D&C Section 59

Heavenly Father created this Earth for US, His chosen spirits! He has provided us with everything we need to live, learn, grow, gain experience and return to live with Him again. Doctrine and Covenants section 59 begins by Jesus Christ stating that those who are faithful to the commandments will "receive a crown in the mansions of my Father". In order for us to obey the commandments, we must first know what they are. We are then informed that we need to love our Lord and God with all our heart, might, mind and strength and to serve Him. Many of the commandments are repeated. Christ then reminds us of all the blessings that are ours to claim when we do what has been asked of us.
We are blessed with the abundance of the earth as long as we confess God's hand in all things and obey His commandments. This makes the significance of the creation so important because when Heavenly Father was creating the light and darkness, the waters and dry land, the grass, shrubbery, tall trees, the insects and all manner of creepy things, the fish in the waters, fowls of the air and all manner of beasts... He was doing it all for us. I read an article in the Ensign that stood out to me a while ago that reminded me that every beautiful thing is this life was created so we could have joy! I know that for me it is the simple things that bring me the most joy. A beautiful warm day after a long, cold winter brings me so much happiness. A flower growing in an unwelcome terrain gives me strength to continue through the hard days I experience. A happy bark from the dog welcoming me home reminds me that I am loved. I know that Heavenly Father created all things for His children to have joy. Section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants reminds us of what Heavenly Father asks us to do so that He can more fully bless us with the great things He created for our benefit!

The Fabulous MOA!

Last Thursday my religion class toured the Museum of Art on BYU campus. We saw some of the new collection being shown about types and shadows of Christ. The exhibit focused on the symbolism used to represent Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Rita, our tour guide, led us through and facilitated great discussion among the group members. I have always found that when viewing something abstract as a representation of Christ or His acts of pure love, I learn something new and different than what I normally learn from the things that speak so plainly of Him. One of my favorite pictures in the museum is the one of titled, "The Prodigal Son". It is a painting of a meal covered in a blue cloth divided into three parts. The first represents the grand life of the Son of a King using crisp, fresh apples and a bright blue cloth. The second shows the food slightly rotted, dark, non-appetizing, and all somewhat meshed together. The third panel is beautiful again, but this time it is slightly different than the first signifying that there had been a change from the first panel. I like this because it shows that we all have the ability to repent and become clean again through the power of the Atonement. As I think about it now, it also reminds me of the plan of salvation. In the beginning we lived with God, our Heavenly Father and King. We made the choice to leave Him for a short while and life is not a crisp, clean and beautiful as it was while we lived in His presence. We have the opportunity to learn and improve and rely on our Savior to purify us so we can return to live with our Father again. When that time comes, the panel of our life will be clean again. Everything will be glorious and beautiful and we will have greater abundance because of the experiences we have had. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that the Atonement is real and that because Christ loves each of us so much, we can return to live with God again! We can become clean from all of our sins and enjoy the happiness and peace and beauty that we once had for eternity!

The Exodus: Then and Now

The journey of the early Latter-day Saints to Zion is amazingly similar to the journey made by the children of Israel when led by Moses. They were both seeking for a place of refuge where they could worship as they chose and both experienced trials as well as many blessings along the way. The aspect that stood out most to me was that the physical terrain was so similar. Both valley's are near a living body of water and a dead body of water, a high mountain and much more. Their journey is also a similitude of the life of Jesus Christ. We can apply it to ourselves as well and the journey that we must take in order to assure a place in the highest kingdom of glory with our Heavenly Father. There is no guarantee that we will have an easy journey. In fact, the majority of the inhabitants of Earth will experience many trials. There will be obstacles in our life that seem hard to overcome. The only was we can endure our struggles is to have complete faith in Jesus Christ and a bright hope for the future. The pioneers are the greatest examples to me of keeping an eye single to the glory of God. Never did they waiver from the things that they were told. Their shining example lights the path I tread everyday. I know that I can accomplish hard things because God blessed and protected them while they were journeying. I am sure my journey will not be easy, but I know that I will be guided as I continue to have faith in Jesus Christ, my Savior!