Monday, September 29, 2014

Parents in absentia

Imagine that you are a child, let's say preteen, and your parents are going to be away for awhile. Let's also say your parents are as perfect as possible, for the sake of this scenario, and therefore love you perfectly. You have some contact with your parents via radio or phone, something of that nature. No visual, though. And for whatever reason (but it's your fault), the device you are using to talk to your parents isn't functioning properly; they hear everything you say to them, but you only occasionally here what they say, and it is generally fuzzy and difficult to understand. What would perfect, loving parents do in a situation like this in order to insure that you are safe, doing what you should, and getting what you need?

Awhile back, during my normal scripture study, I decided to look for evidences of Heavenly Father's love for me. I wasn't looking up scriptures with the word love or something similar included, but rather reading straight through the scriptures and trying to identify examples of His love. I was reading in The Book of Mormon and came upon an example immediately, in 2 Nephi 6:2-4.

In these verses I identified three ways that God shows His love for me (and all His children):

1. He calls and ordains to His holy order people who teach me many things and are concerned for the welfare of my soul;
2. He exhorts, or encourages, me towards doing what's right through those people;
3. He teaches me truth about what is and is to come, through those He called.

Now returning to our imaginative scenario and the question posed: what would the parents do? Isn't the answer the same thing that I found in the scriptures? They would find reliable people and give them the authority to act on their behalf in your best interest; through those people they would encourage you to do what is right; and they would clarify what is right by teaching truth about what is and what is to come.

I know that God loves me. One proof is that He has called prophets and apostles, both ancient and modern, in order to communicate to me what He wants for me. This Saturday and Sunday I will witness again His love for me as I listen to those prophets and apostles speak His will.

Forrest
--who is glad his football team is playing on Friday this week


No comments:

Post a Comment