Zion: It starts with Me
MMM. Homemade apple sauce for breakfast. I love when I can eat the things I cook. :)
Wow. Is this what being early to Church looks like at BYU? We're only 15 minutes early and the room is empty. Even the bishopric isn't here yet. Gotta love Mormon Standard Time.
I don't LIKE being released from callings! I never know whether to raise my own hand for the vote of thanks when I'm the only one being released!
Sacrament Hymn 185: Reverently and Meekly Now
I have ransomed even thee...
I never thought of myself as being kidnapped, but in a real sense that's very true. I am as trapped by mortality as I feel sometimes... but my Lord paid the price to set me free. And not in some esoteric future either. Right here. Right now.
I am free.
Oh wow... what is this feeling?
At the throne I intercede;
For thee ever do I plead.
I have loved thee as thy friend,
With a love that cannot end.
Be obedient, I implore,
Prayerful, watchful evermore,
And be constant unto me,
That thy Savior I may be.
At last, heavy tears gather on my lashes. They fall slowly, clinging to my face the whole way down before landing softly in my lap.
I wipe them away as I take my piece of bread, the largest I can see, and wonder with a faint smile if that's how I get myself into these situations.
Drip. Drop. Drip.
I have needed these tears. I could do nothing to give my grief to them--Lord knows I've tried--and I could not bring myself to drink the gall of my own struggle. I simply watched the cup fill to brim, then overflowing...
When, at last, my soul is touched.
And as I looked again, the weight of waiting appeared as a tiny plastic cup before my eyes! How I rejoiced, just as silently as I had suffered!
Dear God, I thank thee! I thank thee...
Subject for talks: Testimony
Notes:
"No one has a testimony so strong that if they stopped working on it, it would continue to grow." Speaker
"Life is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience," Speaker likening Elder Holland's statement on missionary work to cultivating a testimony.
Bishop then tells us we're combining for Sunday school and Relief Society and asks us not to leave. They have a special message for us.
Joshua 1: 9. Isn't that the Mutual Theme?.... YUP! Oh boy, I called it! High five roommate! Yeah!
Bishop didn't know that was the Mutual Theme? That's funny.
Bishopric takes turn addressing us. They're basically giving us step by step instructions on how to build Zion, but they Just. Aren't. Saying. That!
I raise my hand and point out the reference to the promised land in the chapter heading.
Bishop asks "And what is the promised land?" Someone say Zion! "Eternal life." Well, that answer is so good I'm not going to argue with it. They'll figure it out eventually.
For now, I can be content knowing that I see what's coming. I am Zion, and my contribution to Zion begins with me. I should do more reading on the subject. I suspect that the timing of the Savior's coming is unknown because the time has not been set; rather, it depends on how long it will take us all to build Zion so we can present the Church of the Lamb to the Lamb. But that's just my working theory for now.
Until then, Zion starts with me, and I start here:
Subject for talks: Testimony
Notes:
"No one has a testimony so strong that if they stopped working on it, it would continue to grow." Speaker
"Life is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience," Speaker likening Elder Holland's statement on missionary work to cultivating a testimony.
Bishop then tells us we're combining for Sunday school and Relief Society and asks us not to leave. They have a special message for us.
Joshua 1: 9. Isn't that the Mutual Theme?.... YUP! Oh boy, I called it! High five roommate! Yeah!
Bishop didn't know that was the Mutual Theme? That's funny.
Bishopric takes turn addressing us. They're basically giving us step by step instructions on how to build Zion, but they Just. Aren't. Saying. That!
I raise my hand and point out the reference to the promised land in the chapter heading.
Bishop asks "And what is the promised land?" Someone say Zion! "Eternal life." Well, that answer is so good I'm not going to argue with it. They'll figure it out eventually.
For now, I can be content knowing that I see what's coming. I am Zion, and my contribution to Zion begins with me. I should do more reading on the subject. I suspect that the timing of the Savior's coming is unknown because the time has not been set; rather, it depends on how long it will take us all to build Zion so we can present the Church of the Lamb to the Lamb. But that's just my working theory for now.
Until then, Zion starts with me, and I start here:
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6: 38
