Dear Elder,
Happy Easter!
“He is Risen, He is Risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days prison;
let the whole wide earth rejoice!
Death is conquered. Man is free.
Christ has won the victory!”
This Easter morning I have been thinking again about your questions concerning Mosiah 15:9-15. I am thinking about how it is not only very important to know that God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct persons, but how it is just as important to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are one, as in united and agreed. I think this is true for many reasons, one is that God would like us to strive for the same unity in our relationships with our fellow man. I think another reason is so that we will not be confused about their separateness.
The Book of Mormon tells us that King Noah and his priests, to whom Abinadi was preaching in Mosiah 15, were idol worshippers, and that the people of King Noah became idol worshippers as well (Mosiah 11:6,7). If King Noah and his people were anything like the idolatrous nations of the Old Testament, they probably worshipped many gods. All the false gods Old Testament that I looked into were believed to be totally separate from each other with different dominions, goals, and requirements and they were even sometimes oppositional. In fact, some pagans of the Old Testament taught that the god, Mott killed the god, Baal who then came back to life.
Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, on the other hand are completely united. When we obey Christ’s commandments, God the Father blesses us. When we pray to the Father, Christ’s intercedes for us. The Holy Ghost testifies of both the Father and the Son. Christ did nothing except those things that His Father would do. As the Encyclopedia of Mormonism pointed out, they are completely united in their desire to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”
Not only that, they are all one in righteousness. Immorality, murder, etc were a common part of pagan worship, and the gods themselves were notoriously wicked. We know that King Noah and his people were participating in whoredoms and other evils, probably spurred on in their idol worship. Our Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, on the other hand are perfectly righteous in how they behave and how they require us to behave.
How marvelous is our God! No fabrication of the human mind, religious or otherwise, has ever come close to the beauty, perfection, and love found in the truth. The truth is that there is a loving God in heaven, and He is the father of our spirits, that His Son and our elder brother, Jesus Christ, is our Savior, who came because His father sent him, and died for us because of His everlasting love and kindness towards us, and rose on the third day with healing in His wings, and that the Holy Ghost is real, a personage of spirit, bound by loving covenant to testify to the children of men that God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ live! I know these things are true, Matt, and they fill me with joy and gratitude on this beautiful Easter day!
It has been a good week. Heavenly Father is helping me be more focused on the Savior. He is also helping me to see my many weaknesses I have worked hard this week and have gotten a lot done. I felt very blessed today as I took the sacrament and pondered on Jesus Christ and His atonement. I know that He lives and loves me even when I falter.
Miriam's rice crispie bunny
Thomas's traditional alien bunny, this time done with rice crispies instead of bread
 |
| Bread Bunny--Whole wheat version for Dad |
Tuesday, for family home evening, we did all the Easter goodies stuff because we knew that Miriam would be out of town today. It was a fun evening. Katrina and I made bread bunnies, and then when Miriam came home, she and Thomas made rice crispy bunnies because they can’t eat wheat. Then when Dad came home, we all colored Easter eggs together. While I cleaned up afterward, Dad and kids went into the bathroom and did our weirdest family Easter tradition which, as you know, is to dump the die into the toilet as it flushes and watch the different colors of swirl around and flush down. May I just say, that is a tradition of Dad’s invention? He and his brother used to do that as kids. It’s one of the few traditions that Dad had growing up, poor guy.
Then Dad and I hid the Easter baskets and then the kids found them. It took less than five minutes, ha ha. Jon came over, too, awhile later, and we had some more fun visiting going on. I sent him home with his Easter chocolate and also rice cripies which he shared with his room mate. He texted me the next day to tell me he was totally out of chocolate and needed more candy. He was totally kidding. I gave everyone waaaaaay too much Easter candy this year.
I also had fun sending an Easter package to Lily. Dad and I bought her a sugar Easter egg with a bunny scene inside. I also enclosed a little stuffed ducky wearing a raincoat and hat. When Lily was a baby in newborn ICU, and I was staying at the Ronald Macdonald house with Cassandra and Emerson, they were giving out free toys, so I took the duckie and saved it to give to Lily when she was older. Well, she’s older now. Cassandra said she loves it. I also made her an Easter card and sent her a Noah’s Ark board book with cute pictures. Cassandra was planning to give her the book for Easter today.
Other than that, we have just done boring stuff like yard work, putting in a new bathroom faucet upstairs, etc. Wednesday, Katrina and Miriam went to see Les Mis again, and now Miriam is out of town, so Thomas and Katrina have been the only kids at home. Thursday night, Dad, Katrina, and I went walking along the river. The weather was perfect and the air was fresh and smelled like trees and water. I love spring!
Friday Dad and I went out on a date, and on Saturday we bought some Mexican food from a lady who has three kids. Her husband was deported, and she is trying to survive. The food was fantastic, and we enjoyed talking to her and encouraging her. I hope everything works out for her family, and I hope we can buy some of that good food from her again soon!
Today we are going to walk around the temple and then sit in the grass and talk about the resurrection. We are also hoping to Skype with Cassandra and Emerson. Jon called today. It was sure nice to talk to him for awhile.
I love you, Matthew, and hope that your Easter is one filled with joy and love for the Savior and with the Spirit of God.
Love,
Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment