Thoughts on becoming eighty years of age.

When I was born the life expectancy for a male was about 59 years. Of course that means that the infectious diseases of the time claimed the lives of many young children. There were people who lived longer, but the greater majority died earlier. The women lived about 4 years longer than the men at that time.

There were people that were born at that time who have lived to my age, but if the tables are correct only half of the people born in 1934 in the United States lived past the age of 59.

There will be an ever-increasing number of us who will die during the next decade.

I was fortunate to have survived Scarlet Fever and pneumonia in the first two years of my earthly existence. I got measles, mumps, chicken pox, whopping cough and German Measles. There were no complications in my case.

So when I reflect back upon my life I am blessed to live as long as I have.

I have lived in an age where technology has blessed my life.  I had a crystal set radio to listen with earphones when we lived in Denver. My parents had a radio with vacuum tubes. We did not have TV to watch until I first saw it at my aunt's house my freshman year in college and could watch 3 channels on a 12-inch screen.  Now we have a 42-inch, wide screen, high definition TV to watch over 250 channels and the only reason the screen isn't larger is because it won't fit into the space in our house. One could argue that television is more of a curse than a blessing.

I used to have to go to a theater to watch a movie. We now can watch movies on Netflix or You Tube or pull out one of about 150 DVDs from our own library or an equal number of VHS tapes that we own to watch on demand.

When I was in high school my father bought a phonograph. We did not own one of the 78-rpm players. We bought a 45-rpm player with a record changer that would play ten records, one after another. We used the radio speaker to amplify the sound.

We bought a number of albums and a few single records.

When I got my inheritance money from my grandfather Gee in 1965, I bought a 33 1/3-rpm high fidelity system with large speakers and we started collecting long play record albums. We collected and played these records. We still have all of the records, but we rarely listen to them even though we have a high fidelity system.

We never owned a wire recorder. We did purchase a couple of tape recorders. We bought a four track stereo tape recorder and a number of tapes to play.

We then went to eight track continuous play tapes. We had an eight track tape player in the car and one at home.

The compact cassette tapes and players replaced the eight track players. We collected a number of tapes of this variety.

When compact disks or CDs came on the scene we found those to our liking and began collecting those and bought a player that would play our records, compact cassette tapes and CDs.  We have a number of CDs including 25 just of Christmas songs.

My children gave me an iPod so that I could have music wherever I went. These tunes were transferred over to my iPhone, which soon became overloaded with music and other apps.

I was first introduced to cellular or mobile phones on our mission to Germany. They call them handies there. I carried one for three years and became so attached to them that I bought one when I came home. We got another one in Moscow and then again when we came back and have not been without one since.

I will have to write a chapter in my history entitled "Computers and Me" Needless to say they have been a part of my life.

And so technology has blessed my life.

Family history or genealogy has been a great interest and I have more work now than I will ever have time to accomplish in this life. I will entitle one chapter in my history to this subject.

And so family history has blessed my life.

The most important thing that I have done in my life of eighty years is to marry the right girl in the right place under the right authority at the right time of my life, then to be the father of eight children. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to see them grow and mature and have families and children and grandchildren of their own.

Recently in celebration of my four score years at a family reunion family night, I was privileged to address my assembled posterity and bear them my witness of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. I became quite emotional as I realized what a responsibility it was to bring eight children into this world and to teach them of their Father in Heaven and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot express in the least how overpowering and daunting this task is and how inadequate I feel at this time.

There is no going back and starting over. If I live as long as my parents did, I hope that I will stand true to the cause of Christ and be a positive influence in the lives of my posterity.

My wife and family have blessed my life, and more abundantly than here expressed.

I hope one day to stand before the judgment bar of God and be able to assent to the appellation of having been true and faithful in all things and hear the words spoken, "Well done."

And so the gospel of Christ has blessed my life. There is no space to enumerate the ways.

Thus, now on to the rest of my life.

Four Little Words

Aspire
Contend
Coerce
Excuse

I recently heard a talk given by a member of the temple presidency. He took the above words and said that these were tools that Satan uses to divert people to his cause. If you remember Satan used each of these characteristics in the pre-existence before he was cast out of his father's presence for rebellion.
If you look around you, you will see these characteristics in people that you know and people in the news.

