Today at lunch, while sitting in my car, I looked up and noticed these two hand-carved pieces which are hanging from my rear view mirror. They were crafted by my multi-talented wife and given to me as a gift. The turtle is a symbol of long life and the hook is a symbol of prosperity (the Polynesian way of saying 'live long and prosper' 🖖 🙂). They are beautiful, visual and tangible tokens of her love for me and her desires for success in my endeavors as I leave home each day. And when I paused and took the time to notice them again today, it warmed my heart and filled me with appreciation for my wife.
But sadly, although I am near them every day and every time I am in my car, I often fail to recognize them or acknowledge them for what they represent. My thoughts, vision and focus is somewhere off in the distance and engaged in other things.
How often are we that way in life? With so many distractions and conflicts vying for our attention it is easy to get caught up in worries about finances, political divisions, civil unrest, pandemic uncertainties, and countless other issues.
And while these things sometimes require our attention, we often fail to recognize the many visible and tangible tokens of God's love for us, which surround us each day - the laughter of a child, the kindness of a smile, the light in someone's eyes, the color of a blooming flower, the song of a bird, the sound of gentle rain, a cool breeze on a warm day, or the warmth and light of the sun on a cool day, the embrace of a loved one, etc.
Regular, medatative pause and recognition of these visible and tangible tokens of God's love remind us of His presence in our world and does wonders for the soul if we but shift our focus to acknowledge them for what they are. They are all signs of life and His love for us and were created to bring us joy.
And even more importantly, it would do us well to more frequently pause, recognize and remember the most important Tokens of God's Love for us, which are carved within the hands and feet of our Master, our Savior, and our Redeemer Jesus Christ!
The tokens of His love are all around us if we will but shift our perspective to recognize them for what they are. And by doing so, they have the power to change our hearts and fill our lives with peace, joy, happiness and a measure of His love.
And in today's crazy world, we could all use a little more of that!
(Carvings and drawing are both creations of my wife, Nikki Jensen Andreasen)
I love learning new meanings and interpretations, and this one was really surprising to me! It comes from “The Book of Mysteries” by Jonathan Cahn (pg. 139). It was something I had never considered before!
I had always considered the word APOCALYPSE with a negative image in my mind. A time of the destruction and cleansing. But this definition sheds such a positive light upon what will really be happening. It represents a great day for the righteous, and likely a dreadful day for the wicked.
“The word ‘Apocalypse’ comes from the Greek ‘apokalupsis’, which, in turn, comes from two root words: ‘apo’, which means to remove, and ‘kalupsis’, which means a veil or covering. So apocalypse is the removing of the veil. It speaks of the revealing, the opening of the vision concerning the end. But there’s another connection. When you get to the end of the Bible and to the end of the apocalypse, you find there is a bride and a Bridegroom. You find a wedding. In the ancient Hebrew marriage, on the day of the wedding, when the bride and groom, after their long separation, now stand face-to-face, the bride lifts the veil from her face – the removing of the veil, the apokalupsis, the apocalypse. So the two stand there, with no veils and no more separations, face-to-unveiled-face. In the same way, there will come a day, a wedding day, when all veils will be removed and we will see Him as He is, and He will see us as we are, unveiled, face-to-face. You see, we are all heading to one apocalypse or another, the apocalypse of judgement, or in salvation, the apocalypse of the wedding. And if you are of the wedding, then you must even now come before Him and remove your veil and your coverings, with no more separations and nothing hidden. For only if you come as you are, can you know Him as He is. And only then will He be able to touch you and you must be touched and changed. Learn the secret of living as on the day of the wedding… even now… with no coverings… in the apocalypse of the bride and groom… face-to-face… and beyond the veil.”
We all seek to fill our lamps with oil and even have oil in reserve. We also desire to be considered among the Anointed of the Lord.
But I think that often we lack the willingness to undergo the crushing and pressing which brings forth the sacred oil from the good fruit.
We don't SEEK for trials or the crushing pressures of trying experiences. They will come as part of the mortal experience. But it is at least important that we are willing to SUBMIT to whatever process the Lord sees fit for us to experience to bring forth that oil from within. It may require some initial plucking from our current place on the vine. There may be scrubbing and cleaning to even prepare before the final pressing process.
