Family Squabblings
I have had a great deal on my mind this week. I don't know why, but it seems to be a recurring issue. My scripture verses were 2 Nephi 2:14-15. I have been pondering verse 15 more so than 14, but stuff happens. Let's talk about it. OK, I will type, you read. If you want to talk, let me know.
First, I was thinking about Family, Parenting, Conflict, and such. Maybe it was the answer to the question SnackPack share in his mass last week about Miss Silvia. I don't know. It was a crazy story. I hope they have been able to out run her or at least share some food or something with her so she is not looking to run them down, but one of the things that has stuck with me is that she recognized them because "We", the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, believe that Lucifer is a son of God, brother to Jesus, and in the end all of us. I guess I can see how that would be hard to swallow for some. Why would you want to admit that a family member was not an all together great person? But really, doesn't it happen? How many of us are perfect siblings? Can you honestly tell me that you have never disagreed with your parents or siblings at some point in your life? I think we all have at some point, right?!
We were having this conversation with Tall Man and Ehl-Bo the other day. They were sharing some of the compromises they are making in their merged Christmas Traditions. At one point one or the other looked at us and said, "Will you disown us if we don't do this?" To which I responded, "They will be your Traditions, as long as they make memories and don't distract from the Reason for the Season." Well, maybe I didn't say all of that, but it was close. It is what I have been thinking about.
God, our Father, has a plan. A plan that has the potential of helping all of us develop to be like Him one day. In this plan, we are given agency, to follow the plan the way we see fit. He has given us some guidelines, boundaries, guard rails, and such that He believes will help us reach this potential in the quickest fashion, but He said, He would allow us to exercise our agency as we desire, as long as it does not detract us from reaching said potential. "...things to act and things to be acted upon."
I believe there was debt. I am sure that we all had different visions of how we are going to use our agency. He told us we could. Some of us felt that we could follow His outlined guide to a Tee and others of us thought that we might be able to do it, just differently. He was OK with that. He understood that we would learn from the experience. In fact, it was probably something we needed to learn, but only through experience.
Then there was Lucifer. He completely disagreed with our Father. He wanted us to all receive the blessings of said potential, regardless of how we used our agency, regardless of whether we stayed within the guidelines, and regardless of whether did anything at all. He felt that the experience of mortality was enough of a test to prove our ability to reach said potential. In fact, it might be better if we just took the agency out of the equation, experienced mortality, returned to God's Kingdom, and took on the inheritance, but since we would not have learned much, he, Lucifer, would be the King Enforcer through out eternity.
He disagreed, like all of us do at times. He saw things differently, just like the rest of us. But he did not want to compromise. He did not care about what we needed to learn, he just wanted to run show and get the credit.
I don't believe he was not given an opportunity to repent, but instead he continued rebelling and gained followers. He lost the opportunity, with his followers, to ever gain or reach such potential, because we had to be willing to stay within the guard rails if we were going to participate. He, they, were not willing to do so.
So the first family squabble began. It continues today.
Now, on to my verses. As I have pondered these things and verse 15, my attention has been on the end. There is an opposition in all things. One being sweet and the other bitter. Note that the sweet one, the desirable one, was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life, meaning mortality, that has the potential of becoming eternal life, is bitter.
How often do we see that today? Life can be bitter at times. Sometimes it feels like it is bitter all the time. It is hard to keep moving forward everyday. There are so many sweet and desirable things out there that appear to be easier than life itself. I wonder if part of eating the symbolic fruit was Adam and Eve, saying "We think we can do it differently." To which our Father said, "Okay, as long as it does not detract from Eternal Life, go for it. Now that you have made this choice, this is what it will be like." (Tall Man and Ehl-Bo, I am not saying that if you don't keep the same traditions we have this will happen to you, it was just an example) Adam and Eve had to learn to take the bitter with the sweet. As they did, as we do, we become stronger and better for it. This is the plan. I know it is. I know we all have to ability to reach the potential He sees in us. We just have to learn to balance them and make sure it does not detract from the Eternal.
There you go, more rambling.
The week has been good. I have struggled with the bitterness of knowing that the Queen was on vacation all week, that the Professor is off track, and I had to get up and go to work each day. It has not been fun, but I have endured. Both of them have accomplished a great deal.
Because they have been give the time, they have been decorating, cleaning, wrapping, baking, sewing, unpacking, shopping, examining, and much, much more. I had just sat quietly in my office and tried to stay focused.
Today, or tonight, the Queen returns to the work force. She has been asked to do a training at 0 dark thirty. The weather has been crazy back East, we will see if the training happens. She is trying to rest now.
We hooked up with Tall Man and Ehl-Bo this week to celebrate Ehl-Bo's entrance to mortality. It was fun to get with them. Tall Man is fighting a virus of some sort, but doing his best to take the bitter with the sweet.