Aspire

In the pre-existence Satan aspired to try to replace God. Now using this principle people are led to think that rising to the top is the goal we need to achieve in this life.  They have little thought about the life after this one. They are only focused on the here and now. They have not understood the principles of the gospel. To aspire to worldly things is contrary to the gospel plan. A brief look at the parable of the workers in the vineyard will give us an understanding of how the world should conform to the true principles of the gospel. The workers each got the same pay for different amounts of labor. All The Lord of the vineyard asked of them was to labor with their might and to do their best. So my dear grandchildren it is not important to be the best in worldly pursuits or to aspire to greatness. As the song says, "Do what is right, let the consequence follow." This means that of each is required constant improvement through our whole life enduring in faith to the end.

Contend

After Satan was rejected his next step was to bring about contention. He rose up in rebellion. Notice how this occurs in our world. When someone is disappointed or frustrated, they get defensive and begin to respond by retaliation or contention. Let us look at the forms of contention that appear in our world.

First is war. War is the product of Satan's influence in this life and his challenge in retaliation to his being banished and that he will eventually be defeated. We are promised that in our days and until Christ comes again that there will be wars and rumors of wars.  This contention is deadly. It causes death and destruction. Many have lost their homes. Many have been injured. The contention of war never solves anything. Satan inspires war.

One of the prominent displays of contention that is seen in our society is in politics. Political parties take the philosophies of men and when one does not agree with another they rise up in great swelling words to prove their point and contend with one another inviting Satan to take part in the exchange of words. This is sometimes referred to as debate.  In the early days of the church some of the brethren formed a debating society. One of those who was involved was William Smith, the prophet's brother. Some of the discussion got quite heated. The prophet Joseph told them that contention was counter to the principles of the restored gospel and asked them to disband the debating society. William got so angry with his brother that he attacked him physically.

The most destructive form of contention occurs within the walls of our homes and in our families. One of the ways Satan tries to destroy the family is to cause friction between husband and wife and between family members. The spirit of the Lord cannot dwell where there is contention. There is no contention in the presence of The Lord.  Christ said, ' Peace I leave with you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not you heart be troubled.' We are to have peace and not contention in the home. King Benjamin admonished the parents of his day that they should not let their children fight and quarrel with one another and serve the devil who is the master of sin.

We are bombarded by TV advertisements that encourage us to contend one with another by employing the service of an attorney. The object of this endeavor is to get gain.  The attorney is skilled at manipulating people and institutions to his advantage [under] the pretense of justice for the individual.  This is contention disguised as altruism.  In the end it only fosters ill feelings. Money is the object of this endeavor.  Satan's golden question is, " Have you any money?" Do not fall into this trap. Note that a great many TV shows dwell on contention.

Coercion

To coerce is to force someone to do something. It usually means to break down the opposition. This can occur either by physical force or by manipulation of the individual. The Lord put it this way; " No power or influence can or ought to be maintained ... only by persuasion and long suffering and gentleness and meekness and love unfeigned." Earlier in this instruction it talks about control, dominion and compulsion.  We find this in many of the interactions that take place around us. The first one that comes to mind is the temper tantrum. As a pediatrician I saw this behavior many times. If it is rewarded, it becomes a destructive character trait in the life of the individual. It is a form of manipulation to get ones way. This is seen in children and adults. The adult may not lie down on the floor and kick and scream, but they can have temper tantrums just as manipulative.

On the broader scene we see it in a different form. It is called a demonstration. People are enticed (and I use that word deliberately) to gather in what may be termed a mob and protest to coerce the government or individuals involved to change an ideal, law, opinion, or practice that someone does not agree with. These demonstrations became a popular way to coerce when I was growing up. The 1960 era was the start of the so-called 'sit in'. It even goes so far as to involve people demonstrating because a dog was shot by a police officer.
Manipulation is a subtle form of coercion. It is a selfish way of saying 'I am right and I will only do it my way.'  Bargaining is in a way a form of manipulation.
Here is an example of bargaining as a way of manipulation.  My children used to sing it.

Tell me a story, tell me a story
Tell me a story before I go to bed;
You promised me, you said you would,
You gotta give in ‘cause I’ve been good,
Tell me a story before I go to bed.

Although this may seem rather innocuous, it contains a subtle manipulation.

We all do this from time to time without realizing what we are doing, but it is a tool of the world and will not be found in the presence of God. If we want to live in the presence of God and be like him, we will not practice coercion in any form.

Excuse

The last of this group of Satan's tools of destruction is one of the most used. This does not refer to the note written by the parent to explain why the child missed school because of illness, although some times this can be detrimental to the character because it may not be truthful.

