Spiritual Hunger

Have you ever been hungry?

Yes?

What do you do to solve that problem?

The answer is simple.  In order to take care of hunger, you must eat.

Have you ever been spiritually hungry?  Spiritual hunger is easy to recognize if you know what to look for.  Have you ever been angry, sad, offended, critical, worried, doubtful, fearful, apathetic, mean, defensive, afraid, jealous, frustrated...to name a few?

How do you solve the problem of spiritual hunger?  You MUST feed yourself with spiritual food. If you use something else to satisfy the need, the problem deepens or increases.  Spiritual food is prayer, scripture study, gratitude, service, kindness, forgiveness, sacrifice, temple, family history or missionary work etc. If we keep our spirits fed well, the challenges of life are much easier to manage.

When we fast, we can just go without food or starve our way through it; or we can fast and pray with a purpose.  The two produce very different results.

This puts the concept of "hungering and thirsting after righteousness" into new light.  In this world our spirits WILL hunger.  But we can starve our spirits and experience life wanting and wishing for more and greater satisfaction, or we can use those opportunities of spiritual hunger to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Second Coming Thoughts

A portion of a CNN news article on the day of the eclipse has given me much to ponder about:

“It’s not fake news; it’s good news. It’s a story that could eclipse all other stories.

There is no way you can stop today’s total solar eclipse from happening. It is celestial, and we have no control over it. The only way to stop it would be to extinguish the sun or knock the moon or Earth out of orbit.

Over the past few millennia, people who knew nothing about eclipses couldn’t explain the natural phenomena. Many cultures thought it was a sign from their sun god; it is even known to have ended full-flung battles.”

As far as I know, everyone trusted the authorities at NASA that the eclipse would happen when and where it did. No one doubted. Some wanted to experience the phenomenon enough that they traveled long distances, spent a lot of money and prepared themselves to get to a place where they could enjoy a total eclipse of the sun. Those who witnessed it in totality said it was amazing and worth every effort to be there.

This article has caused me to wonder, do I likewise trust the authorities, or special witnesses, who testify of the reality of Jesus Christ and His second coming? Do I give time and attention to prepare myself for the Second Coming? Do I look forward to it with greater anticipation than many did to the impressive eclipse?

What would a mirrored article written by a believer about the Second Coming read like (purporting that we know the exact time)? Perhaps something like this:

It is not fake news!! It’s good news! The world as we know it today will change forever! Jesus Christ will again return to the earth in full glory. All will be made right. All will be healed. All will be understood. It is the story of all millennia. In the past, many have doubted the power and reality of Jesus Christ, but today we understand who He is and why He is so important.

There is no way you can stop today’s events from happening. They are celestial, and we have no control over it. Today, ‘every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Christ.’ Many have looked forward to this event for millennia and today it’s finally here. (Wouldn’t that be quite the article?)

These thoughts have caused me to search for witnesses from trusted authorities regarding Jesus Christ and His Second Coming. There are several in recent General Conference addresses. Here are just two powerful testimonies:

“As the prophesied birth of Jesus drew near, there were those among the ancient Nephite and Lamanite peoples who believed, though most doubted. In due course, the sign of His birth arrived—a day and a night and a day without darkness—and all knew. Even so today, some believe in the literal Resurrection of Christ, and many doubt or disbelieve. But some know. In due course, all will see and all will know; indeed, “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him.”

Until then, I believe the many witnesses of the Savior’s Resurrection whose experiences and testimonies are found in the New Testament—Peter and his companions of the Twelve and dear, pure Mary of Magdala, among others. I believe the testimonies found in the Book of Mormon—of Nephi the Apostle with the unnamed multitude in the land Bountiful, among others. And I believe the testimony of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon who, after many other testimonies, proclaimed the great witness of this last dispensation “that he lives! For we saw him.” Under the glance of His all-seeing eye, I stand myself as a witness that Jesus of Nazareth is the resurrected Redeemer, and I testify of all that follows from the fact of His Resurrection." (Elder Christofferson April 2014; emphasis added.)

"Our faith grows as we anticipate the glorious day of the Savior’s return to the earth. The thought of His coming stirs my soul. It will be breathtaking! The scope and grandeur, the vastness and magnificence, will exceed anything mortal eyes have ever seen or experienced.

In that day He will not come “wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger,” but He will appear “in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels.” We will hear “the voice of the archangel, and … the trump of God.” The sun and the moon will be transformed, and “stars [will] be hurled from their places.” You and I, …..[and], “the saints … from [every quarter] of the earth,” “shall be quickened (we won’t need special Second Coming Eclipse glasses!) and … caught up to meet him,” and those who have died in righteousness, they too will “be caught up to meet him in the midst … of heaven.”

Then, a seemingly impossible experience: “All flesh,” the Lord says, “shall see me together.” How will it happen? We do not know. But I testify it will happen—exactly as prophesied. We will kneel in reverence, “and the Lord shall utter his voice, and all the ends of the earth shall hear it.” “It shall be … as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.” “[Then] the Lord, … the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people.”

In that day the skeptics will be silent, “for every ear shall hear … , and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess” that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

May we prepare for His coming by rehearsing these glorious events over and over in our own minds and with those we love, and may His prayer be our prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” I testify that He lives.” (Elder Andersen April 2015 emphasis added)

Although we don’t know the time of the Second Coming, we have witnesses from authorities that we can trust. Whether a news article is written about it or not, it will be the story that eclipses all other stories. It is an event that cannot be stopped. And it is better than good news. It is the best and most important news ever.  

I must do everything I can to prepare myself for it.

Christmas 2016

We knew in September that our theme for Christmas this year was going to be 'Charity Never Faileth'.  Beginning in mid-October, I started committing 15 minutes a day to working on ideas and plans to make it happen in a fun meaningful way for all.  It truly was amazing to see things come together in such an incredible way.  I know the ideas were inspired and doing this has blessed our family so much.

We started our study of charity 26 days before Christmas.  We took the 13 strands of charity as listed in Moroni 7:45 and studied each one separately. What does it mean in real life situations to not be puffed up or to not think evil or to hope all things (etc.)?  Every other morning we would have a devotional discussing what that day's strand meant and then we would act on that strand.  The next day we would report on what we experienced.  We recorded our experiences and sent them to our BYU students to involve them as well (they also received our devotional notes so they could participate).  This was a wonderful thing to do and made such a difference for all of us.  {NOTE:  this does not mean perfect!!!  We still had the same number of melt downs, disagreements etc, that happen in a normal imperfect family such as ours...but it gave us dialogue to evaluate ourselves and recognize small new ways of thinking to help us solve those problems that arise. That was where we found the most remarkable experiences.}  Each day we added a strand we added a word strip to our pantry door to remind us what we were working on.

On Christmas day we played a game called OPERATION CHARITY to help us wrap up what we had worked on during the month.  (It was just like regular the Operation game with an altered board, but with a few twists and turns...)

The basics: when you are spiritually sick from lack of charity, you need to remove the ailment by applying charity to get back to full spiritual health again.  As we learned throughout the month, you can try to act with charity using only your own self discipline and you will make some gains, but unless you involve Jesus Christ's divine help, living such a high standard is impossible.  This was a lesson we wanted to drive home with the game.  

We remade cards, money and several game board pieces.

PS...I'm publishing things way behind the times!!!  So this post isn't finished, but it is better than nothing. 😏