A Continuing Conversation

I want to share something I learned about three parables that Christ gave to His disciples.....and I'll tell you which ones in a minute.

But, first of all, think about Matthew 24 in the Bible. You know, the big chapter that talks about the Second Coming of the Savior...with all the scary stuff that precedes it. I can't tell you how many times I have read it and been amazed that the Savior told them to "see that ye be not troubled" when they began to witness the signs that He described. The chapter is full of stuff that is very troubling! Read it and think about how it makes you feel.

Well, I believe in those things, both that He is coming again and that there will be really, really hard times before He does. In fact, I am paying close attention to what is happening in the world and how it compares to His descriptions. But, more than that, I just have this feeling deep inside that tough stuff is coming and I want to know how to get through it.

So, I have been studying these things. A lot! For quite some time. And that brings me back to what I want to share.

If you study the End Times at all, the Parable of the Ten Virgins comes up again and again. I thought I was very familiar with the parable and several commentaries on it. But one day I read a commentary that was a little different and I wondered to myself, "Is that really in there?" It surprised me enough that I decided to look up that parable again and see if what the writer said was really there. (It wasn't. He was taking poetic license which is fine by me....I just want to know when it's done.) I tried to think where to find the parable. "Well, it's talking about the coming of the Bridegroom....maybe it's at the end of Matthew 24." It wasn't there. But I decided to take a minute and re-read the chapter. So interesting to me. The disciples ask Jesus when He will come again and what will be the sign of His Coming. Talk about an inspired question! And then Jesus tells them what to look for.

Well, obviously I didn't know where to find it in the Bible so I turned to the Topical Guide to look it up. And guess where it is! Matthew 25! That got my attention. It helped me to look at this chapter differently than I ever had before. And this is what I discovered...

Matthew 25 and its three parables are a continuation of the conversation the Savior had with His disciples in Matthew 24! That changes everything. Well, it did for me anyway.  

Matthew 24 - the signs to look for before the Second Coming

Matthew 25 - HOW TO PREPARE for those incredible events!

Well, those signs are pretty scary-sounding and so I am very interested in knowing what the Savior says about preparing for it. And I will be blogging about each of these parables in the coming weeks. I would really love it if you shared your thoughts with me as I present each parable in its turn. 

One last thought as I introduce this topic. Just to prove that this parable chapter is a continuing conversation, I want to point out the evidence for that. (Not that I need to, but it was a point of interest to me.) 

Matthew 25:1 has a Joseph Smith Translation footnote that says, "And, then, at that day..." (which in scripture-speak means the Last Days just before the Millenium) "...before the Son of man comes, the kingdom of..." This pointed out to me that He was still talking about this Last Day time period from the previous chapter. Of course, this is only found in the LDS edition of the Bible. If I had given more thought as I read previously, it might have been obvious to me anyway as it is clear enough as it stands in the King James edition. But the JST footnote got my attention.

And then Matthew 26:1 puts a period on the conversation, so to speak. "And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings..." And then the scriptures move on to a new topic.

This is all a big deal to me because it helped me to examine this chapter in a new light. As I read, I asked myself two questions: 

"How does this parable help prepare me for the events He has just described? 

What do I need to do to be prepared?

And that is what I am going to be talking about, starting next week. I hope it will end up a discussion. See you then.

Words Given Unto Them

A beautiful story is told in the Book of Mormon of miraculous events involving children who were present when Jesus Christ ministered to the people on the American continent after His Resurrection. I have always found it touching to read about the heavens opening and angels descending to surround the children and minister unto them. 

Then later on a subsequent visit to this ancient people we read of another miracle involving children. The Savior specifically spent time teaching the children and "he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he loosed their tongues that they could utter." 

And still more astonishing, "...babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things..."

How is such a thing possible? 

I don't know the answer to that. But I do know it is possible. It happened at my house, too. 

It was 1991 or 1992. I wish I could be more specific but my journal from that time was on a computer and lost when the computer crashed. My journals have been handwritten ever since. I did record this event again later so it would not be totally lost.

We were living in Lake Oswego. There was a big controversy brewing over new proposed sex education material in the schools. School board meetings were packed and the debate heated. So many people wanted to speak their minds. It was not feasible to accommodate everyone so the Board announced that there would be a lottery. Only those whose names/numbers were drawn would be allowed to testify. Fred planned on attending this meeting and he carefully prepared a speech. I stayed home with the children; but before he left we knelt as a family in prayer to ask God to give Fred the opportunity to speak at the meeting that night. Our son, Erik, offered the prayer.  He was only four or five at the time. I have written in my journal, "He prayed with such power that I was astonished." But that was just the beginning.

It was soon bedtime for the children. I sat on Erik's bed while he knelt beside it to say his prayers. What happened next amazes me even to this day. This little boy began to pray like nothing I have ever heard before.  His tongue was loosed and he prayed a sermon. A four year old!  He prayed about several specific things to happen for Fred at his school board meeting, things that were way beyond a child to know.  In fact, I would not have had the wisdom to pray for the things he requested of the Lord. I just sat in amazement at what I was witnessing.