Excuses are used to rationalize behavior that is destructive to the integrity of the individual. We have all used it at some time in our life. We try to blame people or circumstances for shortcomings on our part rather than admit to failure in our behavior. We all are imperfect. We all make mistakes. But to rationalize our behavior by not taking responsibility for our own actions is soul destructive. This is a form of substitute repentance, which salves our conscience, but does not refine our character and does not qualify us for the atonement of Jesus Christ. It may become so prevalent in our behavior that we are entirely oblivious to it in our life. To quote Nephi, ' And thus he (Satan) binds them with his awful chains and leads them carefully down to hell!' We are bound by our own rejection of the attributes of God. We become satisfied by the ersatz when we could have the genuine. No wonder they will weep and wail and gnash their teeth when they discover how their character has been destroyed by their own actions. A line from Shakespeare comes to mind: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings."

Do not excuse your behavior in any way. Recognize your faults openly and ask for forgiveness and repent with full purpose of heart. God will not take excuses, so why should we offer them to anyone, let alone our Father in Heaven.
 
In summary: do not aspire to position, do not contend, never coerce and avoid excusing your behavior,

Love,
Grandpa

Agency

Agency

A word of explanation: This is a letter that I wrote to one of my children.  Sometimes we do not know why some leaders in the church do not act to correct errors in the doctrine or procedures and practices in local units. This is my response to the question posed.

The war in Heaven was fought over the principle of agency.  Our father in heaven desired that all of his children should come back into his presence but he would not force them or do anything to abrogate his children's agency.  We often refer to this as free agency.  There is nothing free about agency.  It is given to us freely, but we must work for it in order to constantly maintain our agency.

Adam quickly learned about agency in the Garden of Eden. He was given a commandment not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he was also admonished what the consequences would be of his disobedience.  You are well aware of the results of what happened.  The Lord allowed Adam his agency and did not interfere.

When the gospel was later explained to Adam and he learned why he was offering sacrifices, he taught his children.  Satan came among them and said, “I too am a son of God, believe it not.”  And many believed it not and followed Satan.

You are having a hard time understanding why the general authorities did not interfere and set this good brother aright.  It is because of agency.  You have asked the question if he leads people astray shouldn't there be interference to save the people.  That is a good question.  The Lord however does not usually work in that manner.  If he did that would interfere with agency.  We and He would not have anybody going astray, or have Satan leading other people astray.

We are first to rely upon the Lord for our direction.  If the leaders of the church ask us to do something wrong and it is against gospel principles, they are to be held accountable.

This is where accountability comes in.  We have agency and we will also be held accountable.  This is why it is said in the Scriptures that we will be judged according to our deeds or our works in the flesh. 

The history of the restored church is replete with examples of people who have gone off on tangents believing that they are right.  Some examples that you are probably not familiar with are as follows:

James J. Strang was a man who dissented from the church at the time the prophet Joseph Smith died.  He took a lot of people with him and went to Beaver Island, Michigan, where he proclaimed himself King and prophet.  He had at one time 12,000 followers.  You can get a more complete history on Wickipedia.

”The Godbeites were members of the Godbeite Church, officially called the Church of Zion, organized in 1870 by William S. Godbe. This dissident offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was aimed toward embracing all belief systems. Known for mysticism, the church died out by the 1880s.  This happened in Salt Lake City.  A more extensive history is found on Wickipedia.

These people who were led astray are all God’s children.  He did not want them to be led astray, but because he loved them he allowed them to make the choices that they did.  He could have sent an angel to strike down William Godbe or James J. Strang or Sidney Rigdon, but he did not.  He gave those people their agency and gave them the Holy Ghost to guide and direct them if they would listen.  He does not fight or quarrel or twist arms or coerce in anyway.  Everyone that has been baptized has the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide them.  All they need to do is listen and heed the promptings.  The book of Mormon has many such instances where people were led astray by slick talking people. 

You have been taught correct principles.  You have quickly identified the problem.  Now is the time to let the Lord take care of it.  It will not happen as quickly as you would like it to.  It is not your or our place to set things aright.  Your parents and your siblings all feel as you do, that the subject matter presented in the sacrament meeting was inappropriate and introduced false doctrine.  Now you just have to wait and see how this plays out.  Please know that you are loved and supported and that we will sustain you in the times ahead.

Love,

Dad

As a postscript there has recently been a case in the local and national news of a woman member of the church who has been recently excommunicated by her bishop. She believes that women should receive ordination to the priesthood.  She has organized a group and collected both money and supporters. Using the pressure tactics of demonstrations and disregard of the requests of church leaders, she tried to force her will and ideas by being refused entry into the priesthood meeting of general conference. In essence she has formed her own church, although she will deny that. Time will deal with this as it has with the examples above. In the times to come before the advent of Jesus Christ's second coming, there will be pressure on the church to change from within and without. The prophesies are there.  Do not be lead astray or cave into the ways of the world. Heber C. Kimball said that there would be a great sifting that would occur. 

