What Child is This?

In the BYU Choirs' concert, Celebrations of Christmas, Women's Chorus sang a familiar Christmas song: What Child is This? The third verse in particular is very poignant. It goes as follows:

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh

Come peasant, king, to own Him

The King of Kings salvation brings

Let loving hearts enthrone Him

For me, to "bring him incense, gold, and myrrh" is less about bringing Christ gifts, and more about showing our love for him by serving Him, and the way we do that is by serving others. When we love each other and share His light, we "enthrone him" and place Him at our head as our guide and leader. Everyone has the opportunity to gain salvation through Him, and when we share that beautiful, joyous message, we truly are giving Him the greatest gift we possibly can. 

Christmas is the season of giving, and as Christ gave us the ultimate gift of the atonement, it is only natural that we celebrate that gift by giving what we can to others with Christlike love and kindness.

2 Nephi 26:30

...wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment

that all men should have charity, which charity is love.

And except they should have charity they were nothing.

Truth Lay Dead

All that I hear from the devil’s mouth

Is never question what I said

Oh, when I try to find

Where I’ve been lead

And the assault won’t stop

Until the truth lay dead

-The Echo Era

This is half of the chorus from one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, The Echo Era. I love these lyrics a lot, and it's mostly because of how spiritually applicable they are. In 3 Nephi 18:18, it says "ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat."

Satan is bitter and angry, and he will never stop his assault on us, not until "the truth lay dead." He seeks to destroy our happiness and to pervert the simple truths the Lord gives us in the form of scripture and prophetic counsel. We are all trying to find our way, and we can choose whether to follow the Lord or not, and that choice decides what path we are going to allow ourselves to go down. 

Because the assault won't stop, we must defend ourselves. We must protect truth and light, and never, ever let them die in us. 

Ich Liebe Dich, Ti Amo, Je T'aime Cheri, I Love You So

So because of recent developments in certain areas of my life, I found a lovely section of the Topical Guide that makes me very happy: Family, Love within. This section obviously focuses on love between married couples and in the family unit, and I was interested in what the scriptures describe as a healthy, loving relationship. What do the prophets say about "true love?"

In Ecclesiastes 9:9, we find that husband and wife should "live joyfully." Titus 2:4-5 teaches us that women ought to "love their husbands...[and be] keepers at home."
I did notice, however, that when the scriptures talk about love and marriage, it seems to be somewhat of an unequal relationship, where women are nearly always describes as being subservient to their husbands. This never made any sense to me, because I've been taught my whole life that marriage is an equal partnership, a team.

So naturally, I looked deeper and ended up finding small phrases that really change the perspective of all of these seemingly unbalanced relationships. In Titus 2:5, after listing all the things a good wife should be, it is mentioned that all of it is so "that the word of God be not blasphemed." This indicates that it is the wife's job to make sure that in guarding and making her home, she also ensures that her family is aligned with God, and that includes her husband. This idea is further confirmed by D&C 121:41, "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned." After all, "the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and...the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness." (36)

This puts all the other scriptures in a different light. Everything that women and men are counselled to do as husband and wife require the righteousness of the priesthood first and foremost. If the man is unrighteous in his dominion, then the woman has no obligation to follow him because her duty is to the Lord. I love this principle because it affirms the nature of marriage and how husband and wife work as a team. Neither is above the other, and they are one in purpose. It's about accomplishing things together and drawing closer to God, and that is what it should always come down to.

There Is No End to Space

If there's anything cooler than space, I'd sure be hard pressed to find it. Space, astronomy, physics; it's all astounding and I love it because it's such a direct testament of God. This week I had If You Could Hie to Kolob stuck in my head, so I decided to read through Abraham 3, since that's what the hymn is based on.

I love this chapter not only because of how cool it is intellectually, but because it gives me a very strong sense of peace. Oftentimes I get bogged down in the details, wanting to know how everything works, and I get frustrated when it doesn't happen. But this chapter always reminds me of the Lord's power.

