Grace and Gardening

This past summer my children attended a daily Bible camp with the local Calvary Chapel where they were given a direct opportunity to experience another perspective on Christianity. It was fun and very basic for them and each night we had many good things to discuss as the children recognized for themselves deep similarities and significant differences in the manner in which we worship our Heavenly Father and teach about the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. After the third day, when gathered around the dinner table the children began to explain that they had learned much about grace and that by accepting Jesus we can be saved. This sparked an important discussion around the table that led to an interesting metaphor about gardening that helped me explain to my children that we are saved by grace after all we can do. It is important in this discussion to point out that the Grace of Jesus Christ really is the most important component of our salvation, but it is not the only component. As self-governing agents who are endowed with the capacity to act and not just be acted upon, our own will and actions play a tremendously important role in our salvation.

Grace is the Most Important Component…

We are utterly lost without a Savior. Furthermore, the blessings of the infinite atonement are gifts that enable us in this life bringing blessings of peace, comfort, understanding, and strength to repent and live after the manner of happiness. This is why we give ourselves to the service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are nothing without the Lord, period.

The priceless atonement brings profound blessings in this life and will eventually draw us back into the presence of the Father. It provides us with an immortal body in the next life and gives us an opportunity to repent of our sins in this one. Having said this, our progress toward exaltation requires important personal components such as good works and covenants. This is the part WE are responsible for. There will be no grand checklist at the great judgment day that the Master will go down and measure everyone against with blind judgment. We will see how strikingly like or dislike the Lord we have BECOME through the application of the atonement, good works and covenant living and our judgment will be straightforward and prefect (for light cleaveth unto light). The whole point of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it make something of us. Not simply give us something to do.

Gifts of Grace as Compared to the Sun, Water, Soil , and Breath of Life

Consider the garden I helped plant this past summer. With a good neighbor, Bro. Harper, we cleared land of junk, stones, debris, stones, wood, stones, bricks, more stones, and even more stones. Then we tilled the land and cleared away another fresh batch of stones. We mixed sand and mulch into the rock and clay and fertilized the soil for optimal growth. We cleared rows and planted seeds all with the hopes that our garden would someday become something beautiful. Having done all this we both understand that without the gift of the sun (Son), access to water, soil and the breath of life given the seeds by a God in the heavens our attempts at a garden would be futile. All of these things have been provided by the grace of a beneficent Father. The sun, in particular, is given freely as a gift to all of us, bond or free, male or female, rich or poor, black or white, old or young and serves as a component that all gardeners depend upon for a healthy harvest.  It would not matter how many good works our garden received if there were no sun shining down upon it, enabling it to grow.

Other Gifts Offered

While not offered freely to all, like the sun, the other necessary foundational components of gardening are accessible. We must have soil and water. Wemust nourish the soil and take advantage of that water supply or our poor garden will dry up and wither to nothingness. I compare these to the blessings of the gospel and covenants. Once these are secured, then it falls to our own efforts to maintain, nourish, weed, and protect our garden that it may become fruitful.

With All the Gifts We Have Been Offered...

The Lord asks us to make something of our existence. He commands us to be perfect even as he and our Father in Heaven are perfect. He asks us to work hard and do much good. He offers to us the enabling gift of the atonement (sun). He grants us access to the truth, essential covenants and ordinances required for eternal growth unto godhood (soil and water). He offers us the fertilizing gift of the Holy Ghost. He gives us time and offers us correction and repentance. The rest is up to us. We determine which vegetables are grown by the seeds we sow (influences we willingly let into our life). We determine whether our life is a bounteous garden or a weed patch by how well we nurture godly habits or let the natural man overrun us. When all is said and done we will be judged by what we have BECOME. Becoming great requires habits of holiness. Without the gifts of the atonement wrought by the Son, the empowering assistance of the Holy Ghost, truth, or covenants made available by the Father we would be left to our own devices without sun, soil, water, or fertilizing nutrients and all our work would be for naught. But glory be to the Father above, for he has provided the means whereby we may be saved and exalted in courts on high for we ARE saved by grace... after all we can do.

Only a Lovely Song

20 years ago, when I was an unruly teenager, my mother sat me down after church and asked me what I had learned the prior week in class. She was the teacher of my class at the time and had noticed that only a few in the class actually participated. I told her the things that I remembered and then she taught me something that I have tested in many venues for the last 20 years.

