The Floor is Falling

Tonight I was reminded of a dream I had a few weeks ago.  I attempted to share it then, but felt restrained from sharing.  The timing now feels appropriate.

My parents own a home in a neighboring town which my mother, grandmother, and family has lived in for generations.  It is over 100 years old, and one of the oldest homes in the town.  It is small, two story, and according to my dad, was made by laying wood board by board, without studs in the wall, with plaster and lathe.  He described one point years ago, where he picked up the linoleum in the kitchen and there was a dime sized hole.  Upon returning to repair it, the hole had spread and he ended up needing to repair quite a bit more.  The home is old, but miraculously holds up despite years of renters and change.  My dad is a master repairman.  Truly a "Jack of all Trades".

In the dream, I began by entering in the main floor, at an entrance which, as in most dreams, is not where it currently is in real life.  I entered this main floor, and spent some time there.  After playing with friends (I felt like a child), I climbed up a stairway which went to my right (I was facing eastward), then turned to the left halfway up.  Upon arriving on the second floor, I noticed that the only steady and safe ground on the flooring was right at the top of the steps.

Realizing this, I clung to the solid area of floor, as if it would save me.  My family and friends were enjoying some sort of party on the second floor, and although the floor was literally beginning to droop beneath their feet, they did not notice, and continued to eat and drink and enjoy the music.  I kept calling out to them, "Don't you see the floor is falling?!  Don't you feel it falling???!"  They all seemed to say, "No, it's just fine!" and carried on with their fiesta.

Fortunately, and typical of most dreams, I woke up before anything else happened.  The floor around the stairway did seem to sink at least 6-8".  I woke up troubled, as I knew the interpretation.

The floor is falling.

This photo is one I took tonight after painting a kitchen wall in the home tonight.  This is exactly where I was in my dream, although the center of the floor is where the stairs came up in my dream, and I was looking from the opposite corner.  The floor literally is sinking as the house settles at the corners of the structure.  But that's not where I'm going with this.

A house not built upon a Rock is not steady.  It is NOT sure.  It is NOT safe.  And the floors ARE falling.  Even though everyone around you might be eating, drinking, and playing merry, there is ONE sure foundation, and we must cling to the Rock, whereupon if men build they will not fall.  Because the floor is currently falling.  Eat, drink, be merry, and feel free to marginalize me if it helps you sleep better.  But be warned.  It is falling.

Is your home built upon the Rock?  I can say with certainty that feeling your world fall around you is not an enjoyable feeling.  But falling with it would be worse.  Please don't fall with it.

I write this because I LOVE you, and I hope this helps someone out there reading.  Please find the Rock, and build upon Him, even Christ Jesus.  When my heart began pounding tonight as my dream returned to my recollection, and fear literally overtook me, calling out to Him again and again was the only thing to bring me calm.  It only took a minute or so before the Blessed Peace was there.  May He be the One to bring you Calm in the days ahead.

With fullness of LOVE,
~Jen

Read it Differently - Helaman 5:12

Helaman 5:12.  Read it differently.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind; yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

I believe I have commented on this verse before.  Lately it's been fresh on my mind, and today I was guided to read here first.  I think oftentimes, when we grown up reading verses in church which are "scripture mastery" or often read, we tend to read them in a rhythm and our brain bypasses the true meaning.  I have this one memorized from when I was 16 or so, but all I think of is Christ as a sure foundation.  There's more to it.

Then the devil sends his mighty winds.  Oh wait – do we even believe in the devil anymore?  How can he send forth mighty winds?  Do those exist?

Yea, his shafts in the whirlwind.  What are shafts?  Is this like when we have a tornado, and things are flying in the air, and if you're not careful you get impaled?  Like you're just minding your own business, and things come out of nowhere and punch you in the gut?  Just when things are going well, something random comes and messes things up big time.

Yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you.  These seem more predictable.  You see them coming.  Dark clouds gathering, winds building, thunder and lightening.  And then the hail just beats and beats upon you until it leaves dents and bruises, just like on the cars in the car lot.  The damage takes a long time to fix, but it's repairable.

It shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo.  How many times does the hail and mighty storm get us down?  In the last few months I feel like I've been pounded upon.  Why?

Where was my foundation?  I say it is Christ, but I believe I have been pushed to and fro because it was not sufficiently on Christ.

My foundation was on money, business, other peoples' opinions,..

If it were truly on Christ, would the devil have any power over me, to bring me down to the gulf of misery?  Would I be miserable?  

 

Helaman 5:12

Dear Daniel,

This is for you and everyone.

"And now, Daniel, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that you must build your foundation that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which you are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12, adapted to your name)

This morning I was led to read Helaman 5:10.  It turns out my friend (who doesn't really know me, but I'd like to consider him my friend) got spanked and excommunicated by the church.  Amazingly, he seems to feel no hostility or resentment toward anyone involved.  I am amazed by his pure love of Christ.

