Angels Among Us

 

This post has a lot of songs mentioned, hopefully you can keep up.

There are two, really great songs that I love. The first is called, Angels Among Us, and the second is called, I Believe. Both songs reaffirm gospel principles. Both songs poetically describe how our loved ones continue to guide, influence, and protect our lives on the other side of the veil. The chorus of Angels Among Us says, "I believe there are angels among us, sent down to us from somewhere up above. They come to you and me in our darkest hours, to show us how to live, to teach us how to give and guide us with a light of love." 

It's been my experience that to those who have turned away from God, this concept seems foreign. Some may even scoff. There's a line in I Believe that says, "and the people who don't see the most, see that I believe in ghosts, if this makes me crazy than I am." I understand that line. Those who scoff at religion, those who are past feeling the things of the spirit, cannot understand. They may chalk it up to superstition or silly ghost stories, and convince themselves that they know more, that they are more educated; truly they are not grasping the deeper and more complete feelings of the spirit. They have forgotten that this earthly language is our second language, and it is a broken language, an incomplete language that cannot fully describe spiritual matters. Our first language is that of the spirit and it is the language of souls. 

So, to those of you who may not understand this post, please know this--I feel these things, and the following experience, in a way that is not adequately expressed in English. If you think that I believe in ghosts, that's okay. It does not diminish the feelings that I have experienced today. Today was a good day. Today, I felt my Heavenly Home more near. 

Sometimes I get homesick for my heavenly home, and the only way to assuage the homesick feeling is to have spiritual experiences. It's no wonder why I long for them, we are spiritual beings having an earthly experience, and while we may be far from home, home does not have to be far from us. In fact, our loved ones are not far from us at all. 

Today I went to the temple with my primary presidency. We did initiatories. The women that guided that experience were very touched by the spirit and at one point during a blessing, the woman leaned down and whispered the blessing close to my ear. I felt a flood of emotion, I felt the spirit testify to me of how wonderful the blessings of the temple are. Another woman said the words with such emotion and conviction. The names that I read in front of me became more real. I felt that perhaps those ladies were ever present and excited that their work was being done. Later in the afternoon, I went on a bike ride.

For whatever reason, sometimes when I am riding my bike, I feel as though my Grandma Peterson is there. The feeling is so strong at times that I will say hello to her and smile. I've wondered how it is on the other side, is she riding a bike too? I've wondered why it happens most often when I am exercising. I think it's because I am contemplative, and often I am listening to spiritual or uplifting music. I always felt that my grandma had a special bond with me, but I think all of the grandkids felt that way (the sign of a good grandma). Others have told me that too, though, so maybe that's why I always feel her near? Today I think it was because I had had the neat experience in the temple and I already felt as though angels were near. 

I was listening to a song and the song said, "My grandma is smiling down on me". I kept riding, and then came that very familiar feeling of my grandma being near me. I smiled, and I said hello. I continued to smile just hoping that the feeling of her presence was real, had I imagined it? I began to doubt--but, I did feel it, I knew I did. I asked, is this real? Grandma, are you really there? Am I really feeling you? I think you are... Then, immediately after those thoughts, something neat happened. A song came on my playlist. It was, Fly Me to the Moon. My grandma loved that song. She often sang it or told me about it. She had a music box that played that song, and I believe I may have been the one that bought it for her, but it's been too long, I can't remember. Anyway, I knew it wasn't a coincidence, but the tender mercies didn't end there. The version that I have on my playlist is a mash up of two songs. They're both love songs, but they totally apply to this experience. It was as though my grandma said the words to me and then I replied. The words sung were, "can you hear me, I'm talking to you, across the water, across the deep blue ocean, into the open sky, oh, baby I'm trying..." then the reply, "yes, I hear you in my dreams, I feel you whisper across the sea, I keep you with me in my heart--you make it easier when life gets hard." Then, there's a long solo of whistling. My grandma loved to whistle and she was very good at it. She whistled all the time. Then, as if to say, I gave you one of my favorite songs, the words apply, can you hear me whistling? Here, here is one more sign that I am near you... all of a sudden, a mommy quail and all of her little babies scurried right in front of my bike on the trail. My grandma LOVED birds and seeing baby quail would have made her so happy. So, once that happened, I said, yes, I hear you, Grandma. Thanks for being near me. Then, I thanked Heavenly Father for my angels. I pointed to the sky and said, daddy's girl. I know that I can't adequately describe the experience, I warned you that my words would fall short. However short it may be, I am thankful for having had it.

