"The God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost" (Romans 15:13)

The other morning my daughter came rushing into the kitchen a bit upset, and frazzled. This is so not like my daughter; she is usually like her dad, really laid back and very easy going. She proceeded to tell me that she had left her rings on the sink at the swim meet the night before, that she was late for an early morning meeting at school, and would I please call the pool across town and ask about her rings. The conversation proceeded something like this:

 I said, "You left them in Kearns?! Which rings? There is no way they are going to be there. Especially over there."

"Please, just call them and ask if they are there or if someone found them and turned them into the lost and found. I am late, so late! It's a thin silver one, a thicker silver one with my initials, and the one grandma gave me with the garnet."

"Okay, I'll call. Look up the number while I finish cooking the eggs. You know that they are not going to be there." I responded with absolutely no belief they would be turned in, they were worth a little money, and on the West side? Ha! I had little hope in that idea...but, I really wanted to hope, for my daughters sake.

She looked up the number and I asked the girl on the other end of the phone if there had been three rings turned in after the swim meet. She said, "Let me check the lost and found." I waited patiently as I stirred the eggs, potatoes, and sausage. A minute or so later the girl says, "What do the rings look like?" I proceeded to describe them to her. She said, "Yes. We have them here. What name should I put on them and you can pick them up?"

I was SO shocked and SO happy! My hope in humanity is...well returning, slowly. When I picked up the rings the woman at the counter told me to tell my daughter to, "...leave them at home next time, especially if she comes out here! She was lucky she got them back." I know my daughter was truly blessed to have them returned to her.

Two thoughts have come to mind from this experience (there are always more, but I think sharing two is sufficient for the day). One: The woman who turned the rings in was "...true at all times in whatsoever thing [she was] entrusted" (Alma 53:20). As women and men who follow Christ, true disciples, we "stand for truth and righteousness" (Relief Society Declaration) even when no one is watching us. The woman who found my daughters rings could have easily slipped those rings into her handbag or pocket without anyone noticing. Instead, she chose "the better part" (Father in Heaven, We Do Believe Hymn #180) by being honest and turning them into the lost and found. Through her example I was able to see that there are still good people in the world today and the news/media just needs to do a better job of reporting that kind of news. Also, I need to relinquish some of my doubts about others...not everyone wants to take "advantage of one" (2 Nephi 28:8). That's something I can work at doing a better job.

And the second thought: Even though I have had plenty of experiences to jade me and make me not trust people like I used to (I am definitely more cautious), there is great hope! After I got the rings and went to my car, I couldn't stop weeping from the blessings of  "lost and found". President Howard W. Hunter said, "I promise you...in the name of the Lord, whose servant I am, that God will always protect and care for His people. We will have our difficulties the way every generation and people have had difficulties. But with the gospel of Jesus Christ you have every hope, promise, and reassurance. The Lord has power over His Saints and will always prepare places of peace, defense and safety for His people. When we have faith in God we can hope for a better world- for us personally, and for all mankind. The prophet Ether taught anciently (and he knew something about troubles): 'Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God' (Ether 12:4)" (An Anchor to the Souls of Men).

We all have lost important items or perhaps even valuable relationships. We all have trials, challenges, dark days, fog, and cold, that might seem to last too long and we may get a little lost in some of the "dark and dreary waste" (1 Nephi 8:7). But, we need not despair. For most definitely, "whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world" (Ether 12:4), even our small world that sometimes may seem lost. Even if we hadn't found the rings, which would have been very disappointing, I can testify that nothing is lost to God. As Paul taught the Romans: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost" (Romans 15:13).

Christ is "the God of hope". He taught through the parables of the the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the prodigal son that nothing is lost to the Lord (read parables here). We must, in our relationships with our loved ones, and even our enemies, put our faith and trust in Him, the Keeper of the lost and found. I realized that to the Lord, we are all "the one" when He taught: "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it" (Luke 15:4)?

The found rings~
honest people and hope.

We are all "prodigals" and the Father says of each of us, "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:32). We are each that lost brother and He rejoices when we repent. Repentance is: "A change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general. Repentance implies that a person turns away from evil and turns his heart and will to God, submitting to God's commandments and desires and forsaking sin" (The Guide to the Scriptures). He rejoices when we return to Him in prayer each night or any time of our day for that matter.

