[Insert: This insert is from the future. . . Tues. 5/31/21 At 11:30am Sunday I went out to the north foyer and found my directors, the Tophams! I knelt in front of them and shook their hands and expressed my relief that they were there. @ I had watched Lloyd Simpson carefully from the stand at the beginning of sacrament meeting and he left to go reserve the big screen and I gave him a thumbs up after he sat down. He returned it. @ Derek Larson took 5-10 minutes getting it connected and working at the front of the Melchizedek priesthood room. The Tophams said they were once part of the 4th ward and remembered meeting in our building 30 years ago! I bragged to them that we now had a MP room as well as a RS room. The meeting ended at 12:30. Sister Topham came over and told me she hoped Marshall wouldn’t visit long because they had another presentation at 1pm. This comment made me feel so included. @ My favorite part of the presentation was when Lloyd was feeling it. When he choked up and had to wait to gain control over his emotions before he could speak, I loved it! @ Pres K Perkins conducted and shared 2 ways he has been doing Family History as he closed. I was so impressed. He didn’t just conduct. . . he came prepared to contribute! I saw no bishopric in the meeting. But that makes sense with RMN’s assignment to have the bishoprics in charge of all the youth lessons and activities! @ I did tease Kent about finally having an EQ counselor supporting him in the meeting. :) I also told him I was proud of him. @ I gave Lloyd a thumbs up and a hug from across the room. @ I was shocked to discover that our committee is so small and that I am a critical part of it!
Lloyd Simpson
Brenda Fifield
Vern Jensen
Karson Torgerson-youth
Jake Barney-youth
Jocelyn Barney-youth
Alex Gardine and Andra Garrett are our EQ & RS reps.
I took advantage of the moment when Lloyd listed me. I was at the front. I smiled huge, sat tall, lifted my yellow tie (and made everyone laugh) and said, Lloyd teased me incessantly 8 years ago until I learned to index in Italian after I first retired. . . {oh, I did not!-L} It was like he thought I didn’t have anything better to do! Cameron and others made comments and laughed but I couldn’t hear them. I am smiling and tearing up right now. Insert End]
Thursday · 9:21 PM \We had our first in-person BoM class tonight in over a year.\Only 8 of us but it was so much better than Zoom.\Jonnie n Janice warned me of kidney damage that happened to two women friends on keto diet. They were worried about me. Cardio-vascular is often damaged as well.\
When all one eats is fat n protein it makes sense that the protein overload is hard on the kidney's. And the fat overload is hard on the vascular system. Groan. . .\So what would decrease those two strains? . . . Answer: fasting!\H a\V
So I decided to look up Wiki-Fasting this morning. 5/28 Friday. I was pleased to discover I was mostly right. Fasting is a good solution. This is the only thing it had under complications: Complications In rare occurrences,[9] fasting can lead to the potentially fatal refeeding syndrome upon reinstatement of food intake due to electrolyte imbalance.
So next I looked up refeeding syndrome which essentially says that when your digestive system starts working again it uses minerals that haven’t been supplied recently. So these are the 3:phosphates, magnesium and potassium \A diet containing an amount of protein adequate for health will also contain adequate phosphorus.\The richest dietary source of magnesium is legumes, followed by grains and root and green vegetables. More than 70 % of the adult population in the U.S. falls below recommended intakes of magnesium, but it is unclear whether this shortfall has skeletal consequences
CSo I guess my next step is to find out where there is an abundance of those 3 so my fasting is safe. I am intrigued by magnesium. Here are some Mg rich foods:Almonds
Avocado
Black beans
Bran cereal
Brown rice
Cashews
Cereal (shredded wheat)
Edamame
Kidney beans
Oatmeal
Peanut butter
Peanuts
Potato with skin
Pumpkin
Raisins
Soymilk
Spinach
Whole grain bread
So do I eat any? Yep. hard beans I love. Notice, fat and cheese and meat are not on the list. I have eaten 3 cans of spinach this last week. That is a rarity but maybe I should eat a can a week.
You should get 4,700 milligrams (mg) of potassium every day. Most Americans don’t meet that goal.
