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"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; ...and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:28-29).
We testify that as you seek our Savior's love, peace and rest, you will find it. You will be blessed to feel the true spirit of Christmas, the eternal joy that comes only from Him.
--Russell M Nelson, Henry B Eyring and Dallin H Oaks, First Presidency, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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But I testify we are never on our own. Because
Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.
His solitary journey brought great company for
our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the
unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy
Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and
apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as
companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and
the Restoration of His gospel.
With nail-scarred hands, He extends grace to
us, holding on to us and encouraging us, refusing to let us go until we are
safely home in the embrace of Heavenly Parents. – Jeffrey R Holland
The sacred events between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are the story of Hosanna and Hallelujah. Hosanna is our God to save. Hallelujah our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and exaltation. In Hosanna and Hallelujah, we recognize the living Jesus Christ as the heart of Easter and latter-day restoration. When the resurrected Savior appeared to the Nephites, they also shouted with joy: “Hosanna, blessed be the name of the most high God” and they did fall down at the feet of Jesus and did worship him. --Elder Gerrit W Gong
Finding Christ
in the Creation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA2QBvB-dTk The Creation by Annie Henri Nader
CHRIST IN THE
CREATION – Genesis 1
In the majestic words of Genesis, we
read that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. Here, in
the first chapter of the Bible, we learn of how God wanted to teach us of the
beginning, or genesis, of all things. We often read this incredible account of
the creation almost as a scientific textbook, so to speak, yet the story of
creation has far more depth and can symbolize many aspects of life. In
particular, we can find within the
creation of our own story of how the Savior takes us from unorganized matter
and converts us into beings of light in the image of God.
Before beginning the story, it is
critical to realize that when the Lord revealed the story of the creation, it was
meant to be highly symbolic. We should not expect that God meant to simplify
one of the most incredible and complex acts into just a single chapter. Genesis
1 is designed to give us just the outline of what God did. This outline only
gives us a glimpse into the true majesty of the actual process of creation. It
is also important to realize that ancient and modern Jews see many connections
to the Tabernacle and ancient temples. Simply put, the creation has always been
seen as a temple text, and the temple itself was seen as a place of creation.
DAY ONE
Genesis
1:1-2
On the first day, we learn that “God
created the heavens and the earth” and that the “earth was without form, and
void”, or in other words, was empty and without order. Darkness filled the
expanse, yet even in the darkness, we learn that the Spirit of the Lord “moved
upon the waters”, or in the original Hebrew, the Spirit hovered or brooded over
the earth. Here we learn that even amidst the darkness and chaos, the Spirit of
God was present. In our own stories of creation, we each begin our journey in a
symbolic state of darkness or chaos, yet the presence of the Lord is there from
the beginning, watching over His creation. If we allow the Spirit of the Lord
to move upon us, we will receive light!
Genesis
1:3
With darkness covering the earth,
the Lord speaks: “Let there be light!” With simply the word of the Savior,
light penetrates the darkness and fills the expanse of His creation. Note that
this light is not from the sun, moon, or stars! In fact, the lights in the
firmament are not created until day four. This source of light stands apart
from the later-created lights. During His mortal ministry, the Savior taught:
“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).
In our own journey, once we have been moved upon by the Spirit of the
Lord, we receive light from the word of God. As we study the Word, we are
filled with light just as on the first day of creation.
Genesis
1:4
At the end of the first day, the Lord sees the light and proclaims “that
it was good”. Even with so little completed in the creation, the Savior sees
the good. For each additional day of creation, the Savior makes a similar
statement, showing that He sees the progress even in the midst of His
incomplete creation.
DAY TWO
On the second day, the Lord divided
the waters above the firmament of heaven from the waters on the land, creating
the clouds above and the oceans below. The Hebrew word used here for “divide”
or “separate” is used many times later in the Bible, particularly in a temple
context when speaking of separating the unholy from the holy—for example: the
veil of the Tabernacle that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies,
the separation of the priests from the people, and even separating Israel from
the rest of the world. This second day of creation can suggest that when we
receive the light of Christ, we are then expected to be set apart and separated
from the world. We are to live a higher—and holier—life as we follow the
Savior.
