Thursday, April 20, 2017

17 April 2017--My Testimony of the Atonement

Interesting Conversation

"How many wives you got?" some whacko asks me as I walk along the street."

I reply, "I'm not married." "No, you've got what, 8, 7 wives, right?" was his response.

"Nope. I'm not married, and we only have one wife."

"No, but poligamy isn't bad. It was practiced before!" he retorts.

"Yes, Abraham, jacob, and other prophets of God practiced it, but we don't practice it anymore," I reply.

"But I really feel like Poligamy should be put in practice again!" He states, "Just look at this. with all these men runnin around cheatin on their wives anyway, they might as well all just get married!"

**Side Commentary (and totally sarcastic): THERE WE GO!! We can't keep anyone commited to any one person anymore. Might as well just commit them to EVERYONE!!! BRILLIANT! ;)

"I met Samuel the Lamanite too," he says, proudly, "He's legit man! runnin around preaching the word of God and shootin people with his magic bow. You know, Elder Brown, you actually look quite like moroni. You could be siblings." He went on to tell us that we needed to remember to keep the Spirit of Joseph Smith close by to expel demons. By far, the strangest conversation I've had with someone.
We'll Bring the World His Truth

On A More Spiritual Note...

We were on our way to the ward mutual activity on tuesday, when we learned that N*, a 12-yr-old girl had passed away of cancer and the mutual became her funeral. I looked in the casket.

This was part of my journal entry:
I'll never forget that: a hole. A shell. It's like watching a movie without the sound. Just completely empty. It's like going up stairs in the night n going for what you think is the last step, but it just doesn't exist. Thin air. Life is that fragile. That close to just not being.

Poor parents. All their hopes, dreams, and plans, gone. Vanished, dissolved. No first date. No Prom. No high school graduation. No wedding. No grandkids. The dad. What did he say? What do you say? when she took his hand and asked, "Dad, what's going on?" "Am I gonna be ok?" "What's gonna happen?" What did he say? He'll remember those words for the rest of his life. They may haunt him.

This is why we prepare for and keep temple covenants. This is why we treasure the temple.

He may have said, "Sweety, you'll be mine forever," but only if he believed it, if he truly believes it.

So much pain, suffering. 20 pounds of cancer removed from an innocent, 12-yr-old girl in two weeks. And for what? the parents, watching the flame of life falter, revive, and vanish from the eyes of their daughter, their own life for the past 13 years. Witnessing the deep agony of a cancer-stricken child while writhing in their own agony of helplessness. Entrusted with the care and comfort of this heaven-sent gift, and completely incapable, utterly helpless.

This is the Atonement. Everything Christ has done for us. Everything he would give us, if we would jsut accept him and his Father. He can move the Universe, but is equally helpless in aliviating OUR pain, OUR suffering, without our consent. watching BILLIONS of children already redeemed writhe in self-induced agony, unwilling to accept it. and him, in the same defeating agony of utter helplessness. This is the Atonement. a complete, intimate, personal, perfect understanding. Sometimes an aliviation, sometimes an extra load or two. Always there, just a prayer away.  This is the Atonement. A promise, an eternal spring, an eternal blooming, Resurrection. I know that the Atonement is real. Heavenly Father loves us infinitely. Christ understands us perfectly, and is waiting ever so anxiously to help us. watching our every move to assist us in every effort to come closer to him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


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