"I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all." (Abraham 3:19)

He knows everything, and it's okay that we don't, because He does, and He will reveal to us what we need. It's okay that I have questions and that I don't know how everything works. It's not a sign of weakness in faith, but rather a testament to faith's strength. If we had no questions, there would be no point in faith, and ultimately, faith is what makes us strong.

Listen Enoch is the Best

So for my Comp Lit homework this weekend I had to read Moses 6:26-37. This happens to be one of my favorite sections in the entirety of the Standard Works. Why? Because Enoch is literally the coolest. He's bammin' slammin' spiritualicious, and he was but a wee laddie of ~65 when he became prophet and he STILL managed to create the coolest, most awesome, most spiritual city in the history ever, to the point where the Lord was like, "yep y'all need to come live with me immediately."

Enoch was actually really similar to Moses. They both sucked at the whole talking thing (the poor babs) and no one really liked either them at first. However the difference lies in each of their responses to the Lord promising that He'd help them become great prophets. Moses was very hesitant, but Enoch was more willing to just go with it and trust the Lord. Enoch did voice his concerns, saying,

"Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?" (Moses 6:31)

or in layman's terms,

"Listen, in this cruel world of chicken tenders, I am but a smol chicken nugget, a chicken tenderling, and my speaking is not of the good variety, so pls to explain why you want me to be prophet?????"

The Lord reassured Enoch in these tenderling worries, and promised him that "I will do as seemeth me good." (6:32) Enoch trusted the Lord to help him overcome his weaknesses, and because he did everything he could to be a good servant to the Lord, he ended up being one of the greatest prophets, creating Zion and inspiring countless people to come unto the Lord.

It doesn't matter how weak we are in any aspect of life. We can be deaf, autistic, unathletic, or faint of heart, but not even the worst of these can prevent us from becoming who the Lord wants us to be if we just trust in Him. He loves us and wants us to reach the great heights that are our birthright. This gives me great joy and motivation, for we can become the greatest of chicken tenders even if we, like Enoch or Joseph Smith, begin as the smallest of nuggets.

Monseigneur Bienvenu

President Spencer W. Kimball once said that the most important book other than the Standard Works is Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. This, among many other reasons, has driven me to slowly work my way through the ridiculously long novel. As I've done so, I can concur with President Kimball that there are multitudes of wonderful Christlike wisdom within its pages. There is one in particular that I'd like to discuss.

"Do not ask the name of him who asks you for a bed. It is precisely he whose name is a burden to him who most needs sanctuary."

I love this quote, and it reminds me very much of King Benjamin's admonition in Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

In Les Miserables, Monseigneur Bienvenu -- the Bishop -- is almost certainly an allegorical parallel to Christ, or at the very least, a representative of the goodness of God. He is the only one who will take in Valjean, and he extends him nothing but kindness. Valjean is struck by this and vows to live a virtuous, Christlike life thereafter. I love this because at once we are all both Bienvenu and Valjean. All those who are tired, poor, and yearning for any sort of kindness deserve that from us. To serve the Lord, we must serve his struggling children. On the other hand, however, we are also His struggling children. We are also beaten down by the endless breakers of life, and we sometimes need the helping hand of a Bienvenu; a servant of the Lord who brings good morning. None of us are exempt from either role, and in embracing both, we become greater, kinder, and more loving individuals who further the work of the Lord.

Walk With Me

One of my favorite scriptures in the entire Standard Works is Moses 6:34:

"Behold, my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me."

I was curious as to what "walking" with God actually meant, so I looked through cross-references to see if there were any other verses that clarified things. I eventually came across Hebrews 11:5, which indicated that walking with God is centering your faith in Christ. I really love this because it really showcases the power of our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We are children of the Almighty God, an infinitely powerful divine being, and through Him, we can do anything. When we walk with God, when we align ourselves with His will, we become a part of His awesome force for good, and to me, that is amazing.