Pondering, Speaking, and being Mortal
Oh what a wonderful morning!
I pray that you are all well. It has been a roller coaster of a week. I continue to find myself in catch up mode. I am sure I will always be behind in something.
Lets jump right in. I love the verses I have pondered this week.
Alma 32:23-24
"And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men bu women also. Now this is not all; little children do have the words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned."
" And now, my beloved brethren, as ye have desired to know of me what ye shall do because ye are afflicted and cast out - now I do not desire that ye should suppose that I mean to judge you only according to that which is true - "
Where do I start. Maybe from the bottom up...
I love that Alma realizes that the words he is speaking could come across as judgmental. Have you ever felt that way? Are there things you want to say from your heart, but when they come out of your mouth and you hear them, you find yourself thinking, that is not how I meant that to sound. That is not how it sounded in my head or my heart. Suddenly you realize you are speaking truth, but presenting it awkwardly?
Alma, a prophet of the Lord, struggled with it as well. I am sure that all leaders do. We are all imperfect beings, doing our best to make it day in and day out. We each approach life's events from different angles, perspectives, and situations. The goal is to listen to the words that are spoken and then listen to whispering of the spirit within us (feelings in our heart) to determine if they are true.
Note: We need to listen to the spirit housed within this body of our, not the heart of the natural man. This is where it becomes challenging. This is where we sometimes find ourselves in the awkward feeling of "that is not how it sounded when the spirit whispered within..."
This was one of those moments for Alma. Think of all the times you have heard the words of prophets and leaders, regardless of how harsh they have sounded to the natural man and try and listen to the heart and mind of the spirit given you within.
As we move up to verse 23, isn't that what Alma is doing in these two verses? He is saying, 'You have come to me for advice. This is what comes to my heart and mind as I speak to you in the moment. This is what the spirit is whispering to me to say, I am just not sure I am saying it in a way that you want to hear it. The truth is, you can know. You can hear. You can listen, just like me. God, our Eternal Father, speaks to you as he does to me. He speaks to your spirit. He speaks through the mouth pieces of angels on earth, called to minister to you. It does not matter your gender, age, color, or race. He speaks that you might hear and hearken. Are you listening by your spiritual heart or the heart of the natural man?'
Well that is what I am hearing him say here.
The question arises, who are the angels? Angels are anyone who speaks truth through the whispering and confirmation of the Holy Ghost, who speaks to our spirit. They are men, women, and even children who speak from the truth in their hearts.
I love that He, speaks to me. I, like all of us, face that internal battle to hear spiritually vs. naturally.
May we all learn to listen spiritually.
What a week.....
I have been on the road. It has been a long week of travel, hotel beds, restaurant food, meetings, and more. I try to keep up on all the events of home, but am always behind.
The Queen has been crazy busy in my absence. She has painted, cleaned, sanded, scraped, and sanded more. She disassembles and then attempts to reassemble. I always come home to find hidden gems of changes she has made or done while I was away.
The Professor has re-entered the building. It sounds like she had a week full of many events and meetings. She comes home each night and tries to complete the things she was not able to complete due to meetings and various other interruptions. On Tuesday, she meets her new kiddos.
We were blessed with a visit from Tall Man and Ehl-Bo yesterday. I understand that Ehl-Bo came to dinner while I was gone. We were elated to be able to care for Lego last evening while they went on an adventure. I finally got to meet him with his eyes open.
Puddin and Lady Hawkins also visited while I was gone. Lady Hawkins went off on a grand adventure. I was happy to spend a few moments catching up with Puddin with a late arrival last night. There is so much to catch upon, but the adventures are grand.
SnackPack has been going, going, going... I have seen him, heard him, and given him hugs, but have not fully caught up. My body has been in recovery mode due to jet lag. I am getting there though. I hope to catch up before I hit the road again. He will add studying and class time to his schedule this week.
There you go, a week in a nut shell. Maybe I need to have Ehl-Bo make me a turtle shell.
