greater due to their actions.

You told us of how you became a mom of two beautiful children while still quite young, and you were forced to lovingly take them under your wing as well, and care for them, while still caring for others, while still of a tender age where you should have still been being cared for yourself. You told us how you gave up those precious years in order to love and care for others. You shared with us your mistakes and errors which added more pain to your own journey, and your ability to recognize how difficult it was to escape the vicious chain you had been woven into. And then you shared with us your journey as you worked toward escape, as you determined you were going to overcome these trials,  and keep your own children from being forced into what you had faced.

You showed us your grateful heart for the simple things, a plate of food, a friend who stuck by you, a friend, and for family. You showed us you knew what was important, and that although you had faced enough human failings in life, you expected to face more, and the joy you felt when people exceeded your expectations, and the love you felt when they treated as we should all treat one another, with Christ-like love.  And again, you asked us not to judge you.

I am unsure if you could see through your own tear filled eyes, how many of us were moved to tears as we listened to your trials, and to the life you have led. I don't know  if you realized how many of us wanted to come wrap you in a hug and let you know how our hearts were breaking for you. And yet, again you asked us not to judge you.

I will judge you, but I pray you don't take offence at the judgment I pass on you.

 I judge you as someone so much stronger than I could ever dream of being!  I am in complete awe of how much you have overcome. I am in awe of the trials you have not given into.  When you mention what you have faced, and as your tears give us glimpses of your still soft heart, I am amazed! How can you be so strong, and yet so soft hearted?  How can the trials you have faced left you so willing to listen to the spirit? And how do you keep going?

I will judge you as someone who is so much closer to heaven than I am. Yes, I may have had the luxury of starting off where some would imagine I would be "closer". I may have lived many years where I should have had an advantage. I started on easier ground, and have only had a slight hill to climb as I face my trials. You, on the other hand, started down a cliff, and decided to fight your way up.  You mentioned we struggle with the same things sometimes (yes, I have trouble reading my scriptures as often as I should. Looking at our lives, I realize I have no excuses, you do so much more than me every day, I should be able to find the time) but you have overcome so much. I know God doesn't look at how close we are, but instead how far we have come, and you have passed me so far in distance, I am lucky I have even caught a glimpse at your spirit.

I will judge you as someone who Heavenly Father has never given up on, and therefore neither will I.  I realize that you might stumble at times, don't worry, I stumble too.  All I can figure is, with all you have gone through, He must love you an awful lot to never give up on you, and to keep working to find you and your family.

I will judge you as someone I already feel a connection with, even though since there were hundreds of us listening to you, I am sure you wouldn't recognize me!  I know I wasn't the only one judging you as this, as afterwards I saw you surrounded by others who felt the same way as I did. One of these days, I will probably see you somewhere and will come up and say hi, and start a conversation, and you will probably think I am some wacko then.  I guess I just already consider you one of my sisters in life, and in Jesus Christ's gospel, and hopefully me feeling that way won't scare you off too bad!

So, although you asked me many times to not judge you, I have. I almost instantly judged you as someone I needed to become more like. I judged you as someone whom has strength to move mountains. I judged you as someone who shines with Christ's love. I hope you forgive me, but I hope more people judge you for who you truly are. Hopefully then, more of us can strive to be more like you, and the world can have more light and hope shine from it.