Joseph’s Revelation to Take Mary to Wife & a Connection to Family History

18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus. (Matt. 1:18-25)

It is interesting to think about how we got this information about a very private and personal dilemma Joseph had and the significant decision he had to make and an important revelation he had—that he had planned to put Mary away privately and was reassured by an angel in a dream that Mary’s pregnancy was not because of fornication but was a miracle according to the will of God.

We know this stuff about Joseph because at some point he told others about it. Maybe he told Mary and it became a story that was part of their family culture of raising Jesus. At some point that story got around among believers, and we know about it today because Matthew recorded it.

This is so fascinating because a private part of someone’s personal history became part of a family history tradition and eventually became part of shared church history of all Christians.

Applying this to us, I think it shows how important it is to record the events surrounding our dilemmas, our decisions, and our revelations concerning the same. Those things change the course of our lives and our families, though we may not know the full extent of their impact until much later. We also don’t know how those stories will help our families in the future, or even other people. We don’t know how far those stories may travel.

One of Mormon’s observations on the Nephite records

In the middle of telling us what the Nephites did to deal with the Gadianton robbers and telling about the passage of time, we get this bit from Mormon about the Nephite records and history:

8 And there had many things transpired which, in the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous; nevertheless, they cannot all be written in this book; yea, this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done among so many people in the space of twenty and five years;

9 But behold there are records which do contain all the proceedings of this people; and a shorter but true account was given by Nephi.

10 Therefore I have made my record of these things according to the record of Nephi, which was engraven on the plates which were called the plates of Nephi. (3 Nephi 5:8-10)

I find it interesting that among all the records Mormon notes a “shorted but true” account given by Nephi. That makes me think there were records of the same events that had been romanticized and distorted and twisted and elaborated upon. Mormon probably compared the different accounts and trusted Nephi’s account because of his righteousness. Prophets tend to see historical events through the perspective of “how is this increasing or decreasing society’s ability to repent, make good choices, and come closer to Christ?”

It is interesting to see that Mormon comments that some would find things that transpired and were recorded to be “great and marvelous,” but he doesn’t go into detail about who exactly that would be. Would righteous people find those things great and marvelous, but there just wasn’t the room on the plates for them? Or would the world find those things great and marvelous, but they weren’t worth noting because Mormon had to stick to the spiritual things?

Either way, I suppose these verses tell us why Mormon sticks to condensing using the plates of Nephi instead of the plethora of other records available. It is always fascinating to see what he interjects about the records he’s working with throughout the text. It is as though he feels someone (or a group of someones) looking over his shoulder who wonder why he makes the choices he does, and he feels he has to explain his methodology or why the alternatives aren’t attractive.

I can’t help but be grateful for the hard work he did. When I try to imagine what it would be like to condense a library of history books down into one book, especially while on the run from one’s enemies, I’m pretty awed.  But then, someday I will have to condense the events of my journals down into a condensed history of my life, so perhaps I should be more alert and thinking about how he does what he does.

Excerpt from the Journal of George Q. Cannon

I’ve been reading through the journal of George Q. Cannon, which the church has posted online. I find it interesting and inspiring to see both how normal he was and also how faithful a servant of God he was.

While Elder George Q. Cannon was on a mission to England, he and his presidency wrote the following letter on 8 Nov 1861 to Elders Van der Woude and Paul A. Schettler, who were serving missions in Amsterdam, Holland:

“Dear Brethren,

Your favors of the 18th ult. and 4th inst. have both been received and would have been replied to earlier had not a press of other business presented. On the 2nd. inst a letter was forwarded to you enclosing a Bank Note for £5, which we hope you have duly rec^d and that your wants have been supplied.

We discover a considerable difference between the tone and spirit of your letter of the 18th Oct. & that of the 4th Nov. In the first you say that there are many honest-hearted people in that country who are seeking after the truth; but in your last you seem, (or at least Bro. Van der Woude in whose name the two letters alluded to are written,) to be almost, if not entirely, discouraged, and think that you cannot do much more in Amsterdam; because but you have turned that city up side down. From reading your last letter we are led to conclude that as your money has decreased your faith has decreased with it, and that the fear of imprisonment &^c has had an injurious effect upon your efforts and energies. Brethren, it is useless for you to attempt to open the gospel door to a nation if you suffer such feelings of doubt and fear – feelings so utterly unworthy of you as Elders and messengers to the nations, to assail you. Every man who goes forth to bear this gospel to a nation who has never heard it must meet with difficulties, or at least should be prepared to have them to encounter, and should never think that the Lord would send him on an idle errand. He should have faith that when he is sent the Lord will assist him and open his way before him, and though he may not be so successful in the beginning as he could wish, that if he will only continue faithful, perseveringly seeking to proclaim the message in wisdom with which he is intrusted, he will be successful in magnifying his priesthood and clearing his skirts from their blood, whether he should baptize any or not.

We do not wish you to suffer or to be put to any inconvenience for want of necessary funds; but suppose there were no “Church” for you to call on for assistance, as has been the case in repeated instances before this with our Elders in opening up new countries and places, what would you do? Do you suppose that you would be justified in leaving that people or nation unwarned & the honest-in heart ungathered, because you would be imprisoned for not having money if you remained? That very imprisonment, should that be your fate, might be the means of opening a door for the effectual preaching of the gospel. Prisons have not retarded the preaching of the Gospel in past times, and we do not believe they will in future times. If you were put in prison, we suppose you would be fed, and therefore could live, and they could not keep you very well from telling the truth, & the telling of the truth might convert the jailor (it has done it before) and your fellow-prisoners.

