"A Soft Answer Turneth Away Wrath"

“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger”

-Proverbs 15:1

Normally, I try to pick Ponderize scriptures that stand out to me from my personal scripture study, but this one was quoted in an article that was shared on one of the Facebook groups I'm in; the article is entitled "Is Not Yelling Even A Thing?" I started reading the article because I've noticed a feeling of dissonance in our home, a lack of peace, and I've felt like I've been yelling a lot more lately than I wanted. 

When I came across this scripture, I didn't even finish reading the article. It shook me to my core. How often do I react to my daughters in a state of frustration, anger and yelling? How often do I react angrily towards Mario? It never ends well.  When I act on whatever caused my indignation in anger, there's a ripple effect of anger and frustration from whomever I've directed it at/ In contrast, when I am able to respond calmly, anger seems to face away. Which is why I chose the image I chose for my picture quote: the ripples protrude from the center, but as it the water begins to calm, the flower becomes more visible. Should I choose to agitate the water, the flower would disappear. 

That symbolism--the beauty of life, and the ease of it hiding from realization in anger--was a very poignant reminder to me, that I need to focus on my ability to calm and collect my thoughts before reacting.

"Unto him that receiveth I will give more"

After the last Ponderize scripture, and my realization of the things I'm learning "line upon line," I thought it apt to ponderize 2 Nephi 28:30. This tine, however, the phrase "unto him that receiveth I will give more" stood out to me.

We're always learning; whether it be formal or informal, secular or spiritual, we are always gaining knowledge and understanding. As long as we receive and utilize the knowledge we have received, this scripture promises that we will be given more. As we strive to "learn wisdom in our youth" we will be given more wisdom as we listen to and act upon what we have already received. (And I am willing to venture that we could all say we are in our youth, no matter our mortal age, because this is such a small portion of eternity.) 

What a wonderful promise! A simple desire to learn, and acting upon--or actively receiving--that learning, and we can gain more.

It reminds me of a photo of the Sistine Chapel that a friend shared on Facebook recently:

"The Creation of Adam"

Depicted here is a section called "The Creation of Adam," where God is giving Adam life.I have always thought it interesting that Michelangelo chose to portray this moment in history this way: God stretches as far as possible to reach Adam, but Adam won't quite reach back. All Adam has to do is straighten his arm, or just sit up a little bit, but he remains reclined. To me it's always been a reminder that we as mortals miss out on so much knowledge, wisdom, understanding and support because we simply don't reach out for it. 

But according to 2 Nephi 28:30, we not only miss out on light and understanding we COULD have received, if we "shall say, we have enough," we will have that light and knowledge we have already received, taken from us. 

And, while not a spiritual example, I definitely have seen this loss of knowledge in my life as I have stopped taking and using the skills and knowledge from my math classes, I just can't remember most of it anymore! While forgetting math is frustrating sometimes, it is so much more important to continue the study and review and share knowledge and testimony we have gained through our time on this life!! Missing math may affect my life now, but these truths will affect me for eternity! I want to be able to stand before the Judgement Bar, and not just watch my life and know of what I once knew, I want to be able stand before Him and say, "I know thou art my God! I have lived my life to its fullest, and I have followed and retained the truth I have received." 

I think that someday, if we continue through this life, always using that perfect, infinite gift of the Atonement, we each will have that opportunity. For I know we have a loving, merciful God--our Father--who loves us and has provided a way for us to improved and return to His presence through the sacrifice of His Son, our Savior. I know that as we strive to come unto Him, His hands truly are outstretched to us, and we may be lifted from wherever we may stand. I know that this truth was once on the earth, but was lost to the wickedness of men; but I also know that it was Restored by the power of God, through the question of a 14-year-old boy Joseph, until it was fully Restored to this earth. I know that Christ walked this earth, having been born of Mary, and I know that He will one day walk this earth again; this time as a Resurrected Being, in His full glory. I know that part of the Restored Gospel included modern revelation, both to Prophets and Apostles on a global scale, but also the ability for each of us as an individual to gain revelation, directly from God, for our personal enrichment. 

If you are struggling with truths you once knew, bow down before God. Pour out your thought and concerns to Him, and He will guide you. Let Him take those hurting, broken pieces of your heart and bind them together to make you stronger. Let Him love you; and most importantly, let yourself be loved--for that is damnation: stopping your progress towards and ability to be loved by your Savior and Father in Heaven.

Past Ponderize

I realized I stopped sharing my ponderize scriptures, so here's at least a collection of the ones I've used/made up to now.

In Every Thing Give Thanks

We couldn't possibly start this week without ponderize get a gratitude scripture. 

It's so true that we need to be grateful throughout every day, week and hour. There is always something that our Farther in Heaven and Savior has blessed us with, and it is Their desire that we show thanks for these things.  

Ponderize

Each week I have tried to follow the advice given by Elder Durant, to find a scripture to focus on for the week, and I just wanted to reflect on the last few weeks.

t has been something especially important to me because I wrote down that I needed to "find a 'friend scripture' each week" during the opening song of the first session of Conference. You can probably imagine my surprise when Elder Durant described how he and his wife "ponderize" scriptures, if a very sinilar ways as I was thinking of "friend scriptures."

