D&C 131:1-4
I have definitely felt, not necessarily a loss of the
Spirit, but distant for sure and I’m pretty sure that the reason is because I
haven’t been taking my scripture study as seriously as I should have and
instead of listening to Church materials while driving to work I’ve been
listening to secular audiobooks. It’s my prerogative about what I want to do
and listen to and I’m not listening to anything bad, I feel like these books
are educational and uplifting and enlightening. So why would I not feel the
Spirit in the same way that I would if I listened to Church material? Well,
listening to the Ensign or an archived general conference always sets the mood
for when I get to work, I usually have a better attitude when I get there than
if I listen to something else. I also am usually really enthusiastic about my
scripture study for that day and get to it as fast as I can and with great
energy and focus. Interestingly, I usually learning something during my ride to
work from what I’m listening to that helps me in my understanding of my study
that night. Because I haven’t been listening to church stuff in the car and
have been listening to other stuff, my enthusiasm just hasn’t been there, I’ve
found it incredibly difficult to muster up the motivation for a blog entry that
night and it’s really just brought me down. I’m not saying that I should
immerse myself in church material 24/7, there is a time and place for
everything but I have another 40 minute drive home in which I can listen to
whatever I want. So moral of the story is, if I want to be surrounded by the
Spirit, I need to actively surround myself with what brings the Spirit around
and invite him into my life. This can mean different things for different
people but for me, what I’ve found works at this point is to listen to Church
material in the car on my way to work and then write an entry about the
scriptures that I’m studying at the time. So I’m going to go back to that.
131:1-3 - The concept of three varying levels of the Celestial Kingdom is very difficult for me to understand, but mostly it was because of fear. I didn't think that I could make it to the celestial kingdom at all, but then you add in three more levels and I may as well just give up. That's an incorrect belief. The IM reminds us that "the Lord has not revealed to the Church who will live in two of the three degrees in the celestial kingdom. Any discussion on this topic is speculation. More has been revealed about the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, or exaltation. That is where the fAther would have all His children live if they keep His commandments." The more I feel I learn about the Celestial Kingdom and the fate of mankind, the more I believe that it will take an active effort to NOT make it to the Celestial Kingdom in the eternal perspective. If that's the case, there are going to be many people there in many different stages of spiritual progression, so it totally makes sense to me now that there will be three degrees, honestly I think that there will be as many "degrees" as there are people because everyone is in their own place spiritually, three sounds kind of conservative. Another way that we could look at it would be the levels of ordinances we have here on earth. First is baptism and confirmation, that brings you into the church, then there are the temple endowments, that brings you to the next step, then there is eternal marriage, and we learn that "in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood (meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage); And if he does not, he cannot obtain it." My concept of marriage has not always, or ever, been positive. I grew up being taught that you keep the family together no matter what the cost, always, no matter what. I believe that this belief brought lots of pain, then of course I have my own failed marriage and that brought lots of pain. Of all the marriages that I've seen, there are very few where I can say that I believe the couple is happy. For a really long time I didn't believe in the fulfilling relationship, I didn't believe that there would be an person that I could be with that would make me happier than he made me sad, I didn't believe that I could say that he was worth the drama. I believe that the nature state of both people is to have a significant other, to search for another person to be with and make a family with, but the difficulty for me comes when that search, that longing to be with someone else makes you wildly unhappy. I have friends tell me all the time that not all men are like that, that they are happy in their relationships, that they are happier together than they would be alone. I could give 100% of my time and effort to making another person happy, but I think that the roadblock for me is that I don't believe that anyone would do the same for me, not only because men aren't like that but because I'm not worth it. I guess I have to work on that, because that is also a wrong belief. I think that the questions "why is marriage important?" can be answered by a couple of quotes by general authorities. President Thomas S. Monson said "To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty- the fulfillment of which brings true joy." President David O. McKay said, "No other success (in life) can compensate for failure in the home." President Harold B. Lee taught, "The (greatest) work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home." And finally, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion. Any man who will make his wife's comfort his first concern will stay in love with her throughout their lives and into the eternity yet to come." If the path to happiness for ourselves is to ensure the happiness of others, then what better way to teach us to how to forget ourselves and make someone else happy then to have someone that will live with us, that we love and will hopefully love us. It takes work to learn to live in peace with someone else, it takes work to rear children in love and happiness, it teaches many lessons, and honestly, isn't that what Heavenly Father is doing right now, raising a family, isn't that his work and his glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and isn't that what family is on a smaller scale? In the April 2015 general conference address entitled "Filling Our Homes with Light and Truth" Sister Cheryl A. Esplin said, "Families are the Lord's workshop on earth to help us learn and live the gospel. We come into our families with a sacred duty to help strengthen each other spiritually. Strong eternal families and Spirit-filled homes do not just happen. They take great effort, they take time, and they take each member of the family doing his or her part. Every home is different, but every home where even one individual seeks for truth can make a difference." Work is an eternal principle, it's how we learn and grow, family is an opportunity for the most important kind of learning and growth, and it takes work.