There is another point, mentioned in your letter of the 18th Oct. that we wish to call your attention to. You say, “we would have done much good, if polygamy was not; but this is a very great obstacle,” and add further that it “has stopped Bro. Schettler’s endeavors in this city also.” It may be that our belief in the doctrine of polygamy may be urged against you, and you may think you have cause for believing that you might have done much good if it were not for polygamy; but if polygamy should be unknown, they would find some other objection that would afford them sufficient foundation, in their opinion, for rejecting your message, and illtreating and persecuting you. The messengers of the Gospel were hated, reviled, imprisoned, cast out and killed before polygamy was believed or known by us as a people. Indeed, these effects followed the preaching of the gospel just as much before polygamy was revealed as they have since. You give the Adversary an opportunity to weaken you, therefore, by permitting the thought to enter your mind that God has revealed principle that in and of itself acts as a barrier or obstacle in the way of the people receiving the truth. He will not fail to avail himself of this weak spot in your armour and it will be to your injury. Pure honest-hearted & virtuous people are & will be prepared for the reception of this principle, though it may be opposed to their traditions and prejudices, & they will believe, comprehend & rejoice in it. Do not, therefore, be fearful upon this point, or think any longer that if it were not for this principle you could do much good, for it will carry its own conviction with it.

In writing this to you, dear brethren, we do not wish you to think that we are indulging in fault-finding. We write to you in this strain because we think you have too easily bent before the storm you have had to meet, and because we wish to strengthen you and have you act the part of good soldiers and faithful ministers of our God. We desire to see you magnify your priesthood and do a good work on the earth. Be humble, be wise in your conversation & address, & seek for the spirit and power of your good & you will do a good work, & rejoice in your labors whether you baptize any or not. Remember that a great city or a great nation is not warned in a week or a month. Seek for the Spirit of revelation & wisdom, that you may be directed to the honest-in heart & if you are led to leave Amsterdam and go elsewhere, follow the dictation of the spirit. In relation to printing, be wise & move considerately. Be careful what you publish & that it is correct. May the Lord bless & sustain you is prayer of your brethren in the Lord.

Amasa M. Lyman,

Charles C. Rich,

George Q. Cannon.”

I love the way they use faith and principles to counter the doubts and fears of the struggling elders.  There is a buoyant optimism and hope there that demonstrates how we must use the shield of faith to counter the fiery darts of the adversary.

I also appreciate that he points out that if polygamy had been unknown, some other principle would have been made the basis for objecting to the church. This pattern continues today. Today it is the church's stand on the traditional family. There will always be people objecting to something or other about the restored gospel, and the honest-hearted and virtuous will be prepared to receive the gospel message, regardless of their initial prejudices.

These are not the instructions of one who has not been tested and tried himself.  He wrote a book telling the story of his first mission to Hawaii when a teenager, and his faith-promoting experiences rival the those of Elder Groberg’s to New Zealand. (That book, “My First Mission” is actually available on Kindle. I highly recommend it.)

A meditation on the atonement of Christ

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Our Sunday school class last week spent some time thinking and talking about these verses:

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11-12)

Over and over, my fellow Saints observed in different ways that it is neat to know that Christ can help us, not just with removing our sins, but also with our pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, and infirmities.

The question is, how? How will Christ help us?  Well, we don’t exactly know how.  We know the mechanism is Christ’s grace and mercy, but we don’t know how and what Christ will do in any particular situation that we bring to Him.  We have to find out.   We have to trust that He has experienced it, and then call upon God and ask for help, then continue to cope in as best we can, while looking for His grace. 

At the risk of sharing too much, I’m going to give a recent example from my life.  About a week ago I had very bad cramps and bloating associated with my menstrual cycle.  It woke me up in the very early morning.  For the next hour I coped with the pain, trying to deal with it in different ways (including pain relievers and such).   My sincere question at that time was, “How can the atonement of Christ help me with this?” and I prayed for mercy and to be helped through it.

In some miraculous way I was helped through it.   At the time I couldn’t tell I was being helped, and afterward at first all I knew was that somehow I had been helped.  I had to think about it to be able to understand.  So here’s how I think I was helped. 1) I got ideas of how to move around such that a new position would bring about the next bit of progression through it.  2) Praying my way through it and pondering how the atonement might help me kept my mind off the pain and kept me from getting frustrated. 3) Even though the whole process lasted an hour, it didn’t feel so long because I was concentrated on praying and pondering. 4) My husband woke up near the end and gave me a blessing, so I had some company. 5) I was able to go back to sleep afterwards for three hours.

This was how the atonement helped me with this experience. If my circumstances were different, the divine help might have come in a slightly different way. 

Still, it taught me that using the atonement in our lives often requires experimenting and asking for help in a situation where we may wonder if the atonement can be used.  (Oh look! Experimenting is an opportunity for exploration and adventure of a spiritual nature!)  

We may wonder, how is the atonement of Christ going to help me with this?  But I learned that if we pray for mercy and strength, then re-engage in the problem, pondering and looking for the hand of the Lord, we will receive help.  And when we have been helped, we need to record what happened so that we can remember for later. These experiences tend to fade too quickly.  But if we can remember, they encourage us to keep experimenting with new ways to use the atonement.