She said, “The reason you remember what was taught to you is because you participated in the instruction. If you had remained quiet, you likely wouldn’t be able to recall anything.” While a simple lesson at the time, over that last 2 decades I have come to realize how instrumental this principle has been to my growth in the gospel.

If I want to grow in the gospel, I cannot treat church like my television set waiting for it to teach or entertain me. I must actively participate if I am to see growth within myself.

1) I can listen passively to the lesson being taught and I may remember what was taught for that day. When the day has passed my chances of remembering are very limited as my week will be full of things to remember.

2) I can listen actively to the lesson and comment when impressions come and I may remember what was taught for a week or a month, furthermore, I will likely remember the principle I commented on much longer as it is locked into my mind.

3) I can listen actively and participate at church and when I return home visit with someone (family, friend, or others) about what impressed me and I will likely retain the principles taught for the rest of my life. I have then locked them into my mind and heart.

I now try to implement step three in my gospel learning. I don’t feel the need to comment in every class, but I understand the need to actively participate in the lesson and then later relate what I have learned to my kids, my wife and/or my neighbors. If I am to relate it later, then I must know what has been taught.

I am reminded of a verse from Ezekiel, where the Israelites have gathered to the prophets to learn, but then when they leave they are unchanged… the have gained nothing. The Lord says:

They [the people] come unto thee [the prophets]… and they sit before thee… and they hear thy words, but they will not do them… And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. (Excerpt from Ezekiel 33:30-32)

Many times we will listen to our prophets, our ward leaders or our teachers and think, “My what a good teacher they are!” or “That was a beautiful lesson!” but then walk away unchanged. We treat their words like they are a “Lovely Song” but depart with no additional light.

Light does not take hold in us just because we have heard it. We must COMPREHEND it! We must EMBRACE it, and we must LET IT GOVERN our thoughts and actions and only then will LIGHT find place within us.

May we all be more avid “Learners” within the gospel that light may forever find place within us.

Passing on Light and Truth

Truth and Light… Light and Truth

These two principles interwoven comprise Intelligence and are the very principles that give one glory and power in the eternities.

In this article I will be discussing the divine roles of parents. To do so I will focus on the eternally significant transfer of Light and Truth from one generation to the next. I will take as my highest role model, my prime exemplar and chief archetype our Heavenly Father, God, the Father of us all.

God’s work is to help us become as he is: Immortal, glorified, and good; that we might return and live in His presence to enjoy life eternal.

Joseph F. Smith, like Abraham of old, learned in his great vision that noble and great ones were chosen in the beginning… He taught, “Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.” (D&C 138:55-56)

What Lesson? What would we have learned that would prepare us to labor in this vineyard? Do you suppose that we learned how to build a successful investment portfolio? Or how to be a good sales manager? A therapist, or CEO?
No. We DID learn that we were not all the same, that if two spirits existed one would be greater or more intelligent than the other, and there would always be another more intelligent than they until we reach God the Father who declares, “I am more intelligent than they all”. (Abraham 3:19)

“The Glory of God is intelligence or, in other words, light and truth” (D&C 93:36). So now we come back to them again “Light and Truth”, the two eternal principles that have exalted God.

TRUTH:
Pilate asked the famous question of Christ, “What is Truth” (John 18:38) and the resurrected Christ gave the answer in our dispensation saying, “truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (D&C 93:24)
Of course, knowing truth is more than knowing the proper way to make a recipe or memorizing all of the books in the New Testament… TRUTH comprises those principles which bring LIFE, UNITY and POWER in the eternities. Furthermore TRUTH does not take hold in us just because we have heard it. How many times have we heard of the healing power of repentance, or of the empowering principle of fasting (and I might name any number of principles of the gospel) and yet somehow we struggle to fully embrace such principles, allowing them to flourish in our lives. We must UNDERSTAND it! We must ACCEPT it, and we must LET IT GOVERN our actions and then TRUTH will find place within us. Truth empowers us.

