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The Joy of Sabbath Keeping

I thank God from the bottom of my soul for the blessing of the Sabbath Day.  More and more, I observe those around me drifting (or perhaps they never were taught) from the Sabbath observance of my youth.  I am eternally grateful for parents for whom the Sabbath was a priority, who taught keeping the Sabbath Day holy and who practiced what they taught. Of course, in my youth and younger adult years the Sabbath was not yet fully a joy.  I observed the Sabbath Day and had a testimony of the Sabbath.  I knew I felt better when I kept the Sabbath but it did feel restrictive.  

As a parent it was a challenge to help young children (and teenagers) keep the Sabbath and it required that I set aside some of my own desires and put my effort into seeing that they were able to keep the Sabbath according to their age.  

One of the greatest gifts a parent can give their children is to teach them to sacrifice their own inclinations and desires and turn their hearts towards the Lord on the Sabbath Day.  If parents will sacrifice their own desires and lead by example in preparing for and observing the Sabbath day it will be an eternal blessing to their children.  

What a blessing it is to learn the law of sacrifice in relationship to the Sabbath.  Sacrifice buying that treat on the Sabbath.  Sacrifice a day of vacation time to keep the Sabbath holy.  Sacrifice that movie or tv show for the blessing of a something that will strengthen your spirit.

As I grow older the Sabbath is my favorite day.  I’m so grateful that this day is set apart from the rest of the week.  I don’t work in the yard, do optional housework, shop (hallelujah!) or pay attention to the world.  What a relief!  I so value the peace and the rest from my weekly labors.  It is such a blessing to have one day set aside each week to not do what you do the other six days.  I try to bring the spirit of the Holy Ghost into whatever I am doing through what I listen to and read.  I am truly, truly blessed by making small sacrifices to keep the Sabbath and I fully recognize great blessings in my life from keeping the Sabbath. The blessings are infinite but here a just a few:

Renewal - physical and spiritual

Peace

Remaining more fully unspotted from the world

Spiritual strength

Power against temptation

Temporal blessings.

The opportunity to learn sacrifice (which is why you don’t give into the temptation of “just this once.”  You lose your spiritual power.)

The Sabbath day is binding – it is a covenant between us and the Lord.  It gives us security.

The Sabbath is made for man – we don’t keep the Sabbath day for the Lord’s benefit but for our own.

“The promises of the Lord to those who keep the Sabbath day holy are so wonderfully clear in the scriptures that they leave one asking, “Why would anyone throw away such blessings for the tawdry, temporary pleasures of the world?” Hear again the words of Jehovah as they roll down from Mount Sinai: “Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

“If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

“Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase. …

“… And ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

“And I will give [you] peace in the land, … neither shall the sword go through your land. …

“For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, … and establish my covenant with you. …

“And I will set my tabernacle [that is, my temple] among you. …

“And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.”²²”

(The Blessings of Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy –  H. Aldridge Gillespie. Oct. 2000)

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. “ Exodus 31:13

...Be diligent and temperate in all things

Plate 1 of classical virtues: Diligence. She is holding a whip and spurs, signifying a drive to steadfastly move forward with one's means.

Alma 38:10 ... and I would that ye would be diligent and temperate in all things.

Alma's counsel to his son Shiblon is worth pondering.


Diligent - characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort

"The etymology of diligent reflects the fact that affection can lead to energetic effort. The word, which entered English in the 14th century by way of Anglo-French, descends from the Latin verb diligere, meaning "to value or esteem highly" or "to love."  

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary


"Diligence, in Christianity, is the effort to do one's part, while keeping faith and reliance in God.  In other words, diligence and faith are two sides of a mystery. One doesn’t know how, despite one's effort, it all works out. But diligence when combined with faith assures spiritual success. Diligence as one of seven virtues describes thoroughness, completeness and persistence of an action, particularly in matters of faith. "  

 -  Wikipedia


Temperate -  marked by moderation: such as

a : keeping or held within limits : not extreme or excessive 

b : moderate in indulgence of appetite or desire

c : moderate in the use of alcoholic beverages

d : marked by an absence or avoidance of extravagance, violence, or extreme partisanship 

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Look to God and Live

Being the human beings that we are, our journey through life isn't the straight and narrow course we often had imagined it would be.  Through our flesh we are frail, inconsistent, wavering, unreliable and we often do not care to admit to or see those humbling truths about ourselves.  Even those who are diligently attending to their duties in the fold of God run aground with less faith than they thought they had to apply to the problems of life.  We are often baffled at the personal brick walls in our progress or the seeming digression in areas we thought we had a handle on. 

I am in Alma 37 in my general Book of Mormon reading and have been halted for a time in Alma's counsel to his son Helaman.  One of the advantages of getting older is the need to slow down in your studies to really process the concepts, which allows for more personal introspection and an opportunity to recognize patterns that have played out over the many years of life.  It's one thing to recognize a concept intellectually and another to view it experientially because of the years of living.

Here are a few insights on the application of faith in Alma 37.

40  And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day.   (Speaking of the Liahona.)

41  Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works.  They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works cease, and they did not progress in their journey;

42 Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions.

One of the purposes of mortality is to gain understanding through experience.  We are here to be tutored in the school of faith and to learn how to operate by faith.  We are not here to prove how perfect we already are.  The unwillingness to acknowledge our weakness will only halt our progress. When we come upon the obstacles of life that don't seem to move, perhaps our pleas to God should change from "Please take this away"  or "Please bless so-and-so to change" to "please increase my faith sufficient for the problem at hand" or "give me better understanding of how the word of God applies to the problem before me." 

45 ...For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise. 

46 ...The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.  

47 ...see that ye look to God and live. 

As we seek for increased faith and application of the words of Christ some of the temporal mountains may move and some may still be before us, but spiritual mountains inside of us will definitely be redefined.  Our journey of faith will have progressed.  Our understanding of the implementation of the words of Christ will have enlarged.  We will cease to spiritually tarry in the wilderness and will be learning what we came here to learn.

Serving in the Kingdom of God

Recently I have been overcome with gratitude for being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I am so grateful for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the instrumentation of Joseph Smith.  I am so grateful for the many individuals who have given their lives over many years to serve in leadership capacities as apostles and prophets, and bishops and stake presidents, as teachers and leaders and students, as home teachers and visiting teachers and for every member’s contribution since the establishment of the church in 1830.  I am directly blessed by each person who has sacrificed and consecrated his or her time to the building up of the kingdom of God upon this earth.  Without each of their efforts the church would be less.  Without each dime of tithing, the hours spent cleaning the church, the great work of temples and family history, the sacrifice of personal time and pursuits and on and on, my life would be bereft of so much richness.  

The fruit of the kingdom of God is there for the picking but only seems available in full to those who themselves take hold of the iron rod and in doing so add their contribution to the whole.  We are all imperfect people and so our contributions are less than perfect as well.  But, through those individual efforts the kingdom grows and much good is accomplished. When I see and hear those who can only find fault or criticize the efforts of others and all the while they choose to hold back their own contributions and make minimal efforts, I sorrow for what they are depriving themselves of and for the blindness that ensues.  Without great personal sacrifice the early church would have gradually dissolved into a meager existence and the Book of Mormon would have gathered dust on obscure library shelves.   On the other hand, what incredible results have come from the continuation of constant effort of many individuals over multiple generations.

Happiness comes from giving of yourself to causes that are for the greater good of those around you.  Concerning yourself only with your own life eventually grows into discontent and lack of fulfillment.