The brother of Jared makes his own good weather

I was reading about the long stormy time that the brother of Jared and his people spent crossing the sea and all the difficult conditions they endured for so long. I found myself wondering if I could endure 344 days of stormy sea crossing.

5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.

9 And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.

10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.

11 And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water. (Ether 6:5-11)

When I read about the brother of Jared praising and thanking the Lord continually and how they sang praises to the Lord, I wondered how they kept that up for so long. Wouldn’t they get tired of it? And with all that stormy weather, it was a really rough ride, so how could they keep up the gratitude and praise for so long?

Eventually I realized that the thanks and the praise and singing was actually their best weapon for keeping their spirits up during all the storm.

When you think about it, there was much they could have worried about.

--Why is this storm lasting so long?

--What if our barge never come to the top of the water again?

--What if those whales and sharks run into the barges and break them open?

--What if we never find land?

--What if the lights suddenly go out?

--What if the food and water runs out?

--What if we get swamped by a wave when the hatch is open?

There are lots of things they could worry about, and yet they were at the mercy of the wind and waves and the direction the wind would take them. They didn’t have control over their direction at all. All they could do was simply cope by means of the preparations they had previously made. (How do you and I deal with a loss of control?)

The brother of Jared knew he could do nothing about their surroundings except pray. So rather than give in to the natural doubts and fears and worries that would arise, he chose to take responsibility for his own attitude. He couldn’t control the weather, but he could control his attitude and response to it. By his continual prayers and thanks and praises to God and singing he made his own weather for himself and his people.

We also get a hint through Moroni’s abridgement of how the brother of Jared chose to look at the dangers they faced.  With each difficulty recorded there is also attached some sort of mitigating factor that helped.

Sure, there were mountain waves that broke upon them (and they had to see those waves to know they were mountain-sized), but no water hurt them.

Sure, they were buried in the sea (and they had to open the hatch and have water come in to realize that), but their vessels were tight like a dish and like the ark of Noah, so they didn’t leak.

Sure, the wind blew the entire time and raised great and terrible tempests, but it always blew in the same direction, which had to be toward the promised land, otherwise the Lord would not have had them go to sea where they did.

Sure, there were sea monsters and whales gallivanting all over and battering into their barges on occasion, but no damage was done.

Sure, the barges were dark, but the Lord had prepared shining stones for them to have light all the time.  (And we can also realize that their stones didn’t need fuel and didn’t need to be tended and fed like a fire.  They weren’t dangerous to touch, and they didn’t make smoke in their  little enclosed barges.)

Hmm. I’m thinking I should take that as a example for writing in my journal. If I record a difficulty I’m having, I should also look for a blessing the Lord is giving me to help me with it.

Today let’s make our own weather in response to the difficulties we have to go through but can’t control. Let’s combat worries and fears with prayer, praise, thanks, and song and see if that makes a difference.

A lesson from the worshipping beasts and elders around the throne in Revelation 4

Revelation 4 is kind of an odd chapter because it doesn’t seem to have anything happen in it except the worship of God by twenty four elders and four beasts.

So I started to ask myself what I could learn from it. 

Then I realized that since all that worship was the most notable thing in the chapter, that was probably where the lesson is. 

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:8-11)

What does this tell us about what heaven is like?  It tells us that the inhabitants closest to God are absolutely enthralled with Heavenly Father’s holiness. Their gratitude and worship is insuppressible, and each time someone starts into praising the Lord, the others can’t help but go into fresh paroxysms of worship themselves.

I have thought these endless rounds of worship excessive, but this time when I was reading it the thought came to me that perhaps it is me who is out of step and that I need to learn much greater humility and gratitude than I now have or have ever had before.

And there’s another factor to consider: if we were to come into a court of a mortal ruler and it was full of people praising the mortal king endlessly, we would think the place was full of yes-men and flatterers. We would have doubts as to whether he fully deserved all that praise.

But the elders in this chapter here say to God “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power.”  Heavenly Father really deserves all that praise and credit anyone gives Him here and forever because He lives up to it.  (When you think about it, just the way He can get His work done with imperfect people such as us, all while allowing us all our agency, is a miracle.)

If we are ever to achieve that heavenly worship and gratitude, I think we’re going to have to become much better at noticing and remembering what the Lord does for us. 

It is so much easier to glorify God when the things He has done for us are recent and when our memories stay fresh.  Now, I suppose the inhabitants of heaven have improved memories, having a perfect knowledge of their blessed and happy state, but we mortals need memory aids, so I suppose that the personal journal is an important tool for achieving this heavenly state of worship and gratitude.

Let’s see, wasn’t it Elder Eyring who counseled us several years ago to try to write daily in a journal what the Lord has done for us today?

Multiple records give a truer picture

Notice the difference between these two records:

Noah-Limhi record

34 And it came to pass that Alma and the people of the Lord were apprised of the coming of the king’s army; therefore they took their tents and their families and departed into the wilderness….

1 And it came to pass that the army of the king returned, having searched in vain for the people of the Lord. (Mosiah 18:34-19:1)

Alma record

1 Now Alma, having been warned of the Lord that the armies of king Noah would come upon them, and having made it known to his people, therefore they gathered together their flocks, and took of their grain, and departed into the wilderness before the armies of king Noah.

