He Is Not Here, For He is Risen!

This July has been an unusual month for me. My family had a wonderful reunion over the Fourth of July weekend, surrounded by the people I hold most dear.  Unfortunately, not everyone was able to attend.  My dear sister and her family had other commitments and my loving brother is no longer with us. His children were there. Grown, with children of their own. They represented him well with their joy for life and sense of humor.  Two days later was the 21st anniversary of  his death and another six days brought his birthday.  

The reunion seemed to bring a deeper sorrow at losing him. Seeing his grandchildren the age of his children when they lost their father, watching his characteristics appear on their faces and come out their mouths... I miss him even greater.  It is as if I just heard the words, "your brother has been killed in an accident..."  He was my only brother, so there was no question as to who my father meant.  

While reading the lesson for Sunday School last week, "He is not here, for he is Risen!", I ached for the women who went to wrap Christ's body is spices and found He was not there. Few things parallel the loss of a loved one.  How they must have felt, the fear, uncertainty, and despair coupled with their sorrow! Such overwhelming emotions could hardly be contained. But even in sorrow, Mary found peace and teaches me how I can find peace if I will just open my eyes and listen for Christ's voice as she did.

John 20 tells us that Mary found the tomb empty, the stone rolled away and ran to tell the disciples. They ran to the sepulcher and believed her words, yet did not understand that Christ would rise from the dead and each returned home ~

11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

His love for her was so great that he spoke to her, questioned her weeping, and desired to ease her pain.

Her love for him was so great that she recognized the way he spoke her name.

I believe his love for each of us is as strong.  

He desires to ease our pain and sorrow, increase our joy and peace.

We must in turn love him enough to recognize his call. If we continue reading we will find out what we are to do when he calls us...

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

Christ testified to Mary that he was going to his Father and God, who is her Father and God, and is our Father and God.  Then Mary did what Christ would have each of us do...she spread the word.  

"He is not here, for He is Risen!"

"Come Unto Me..."

Matthew 11
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye will find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 
This well known passage of scripture has always brought hope and a feeling of safety. A feeling similar to when I go to my parent's home.  For years I packed up my little family to make the drive to their farm up on the hill.  Each mile my anxiety and stress would dissipate and comfort would fill me.  We would visit together, play together, cook together, and clean together. I knew the time there would be a rest from my daily life.  My parent's would lift my burdens and make them easier to bear.  

Jesus asks us to take his yoke upon us and learn of him.
This means to humbly do his will and allow him to guide and direct our lives.
Lesson 10 for Gospel Doctrine today goes on to talk about what Christ did on the Sabbath Day.

He healed, blessed, taught, fed, and in all he glorified God.  

I surely had never put the two ideas together...
Take My Yoke - Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
At least not in such a direct line.
His Yoke is to be taken each week on the Sabbath Day.
We can begin literally by partaking of the Sacrament and taking His name upon us.  A weekly reminder of his invitation to Come Unto Him.

To heal, bless, teach, feed, and glorify God in all.

As we emulate him, we learn of him...
His Spirit will attend us and our burden's be made light.

One of the additional scriptures brought this lesson even closer to home...
Isaiah 28
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasures, nor speaking thine own words.
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord have spoken it. 

I took the test today, stopped thinking of the list I had in mind of MY study time, MY quiet time, MY day of rest and instead tried to bless, teach, and feed my family. I am not sure I accomplished any healing or Glorifying, but I do know I had a more delightful Sabbath.  Silly how often I forget that by looking outside myself I can find peace....I forget how quickly my Savior will lighten my burden.
 
I no longer pack up my family and drive 60 miles to that corner of paradise. My kids are leaving the nest and my parents now live less than 10 miles away. The feeling of safety and rest still resides at their home, but I am finding it is now my turn to create that atmosphere for my children. I pray I do as well as my parents, both spiritual and earthly, have for me. I pray I can be an example of following the Savior and my children will forever come unto Him, learn of Him, and know of His atoning sacrifice.

They straightway left their nets....

I am behind as usual.  So much happening in our little world!  A son getting married, a son deeply involved in college indoor track, a trip to Reno, my work schedule doubling, three girls running three different directions, and the list goes on.  Why is it when life gets busy we let the truly important things slide?


A few Sundays ago we had a very special Stake Conference.  Elder Jeffery R. Holland visited our Stake and shared with us a tremendous message.  He truly is an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. The first thing I wrote in my notes about Elder Holland...

"He blew a kiss to us"

His presence and testimony filled our hearts with the understanding that the Gospel is true, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and walked the earth, that He knows each of us and loves us, that miracles happen even today, and that the heavens are open.  


Our Stake President shared a quote at the beginning from Elder Holland's October 2010 Conference talk, 

“I have never been a leader of anything in the Church. I guess I’ve only been a helper.” 

Maybe this is how the first disciples felt.
They had the faith to cast where Christ told them to...
Fish filled their nets...
They saw the miracle...  
They followed Him...
They helped Him, they chose to be His disciples...to be His helpers.

Elder Holland reminded us we are all volunteers...

"We are offering what we offer as a free will offering."

He testified....

"The Gospel is not going away - it is in the hands of his disciples!

In the Gospel Doctrine lesson the following week.  We learned the disciples straightway left their nets and followed Jesus. They left their families, and careers, and positions in their communities.  

So far I have not been asked to leave my family or career, but I can still be a disciple. I can still be a tool in the hands of my Savior to keep the Gospel spreading.  I can listen when He guides me where to cast my net.
I pray there can be an impact on my family from my attempt to share the stories of Jesus's life with them. That as I cast the net of His life around them, they may be safe from the influences of the world and choose to be His disciples also and be His volunteer.  After all, if our offering isn't to Him, we must ask ourselves, who is it to?