Helaman 5:10 tells me

And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom (these are pretty awesome words, and I do remember them) in the city of Ammonihah (which had since become destroyed, as he and Alma warned/prophecied); for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.

Big difference noted.  The Lord will not come to redeem us in our sins, but from our sins.  What, exactly, does that mean?  The next verse tells us that the difference is repentance.  And I learned from Denver and my other friend Daniel that repent means "to turn" to God.  Denver wrote that to repent in Greek means "to come home".  I really love that, much better than the Latin translation, "to feel sorrow" or "to feel pain".  Interesting, indeed, that we choose the negative connotation.  God would have us return home, wouldn't he?

I love you.
~Mom<3  

Seer Stones

Dear Josten,

Today my scripture study led me someplace really unique, and some big words are sticking out at me.

Last week in the mail, you saw how I received a big box of stones.  They were a graduation gift, and WaWa let me open them up early.  They were a set of 57 massage stones, to be used in a "hot stone" massage.  We were all overjoyed, even though you and your siblings really didn't know what we all so excited about.

Yesterday, when doing some blog exploring, I can across a really interesting site called One Climbs.  The author created an image of what s/he believes the interpreters used by Joseph Smith looked like, when he translated the Book of Mormon.  (If s/he gives me permission, I'll update this post and include the artwork.)  They included "seer stones", and the depiction is quite fascinating.  Made me want to explore the topic some more.

(When I took this pic, I had no idea this post would be written a few days later... or that this would have such a fun connotation to this post!)

So this morning, as I opened up my scriptures, I knew it was time again to do my time tested method of deciding where to read: close my eyes and ask "where should I read today?"  It's been a few weeks since I had the time to just sit and listen to the answer, even though it usually pops in my head before I get to finish asking the question.  D&C 32.

This section is quite short actually.  And some words and phrases impressed me.  It's a revelation given to Parley P. Pratt.  Love him.  (Read The Key to the Science of Theology on my bookshelf, or for free on the Kindle App by clicking that link.  He has some marvelous thoughts on angels, spirits, and dreams, which few contemporary authors have expounded upon.  Love that book.)  Anyways, using the footnotes next to Parley's name, I went to D&C 50:37 and started skimming what was going on there for him.  A few verses down, verse 44 says

Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall.

Did somebody just say stone?  Last night after thinking about the seer stones used for translation, I remember learning somewhere along the way about two of the stones used by the brother of Jared.  When preparing to cross the ocean, the brother of Jared was perplexed as to how there would be light within the barges which the Lord instructed him to build.  The brother of Jared asked the Lord to touch 16 stones so that they would give light within the barges.  After the Nephite civilization was destroyed (whether it be their structure, or their lives in general), Moroni deposited the plates he inscribed upon, along with a breatsplate, the sword of Laban, and the Urim and Thummim.  My understanding is that there were two of these stones, touched by the finger of the Lord, which made up the U&T.

(Not quite like the Urim & Thummim... but close?:)

Back to the verse, the Lord is the good shepherd, the stone of Israel.  It was His light, his finger touching stones, that gave literal light within the barges.  It was these stones, touched by his finger, that allowed for the Book of Mormon to be translated.  If we build upon Him, we shall never fall.

I flipped back to D&C 32, and skimmed the page.  On the right side, I found D&C 33:13.

And upon this rock I will build my church; yea, upon this rock ye are built, and if ye continue, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.

We used to refer to this idea on my mission, when teaching the 3rd discussion.  We would say that Christ was the foundation, Peter the chief cornerstone, and then start building a makeshift church with Dixie cups.  We would end up focusing the remainder of the discussion on the church as a whole, and less on the idea that Christ is the rock.  But for this post, I want to re-focus back on the rock.  What does that mean, really?  If we build on Him?  Feel free to let that sit with you for awhile.  There are lots of references to Him being the rock EVERYwhere.

In some of the random classes I've been to over the years, I've learned some fun properties about rocks.  This year in school you learned all about the rock cycles.  How rocks are forms, how long they take to form, and different things they can/can't do.  In my classes, I've learned how some rocks like quartz are actually some of the best conductors of electricity on the planet.  How interesting that the Source of Light would touch His finger on 16 rocks, at the request of Jared's brother, and those stones would hold the energy from his touch for months while they crossed the ocean(s).

Another thought I saw someone present on another blog's comment thread is that we need to depend more upon God Himself, rather than people, an institution, or even our own intuition.  That last one struck me.  So very true.  I should not be trusting my intuition so wholly as I should be trusting God Himself.  I do not know of any source in the scriptures where I am told to trust myself, but only the Spirit of God within me.  Perhaps that's what I'm getting at, when I say or am told to "trust your/my gut".  Perhaps my intuition is based upon my connection to God, but even my intuition has been known to make mistakes.

Anyways, very long post.  I hope you get the idea.  Run with it!

Love you!
~Mom<3