Reflections on A to Z Challenge

Well, my procrastination on getting this post written means that I have missed signing up on the official Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Reflections Linky, but I'll go ahead and write this post anyway, and hopefully some of my new blogging friends will find it.

I really wasn't planning on participating in A to Z 2014 as April is usually a pretty full and busy month in my house.  Last year I found that I spent so much time writing my posts during April that I missed out on a lot of prime gardening time, and I didn't want that to happen again.  Then it occurred to me that if I used my yard and my garden as the theme of my blog posts, I might be more motivated to both work in the yard and get the posts ready.  So I set up my list of topics for the posts on Creation and Compassion and I tried to do as much in advance as I could.  Of course  I found that I just had to have current photos, and so there wasn't a whole lot I could write ahead of time.  At the last minute I decided that I wanted to do a series of posts about what I believe to be true on Random Thoughts and Tender Mercies and I was off to a crazy, fun filled month of gardening, taking photos, and blogging every day after work, and trying to visit a few new blogs every day too.  I've found some wonderful new blogs, some new blogger friends, and Grammy Staffy even featured me in one of her posts, Y is for You!  Thank you Grammy Staffy!  That was very exciting!

But, the last two weeks of April brought visits from dear children, graduations, weddings, etc, and I just couldn't keep up any longer!!  I have drafts of my final week of posts, but I just couldn't do it all and still enjoy all of the activities and visits with my family.  So, I quit.  For a time.  The drafts of the missing posts are still here, and I may just post one or more of them occasionally in the weeks and months to come, just because.  I may just revisit the garden every so often too and show you a bit of how things are coming along.  Right now it all looks pretty sad because I've been neglecting it too!   But there you have it . . . my reflections on the 2014 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

 If you would like to meet some of the other Blogging from A to Z participants, you can find them here and read  Other reflections on the A to Z Challenge

Understanding

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom:  and with all thy getting get understanding.

Proverbs 4:7

In our family we value learning and education.  We have always encouraged our children to do their best in school, and they have all done well.  This week we are celebrating DD3's graduation from the University and new job!  Way to go DD3!!  We love you and are  proud of you!

We also know that a college degree doesn't mean that it is time to stop learning.  Quite the contrary, it means that hopefully we now know how to learn and will continue to learn throughout our lives. Hopefully an education teaches us to use the knowledge that we have gained and turn it into wisdom, and into understanding.  Our knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, indeed our intelligence is the one thing that we do not leave behind when we leave this life.

And set in order the churches, and study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people.

D&C 90:15

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.  And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his dilligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.

D& C 130:18, 19

I believe that all true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding come from God.  The closer we come to God, the more knowledge and understanding he is able to bless us with.

And now I, Mormon, proceed to finish out my record, which I take from the plates of Nephi' and I make it according to the knowledge and the understanding which God has given me.  

Words of Mormon:9

Through the gift of the Holy Ghost, God can help us to know what is true and good and right.  Not only with things of the world, but also with things of God.

Now we will compare the word unto a seed.  Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Alma 32:28

May we all continue to learn and to gain more wisdom and understanding throughout all of our lives.

Temples

  Temple in Salt Lake City  ( source)

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have had the privilege of visiting and worshiping in many of our Church's 141 operating temples around the world.  We hold our weekly worship services and other activities in our local chapels, and anyone is welcome and invited to visit and attend our meetings there.  However, we believe that temples are the most sacred place on earth--a place where earth and heaven meet and where we feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.   In order to attend a dedicated temple, individuals must be worthy church members who have met with their local church leaders and been issued a temple recommend.   Before a new temple is dedicated, anyone is welcome and invited to attend a temple open-house where they can tour the beautiful interior and learn about what is taught and practiced inside. 

In the temple we are taught principles of the Lord's gospel, we make sacred covenants, we are promised blessings, and we receive ordinances that enable us to return to live in the presence of God.  We gain a glimpse of what life after death can be like.  In the temples husbands and wives are sealed to each other in an eternal marriage, and children are sealed to their parents in eternal families, allowing us to be reunited with each other in the world to come.   In addition to receiving these blessings and ordinances for ourselves, we can receive them for our deceased ancestors.   

The temple is one of my favorite places to be, and I like to visit as often as I can.  I feel a peace there.  I feel at home there.  My greatest happy moments are when I can attend the temple with those that I love, and I look forward to the days when I can be in the temple with my DH and all of my dear children.

You can learn more about LDS (Mormon) Temples right here  and  find one close to you and view photos of all of our temples here at Temples Around the World.  

Service

For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  Naked, and ye clothed me:  I was sick, and ye visited me:  I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  . . .  And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25:35 36, 40

I am so ever grateful to the many people who have helped me throughout my life:  my dear Mother and Father, grandparents, siblings, DH, children, friends, neighbors, teachers, co-workers, and church members. Even strangers have often been the ones who were there when I needed help.  There has always been someone in my life who I have been able to call upon for help in times of need, and most times the service has been provided without my even asking.  You are all examples to me, and I want to be more like you.

And behold, I tell you these things that ye  may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.

Mosiah 2:17

But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

Mosiah 4:15

Resurrection

I have spend a wonderful weekend with various family members and friends celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago.  Because of his sacrifice and resurrection, we can all know that death is not permanent. All men and women who live on this earth will one day live again.  Christ has won the victory over death, and we are all the recipients of his wonderful gift to us!

 Saturday DD1 and DD4 and I were able to attend an exhibit of beautiful artwork celebrating Easter and the life of our Savior.  You can view the art that was on display here.  On  Sunday DD1 and I were able to sing with the choir at church. There is nothing quite like singing hymns and praises to our Savior on an Easter morning!  Then in the evening there was wonderful food, fun, and socializing with extended family.

There are many wonderful songs and videos and pieces of artwork celebrating the resurrection, but here are links to a few that I have enjoyed during the past week.  You might enjoy them too!

That Easter Morn

Praiseworthy Arts

Quiet and Peaceable

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 

For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 

1 Timothy, 1, 2

This is what I have always wanted, to lead a quiet and peaceable life.  I imagine most people have similar desires.  Life isn't always simple and quiet and peaceable, and sometimes we have to get involved with the business of earning a living, caring for a family, and making a difference for good in the world and community.  I still believe that we each need to find quiet and peaceable times in our lives where we can be still.  We need times of prayer and contemplation, and times of inspiration.   If we sincerely make the time to  quietly seek out the Lord each day, I know he will bless us with the knowledge that He lives and with the strength that we need to make our way through the challenges and difficulties of life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.  Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?  What greater witness can you have than from God?

D&C 6:22, 23

Be still and know that I am God.

D&C 101:16

Priesthood

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.  

Luke 9:1

When Jesus Christ lived on the earth, he organized his church with twelve apostles and ordained them with the power of his priesthood.  The priesthood allowed them to participate in his work.  

As Christ neared the end of his ministry and life on the earth, he taught and prepared his apostles for the responsibility they would face in carrying out his work on the earth without him.   The apostle Peter, along with the others, had the priesthood power to lead the church, perform ordinances, and bless lives just as Jesus Christ had done. 

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:  and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:  and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 16:18, 9

After Christ's death and the deaths of the apostles, the priesthood power was taken from the earth.  Thousands of years later, these same apostles, along with John the Baptist, visited the prophet Joseph Smith and ordained him to the same priesthood that they had received at the hands of Jesus Christ.  These  keys and power have now been restored to the earth to bless the lives of men and women.  

The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James, and John who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Preisthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second.  It was on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this messenger, and baptized.  

Joseph Smith History 1:72

You can read even more about how Jesus Christ has restored his church and his priesthood to the earth right here.