Monday, 5/31/21 Memorial Day. We sang Battlehymn of the Republic as our closing hymn. These parents gave their farewell talks yesterday. Charity is their youngest and she has probably born her testimony 5 times in the last year. Such courage. She came to play with Hace Ventura last Tuesday at our 1st Picnic in the Park in over a year. She sees me as a trusted adult.
Jesse Mindy Lincoln’09 is now a deacon and passing the sacrament. So You get the idea this is an old picture on LDS tools. Good bye Bird family! I have loved teasing you and watching you and singing with you and getting to know you. :)
The above Mom and Dad are brainiacs. Geniuses. Participants. Witnesses. Contributors. Talented. Thoughtful teachers. Jesse doesn’t laugh easily and dares to declare things like “the fewer words or grunts I have to speak, the better!” They are moving and building against the Virgin River in Washington Fields. We have had 3 bird families in the ward and now we will be down to 2. :( He has served as our gospel doctrine teacher twice and since I contribute regularly and give him a friendly evaluation after every lesson they know me. Something I saw last lesson that I love: At the end of the lesson as he tried to think of someone to ask to pray he asked his wife! T r u s t & Confidence. Don’t you love it when you see couples with that type of relationship!! His dad would quote Alexander Pope:
“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” ― Alexander Pope
And so Jesse knew it by heart. He referred to it or recited it a number of times along with all kinds of other memorization he had in his brain. Last week we were singing a 4 verse unfamiliar sacrament song and since they sit on the third middle row I watched Jesse do all the verses without a hymnbook. I know Brandon Smith has a bit of that talent/gift as well.
Mindy’s talk was a blast. I absolutely loved it. As she drew it to a close I thought, I missed some of those. I would like to review all of them. And then I remembered that I have sent you wonderful talks from ward members before. . . Yeah! Good idea! So these two following talks might be concentrated/potent/thick but they come from people who live their testimonies! [But they weren’t perfect when they first moved into the ward. Home teaching was a bug-a-boo for Jesse. A Christmas Remembrance was the only contact he would offer each year and I think that was mostly Mindy. I told him how I used the bottle of homemade Madagascar vanilla they gave me as a template/roller for my planter pots. Back then and now I was in desperate need of adult connection.] He served a mission in the south and says he was a hunter not a fisher and never had a single baptism on his mission.
Jeremiah 16:16 Context
13Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour. 14Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. 16Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. 18And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. 19O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
I hope you get an idea of how important this family is to me and that this adds personality to their talks. Yay! They sent them to me!
“What We Are Learning and Will Never Forget” by President Russell M. Nelson (April 2021)
After studying President Nelson’s talk from the priesthood session entitled “What We Are Learning and Will Never Forget”, our dear prophet outlined 4 lessons he hoped we have learned over the past 2 years. [v- She did a talk from the priesthood session! My last talk was from the Women’s Session. Similar spirits.] He then invited us to come up with our own lessons we have learned. I took His invitation to heart [Brandon, Here is another homework assignment from the prophet I haven’t completed. Argh!-v] and have pondered and reflected on these last 2 years and the lessons I personally have learned. I came up with the fitting number of 20 lessons from 2020.
1. I learned patience: with myself and with others, especially when our political views are different. [I fully expected Trump to be president!-v] I am better able now to agree to disagree. I am better able at listening to another’s views without being as quick to judge. This is similar to lesson #2:
2. I have learned to open my heart and mind AND be more understanding of the choices people make.
3. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect: the people leading His church are not. I learned that my testimony of Christ is different from how the Church handles business transactions, Church policies, or communication. Christ leads this Church, and because of that I will follow Him. [I suspect they had problems with the mask requirements etc. I remember quoting Jesse to her about better to be free than limited. She responded: That was Jesse, not me.]
4. When I truly try to learn about the heritage and past experiences of others, or when I “try on another’s shoes,” I can understand their actions and lives better.
From President Nelson’s second Lesson: We Need Each Other: “God wants us to work together and help each other. That is why He sends us to earth in families and organizes us into wards and stakes. That is why He asks us to serve and minister to each other.” [v-powerful!]
When we learn of the heritage and ancestry of those we minister to, we are better able to serve them. When we are around others, we automatically have more learning and growing experiences. God’s plan involves other people! He wants us to learn from and about others! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is very much a gospel that values the individual, but it is also very much a gospel that values relationships between people. [v-brilliant, I so agree!]