All of the scriptures were chosen because they stood out to me either during personal or family scripture study, and I t's kind of funny that several of them have just sort of led into the next one. Learning of the Prince of darkness, and our ability to overcome (John 14:30, JST) led to a desire to be corrected in weakness (Jeremiah 10:24); which led to the importance of being spiritually-minded (2 Nephi 9:39); and finally, organizing to be more able to be spiritually-minded (D&C 88:119). I've never seen the "line upon line" aspect of moving closer to my Father in Heaven than in and through this last several weeks of ponderizing scriptures, and reflecting on the way they link together. 

I truly do feel like I am moving closer to the direction and purpose He has for me, and I feel like I am blessed, but I'm also better able to bless those around me (and especially my family) as I move closer to the place and person my God wants me to be. 

Organize Yourself

I totally forgot to create my #ponderize memento on Monday, but D&C 88:119 has been on my mind all week. 

Ever since we began the process to move to Florida, we have been decluttering and dejunking our belongings. Sure there are things that we maybe would have liked to keep, and I feel like a box I thought we kept is missing, but we have been cleaning out our belongings. 

Then, when we got here, oh my! It was chaos! Boxes everywhere! It was overwhelming to even unpack one box for a while, but as we've started to get the house clean and orderly, there has been such a sense of peace in our home. As we have been able to organize our temporal goods, it seems like our spiritual life has fallen into place. 

There is a tangible difference in the feeling of our home when we are able to keep the house organized. I feel like it's easier to do the other this listed--like pray, fast, be faithful, and just have our minds focused and centered on our Heavenly Father and Savior--when we have a clean and orderly house. 

Remember to be spiritually minded

"O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one.

***Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.***"

-2 Nephi 2:39

I have always liked the emphasized portion of this verse, and have remembered "spiritually-minded is life eternal" by the acronym "SMILE" (I feel like most young women have received a handout with that from an instructor at some point in their lives...) but this time the whole verse stood out to me. 

This verse reminded me of our Savior's suffering on Gethsemene. "Remember the awfulness of transgressing against that Holy God." How awful I feel when I accidentally make mistakes, but how much worse I feel after I realize I willfully chose to do something to add to that pain and suffering. How awful!

It just reminds me of an experience today: I lost my temper at my 2yo. I overreacted to her being perfectly 2, and by so doing, my Savior not only suffered to Atone for my mistake and anger, but He also suffered through the pain and heartache felt by my daughter. By losing my temper (and in some small way, "yielding to the enticings of the cunning one") my Savior was pained twice in the same instant. 

To me, being spiritually-minded means always remembering that gift of life, given of death, suffering and love. If I had been more spiritually-minded, I would have been more patient, slower to anger and react to my daughter; and I would have avoided hurting 2 people. 

While we seem to have made amends, it gave me a a glimpse of the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of the cunning one. 

Correct Me

"O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." -Jeremiah 10:24

This week, Mario really felt like it was important to remember that we will need correction in this life, from a loving God, not in His judgement, for we are so imperfect that we could be completely destroyed if He wanted to. 

What I took from this message is that we have such a loving Father in Heaven, that even though He could bring us to nothing, and, because we are imperfect and need frequent corrections, there are times that He would be perfectly justified in exacting that judgement; instead, He loves us so much that we are corrected, instead of destroyed.

                   

The Prince of Darkness

"Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of darkness, who is of this world, cometh, but hath no power over me, but he hath power over you." 

-John 14:30 (JST).

How fitting it is that the Lord would remind us, through His Disciples, that He could not be touched by the "prince of darkness," or the adversary, but that we could. As we each are imperfect, we allow Satan into our lives. Each wrong choice allows him a little more access to our spirit, until we could, ultimately, be completely under his control. Conversely, every time we are able to exercise self-control, to resist his temptations, we are more able to resist in the future. 

I believe that is how Jesus Christ was able to get to the point where He could not be touched by Satan. Day by day, He chose correct principles; He fasted, prayed and studied as a boy; He always chose to be perfectly obedient, until that day, near His death, He had built such a firm knowledge of and shield from His Father, that He left no gaps for Satan to sneak in. 

So too can we get to that point, day-by-day, making correct choices, repenting from our mistakes and shortcomings through our Lord and Savior, until someday, we too can be completely unaffected by the temptations and fiery darts of the adversary. 

Can you imagine why it sometimes seems harder when we think we're doing the right thing? If we get stronger each time we withstand Satan, can you imagine how much more he would want to fight for us to be miserable like unto him? 

I'm not really sure who I'm talking to (quite possibly just my future self), but please remember, that when things seem to get harder, it might just be because we're on the right path, and the devil doesn't want to lose what ground he has gained in controlling us. 

Keep moving forwards. Strive to become the best you can be, and constantly rely on the Savior. There is no way we can make it alone, but He has provided a way that we can completely escape the bands of the adversary, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, WANTS us to let Him help us escape. 

Again, to whomever this message is intended for, know that I love you, your Savior loves you, and your hardships may just be proof that you are headed in the right direction.