Do not be among the ones who go through the sieve. Listen to the Holy Ghost.

Love,

Grandpa

Food and me

I grew up in a time when the country was just coming out of the great depression.

My parents came from rural backgrounds where the food that they ate was mostly home grown and was simple in its nature and preparation. My great grandmother Jane Butler learned to cook at Dunraven castle in Wales. Her husband John Ulrich Stucki was Swiss and brought that gastronomy background to the family. It was reported that when the visiting authorities would come from Salt Lake to Paris, that Jane Butler Stucki would be asked to prepare the meals for the visitors.

My mother was raised in that environment and would often tweak the recipes for food that she made. She enjoyed good, well-prepared food, especially if it had butter or cream. She was not afraid to experiment.

I always liked to eat at my grandmother Mary Ellen Kerr Gee's home. She would fix dishes that we did not eat at home. The one that sticks in my mind is peeled sliced oranges with coconut sprinkled on top.

We usually ate meat, potatoes and vegetables. There was nothing fancy.  When we went to a restaurant we would usually order chicken fried steak or a hot beef or pork sandwich.  We may have gone to the restaurant once every two or three years, or less often.

When I was working for the forest service, I did some cooking for myself and later for the fire crew.  On the Wiggins Fork fire I was the cook for the mop up fire crew.  I had plenty of provisions.  Although I did not prepare anything fancy, I enjoyed cooking.

I went to live with my aunt Alta Lowe and attend Weber College.  I lived with her for two school years.  She was an excellent cook and had dinner parties at least once a month. She let me help with the preparation of the parties.  The first party that I remember was one in which she prepared a cold three-bean salad.  You have probably eaten this salad, but it was not common at that time. I was used to eating my beans hot and not with vinegar.  I discretely placed the beans in my napkin and then disposed of them in the toilet. I like cold bean salad now, but it required a honing of my palate.

One day my aunt asked me to go to the fish market.  She asked me to pick up some fresh crab. She was going to prepare cracked crab on ice for my grandparents who were coming for a visit. It was the first time I had ever eaten crab.  I also learned to eat fried oysters and fried shrimp while living at my aunt’s house.

I helped her prepare the canned plum pudding, which she gave away to friends and relatives at Christmas time.

My next adventure with food came when I found myself in Germany on a mission. It was here that I was introduced to a wide variety of foods that I had never eaten before. I will name a few: potato pancakes, lung ragout, calf’s brain, carp, marzipan, Rinderouladen, Kohlrouladen, Kuchen, rutabaga, buttermilk soup and bauernfrüstuck.

On the way home from my mission I added to the foods that I had previously not experienced: frito misto mare (calamari, octopus, prawns and fish all deep fried), vineyard snails in garlic butter, and real Italian spaghetti.

On the ship home we had an eating contest.  I won. We went through the entire menu ordering every item.  Then we started at the top again. I won by a leg of chicken.

After I returned home and got married I worked at the Salt Lake Country Club running the refreshment stand on the golf course. I got to take home all the food that was prepared for the golfers that was not eaten.  Occasionally the chef would give me a filet of beef to cook on the grill. I would take it home with me and share with my wife.

We liked to cook “shish kabob” on the charcoal grill.  I incorporated dill pickle next to the beef cubes because it reminded me of the rouladen I had eaten in Germany and we have prepared it that way ever since.  Usually we have beef alternating with tomatoes, red or green peppers, onions and dill pickle. We have prepared it with chicken, shrimp or lamb as well. 

We used to listen to cooking shows on the radio and write down the recipes.  My wife Alice was adventuresome as well and she usually did the cooking.  While we were living on the avenues in Salt Lake City, we started making our own hand-dipped chocolates and used fudge and divinity and white fudge for the centers.

After we moved to Lander we ordered a series of cookbooks from Time/Life publishing company.  We got a number of our recipes from these cookbooks.  We collected recipes on 3x5” cards and put them in boxes.  Eventually the box became too small and we got a larger wooden tole painted box. It too became too small. Our recipe books soon lined the book self that we had in our kitchen.  We subscribed to Cuisine magazine and got small cookbooks from Cuisinart when we bought our food processor. We subscribed to Bon Appetite magazine and would look through the recipes to see what sounded good to eat.  I got a small magazine at the office called Physician’s Life Style.  There was only one good recipe in each issue.  We got our recipes for cream cheese pie and chicken cacciatore from this magazine.