DAY
THREE
On the third day of creation, the
Lord gathered the waters of the earth together to form seas and oceans, and dry
land, hills, and mountains. With the land separated from the water, the Lord
then brings forth grasses, fruit trees, and all forms of vegetation to give
beauty to the land. Keep in mind that the sun has still not yet been created,
again suggesting that this light is the light of Christ that gives life to all.
The plants are commanded to yield fruit so that their seed can fill the earth.
The creation of life on the third day, in the fields of wheat, trees, flowers,
and vegetation, may connect to the fact that, likewise, it was on the third day
that the Savior rose from the dead, bringing true life to all the earth!
DAY
FOUR
On the fourth day, the Lord created
the lights in the sky, including the sun, moon, and stars. This was not only to
give daily light unto the world but also “for signs, and for seasons, and for
days, and years”. (Genesis 1:14) Unlike our modern calendar, which uses the
rotation of the earth around the sun to set the months, the Jewish calendar was
based on the cycles of the moon. The dates for each of the Jewish Feasts or
seasons were determined by this lunar cycle. For example, the first of the
feasts, Passover, occurs on the first full moon of the year. The last of the
feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, occurs on the seventh full moon of
the year. Thus, ancient Israel gathering to the temple to worship during these
feasts was directly connected to the creation of the moon and the sun.
During His mortal ministry, the
Savior taught of Himself, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), yet Jesus
also taught during the Sermon on the Mount that “[We] are the light of the
world” (Matthew 5:15). How is it that if the Savior is the light, we also can
be the light?
Perhaps these two seemingly contradictory statements can best be
understood if we compare this to the light of the sun and moon. The sun is the
ultimate source of all light. Its rays of light crate growth and life in all
things. The moon, however, does not actually create its own light but instead
reflects the light of the sun to the earth. So, too, it can be in our own
lives. We are never the ultimate source of light. We only reflect the light of
the Savior to others.
It is interesting that during a lunar eclipse, the moon becomes darkened,
no longer reflecting the light of the sun. Why is this? Because the earth has
come between the sun and the moon, blocking the light. Similarly, as we allow
the cares of the world to come between us and the Son of God, the ultimate
source of true light, we, too, lose the ability to reflect His light to others.
Just as these lights, the sun, moon, and stars, were “to separate the
light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:18 NLT), as Christians, we also should live
lives that set us apart from the world, bringing light to those in darkness.
DAY
FIVE
On the fifty day of creation, the Lord created the living creatures of
the seas and the birds of the air. Then on the sixth day, the beasts of the
land were created, including sheep, goats, horses, insects, and all creeping
things. The Lord commands these beasts to “be fruitful, and multiply” (Genesis
1:22).
DAY SIX
Finally, on the last part of the sixth day, the Lord “created mankind in
His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female” (Genesis
1:27 NIV). Here the culmination of the Lord’s creation, the very last act of
creation, is male and female, in the image of God. “And God said unto them, be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28). The act of creating all
living creatures could relate to our own journey of not only having families
and bringing forth children but also in bringing forth “fruits” of repentance,
service, love, devotion, and kindness towards others. These fruits should not
only nourish and bring life to ourselves and our families but to all the world.
Throughout the entire creation story, each day the Lord stated that His
creation “was good,” but with the creation of humans, the Lord now states that
creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). In our own lives, as we allow the
Savior to form us into a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), the Savior always
sees the good in us. If we are progressing, even if we are not complete, the
Lord sees the good in our life. Once our creation story is complete, and we are
seen as “very good,” we can then be seen in the image of God.
DAY
SEVEN
After seeing His marvelous creation completed, the Lord rested on the
seventh day.
The story of the creation is a story of putting things in order. We are
each symbolically in a state of darkness and chaos as we first come unto
Christ. As we allow His Spirit to move upon us, we receive light. The Lord then
commands us to be separated from the world and follow Him, just as the waters
were separated. As we continue in Christ, we are to bring forth fruits of
repentance, multiplying and replenishing the earth with life, not just life in
ourselves but in others.
