Stinky Sunday!

Hefting Christi into her carseat I caught a whiff of it again. -- But it couldn't be her, we had just checked.  After setting her down in her seat though I turned around and there it was - a big dry cleaning bill. Perfect timing too -- we had just been hurrying out the odor, I mean door,  trying to get to church before sacrament meeting started.  "The Sacrament" had ironically been the topic of our family home evening lesson six days ago and we were all committed to making it a more sacred occasion. The stinky testimony of her diaper's failure on my pants shirt and jacket now threatened that possibility.
12:54 my watch declared as I sent Deana with the other 4. "We'll be on our way once we get cleaned up." I couldn't really do anything else -- or could I?
I have heard people remark that the smell of cigarette smoke was most welcome in sacrament meeting -- it meant someone was changing.  How would they respond to a different smell?? One that meant someone needs changing perhaps? Hmmm.
I needed this one too - I had been kind of ornery that morning with my kids. I had caught myself though, apologized, and repented. I needed help though, I needed a boost.  On Monday we had discussed the first principles and ordinances and how sacrament fits in after we have been baptized.
1:06, and we sat quietly (and stinkily) in the foyer.  She in her car seat still  - I brought the whole thing in, and me hunched over to hide my decorated attire.  We made it though, and I was able to renew my covenant - in perhaps a more meaningful way than usual, because I had had to fight for it this time.
After the ordinance we left and diligently changed.  I guess that's the pattern though, right?     

Mayday

"Mayday" --from the French "m'aider", a shortened version of "venez m'aider" (meaning "come and help me").
Today is May 1st, sometimes called "May Day." To celebrate the springtime in the northern hemisphere there would be dancing around the maypole, flowers, and cake.  Not at all like the international distress signal that I have used to title this entry. Then again...
Today is also a Sunday, the day when my family and I go to church to celebrate the victory of our Savior Jesus Christ over sin and death.  The sacred center point of our worship is the opportunity to renew our covenants with Him through the ordinance of the sacrament.  Bread and water are used as emblems symbolic of His sacrifice - His body and His blood - torn, broken, and shed that we might be free.  Each member of the congregation partakes personally and tangibly and remembers.
In the 11th chapter of the book of 3rd Nephi - the high point of the Book of Mormon - the Savior visits the Americas.  His visit begins with a voice - not harsh or loud - but those gathered do not understand it the first or second time.  When they turn to the sound and open their ears they hear the words, "Behold my Beloved Son" (vs. 7).  Yet when He descends, many still believe they are seeing an angel (vs. 8). Then He introduces himself and each one present is given an opportunity to have a personal and tangible experiences with the emblems of His sacrifice for them in His hands feet and side.  After this experience the record states that they all cried out "with one accord saying: Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God!"  This was their Mayday call.   
"Hōsanná" – a transliteration of the Hebrew term (hôsî-âh-nā) meaning "Oh, save now!" or "Please save!"     
It is personal tangible contact with the emblems of His sacrifice for us that allows us to see our desperate need for the salvation only he can offer. Theirs then, and ours now - our mayday.  Happy May Day.

turning the captivity of Job

So the book of Job begins by describing a very wealthy and prominent man who is also completely faithful to the Lord.  In the course of the rest of that first chapter and the next, he loses it all. His wealth is either forcefully taken from him or destroyed in turn.  Even his children are ripped from him in a tragic catastrophe. You know how the story goes from there, his wife tells him to, "curse God and die."  Then he even loses his health to a terrible plague of painful itching oozing boils. So he sits down there, in his sackcloth, to scrape himself with broken shards of pottery to find what little possible relief he can.  There he is in my mind, sitting and scraping himself.  I can almost hear the scratch of baked clay on his broken skin sometimes as I imagine it.  It is into this scene that three of his friends come.
You would think that they would be full of consolation and comfort toward their grieving and stricken friend.  The opposite is however the case.  They are critical of him and call him to repentance for the imagined sins that he is hiding -- otherwise he wouldn't have been punished so terribly.
Well the story goes on and on, and eventually he receives all his wealth back and has more children, but none of that happens until Job 42:10. "and the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends"
They needed forgiveness and he needed healing.  Both needs are met, when he invests himself compassionately in their cause the way he wished they would have done. There is full healing in full forgiveness.

Safe in a Song

Early this morning I received a message from a friend of mine wishing me a happy new year.  It was very early (around 3:30 am) when the message came through, and when he realized that, he quickly apologized. He was messaging me from Switzerland, and hadn't considered the time change correctly when he had sent it.  When I responded, I explained that I was up to help with my son's paper route. His reply was, "I hope you are delivering good news then.." So after delivering the papers this morning, I sat down to check.  The first headline for 2016 is: "Get a closer look at church."  This inaugural headline of the year was announcing the launch of a website (bookofmormoncentral.org) compiling Book of Mormon research into a central location where it could be easily searched. Awesome! Good news! I admit, I had expected otherwise. The site looks great too! I fully expect it to be a great resource to members and nonmembers alike in the coming months and years.    

As I thumbed through the rest of the paper encouraged by its face, I found a report of the arrest of Bill Cosby.  This whole saga had a very different feel.  It has been both sickening and saddening in my opinion. As I headed back to bed to catch some more sleep - this wasn't the story I wanted running in my head. As I lay down, I noticed gratefully that my emergency channel had been automatically triggered.  The idea of an emergency channel had come from President Packer who years ago suggested that thoughts flowing into places they shouldn't could be successfully recaptured by humming, singing, or thinking of a favorite hymn. My old standby has been, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" for years.  This time, though, a different song was playing. "Love One Another," was the tune that enlightening my thoughts. As I thought about those beautiful words, the message was perfect! In a world full of misconceptions and evil ideas about the nature of love, there is a flawless example - "As I have loved you."  I couldn't help but think of the youth in my home and classroom who are constantly bombarded with evil sensual and false messages about love.  In this simple children's song is the powerful answer. His love is love. Paul counsels the Saints in Ephesus to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6) including girding their loins with truth - with truth. The loins, representing chastity, are protected by the truth. No wonder there is so much confusion and misinformation about it in society today.  The battle is definitely on.  The truth about love is that Christ has shown us THE example. That means that any "love" song or media depiction which doesn't describe a Christlike love - is selling a counterfeit - a so called "love" that is selfishly sensual or promiscuously poisonous will never do. Jesus loves us in a selfless, devoted, compassionate, forgiving, and lasting way.  A love stronger than the very cords of death! I am so grateful for the power of the simple and beautiful truth of this hymn.  For me it has become the fight song for girding loins - a refuge of power in a world filled with smoke, mirrors, and deceptions about love.