I tucked all my children into bed and sat marveling over what had just happened....and waited for Fred to return.  He didn't come home until after midnight. What stories we had to share! He was invited to speak, the second from the last. It had been a disturbing meeting with people openly mocking speakers who called for moral principles in teaching the children. Fred gave his speech. He received a standing ovation!  (No one else had.)  He didn't get home until after midnight because he was thronged with people wanting to talk to him about the principles he had espoused. He told me about the events of the evening and I told him about Erik's prayer. We wept as we realized that every part of Erik's lengthy prayer had been answered in exact detail that evening. Truly his tongue had been loosed and words given to him. And Fred had been blessed beyond his natural ability. 

It is one of the cherished experiences of my life.

  23 And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, ^anot only men but women also. Now this is not all; little ^bchildren do have words given unto them many times, which ^cconfound the wise and the learned.  

Alma 32:23, The Book of Mormon

There are so many ways God wants to bless us. The experiences that we read about in the scriptures are not just for an ancient day. They are recorded as a testimony of what is possible for us today, too. 

Search the scriptures. Hope and pray and prepare to receive God's blessings, whatever they may be. You may find yourself surprised, too. 

Knock At The Door

A knock at the door. A stranger waits, holding a small piece of paper with a name written on it. The door opens and the stranger asks, "Would you please ask Brother Morgan to pray for [insert name from paper]?" The request made, the stranger leaves. Now aware of the need Brother Morgan retires quickly to his bedroom and begins to pray fervently for this person, as fervently as if the person were his own son or daughter.

Brother Morgan was my great-great grandfather. Such requests to him came frequently, according to our family history. I have always been fascinated by this.

How do you think praying for someone helps the person in need?
Do you think it does? 

Or does it just make you feel better?

These are questions that I have had. My daughter Amy gave me some answers. With her permission I share her experience.

Amy is a pray-er. Thankfully. One of her siblings faced an extremely serious problem and there wasn't much that anyone else could do to help with it. 

Aren't so many situations like that...you can't do much to change anything but wish fervently that you could fix things for the people you love? 

Out of her love for her brother Amy was frequently praying for him. She pleaded with God to help him. But she wondered as she prayed over and over again just how her prayers could help. What difference could they make? And she expressed those concerns to God. 

"I just don't see how my prayers can make any difference for him. How can my prayers help anyone?" 

Have you ever felt the same way? I certainly have. God gave her an answer.

"That is because you do not understand the power there is in prayer."

That really hit me. As much as I have prayed in my life and as many wonderful prayer experiences as I have had, still I found that this insight applied to me, too. I do not comprehend the great power that is unleashed in prayer. 

But when Amy shared this experience with me, something changed inside. I knew what she said was true and that praying is tapping into a very real power source. Talk about increased confidence in prayer! I love knowing that prayer sets all kinds of things in motion. 

Initializing that power. We can all do it.  Anytime we turn to God, reaching out to Him, He is there to take our hands.  This I know without any doubt. Whether our faith in Him and in prayer is great or small has no bearing on whether He will respond. He is always there. And when we pray, the power begins. 

We don't have to be powerless in overwhelming situations.

Let us engage the powers of heaven! We need it.

A Child's Prayer

Johnnie's mom was mean.  All the neighborhood children knew that, at least I thought we all did. Looking back I can't figure out why I was so intimidated by her. I can't remember any unpleasant interaction with her myself. But in my young mind, Johnnie's mom was mean.

So when Johnnie came over to play one day and confessed to me some misdeed he had done, now long-since forgotten, I was plenty worried for him.  We both knew he was really going to get it.

But Johnnie had a plan. He was going to lie and deny everything when his mom found out. It seemed so plausible then.

Although I don't remember my exact age at the time of this incident, I was old enough to recognize a lie, which ability typically doesn't kick in until around age five, if I remember my childhood development principles correctly. My guess is that I was six when this happened.

At any rate, I knew that Johnnie's plan was wrong, that he shouldn't lie. And I told him so. He, of course, wasn't buying it. But again, I encouraged him with all my young heart not to lie to his mother. I went so far as to promise him that if he would tell the truth that he would not get in trouble. Where I got that idea I have no idea.  Perhaps my mother taught me that. Or perhaps I was responding to a prompting of the Holy Ghost because this event ended up being quite the testimony-builder for my young heart.

Johnnie was persuaded. He took courage in my fledgling witness that when we choose to keep God's commandments that we are blessed. And he left me with his new plan to go home and confess to his mother. I felt so good about that.

But once he left I remembered that Johnnie's mom was really mean, and I got really scared. She was gonna kill him, I just knew it. And I did the only thing I could do. I prayed. This was my very first real prayer. My parents had diligently been tutoring me in the mechanics of prayer throughout my young life, putting words in my mouth and modeling prayers that I could copy. But this was the first time that I turned to prayer for myself. And how fervently I prayed at that moment on my front porch.

"Heavenly Father, Johnnie has gone home to tell his mom the bad thing that he did. But she is so mean. I'm afraid what will happen to him.  I promised him that if he would not lie that he wouldn't get in trouble. And he believed me.  Please, please, please help him."

It was a desperate plea but my first true act of faith. 

Later Johnnie came trotting back over to the house, bright and cheerful.  "You were right!  I didn't get in trouble at all when I told my mom the truth." It was truly a miracle in my young eyes. God heard me! He helped me! He helped Johnnie.

That was 55 years ago. As simple of a story as that is, it is one of the important events in my life.  That initial reaching for God. That tender reaching back. I learned then that He is there and the many years since have only confirmed that truth. We have only to put out our hand and He will take it. Really.

I wonder if Johnnie remembers....