April 22, 2015
Dear Riley,
I’ve been thinking. I
told you that Josie hiked the Y on her own two feet the entire way. Her three year old legs had to have taken
twice, if not three times, as many steps as our adult legs. It’s a steep hike too. She was tiring, I was pretty sure she would
whine to be carried any minute. But then
we turned the second to last time and she could see exactly how much further
she had to go to land on the Y and that vision, that definability carried her
to the finish. I’ve been thinking about
the power of sight in the journey.
President W, in an adult session of Stake Conference,
placed this thought in my head years ago.
He told us that he had concluded that Satan didn’t really care how far
off target he got us, or whether it was sins of omission or commission that
distracted us, only that we did get off target.
President W proposed that one tool the devil uses in this pursuit is
obscuring sight. He distorts our vision
of God and our relationship to Him.
Satan distorts our vision of this life and what matters. I know personally that in times of trial or
grief, the devil will attempt to convince us that seeing past this life is
self-deception.
I also know from personal experience that the very peace we
seek in times of trial and grief (and times of joy and contentment) comes from
steadying our gaze upon the Savior and His teachings. When we are in the hands of God, though the
ripples of mortality may rock us, there is no other power or influence which
can penetrate and harm us.
While I was pondering these points, I decided to search this
last general conference for “see”
“sight” and “vision.” I didn’t
get very far. I read and re-read and
listened to Elder Clayton’s talk. The
phrase that stuck with me in relation to my pondering is “choose to believe.” Perhaps a substitution can
work as well: choose to see.
Choose to see Christ as a God who loves you and desires to
save you. Choose to see set-backs as
opportunities to be brought closer to understanding God’s plan for you. Choose to see commandments as blessings. Choose to see your call as a direct stroke in
your life from the Hand of God. Choose
to see every person placed in your path as equally loveable and save-able as
yourself. Choose to see all these
through a veil of forgetfulness by the power of faith. See with an eye of faith until that perfect day when you will see with your natural eye all these things.
I love you,
Mom
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