Prepare ye the way of the Lord....

 1In those days came ^aJohn the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa,

 2And saying, ^aRepent ye: for the ^bkingdom of heaven ^cis at hand.

 3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet ^aEsaias, saying, The ^bvoice of one crying in the wilderness, ^cPrepare ye the way of the Lord, make his ^dpaths straight.

In these days came Thomas S. Monson, Gordon B. Hinckley, Howard W. Hunter, and on back to Joseph Smith preaching in the wilderness of our modern world.

And saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias,  saying...

Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

The call today is as potent as it was in the day of John the Baptist.  The progression of this weeks New Testament study is worth noting as we in the Latter-days work to Prepare the way of the Lord.

Matthew 3 Tells of John preaching of repentance and baptism as the way to prepare ourselves for His Coming.  It also testifies that Christ prepared the way for us by having been baptized himself.  He showed us the way. 

Matthew 4 Speaks of  being tempted by Satan.  Even He who was perfect was tempted.  Again he showed us the way to withstand temptation.  

John 1 teaches us that like the disciples of old, we must follow Him.  

Could it be any more straightforward? 

Repent

Be Baptized

Withstand Temptation

Follow Him

I have been reminded numerous times lately of what Mormon wrote concerning Captain Moroni.

“If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men” (Alma 48:17).

Moroni followed the simple steps above...is there a better way for us to Prepare the way of the Lord?

If you could meet......

Last Sunday's lesson asked..
"If you could meet anyone in the New Testament besides Jesus, whom would you want to meet? 
Why would you want to meet that person?"
Many names come to mind...
John the Baptist
Mary, the Mother of Christ
Joseph, his Earthly Father
Peter, James, John
Pilate
Judas
Lazereth
Mary Magdalene
the Woman at the Well
the Shepherds and Wise Men
So many who were first hand witnesses of His life and teachings! How would I choose?
I find myself wondering who I would relate more to?
Those who, like the nice lepers, knew He was a great man and wanted something from him but went their way or more like the one leper who gave thanks and was truly changed?
Would I be the one complaining about doing all the work or the one listening to his words?
Would I be the one washing my hands of the things I had done, one of the crowd who condemned, or one who mourned the scourging and crucifixion of He who is the Savior of all?
Sometimes I feel I have a part of all of them inside me, weaving the tapestry of my life with dull hues of the unrighteous, pale tones of the weak, and glimmers of brightness in the pattern.  I hope through the year of studying His life and teachings, I can become brighter, like Elisabeth, Mary, Joseph, and those who have shown the path of diligence.  Maybe when I look back over my work for the year, I will see the dull and the pale hardly noticeable when compared to the hues that Christ has woven into my life. 

“That Ye Might Believe That Jesus Is the Christ”

What a great way to start out the year!  The New Testament truly is so we might believe that Jesus is the Christ.  It is humbling just after the Christmas season to look at the life of Christ and see what all He has done for us and is still willing to do.
What has He done?

Lived a sinless life

Taught us of our Heavenly Father

Served others throughout His life...without complaint

Prayed for those He loved

Faced Satan and temptation and overcame

Atoned for the sins of the world

Prepared the way for each of us to be Resurrected

The list is long!  

Now of course, we must learn how to apply the Gospel to our daily lives!
It is impossible to live a sinless life, but we can strive to avoid sin, repent when we make a mistake, and try not to make the mistake again.

We should read the Scriptures often to learn of our Heavenly Father

Serve....serve....and serve some more.

Pray for those we love...as we do so, we will learn even more of our Heavenly Father and His hand in our lives.

Show gratitude for the Atoning sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ and live in a way that we may be reunited with our Father in Heaven in His full glory.

How can I live that my children will know that I "believe that Jesus is the Christ"?
I hope I can find more of his love, kindness, patience, and charity...I feel so impatient at times.  I guess all I can do is try.

I want to see how good I am this year.....

Our church has amazing teachers.  For the Gospel Doctrine lesson last week, the instructor told us of a conversation with his wife.  She is a runner; a die hard runner.  She runs all year, in the cold and the heat and the Idaho wind.  The mother of five beautiful children, she is an inspiration in her diligence to church, family, and health. But, like many of us, she may never hit her personal record again.

Her husband asked her, "Why do you do it?  You are never going to be what you were, so why try so hard?"

(I must insert a note here.  He is an amazing husband, and I am fairly certain he was going for the laugh, which he got!  

He has a comedian's sense of timing and delivery.  If he were a self-centered jerk, I am sure the result would not have been the same.)  

Her answer is yet another reason she inspires.

"I want to see how good I am this year!"

So here I go!  

I want to see how good I am this year!

I need a new plan.  I started out well last year when I first began blogging. Now I need to reformat, rethink, and recommit.  

I still want the stories of Christ to be the focus...

I still want my children to learn of him...

I still want their testimonies to grow...

I still need mine to.

The New Testament is the study for Gospel Doctrine this year. The plan is to follow the Class Member Study Guide each week to direct my personal studies and create fodder for this blog. When time allows I will do a pre-lesson to explore my personal studies blog and a post-lesson blog to the studies of our church Gospel Doctrine class.  

I would also like to add in the Book of Mormon and messages from the last LDS General Conference.  I have watched my dear husband as he has spiritually grown far past me.  It is time I catch back up and pull my own weight. Maybe this in turn will help my children.  

How can they be spiritually strong if I am not?