- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Because it is Sunday, please consider sharing something inspirational. A story. A scripture. A poem. Something. This week has been one of pain for some dear friends. Nothing will be able to console them. Ever. I am reminded that as I have taken time to stare at my naval and contemplate my relationship with the church, that the trials of this life continue. At the risk of sounding maudlin, today I could use some positive and uplifting input.
Anyone game?
I do not presume that my situation is anything like anyone else’s. I can only share some observations from my own journey and hope that it translates. I came to StayLDS after the stillbirth of my daughter became the catalyst for a FC. I was not only questioning church promises but also my relationship and standing before God. Ultimately, the million dollar question was why He might have chosen not to intervene to save my daughter’s life.
Quote:“It is not so much the pain and suffering of life which crushes the individual as it is its meaninglessness and hopelessness.” C. A. Elwood
I read this quote in a book by Lowell Bennion (sp?). It spoke to me because a life full of meaning and hope can significantly reduce the negative impact of pain and suffering. Sometimes the sense of meaning and hope can even be deepened by pain and suffering. Meaning and hope does not make one impervious to feeling hardship – but it does help to keep one from going under or getting “crushed.”
Quote:“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
In the context of my faith crisis I had to first put faith and hope in the idea that God exists. I next put faith and hope into the concept that He loves me. I do not know these things but I do have hope in them. Anything more than that starts to get shaky in my opinion. For me, quotes like this – while initially unsettling (“How can prophets of God not know the answers???”) – eventually gave me permission to embrace uncertainty and put one foot in front of the other.
Quote:“I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene” Heber13
This statement reaffirms my hope and faith in a loving Father God but with a healthy dose of acceptance. I accept that God seemingly did not intervene for my family. I accept that God may not intervene in the earthly lives of his children. I accept that I may never find any evidence for God and that people who do not believe in Him are largely good people that are making informed decisions about their beliefs from the lack of evidence. I have hope and faith in a loving Father God anyway. I do this partially because I personally need that sense of meaning and hope to stave off the soul crushing effect of meaningless pain and suffering referenced in the first quote.
I am so sorry for the loss your friends have experienced. My heart goes out to them. I hope that somehow they will be able to hold onto hope and meaning in some form and that it will give them a lifeline to keep them from being crushed with sorrow and grief.
I wrote something, hit submit, now it’s in the ether. I had a women drive me home after I’d locked my keys and phone in the car. I didn’t know her but she told me about her acts of karma she tries to perform. Things like slipping the grocery clerk some extra cash for the lady behind her in the check out line. Whether the person looks needy or not, just a way to brighten some ones day. Or carrying a box of snacks and water around, if she sees someone on the side of the road with car issues, she offers them some snacks, water and her phone if it will help. She wouldn’t even let me pay her for the gas after she dropped me off.
There are still a few kind souls in the world.
Not classically inspirational, but in Stake Conference this weekend, the following things were said from the pulpit – including by the Area Authority, his wife and the Stake President’s wife: Quote:We read scriptures as a family every day. Well, not on Sundays. We figure going to church covers it on Sunday.
Quote:I have a Visiting Teaching companion who likes to schedule visits for the next month before this month ends. I just have to say, “Whoa, Sister Turbo. Slow down. Let’s finish this month before we start worrying about next month.”
Quote:Meditation can be wonderful. Find a quiet place; don’t worry about any prayer format or position; maybe even lie down in bed. Just open your heart to God, breathe and feel your blessings. Don”t worry if you fall asleep. You will wake up in a better mood than when you fell asleep – and isn’t that one important reason why we pray?
Quote:Don’t try to convert everyone with whom you talk. A study some years ago indicated that the average convert has seven exposures to the Church before being baptized. If you are number 1-6 all your life, you are not a failure. Your goal is not to get someone baptized; your goal is to plant or nourish the seed of the Gospel. If you do that, you will be successful – no matter the results you see.
Nice Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m sorry, AP. I like Wendell Berry’s “Fidelity: Five Stories” for thoughts about life and death. I won’t give a bulky out-of-context quote, but from the first pages of the first story, “Pray Without Ceasing”:
Quote:“The man of whom I once was pleased to say, “He is my grandfather,” has become the dead man who was my grandfather. He was, and is no more.
And this is part of the great mystery we call time.
But the past is present also. And this, I think, is part of the
greatermystery we call eternity…. Quote:I have in my mind, not just as a memory but as a
consolation, his welcome to me when I returned home…. Quote:I was experiencing consciously for the first time that transformation in which the living, by dying, pass into the living,
and I was full of grief and love and wonder.A family who we admire greatly just had their daughter hit by a car in the alley behind their house. She died instantly. She will be buried on her 23rd birthday. Another family in the same ward had a 4 year old drown in their pool this week. So much pain and sorrow for these two families. My heart and my soul just ache for them. amateurparent wrote:A family who we admire greatly just had their daughter hit by a car in the alley behind their house. She died instantly. She will be buried on her 23rd birthday. Another family in the same ward had a 4 year old drown in their pool this week. So much pain and sorrow for these two families. My heart and my soul just ache for them.
That hurts no matter what your belief system is. I have had both a sibling and a close cousin die within a short period of time. It hurts even today – decades later. It certainly moved my mom to hang on to the church teachings and be a true TBM.AP – How are your friends doing? Only share if you’re inclined. They’ve just been on my mind.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.