Your Book of Eternal Possibilities

"A patriarchal blessing is a revelation to the recipient, even a white line down the middle of the road, to protect, inspire, and motivate activity and righteousness. A patriarchal blessing literally contains chapters from your book of eternal possibilities. I say eternal, for just as life is eternal, so is a patriarchal blessing. What may not come to fulfillment in this life may occur in the next. We do not govern God's timetable. 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.' . . .

"Your patriarchal blessing is yours and yours alone. It may be brief or lengthy, simple or profound. Length and language do not a patriarchal blessing make. It is the Spirit that conveys the true meaning. Your blessing is not to be folded neatly and tucked away. It is not to be framed or published. Rather, it is to be read. It is to be loved. It is to be followed. Your patriarchal blessing will see you through the darkest night. It will guide you through life's dangers. . . . Your patriarchal blessing is to you a personal Liahona to chart your course and guide your way."

(Thomas S. Monson, "Your Patriarchal Blessing: A Liahona of Light," Ensign, Nov. 1986, 66)

O, Remember, Remember

The latest offering from Mormon Messages:

What People Remember

"The [people whose] lives you touch may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

(David B. Haight, Ensign, Nov. 1976)

Sufficiently Remembering

Alma 5:6: "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And more over, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?"

In the Book of Mormon there are 240 references to 'remembering'. In all the things we are to remember, the most important to remember is the Lord and what He has done for us through His matchless atonement. Fleeting thoughts are no good however, we are to 'sufficiently retain in remembrance'. Our remembering must lead us to love the Lord more and to purify ourselves in Him, if it is to be sufficient.

President Kimball said, "Those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives". Seems like a good place to start.

What would you record today if you could?

He sees our Successes!

"God not only forgives our failures; he sees successes where no one else does, not even ourselves. Only God can give us credit for angry words we did not speak; temptations we resisted, patience, and gentleness little noticed and long forgotten by those around us. Such good deeds are never wasted and not forgotten, because God gives them a measure of eternity."

-Rabbi Harold Kushner-

It is so easy to be self-critical and unfortunately, all too often, we have a perfect memory when it comes to our shortcomings and mistakes, even replaying them over over again in our minds. It is good to know that Heavenly Father has a perfect memory of our efforts to improve and the untold desires of our hearts too. Thank goodness He loves us perfectly and sees who we really are!

Casting Our Minds Back

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.”

(D&C 6:22)

One of the things I’ve always believed is that reason and emotion will only carry us so far, but never far enough – faith is what carries us forward. One of the ways which my faith has been built the most is by ‘remembering’ what the Lord has told me, thus instilling confidence. As with Oliver Cowdrey, who was told by the Lord to ‘cast his mind back’, remembering is the beginning place to go when you begin to feel doubt. Cast your mind back to when you felt peace, and there you will find your answer waiting to be re-discovered.

As with any principle that has great power in it, Satan knows how to use this one against us. He will want us to come and dwell on all the bad times. He’ll want us to think about them and remember them, so that we speak and act out of those instead of the good memories. I used to have a bad habit of only being diligent in my journal writing when I was having a hard time with something. Now when I look back over some of these past entries I regret not recording the positive experiences. Now I am being more diligent in writing down my daily blessings, so that when future children read “the small plates of Sarah”, it will be a much more faith-promoting up-lifting read, and the answers to my questions will be able to be brought to the fore-front of my mind.

Hope today finds you happy.

Bread & Water

JST, MARK 14:20–25 says:
20. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them, and said, Take it, and eat.
21. Behold, this is for you to do in remembrance of my body; for as oft as ye do this ye will remember this hour that I was with you.
22. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank of it.
23. And he said unto them, This is in remembrance of my blood which is shed for many, and the new testament which I give unto you; for of me ye shall bear record unto all the world.
24. And as oft as ye do this ordinance, ye will remember me in this hour that I was with you and drank with you of this cup, even the last time in my ministry.

I hope this is going to make sense…..Whilst I was thinking about these verses, I started pondering more about why we use ‘bread’ and ‘water’ as the emblems of the sacrament. There are the obvious symbolisms of ‘bread’ and ‘water’, but the thought that came to me was; that bread and water are two of the most basic foods/fluids that people in the world use, or have.

I thought again about the fact that these most basic things are used to represent the Saviour and His atonement for us, and what I could learn from that. For me, I have been reminded that the sacrament, and remembering the Saviour, need to have influence over even the most basic elements of my life. It is easy to be focused on the Saviour when we are fulfilling our callings to reach out to His children - but it is easy to forget in our everyday associations with people to remember the Saviour, or in doing the housework, in running errands, in our employment, or in our academic learning. These are the basic things we have to do everyday in some way, and we (I), will miss out on spending time with, and remembering the Saviour, if I don’t allow Him to be involved with them.

Journals

Elder Henry B. Eyring talked about how the Holy Ghost can help us remember as we write in our journals. He said,

'Journals are a way of counting our blessings. .. . As you start to write, [you could have an experience with the gift of the Holy Ghost.] [You]could ask yourself, "How did God bless me today?" If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind [by the gift of the Holy Ghost] which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God's hand in your life' .

(Ensign, Nov. 1989, 11)