Revelation in my Life

When I contemplate my patriarchal blessing, I look upon it as a valued and integral part of who I am. It is a private comfort for times of trial, a guide in times of choice, and a shout of victory in times of triumph. I carry it with me in my scriptures, and turn to it just as often as the standard works when searching for an answer. Sometimes, if the day has been long, and I can’t gather energy enough to read verses written in intricate and archaic language, I pull out my blessing and peruse its contents as my daily enlightenment. There are lines that I practically have memorized, and others that I rediscover each time I read it. Each word is perfectly chosen to strike my heart with joy and dedication to the Lord. 

Although the Doctrine and Covenants comes from the same divine source as my blessing, it does not have the same personal significance to me. The revelations laid out in the Doctrine and Covenants are given to specific people, but contain direction to the church in all times and places. To me, these revelations are important direction for my life, but are not as personally motivating. Some of the revelations were originally personal blessing to individuals, but now they are public, church-wide material that can benefit all saints. Some commands and blessings are time sensitive, and more akin to patriarchal blessings. These parts can show me how to apply my blessing, but do not offer any direct advice. Other parts lay out the doctrine or teachings of the gospel. I often rely on these verses to guide my daily actions.

My patriarchal blessing is very important to me. I rely on it for guidance and consider it a road map to my entire life. Its contents are often too general for a situation though, so I use the Doctrine and Covenants and other scriptures to supplement my decision making. Both are revelations from God, and as such are just and true. The teachings contained both in canonized scripture and my personal blessing can help me choose a path that leads to exaltation. As I study them both, I receive further inspiration from heaven that guides my actions. If I balance my reliance on several types of revelation, I will thrive and bring God’s glory into my life. Personal revelation and public scripture are formative articles in my life, but neither is a complete guide and instruction for me. Together, the two can help me in any struggle I may face in life.

New Blog

I don't want to end this blog. It will still be a blog about my life in general and fun stuffs. However, I have a new blog now that's a bit more serious. I'll not post to it all the time, but they will possibly be more interesting and will definitely be interesting to write. Here's the link. To quote the quote wall, it's a cool blog about being awesome.

http://make-a-stand.blogspot.com/

This semester I have learned many things that have shifted my perspective on life. My Book of Revelation class has been more mind opening and perspective shifting than any other single force in my life. It tells of how dark, low, and filthy the world will become. Of how hard it will be to avoid the pitfalls that abound. Of how only those who remain faithful to the very end will survive the terror, and the glory that will be theirs. Reading section 76 of the D&C emphasized this whole idea. It illustrates with vivid detail the end result of the story played out in Revelation.

Section 76 is a major paradigm shift. So much is implied and so much is explained, it is hard to accept that all this can be real. After The Great Tribulation explained in Revelation, we will be rewarded beyond all we can believe. I believed that the Telestial Kingdom was just like the temporal earth. I was shocked to realize that the glory of even the Telestial Kingdom will be more than I know now.  Here the Holy Spirit will dwell throughout eternity. They receive the administering of angels and will be heirs of salvation. One direct quote is that “the glory of the Telestial… surpasses all understanding.” If that is the inheritance of “they who are thrust down to hell,” than what am I worthy of? What are my non-member friends worthy of?

Next, comes the Terrestrial Kingdom. Those who dwell eternally there will receive the glory of Christ. They will be denied His fullness, but those who “died without law” and “honorable men of the earth” will be with Jesus. I have family who left the church. They were moral and upright people, but they were no longer active members. Although I am not certain, since I don’t know how the judgment works, I would guess that this is where they will spend eternity. They will be in the presence of Christ, the Son, but not in the Father’s kingdom. It is so wonderful to know that good people, like some of my family and most of my friends, will receive a reward that is more than mortal minds can comprehend.

The final vision is of the Celestial Kingdom. I desperately want to be with Heavenly Father, but this is even more than that. D&C 76 describes those who dwell in the Celestial Kingdom as “after the order of Enoch… [who] shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever. [They are] come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all.” After reading this I turned to my reading for Revelation. In the final chapter, John states “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:” Without doubt, the Celestial Kingdom is incomprehensibly more amazing than I can possibly imagine or describe.

The idea of the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Kingdoms is something so well known to me, that I never expected to experience so much shock and insight from reading section 79. For the early saints it was a more radical shift, but even for me this was a whole new idea. I know that God wants me to come home. “Home” is so wonderful, so amazing, so truly awesome, that I will always be grateful for the simple fact that God is trying to help me come home.

