Starting to get it

Different passages will stand out to me when reading the scriptures.

On repeated reading, there will be different ones, but something in the phrasing or where you were in your life when reading or something makes it stand out. 

There are other passages that I first noticed because someone else shared them in a talk or lesson or conversation, but it meant something to them. Then the next time I happen to read there, that will stand out. There are verses that I still associate with certain people because they were so much a part of that impression.

Then there other times when people will mention how great some certain part is. They will use superlative words, and I remember that this part means a lot to them, but I'm not seeing it.

That tends to make me feel a little bit guilty, but also maybe a little bit skeptical of that guilt; is it really that great? Or are you just being a little bit too holy?

Anyway, one of those sections was Alma Chapter 5.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/5?lang=eng  

I knew there were people who found it really meaningful, but I found it long. 

Alma has been going around to different cities trying to call people who are members to repentance. He gets different responses so says different things, but the one verse that started coming back to me was 26:

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

There were two factors that brought it to mind.

One is that we know a lot of people from church that are no longer going. There are wide and varied reasons, but that feels like a loss.

One specifically was deeply influenced by the loss of a child. That wasn't the only reason, but she is not sure about the possibility of seeing that child again, which was pretty heartbreaking. 

The other factor was recently watching Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Movie.

In it you have one priest who is building up a kind of cult-like devotion through exclusion, and as well as one who is trying to get people to focus on the sustenance of daily bread, and the love is in the Gospel. 

There are a lot of interesting ideas (and a fair amount of weirdness and maybe it could have stood some tighter editing, but that's also a trend nowadays).

Somehow, in thinking about that issue where there is sustenance in faith and love -- which I feel -- and how hate and exclusion drives that out -- which I see all around -- that's when I started thinking about verse 26.

I ask that no one focus too much on whom I might have in mind; there are so many, with different reasons and who are at different places.

(And I don't want a repeat of this situation: https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/12/my-facebook-post-blows-up-series.html) 

But as someone who is comforted and directed by faith (and a faith that is built in my church, despite being aware of its flaws), that loss saddens me. 

I also know that it can come back, if an opening is left.

I should note that my thought was also one verse out of sixty-two; there is a lot more in there.

I should add that the reason Alma was going around preaching was that there was starting to be wealth inequality and that the haves were looking down on and abusing the have-nots. Sound familiar? 

Those things also connect. Part of being able to feel it again is having felt it before. Relying on your riches can prevent it and envy is a problem. I liked that it said "envy" instead of "pride", because that made it more obvious that it was a barrier to relationships with other people. It was enmity.

The concepts connect, but we are assembling it one piece at a time.  

That is why I keep reading. 

Treasures in Heaven

Last week I posted a link to a brief essay by Henry Van Dyke. 

I have been thinking about the story behind that. (Not Van Dyke's; mine.)

In the April 1983 conference, President Monson referred to Van Dyke's short story, The Mansion:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1983/04/anonymous?lang=eng 

I don't really remember why I was thinking of it in the late '90s, but I wanted to see if I could find the whole story to read it. 

At the time I went to the Multnomah County Central Library, where I would look things up on these small and primitive terminals (but not a card catalog), write down the location with the tiny pencils and scrap paper they provided, go to the section, and almost never find what I was looking for on the shelf.

There were frustrations with that process, but I found things that I couldn't have known to look for.

The book that would have contained The Mansion was not there, but a book that contained Christmas-Giving and Christmas-Living was, and I loved it. I ended up copying a part of it and including it with my Christmas cards that year. Other people responded to it too, and it remains in a special place in my heart.

I had still never read The Mansion until today.

https://americanliterature.com/author/henry-van-dyke/short-story/the-mansion/ 

I am not sure that this posted copy has an error-free transcription, but I have the gist. 

Honestly, I think it is a little longer than it needs to be, but it is very beautiful and there was more than I expected in it.

The part that President Monson referenced is the main part: your mansions above can only be built with the materials you send. If you have your name on your good works on Earth, you have already been paid.

What becomes more clear on reading the full story is that it is not just about credit but emotion.

His son feels disconnected from life and faith; there needs to be something less careful and measured. Many of his impulses are sentimental, which his father cannot support. 

It certainly seems possible that there might be something that you received earthly credit for, but if there was love overflowing, it would flow into Heaven as well.

I also recently saw something about A Christmas Carol.

They were saying that the real point of the story is illustrated by the coal. Scrooge is in the cold office too; it's not that he is enjoying luxuries while not allowing them to others. The problem is he insists that everyone live like him.

(Trying to find the original post I am coming up with a few variations, so I don't know where it started.) 

There is a case for him being overbearing in that way, and we certainly have more misers today who are managing to enjoy luxuries, but part of Scrooge's problem was that he forgot to enjoy things. For Scrooge, going to a cold and empty house to eat gruel in the dark is a perfectly reasonable way to spend an evening. He had the means to have light, warmth, companionship, and food, but he didn't want it.

There is a problem with greedy people who can never have enough, and a problem with ascetics who look down on all earthly pleasures, and a problem with people who insist on forcing their beliefs on others. We could make a Venn diagram of that. Maybe the anti-aging people are where the first two circles overlap, but it is all awful.

This is a time of year for memories anyway. Between the loss of two parents, I am feeling more.

What I notice is that the experiences that were very painful do not carry the same sting, but that the good memories retain their warmth. 

Matthew 6: 19 - 21

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

John Weightman has an interesting interpretation of that scripture before the dream.

Yes, charity and service is treasure, but also love and joy and good times. Perhaps indulging in them can be charity to yourself.  

And the beautiful thing is that those things needn't be hoarded. They are not diminished by sharing. 

Christmas giving

At the activity we had many, many bags full of Hershey's kisses.

That was partly because we discovered about 150 vellum bags that had been bought for something, maybe around fourteen years ago. I think they bought around 200. There were two different sizes, so it was probably 100 of each, but then they only used around 50.

There were a couple of bags that still had some kisses and Andes mints in them, but they were very old and waxy.

While being very willing to use up the budget we have, we don't want to waste anything, 

Knowing that these envelopes were available, but also thinking about ministering and giving, we ended up filling all but seven of the bags with kisses, which were fortunately on sale.

At the activity they were something that the attendees could take for themselves, but also for the sisters they minister to, but also to anyone who could use a little boost, or even if you didn't know yet who was going to need a little boost, because there will always be people.

As I have been writing about ministering over the past few weeks, you generally can't fix people's problems; you can show love and caring and remembrance.

There are many ways that can happen.

I got to spend some time over the holidays with an old friend. Chocolate gives her migraines, so giving her one of those bags would not have been a sign of caring. However, we also talked and I had some ideas for an issue that was happening in her family. I will be helping with that.

Last night we were able to do some shopping for a friend who has a lot going on. It wasn't a gift of money, because she paid for the items. What she really needed was to not have to expend that time and energy. That was something we could give.

In a household of older people (and kind of picky ones at that), we don't make a point of buying things and wrapping them up for each other. That was a big part of our childhood, and we tried various types of exchanges as we got older, but we have settled into something different.

Still, sometimes there is a desire to do more. Then there may be baking sprees or get-togethers or something different, just to make sure that there aren't any doubts about the affection or commitment.

Then -- especially in times like these -- there can be thoughts about what to do for society or the environment, and how we want to go forward. 

Those are things that I am thinking about now, and hope to write about more.

I can give some other food for thought.

Gifts by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

https://literaturepage.com/read/emersonessays2-75.html 

Christmas-Giving and Christmas-Living by Henry Van Dyke

https://www.clausnet.com/articles/literature/christmas-giving-and-christmas-living-r100/