As we culminate our journey back to God, we will find that we can become
like our Savior through His atonement. Once we have completed our own story of
creation, with the Savior there every step of the way, the Lord God will rest
from His labors, knowing that His work and glory is complete—complete because
we are now created after His own image, even in the image of our Savior and
Redeemer!
At this sacred Christmas season, we testify that our loving Heavenly Father “so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
“How is it that a human being can love a child so deeply that you
willingly give up a major portion of your freedom for it? How can mortal love
be so strong that you voluntarily subject yourself to responsibility,
vulnerability, anxiety, and heartache and just keep coming back for more of the
same? What kind of mortal love can make you feel, once you have a child, that
your life is never, ever your own again?
“Can you hear in this language [why for mothers] we use words
like bear and borne, carry and lift,
labor and deliver?
“This kind of resolute love ‘suffereth long, and is kind, … seeketh not
her own, … but … beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things.”
--Elder Jeffrey R Holland
by Lloyd
Newell [19 Jan 2020]
How does a group of individuals, all with different backgrounds and
different perspectives on life, become a united community? Well-known author
and newspaper columnist David Brooks believes that the answer lies in how we
see each other. “That’s what a community is,” he says, “a bunch of people
looking after each other. A bunch of people seeing each other, and seeing each
other deeply. Taking the time to really enter into relationships with each
other and to depend upon one another. … That’s the glue that’s holding us
together” (see “BYU Forum: The Lies of Meritocracy,” by Kaylee Esplin, Brigham
Young University News, Oct. 22, 2019, news.byu.edu/intellect/byu-forum-the-lies-of-meritocracy ).
Can that really happen? Brooks believes it can and it
does — when great teachers see deeply into their students, when loving spouses
see deeply into each other. This kind of seeing goes beyond stereotypes and
outward appearances, building bridges of understanding.
The aspen tree is an excellent metaphor for the unity and
strength that can come from community. Above the ground, each aspen may appear
solitary and strong in its beauty and majesty. Yet if we could see deeply,
below the ground, we would find that each tree is connected with its neighbors
through an enormous root system. An aspen gets its strength from its connection
with the aspens that surround it. In a sense, the entire aspen forest is really
one plant — one of the largest living organisms in the world. A single grove in
central Utah, called Pando or “the trembling giant,” spans 106 acres, weighs an
estimated 13 million pounds and consists of over 40,000 trees, all with the
same genetic makeup (see “Pando (I Spread),” United States Department of Agriculture, fs.usda.gov).
If we open our eyes to see and our hearts to understand,
we can build a community in a similar way. After all, we all share, if not the
same DNA, then a common humanity. We all want happiness and peace; we all want
to make a difference. Because we’re more alike in important ways than we are
different, we already have it in us to see and know each other deeply, to look
after each other, to build a strong community.
None of us is truly solitary, alone in this
world. We are more like aspen trees. If we see and know each other deeply, we
will come to understand that we all share common roots. We all need each other.
That’s where we get our strength. That’s what a community is.
Goodbye Mr Chips by Leslie Bricusse
In the morning of my life I shall look to the sunrise.
At a moment in my life when the world is new.
And the blessing I shall ask is that God will grant me,
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through.
(Chorus)
And to fill the world with love
And to fill the world with love
And to fill the world with love my whole life through
In the noontime of my life I shall look to the sunshine,
At a moment in my life when the sky is blue.
And the blessing I shall ask shall remain unchanging.
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through
(Chorus)
In the evening of my life I shall look to the sunset,
At a moment in my life when the night is due.
And the question I shall ask only God can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?
(Chorus)
First and last words have always intrigued me. Their positioning adds a
dimension of importance. The first and last words of Jesus in the Gospel of
John are questions—very relevant questions for us all, very simple questions,
which is wonderful to me. Let’s look at Jesus’s first three words. John the
Baptist was standing with John the Beloved and Andrew by the Jordan River just
north of the Dead Sea when Jesus walked by, drawing from the Baptist the words,
“Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they
followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?” (John 1:36–38; emphasis added).
