Faith unto Repentance

How much faith is needed to access the atonement of Jesus Christ? How much faith do we need to receive salvation?

Alma answers that question:

15 And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.
16 And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.
17 Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you;

(Book of Mormon | Alma 34:15 - 17)

We need "faith sufficient to repent. Apparently faith great enough to move mountains is not required; faith enough to speak in tongues or to heal the sick is not needed; all that we need is just enough faith to recognize that we have sinned and to repent of our sins, to feel remorse for them, and to desire to sin no more but to please Christ the Lord. Then the greatest miracle of all, the Atonement, whereby Christ rescues us from our deserved punishment, is in effect in our behalf." Elder Robert E. Wells 1991 Sperry Symposium

Repentance is simply a willingness to progress and to change and recognize that we need the help of the Savior to do so. It requires humility and love of ourselves and others to do so.

Picture - Messiah by Lars Justinen

An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ

Elder Holland's April conference talk, None Were With Him was condensed into a short, video presentation and posted on LDS.org. It quickly became the top disseminated video on You Tube over the weekend. In case you missed it here it is.

Things I've learned about and from my Dad

As I've been caring for my Dad since my mother's death I've learned a few things about him, about me and about life. Here are a few of them:

Underneath all that dementia the essence of who he is is still there and actually enhanced.

In some ways I know him better than ever before. The dementia has freed up his emotions. He's just trying to figure out life and do it the best he can. It's admirable.

He's always the gentleman. Even in fits of frustration at what is happening to him he stops and lets me go first, wants to help me up the stairs, opens the car door and is concerned about me driving home in the dark.

He has this intense desire to be square with the Lord and be of service even in his worst times. It's who he is.

He prays with a passion and without reservation. It's been an honor and a blessing to hear his prayers especially when he prays for me.

He like to dress nice and look nice. That one has been a surprise. My parents never had spare change so new clothes weren't in the budget.

He has a quick wit, sharp sense of humor and a ready laugh.

My Dad is neat and orderly. That one also blew by me as a child.

He loves his family.

He loves my mother and misses her terribly. Though some times he forgets who he is and that he was married, when his memory is functioning he talks highly of her in every way. "I loved that woman!" he told me passionately through tears, his voice breaking, the other day as we were driving somewhere.

He's always saying "Thank you." When I tuck him into bed he usually says, "Thank you for what you are doing for me." I think he really does get it. When I hug him he often says, "Love you."

He wants to be busy and productive. No napping. No lounging around. He's frustrated by inactivity. He knows the difference when I give him something of worth to do and when we are just passing the time. He keeps me on my toes.

If I focus on making remaining life good for my Dad I am strengthened and I am able to do all that is needful. If I focus on myself and the things I can't do because I am caring for my Dad I begin to sink.

I've learned to speak "dementiaese." When no one else gets what my Dad is trying to say because it doesn't make sense, I understand where he is trying to go with his thoughts and what he is about. And it all makes perfect sense.

You can't fool him. If you try, he figures you out rather quickly. And, it ticks him off! Honesty is the best policy all the way around.

All people, including the "triple elderly" as my mother use to say, deserve to be treated with dignity and given the time of day. They notice when someone passes by them or treats them like they aren't there because they can't hear or express themselves articulately.

My Dad doesn't like to be laughed at or made fun of nor does he make fun of or laugh at others.

I've seen my Dad cry more these past two months than in my entire 56 years all put together.

Old age and the suffering it brings is the last great test of life - and if we choose to participate in care-giving we receive more in growth than we give.

Dolly

I've never bought one of her records, I don't follow her career but for some reason I'm a bit of a Dolly Parton fan. Underneath all that artificial "do" I sense someone quite genuine. I admire her spunk and enjoy her humor. She makes me smile.

Some Dolly-Wisdom:
"I wake up with new dreams every day. And the more you do, when you're a dreamer, the more everything creates other arenas you can go into. It's like a tree with many branches, and branches with many leaves."

"I have a place of worship in each of my homes. Even in my apartment, I have a little pray-do where I can kneel. I pray as I walk around, but it's a way to remind you that it ain't gonna hurt you to get on your knees and humble yourself before God."

"I've learned through the years to communicate with God as I perceive him. I pray for guidance, and I accept the things that come as an answer to prayers."

"Her faith drives her," says Danny Nozell, Parton's manager. "She thinks about things, she prays on them, then she makes a decision. And the decisions more often than not go her way." When they don't, Parton still keeps the faith. "I think, 'Well, maybe God's got something better for me.'"

"It's so boring to me to get on a treadmill or to get on the floor. I'd rather pull cotton, you know, and think."

"I never feel like I've got too much to do. I love being creative. I love to work."

"It makes you feel better about your own success if you don't just hoard all that money. I always pray to God, 'Well, give me enough to share and enough to spare.'"

I'm not much of a "Dolly" myself (who is?), our worlds are about as opposite as the ends of the planet, but I would certainly love to have her for a friend.


Quotes from May/June 2009 AARP Magazine

Springtime in the Rockies

Just thought I would make all you people in California and New York (hint, hint) a bit jealous.

