Sunday Reflections

As I look back at everything I have, will have or have learned, I know that my greatest learning has come from my greatest pain. The hardships I endure have filled me with love and compassion for my fellow people. It has given me patience and understanding and a deep respect for everyone around me who also suffer.

Kenneth Cope wrote a song called "Hear Them Cry" which he says means that the cry of a newborn baby signifies a new life has begun. As we grow older, through childhood and into the teenage years, I was always told things like, "Big kids don't cry." I learned not to "wear my heart on my sleeve." We keep our hard times and problems to ourselves, maybe sharing them with only a few. Things that would have made me cry years ago, I simply endure as I get older. But I still cry inside. If I am willing to "listen between the lines," I can hear the cries of those around me. In a world full of pains of all kinds, certainly this is not a time to ignore each other. Jesus said, "If ye are not one ye are not mine" (D&C 38:27).

"The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith)

To be like Christ, we must listen to those around us. The world can be a cruel place, but we can lighten the load for many if we are just in tune.

If Christ had been born here and now, how would I treat him? When I think back to such things as the scourging and the crucifiction, it's hard to imagine how people could be so cruel. Nobody crucifies anyone now. What if He came here today? A poet tried to imagine it:

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged him on a tree,

They drove great nails through hands and feet, they made a calvary.

They crowned him with a crown of thorns, red were his wounds and deep,

For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to our town, they simply passed him by.

They never hurt a hair of him! They merely let him die.

For had men grown more tender; they would not give him pain!

They only passed on down the street, and left him standing in the rain.

None of us would think of torturing anyone the way Christ was tortured-- but maybe the temptation we face is to take Christ and His sacrifice for granted. Christ said, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock" (Rev. 3:20). "Oh well, I can answer it later--this is a good show."

Perhaps it's time I make the study of Jesus Christ and His gospel a major priority in my life. Christ said, "Learn of me, and listen to my words." (D&C 19:23). King Benjamin said, "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:13).

"If we could feel or were sensitive even in the slightest to the matchless love of our Savior and his willingness to suffer for our individual sins, we would cease procrastination and 'clean the slate', and repent of all our transgressions."

People's true colors come shining through when times are hard. Even when Christ knew what horrible events were soon to come to pass, he said, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39)

Our Savior suffered for us in Gethsemane:

"He, by choice, accepted the penalty for all mankind for the sum total of all wickedness and deprivaty; for brutality, immorality, perversion, and corruption; for addiction, for the killings and torture and terror--for all of it that had been or ever would be enacted on this earth.

"In choosing, He faced the awesome power of the evil one who was not confined to flesh nor subject to mortal pain. That was Gethsemane."

The world is not a place to find peace. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. He is my friend, but He is much more than a friend. He is the Son of God. He is the Lord God Omnipotent. He is so powerful. He is kind and loving and He knows exactly how to help me through life. He has proven His love for me by what He did and how He suffered, and He has left the scriptures, written by His beloved prophets so I can read about his love.

I'm ready to live and let go.