Just as my daughter lost her rings and she wanted to find them, she needed to ask for help. We too must want to be found, ask for His help that He may find us (see 1 Nephi 8:8; Enos 1:1-5; Mark 9:14-29). We are never lost to Him, no matter what we are struggling with, our location, or perhaps even our mood. He is waiting for us to open the door and invite Him in (Rev. 3:20). "The God of Hope" will fill us with hope when the impossible seems to loom before us through the power of the Holy Ghost. He will fill us with hope when the "mist of darkness" (1 Nephi 8:23-24) makes the way difficult to see and we feel lost. He is just waiting for us to ask that we may be found.

"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many" (D&C 24:8)

I have several plants that I water and neglect, uh, I mean nourish on a regular basis. I sometimes look at them as if they were a pain, more than a pleasure because I so often forget to water them. One plant in particular though, has really grown over the past several months due to the addition of fertilizer that I have added to its regular watering. As I have added the fertilizer and watered it, it has grown so tall that it really needs a new pot. It is now strong and healthy and it gets blooms on a regular basis. It is beautiful...as long as I remember to water and nourish it. The Lord taught similar principles in the allegory of the olive tree. (It can be read here). The "master of the vineyard" cared for his vineyard by nourishing, digging, pruning, and dunging the trees. Sometimes we all need a little "dung", "nourishing", "digging", and "pruning". I liken these necessary  items to trials, burdens, suffering, and afflictions, which sometimes are heavy, stink, or hurt, but they are for our good and benefit, even though we can't see the benefits immediately. I put fertilizer on my plant and it grew and got blooms. It grew stronger and much bigger than I imagined it would. We suffer, are cut down by trials or pain, digging deep within to find solace and peace as we are "refined...in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10).

My plant that I have added fertilizer-
note the bloom and size of the pot. 

The Lord has counselled us: "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days" (D&C 24:8; see also D&C 66:9; Alma 17:11). As I have endured and suffered I have wondered what is the purpose of this...why? Some days it is so difficult; and then it hit me. I was growing, and I just couldn't see it. It was like trying to watch a plant grow. The plant is growing, and if I sit and watch it, it is a terribly slow and painful process to observe. But if I water it, dung it, and let the sunlight, nutrients and plant do their individual assignments together...growth happens.

This is the same in our own lives. If we expect to see growth in a day with few struggles or challenges and no discipline, yet hope we are becoming something more or stronger than we were, then we are only exercising impatience and will experience no growth. What the Lord wants for us is more; He wants for us to grow to our full potential. In essence He is saying: "What manner of men [and women] ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am" (3 Nephi 27:27). This is His call to us to keep trying, to keep enduring in those most challenging and difficult times when it seems like there is little or no growth, but just fertilizer, mud, and painful cutting. When in reality, He is nourishing us, and shaping us because "now are we the sons [and daughters] of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2 italics mine).

When we remember that the Lord "searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts" and if we "seek Him" (1 Chronicles 28:9) then we have eyes to "see afar off" (2 Peter 1:9) because we know His vision is greater than ours and so is His timetable (D&C 64:32). It is when we keep pulling up the roots to see how our plants are growing that we begin to lose hope, for there is no growth to be made without water, nourishing, dunging, digging, and pruning. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: "Patience stoutly resists pulling up the daisies to see how the roots are doing" (Patience). Therefore, we can't just sit there and wait for our plants to grow, we must keep "pressing forward" that we may partake of the fruit that is most assuredly there waiting for us (1 Nephi 8:21,24,30) and is "most sweet, above all that [we] ever before tasted" (1 Nephi 8:11).

I will be honest, I wish I could be done with some of my trials and afflictions, they aren't what I really enjoy- they are difficult and challenging (I guess that's why they are called challenges). But, through them, I do, we do, become something more: more holy, more grateful, more strengthened "to o'ercome", more filled with faith, "more Savior like Thee" (see More Holiness Give Me). When we are "patient in afflictions" we can choose to become more... more Christlike. What a blessing to be "patient in afflictions, for [we shall] have many" (D&C 24:8)  as we are digged, pruned, nourished and fertilized by One who truly loves us and knows our potential growth, "that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as He is pure" (Moroni 7:48).

This is a group of plants that I have neglected to water.  It looks so sad and droopy...I just forget to water these poor things. 

This is after it has been watered. Truly there is power and strength in water...imagine the growth if I added a little fertilizer!

Click here to view the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a beautiful rendition of "More Holiness Give Me".

