I LOVE you

Today is a special day.

Yesterday I was searching Pinterest for some decorating ideas.  My two younger sons were tasked by my dad with painting an old bookshelf.  I ended up joining in to help spread the paint, and then took it further and worked on another bookshelf someone donated to me weeks ago.  They were painted pink.

I searched Pinterest to see if there were any creative bookshelf ideas, or ways I could spruce up this bookshelf, and came across this post by a gal named Toby Fairley.  The post really moved me greatly.  She chose a word to focus on for the year, which was a personality trait or characteristic she wanted to not lose sight of.  The word for her was DISCIPLINE.  This is one of my weakest areas.  Our family struggles with obesity, addiction, and in many ways, laziness.  So I'm always looking for ways to break free of these habits and traditions.

Toby's focus on a word for a year really struck me, so realizing that for me, today is an important day, I set my mind that I too would pick a word for the year to focus on.  It's not discipline (HA! -although she did inspire me) but has to do with lifelong intention, and that is LOVE.

Some of my deepest running weaknesses, when I stop to self-examine, are pride, envy, jealousy, hate, and anger.  Yesterday's post was a perfect example of pride on display.  Gossiping, criticizing, or open jealousy in the form of "venting" are easy for me.  This morning as I pondered what I wanted to make of this year, I asked God what I could do to change for the better.  What would help me better hear God speaking to me?  It is so easy to be confused in thinking that my way of hearing God's voice has to look or sound like someone else's, and I tend to believe their words, opinions, or warnings over what I feel God has told me.  I compare myself to them, and think that I am inferior, and covet their clarity or gifts.

I don't hear Jesus talking, or really know His voice like many say they do.
I don't have dreams which contain clear messages.
I don't have 100% moral clarity or confidence in understanding messages in the scriptures, nor to I believe that I am any authority worth really listening to.

With such lack of understanding of how God speaks to me, and such confusion, I asked God what I could focus on this year, to achieve more clarity, and truly understand His voice and how He speaks with me, individually.  The answer that came to mind that no part of me can shoot down with deductive reasoning is that LOVE is the one thing that I can't go wrong with.  And if I did go wrong with it, it would be more of someone else's weakness or insecurities getting in the way, not mine.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. -Moroni 7:46-47 

So beginning this day, demonstrating LOVE in whatever way that comes to me will be the motive. Whether I get to tell you outright that I LOVE you in every conversation, or perhaps I will say that I love something you do, you wear, you said, or anything else, I intend to find ways to share LOVE fully.  Even if I have to fake it till I make it, I will work on it.  Mark my words.  Starting this day.  

LOVE to YOU and yours,
~Jen <3

"Other Sheep I Have"

I've been reading the last few days about Jesus' post-resurrection ministry among the Nephites.  After Jesus died, He rose again the third day, and where did He go?

Perhaps we won't know entirely until we're done with this life, but we do know, due to the record found in the Book of Mormon, of at least one major stop: the Americas, among the Nephite people.

In 3 Nephi 15:21-24, Jesus is speaking to these people, and He says,

"And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 

(photo source)

And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching. 

And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice–that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost. 

But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me."

I really like this.  How often to you get to hear Jesus clarifying what He was saying in Israel?  

A lot of people are really particular about the near-last verse in the Bible, where it says, 

"If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life..." (Rev. 22: 18-19)

They use these verses as "proof" that the Book of Mormon can't be God's word.  However, they neglect Deuteronomy 4:2, which says, 

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." 

They are both practically the same, saying not to add or detract from the words.  I think they were meant with a different interpretation in mind, because if we interpret that verse as many interpret Rev. 22: 18-19, then anything after Deut. 4:2 would also have to go down the drain.  

Also neglected is that the word "Bible" means "collection of books", and that as it was compiled in King James' day is not necessarily the order in which they were chronologically written.  They were records, letters, all put together to form one Bible.  Does that mean there were no others who left accounts, but somehow decayed and were too illegible to be included?  

If we get past the "no more scripture" argument and look at the core message, there is so much more.  

The fact that Jesus says that these are his "other sheep" is touching.  He KNOWS us!  He is aware of us, and all people, whether or not they know of Him.  And in addition to these Nephites who He visited, there are MORE!  He says, 

"I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. 

For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. 

But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them." 

 Wow.  So He didn't just minister among the Jews.  And not just the Nephites.  There are more.  

Did He go among the Chinese?

How about the Australians?  

Tongans?

Among the Phillipines?  

How about those in Alaska?

Russia?

Among... aliens? (That one's for Dan.  He likes alien stories. ;) I'm totally kidding.  But what about other worlds?  We haven't even escaped our solar system.  Can't God send His Son beyond such boundaries?

(photo source)

And what would happens if/when we receive their "sealed" record, if that day should come?  Would we accept it?  

In Nephi, God warns that many people will say,

"A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible.  Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?  Know ye not that there are more nations that one?  Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?" (2 Nephi 6-7)

I think this verse not only applies to those who bemoan the Book of Mormon, but also to those who are content to think that they wouldn't need any further revelation in our day.  (This is for LDS and non-LDS alike.)  What if the Chinese discovered an ancient record that recorded their accounts with Deity, but by another name?  Would we consider what it had to say, especially if it reinforced and added to our knowledge of truth?  

These are the "last days", and it is the "fulness of times".  I wonder when further revelation will come along.  Perhaps never, at least with further records.  But I sure do like to hope that it would be sooner than later.   I can't wait for more!!!