Some Ways To "Stay Awake" - The Battle For Our Souls - Part 4

(Please read Part 1-2 and Part 3 before reading this post)

As mentioned in Part 3, as the Savior was suffering in Gethsemane, He asked that His disciples "stay awake" so that they could be there to support Him through His ordeal. They did not stay awake and from them we must learn a valuable lesson. We do not condemn them, they were mortal as are we, but we can learn from them as I'm sure they would have us do.

What does it mean to "stay awake" in relation to being there for others. I believe there are many different ways to "stay awake"...

We return back to those fateful last hours of the Savior's life...

 From the ashes of His excruciating pain, came His understanding of...well, everything and everyone, but for our purposes today, we will explore how His complete comprehension of our mortal minds and hearts has lead to the commandments to love one another by fulfilling modern day assignments such as visiting teaching and home teaching and to fulfill our baptismal covenants to "bear one another's burdens" (Mosiah 18:8).

Keeping these covenants and going home teaching or visiting teaching is not just a bunch of busy work. It is real work; it is hard work and it is the work the disciples of Jesus Christ must be about every single day because it is the work of LOVE - and love, love, love has an amazing power to help us survive the battle in which we are all engaged.

Out on that battle field, we are each fighting our own individual battles. Each person and each family is dealing with the responsibility of building up the walls of defense around their homes. Satan will look for any weak spot in our fortifications, therefore a constant vigil must be kept to protect ourselves and our families. This isn't easy and if we are not careful, a weak spot will be found and then the battle will intensify significantly.

Here is the reality, if you think a person or a family is not struggling in the battle, then you don't know that person or family very well. NONE OF US IS EXEMPT! None of us. Thus, the Savior commands us, when we are baptized to "bear one another's burdens, mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort." (Mosiah 18:8)

He doesn't do this just to keep us out of trouble - although serving others can do that. He doesn't do this just to teach us valuable lessons - although serving others can do that. He doesn't do this just because He knows how it will help us with our own problems - although serving others definitely can do that. Remember, He has been to our darkest places - and He did it alone. He knows what it is like to fight the battle ALONE and He doesn't want any of us to have to endure the same loneliness. So He asks us to do more than just be nice. He gives us assignments at church in which we have stewardship over others and even more specifically, He simply asks us to visit two or three sisters or families each month to see how they are fairing in the battle.

So, in your mind's eye, envision yourself as a home teacher or a visiting teacher, dressed in full battle armor (because it is wise to never take it off), approaching a family's fortress once a month.

Now, you have your own fortress to take care of, but we're all in this together and sometimes it takes someone standing at a different perspective to help us fix things up. There is nothing wrong with that. It seems pretty clear, when you think of how extensive and intense this battle can be, we can't do it alone. We simply cannot do it alone.

And maybe the family or sister is doing okay that month and doesn't really need help, except for a quick pep talk and a prayer (we can all use that on a daily basis). 

But sometimes, there may be a need, a huge need and the family feels overwhelmed with the pain of wounds they are dealing with but there you are, someone in whom they have learned to trust because of your integrity and they feel safe with you and you are ready and willing to help with love and no judgment - just an understanding that we are all wounded from time to time and healing can take place, especially because it is the Master Healer who sent you. You are on His errand and He will be by your side to help you know how to help this family not feel alone and forgotten. He knows how that feels, remember?

This is the work of Relief Society and of the Priesthood. Is the work you are doing as part of the RELIEF Society bringing relief to others?

It isn't always easy work. It isn't always convenient or pretty or heroic. It isn't always heart warming and although dinners and humanitarian aid kits and quilts are a significant part of serving others, the battle is growing so fierce and the wounds are so great, it is requiring more spiritually minded, forgiving, loving and understanding disciples of Jesus Christ than ever before.

"It is not enough merely to speak of Jesus Christ or proclaim that we are His disciples. It is not enough to surround ourselves with symbols of our religion. Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, “spectator discipleship” is a preferred if not a primary way of worshiping." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Way of the Disciple",Ensign, May 2009, pg 75.

And here is the clincher..."It does not require a calling more than being a member to nourish by reaching out in kindness." Henry B. Eyring, “Feeding His Lambs,” Liahona, Feb 2008, 2–7. Got that? We don't need to wait for an assignment to serve someone and there is no need for us to say something such as, "I am not her visiting teacher so I'll just leave that up to them." That is not what the Savior would do.

We must roll up our shirt sleeves and be willing to get in the thick of things. "Ours is not a secondhand religion. We cannot receive the blessings of the gospel merely by observing the good that others do. We need to get off the sidelines and practice what we preach." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Way of the Disciple" (reference above.)

And as I wrote earlier, even if all you can do is pray for someone, then at least do that.

I wish I could say that I am the perfect example of what I'm preaching here. I'm not. News flash, I'm mortal - to my great dismay sometimes. We are all mortal and what did the Savior say about us, "...the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matt 26:41)

"The first step on the path of discipleship begins, luckily enough, in the exact place where we stand!" President Uchtdorf, "The Way of the Disciple". I must start where I am - not worrying about the past but pushing forward with a daily renewal of a desire to serve the Lord by serving others. I must pray daily to "stay awake".