Tonight, I retold the experience to Mercedes on our drive to Young Women's. She was so happy and emotional about it, it was a good mother-daughter moment. She told me she didn't have the words to tell me how wonderful she felt that I had had that experience--she just didn't have the words. It was so neat. She was another witness. She also knew that it was real. She testified so. And, right during this retelling, on the other side of the intersection, turning left (we were also turning left, so our cars were face to face), there were my parents smiling and waving at us, seeing them smile and wave made us filled us with happy emotions, and we smiled and waved back. Her grandparents "happened" to be right there, right at the same moment that I was telling her about my grandma and the connection we had. It was almost as if the spirit was telling me, see, it's just like that, you just can't see her smiling back... 

I let Mercedes listen to the song in the van. As the song continued to play, she pointed something else out. She said, "Mom, I know it's a love song, but the words here are still true. The words are telling you what it'll be like when you go home to heaven and see her again." The rest of the words are, "lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where we have been, lucky to be coming home again. Lucky we're in love in every way, lucky to have stayed where we have stayed, lucky to be coming home someday." then, there's another long Fly Me to the Moon whistling solo, and the final words, "in other words, I love you."

I hope this post made sense. I just didn't want to forget, so I wrote it down. 

Parenting the Christlike Way

 

I heard an analogy once that I thought was insightful. It gave a positive spin on teenage rebellion. Teenage rebellion is not something that I have personally dealt with (at least not yet), but I liked the analogy enough that I wanted to record it along with some other thoughts. Most of these thoughts were taught to me as I listened to an All In podcast that had parenting advice from Justin Coulson. It went something like this:

When you ride a roller coaster the first thing anyone does is click into the harness. You hear the click, click, click, click as it pulls down over the shoulders. Feeling more secure but wanting assurance that the harness will do what it is meant to do, intuitively, you push up on it to make sure that the bar is tight and reliable. It is a boundary that is meant to keep you safe and help you to be able to enjoy the ride without fear of falling loose.

In this analogy, good, consistent parenting with clear standards and expectations make up the harness, it is the boundary that helps our children stay safely on the path that leads to a covenant-filled life. As parents, we know that if boundaries stay intact, that child will be able to enjoy a righteous, virtue-filled life more fully. At times, the child will push on the harness and test out its strength. They push as if to test whether you care enough to hold the harness intact and that you will not let them fall.

Good parenting focuses on developing Christ-like attributes, and those Christlike attributes permeate into everything we do as a parent. While on the earth, Christ was full of compassion towards those who made mistakes. We know then, the Heavenly Father, being the perfect parent, deals compassionately unto His wayward children. John 5:19, “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” The scriptures are full of examples of when Jesus showed compassion and empathy to those who sinned. He learned those traits from His Father.

So, when dealing with our own children who may be testing boundaries and who may be using their agency to choose poor choices, how can we help them? We hold strong to our standards, but we offer compassion and love to them freely.

Elder Jeffery R. Holland said, “…If those children are unresponsive, maybe you can’t teach them yet, but you can love them. And, if you love them today, maybe you can teach them tomorrow.”

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “Kindness is the essence of a celestial life. Kindness is how a Christlike person treats others. Kindness should permeate all of our words, and actions at work, at school, at church and especially in our homes.” … “But,” you ask, “what if people are rude?” Love them. “If they are obnoxious?” Love them. “But what if they offend? Surely I must do something then?” Love them. “Wayward?” The answer is the same. Be kind. Love them.”

In the All In podcast featuring Justin Coulson, he explains, “Sometimes in our angry moments, or in our tired moments, or, let’s be honest, in our selfish moments, we might be less loving than we could be towards our children. Sometimes we feel inclined to hurt rather than to help, or … we’re neutral or ambivalent, or we shrug our shoulders and say ‘Whatever’. But He doesn’t. The scriptures tell us again and again, His hand, His arm is stretched out still.”

So, how do we follow the Savior’s example if your child has left the church or is struggling with their faith? What is the balance between giving your child room to use his or her agency while showing your love for them? You exemplify Christlike attributes and you be the best disciple of Jesus Christ that you know how to be. You cling to your covenants and trust in the Priesthood power that binds and seals those covenants. You do all that is in your power to do, you seek for revelation and you pour out your heart in prayer and then you sit back and trust in the Lord to do His part. D & C 123:17, “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed.”

Mourning with those who mourn, and comforting those who stand in need of comfort is a covenant we made at baptism and it applies to mourning and comforting alongside of our children as we parent them.

One final thought is this. Heavenly Father respects the gift of agency. He understands that it is by agency that we can learn and grow. This whole world is a spiritual weight room designed to break us down only to build us up stronger if we turn to Him. Struggle is not only part of the plan, it is the plan. Our mortal experience is full of trials, heartaches, and loss, as we constantly strive to overcome our weaknesses. Some trials come by happenstance and some by our own agency. But Heavenly Father will never force us to choose the right path that leads back to Him. He loves us too much to do so. He will entice and encourage, but we must choose Him for ourselves. And He will stand with outstretched arms full of compassion waiting for us to run to Him. We can follow that example too.