In the Book of Job we read where the Lord spoke to Job and said:
“Gird up now thy loins like a man;
for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?
or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God
shouted for joy?”
(Job 38:3–7.)
This bit of scripture, we believe, alludes to our
preexistence with God when we,
in his presence,
rejoiced at his announcing to us,
his children,
the plan of the creation of the earth
on which the human race would dwell.
We believe that, as the plan was presented,
we agreed to it and received the privilege of
progressing in our eternal existence.
William Wordsworth
must have given a great deal of thought
to the mystery of life when he was inspired to write his
“Ode on Intimations of Immortality” in which he says:
“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature’s Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;
Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,
And, even with something of a Mother’s mind,
And no unworthy aim,
The homely Nurse doth all she can
To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man,
Forget the glories he hath known,
And that imperial palace whence he came.”
Henry Ward Beecher wrote:
“God asks no man whether he will accept life.
That is not his choice.
He must take it. The only choice is how.”
Parenthetically, I would say
we did make the choice to come to earth.
God does not force his children.
The choice we are now concerned with is
how we are going to live our lives.
We have the agency to make that choice
as we react to the conditions in which we find ourselves
during our life span.
We must make choices,
as we are surrounded by the
elements and resources of the earth
as well as by the people with whom we associate.
From the words of the prophets
to the words of the atheists, the question is:
How will we emerge? Will we rise or fall?
Will we fulfill our life’s purpose,
or will it be wasted?
In accepting life, we must relate to the world as it is—
to the struggle between good and evil.
There are, of course, some who would have us
believe that there is no such thing as good or evil,
but this philosophy runs counter to the natural laws of opposites
that exist, such as heat and cold, light and dark,
gravitation and vacuum, and many others.
We need to use our eyes that we may see,
our ears that we may hear,
and our minds that we may be able to think
and make our own decisions as we sift out the chaff
of all we see and hear,
so that we may know the truth
of that which we feel in our hearts,
as it is affirmed by the Holy Spirit.
Faith in God is a prerequisite to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
To have a belief in God is the foundation of a full and happy life.
Without this belief,
life can be wasted.
Evidence of God’s existence
spreads throughout the universe.
Abraham Lincoln said:
“I can see how it might be possible for a man to
look down upon the earth and be an atheist,
but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens
and say there is no God.”
I believe I know what Lincoln meant when he made that statement.
“And by the word of my power have I created them. …
“And worlds without number have I created;
and I also created them for mine own purpose;
and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. …"
“And as one earth shall pass away,
and the heavens thereof even so shall another come;
and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.
“For behold, this is my work and my glory—
to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”
(Moses 1:19–22, 24–25, 30–33, 35–39.)
Think of the impact of that statement.
All the creations of God were made for this one purpose—
to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of his children.
Moses became aware of
the magnitude of the creation and its purpose firsthand,
by talking face to face with God and beholding his works.
There are few who have had that experience.
But others have beheld God’s majesty through his works.
Abraham Lincoln stated his conviction
when he said that he could not conceive
how anyone could look up into the heavens
and say there is no God.
I had an unforgettable witness to God’s handiwork
as I lay on my back in the mountains of Bear Lake County, Idaho.
No doubt many could concur in such an experience,
for it has been said,
“We must, despite ourselves, turn heavenward our eyes.”
And so the creation of the world,
the plan of salvation—all this is for us.
It behooves all parents to know of it,
that they may respond to desires of the child
that are so aptly stated in this poem.
Mamie Gene Cole in her poem
“The Child’s Appeal” said:
“I am the Child.
All the world waits for my coming.
All the earth watches with interest to see what I shall become.
Civilization hangs in the balance,
For what I am, the world of tomorrow will be.
I am the Child.
I have come into your world, about which I know nothing.
Why I came I know not;
How I came I know not;
I am curious; I am interested.
I am the Child.
You hold in your hand my destiny.
You determine, largely, whether I shall succeed or fail.
Give me, I pray you, those things that make for happiness.
Train me, I beg you, that I may be a blessing to the world.”
What a responsibility for a mother and father,
to answer this appeal from their child:
“Give me, I pray you, those things that make for happiness.”
President David O. McKay stated what
the first condition of happiness is.
He said: “It is glorious when you can lie down at night
with a clear conscience that you have done your best
not to offend anyone and have injured no one. …
These and countless other virtues and conditions are
all wrapped up in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
(Man May Know for Himself [Deseret Book Co., 1967], p. 458.)
Some other conditions that make
for happiness are the ability to
follow that which you know to be true,
to control your appetites and passions,
to be able to make your own decisions,
to feel no envy of another,
to be able to commune with God in prayer,
and to be free from bonds,
and to be master of yourself.
The appeal of the child to his parents—
train me to be a blessing to the world—
is companion to happiness,
for it calls for action by the individual in an expression of service,
of losing himself in helping his fellowman.
Those who are a blessing to the world will try to do these things:
(1) lend a helping hand,
(2) refrain from infringing upon the rights of others,
(3) obey God’s laws and the laws of the land,
(4) stand up for the right and fight against evil, and
(5) share the truth with others,
remembering, and remembering well,
that the greatest gift of God is his plan of salvation.
We must, despite ourselves, turn heavenward our eyes
to Jesus Christ our Savior and creator.
May we guide our lives and those of our children in this direction,
I pray humbly in the name of
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Excerpts from the talk:
No comments:
Post a Comment
hey, what's on that yummy little mind of yours? let me know!