Lifeline

I have been "reading with our daughter. She has had me tell her the stories about the life of Jesus Christ as we turn the pages of the gospel art book that I purchased. Each picture is wonderful and so artistic. One particular painting has put an indelible stamp on my mind. In the picture that I am referring to, is a water scene. The waters are choppy and the sky, stormy gray. Several men are in a boat but the central subjects of the story are not. To the right and standing on the water is the Savior. In the water is Peter reaching for the Savior. Most are familiar with this stunning recorded event. Most are aware of the soon to be Apostles seeing the Savior walk on water and Peter wanting so badly to try it out. In his efforts he succeeded, for a moment, then noticing the impossible, he sank. He asked for the Savior's assistance in his moment of failure and the Savior reached out and saved Peter(Matthew 14:22-32).

I, personally, have always loved this story. I love that the Savior could walk on water. I love that Peter was able to walk some, too. That just seemed so great and brought it to a place that made me think that I could try it out someday (with Jesus' help).

But right now for me, this story has more dimensions.

The Savior asked the disciples to head on out on the water.

They were very familiar with water having been fishermen.

The Lord took the time to go to a mountain to pray after spending the day preaching the gospel.

After quite a while (what looks like between 3 and 6am) He came down from the mountain and saw the disciples.

They were obedient and were working hard to get to where the Lord had requested that they go. He saw their struggle with the elements and walked to them.

In the pressure of dealing with the storm at sea, the disciples didn't know who the Savior was. They thought that he was a spirit on the water.

When the Savior declared that it was Him, Peter asked the Lord to essentially prove it by allowing Peter to walk on the water, too.

It was still stormy.

It was, in our mortal knowledge and experience, a very awkward and strange thing to even walk on water. Would it ever occur to you to consider doing it? No one else does this. I've never seen anyone do it. I wouldn't think it something normal to consider doing.

Yet, here was Jesus walking, for what sounds like quite a distance, to His Disciples in the storm.

How many times have we been told by the Spirit that we needed to do something and we turned away from the prompting dismissing it because it seemed so illogical, strange, out of date, uncomfortable, etc? How many times have our trials been impossible in our eyes? Isn't it in the scriptures that we read that we won't receive a trial that we can't handle? And yet we reason our way out of doing things the Lord's way in order to fit in or keep cool or not make waves with our families and friends. Were we put here to go with the flow of society? Did the Lord go with the flow of society?

now one might want to say that with the storm others wouldn't see this all happening but the Lord saw His disciples from where He was on the shore. So we might assume that others would, if awake, be able to see the whole event unfold.

Well, not only did Jesus do such a strange thing (he could have procured a boat for himself), but then Peter asked to do the same thing!

Now let's talk about Peter.

Here he is seeing something ridiculous and he says that he wants to do it, too.

This should indicate that he's pretty bold and daring in nature.

Peter indicates that he knows that if it is indeed the Savior that the Savior would have the power to make it possible for Peter to walk on water.

So Peter has a lot of faith to start with.

Peter is ok with doing this during a storm so he's not easily deterred from a challenge.

And if anyone was watching, he didn't seem to care either.

The Savior was totally fine with giving Peter this unexplainable experience of walking on water. He didn't lecture him on asking for a sign. He didn't tell Peter that Peter wasn't capable.

So there must have been a reason for the event.

Just in my mind,

I wonder if the Lord thought that it was important to let Peter and the disciples see the real power that He had over the elements.

I wonder if the Lord, knowing Peter's future roll in the church as the head after He would be gone, thought it wise to allow Peter to exercise his faith. Peter, like a child, did so well! And then. . .

Like a normal human being realized the implications of what he was doing.

Notice that I say, "what he was doing". It was Peter walking on water. He made a conscious choice. Peter was exercising his faith successfully. Peter in the midst of a storm at sea, WALKED ON WATER.

This is stunning. It is not normal for anyone to even consider it and yet Peter actually did it.

Well, like I said also, like a normal human being, Peter looked around and considered this event and faltered.

This is what really has been on my mind lately.

I face real challenges that are seemingly completely out of my control. There is a huge storm in the world. This storm is a perfect storm of lacking morality, empty of faith, destitute of personal responsibility, full of the strength of anger, lacking in hope, wavering in the characteristics of charity, and burdened with pride.

Men on every continent live to enslave humankind.

Humankind is complacent in general to the onslaught.

It's a terrible storm. There aren't many willing to fight or weather it.

There aren't many with faith to WALK ON WATER.

When Peter questioned, he began to sink. As President Thomas S. Monson said, "Your future is as bright as your faith."