There is an essential daily question Jesus asks all of
us! “Michael,” He says to me, “what seek ye? What do you desire of life?” At
different points on my earthly climb, I might have answered that in various
ways. How would you answer it? What are
you seeking—really, truly, deeply seeking? Andrew, John, and John the Baptist
don’t quite know how to answer that question on the deeper level, but they want
to know where to find Him, so they ask Him where He dwells. This brings from
Jesus what I call “the Great Invitation”—three simple words: “Come and see” (John 1:39). These words are echoed later by Philip to
Nathanael, “Come and see” (John 1:46); by the woman at the well, “Come, see a man, which
told me all things that ever I did” (John 4:29); and even by Pilate at the trial of Jesus: “Behold
the man! . . . Behold your King!” (John 19:5, 14).
What is it that we truly seek in life? Notice also that the word seek suggests effort
and commitment. I remember that when I or the children lost something in the
house and could not find it, we always turned to Laurie, my wife and their
mother. She would inevitably find the missing item fairly quickly, then add in
a humorous but emphatic tone: “Move something!” We were hoping things would
just turn up. I can hear the Lord occasionally say to me, when I am looking and
hoping for some soul-blessing gift that doesn’t come right away: “Move
something!”
Lucifer usually approaches us with a similar question:
“What do you want?” But he can only offer what money or power can obtain. He
tried this approach on Jesus during His preparation in the wilderness. I can’t
help but compare the implied efforts of the word seek with
the effortlessness of the word want.
Do we seek truth? The Spirit? Do we seek comforts? Pleasure? Friendships? I
think most of us would say to Jesus, “Lord, I just long to be happy! I just
desire peace! I need love! I want to feel good about myself.” To these
essential desires, Christ responds, “Well, if you want joy, peace, love,
serenity, truth, or the Spirit, come and see. Follow me and you shall have all
you seek.”
I have taken many long walks with Jesus’s first three
words revolving through my mind. Many people I meet are in doubt about what
they really hope for in life; or they want certain things but may not realize
the need to seek them or how to do it; or cannot perceive that what they are
currently seeking will not give them what they really desire. I remember a
little book I used to read to my children called The
Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. It was a simple and delightful
but thought-provoking book about a boy who spent his life trying to figure out
what he really needed until, in old age, he was happy to just rest. Well,
“rest” is also something the Savior promised to those who follow Him: “Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
In section 7 of the Doctrine and Covenants, Jesus asked, “John, my
beloved, what desirest thou?” (Doctrine and Covenants 7:1). In the Book of Mormon, Jesus asked
each of His twelve disciples “one by one” as He was preparing to return to His
Father, “What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?” (3 Nephi 28:1). I am sometimes tempted to ask, “Lord, isn’t
this backward? What do you want me to
do for you?” But He is the Giving
God and gently holds to His question: “No, Michael, what can I do for you? What is it that ye
desire of me?”
In high school, for reasons I could not have explained
then, I was profoundly moved by the experience and words of Henry David
Thoreau, who built a small cabin by Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts.
He, too, was seeking, and concluded: “I wished to live life deliberately, to
front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it
had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did
not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear. . . . For most
men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it.” The first
three words Jesus spoke in the Gospel of John are designed to move us to
thought, so we will not have a “strange uncertainty” about life and what we
hope to gain from it. To be totally honest, at this point and situation in my
life, since my wife, Laurie, passed nine years ago, I tell my Savior: “I seek
Laurie. Can you give her back to me, Lord? As lovely as my mind remembers her?”
And even in this, He replies, “Come and see.”
I hesitate to suggest a particular answer to any of Jesus’s questions,
but He does give us more than a hint about at least one way we may answer those
initial three simple words. We do know what He sought—how He would have
answered His own question. “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). That was the essence of His life: “For I do always
those things that please him” (John 8:29). This would carry through to the last bitter cup He
was asked to drink when, in Gethsemane, He prayed, “O my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou
wilt” (Matthew 26:39).