This relates to lesson #5:
5. We need each other! Social support is necessary and part of God’s plan. Community is essential!
Remember when we couldn’t meet together as a congregation, but we could feel the sweet spirit in our individual homes during the administration of the Sacrament? After many months of being separated from each other, it kind of felt like we lived miles apart from one another! Wasn’t it such a special feeling to gather again, and now recently—to see each other’s faces?! I never realized how special, how essential, community is until it was taken from me. [v-this one is sweet.]
6. Service is a way for others to feel God’s love through you. [Woah. . .did she think of that?-v]
There have been countless sweet service opportunities I have had throughout the 10 years we’ve been in this ward. Service is such rewarding and fulfilling work. However, the most spiritual, most humbling, most love-filled moments have been when you have given service to me and my family. I have felt my Savior’s love through YOU, the members of the Bloomington Hills 2nd Ward.
Recently, as we were packing and cleaning and moving, you sweet sisters and brothers that willingly came to our assistance (both in body and in heart!), were where Christ would have been in my life had He been here in person. I felt Him through you and I thank you for those sweet moments and loving service given freely. [this moistens my eyes. . -v]
7. We won’t always know the “why” of what God wants us to do.
I know that God has His hand in my life, and that we are no longer supposed to be in this ward. I’ve learned that God will direct and guide our life if we let him, but we may not know why He has us do certain things, such as sell a nice, comfortable house before the new one is built… [ha!-v]
8. No one but Jesse and I will begin & lead gospel instruction in our own home. It’s through persistent and consistent efforts that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be taught in our home. If my kids don’t know the scripture stories of Daniel, of Ammon, of Moses, of Jesus Christ, it is on our heads, not their church teachers. I need to take responsibility for what is learned and what is not learned in my home.
President Nelson’s first lesson from his conference talk is about how we have hopefully all learned that the home is the center of faith and worship. He says, “…Your commitment to make your home your primary sanctuary of faith should never end. As faith and holiness decrease in this fallen world, your need for holy places will increase.” [Joan stayed after our BoM class because I asked if she wouldn’t show us DGRenlund’s home/temple video Thursday night. I have never experienced that. I have never lived in a home that had the feelings of refuge, safety and peace I find in the temple.-v]
This relates to lesson number 9.
9. My testimony is exactly that: mine. I’m in charge of helping it to grow. I’m in charge of maintaining it. It WILL fade if I don’t work at it.
The Church of Jesus Christ is a living church. I feel like a testimony is also living—if I neglect it, it will fade and possibly even die. If I feed and water it with the teachings of Jesus Christ, with fasting, with prayer, and with sharing it – it will grow and even thrive! [v-Have you heard that from me? Yep. This is HUGE to me.]
10. Good habits can be nearly forgotten in mere days. We must fight for ourselves and personal improvement. We can’t depend on external sources like work and school to maintain our habits.
Before March 2020, we were in the habit of listening to some of our books on our drives. When seemingly everything was canceled, so were our drives and hence, our book listening. Our routine was interrupted, like all of yours, which also interrupted one of our good habits. We had to figure out another way to make sure we listened to good books! [v- I would love a list of good books she listened to with her cute little family. Did you notice she has twin boys?]
11. Parenting is a tool used by our Heavenly Father to help us to grow. It is truly a refining process. If we allow God to be part of our parenting, He will teach us in ways we cannot learn otherwise. [Godly insight!-v]
12. I learn something every single day from my children. I’ve learned firsthand that the faith of a little child is great and awe-inspiring! [a w e . -v]
13. After my kids were old enough to watch themselves while I picked up a few things at the grocery store, Walmart grocery pickup became a thing! For me, this felt like it was a couple years too late to be ultra convenient! I have learned that Walmart pickup is still so awesome. However… everyone else discovered its awesomeness in 2020… so it was suddenly not as awesome because all the slots got taken so quickly! BUT… this actually helped me to be better at meal planning more in advance. So 2020 has taught me to be more proactive in meal planning. This leads me to lesson number 14. [This one was worldly and cute.-v I haven’t tried pick up yet.]
