The Finisher

Looks like I “get “ to speak in church on Easter Sunday. I will be doing some serious research and prayer and preparation for that. Maybe I will use this great, yet seldom quoted scripture from Isaiah 28. I like it a lot. Isaiah once again with his great imagery reminds us of our need for Christ and His atoning sacrifice. We need Christ, the finisher of our faith, to make up the difference.

“For the bed is shorter, than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. "

Isaiah was so smart!

There and Back Again

One day, several years ago, my youngest daughter and I decided to visit a friend and fellow seminary student who had been admitted to Loyola University Medical Center. I really don’t like driving to Chicago so my daughter and I decided to take the train. A friend told me that Loyola was within walking distance from where we would get off the train. I took her word for it and off we went. As we arrived at our destination we realized we had been misdirected and it would be much too far to walk to the Medical Center. Uncomfortable with the idea but realizing it was our only option we stood and waited at a corner for a bus that would make a stop at Loyola. We finally did board the right bus, made it to Loyola, finished our visit and headed out of the Medical Center. While I was feeling rather unexcited about the prospect of taking the bus again, I noticed a taxi waiting. Immediately I knew it would be well worth any cost to me to pay for a taxi to get us back to the train station. As we hopped into the back seat of the taxi, I noticed the driver. He was a huge and rather ominous looking black man. Keep in mind that any color of man this size, with this demeanor, in this situation would have unnerved me. Black, white, pink …any of those…. it just so happened that it was what it was. I felt somewhat fearful as I told him where we needed to go. Pulling away from the curb he suddenly demanded, “You a Christian?” Somewhat shocked but hoping to be able to please him I stuttered, “Yes, why yes, yes, we are!” My teenage daughter was cuddled up next to me in the back seat with her head leaning against my shoulder. I didn’t know if she was feeling what I was feeling or not but I began to get more and more nervous. I was imagining all kinds of things happening to us, even the possibility of loved ones never seeing us again. Very unexpectedly he continued in his demanding abrasive way, “What church do you go to”? (Like I really wanted to tell this guy I was a Mormon! ) I mustered the courage and said, “We go to the Mormon church. Have you heard of it?” “I know what you believe!” he grumbled. I didn’t quite think he DID know what we believe but I was not about to argue with him. He must have then asked me something about reading the Bible because I recall saying something to him about the scriptures and how sometimes they can be a little hard to understand. He said he understood them so I timidly added that I thought Isaiah was sometimes difficult to understand. Why should I have been surprised at that point that he let me know in no uncertain terms that HE understood them ALL. No argument there.:) I really don’t remember much more about the conversation, but that much I will never forget. I did not know the way back to the train station but I was fairly certain we weren’t heading in the right direction. I prayed a lot that we would return home safely. It did seem to take an unusual amount of time to get back to the station. When I could see that we finally had arrived I was astonished and relieved. Finding ourselves out of the taxi, back on the train and finally home, we were simply grateful to have made it there and back again.

Consider the Lilies

I do love flowers. I love my violets and orchids that help me make it through the long winter months after the summer flowers have faded and gone. I love to gaze at and even study the blossoms. There are so many varieties, colors, and such intricacies in the making of a single blossom. What an amazing Creator! Truly, He is omnipotent and omniscient! I like to reflect on the scripture in Matthew that says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

In his fascinating address at a 2002 CES conference Neal A. Maxwell said:

“So as you and I ponder God's creative grandeur, we are also told to consider the beauty of the lilies of the field, remembering all things bear witness of Him. Added reverencing of divine design in the universe and in us, is miniatured in the lilies of the field. The miracle of life on this planet has so many on-going miraculous subtleties."

That pretty much says it all!

Anything!!!!

My 5 year old granddaughter wandered away from my son at their local Mall last Saturday. She was missing for a harrowing half an hour. My son was with his two daughters at the Mall when he bent down to tie his youngest daughter’s shoes. He looked up and the five year old was gone. He immediately started yelling for her. He yelled and yelled telling everyone within earshot that she was missing, how old she was, and how she was dressed. He just kept calling her and yelling. The mall was unusually busy that day but he said it grew silent as he continued to call for her. He related this story to us the following day when she was home, safe, with his family intact. I told my son I completely understood, that a parent would do ANYTHING to save their child. He agreed. It made me think about parenting in general and how as a mother I was passionate about saving my children spiritually. I would do just about anything and I resorted to tactics that probably weren’t respectable :):) , but I was determined to keep my children safe. I was passionate about keeping them temporally and spiritually protected. Our Heavenly Father has many tactics to try bring us safely back home to Him as well. His are all respectable. :)

Show Me

I hope it is not disrespectful in any way but I like to think of God as a “show me” God. When I think of Him that way I understand Him better and understand why we do the things He asks us to do the way He asks us to do them. Take baptism and temple ordinances for instance, they are “outward expressions of inward covenants”. It is that outward expression that “shows” Him we are willing to do what He has asked. It is definitely more binding when we “show” Him rather than simply say or think we will do what He asks us to do. We “show” that we truly accept the terms He has offered us. He is always the one who sets the terms, when we agree and “show” Him, then He blesses us. Another great arrangement!