2 And the Lord did strengthen them, that the people of king Noah could not overtake them to destroy them. (Mosiah 23:1-2)

The difference in viewpoints gives us a more accurate picture. The Noah-Limhi record of Mosiah 18:34-19:1 states that Alma and his people were “apprised of the coming of the king’s army,” but the Alma record of Mosiah 23:1-2 shows us it was the Lord who warned Alma that King Noah’s army would come. The Noah-Limhi record indicates how King Noah’s people thought some person must have warned them, implying they didn’t think God could warn them. It is nice to have Alma’s record because then we learn the truth—that the Lord can warn us ahead of time to flee dangers.

Also, the Alma record of Mosiah 23:1-2 shows that Alma’s people believed that the armies of King Noah were very close to catching them and the Lord strengthened them that the armies could not overtake them. But the Noah-Limhi record of Mosiah 19:1 shows us that the armies of King Noah searched in vain for Alma’s people and couldn’t find them anywhere. This shows the Lord warned quite a bit in advance, and Alma and his people were obedient to the Lord’s warning, leaving quickly enough that King Noah’s armies had not a clue where they had gone. Chasing simply never entered the case. It is nice that we have this record too because we get a truer picture of what happened.

The Nephites seem to have learned this benefit too.

5 And it came to pass that Mosiah did read, and caused to be read, the records of Zeniff to his people; yea, he read the records of the people of Zeniff, from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until they returned again.

6 And he also read the account of Alma and his brethren, and all their afflictions, from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until the time they returned again.

7 And now, when Mosiah had made an end of reading the records, his people who tarried in the land were struck with wonder and amazement.

8 For they knew not what to think; for when they beheld those that had been delivered out of bondage they were filled with exceedingly great joy.

9 And again, when they thought of their brethren who had been slain by the Lamanites they were filled with sorrow, and even shed many tears of sorrow.

10 And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.

11 And again, when they thought upon the Lamanites, who were their brethren, of their sinful and polluted state, they were filled with pain and anguish for the welfare of their souls.

12 And it came to pass that those who were the children of Amulon and his brethren, who had taken to wife the daughters of the Lamanites, were displeased with the conduct of their fathers, and they would no longer be called by the names of their fathers, therefore they took upon themselves the name of Nephi, that they might be called the children of Nephi and be numbered among those who were called Nephites. (Mosiah 25:5-12)

In this block of verses, Mosiah reads to the people the records of Zeniff-Noah-Limhi and Zeniff-Noah-Alma. It seems there is such a mixture of good and bad in these stories (and we see it for ourselves) that there is a mixture of reactions, both happy and sad. The Nephites seem to have thought about what they heard from all the angles—Limhi’s people (both survivors and slain), Alma’s people, the Lamanites, and the Amulonites.

On this occasion the children of Amulon and the wicked priests of Noah hear about their fathers in a totally new way, and they so dislike what they hear that they decide to call themselves by some other name than the names of their fathers. (And by the way, these children of Amulon-and-priests are not the children by the Lamanite mothers. These are the children who had been left behind with Limhi’s people, and escaped with Limhi’s people. *)

If there had only been the record of Zeniff, perhaps the children of Amulon and the wicked priests would never have learned about the things their fathers had done, but because Alma also kept a record, they found out.

What does this mean for us today? It reminds us of the record we make of our lives; someday our descendants are going to read it. But not only that, in the judgment day when all the books are opened and we are judged according to those things that were written, we may find that other people have written about us too in their records. It will be a mix of good and bad. Perfidies that we have committed and whitewashed in our own record will be presented in all the scarlet hues of hurt. And if we haven’t repented, what will be the result? Won’t our children wish to do the same thing as Amulon’s children did? Won’t they be displeased with us and wish to be part of a different family?

The principle in these verses is very valuable to us. It is that multiple records of our acts (both good and bad) are being kept besides our own and someday they will be read and known. We want good things to be found instead of bad things.

* No matter which set of children the Book of Mormon refers to, Amulon’s and his wicked fellows would not have a good account. His children by the Lamanite women would have found out the whoredoms of their fathers with King Noah and their part in the martyrdom of Abinadi. Their children who had been left behind with the people of Limhi would have found out the treachery of their fathers in joining the Lamanites and their cruelty enslaving and persecuting Alma’s people. Either way, their case was pretty awful.

Motivation to keep sacred records: external versus internal

In 1 Nephi 5 when Lehi examines the brass plates, he finds all kinds of good stuff on them. Something that I noticed with more attention recently was that they also had “many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah” (v 13). I found this interesting because Jeremiah was a contemporary of Lehi and had been put in prison, according to Nephi. What is more odd is that “Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and his fathers had kept the records” (v16). “Kept the records” could mean keeping them secure, or it could also mean adding to them. But Laban does not seem like the type who would be carefully recording Jeremiah’s prophecies, full as they are of imminent destruction. Can we imagine this murderous man studiously laboring, stylus in hand, to engrave the words of Jeremiah?

This puzzled me for a while until I looked at the chronology of the kings as in the Bible Dictionary. I found that Jeremiah began his ministry during Josiah’s reign. It is likely that part of Josiah’s reforms were mandates that prophecies be recorded, and Laban and his fathers were responsible to see that royal command was carried out, so they wrote down many prophecies of the prophets, including Jeremiah’s. But it seems as soon as Josiah died, all motivation for record-keeping ended and the brass plates went neglected in the treasury. The motivation was only external and hadn’t been internalized.

This has some application in my own life. This semester I have taken a seminary preservice institute class and one of the assignments was to write down insights received during daily scripture study. The class ended this week. I could stop writing my insights down every day if I wanted to. But if I stopped, I realize I would be no better than Laban and his family. So I think I must keep on.

I have a better reason for continuing, however. It has been very helpful to me to write the things I have learned without worrying about evaluating them on whether to post them on my blog or not. It has reminded me that I really do learn so much from the scriptures through the Spirit, even if it is little tidbits at a time. It has also reminded me that sometimes when we record what we have learned, in the very act of writing, the Lord gives us even greater insight.

Train the Next Generation of Journal Writers

My introduction to journal writing came at a very young age. When I was five years old my mom bought journals for my brother and I.

July 1, 1984
I am writing for Michaela: Today we went to church. We went to primary. We obeyed the gospel. We took the sacrament. Before church we had blueberry pancakes. We got ready for church. We put on our Sunday clothes. I listened to stories from the Old Testament on cassette tape…

We would sit on the couch together, she with my journal and a pen, and I would dictate to her what I wanted her to write in my journal. I cannot adequately explain to you the wonderfully satisfying feeling of power I got from knowing that my mom had to write down EVERYTHING I told her to write. (The five year old gets the control in this situation! How great is this?!) Of course, how much I could say was limited by how fast she wrote, so I would have to wait while she finished writing, yet this helped me figure out what I wanted to say next. And I meanwhile I loved that feeling of power.

Aug 19,1984
We went to church. I love you always. And I love my Heavenly Father. He loves me every night. He always keeps us safe from evil every day. We walked to the chapel. We had a long talk…

Examining the frequency of these early entries, I see that my Mom was pretty consistent in giving us the opportunity to “write” in our journals. For about a year, there was usually one entry per month.

There’s one entry my mom wrote in my journal without my knowledge that today makes me wonder.

Jan 5, 1985
Michaela told me a dream she had. She said she dreamed she died & went to heaven and saw Jesus there. She said she liked it there. She said everything was bright.

I really wish I could remember that dream.

Even back in 1985 I was already very interested in the scriptures.

April 21, 1985
….Alma was a prophet. He went to Ammonihah to preach because they were wicked. They kicked him out and he started home. An angel told him to go back…

This was also the entry in which I began to write in my journal with my own hand, but soon my hand tired and my mom finished the entry for me at my dictation.

Mom kept our journals with hers in the back of a closet. To me this seemed to give them an aura of importance and adultness, so that when she brought them out for us to write in, I felt like I was participating in something of special maturity and significance.

In 1986 there are no journal entries, but they start up again in 1987.

Mar 29,1987
It has been a long time from when I wrote in my journal. On March 28, 1987 I was baptized. Today I was confirmed a member of the church…

A good portion of the rest of the entry is devoted to demonstrating my newest scholastic achievements in mathematics--the art of multiplication. I also chose to demonstrate another new skill—cursive writing—by writing random words in loopy script. I remember that my mother saw this and made a gentle objection that journals were for writing important things and in the future I might look back on that entry and think it was silly. I felt she was right about this, but I continued with the math and the cursive. I continued because deep down those things were important to me at age 8 and I wanted to show my progress, not just tell it. I now look back and I am glad I put it in because seeing the cursive and the numbers reminds me of the feeling I had of achievement. In one way my mom was right—the cursive and the math seems foolish now—but in another way I was right too—putting that stuff in helped me preserve the feeling I had at that time, which was not foolish.

After this, my handwriting takes over and the entries are fewer—about 2 every year until 1990—until the important day of October 20, 1990. On this day, my journaling began to gain a little more traction. You may ask how. Well, on this important day, we had stake conference, and outside the chapel there just happened to be a table of church materials for sale and on that table was a little red journal. I thought that journal was gorgeous. (My other journal that my mom had gotten for me was this big hideous thing of brown and white, which was so thoroughly adult and too thoroughly boooooorrrriinngg for any self-respecting kid. Why couldn’t it have been at least brown and blue like my brother’s?!) I looked at the red journal and I really wanted it. So I bought me that journal. (I don’t know why I had brought money with me to stake conference, but I had.)

Since then, I have filled up least 12 journals, which comes to an average of one every 2.5 years.

Looking back, I don’t know why my mom started us on keeping a journal. Maybe she was inspired. Maybe she had remembered an article in the Ensign that talked about helping children to journal. Maybe she was following counsel from the prophets. The only thing that I wish she had done different was get me a more fun-looking journal. But in every other way, she supplied all the encouragement I needed to become a prolific journal writer. Periodically when something amazing and epic would happen in my life, she would tell me, “You should write about this in your journal!” and explain to me why it was important. Then I would go find my journal to record the event or the sensation. She even taught by example; just about every Sunday she would spend a few hours writing in her own journal, which was always a large sober black book. (I always thought it was odd that she would always buy these black books, when she loved color so much.) By the time I was in college, I was thoroughly hooked on venting in my journal.

If you want to get your young child started on keeping a journal, doing it about once a month is a good way to keep it novel for them so that it doesn’t become a chore. It’s a good activity for a Sunday.

Overall, I think the following principles can help encourage journal-writing in children.

