My Sleeve Where It Should Be

A few years ago, I found my favorite hymn.  I am from a strong musical background; music, of all kinds, was played and sung at my home.  I learned that favorites are tough to have with such a wide variety of secular and spiritual choices.  When asked about my favorite hymns I would tell others what I thought they wanted to hear.   I told my scoutmaster my favorite hymn was “They, the Builders of the Nation.”   To my seminary teacher, it was “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.”   In reality, many hymns have moved me; it is hard to have a favorite. If there is one, it is “How Firm a Foundation.” Each verse talks about our trials through life; it figuratively talks about our families, our homes, our careers, our church callings, even the trials we inevitably face as we near the end of our lives.   When we get to the third verse, the point of view changes; it’s as if Christ is speaking to us directly. Whoever authored this hymn is a mystery.   How Fir...

  Like Lambs, They Shall Still in My Bosom Be Borne In 1996 famous interviewer, Mike Wallace had a conversation with the then President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordan B. Hinkley. "There are those who say, 'This is a gerontocracy. This is a church run by old men,'" Wallace remarked. "Isn't it wonderful to have a man of maturity at the head, a man of judgment who isn't blown about by every wind of doctrine?" Hinckley replied. ( https://www.cbsnews.com/news/an-interview-with-gordon-hinckley/4/ ) I believe that President Hinkley would have been able to relate to the author of How Firm a Foundation who wrote, “ E’en down to old age, all my people shall prove my sov’reign, eternal, unchangeable love.” My Girlfriends My mother would also say I was the worst paperboy in town, yet I was the most loved.   I never had the newspapers out on time and spent a lot of time talking to my clients. My mother also said that I have a...

My grandpa’s garden looked like a farm, at least to me, even though it was nowhere near that size.  Grandpas "farm" produced many vegetables.  He would bring us zucchini, apples, and I also loved the corn.  And it produced tomatoes that, to this day, I remember as the best tasting. Ever!  “Grandpa?  What makes Hooper tomatoes so much better than all the other tomatoes?” I would often ask of my Grandfather Don Read as he would drop off what seemed like endless buckets of Tomatoes from his Garden each year.  He would often respond with explanations like the harsh environment, the challenging high alkaline soil, inconsistent access to water, especially later in the year, and more.  My grandpa would say that it was because of these problems and the stress they put on the plants that made them grow so sweet; some of which may be scientific interspersed with a legend. I always thought that maybe he was trying to teach me something, but I never understood wha...

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. I find it interesting the author of the hymn, How Firm a Foundation  uses the word “sanctify” in the fourth verse's final line.  One definition is to “set apart”; however, it has more meaning than only to set apart , but to set apart for a holy purpose.   Sanctification is a process we go through to become more like Christ.  Dallin H. Oaks has taught: “… This process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” --Dallin H. Oaks It is through our deepest distresses that we become more like our Savior. Years ago, my father gave me a book by James E. Faust called To Reach Even Unto You .  It was a collection of his speeches over the years.  He told me to read...

Part 3 of 7 When I was very young, I remember being underwater in a pool too deep for me. I believe I was visiting my Aunt and ventured into the wrong end of the pool and learned quickly about another cliché; I was way  over my head .  My memory of the helplessness permanently etched itself into my mind's eye.  The loss of control and the immediate doom is poignant whenever I recall the incident.  The memory is like a moment of a video forever on pause.  There is something about trauma that makes the shortest time feel like an eternity. And the danger left me feeling like I was completely alone. It was probably only seconds after I went under one of the adults watching us pulled me to safety.  I had been in danger and ventured somewhere I shouldn’t, but I was never alone. Sometimes we think we are alone when we are not.  We let ourselves sink into a selfish swamp of loneliness.  Isaiah inspired the author of How Firm a Foundation , whoever ...

This is part 2 of 7 for part 1  click here. As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be. Life can be demanding.  It can task our wills and burden our souls.  Sometimes the little things in life aren’t little when piled up with a thousand other little things.  You know, a fly in your house is annoying, but you can deal with it. Thousands of flies, however, can drive you from your home even in a rainstorm. Where can we turn for relief?  When the day to day “grindstone” starts grinding away our patience, we can find our refuge in Christ. And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye...

I’ll Never, No Never, No Never Forsake I find it interesting that the hymn How Firm a Foundation writer changes the third person point of view in the first two verses to that of the Savior in the remaining verses.   Few hymns communicate as if the Savior is speaking directly to us like this hymn. For me, this begs the question, how does a perfect person, a God, know what I am going through? Does the Lord's power offset anything he may have experienced when compared to us? I don’t think so. It would help me know that Christ’s power somehow does not interfere with his mortality.   Electricity in a power grid is always constant, except in a power outage. Still, one can only use the power if the building has the proper wires, the proper outlets installed, and the breakers to use and regulate it.   The analogy is sloppy, but similarly, Christ’s Godhood did not change, but his mortal form was subject to progress much the same way.   And Jesus increased in wisdom and...