In California we would go to the Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford where the food was excellent and the atmosphere exotic.  The restaurant was famous all over California and beyond.  People would fly into Hanford just to eat there.  The owner was the chef for General Marshall during World War II.  We usually ordered the Tournados of beef, and they had an excellent egg foo young that they served with it.

In order to raise money for the marching band, we had a series of dinners and served at least 100 people and we were involved in the planning and cooking.  We had a few dinners for the high priests and cooked and served food for those.  We belonged to a dinner group with friends from Riverton and Lander and rotated homes and dinners for them. 

When we would go down to Salt Lake with our children, we would always go out to eat.  Some of the restaurants we frequented were Michelinos, Della Fonatana, Bratten’s Grotto, The hotel Utah coffee shop, Al Forno and other places where we could get food that wasn’t available in Lander, Wyoming.

When I was on the board of directors of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wyoming, we would go to Jackson Lake Lodge, Phoenix, or the Old Baldy Club in Saratoga, Wyoming and eat food prepared especially for the group.  It was a dining experience.

While on our mission to Frankfurt, we went with other missionaries and by ourselves to a number of different restaurants.  I prepared a dining guide with the name of the restaurant and the food that we ate.  The food was good and we learned to eat and enjoy things that we did not have in Lander.  We also watched the TV show “Koch Duel” and got a few pointers from the chefs there.  We also found that the vegetables at the local farms were very good and the produce was fresh and excellent. We took our recipes with us on our computer. The first 48 pages or so was put together by Alice and then we added and added and added until the document was given to each of our children.  Some of the recipes are in German. 

When we went to Moscow we enjoyed eating at the Scandinavian restaurant and especially at the Pushkin restaurant at the Tverskaya Metro stop. It is touted as the premier place to eat in Moscow.  In Moscow we got the BBC television in our apartment and enjoyed watching “Ready Steady Cook”.  We took our recipes with us. 

Food seems to be a topic of conversation in our family.  We feel that food for the body is as important as food for the soul.  Both must be of the highest quality and pure and delicious.

Love,

Grandpa

 

Immunizations and you

As you may know, I answer the phone in the missionary department on Monday mornings and Tuesday afternoons.  I keep track of all the phone calls on a spreadsheet on the computer. The majority of calls are those seeking information about immunizations. The missionary department wants all the missionaries entering the mission field to be protected against infectious diseases. Some calls are from parents who do not want their child to be immunized. We tell them that they can serve, but their service will be limited to their country of origin, so they will not be exposed to certain contagious diseases.

The brethren do not want to expose the missionaries to any diseases when they are unprotected.

This post is not about vaccines for hepatitis, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, or German measles (TdaP, IPV and MMR).
I want to discuss a different kind of immunization. As parents today we should be worried about something that can cause a permanent disability or even death. It is called sin. While serving in Frankfurt, I was quoted as saying, " Illness like sin is best treated early in its course".  We, of course, do not want either one in our life.  Spiritual illness is in epidemic proportions in our world. Unfortunately, it is going to get worse and not any better. What can Saints do to keep from getting infected by the plague of sin that is sweeping the earth in the days prior to the coming of The Son of Man of Holiness?

My recommendation is that we immunize the children. Not only with the vaccines as mentioned above, but with something that will immunize them and protect them against the plague of wickedness that is so prevalent in the earth.

What are a few of these immunizations?

The apostle Paul compared these to armor. It is true that we need armor to protect us from the “fiery darts of the adversary”, but what about the small germs such as bubonic plague that enter into our lives surreptitiously?  We can immunize with faith, but that is something that we cannot give to another person. It has to come from a desire within. The doctor or other professional administers the immunization and then the individual develops the immune protection as a result. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said.” Real disciples absorb the fiery darts of the adversary by holding aloft the quenching shield of faith with one hand, while holding to the iron rod with the other.” Holding on to the iron rod requires immunization.

We you and I, then, have to be the professional that administers the spiritual immunization.  So, when do we start? In the later years of my practice I would start the shots when the baby was in the hospital or at the first week visit. They got shots in regular intervals until they went to college.

What do we need to do to spiritually immunize the individual so that they can develop the immunity against the spiritual plagues? I call this vaccine PTSRS.
First, start immunizing early with PTSRS.