Tree Hugging, the Lord's Way

The Lord created our world. It is His hand that gave us all that is on it. As human beings, especially now, we often debate the proper way to care for the earth. It is our responsibility, and we generally recognize that. However, I think that this section, if read properly, can guide members in how to conduct their treatment of the environment.
Actually, before He gives instruction on how to treat the earth, God dictated other commandments. They are oft repeated requests: love others, keep the sabbath day holy, keep your eye single to His glory. All these are precursor commands. Before we are given any sort of authority over the earth, we must be faithful children of our Father. He has given us this land, and if we follow Him, we will be more inclined to treat it right and more worthy of the gift.
Once we have qualified to use the earth, we are told that it has been given to us for two purposes: "to strengthen the body and enliven the soul." Basically, if we love the Lord, we can use the earth in whatever way it improves our lives. Limitations are set by the seasons. All the fullness of the earth is ours, and we are to use it.
We are given the direct command to not use the earth to excess or by extortion. As in so many other areas, our use of the earth should be in moderation. If we don't use it at all, than we aren't improving the earth or our situation on it. God wants us to progress, so that's a problem. At the other end, if we use the earth wantonly without a thought about caring for it, we will spoil our gift. Though there is enough and to spare, we show our Father that we are responsible stewards by being careful with what we have.
I'm from the Pacific Northwest. The native land of tree huggers. This direction helps me see where I fit in with them and with the water wasters of the rest of the country.

Shadows in the Paint

I had wanted to revisit the Types and Shadows exhibit, but as my daily life continued to build towards finals into one round of non-stop studying or brainless slacking, the opportunity continued to evade me. I was thrilled to find out that not only was I required to go, our class was going to be given a tour.

The first thing I realized is that not all the displays are great. At least not for everyone. The girl with the bread really wasn’t that impressive in my mind. After having it explained, I saw the idea behind it, but it never connected. But then moving onto the beautiful picture with the glass of water, I kept getting the feeling that there was more than I could see. The glass was so clear and so close to reach. But at the same time, it was so far away. The woman in the background was experiencing exactly what I was feeling. Her face looked like she wanted the glass so desperately, but just couldn’t get to it.

The other picture I really liked was the Prodigal Son painting of the table. I spent a good 10 to 15 minutes standing there and ignoring everything, trying to understand the picture. I still don’t get it all, but I got the most general, overall idea of it. It fascinated me how, if I removed the middle panel, the other two would fit together. To me it seemed to say that I will be shaped by all my experiences, good and bad. My life will be changed by all my actions. But I don’t need to experience all the bad things to have a complete life. It was a beautiful illustration of how life is changed by experience. I am planning some time during break, or just before Christmas to go back just for that painting. It really deserves more attention than I was able to give it.

Overall, I thought the exhibit was beautifully put together. Although I didn’t connect with all the images at first, or even second view, I can see how much deeper the meaning of each one goes. I am going to spend time looking at the art when there is no one talking to me. Despite how insightful and enjoyable the tour was, I also wanted some time to just allow the feelings to resonate with me. The spirit was easily felt when I got lost in the feelings of the art.

The Things You Learn from Accounting 200

I was reading some articles for today's accounting assignment, and I am really enjoying it. Today's articles are very interesting, especially from a technological standpoint. One is about how wireless networks benefit a company, another is about supercomputers helping predict sales. The end of that second article greatly amused me.

Marketers at one retailer use the technology to find relationships between products purchased by a customer in a single shopping trip. "They found that if someone in a Midwestern city buys disposable diapers at 5 p.m., the most common thing he'll buy next is a six-pack of beer," says Thomas Blishok, an NCR vice president. So to boost snack sales, the store put a kiosk of chips near the diaper aisle. "Sales of snacks in that time period went up 17%."


So, I found this today. I'd forgotten about it. I just took the second exam (93!!!!) and so find this extra funny. Enjoy.

Parallel Lines

As I sit here, contemplating the similarities in the Old Testament and early LDS exoduses, I am finding it hard to put into words. Although I'm not an artistic person, sometimes I am very visual. And this is just one of those times that I need a picture to help me. Like we discussed about the Types and Shadows exhibit, images can convey more than words ever could. Since the parallels between the situations fascinate me, I am going to show you some amazing Photoshop work that helps me make sense of what was going on.

 Yeah, I sorta like Photoshop. The map starts at the top in bondage. This can also show spiritual bondage to Satan, not just physical bondage to mortal enemies. Then the followers of God wandered in the wilderness. They come to the mountain of the Lord, which is either an actual mountain (Sinai) or the temple in Kirtland. The best escape from spiritual bondage is found in the temple. This is followed by more wilderness wandering. It ends finally in the Promised Land, or Deseret/Utah. These lands are both mountainous regions. In them rests both living water and dead, salty water. We must personally come to Celestial safety and our eternal promised land. Right now, I think I'm in a wandering stage. Probably the one just before the mountain of the Lord, since I haven't been endowed in the temple yet. It's interesting how much time is spent in wandering because much of life really is just small progress from one stage to the next. Basically wandering. As long as I wander in the correct direction, I know I will eventually reach my eternal promised land.