The Book of Mormon relates an amazing tale of 2000 young men who fought valiantly and had faith that God would deliver them. The miraculous survival of every single one of those young men is told over and over, as well it should be. But I've become increasingly more interested in the fact that although every single warrior survived, every single warrior also received "many wounds" (Alma 57:25)

I do not joy in their pain, quite the contrary, but I think it applicable to us in these latter-days fighting a spiritual war. We will all be wounded one way or another. All of us. But we can all survive and eons from now, it is not our wounds that will define us, just as the 2000 stripling warriors are not remembered for their many wounds. They are remembered because they survived and they survived together and so can we. Once again, it is no accident that we are all on this battle field at the same time. It is all for a wonderfully, supporting, surviving reason.

"Christ lived on earth and was subject to all manner of temptation, but He won every battle. He is the most successful warrior that ever walked the earth, and He wants to help us win every battle, be it personal or public. When we fall short, His atonement will compensate for us on condition of our repentance.

"Jesus knows His kingdom will triumph, and He wants us to triumph with it. He knows in advance every strategy the enemy will use against us and the kingdom. He knows our weaknesses and He knows our strengths." President Ezra Taft Benson, "In His Steps", Ensign, September 1988

 

Stay Awake - The Battle For Our Souls - Part 3

(Please read The Battle For Our Souls Parts 1 & 2 before reading this. I must say that although I do not expect anyone to read every word here, this sure has helped my personal scripture study!)

As the Savior prepared to enter the Garden of Gethsemane, he took three of his disciples with Him. He did not want to go alone. He said to them, "...My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me," (Matt 26:38) in other words, He asked them to stay with Him because He didn't want to be alone, His pain was too great. In the foot note of this verse it says that "watch with me" means, "stay awake". He didn't just ask them to sit there and wait He actually wanted them to stay awake and be aware of what He was about to do. He truly needed companionship that night.

We all know the story. The disciples didn't stay awake. Twice during His ordeal, He left the garden, most likely needing a rest from the incomprehensible pain, to find his friends asleep. He said, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matt: 26:40)

It is recorded that in the Garden, an angel was sent to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, needed a friend, someone to be by His side to help Him through Gethsemane.

"Later, in Gethsemane, the suffering Jesus began to be 'sore amazed' (Mark 14:33), or, in the Greek, 'awestruck' and 'astonished'. Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds, 'astonished'! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its fullness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined! No wonder an angel appeared to strengthen him! (See Luke 22:43.)" Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1985 "Willing To Submit"

AND

"Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments...when He cries in ultimate loneliness, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'

"The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, 'Behold, the hour . . . is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me' and 'The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him'?

"With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour...It was required; indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, May 2009 "None Were With Him"


As I think of those eternally significant moments when the Savior was enduring pain for which there is no adequate adjective to describe, when His friends couldn't stay awake and betrayed or denied Him, when He felt that even His father had left Him alone, I can't help but think of His words, "Love one another", "Judge not", "Feed my sheep", "...forgive all men", and feel that, yes, these are commandments, but I sense a pleading from Him in these words. An understanding of how lonely life can be and how wonderful it would have been to feel supported by His friends.

Somehow, in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He was enduring our "pains and afflictions and temptations of EVERY kind" (Alma 7:11), it is as if for a few moments He was each one of us, thoroughly comprehending us and seeing life through our eyes. How else was He able to say of those who beat Him, "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

Can the same be said of us? I am guessing we don't always know how much we can hurt others or that those who hurt us don't always intend to do so. I'm also guessing that we truly do not understand how much we need each other and the power our influence can have - for good or bad."This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." (John 15:12-14)

 To whomever may read this, now or in the future, I testify that Jesus Christ is our dearest, truest, most loyal friend. It is my belief that in the Garden, He personally went to your darkest, loneliest, scariest places and found A WAY OUT. Whatever trial you may be enduring, no matter the reason for that trial, when the Savior says "Come follow me" one interpretation may be, "I know the way out. I traveled this path before you and found the way out of this. Take my hand and never let go. I will get you out of here." "Broken Things To Mend" What's even more impressive, and what is important for us to remember, is that He says this to each one of us, those whom you feel deserve this love and those whom you feel don't deserve this love.

"...he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Luke 4:18)

I have been brokenhearted, I have felt captive, I have been blind and I have felt bruised - and not just once and I'm sure it will happen again...and again. Each of us out on that battle field have felt this way and will feel this way again. We're all in this together. He knows the loneliness that comes when our friends "fall asleep" and so He just asks that we "stay awake" and never leave a soldier behind.

There is more to come...

The Battle For Our Souls - Parts 1 & 2

I have hesitated writing this because I don't want to paint a picture of doom and gloom. I believe there is so much good in this world and so many reasons to have hope and feel joy. My understanding and testimony of the Plan of Salvation gives me every reason to have HOPE. However, just because one has hope and faith and a testimony, doesn't mean that life will be easy. In fact, often it means life may be harder because the Lord knows how much you want to be like Him, so some serious refining and purifying must take place.