Truth, alone however is not sufficient to give intelligence and thereby produce power and glory within us unto godhood. Indeed the scriptures warn us that “Knowledge puffeth up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1) And the Lord laments, “O the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not.” (2 Nephi 9:28)

Dieter Uchtdorf discussed how “A sure testimony of Jesus Christ and of His restored gospel takes more than knowledge—it requires personal revelation (TRUTH), confirmed through honest and dedicated application of gospel principles. (LIGHT)”

In some ways, our testimony is like a snowball that grows larger with every turn. We start out with a small amount of light... Gradually, “light cleaveth unto light,” 11 and “he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day,”

LIGHT:
The key to gaining intelligence is LIGHT! Light is a measure of our goodness. The scriptures recount that “whatsoever is light, is good” (Alma 32:35) and the Lord commands us to let our light shine that others may see our good works. (Matthew 5:16). Furthermore, “That which is of God is light” (D&C 50:24) God being the source of all that is good. For “behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually;” (Moroni 7:13)

To grow in light we must give of ourselves. We must do the works of Him that sent us. We must “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5) We must be willing to “mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9). We must be willing to suffer long and be kind, to be not easily provoked, I could go on and on and on, for the scriptures are full of the words of life, the principles that give us light now and in the eternities. They teach us all things that we should do and prepare us to “live by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God”. LIGHT empowers us.

The best way however to grow in light or truth is to pass them on to others.

DISSEMINATION:
I said earlier that I would focus my talk on the eternally significant transfer of Light and Truth from one generation to the next.

The Lord has established his Church once more upon the earth and has called an army of Relief Society Sisters, Missionaries, Elders, High Priests, Bishops, Stake Presidents, Seventy, Apostles and Prophets to spread light and truth over the earth. Yet as effective as they are in magnifying their callings they pale in comparison to the work being done by mothers and fathers. There is no way for them to compete.
The Lord knows that if we “Train up a child in the way he should go: … he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

But who is to train up these children in Light and Truth? Yes they can learn reading, writing and arithmetic from their school teachers. But who is to train them in the way of Light and Truth. They see their Sunday school teachers once a week. Their opportunities to learn from the Bishop, Stake Presidency or prophets come only a few time each year.

Fathers and Mothers have a divine role in passing on Light and Truth to the rising generation in a more effective, more intimate way, than any other institution created by God or man… and Fathers, as you preside in the home, you will one day return and report on this charge.

“Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). They are given as a loan to us.

We are clearly instructed in the Family Proclamation, “Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God.

The Lord warns “that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers. But I have commanded you to bring up your children in Light and Truth (D&C 93:39-40)

Now once our children reach the age of young men and young women then all of the systems the Lord has created begin to really have a strong influence on our children. I say this because some of you dear ones here tonight have already raised your children, your call to pass on Light and Truth stands unchanged. Some of you have been denied the opportunity to raise children, The Lord loves you and so do we, your call to pass on Light and Truth stands unchanged. Some of you are picking up the pieces of a broken family or have denied yourself opportunities to raise children through your life choices. We love you and seek to bring healing to your hearts and to your homes. You are still called to pass on Light and Truth. Do not forsake your commission. As we pass on light through our service and truth through our teachings we grow in the very things we are giving.

Listen to these quotes from our most recent conference:

Jean A. Stevens - Our Heavenly Father knows children are a key to helping us become like Him. There is so much we can learn from children.

Quentin L Cook - …no [one] should ever feel the need to apologize or feel that [their] contribution is less significant because [they are] devoting [their]… efforts to raising and nurturing children. Nothing could be more significant in our Father in Heaven’s plan.

Henry B. Eyring - The parents blessed our family by their generous service. By their choice to let their children participate in the giving, they extended blessings to their future grandchildren… Draw your family into the work with you so that they can learn to care for each other as they care for others. Your sons and daughters who work with you to serve others in need will be more likely to help each other when they are in need.

Russell M. Nelson - Start with your children. You parents bear the primary responsibility to strengthen their faith. Let them feel your faith, even when sore trials come upon you.

I have an invitation I would like to extend to men.

Fathers of Children – each morning and each night gather your children, sing a song with them, read from the scriptures or a talk from General Conference, and pray together as a family. No other single practice has blessed our family as greatly as this one. We call it family circle.