14. The parable of the 10 virgins can be applied in multiple ways: spiritual preparedness, financial preparedness, physical preparedness. I’ve learned that last-minute preparations are not always and usually not even possible. Preparedness is a gospel principle which must be applied little by little, precept upon precept, one saved dollar after one saved dollar, one can of food after one can of food. [yep-v]
15. Our weaknesses really can become our strengths when we allow God into our lives and trust him with our weaknesses. [v- I would love examples of this.]
16. Overfilling our schedules ensures we crowd out the important things. I learned that I need to take charge of my family’s schedule. I need to start with the important things before I consider the rest of my schedule. [smart.-v]
In his 4th lesson about hearing Christ better when we are still, President Nelson says, “For a time, [we had activities canceled] that would normally fill our lives. Soon we may be able to choose to fill that time again with the noise and commotion of the world. Or we can use our time to hear the voice of the Lord whispering His guidance, comfort, and peace. Quiet time is sacred time—time that will facilitate personal revelation and instill peace.” [Potent sound bite!-v]
I have found this to be so true. When I have a few peaceful, quiet moments, if I choose to fill them with news or social media, I am left feeling worried, anxious, pessimistic or doubtful. When I consciously choose to fill these quiet moments with scripture, words of the prophets, or reflective journaling, I am left feeling His guidance, His peace, optimism, and hope. [v-this is me through and through. I index in peace and quiet 4 hours a day. No cable, no TV, no radio, no news, no Facebook, no politics, no sports, it gives my time back to me. (I do garden, fish, hike, read, write and index.) Vaun asked me if I ever had enough hours in a day? He said there were never enough. I simply said, yes. In fact a few months ago I was praying for ways to fill my days with more service/building the kingdom. Since FSCenter closed down it has been harder.]
When my kids were younger, I really had to work to make my own quiet moments. I needed them to be when I wasn’t so tired I would just fall asleep from the lullabies of peace and quiet! But I need this time now just as I needed the time back then!
“Commotion in the world will continue to increase. In contrast, the voice of the Lord is not ‘a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but … it [is] a still voice of perfect mildness, [like] a whisper, and it [pierces] even to the very soul.’ In order to hear this still voice, you too must be still!” [v-Excellent.]
17. Little boys are fairly simple in their needs. All that little boys need every day is a good dose of the outdoors, love, good words, and a creative outlet of some kind—which for my boys is usually building Legos or forts. That is enough to help them grow in kindness to the world around them. [Absolutely love this insight!-v]
18. I learned that the more time you are around the same people, day after day, the bigger the effort you must put forth on working on the relationships with them! [As powerful as they come.-v]
19. The Parable of the Talents: God entrusts us to MORE when we recognize His hand in our lives. This is especially true when we treat the blessings He gives as stewardships vs gifts. When we give of ourselves: our time, our energy, our talents—to the lifting of others around us, God truly does multiply our efforts. [I may have been guided again! I cut through Bronson’s yard and saw Justin Salmon trimming their palm tree way above his head. I offered him my 40 ft ladder. He jumped at the chance. I watched him cut down the first 4 dead palm fronds and he just couldn’t get the 5th one. Why did I choose to come up that street when I did? It was a new route. Not one I have taken in months. TYHF!-v]
20. Humor can help almost every situation! [Fun is my driving force.-v]
“My dear brothers [and sisters], I testify that He has been, and is, indeed leading us along, as we seek to hear Him. He wants us to grow and to learn, even through—perhaps especially through—adversity. Adversity is a great teacher.”
I learned a ton while reflecting on these last two crazy years. I know Jesus Christ has been through it all right along with me! I join President Nelson in inviting you to reflect & think about, write down, and even share what you have learned in the past two years that you always want to remember. [Two Crazy Years! -love it-v]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jesse, As you probably know, I am one of your biggest fans. Would you mind gracing me with a copy of your talk? PS. Thank you for your service and friendship.On another afternoon, near Paris, my father and I visited the great cathedral at Chartres. Malcolm Miller,1 a world expert on the cathedral, pointed out three sets of Chartres stained-glass windows. He said they tell a story.
The first windows show Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden.