Prayer

Prayer is a good thing to start with. Pray to The Lord that He will send you choice spirits to teach. Pray over them in their crib. Pray to The Lord when they are toddlers and let them hear you pray for them by name. Pray together as a family twice daily, morning and night. Let The Lord know you are thankful for trusting you with their care.

Teach

Teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. In today's world, do not rely on the church and church programs such as seminary to teach them the doctrines of the kingdom. Do not stop with just family home evening. Family home evening is important, but not enough. Take time to have unscheduled visits one on one or impromptu family gospel discussions.

Scriptures

Reading the scriptures daily is good, but without understanding it is not a powerful enough antigen to protect the host. Be a gospel scholar and teach your children to excel in gospel knowledge. Proper knowledge is power. In these days there are probably one thousand anti-Mormon sites to one in favor of the church. There are too many of our members who have not been properly immunized and without true knowledge will lose their fragile testimony. The time is now when the sifting prophesied by Heber C. Kimball is going on.
The scripture was often quoted in my family when I was growing up: " Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7) It is important to understand the scriptures and the doctrine. I am still learning and being enlightened by my study.

Rules

We used to have family rules.  Every once in a while we would go over the family rules. We even had rules for dating. Each family has to have rules of conduct for the family. One of our rules was that our children could not have friends over to the house when the parents were not home. We had other rules as well.

Spirituality

Make the place where you live a place where those who come and go will feel the spirit of The Lord. Make your home a place of spiritual refuge from the world.  A place where there is no contention and that your children can come and know that they will not be criticized or mocked or put down. President Harold B. Lee said that the holy places that we should stand in when the judgments of God would wash over the earth should not only be the temples, but our homes as well. 

The scripture states that “out of small things procedeth that which is great”. Just as it does not take a lot of vaccine to immunize against the aforementioned diseases, it does not take a lot of spiritual vaccine, but it needs to be constantly administered in small doses. My professor of pediatrics used to say, “ The dose is enough”. What is enough for one person may be too much or not enough for the other. This may not be the only vaccine that is needed, but start here and perhaps you will find another vaccine that is needed as well.

The spirit will guide you.

Love,
Grandpa

Keep your windows clean

Yesterday I washed the windows in the kitchen. I was careful to make sure there were no streaks. I washed the screens as well. It looked like to me that I had done an acceptable job.  I showed my wife how clean they were.

This morning I came into the kitchen as the sun was shining directly through the window. I was horrified. All the windows were streaked. They didn't look as bad as they were before, but we're certainly unacceptable.  I thought this might be a good object lesson to post on my blog.

Using the light of the gospel to look at what we do in our lives, we can discern things that otherwise appear to be perfect.  We can see the dirty streaks in our life. We can see that we can improve. We can see the imperfections and resolve to clean our spiritual windows again and use the bright sunlight of the gospel to shine through and perfectly illuminate our souls and allow us to see through clearly and discern.

Be sure and clean your spiritual windows.

Love,

Grandpa

The parable of the father and the child

There once was a father who had a number of children. One of his children lived in a distant city.  One day the child came to the father and asked him to help with a problem. The father listened and gave counsel and said in order for him to really help the child solve this problem he would need some information that should be collected in the next month so that the necessary adjustments could be made. As they parted the father assured the child of his love. The child responded affirmatively. The child agreed to send the information, but the father did not hear anything more from the child.
Some time later the child approached the father with another problem. He listened carefully and tried to give the child the benefit of his knowledge. He told the child that he could better help with the problem if he had more information. There was not enough information to solve the problem. The father explained this to the child. He assured the child again of his love and the child said, “I love you too”. The father wrote down the information needed and sent an epistle to the child with a detailed list.
The child decided to ask someone else for counsel, but did not do what that person recommended. The father did not learn about that until much later. He never received the information asked for.
In process of time, the child came again to the father after going to counsel with others about a different problem. He listened to the problem, asked probing questions and gave the child his best advice, but said that in order to really give the best advice he needed more information, which the child did not have but could send to him by speedy messenger. Again they hugged and expressed their love for each other.
The following day he received communication that the child had sought counsel elsewhere. He never did receive the information from the child.
What should the father do?
What should the child have done?
Did the father love the child?
Did the child show love and respect for the father?
How should the father respond to further requests for his advice?
What would you do?
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted your Father in Heaven to help you with a problem?
Are you like the child in the above parable?
I have found that The Lord will not help us solve our problems, unless we trust Him and show Him that we will do all and anything He asks, then patiently wait for Him to help us solve the problem.

Love,

Grandpa