Listening on a Ride

I enjoyed listening to the Follow Him podcast on a ride today. A few parts that I took screen shots of that I liked... 

from Part 1 of D&C 125-128 cause I want this protection for my children - I want to help them search for their ancestors:

John Bytheway at 01:14:01- Remember too, there is another soul, another immortal soul on the other side that has benefited from your time in the temple. That’s huge. Someone else out there. That’s why I like when they call it temple service, a service that reaches across the veil. That’s kind of incredible to think about. I found a statement by Elder Richard G. Scott. He said, "Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? That’s a pretty big statement. A sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life. Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors. Prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you’ll be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life."

From part 2 - helping me cope with the hard time that I feel like I'm facing, and know that I should record what I'm learning.

Dr. Jordan Watkins 00:16:38 - What you say is so true. Thank goodness that Joseph was isolated at times. Hard thing to say. Thank goodness he was imprisoned. As hard as that is what comes out of his experiences in prison or in isolation are these teachings and practices that we prize so dearly.

John Bytheway 00:16:58 - I just had never ever considered what he’s going through legally with recording things and the power that has maybe impressed upon his mind. Let’s record all this stuff. This is out there, but it reminded me of Enos. You also quoted that a man filled with the love of God as not satisfied with blessing his family own. When Enos prays, he prays for himself. Then he prays for his brethren, then he prays for his enemies, then he prays for the records. I’ve always thought how interesting we’ve worked so hard on these records, preserve these records for even my enemies that it might bless them.

Adoration

This quote stood out to me because I’ve been thinking about worship - this from page 1 of chapter 1 of “Near Death Experiences” by P.M.H. Atwater

Worship = adoration

“Research is the highest form of adoration.”

- Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

So we are worshiping God as we study/research his word in the scriptures

The Three Transcendentals

“Beauty is not something that’s just in the eye of the beholder. It’s an objectively true thing. In Catholicism, we call it one of the three transcendentals, along with goodness and truth. Beauty helps to prove God exists.” - Jordan Ring Sakabe

From this article that I just read. I really like that. It's true that beauty exists. Babies and roses are simply more cute and beautiful than anglerfish and fleas. Beauty exists. Goodness exists. It's bad to murder. That was something that is a part of my testimony. In 2005 (I remember I was pregnant with Wesley) I was struggling with my faith, and the tv show COPS came on one day, and thinking about that made me realize there is good and bad. Life = good. Murder, drugs, violence = bad. And those things are TRUE, so truth exists too. ;) The Three Transcendentals: Beauty, Goodness, Truth. I like it.

Comfort

I listened to the Follow Him podcast this afternoon on a bike ride (I was going up the canyon for over 2.5 hours...) The guest was Morgan Pearson. I really liked (at 54:09 of part 1) John talks more about the command from the Lord in D&C 25:5 "the office of thy calling shall be for a comfort unto my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., thy husband, in his afflictions, with consoling words, in the spirit of meekness." If you look at the etymology, comfort means together strong. Just from my knowledge of Spanish I could see that: Com - with and Fort like fortaleza - strength. 

The word "comfort" originates from the Late Latin "confortare" meaning "to strengthen greatly," itself derived from the Latin "con-" (together) and "fortis" (strong), evolving through Old French "conforter" and Middle English "comforten". 

Here's a more detailed breakdown of the etymology: 

• Late Latin confortāre: "to strengthen greatly":
  • Latin con- : An intensive prefix, meaning "together" or "intensively".
  • Latin fortis: "strong"
• Old French conforter: "to comfort, to solace; to help, strengthen"
• Middle English comforten: "to strengthen spiritually, inspire with courage, exort, cheer up, encourage, invigorate"

They said that Emma said once that some people didn't like the influence she had with her husband, but I really like this idea that she was there with him, making him stronger. They were stronger TOGETHER. Joseph and Emma, together strong. Be a comfort. Be together strong.

It also made me think of how Christ called the Holy Ghost "The Comforter". (John 14:26) The Lord was not just thinking of helping us have a soft place and make us warm. As a friend Jill Gygi said years ago at a study group "I'm learning that the Lord doesn't really care about my comfort..." He doesn't want us comfortable, he wants us STRONG! And strength usually comes from hard things that are NOT comfortable! God's purpose is TO MAKE US STRONG! We are STRONGER with the Holy Ghost with us! Wesley said that in their mission they have been trying to emphasize not just the baptism, but the gift that we receive after baptism - the gift and blessing of having the companionship of THE HOLY GHOST with US ALWAYS! We are stronger when we have the Holy Ghost with us - when we are together with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the spirit of TRUTH, and truth makes us strong too. Anyway, I really liked that insight.