Other than that, we have delivered neighbor gifts, bid farewell to more missionaries, and wait for callings of others to come. We will let you know.
Have a great week. Remember the Reason.
Cheerios
First, I was thinking about Family, Parenting, Conflict, and such. Maybe it was the answer to the question SnackPack share in his mass last week about Miss Silvia. I don't know. It was a crazy story. I hope they have been able to out run her or at least share some food or something with her so she is not looking to run them down, but one of the things that has stuck with me is that she recognized them because "We", the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, believe that Lucifer is a son of God, brother to Jesus, and in the end all of us. I guess I can see how that would be hard to swallow for some. Why would you want to admit that a family member was not an all together great person? But really, doesn't it happen? How many of us are perfect siblings? Can you honestly tell me that you have never disagreed with your parents or siblings at some point in your life? I think we all have at some point, right?!
We were having this conversation with Tall Man and Ehl-Bo the other day. They were sharing some of the compromises they are making in their merged Christmas Traditions. At one point one or the other looked at us and said, "Will you disown us if we don't do this?" To which I responded, "They will be your Traditions, as long as they make memories and don't distract from the Reason for the Season." Well, maybe I didn't say all of that, but it was close. It is what I have been thinking about.
God, our Father, has a plan. A plan that has the potential of helping all of us develop to be like Him one day. In this plan, we are given agency, to follow the plan the way we see fit. He has given us some guidelines, boundaries, guard rails, and such that He believes will help us reach this potential in the quickest fashion, but He said, He would allow us to exercise our agency as we desire, as long as it does not detract us from reaching said potential. "...things to act and things to be acted upon."
I believe there was debt. I am sure that we all had different visions of how we are going to use our agency. He told us we could. Some of us felt that we could follow His outlined guide to a Tee and others of us thought that we might be able to do it, just differently. He was OK with that. He understood that we would learn from the experience. In fact, it was probably something we needed to learn, but only through experience.
Then there was Lucifer. He completely disagreed with our Father. He wanted us to all receive the blessings of said potential, regardless of how we used our agency, regardless of whether we stayed within the guidelines, and regardless of whether did anything at all. He felt that the experience of mortality was enough of a test to prove our ability to reach said potential. In fact, it might be better if we just took the agency out of the equation, experienced mortality, returned to God's Kingdom, and took on the inheritance, but since we would not have learned much, he, Lucifer, would be the King Enforcer through out eternity.
He disagreed, like all of us do at times. He saw things differently, just like the rest of us. But he did not want to compromise. He did not care about what we needed to learn, he just wanted to run show and get the credit.
I don't believe he was not given an opportunity to repent, but instead he continued rebelling and gained followers. He lost the opportunity, with his followers, to ever gain or reach such potential, because we had to be willing to stay within the guard rails if we were going to participate. He, they, were not willing to do so.
So the first family squabble began. It continues today.
Now, on to my verses. As I have pondered these things and verse 15, my attention has been on the end. There is an opposition in all things. One being sweet and the other bitter. Note that the sweet one, the desirable one, was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life, meaning mortality, that has the potential of becoming eternal life, is bitter.
How often do we see that today? Life can be bitter at times. Sometimes it feels like it is bitter all the time. It is hard to keep moving forward everyday. There are so many sweet and desirable things out there that appear to be easier than life itself. I wonder if part of eating the symbolic fruit was Adam and Eve, saying "We think we can do it differently." To which our Father said, "Okay, as long as it does not detract from Eternal Life, go for it. Now that you have made this choice, this is what it will be like." (Tall Man and Ehl-Bo, I am not saying that if you don't keep the same traditions we have this will happen to you, it was just an example) Adam and Eve had to learn to take the bitter with the sweet. As they did, as we do, we become stronger and better for it. This is the plan. I know it is. I know we all have to ability to reach the potential He sees in us. We just have to learn to balance them and make sure it does not detract from the Eternal.
There you go, more rambling.
The week has been good. I have struggled with the bitterness of knowing that the Queen was on vacation all week, that the Professor is off track, and I had to get up and go to work each day. It has not been fun, but I have endured. Both of them have accomplished a great deal.
Because they have been give the time, they have been decorating, cleaning, wrapping, baking, sewing, unpacking, shopping, examining, and much, much more. I had just sat quietly in my office and tried to stay focused.
Today, or tonight, the Queen returns to the work force. She has been asked to do a training at 0 dark thirty. The weather has been crazy back East, we will see if the training happens. She is trying to rest now.
We hooked up with Tall Man and Ehl-Bo this week to celebrate Ehl-Bo's entrance to mortality. It was fun to get with them. Tall Man is fighting a virus of some sort, but doing his best to take the bitter with the sweet.
Other than that, we have delivered neighbor gifts, bid farewell to more missionaries, and wait for callings of others to come. We will let you know.
Have a great week. Remember the Reason.
Cheerios
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