Refining hurts. It hurts a lot and no one is exempt and we all go through refining in different ways. I am overwhelmed lately at how many friends I have who are struggling and not just with a hang nail or two. SERIOUSLY struggling with HARD, HARD, HARD experiences.

The battle metaphor seems to fit perfectly. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12

We are in a battle - a battle for our souls. In my mind I can see us all out on a battle field, our armor on, swords ready, willing to defend ourselves. As I look around, I see that we all have suffered wounds of varying degrees. We have scars indicating past battles and open wounds, evidence that the battle is still raging. I notice too that we are not on the battle field alone. Yes, "they who be with us are more than they who be with them" (2 Kings 6:16), meaning there are legions of angels enlisted in our defense. But we are also standing there along side each other...for a reason.Satan would love nothing more than to have us judge, point fingers, gossip, back bite and not assist each other whatsoever. While out on that battle field, if we saw that one of our fellow soldiers had fallen and as we approached we saw the blood from his open wound, would we shout to the other soldiers, "Come see! This one is wounded. Can you believe the size of that wound? Look at all that blood. How did he let that happen? Stay away from him, he is no good any more. I am so disappointed in him."? OR would we just run around whispering to all of the other soldiers that so and so had been wounded and was lying there bleeding to death, with no intention of offering any help? No. We would not.

That sounds ridiculous because it is ridiculous. We would get down, bandage the soldier's wounds, make sure he knew we were there to help and do all we could to assist that fallen soldier. As the world grows more and more wicked and more and more of our fellow soldiers fall with serious wounds, we must spiritually, emotionally and mentally, assist each other.

Just as satan wants us to hurt each other, the Savior wants us to love and forgive and be gentle and kind with one another as we find our way Home. He said, "Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." (Doctrine and Covenants 81:5) Some may not want to be helped - or so they say. But a good soldier never leaves a man behind and if all you can do is kneel next to the wounded soldier and pray for him, then at least do that.

Part 2

 I need to explain what I mean by "wounds". In this essay of sorts, my definition of wounds is the mental, emotional, spiritual and even physical evidence of trials in ones life. This is something I am just discovering and mulling over in my brain so I hope it makes sense...

In his book entitled "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience", Neal A. Maxwell said that there are three types of trials in this life,

1. Facing the consequences of our own unrighteous choices. He actually said this is the most common reason for our trials and if we really sit down and think about it, he's right.

2. The natural vicissitudes that come from living in an imperfect world with imperfect bodies. We get sick, our hearts are broken by the unrighteous choices of others, and we are subject to natural disasters, discomfort due to the weather, political upheaval etc.

3. A loving Father chooses to school us so that we can learn and grow and deepen our understanding of His plan.

If you ask me, the lines between each of these types of trials blur together considerably. We live in an imperfect world where others make unrighteous choices that cause us pain and sorrow which, in turn, may cause us to make wrong choices as a way of masking the pain (we all do it!).

We are then left to face the consequences of our own choices which were put in place by a loving Father who wants to help us grow - and that is just one scenario - there are tons and tons of ways these lines blur. For example, (and because I've already shared this struggle on this blog. But I've got more, trust me!) when my husband and I were waiting for children to come, 9 long years we waited and hoped and prayed - it hurt and it brought sorrow - we were wounded.

 All this despite the fact that we had complete faith and trusted the Lord. It still hurt. Did that happen because of our unrighteousness? I honestly don't think so. It probably had more to do with the fact that my body is imperfect because we live in an imperfect world and for some reason the Lord saw fit that that particular trial was what we needed to help us grow closer to Him. He was right - oh how He was right.

This is actually the reason why we must be patient with each other and never pass judgment unless we have all the facts and WE WILL NEVER HAVE ALL THE FACTS. That is why the Savior reserves the right to judge for Himself - He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts, why we do what we do and how hard we struggle and He knows when we display private courage, integrity, forgiveness and understanding - even if no one else knows this about us.

Suffice it to say that we each have wounds.

The sources of those wounds are as different as each of us. Often, it is a given that if someone is suffering from wounds caused by certain physical illnesses or natural disasters or the hurtful actions of others or anything that is not the person's fault, it is so much easier for us to offer aid and comfort.

But when someone is suffering because of the consequences of their own actions or they are enduring pain from "taboo" wounds, such as mental illnesses, it is much harder for us to do as the Savior requests - "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees." I am just as much to blame as the next guy but I hope I'm learning to overcome this. We must be wise yes, but let us not mistake fear for wisdom - that is exactly how satan wants it.

Interestingly enough, the pain that has brought me the most sorrow in my life is the pain I have felt because of the things I have done that brought sorrow to others - especially my Savior. I have a feeling most people feel the same. It might just be that when we are suffering from those self-inflicted wounds, we need more help from those around us than at any other time.

It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that the wounds which I must focus on the most are the wounds in the Savior's hands and feet and side. If I let them, those wounds, His wounds, will heal my wounds.

Here are the words of someone wiser than I:

"Man Down"

This talk by President Henry B. Eyring, entitled "Man Down" is perfect! I wish I could be as eloquent as he. This talk, given in General Conference, April 2009, shed so much light on my thoughts and has inspired me to understand these concepts better.