The Reality of All Hope Was Born That Night...

What made that night so holy?

Imagine that time before we came to this earth where we were all one big family, we loved each other, we had no prejudices or divisions, we were all called by the same family name. We learned together, and we counseled together and it was determined that it was time for us to experience mortality. Everything was going according to the plan we had agreed to. Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, according to the plan, and mortality became a reality for us.
Suddenly things changed. We watched our brothers and sisters come down to earth and struggle with temptations and weaknesses, with physical deformities, depression, anxiety, infertility, and many, many more physical and mental challenges. We were sad.
Each one of us still looked forward to our turn to come here to earth and try our hand, thinking, we could see the mistakes that our brothers and sisters had made, and we could correct them. We saw them making choices that led to heart ache and misery. And it in some ways this terrified us. We saw many that we thought were strong and noble spirits come down, stumble, and fall under the pressure of mortality.We were commanded by our Heavenly Father to pray to him for help. Some did, some did not.  We saw them fight, the siblings we loved and cared about were killing each other. We were sad, and we began to understand the need for a Savior in the plan. We heard the pleas of our siblings, as they cried out, "Oh come, Oh come Emanuel, and ransom captive Israel, who mourns in lowly exile... "The closer it came to our turn the more we appreciated and understood those pleas, begging for help..
So, when it was announced that this night was the night we had been waiting for. We rejoiced, we broke into songs of Hallelujah. We cried tears of joy, not only for ourselves, but for all our brothers and sisters who's pleas were being fulfilled. The veil which separated us from our brothers and sisters became thin and many heard us as we celebrated. Our Heavenly Father was so excited he sent his angels to announce the birth to any who would listen. He was also a little apprehensive. We could tell he was very pleased, but was also a bit anxious.
We rejoiced with all the holy prophets as we watched our Savior being born. We watched as he grew up. We saw him suffer at the hands of our own brothers and sisters. That was a dark day in heaven. We felt a deep sorrow, it was difficult to understand how our own brothers, and sisters could have gotten to this point.
There really wasn't much time for us to mourn, because on that side of the veil we had been preparing for the return of our big brother. It all happened almost as it were in the twinkling of an eye, because on the third day we rejoiced once again as Emanuel, our brother, Jesus Christ arose and took his place next to our Father.
And we rejoiced, because we knew that it was done. Our agency was no longer a hopeless curse, but a gift that made all the suffering we, and our brothers and sisters would suffer, worth it. Our ability to repent and change would not be in vain. Our mistakes, our stumbling, and our falls, could now officially be turned into stepping stones of learning rather than our hopeless demise. The gift of agency and repentance, the greatest gifts of all eternity had there beginnings long before their reality, but it is the reality of these gifts that we celebrate each Christmas Season.
May God bless us all with a Merry Christmas as we ponder upon the gifts our Heavenly Father has given us.
Remember, Faith is loyal to the happy ending. Faith sees trials, tribulations, stumbles, and falls as simply part of the story on its way to an inevitable Happily Ever After.

Peach BBQ Sauce

I have had several people ask for my Peach Chipotle BBQ Sauce recipe. I hesitated posting it because I thought I might market it. However, I have decided that I like sharing far more than I like making money. So, here is my not so secret Peach Chipotle BBQ Sauce recipe.


Two #10 cans Ketchup

6 Tbls chipotle seasoning

3 Tbls chili seasoning

1 1/2 tsp mace seasoning

8 cups puréed peaches

1 1/2 Cups puréed onion

I puréed sweet pepper

1 Cup apple cider vinegar

4 Tbls Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 cups Molasses

4 Tbls paprika

1 Tbls liquid smoke

1 Tbls minced garlic


I then bottle it and seal the bottles to use through out the year, or to give it to friends. It goes really well with my smoked pork ribs. Hmmm... I may just have to fire up the smoker. It's about that time again. 

Change Can Be Scary, But It Is Good

                      

Change comes in so many different forms. Change indicates the newness of life. It also ushers in the end of life and the beginning of eternity. Change brings in Spring and Fall and Winter and Summer.