"...They taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good" (Moses 6:55)

The other morning as I walked in the cold weather, my heart was very heavy. I was having a difficult time focusing on anything positive and was feeling a bit sorry for myself after an incident that had taken place with family the night before. I wanted to quit thinking about it and focus on something else. I really wanted to run away from the problem, but that would do no good and be very selfish. So, as I walked, I looked around at the stark contrast between the white of the snow and the dark branches of the trees. I thought of how the trees go dormant during the winter and that eventually spring always comes after what seems like such a cold and deathly winter; buds appear and bloom into flowers, leaves poke their heads out and grow. Most definitely, "there is an opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11).

I started to make a mental list of all the things that I was grateful for, of oppositions as I walked. This helped me focus on something else other than the heavy heart that I didn't want to keep carrying in the bitter, cold morning. I have to be honest, the "bitterness" came from my foul mood, and the "sweetness" was an effort to change my attitiude. There is not a particular order to this list of oppositions, but each, both the bitter and the sweet, has brought a blessing into my life. I hope you will come up with your own list of oppositions. If we "should never have bitter [or opposition we] could not know the sweet" (D&C 29:39). As the Lord said to Adam, "...they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good" (Moses 6:55).  Truly, opposition blesses our lives with bitterness so that we may recognize the sweetness of the Lord and His "tender mercies" (1 Nephi 1:20). Without bitterness, we would not recognize what is sweet. Some of these may not make any sense to you, but this is my list of oppositions...and they need only make sense to me. I share them because I have grown from them, and have tasted the bitter and the sweet, and the sweet is "the most sweet, above all that I ever tasted" (1 Nephi 8:11).

My Short Blessing list of Oppositions 

• being hungry and thirsty in opposition to having enough food and water to eat and drink; not only physically but spiritually as well (see Matt 5:6)
• being bitterly cold in opposition to being warm, especially when I return home to the "warm hearts" of loved ones (see D&C 121:9)
• having a sick child in opposition to having a child become well or my children healthy all the time (see D&C 42:48)
• icy roads that I fall on and have to pick my self back up in opposition to roads that have been cleared and are easy to follow so that I don't stumble and fall (see 2 Nephi 4:32)
• being tired and exhausted in opposition to being awake and alert (see 1 Cor. 15:34)
• feeling alone and abandoned in opposition to feeling totally loved and surrounded by loved ones (see D&C 6:20-21)
• being in excruciating pain in opposition to having no more pain or free from pain (see Alma 36:19; Revelations 21:4; Mosiah 27:29) 
• tears of sorrow in opposition to tears of joy (see Psalms 126:5)
• darkness and night in opposition to sunshine and daylight (see Moroni 7:15) 
• making enemies in opposition to making and having friends (see Matt 5:44; 3 Nephi 12:44)
• barren, no growth in opposition to planting trees, pruning shrubs and  bushes and watching the beauty of these grow (see Alma 33:23)
• impatience, fretting, and worrying in opposition to waiting patiently, being calm, filled with faith (Psalms 37:5-11)

As I pondered these oppositions, and looked around me at the cold of winter that covered the earth, I realized that all these things testify of Christ. They all call us to Him, "He that ascended up on high, as also He descended below all things, in that He comprehended all things, that He might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ" (D&C 88: 6-7). As we go through opposition, which gratefully we do, even though it is difficult and hard and sometimes we desperately don't want to, we can look to Him, the One who knows how to succor us according to our infirmities (see Alma 7:12) and heal our all our wounds and our souls and thus, we may know "to prize the good".

"And my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27)

The other day, I showed up at my mom's house to see what I could do to help get my sister-in-law and 10 of her 14 children ready go to the airport. When I arrived I asked what I could do to help and my sister-in-law took me to the laundry room, showed me two boxes that were, in my opinion, already full and then said she needed my help loading the rest of the clothes from the dryer, a laundry basket, and a drying rack. Now, these clothes weren't just socks; they were jeans, and sweaters, and sweater dresses, and bulkier clothes. The thought ran through my head of, "there is no way these things are going to fit", but I didn't verbalize it. I just said, "Okay" and she left the room.

Sometimes, we are asked to do things that seem impossible. They might be minor tasks but are truly life saving for someone else, and we feel completely inadequate, insecure, and unsure of our abilities. Gratefully, the Lord knows better. He always does. The Lord has promised us that He will sustain the righteous. For forty years he sustained the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. "Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not" (Nehemiah 9:21). He not only sustains the righteous, but also will carry their burdens: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved" (Psalms 55:22). What great comfort in a world where there is turmoil and challenges to be faced, great and small, on a daily basis.