1) Choice in the journal itself
2) Giving service by taking their dictation (by hand or on the computer)
3) Pointing it out when an event is worth recording
4) Giving privacy (when they are older)
5) Being an example of journal writing

Don’t worry if your child acquires a journal for him or herself besides the one you have bought for them. They may be trying to establish their compositional independence. Don’t worry if your child acquires multiple blank books for him or herself. They may be using one book for writings of a one type and another book for writings of a different type. Don’t worry if they begin writing in a journal for a while and then move to a different one after only a few entries. Journal writing is a very tactile operation and they may have decided that the paper doesn’t feel right. Even the choice of pen can make a difference in whether they like to do it or not.

How did you get introduced to journal writing? Do you do anything right now to involve your children in journal writing?

How be it that ye have not written this thing?

Here's something that popped out at me today..

6 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he said unto them again, after he had expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received, he said unto them: Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not.
7 And it came to pass that he said unto Nephi: Bring forth the record which ye have kept.
8 And when Nephi had brought forth the records, and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon them and said:
9 Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?
10 And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled.
11 And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?
12 And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.
13 And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded. ( 3 Nephi 23:7-13)

I can just imagine Nephi squirming a little when the Lord asked him why the saints’ resurrection hadn’t been recorded. There is a volume of feeling in that sentence—“And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.”

“Oh, yeah.. I forgot to write that down..”

(Often the only way that I realize that I didn’t write something important is when I discover that its influence on my life has been bigger than I thought and I go back to look for it in my journals and I find no mention of it.)

What these verses say to me is that Christ wants us to write in our journals and record the events that fulfill prophecies made to us collectively and to us as individuals.

We have prophecies and promises given to us from God in many different blessings. We are given written copies of our patriarchal blessing, but I’ve observed that it is also helpful to write down things said to us in other blessings as well--setting-apart blessings, father's blessings, comfort blessings, healing blessings, beginning-of-the-school-year blessings--so that we can remember and notice when the promises are fulfilled.

I can remember one year before I went off to BYU when my dad gave me a father’s blessing, and one thing that I thought was odd was that among other things, he blessed me that I would learn about other cultures. I saw that fulfilled over the fall semester when I had a Brazilian roommate and then in the winter semester when I had a Mexican roommate. I got to see how they did things. We sang our national anthems for each other, we got to learn about different types of cooking, we got to hear different music, hear history we hadn't before, hear new jokes, learn about different holidays, hear how they did things back in their country..

A different year, my dad gave me a blessing that I’d get along with my roommates, that I’d listen, notice, and appreciate them, and benefit from their strengths, and that I’d be patient with their struggles. That year I had difficulties with two roommates. They hated the smell of my shampoo, the way my curling iron and space heater tended to make the electrical breakers trip, and the smell of meat cooking in the morning as my other roommate made her lunch for the day. They didn’t like how I lurked in the doorway while they watched TV in the living room and my laugh was too loud for them. I didn’t much like their TV or music choices, the way they affectionately called each other “whore”, or their refrigerator magnet of Michelango’s “David”. (Call me a Philistine, but I don’t like seeing a man in the nude, even if it’s supposed to be art.) Our relationship wasn’t very amiable, and we resorted to giving each other a lot of space. I desperately needed reasons to appreciate them so that I wouldn’t mind living with them, so I observed and listened to them a lot, trying to look deeper for good things that I could admire in them even though we didn’t talk much. Because of the effort I put in, I felt like I got along with them though they may not have felt they could get along with me.

With both these experiences I remember noticing what was happening to fulfill them and thinking, "Wow, my dad was inspired when he gave me that blessing." It is interesting how such simple words in blessings take on a world of meaning and significance when you find yourself actually living it. It’s like icebergs—only 10% shows above the surface of the water, and the other 90% bobs about unseen until you run into it.

I think it is also good to look for prophecies made to us as a church in general conference. We’ve been told so often to get out of debt and we see now how important being out of debt is in this difficult economic environment when debt is vexing the nation. We’ve been told to strengthen our families and now we see how important strong families are.

So why should we write about fulfillments?

I think it is to help us increase our faith. When we record the promises we are given and then later record how those promises were fulfilled, that reinforces to us that the Lord keeps His promises. This helps us have faith that promises yet unfulfilled eventually will be. We need this when it seems like there has been an indefinite delay. Couples who can’t have children need this. Parents with children who have gone astray need this. Parents who have had a child die need this. Unmarried people need this. Really, people from all walks of life with all varieties of problems and troubles need this.

How should we write these things?

One thing we can do is have someone be a scribe whenever we receive a priesthood blessing and then write down what we remember afterward. When one of my new nephews was given a name and a blessing, his mother asked me and another sister-in-law to write down what was said. My mom was scribe for one of the before-the-school-year blessings my dad gave me. Other times it is not possible to have someone else present, so it is good to write down immediately the main things that we remember from the blessing. I’ve done this a lot after being set apart for callings.

Then it is a matter of remembering the blessing every so often. I usually have a few things that I fixate on from my blessings that are very important to me and every once in a while I mentally compare the progress I’ve made to those things I remember. When I see that something is being fulfilled, I get very excited and I write about it in my journal.

If the time ever comes when the Lord asks me to bring forth the record that I have kept for Him to inspect, I want show Him a thorough job.

