FOR THESE THINGS AND MORE I AM GRATEFUL (1)

There have been moments when I have been jolted into an overwhelming feeling of what a great blessing it has been for me to have my mortality during the 20th and 21st centuries, where I have basked in the dividends reaped from the sacrifices of time and effort of my parents and others of the previous generations.

I read the many admonitions in the Book of Mormon that we should be constantly in remembrance of not only all that the Lord has done for us, but also all that our forefathers have done so that our daily lives are filled with the comforts and commodities needed to sustain lives and help us to understand why we are here. Judging from the number of times the prophets in the Book of Mormon remind us to remember, there is little doubt that I spend far too little time expressing silently or publicly my gratefulness for my life and the people I have walked with.

On those all too few days when I take the time to sit pensively in a quiet place and allow the mood of gratitude to take its rightful place in my mind, I realize how grateful I am for the times of my life which allow me to ponder upon my blessed state.

I guess it would be appropriate at this time to write an exhaustive list of all those things for which I am grateful. I realize that this would just be an extension of those things I check off in my daily prayers which more often than not are said with little thought or feeling. Therefore, I have decided to take one thing I am grateful for and really ponder upon that area of my life.

I am not sure how long I will be on this journey or exactly where I will be led, but as always I invite all of you to join me in my quest by telling me what fills your hearts with gratefulness these days.

And so the journey begins:

As Lehi knelt beside the burning rock, a vision of the impending destruction of the city of Jerusalem flamed before his eyes. As the reality of this future event was seared into his mind, he was filled with the desire to fulfill his calling to go forth to try to save his family and friends from the impending destruction. As Lehi went forth lovingly raising his voice in words of warning, admonishing the citizens of Jerusalem of the need for repentance and the returning to the ways of the Lord, sadly, almost universally he and his message were rejected as the words of a ‘visionary’ man and the people were quickly swallowed up in the pleasures and worldly pursuits of their daily lives.
That which Lehi pre-knew to be reality through revelation, would all too soon become their actuality, as they ran in terror while the Babylonians set fire to their homes and turned their palaces of pleasure into ruin and rubble.

To some, reality exists no further than the extension of their senses.

To some, reality extends to worlds witnessed by others, but personally unknown.

To some, reality encompasses reverent present ponderings and dramatic distant dreams.

To some, reality includes whisperings of truths and assurances of things only hoped for.

The angel’s words to Lehi became reality to the condemned Jerusalemites only as they felt the heat upon their flesh, heard the Babylonian troops marching, and saw the raising of their city. At that moment of Israel’s sensory confirmed reality, Lehi and his family were safely enjoying the blessings of the Promised Land.

As we remember Lehi’s vision, his warning and the consequences of a people bound by the limitations of sensual knowledge, we are given reason to wonder about the wisdom of limiting our realities to the empirical world.

To those whose reality is a prisoner of their physical senses, horizons will forever limit their understanding.

To those whose reality rides on the experiences of others, libraries, photos and maps limit their world.

To those whose reality flies on wings of ponderings and dreams, imagination becomes the only limit to their sphere.

To those whose reality gives space to visions and revelation, Heavenly Father’s mercy and grace become the only limit to their mind’s eternal expansion.

While I consider the world which my senses give to me, to be beautiful and wonderful, I am grateful:

That my world has been extended by books, photos and journeys others have recorded,

That my world encompasses persistent ponderings and developmental dreams,

That my world includes guiding whisperings of the Spirit sent from a merciful Heavenly Father who is full of grace.

I am grateful that my understanding of life permits me to extend my realities beyond the horizons of here and now and I am able to enjoy the vistas of there and then.

(TO BE CONTINUED)