I think that is part of what having a broken heart and a contrite spirit is about. A heart that is not hardened like flint which shatters under pressure, but a heart which is soft, willing to ripen on the vine where it has been planted, and to undergo the process of change from a state of "potential" into a state of "being" useful and purified.
No one desires difficulty. Even the Master asked if there could be another way in His dark hour of strain. But He DID submit to what was required. And that made all the difference.
Premortally, we were like a viable seed. Full of potential for growth. Here in mortality we have been planted in the vineyard and will either produce good fruit or bad. But even as good fruit, we still fall short of our full potential until we become willing to submit to the pressing and refining process needed to allow the OIL to come forth.
The process requires change. And it is always uncomfortable. But the transformation is always for the better IF we allow ourselves to be softened, molded and purified under the Master of the Garden who has known our potential from the beginning.
Yesterday, a good friend shared with me a link to the reading
of the full 7,400+ word letter Joseph Smith wrote while a prisoner in Liberty
jail (to which I will place a link below). Small excerpts of that letter are now found in
Sections 121-123 of the Doctrine and covenants.But hearing those sections in context of the full letter and all that
surrounds it was very informative and shed new and wonderful light on some of
those verses we know and love.I would
recommend listening to it if you have an hour to spare in the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe2V-tKuDKQ
One of the things which struck me, was a portion when Joseph
was explaining how all of their sufferings, trials and persecutions in jail,
and those of the Saints in general who were being driven out of their homes and
deprived in terrible ways, was a necessary occurrence.It was necessary so that they would then feel
welcome, and not ashamed, to be in the presence of the faithful ancients who
gave their all for the gospel’s sake and for their love and testimony of God,
but would now someday stand worthily in their company.
Through events he had then been awakened from
his bewitched slumber, but suffered doubts and concerns as to his reign and how
he would be remembered or compared to the heroic ancient Kings.But finally, when the call to final battle
had come against the enemy forces of darkness, he had risen to the occasion.
He fought bravely and valiantly, and in the face of overwhelming odds he proved himself a true King. As he lay upon the
field of battle, broken and dying, he briefly reflects upon his life and
proclaims, “I go to my fathers. And even
in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed. I have felled the black serpent. A grim morn, and a glad day, and a golden
sunset!”
It occurred to me during the explanation of Joseph Smith in his full letter,
that in addition to the personal spiritual refinement which the trials,
persecutions and calamities preceding the Second Coming will help us with, it
will also serve to offer us the opportunity to sacrifice at a necessary level
to put us on par (at least in some small degree) with the ancients, who have
gone on to inherit their eternal reward.Of course, our sacrifices will all be individualized and meted out
according to what the Lord sees fit.But
what Joseph seemed to be indicating throughout his full letter to the Saints,
is that we must gracefully and willingly endure such events to be worthy of the
grand company we hope to associate with some day.And I think that perspective can offer us
more resolve in facing what must come, and why it must come for our betterment,
and our eventual eternal reward.
We may not know what our personal part and portion will be
in the winding up scenes between now and the glorious Second Coming of our Savior,
but we can know that the Lord has customized and allowed it for our betterment,
and to prove our own resolve, so that we too might stand worthy to mingle with
the faithful ancients who we admire.We
who have made covenants with God and our Lord, and seek to be true disciples of
Jesus Christ, are being mustered to the battle.
And our most important and significant battles will likely not be in the public eye upon some grand stage, but rather, within the private chambers of our own hearts and within our own homes.
In another Lord of the Rings parallel, consider what we may
face in our lives in context of the scene when the riders of Rohan are being
mustered to arms, to go and join the fight to deliver the world from evil.Their Captain and King call to them:
“Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark (Covenant people
of the Lord).Foes and fire are before
you, and your homes are far behind.Yet,
though you fight upon an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be
your own forever.Oaths ye have taken;
now fulfill them all, to Lord and land and league of friendship!…Forth now, and fear no darkness!”
May we too faithfully heed the call of the trumpet, fortify
our spiritual foundations, and face with face and fortitude the days and years
to come.We need not fear or tremble,
knowing that our Lord is with us and that He has already triumphed over all the
foes of darkness.He is but giving us
the chance to rise, humbly yet faithfully, into the ranks of the righteous who
will inherit the eternal reward, and feel worthy among the Mighty Company which
there awaits us with rejoicing!
"Blessed is the man that resisteth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." - James 1:12
