A Place of Refuge

On Thursday as I was going into work, I happened to glance across the street toward the Temple and this was the image that I saw.  I was deeply impressed by the lighting of the rising sun upon the House of the Lord.  Scenes like this one are one of the few advantages to being awake by 5:30 am and at work by 7:00 am.

In sharing this picture with my sister Lynley, I told her that I wished I had been able to get a picture without the street light and the cars and everything else in it, but all I had time to do was snap a quick shot in hopes that it would do some justice to the beauty of the moment.  Lynley responded that she liked the street light and the cars because the picture "shows the contrast between the busy city and the light and peace of the temple."  I hadn't thought of it that way, but she was exactly right.

Sometimes we want the perfect photo, the one that has all beauty and no busyness; all Temple and no city traffic.  And indeed, that is what we hope for in eternity.  We yearn for that prophesied day wherein, we shall say, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:3-4).  This is a wonderful hope, and something that we ought to look forward to.

But even as we hope for that prophesied of day, we must also recognize that it is not the world that we live in today.  The world that we live in today includes streetlights, cars, busy schedules, disappointments, tears, and even death.  But it is in this reality that the Temple shines the brightest and holds the greatest meaning in our present mortal lives.  The Temple takes on its greatest value not in a vacuum of holiness, but standing as a refuge and a strength in the midst of a world of sin and despair.  Isaiah prophesied of these things, stating, "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense.  And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from the storm and from rain" (Isaiah 4:5-6).  It is in this imperfect, mortal setting that I feel my greatest gratitude for the House of the Lord.

Brett

Blessed Honored Pioneers

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  Growing up, I remember spending Pioneer Day with of the Haycocks up at my Nana and Papa's house.  As a boy, I was excited to see my cousins and I was always excited for the food that inevitably accompanied such a meeting.  I remember it being a day that my Papa Haycock in particular just loved.  As I've gotten older, I've come to understand why my Papa Haycock loved that day so much.  He loved it because of what it represented and the people that we honored upon that day.

One of the wonderful things that the Church has done in Church History is to compile the Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database which provides lists of people in the various pioneer companies, as well as transcripts of diaries, letters, and autobiographies that give us information about those various pioneer companies.  Family Search has taken advantage of this very cool database, and created an application that links our family trees with the people listed in the database.  This application allows us to learn which of our ancestors were a part of pioneer trek, and provides information about what companies they travelled in, who they travelled with, and what diaries, letters, etc. mentioned those ancestors.

Anyhow, if you are looking for something fun to do this week, try these websites out and see what you can learn about your ancestors.  Sorry for the short entry.

Brett

To the Souls of All Those Who Partake

With a new calling that uses up more time on Sundays, my entries will probably be a lot shorter these days.

Last week in Elder's Quorum, as a part of the lesson, we read through the Sacrament prayers and were asked to talk about them and what they mean.  A phrase stood out to me that I haven't payed much attention to before.  We pray that the Father will "bless and sanctify this bread [or water] to the souls of all those who partake [or drink] of it."  (D&C 20:77, 79).  I began to ask myself, what does it mean to sanctify those emblems "to the soul".  Clearly we are blessing the emblems that those who partake of them may be renewed in a covenantal way.  But I wonder if there is more there than I have understood.

The word sanctify comes from the Latin "sanctifico," meaning "to make holy."  The Hebrew word that is translated as sanctify is "qadash," meaning "to consecrate."  The Greek "hagiazó" combines the meaning of the Latin and Hebrew terms.  While I really appreciate the definition "to make holy," holiness can be a vague concept to understand.  And so I love the definition of consecration here.  We pray that the Father will "consecrate" the bread or the water "to the souls of all those who partake [or drink] of it."  In other words, we ask Him to set those emblems apart for a special purpose, and that purpose being for the benefit of our souls.

But even as we ask the Father to consecrate the bread and water to our souls, we ought to simultaneously pray that we might, through the grace and mercy of His son, consecrate our own souls  to Him.  As we covenant to take the name of His Son upon us, to always remember Him, and to keep the commandments which He has given us, we consecrate ourselves to the building of His Kingdom. We consecrate our lives to being worthy to bear the name of the Son of God, the only "name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God" (2 Ne 31:21).  Those emblems blessed to our souls, can thereby begin to serve as reminders that, having taken upon us the name of the Son, we ought not to take that name in vain.

These are things that I readily admit I have not spent as much time considering and pondering as I ought to have done.  But today my hope is that those emblems will truly be blessed and sanctified to my soul, not only today but throughout the rest of this week.

Brett

Loving Where You Are

El Paso, Texas

Happy fourth of July to everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends!

Last week my sister Stephanie made a comment to me that has stuck with me.  She reminded me of a saying that "Everywhere you go is someone's hometown, so be kind."  The reason this impressed me is that Stephanie lives this saying so well.  Throughout the last 20 years, Stephanie has lived in Indiana, Pennsylvania (that is actually the city's name); Taylorsville, Murray, West Jordan (all in Utah); for a few weeks in London, England; Peachtree City, Georgia; Montgomery, Alabama; and now El Paso, Texas.

Other than London, I'm sure that none of these locations were foremost on Steph's list of places to live in at some point during her life.  Indiana, PA, where Steph did her doctoral work, was a small college town far away from home, and the first couple of years she lived there without a car.  Without family around her, she had to rely on the members of her small branch and her friends and colleagues in graduate school.  I'm pretty sure there were people murdered in or near the apartment complex that she lived in in Taylorsville.  Murray and West Jordan were much nicer, but probably still had their share of problems.  Peachtree City was a beautiful little city filled with golf carts, but no family other than her husband John.  Similarly, Montgomery, Alabama was far away from home, has terrible humidity, and its fair share of ghetto away from the Air Force Base.  And El Paso is a desert that I know most Texans refuse to claim.

In short, all of these places have had their challenges and downsides.  But one of the things that I love about my sister is that she finds people and places of beauty wherever she goes.  In Pennsylvania, she found lifelong friends and spots that she couldn't wait to share with her family when we visited.  In Taylorsville, she got involved in classes and other things that brought some joy into otherwise difficult circumstances.  In Murray and West Jordan, she kept going, kept dating, kept hoping for blessing, and kept active in the Church and the rest of life until she found her good husband.  And then she stayed patient through the challenges of a long distance relationship, when it may have seemed easier to give up at times.  When I visited her and her husband in Georgia, she showed me around her little city with the same enthusiasm with which she is going to show me London next year.  Whether it was the markets or the lake or the wooded areas and beautiful homes around the lake, she loved it and she treated it as a wonderful place that, for that moment, was her home.  Similarly in both Alabama and Texas, she has found little places of beauty where she can go hiking or get involved to make the world around her a better place.

So often in our lives, "the course of human events" brings us to places and moments that we may not entirely love.  We may find ourselves living in a ghetto apartment on Redwood Road in Salt Lake City.  Or, perhaps we may be living in the most beautiful city we've ever seen, but the surrounding events of our lives leave us feeling lost and alone and hoping for better and more beautiful days.  In "all these things" (D&C 122:7) we will find and see whatever we look for.  We can find despair in the most blessed of circumstances if that is what we are looking for.  Or, we can find beauty in the most destitute of circumstances if we will look for it.  So much depends upon the decision that we make within our hearts as to what we will see.  I hope that I will do a better job of following my sister's example, because no matter where she has been, she has found beauty and blessings.  May we all do likewise.

Brett