Further thoughts....

What I mean by "light at the end of the tunnel" is that there is a renewing life force unrelentingly at work in the days of our existence. Just as spring time regenerates every year out of winter even when winter seems to be everlasting, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25). The sorrows of the fallen man eventually give way to a pulse of joy. Yesterday we had a belated, whopper snowstorm - the best one of the snow season thus far. (Notice I said thus far!) Leaves had already begun to bud. Some trees were in full blossom and yesterday as I drove around town, trees and limbs were down everywhere. But in spite of this small natural disaster, the sun will return, the trees will leaf out. The jagged, ripped branches will heal over. New growth will spring from those scars and once again things will move forward in the life cycle. Lehi said there needs must be opposition in all things (2 Ne. 2:11) and that includes sorrow, disappointment, heart break among a myriad other human conditions. But if we allow it, life will gradually and gently push joy back into our lives. I believe that is the message of the atonement of Jesus Christ to all of us. There is always hope. There is always something to live for. Winter only reigns for a season. Even if your tunnel has taken unexpected twists and turns and you no longer can see the light, keep going. It is still there.

Doing...

Life (the gospel) is about doing. Knowing is important but we know in order that we might do. Knowledge for knowledge's sake is like art for art's sake. They become false gods without life because they loose the ability to become a means rather than an end. Doing encompasses our God-given gift to act. Each act changes the world around us. The three great spiritual gifts - faith, hope and charity - are not passive ideas. They exist in doing.

Light...

It's my experience that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Life has a way of renewing itself, bringing healing even to the most devastating of circumstances. If you just keep going the dark night will turn to day.

I thought I would post...

but instead I'm going to bed. Too many late nights in the emergency room with Grandpa. Catheter in. Catheter out. Catheter in. Catheter out. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

"sift you as wheat"

In ancient Israel the process of sifting the wheat was the last stage in preparing the harvest. The sifting occurred once the wheat had been gathered in and winnowed (tossed in the air to remove the chaff). The wheat was gathered up off the floor or ground and shaken in a sieve to remove the rocks, dirt and other debris that may have been gathered in with the kernels of wheat.

When the Lord tells his disciples that Satan desires to sift them as wheat, they have already been identified as "wheat." They are not the chaff that has been blown away in the whirlwind, a term used by the Lord to describe the condition of those who are disobedient and do not hearken to the voice of the prophets.

Sifting occurs later. The wheat is shaken and falls to the ground and what is left in the sieve is rubble, dirt and trash. I would assume that the sifting process, according to how we respond to it, can either purify us that we may be gathered into the garner cleansed from the rubble of the natural man, or we lose our faith and the debris of the world is what remains with us. Peter was sifted and came out stronger for it. He triumphed over Satan. We will each be "sifted." We will each decide the end result of that sifting.

Peter Denying Christ by Peter Janssen

31 ¶ And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: (Luke 22:31)

Tonight, being the Thursday before Easter, we read from Matthew the events of the last night of the Savior's life. Cameron was amazed at how Peter could valiantly say "Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended" and yet before the night was over deny Christ thrice. I've always taken hope and comfort from the very human story of Peter. Though he walked with Christ, had a witness that Christ was the Son of God, his human weakness prevailed in a moment of trial and testing. But, the story doesn't end there. Peter went out and wept bitterly, recognizing his great failure as an apostle of the Lord. He repented. He took up his cross so to speak and he became the head of the church. He bore testimony of Jesus Christ unfailingly in face of danger and distress until he lost his own life through crucifixion. The Lord knew Peter would fall and He also knew Peter would rise again much stronger and more effective than before.

The Lord has repeated the same warning to us.

18 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;

(3 Nephi 18:18 - 19)

We must not take these words casually. They are true. We must watch and pray always, and when we fall, we, like Peter can rise again stronger.

Grandpa and Graham

Thanks Bethany for the great photo!

1946

I love this photo. My mother, Virginia, is on the far left, still single and having fun at age 30. She is with her adopted brother Lynn and his family. My adopted grandmother Nettie is in the middle. I think her pose is classic! That is just the way I remember her. I've always felt a special bond with her. She died in our home when I was 13.

It odd for me to see my cousins as children. They were young adults when I was born. My Aunt Afton is quite pretty in this photo. She was also older when I had association with her. The little guy in the suspenders is my cousin Val. I haven't seen him in years. I believe he had quite the fun, mischievous personality. When I was five and he was a young man he took me for a ride on his motorcycle because I was crying. We were at my Uncle Lynn's house and my older sibling and cousins had purposely ditched me. I felt vindicated by the rare and coveted motorcycle ride but the sense of triumph was dashed when my older sister and my cousins also got a ride. I felt it unjust that the perpetrators of my distress weren't deprived of the privilege for their cruelty. Ah, the sense of fairness children innately possess! I wanted justice to be dispensed. I wanted to be important enough to warrant such attention to my needs. But no such thing occurred and I remember coming to the conclusion that was I just being placated. Of course, these were feelings that had no articulation at the time.

I wonder what the occasion was as all three women and Marilyn the oldest daughter are wearing corsages.