“What seek ye?” Just recently, my five-year-old
granddaughter Abigail taught me a beautifully simple and poignant lesson about
answering this question. It was Christmas Eve. Abigail and her sister had
prepared a nativity for the family. She assigned us all our parts: shepherds,
wise men, the holy family. Which part do you think she wanted to play? Isn’t it
usually Mary? Not this time. She wanted to be Jesus! There would be no doll in
this nativity, but an actual child, innocent as was the infant she wanted to
emulate. She wrapped herself up in a blanket for “swaddling clothes,” curled up
as small as she could on a cushion, and was as contented as a child could be.
She lay there very still, because, of course, the baby Jesus would not cry—but
I did, and I have often wept again when the memory returns. “What seek ye?” I
believe that somewhere in the many ways we answer that question throughout our
lives is a constant ardent desire to “be Jesus,” not to just be like Him, to soak ourselves
so fully in His life, thoughts, teachings, and attributes that we—as He invited
us to do during His ministry—become one with Him as He is with the Father.
For me, life is not a test, but a journey toward a certain destination—so
I’ll conclude these thoughts on this first, so-needful question of our Savior
with an experience by Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian writer of War and Peace. He spent
most of his life trying to answer Jesus’s question and created memorable characters
in his books who also try to answer it. At one point in his life, he was in
such despair about the purpose of living that suicide seemed a desirable
option. He wrote A Confession, a story of his
search for meaning, which included the following experience:
“What happened to me was something like this: I was put into a boat (I
do not remember when) and pushed off from an unknown shore, shown the direction
of the opposite shore, had oars put into my unpracticed hands, and was left
alone. I rowed as best I could and moved forward; but the further I advanced
toward the middle of the stream the more rapid grew the current bearing me away
from my goal and the more frequently did I encounter others, like myself, borne
away by the stream. There were a few rowers who continued to row, there were
others who had abandoned their oars; there were large boats and immense vessels
full of people. Some struggled against the current, others yielded to it. And
the further I went the more, seeing the progress down the current of all those
who were adrift, I forgot the direction given me. In the very center of the
stream, mid the crowd of boats and vessels which were being borne downstream, I
quite lost my direction and abandoned my oars. Around me on all sides, with
mirth and rejoicing, people with sails and oars were borne down the stream,
assuring me and each other that no other direction was possible. And I believed
them and floated with them. And I was carried far; so far that I heard the roar
of the rapids in which I must be shattered, and I saw boats shattered in them.
And I recollected myself. I was long unable to understand what had happened to
me. I saw before me nothing but destruction, toward which I was rushing and
which I feared. I saw no safety anywhere and did not know what to do; but
looking back, I perceived innumerable boats which unceasingly and strenuously
pushed across the stream, and I remembered the shore, the oars, and the
direction, and began to pull back upwards against the stream and toward the
shore.
That shore was God; that direction was tradition; the oars were the
freedom given me to pull for the shore and unite with God. And so the force of
life was renewed in me and I again began to live. . . . I returned to the
belief in that Will which produced me and desires something of me. I returned
to the belief that the chief and only aim of my life is to be better, i.e. to
live in accord with that Will.”
So let us “come and see.” Let us “behold the man!” For
in the life of this beautiful man we worship, and in those things He asks us,
we will eventually find all we seek.
Now, with the advantage that nearly 60 years give me
since I was a newly believing 14-year-old, I declare some things I now know. I
know that God is at all times and in all ways and in all circumstances our
loving, forgiving Father in Heaven. I know Jesus was His only perfect child,
whose life was given lovingly by the will of both the Father and the Son for
the redemption of all the rest of us who are not perfect. I know He rose from
that death to live again, and because He did, you and I will also. I know that
Joseph Smith, who acknowledged that he wasn’t perfect, was nevertheless
the chosen instrument in God’s hand to restore the everlasting gospel to the
earth. I also know that in doing so—particularly through
translating the Book of Mormon—he has taught me more of God’s love, of Christ’s
divinity, and of priesthood power than any other prophet of whom I have ever
read, known, or heard in a lifetime of seeking. I know that President
Thomas S. Monson, who moves devotedly and buoyantly toward the 50th
anniversary of his ordination as an Apostle, is the rightful successor to that
prophetic mantle today. We have seen that mantle upon him again in this conference.
I know that 14 other men whom you sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators
sustain him with their hands, their hearts, and their own apostolic keys.
