Thoughts on this article -- How to keep your glasses from fogging up...

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Date Posted: 13:25:05 04/10/02 Wed
Author: Laura
Subject: Thoughts on this article
In reply to: Laura 's message, "Reading assignment of the day (or week, as the case may be)" on 13:23:25 04/10/02 Wed

Isn't this a great article? I loved what he said about patriarchs, most of them, having an inkling of their calling early on in life. And the bit about so many of the prominent leaders having their first visions or intimations of their missions in life at age nine: "It is almost as if the heavens could not wait the years of accountability."

I love, too, the bit about praying that our leaders will have the discernment to see us as the Lord would see: "the good when others cannot, the promise when others cannot, the gold that is in the mine when other people treat you in other ways." You know, that's not something I've ever thought to pray for...

I kind of gulped at the comment about teachers: "it is obvious you are going to have to be a teacher." I feel very strongly that I am NOT a teacher, not outside the church, anyway. Make me try to teach about computers or try to teach English as a second language, and I just flounder. I have no patience for it, no patience for students who don't understand what seems so darn obvious to me. And having had a few bad experiences, I dread the thought of myself in a teaching capacity because I know it's not my strength. The only time I am able to teach and teach well, is when I can rely on the spirit. And that only happens when I teach spiritual things. And so you might think I'm a good teacher after I teach a lesson in Relief Society or when I teach a missionary discussion to an investigator or new member, but I tell you, that is not me. That is the Spirit. I love those experiences, but I take no credit for them, for I know how ineffective I would be if I did not have the Spirit...

I am an administrator, though. I can do that. Please just let me do that. :-) LOL about the jumping out of the airplane and having a president and two counselors before they hit the ground! That reminds me of my favorite ever quote from my favorite author, Orson Scott Card: in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world a group of people is setting out across country to Utah, where rumor has it there is still a functioning society in place. One questions why they believe things will be any better there than the chaos and anarchy of the east coast. "I promise you that there will be a government organized wherever there are 4 Mormons present: 1 President, 2 counselors, and 1 to bring refreshments!" That line ALWAYS make me laugh! :-)

This should make us think: "if the Lord is going to have witnesses and leaders and faithful parents they have to be worthy; and worthy means pure. And the blessings I have quoted, and I suspect your own in most instances, refer to the need-absolute need-get the power of the Lord Jesus Christ into the very veins of your blood and transform you and purge you of whatever is amiss or whatever poisons you have taken."

I've been pondering the concept of blood lately. Lynn is well aware of my ponderings on this subject. It plays a role in every part of the gospel, in every part of our life...from the fall to the atonement to resurrection. The phrase "shedding of blood" has been on my mind, particularly Christ's blood being "shed" for us in Gethsemane. Most often we take the definition of "shed" in this sense to mean,
a : to cause (blood) to flow by cutting or wounding
b : to pour forth in drops

But what about other meanings of shed?
(1) : to cast off (as a body covering) : MOLT
(3) : to eject (as seed or spores) from a natural receptacle
b : to rid oneself of temporarily or permanently as superfluous or unwanted
3 : to cast off some natural covering (as fur or skin)

Does this change our understanding of Gethsemane? Are you familiar with the phrase, "Quickened by the spirit"? I wonder if maybe our blood is something we must shed (cast off) in order to prepare for this quickening? I've always assumed that would be at the end of our mortal lives, but ponder that in conjunction with what Brother Madsen just said, and maybe even with what happened in Gethsemane...

I'd tie that in to his comments a few paragraphs above, " whoso [receiveth] these two priesthoods...and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies." He speaks of the renewing of our bodies in this life; I think that scripture also implies the renewing of our bodies when we are resurrected. But the concept of what we can do in this life is interesting. Do you suppose the quickening can begin in this life? Do you suppose blood can be shed while we are yet mortal?

Deep thoughts. Important things here, I think...much yet to ponder. Interestingly enough, it ties into what I read and pondered just last night...Paul, in 2 Timothy 4:1, I think, writes of God who will judge "both the quick and the dead". Who is quickened, and who is dead? Again...I think there is more doctrine or truth here than I realize or grasp yet...

I love the 6 areas of talents he talks about. I've been blessed with academic talent - not that I'm the most intelligent person I know, but I have always had a talent for testing well in school, for understanding what a teacher wants and giving it to him or her. Although I don't agree that that makes me an academician, one who winds up in academia, teaching. I dread that, I so dislike the culture of academia, the self-importance and the "publish or perish" mentality, the need to continually prove one's ongoing worth and credibility. I don't think I'd survive teaching at a university. (Hence the job in IT rather than an advanced degree in archaeology!)

LOL at the thought of "planning" as a talent...Lynn, how many days until Saturday? Should we try to nail down our plans for the weekend yet? Hm. I may be CAPABLE of planning, but I don't think it's my first choice. :-) LOL about wisdom, too: "wisdom, which no one can quite define but some people have it." What is up with that? Have you noticed that whenever you tell someone they are wise, they disagree or don't see it in themselves?

I love what he says about communication - that what the world considers "successful" communication ability is often a weakness in spiritual things, "for ultimately, it isn't a performance the Lord wants from any of you; it's the worthiness to stand and have the Spirit of the Lord go through you." I'd argue that that is a successful teacher of the gospel, too. (But not necessarily a talented teacher of elementary school children or a talented college professor unless that professor teaches in an environment that allows for such, like BYU...)

I love this, too: "The other thing that I marvel at is that when the Spirit of the Lord is present in a meeting, it isn't just words that carryover. It is the face. It is the person himself. I said once to a man, who had touched me deeply, that he could have stood up and counted to ten and I would have been inspired just because of the majesty of the spirit that was with him." Can anybody stand with me when I say, this is President Durfey?

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Replies:

patriarchal blessigs -- christine, 20:57:09 04/10/02 Wed

I believe you... -- Laura, 22:29:14 04/10/02 Wed