The Rest of my Brothers – If children are in your future, plan carefully and do whatever is necessary to create a home where such an inheritance from the Lord might thrive. If children our now behind you or out of your reach, then seek a calling, magnify that calling and serve our Heavenly Father valiantly that you may find other children of our Heavenly Father to whom you can begin to pass Light and Truth on to. Every drop given brings an hundredfold in return. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify our father which is in Heaven.

There is a particular scripture that I would like to end with. It speaks of planets but impressed me greatly with regard to this topic:

DC88:42 [God] hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons;
DC88:44And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years

We each have received our first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.” I pray the Lords blessing might be with each of us as pass Light and Truth to the next generation.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The One Being Sweet

And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter. (2 Nephi 2:15)

I find this verse interesting that it seems to paint the forbidden fruit as being the one that is sweet and the tree of life as producing fruit that is bitter… but then again, see how completely consistent it is with doctrine and life experience. In the Genesis account the scriptures record, “when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired” (Genesis 3).

Similarly Isaiah compares the wickedness of the children of men to that of a pleasant plant that will produce much fruit… but that fruit is a heap in a day of grief and desperate sorrow. Isaiah records the following (italics added):

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. (Isaiah 17:10-11)

It is interesting how the philosophies of Satan are compared to a pleasant plant, or something sweet but that is calculated to have us cast from God's presence. Hedonism is a philosophy that makes the world and the pleasures of this world to our physical senses treasures. Yet our spirit yearns for the treasures of Heaven, namely Light and Truth. In Ancient Jewish tradition the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a grape vine with fruit that was sweet to the taste and most desirable, with a juice that was by tradition called blood, (Gen 49:11, Deut 32:14) while the tree of Life was an olive tree: bitter to taste, but nourishing, healing and renewing to our life, also producing light and used to anoint and set one apart as sacred, for God’s use. It is interesting to note that when we are baptized and participate in the initiatory covenant we are washed from the blood and sins of this generation, from the ways of this world. Ezekiel shares a metaphor with Israel in which he says, “Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. (Ezekiel 16:9).

Metaphorically speaking after we put away the grape, and only then are we granted access once again to the nourishing olive. Only then do we see its value... and only then does the bitter become sweet to our soul.

What This Work Is All About

Here are a couple of quotes from one of those talks years ago that has in many respects changed my whole perspective on my purpose in life and the work of the Master.

The whole talk can be read by clicking on the following link. http://lds.org/ensign/2002/08/what-this-work-is-all-about?lang=eng

Gordon B. Hinckley, "What This Work Is All About", Ensign, Aug. 2002, 2–7

Our Responsibility
Under the sacred and compelling trust we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, ours is a work of redemption, of lifting and saving those who need help. Ours is a task of raising the sights of those of our people who fail to realize the great potential that lies within them. Ours is the responsibility of building self-reliance, of encouraging and cultivating happy homes where fathers and mothers love and respect one another and children grow in an atmosphere of peace and affection and appreciation.
Is not this what the work is all about? Said the Savior, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Without great abundance of the things of the world, these, my friends, live abundantly. People such as they are the strength of the Church. In their hearts is a quiet and solid conviction that God lives and that we are accountable to Him; that Jesus is the Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life (see John 14:6); that this work is Their work; that it is true; and that gladness and peace and healing come in walking in obedience to the commandments of God (see D&C 89:18), as set forth in the teachings of the Church.
This work of ours is a great work of redemption. All of us must do more because the consequences can be so remarkable and everlasting. This is our Father’s work, and He has laid upon us a divine injunction to seek out and strengthen those in need and those who are weak. As we do so, the homes of our people will be filled with an increased measure of love; the nation, whatever nation it be, will be strengthened by reason of the virtue of such people; and the Church and kingdom of God will roll forward in majesty and power on its divinely appointed mission.

Before this article I found myself complaining about those who didn't seem to catch the same vision I did of cooperation with and participation in the Kingdom of God. I realize now my arrogance, but it took this article to stifle my frustrations and remind me that lifting my neighbor, whether member or not, is what this work is all about. We are all inadequate in some part of our spirituality and one of the great gifts of the gospel is that we have each other to keep pushing and prodding, lifting and building.

I am renewed in my determination to be less frustrated, and seek to build myself, and others, toward Christ, whatever their state may be.