Image: Jesus asks for the records, http://freebookofmormon.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/323-christ_records.jpg&imgrefurl=http://freebookofmormon.wordpress.com/the-book-of-mormon-in-pictures/&usg=__FXk65uDqnKuIfuDbAfzWEbKt4Oc=&h=600&w=800&sz=53&hl=en&start=6&sig2=IQltEiMRqXcCkCk7tD4ckQ&um=1&tbnid=SOUIiErq7rnlPM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DChrist,%2Brecord%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=aDIgSqawAaWkNdKYlKsJ, from The Book of Mormon Project (blog)

From my Journal on the Virginia Tech Shootings

4/21/07
Two days ago some guy going to Virginia Tech opened fire on students in several classes and killed 30 some people and wounded 20 some more. Very sad. The last major shooting rampage at a college was 1966 when whats-his-bucket at UT shot people from the top of the Kniker carillon. The nation is in shock, candlelight vigils are proliferating, and the media is abuzz with editorial. There are starting to be discussions about how to keep it from happening again, and what security measures to inflict.

Today I had a scripture come to mind about it.

Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, and it is also written before you, that thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment of God;
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
(3 Nephi 12:21-22)

Christ hit the nail on the head. The violence is not the problem, but the symptom of the problem. The real problem is anger. They need to start targeting anger and put effort into anger management, more than security measures.

In my experience, the best way to deal with anger is to pray about it. I take it to Heavenly Father and tell Him everything I feel and why and then I ask Him to help me not be angry any more because I don’t like it. I can’t quite describe what happens afterward, because I never quite remember how it happens, but I end up much more calm.

If people learned to control anger, not only would there be no shooting rampages, but there would be no road rage incidents, no spousal or child abuse, no murders, and so on.

In one of my classes the teacher brought the subject of Virginia Tech up. She talked about security measures and wondered if carrying concealed weapons might have made the difference. I spoke up and told about the above scripture and made my view known. That was the end of the discussion.

From My Journal: Blacks getting the Priesthood (12/15/07)

Devon has had a bunch of people at work asking him about a McLaughlin group rant about Mormons not giving blacks the priesthood until 1978. He isn’t sure what to say to defend the church. I wasn’t either until a few hours ago.

It occurred to me that the objection that people continually make about this is it was long overdue, since the civil rights movement had occurred in the previous decade (the `60s). They accuse the church of being backward.

However, if we cast about for comparisons, we discover some interesting things. The black slaves were emancipated by Lincoln during the Civil War, yet the white south was very slow to concede this freedom and give them all their civil rights.

Once the Reconstruction enforcement troops left, the white south allowed freedom in name only for about 90 years after, enforcing a de facto subjection with terror (a la Ku Klux Klan) and Jim Crow laws. This shows us that you can declare freedom until you are blue in the face, but the "masters" must have a change of heart to allow it, and the white south had to be forced and pressured into giving blacks their civil rights when blacks should have had 100 years of it already. Even in other areas of the nation blacks suffered from economic discrimination. There is still much struggle with prejudice.

Now, contrast this with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The continuous perplexity of the prophet on the issue, wondering for years “why?”. The prophet pleading with the Lord on behalf of the black men who did not get to hold the priesthood, the revelation finally received, the change announced immediately, completely unforced by any outside influence of God or man, but instead requested and desired. And then, when announced, the implementation hailed with celebration and rejoicing by both white and black members and immediately embraced from the beginning! None holding back.

Now, reader, be the judge of who has been more backward. Is it the Latter-day Saints or the nation at large? The revelation could have come at any time, but the people’s acceptance and compliance is the thing that really means something.

From my Journal – Mourning Over Wickedness (8/29/07)

I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I ran across the part in Helaman 7 where the prophet Nephi is lamenting on his garden tower for the sins of the people and how it says, “there were certain men passing by and saw Nephi as he was pouring out his soul unto God upon the tower; and they ran and told the people what they had seen, and the people came together in multitudes that they might know the cause of so great mourning for the wickedness of the people” (Helaman 7:11).

First of all, I have to say that it is obvious in this scripture why Nephi was mourning—for the wickedness of the people. It suddenly hit me, because of a recent experience of crying so hard in Relief Society and how everyone wanted to know what was wrong, that Nephi must have been really crying and wailing and absolutely going to pieces up on his tower, so much so that everyone wanted to know what he was crying about. But unlike me crying for my own sin, Nephi was crying over the sins of his people. And no one asked him why he was crying, they waited for him to explain and he so let them have it. And his words in verses 13 to 29 have all the more feeling and poignancy when you know that he is probably starting to cry again.

This scripture shows me that a righteous person doesn't just feel torn up over their own sins, they are terribly distressed by the sins of their people too. We see it throughout the Book of Mormon with Nephi (1 Nephi 2:17), and Jacob (Jacob 2:6), and the people of Mosiah (Mosiah 25:9,11, 28:17-18), and the four sons of Mosiah (Mosiah 28:3), and Alma (Alma 4:15, 8:14), and another Nephi (3 Nephi 7:16), and Mormon (Moroni 7:15, ), and the prophets in the Book of Ether (Ether 11:13).

So is there any hope of happiness when surrounded by people whose choices make us sad?

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
(Matthew 5:4)

And further, Mormon gave his son Moroni a recipe for happiness in the midst of the terrible things he had to report about what the decadent Nephites were doing:

My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.
And may the grace of God the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power, until all things shall become subject unto him, be, and abide with you forever. Amen.
(Moroni 9:25-26, emphasis added)

There is hope when we fill our minds with Christ and the good news of the gospel.

From My Journal - On the Colonization of America (8/22/07)

I’ve been reading my history book about the colonization of America and it seemed to me that a great bit of emphasis was being put upon the cruelty and sneakiness of the colonizers, that they were being demonized, while the Indians were being canonized as innocent victims. This seemed hardly fair to me, because I knew very well that both sides had their faults, but it seemed to me that the Europeans’ faults were being compared with the Indian virtues and the Indian faults were being minimized.