As I looked at the boxes I knew my sister-in-law needed them filled. I then said out loud, and kind of to myself, "Okay, if the Lord can feed five-thousand and have baskets of food left over, He can definitely help me make these clothes fit. I need a miracle". I then silently prayed for a miracle to make it all fit. I just got to work. I rolled clothes, jeans, shirts, dresses, socks, more jeans, and more dresses. I opened the dryer and was surprised how many clothes there were in there. But I just kept working. My sister-in-law came in and put a hairdryer and a cosmetic bag in of the boxes. She even brought in more socks and undergarments from some where else. All the clothes fit, and more. I called for my nephew to come and help me tape it shut. I call it the miracle of the boxes.

Sometimes I do feel very inadequate, and I am. I am not saying that I don't have talents or that I am not good at things, that's not the point. The point is, He makes up the difference because He is the difference! We all have weaknesses and need the Lord's help no matter who we are and whether or not we recognize it. The pride of man makes us think we can do it all on our own; that we can be perfect, or that we can handle it all without help, even the day to day stuff. Thankfully, we are so loved, that we don't have to, nor are we expected to do it alone. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27). When we are called to serve or do what seems to be an impossible task, He is the One that will fill the already full boxes just as surely as He fed the five thousand with two barley loaves and five fishes and "filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten" (John 6:5-13).

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16)

I have an original painting I got with gift money which has brought me great joy. It is of the resurrected Christ standing next to Mary just outside the garden tomb. Mary hasn't yet seen or noticed Him. I have often pondered on this event captured in this painting. 

(Painting by J. Kirk Richards click here to see more of his work)

There must have been such grief for so many who had lost their Lord and Master, a Beloved Friend, Teacher, Family Member, Leader, Loved One. The depths of sorrow, I can't comprehend. I then ponder the joy that must have filled Mary as she recognized her Master, her Beloved Jesus Christ (see John 20:13-18). His promise to rise again in three days (see Mark 8:31) had been fulfilled, which I can only imagine, had been hoped and was then comprehended. He had "finished the work" of his Father ( John 17:4).

Jesus Christ is truly resurrected, lives, is whole, and complete. He is the Gift to us from our Father in Heaven. We must choose whether or not we want to receive this Gift through faith, for there is no other way to receive Him. I think Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) said it eloquently when he stated: "Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus" (Settle This in Your Hearts)!

The words to a Children's Primary song, "He Sent His Son" (#34) teaches many principles of sacrifice, love, hope, and enduring, that come from the Gift of our Savior which Heavenly Father gave to all the world. The words are as follows:

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?

He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?

He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?

He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?

Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.

What does He ask? Live like his Son.

(Words by Mabel Jones Gabbott, 1910-2004)

We are all God's children, and Heavenly Father needs to teach and have us learn of perfection (see Matt. 5:48). So He sent us a perfect example, because He loves us- perfectly. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Our Heavenly Father gave us the Gift of Christ, He sacrificed his Son for us that we might live again with them if we exercise faith in Jesus Christ. Faith takes action, and sometimes that action is to willingly sacrifice.

At Christmas time, it is a time for giving gifts, which brings great joy. My Children often give me gifts that are a sacrifice of time and money for them. I appreciate these small sacrifices for me, which brings joy to both of us. In a small way, they are expressions of their love. Heavenly Father wants us to receive the joy of giving gifts (see 2 Nephi 2:25). He sometimes may ask us to sacrifice or offer things we may not want to give up or aren't ready to part with, such as time, money, habits, grudges, loved ones, just to name a few. We often think of these things as our possessions or our "substance, which [does] not belong to you but to God" (Mosiah 4:22). When we willingly offer them to Him as gifts and we put our faith in His time table and His plan for us, then our joy will be fuller and deeper. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalms 126:5). The Lord has also said: "I will order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them" (D&C 111:11). And Paul testified: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

"What does the Father ask of us? Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way" (#34). What beautiful and simple gifts to give our Father in Heaven and our Savior this year: faith, hope, love, kindness, forgiveness, peace. Christ is the perfect example, the perfect Gift. Mary, in the garden tomb, was joyful at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this time of year, each of us gets to decide if we will turn and see the resurrected Christ; or in other words, "if there is room for Jesus".