Growing in Innocence

Eliza R. Snow once challenged the sisters of the Church to “grow in innocence.” I confess that before I watched an episode of The Joseph Smith Papers on KBYU where she was thus quoted, I had not conceived of the idea that we can “grow in innocence.”

The Grand Experience of Mortality

I heard a General authority in the Church (I don’t remember which one) refer to this life on earth as “the grand experience of mortality.” The phrase stuck in my mind for days. I couldn’t get rid of it, especially after what I wrote in July about “Unhistoric Acts.” (see my blog – July 2012)

I Go a Fishing

In Matthew chapter 25 the Savior teaches a parable about a businessman who must travel for a period of time. As a test for three of his employees he gives each of them a sum of money to manage while he is gone. The first two do well – they double the businessman’s money. The third is afraid he will lose the money, so he buries it in the ground to be sure that he can return it safely to his master.

The first two are praised for their initiative and given more responsibility. The third was dismissed because of his timidity, and his money was given to the first two. (Matthew 25:14-28) The parable closes with the following verses:

Unhistoric Acts

I have thought a lot over the last few years about the good but largely anonymous lives of millions of people scattered over the earth. They live quietly, and die just as quietly. They go to graves everywhere to silently await the resurrection. There is often a memorial service of some kind depending on custom in their culture. There is sadness, and sometimes heartbreak if death is untimely. The living remember them briefly, but soon, they are all but forgotten by nearly everyone as the world rushes onward. Cemeteries the world over are full of such unheralded people. Some of them are visited on Memorial Day by relatives and friends, but after a generation or two, they are mostly left alone.

Your Own Sacred Grove

My wife’s brother is a stake president in the southeast. He shared the following as a spiritual thought in a meeting with bishops and other stake leaders. I asked him to allow me to publish it to my blog – he was happy to do so.

Judge Not

I have often thought that, excepting His infinite and eternal atonement, the final judgment that the Savior must pass upon each of us will be the most difficult task that the He will be called upon to perform. He is so patient, compassionate and loving with each of us that to tell us we have not measured up to the standards that His Father has set will cause him great sorrow and pain. If we have not taken full advantage of the infinite atonement that he has so selflessly provided for us, his sorrow will be compounded by our insensitivity to his love and compassion.

Fried Froth

President (then Elder) John Taylor was on a mission in France when he experienced the following, as described in The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings and Discourses of John Taylor, (collected and edited by G. Homer Durham):

Blind Obedience

While I sat in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday, raising my right hand to sustain several ward members who were called to serve in various positions, the vagrant thought came to me: “Is this just a rote process? Is this just blind obedience? Is this ‘hundred percent’ sustaining just mechanical?” Non-members have called this process “voting” and decried the fact that there is very rarely a dissenter among the congregation.

Little Noted nor Long Remembered (Abraham Lincoln)

In the last line of the movie “About Schmidt.” (Jack Nicholson) laments:

Relatively soon, I will die. Maybe in 20 years, maybe tomorrow, it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed.

The Rod of Iron

The “rod of iron” as depicted in Lehi’s dream is defined by Nephi in 1 Nephi 11:25: “I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God…”