Fortunately, the Lord helped me out by pointing me to 1 Nephi 13 where Nephi has his vision of the history of the Americas. Nephi was told by the angel as he watched the Europeans come over to the Americas that the wrath of God was upon his brethren. That explains the treatment that the Indians got. Now, since we know God to be good and unable to countenance sin of any kind, and that he raises up the nations of the righteous and destroys the nations of the wicked (1 Nephi 17:33-39,43), it must follow that the Europeans, for all their faults, were more righteous than the Indians in some way. It perhaps came from two different things—that the Indians had embraced great religious error at which the Lord was angry, and that the Christian Europeans at least knew the God they worshipped.

Now, that does not mean that the Christian Europeans were as righteous as they could have been. The history books today make a huge deal about how cruel and superstitious and dogmatic and intolerant both Catholic and Protestants were. And people reason from this, “They were getting their justification for it from the Bible! How could they?!” And of course today we have people saying, “Since they justified their horrendous actions using the Christian religion, Christianity must be a fraud.” But the blame is being put in the wrong place, as Nephi is told by the angel. The angel specifically points out that at first the Bible was pure and plain and full of the truth according to God, but that another entity got hold of it and took some important stuff out, and then passed it on, and that the result of the ravaged Bible was that “a great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them” (1 Nephi 13:29). Indeed, if truth is twisted or removed even a little it can be as harmful as complete lies. This has great implications. It implies that if what was removed was allowed to stay in, it would perhaps have made a big difference in how the Europeans had acted towards each other and to the Indians.

I used to wonder just what that stumbling was that the angel was talking about, but now I know. It means they made great mistakes in how they thought, and acted, and instead of acting the right way, they acted wrong, while still thinking they were right. They came to the terrible and unwarranted conclusion that hating sin meant you must hate the sinner as well and that in acting against the sinner any means were justified. The kings also had the gaul to give land grants for land that wasn’t actually theirs to give, under what logical assumption I don’t know. How else can you explain how Europeans justified themselves in taking over Indian land with little or no compensation? There’s no other way of describing it, but as a great mistake committed over and over again.

I notice that we ordinary mortals are expected to acquire land fair and square by paying for it or by gifting it to each other, and the Lord likes to follow these rules when people are equally good and honest, but He is not limited to them when any of the parties are full of shinnanigans.
The Book of Mormon is plain that the Lord is the one who gives and takes away land, because it all belongs to Him anyway. This is, of course, annoying to a secular society, because it is so used to the idea of leaving God out of the equation, and if you must bring God into matters of real estate, it would be really nice if God would just justify you in taking someone’s land away from them. The scriptures say that the Lord uproots a wicked people and plants a righteous people in their stead. Thus a sneaky churchman might be tempted to demonize the guy whose house he wants to steal. (We find that this may have been part of the Mormons’ trouble in Missouri.) However, we see that THE LORD allows the wicked to punish the wicked. We can perhaps see the hand of the Lord when we look into mass movements of people. The Lord helps righteous peoples defend their property from encroachers, and allows the groups who have sinned past the day of grace to lose their property. By this reasoning, it is plain that the Latter-day Saints were perhaps not as good as they should have been, since they were driven so often. (Certainly the Lord chastises them in the Doctrine & Covenants for their wickedness and warns them they will be afflicted because of it.)

Keep in mind that I am speaking of the aggregate here, about large groups of people, not individuals. Individually there are exceptions, but the spiritual effect is the same. Heavenly Father is merciful and He may allow some evil-loving individuals to keep their property in order to give them even more time to repent, or He may cause their property to become a curse to them. Heavenly Father may also uproot wonderful individuals in order to bring them to a better land than the one they are in.

Of course, all of the above reasoning may have faults here and there. It is natural for a believer in God to want to defend “the way things happened” as being according to God’s will and try to reason out why. What gives me comfort is that what happened to the Indians was foreseen many hundreds of years ahead of time, and the reason for it was already given by an angel as “the wrath of God”. This is reasoning from a better source than a scholarly historian. It is difficult to argue with a reason when an angel gives it.

Now, lest people jump on me for bagging on Indians, I can also say that we Gentiles—that’s what Nephi calls us of European extraction—will take our own turn at being driven and afflicted if we don’t repent, because Christ warned of this:

And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.
And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them.
And I will show unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you; but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fulness of my gospel.
But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.
And I will not suffer my people, who are of the house of Israel, to go through among them, and tread them down, saith the Father.
But if they will not turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, I will suffer them, yea, I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor, which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel. (3 Nephi 16:10-15, emphasis added)

And further, Nephi hears about this sort of thing too from the angel.

And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, Nephi, saying: Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them; and thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the house of Israel; and thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth not must perish.
Therefore, wo be unto the Gentiles if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God.
For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken.
(1 Nephi 14:5-7, emphasis added)

Here we see that both captivity and destruction awaits even a free people if they do not repent. From what I can see in the world today, it starts with crushing debt and over-regulation and it just gets worse from there. Were there not a large number of people lifted up in pride to the point that they overpriced their houses and overbought? There was certainly a lot of lying and deceit about income when trying to qualify for loans. There was a lot of lying and deceit about the terms of loans. There's even some murder and revenge.