We Choose Him

There is more than one place in the Old Testament where the Lord says, “You be my people and I’ll be your God.” I love that little “pact” the Lord makes with His faithful servants and I love the way He says it. I heard someone bear his testimony once and he told how he used to think it was somewhat unfair that the Lord would choose only certain people to be “HIS”. “His chosen people”. He shared how it took him awhile but he finally came to the realization that we make the choice. When we choose Him, He then will choose us. It is all our choice. I love that arrangement.

Rameumptom

It might appear that I am just all fun and games thus far (ha!) but truly I do have a serious side. J It may be a little difficult for one to understand this entry if one has never suffered unbalanced hormones. I know! Stick with me here……Sometimes my symptoms are difficulty thinking and my brain can get scrambled. J I know! Not really to the point where at those moments, you may not want to ride in a car with me driving but……well, maybe.

Anyway, I do recover somewhat once the brain becomes unscrambled. Stick with me. You need to know that to understand the rest of the story. I work part time in a department with several women. One day, during my seminary teacher days, just a couple of weeks after having taught the Book of Mormon story (and principles) about the Zoramites, I lost it. I mean my brain became scrambled, not at seminary mind you, at work. I was watching a co-worker sweep out her work area and decided to tease her. I said, “Hey Rosemary, I’ll bet if you put that broom down on the floor and hold your hand out like Harry Potter, you could get the broom to come right back up to you if you say the magic word!” Now, being game for some fun Rosemary dropped the broom to the floor and said, “Ok, what’s the word?” It was at this point that my brain became scrambled. I could not think. True story…I knew Harry Potter had learned a very clever magic word to get the broom to come to him, but I truly could not think what it was. Out of my scrambled brain and to my mouth came the answer, “I think it is something like rameumptom.” There stood my co-worker with the broom on the floor chanting “rameumptom, rameumptom…..”. At that point something did seem just a little off to my mixed up brain, but it was not for a couple of hours that it truly hit me just what I had said. I felt pretty dumb, but Rosemay had no idea. We had just had a little fun. When I got home that night I told my husband that little story and he laughed and then I asked, “What was that magic word Harry Potter used”? “Up”, he said. Don’t get in a car with me.

His Precious Jewels

I am intrigued by the scripture found in the Old Testament (Malachi 3:17) as well as the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord says, “ And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” I love that the Lord refers to His people as jewels. Love that! For me, it adds even more interest when I take note that the breastplate worn by the high priest in Old Testament times was beset with 12 jewels each representing 1 of the 12 tribes of Israel. I’ve looked at some Jewish web sites and although there is some controversy as to which jewels were associated with which tribes, some of the sites do assign certain precious stones to each tribe along with certain attributes assigned to each stone. Nephi says that the Lord esteems all flesh, but that He favors the righteous. Those who make and keep His commandments would be His precious jewels. I love knowing that!

A Pattern in the Mount

There is so much more about patterns. Here is one that I love knowing as well. A great institute teacher taught me this one. In the book of Hebrews (8:5) it says, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” Being the PhD linguist that he is, my teacher taught me that the word temple is derived from the Greek word for template (a guide or pattern), and that it goes even deeper…. The Latin word for temple is templum. Remember what a plum line is? A perfectly straight line leading directly up……..(in this case) to Christ. That would make the temple (templum) the perfect “pattern” leading us straight back to Christ. That is how we get back! It is one of the patterns the Lord has blessed us with. Love it!

A Pattern for Life

One of my daughters loaned me her awesome book (I’ve borrowed it twice now, and given it back only once) called “A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe” authored by Michael S. Schneider. I have to admit, the book is way over my head, but it is fascinating just the same. Very simply put, it details how all things in the universe have patterns or as the author puts it, “mathematical principles made visible in flowers, shells, crystals, plants, and the human body”. Take the human hand for example. The author shows how each individual bone length in the hand when multiplied by 1.618 equals the length of the next larger bone (a pattern). I love knowing things like that. Indeed I do believe in a divine creator, and I believe by faith. It is wonderful, however, to literally see His hand and His plan in a flower, or a shell, or a hand, and to see that He created those things using mathematical patterns. I love knowing that because I love the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants (52:14) that says. “And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things,…..” I love knowing that the Lord loves to lead us and guide us by giving us patterns in all things. He gives us patterns to help us know how to be happy. He gives us patterns to help us be healthy. He gives us patterns to know how to pray to Him, and He gives us patterns to know how to return to Him. I love knowing that!