131:4 - Eternal marriage is our key to the highest degree of glory, but if we don't have it, we "may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase." The November 2008 Ensign article entitled "Celestial Marriage" asks, "But what of the many mature members of the Church who are not married? Through no failing of their own, they deal with the trials of life alone. Be we all reminded that, in the Lord's own way and time, no blessings will be withheld from His faithful Saints. The Lord will judge and reward each individual according to heartfelt desire as well as deed." If I stay faithful and don't get married again in this life, I have no doubt that I will be taken care of, not only in this life but the next as well. Eternal marriage only comes through the temple, and that's where my major problem is, the supply and demand aspect of LDS mid-singles. One of the best explanations that I've ever heard of the importance of temple marriage comes from a July 2003 Ensign article entitled "The Marriage that Endures" in which the author asks a woman recently married secularly, "Did you realize that when the vicar pronounced your marriage he also decreed your separation?... Every man who truly loves a woman and every woman who truly loves a man hopes and dreams that their companionship will last forever. But marriage is a covenant sealed by authority. If that authority is of the state alone, it will endure only while the state has jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction ends with death. But add to the authority of that state the power of the endowment give by Him who overcame death, and that companionship will endure beyond life if the parties to the marriage live worthy of the promise."
This has been very enlightening for me, and encouraging. I'm truly grateful.
131:1-3 - The concept of three varying levels of the Celestial Kingdom is very difficult for me to understand, but mostly it was because of fear. I didn't think that I could make it to the celestial kingdom at all, but then you add in three more levels and I may as well just give up. That's an incorrect belief. The IM reminds us that "the Lord has not revealed to the Church who will live in two of the three degrees in the celestial kingdom. Any discussion on this topic is speculation. More has been revealed about the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, or exaltation. That is where the fAther would have all His children live if they keep His commandments." The more I feel I learn about the Celestial Kingdom and the fate of mankind, the more I believe that it will take an active effort to NOT make it to the Celestial Kingdom in the eternal perspective. If that's the case, there are going to be many people there in many different stages of spiritual progression, so it totally makes sense to me now that there will be three degrees, honestly I think that there will be as many "degrees" as there are people because everyone is in their own place spiritually, three sounds kind of conservative. Another way that we could look at it would be the levels of ordinances we have here on earth. First is baptism and confirmation, that brings you into the church, then there are the temple endowments, that brings you to the next step, then there is eternal marriage, and we learn that "in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood (meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage); And if he does not, he cannot obtain it." My concept of marriage has not always, or ever, been positive. I grew up being taught that you keep the family together no matter what the cost, always, no matter what. I believe that this belief brought lots of pain, then of course I have my own failed marriage and that brought lots of pain. Of all the marriages that I've seen, there are very few where I can say that I believe the couple is happy. For a really long time I didn't believe in the fulfilling relationship, I didn't believe that there would be an person that I could be with that would make me happier than he made me sad, I didn't believe that I could say that he was worth the drama. I believe that the nature state of both people is to have a significant other, to search for another person to be with and make a family with, but the difficulty for me comes when that search, that longing to be with someone else makes you wildly unhappy. I have friends tell me all the time that not all men are like that, that they are happy in their relationships, that they are happier together than they would be alone. I could give 100% of my time and effort to making another person happy, but I think that the roadblock for me is that I don't believe that anyone would do the same for me, not only because men aren't like that but because I'm not worth it. I guess I have to work on that, because that is also a wrong belief. I think that the questions "why is marriage important?" can be answered by a couple of quotes by general authorities. President Thomas S. Monson said "To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty- the fulfillment of which brings true joy." President David O. McKay said, "No other success (in life) can compensate for failure in the home." President Harold B. Lee taught, "The (greatest) work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home." And finally, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion. Any man who will make his wife's comfort his first concern will stay in love with her throughout their lives and into the eternity yet to come." If the path to happiness for ourselves is to ensure the happiness of others, then what better way to teach us to how to forget ourselves and make someone else happy then to have someone that will live with us, that we love and will hopefully love us. It takes work to learn to live in peace with someone else, it takes work to rear children in love and happiness, it teaches many lessons, and honestly, isn't that what Heavenly Father is doing right now, raising a family, isn't that his work and his glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, and isn't that what family is on a smaller scale? In the April 2015 general conference address entitled "Filling Our Homes with Light and Truth" Sister Cheryl A. Esplin said, "Families are the Lord's workshop on earth to help us learn and live the gospel. We come into our families with a sacred duty to help strengthen each other spiritually. Strong eternal families and Spirit-filled homes do not just happen. They take great effort, they take time, and they take each member of the family doing his or her part. Every home is different, but every home where even one individual seeks for truth can make a difference." Work is an eternal principle, it's how we learn and grow, family is an opportunity for the most important kind of learning and growth, and it takes work.
131:4 - Eternal marriage is our key to the highest degree of glory, but if we don't have it, we "may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase." The November 2008 Ensign article entitled "Celestial Marriage" asks, "But what of the many mature members of the Church who are not married? Through no failing of their own, they deal with the trials of life alone. Be we all reminded that, in the Lord's own way and time, no blessings will be withheld from His faithful Saints. The Lord will judge and reward each individual according to heartfelt desire as well as deed." If I stay faithful and don't get married again in this life, I have no doubt that I will be taken care of, not only in this life but the next as well. Eternal marriage only comes through the temple, and that's where my major problem is, the supply and demand aspect of LDS mid-singles. One of the best explanations that I've ever heard of the importance of temple marriage comes from a July 2003 Ensign article entitled "The Marriage that Endures" in which the author asks a woman recently married secularly, "Did you realize that when the vicar pronounced your marriage he also decreed your separation?... Every man who truly loves a woman and every woman who truly loves a man hopes and dreams that their companionship will last forever. But marriage is a covenant sealed by authority. If that authority is of the state alone, it will endure only while the state has jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction ends with death. But add to the authority of that state the power of the endowment give by Him who overcame death, and that companionship will endure beyond life if the parties to the marriage live worthy of the promise."
This has been very enlightening for me, and encouraging. I'm truly grateful.
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