I pray that you are all well. It has been a roller coaster of a week. I continue to find myself in catch up mode. I am sure I will always be behind in something.
Lets jump right in. I love the verses I have pondered this week.
Alma 32:23-24
"And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men bu women also. Now this is not all; little children do have the words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned."
" And now, my beloved brethren, as ye have desired to know of me what ye shall do because ye are afflicted and cast out - now I do not desire that ye should suppose that I mean to judge you only according to that which is true - "
Where do I start. Maybe from the bottom up...
I love that Alma realizes that the words he is speaking could come across as judgmental. Have you ever felt that way? Are there things you want to say from your heart, but when they come out of your mouth and you hear them, you find yourself thinking, that is not how I meant that to sound. That is not how it sounded in my head or my heart. Suddenly you realize you are speaking truth, but presenting it awkwardly?
Alma, a prophet of the Lord, struggled with it as well. I am sure that all leaders do. We are all imperfect beings, doing our best to make it day in and day out. We each approach life's events from different angles, perspectives, and situations. The goal is to listen to the words that are spoken and then listen to whispering of the spirit within us (feelings in our heart) to determine if they are true.
Note: We need to listen to the spirit housed within this body of our, not the heart of the natural man. This is where it becomes challenging. This is where we sometimes find ourselves in the awkward feeling of "that is not how it sounded when the spirit whispered within..."
This was one of those moments for Alma. Think of all the times you have heard the words of prophets and leaders, regardless of how harsh they have sounded to the natural man and try and listen to the heart and mind of the spirit given you within.
As we move up to verse 23, isn't that what Alma is doing in these two verses? He is saying, 'You have come to me for advice. This is what comes to my heart and mind as I speak to you in the moment. This is what the spirit is whispering to me to say, I am just not sure I am saying it in a way that you want to hear it. The truth is, you can know. You can hear. You can listen, just like me. God, our Eternal Father, speaks to you as he does to me. He speaks to your spirit. He speaks through the mouth pieces of angels on earth, called to minister to you. It does not matter your gender, age, color, or race. He speaks that you might hear and hearken. Are you listening by your spiritual heart or the heart of the natural man?'
Well that is what I am hearing him say here.
The question arises, who are the angels? Angels are anyone who speaks truth through the whispering and confirmation of the Holy Ghost, who speaks to our spirit. They are men, women, and even children who speak from the truth in their hearts.
I love that He, speaks to me. I, like all of us, face that internal battle to hear spiritually vs. naturally.
May we all learn to listen spiritually.
What a week.....
I have been on the road. It has been a long week of travel, hotel beds, restaurant food, meetings, and more. I try to keep up on all the events of home, but am always behind.
The Queen has been crazy busy in my absence. She has painted, cleaned, sanded, scraped, and sanded more. She disassembles and then attempts to reassemble. I always come home to find hidden gems of changes she has made or done while I was away.
The Professor has re-entered the building. It sounds like she had a week full of many events and meetings. She comes home each night and tries to complete the things she was not able to complete due to meetings and various other interruptions. On Tuesday, she meets her new kiddos.
We were blessed with a visit from Tall Man and Ehl-Bo yesterday. I understand that Ehl-Bo came to dinner while I was gone. We were elated to be able to care for Lego last evening while they went on an adventure. I finally got to meet him with his eyes open.
Puddin and Lady Hawkins also visited while I was gone. Lady Hawkins went off on a grand adventure. I was happy to spend a few moments catching up with Puddin with a late arrival last night. There is so much to catch upon, but the adventures are grand.
SnackPack has been going, going, going... I have seen him, heard him, and given him hugs, but have not fully caught up. My body has been in recovery mode due to jet lag. I am getting there though. I hope to catch up before I hit the road again. He will add studying and class time to his schedule this week.
There you go, a week in a nut shell. Maybe I need to have Ehl-Bo make me a turtle shell.
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