The second windows recount the parable of the good Samaritan.
The third windows depict the Lord’s Second Coming.
Taken together, these stained-glass windows can describe our eternal journey. They invite us to welcome all with room in His inn.2
Like Adam and Eve, we come into a world of thorns and thistles.3
On our dusty roads to Jericho, we are beset upon, wounded, and left in pain.4
Though we should help each other, too often we pass to the other side of the road, for whatever reason.
However, with compassion, the Good Samaritan stops and binds our wounds with wine and oil. Symbols of the sacrament and other ordinances, the wine and oil point us to the spiritual healing in Jesus Christ.5 The Good Samaritan puts us on His own donkey or, in some stained-glass accounts, carries us on His shoulders. He brings us to the inn, which can represent His Church. At the Inn, the Good Samaritan says, “Take care of him; … when I come again, I will repay thee.”6 The Good Samaritan, a symbol of our Savior, promises to return, this time in majesty and glory.Jesse Bird\Sun, May 30, 10:13 PM (14 hours ago)\to me\
Sure, here it is.\The Road To Jericho\ Jesse Bird
I love the pictures of the stained glass window Elder Gong described and showed with the Parable of the Good Samaritan settled between a window of Adam and Eve leaving the garden of eden and a window of the Lord's second coming. [v- I added those above.]
I especially like the symbolism of those three mosaics interconnected. We have all left the presence of our Heavenly Father and we all desire to return to Him again. However, for now, we are together, on the Road to Jericho.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of my favorites.
Luke 10
25 ¶And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him,
saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest
thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as
thyself. [v- What a fantastic answer! I am impressed.]
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do,
and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And
who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which
stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed,
leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way:
and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and
looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he
was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil
and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to
an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence,
and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of
him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again,
I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto
him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus
unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Jericho road in those days was infested with robbers and bandits. [infested!-v]
Reflect for a moment, every one of us, being on the road to Jericho, the road that “went down from Jerusalem to Jericho”; from the presence of God to mortality. We are all subject to the pains and sorrows of the world. Elder Gong spoke of the "the wounds of a city.” Closer to home, we all have wounds. We've all been beset by robbers and thieves which have, metaphorically, "stripped of raiment". Poverty and perils, depression and disappointment, disease and death, humanity's in-humanity to man, our own sins and temptations and turmoils of every kind. As I have aged, I find I become more sensitive to the burdens everyone carries.
The road to Jericho is now, and was then, a dangerous path. Yet here we are; fallen from grace; ransacked by robbers .
There are other characters in this story. A priest, a Levite, a Samaritan, and an Innkeeper.
A priest, symbolic of the Law passed by. Unable or unwilling to save. The Levite, symbolic of the prophets of the Old testament, unable or unwilling to save.
This is often enough to know, they either could not, or would not help the traveler. I often find myself reflecting, why not? And this how we sometimes dress ourselves up in the garb of the priesthood or church membership, yet fail to render assistance? Instead of living as saviors on mount Zion we fulfill dutifully our duties yet fail our mission.
Recently, I was at Maverik getting gas and a soda. [J-As I do sometimes. Like, as I do almost everyday.][v-yep he added that.] I noticed a man parked by the air pump and attempting to pay for the air to fill his tires. I distinctly remember the thought, go pay for it. Yet, I justified myself, ignored the prompting, and left the station. I drove a block and turned around. The man and his car were gone. I didn't think a lot of it until I read the parable of the Good Samaritan and was ashamed that I acted as the Priest of Leavite and passed on by. I am learning. [Can you see his willingness to expose himself, be vulnerable, show his thoughts and reconsiderations? See, this is like him saying the fewer the words the better! I absolutely love that candidness! -v]
Luckily, I do not need to learn blindly.
The Samaritan came. The Samaritan is representative of the Savior. He is showing the example of how we should be. He saved and saves the wounded and weary from death. He anoints with oil and washes with wine. He prepares us to be as He is. The Lord then brings safely to His Inn, his Church. There He pays the innkeeper to help Him. He additionally, promises to return and pay in full for "whatsoever thou spendest more". [Woah! His Inn, his Church. New insight for me-v]
Who then is the innkeeper and what is the inn? A disciple would also view himself as the innkeeper. An innkeeper recognizes that the Lord has paid us for our service and realizes when he comes again He will continue to pay us for our service; hearkening back to the Lawyers first question, He promises even the greatest of all the gifts "Eternal Life".