Change brings joy and sorrow. It  can hurt. But it can also bring pleasure. It can happen fast, take a lifetime, or it may take much much longer for us to recognize the changes that are happening. Change can happen outwardly or it can happen inwardly. Change is ever present and inescapable. 

Change is a gift...

It can be scary, but no need to fear,  it is best to embrace it and realize the blessings  within it.  

             

Perfect Obedience Is About A Relationship With God

 When I was on my mission several years ago we were given a set of discussions and we were instructed that they were to be taught in the order given. These new discussions were an upgrade from the previous ones as they did give you principles to study and allowed you to use them creatively in your teaching by the spirit. Shortly after I left the mission field they began to encourage teaching principles by the spirit. Meaning that they could teach in whatever order the Spirit dictated. This was a huge leap of faith in the missionaries and their preparation.

Perfect obedience has been emphasized since, well, I don't know when, as it is a basic belief that the first law of heaven is obedience. So, when Lauree wrote me and asked for advice about perfect obedience I wasn't too surprised with her struggles. I think most missionaries go through struggles in regards to obedience to the rules. She is a perfectionist. She looks at the handbook as her bible of rules and has the utmost intention of being perfectly obedient to the rules that she has been given. This is good. Her contrite desire to be obedient will do her much good. Even if she never gets past the rigid rules aspect of the handbook. Just as it would for anyone in her situation.

Now lets take just a second and put the handbook in perspective. It is a creation of many years of experience. You have young people from every walk of life, and from every sort of background and culture. These young people have, in many cases, very little sense of direction or standards of conduct in many cases. They fear nothing, and they are not always the most wise of souls in the Kingdom of God. Let's face it, J Golden Kimball was right, if the church were not true the missionaries would have destroyed it long ago. That being said, the handbook of rules is there to minimize the damage. It is there to assist the missionaries in learning how to think and to serve as a conscience to those who may at times let their conscience slip...a little. Kind of like the Pirates code, they are more like guidelines. ;) Well, a little more than guidelines... This must not be interpreted as lessening the importance of the "White Bible," as we so fondly referred to it as.

So, my daughter struggles with perfectionism and truly desires to be perfectly obedient, as do many missionaries. I can not speak for their mission presidents, nor for the church and I may be completely wrong, but I don't think so, when I say they really aren't talking about the handbook when they say they want to you to be perfectly obedient. I believe they are saying be perfectly obedient to the Spirit of God. Be perfectly obedient when the Spirit says be home at 9:00. Be perfectly obedient when the Spirit says, be out of your apartment at a certain time. Be perfectly obedient when the Spirit says, talk to this person, knock on that door, etc...Then when the Spirit does not say what to do, you will be in the right frame of mind that the "rules" won't matter because they will be apart of you.

Remember, Christ, when on the Sabbath he gathered food with his disciples? Or when he healed a man on the Sabbath? The scribes and Pharisees sought to accuse him of breaking the law of Moses, but Christ turned their questions back on them and declared that the Son of Man was also Lord of the Sabbath. Did he break the law? How about Adam and Eve? In order for them to set into play Our Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness, they had to transgress the law. According to President Joseph Fielding Smith Adam and Eve "transgressed the law, but did not sin, because they had to do it." Thus, perfect obedience required they break the law. The story of Nephi was another case in which the commandments were required to be broken in order to be perfectly obedient. It might be noted that in each case where the law was broken it was not an easy decision for the one asked to break the law. And that I believe is because they understood the importance of obedience to the laws.

If we are not enjoying ourselves, I can guarantee that we are not being perfectly obedient. When we become perfectly obedient we will find our creativity is increased, our enjoyment is increased, our effectiveness will be increased, because we will be so in tuned to our Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness.

No one can judge our level of obedience better than we can. In fact no one can truly measure our level of obedience besides us and God. That is because perfect obedience is more about our personal relationship with God than it is about obeying commandments and rules. Perfect obedience does not negate the law, it in fact justifies the law.