Do we have the options at this point to question? Do we have time? Can we afford to sink? (well we always have the choice)

Many of us are working with all that we have (for some it's a lot and for some it's a little) to defend our God, our Families, our Freedoms and the same blessings for others. We sit in our homes, go out in public, type on the computer, get on the phones and faxes. We work really hard to educate ourselves. We are trying to walk but I'm afraid that each one of us at various times has a bad night or discouraging events. Each one of us struggles to know the next step and if it's even possible in the raging, stormy sea. Many of our friends think we're crazy. They look from the shore and shake their heads. "Give up. What you're doing is nuts!", we hear.

Some won't give up.

Some can't give up.

Some love their God and their Families and their Freedoms more than the storm.

These are those that the Lord can lift up.

The Lord said to Peter, "Oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt?" but he was just making a statement of fact. An evaluation for the moment. In fact the Savior knew where Peter's faith would take him and who can deny the strength we read about and are inspired by further on. Peter was labeled a rock for a reason. Peter led so many to the Savior's gospel. Peter lifted people up then and still does with his writings. Peter not only traveled and taught among the Jews, he did even more with the "Gentiles" as a free man in the Roman Empire.

If we liken the scriptures unto us, we'll be able to see that we can and should exercise our faith no matter how goofy the prompting is to us. Each of us has a life to live. Each of us is here to help another and to make a difference. All roads are a little different but can get to the same place.

We, like Peter, might "check it out" so to speak and walk for a little bit and then get bombarded by the storm. It might really worry us to the point that we think we can't make it.

But as He always will, when we cry out for Jesus Christ to save us, He will.

And not only will he save us when we make the effort to turn to Him . . .

He will calm the storm.

"And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of the that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 36:3)

Inspiration Anytime Anywhere

"Most of us, most of the time, speak of the facility at Liberty as a 'jail' or a 'prison'—and certainly it was that. But Elder Brigham H. Roberts (1857–1933) of the First Council of the Seventy, in recording the history of the Church, spoke of the facility as a temple, or, more accurately, a 'prison-temple.' Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) used the same phrasing in some of his writings. Certainly this prison-temple lacked the purity, beauty, comfort, and cleanliness of our modern temples. The speech and behavior of the guards and criminals who came there were anything but temple-like. In fact, the restricting brutality and injustice of this experience at Liberty would make it seem the very antithesis of the liberating, merciful spirit of our temples and the ordinances performed in them."So in what sense could Liberty Jail be called a 'temple,' and what does such a title tell us about God's love and teachings, including where and when that love and those teachings are made manifest? In precisely this sense: that you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in any situation you are in. Indeed, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced."

Jeffrey R. Holland, "Lessons from Liberty Jail," Ensign, Sept. 2009, 28

Provoke Not Your Children

Ephesians 6:1-4
"Children Obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother;
(which is the first commandment with promise;)
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth,
And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath:
but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

I have read this passage several times and came across it accidentally about 3 years ago. It starts off familiar but notice the last 2 lines. Those are verse 4. It took me back a little and then I thought that this was a very wise finish to a very important commandment.

First let's be clear. To honour you parents means to be respectful and work hard to make a good name for them and for and through your posterity. For those who have toxic, selfish, addictive, abusive, etc. parents, you have your hands full. You still have to honour your parents but you don't have to live by them, spend time with them at your own peril, expose your family to their behavior, etc. These decisions should be made prayerfully and on behalf of you and your own family.
To honour our parents even if they've passed on or aren't near us for one reason or another really means to raise our children well and carry the family name, so-to-speak, well-doing as well or, in the worst circumstances, much better. We need to do this without vindictiveness or thoughts of obsessive revenge and such. We do this with love and with the spirit of peace. This can be so hard but it's possible.
Back to that last part. Isn't it interesting that the burden isn't all on the children. It's not really fair is it to put the honoring just on children?
Here's what's seems to be really happening here.
A chain of anger, vengence, revenge, hate is stopped when the parent behaves-to not provoking his/her children to anger. We are the examples and we are responsible for passing or not passing along bad habits. So if I have a temper about certain things, it's important for me to work on keeping that to myself as my own challenge and not enjoy watching my children get worked up about similar things. This doesn't mean that we don't share news or facts. But there is a responsibility to learn to discuss things without making a mock of others or ridiculing to raise everyone's blood pressure or cause cocky laughter about others.
I really think that my Dad is a great example of this. He usually doesn't really react to much. Smart man. He has a lot of children. We all have tempers to one degree or another. What upsets him is almost a complete mystery to me. I mean I know what sports teams he likes to watch and I know what things bring him joy or bring some sadness to him but what riles him up, not so sure. That leaves me all to myself to look at my own weaknesses and own them as my own to work on.
Look at the world around us. In cultures there are heated and dangerous beliefs that reinforce beatings and killings from father to son to daughter to grandchildren. This purpetual riling up just never allows for calm or peace.
So, yes, we children have a huge responsibility to honor our parents both living and dead with our actions and lives. And as Parents, we also have the responsibility to promote peace and the nurturing of our children in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
(Characteristics that will help us all in Moroni 7:45-47)