What does it mean to be an InnKeeper at the Lords Inn?
Mosiah 18
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are adesirous to come into the bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are awilling to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life
First, we must covenant with Him that we are willing. [willing-v]
Second, we must do as He did, and bear one another's burdens and mourn with those that mourn. The Lord has "suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind" and he has taken upon himself their infirmities. Why? "that His bowels may be filled with mercy, that He may know how to succor his people". Bearing one another's burden is in a very real sense, a mortal shadow of what He did in the Garden and continues today. [v- A bit of his brilliance and facility with language was showing in that sentence. :)] If we want to be as He is, we must do as He did, including suffering with those that suffer; mourning with those that mourn, and lifting with those who are heavy laden.
Third, we must succor the poor and the needy. We must welcome all to the Inn. Where we can we must provide shelter, spiritual or physical. At the Lord's Inn, just as in Zion, there should be no poor.
We should not judge those who may or may not need it. But give freely.
Mosiah 4
16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—
Fourth, We must take his name upon us. The Lord will have those know His Church provides succor for weary travelers on Jericho road; his disciples are the Innkeepers.
I invite you to think on instances of how and when you may identify with any of the characters in this parable. I know I have at times been one or the other.
Are we like the Levite and Priest, passing by?
Do we think of ourselves commissioned by Jesus Christ, as was the Innkeeper, to care for injured travelers on Jericho road until He comes again?
How can we be as the Good Samaritan, acting as the physical and spiritual saviors on Mount Zion to those also traveling the sometimes lonely Jericho road. Indeed, Jesus told the Pharisee, "Go, and do thou likewise". By doing so, we can join with him to bring to pass the eternal life of man.
Finally, do we see ourselves and others as travelers? For all are fallen and all are lost. We all need to be saved. There may be now in the paths of sin Some wand’rer whom I should seek. That wand’rer, that traveler, is also us.
Reflect now for a moment on the question, "who is my neighbour"? He who “was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves” (Luke 10:36) is the Christ.
And now also the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”. Eternal life comes by loving God “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind" and thy neighbour, even Jesus Christ, as thyself.
Matthew 25:40
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
“Each of us, in the journey through mortality, will travel their own Jericho Road. What will be your experience? What will be mine? Will I fail to notice him who has fallen among thieves and requires my help? Will you? Will I be one who sees the injured and hears his plea, yet crosses to the other side? Will you? Or will I be one who sees, who hears, who pauses, and who helps? Will you?
“Jesus provided our watchword: ‘Go, and do thou likewise.’ When we obey that declaration, there opens to our view a vista of joy seldom equaled and never surpassed.
“… When we walk in the steps of that good Samaritan, we walk the pathway that leads to perfection”
Elder Thomas S. Monsen [v-Pretty Pithy! Nice find Jesse!]
The path that leads to perfection is also the sometimes lonely Jericho road.
Moroni 7
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with
all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this
love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true
followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the
sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this
hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
Well I just finished carefully reading and commenting along the way. How do you like those 2 talks juxtapositioned against each other? I feel blown away. I could relate to the first one and enjoy it. But this second one, even though it offers so much hope, just seems too grand! I think I will just stick to my little constant prayers, revisits and simple contacts with God.
Tuesday, May 1, 100F ! Let’s get those hundreds started!! @@Two more details: 1- As I was indexing this today I realized that I can have my 14 monthly indexers help me train others in the ward! They are English experts and I am not. 2- Vaun had me help him run errands for 4 hours last night. :) [Yay! I got out of indexing! ) He gave me a $20 with a list of what to buy in Albertsons. He gave me a $20 and a list of what to buy in Lins. When I got to the cashier in Lins my $20 was gone. I had placed it in the list (circled newspaper) and it must have fallen out when I referred to it. D a r n ! I quickly retraced my steps but no luck. When I returned to the front They told me someone had found it! I wanted to hug the lady that found it! Another little miracle. Yippee!!!!
